Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence
My religious background is Southern Baptist. While I am no longer in a SBC church, I do keep up with some of the goings-on in the Convention. One of the things that has been going on for some time is the Founders Ministries, a ministry directed at calling the SBC back to its confessional and evangelical roots. Tom Ascol heads up the Founders and has a blog that I follow. Though he has not been updating as much since he was struck by lightning a few months ago (yes, he was struck by lightning – I will skip the obvious “his preaching is now electrifying!” jokes), he typically says something worth reading and pondering. His post today is no exception.
He references a message given by Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, entitled “Axioms of a Great Commission Resurgence.” There are twelve of them, which I will reproduce here:
Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence
Acts 1:4-8
By: Daniel L. Akin, President
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC
April 16, 2009I. We must commit ourselves to the total and absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives (Col 3:16, 17, 23-24).
II. We must be gospel centered in all our endeavors for the glory of God (Rom 1:16).
III. We must take our stand on the firm foundation of the inerrant and infallible Word of God affirming it’s sufficiency in all matters (Matt 5:17-18; John 10:35; 17:17; 2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
IV. We must devote ourselves to a radical pursuit of the Great Commission in the context of obeying the Great Commandments (Matt 28:16-20; 22:37-40).
V. We must affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a healthy and sufficient guide for building a theological consensus for partnership in the gospel, refusing to be sidetracked by theological agendas that distract us from our Lord’s Commission (1 Tim 6:3-4).
VI. We must dedicate ourselves to a passionate pursuit of the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus across our nation and to all nations answering the call to go, disciple, baptize and teach all that the Lord commanded (Matt 28:16-20; Acts 1:8; Rom 1:5; 15:20).
VII. We must covenant to build gospel saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field (Deut 6:1-9; Psalm 127; 128; Eph 6:4).
VIII. We must recognize the need to rethink our Convention structure and identity so that we maximize our energy and resources for the fulfilling of the Great Commission (1 Cor 10:31).
IX. We must see the necessity for pastors to be faithful Bible preachers who teach us both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures (2 Tim 4:1-5).
X. We must encourage pastors to see themselves as the head of a gospel missions agency who will lead the way in calling out the called for international assignments but also equip and train all their people to see themselves as missionaries for Jesus regardless of where they live (Eph 4:11-16).
XI. We must pledge ourselves to a renewed cooperation that is gospel centered and built around a biblical and theological core and not methodological consensus or agreement (Phil 2:1-5; 4:2-9).
XII. We must accept our constant need to humble ourselves and repent of pride, arrogance, jealousy, hatred, contentions, lying, selfish ambitions, laziness, complacency, idolatries and other sins of the flesh; pleading with our Lord to do what only He can do in us and through us and all for His glory (Gal 5:22-26; James 4:1-10).
While not all of these will have a direct relevance for non-SBC folks, most of them do, and even those which do not (like numbers five and eight) contain principles that we can apply to our individual situations.
I appreciate these 12 axioms for the clarity and commitment to do what Jesus said to do. The SBC is not the only group that needs a Great Commission Resurgence. We all need to heed these words and commit ourselves with unflinching devotion to the proclamation of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, in all its fullness, majesty, and wonder, to the glory of God and the advancement of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus.
