We are reminded, we live in an unhealthy world
We live in an unhealthy world.
Theologically, we call it a “fallen” world. And it is that. Surely, you will agree with me when I say that we live in an unhealthy world. Thus the vision statement of your Missouri Baptist Convention—that, Missouri Baptists are spiritually healthy Christians, coming together in healthy churches, going to an unhealthy world with the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In my previous two Pathway articles, we have been attempting to explain the meaning of our vision statement. We have explained what we mean by spiritually healthy Christians—they are people who are saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, devoted to personal discipleship through daily devotions, holy in their lifestyle, passionate witnesses for Christ and, in love with God’s church. We also noted that healthy churches are churches that are filled with spiritually healthy Christians, where genuine Christian fellowship is experienced, where the truth of Scripture is taught and lived, a church with a kingdom focus, and it is a church where the Great Commission is preeminent.
Frankly, I intended to leave the explanation of our vision statement with those two previous articles. I felt like we all agreed that we live in an unhealthy world and that further explanation was unnecessary. I still believe we agree that we live in an unhealthy, “fallen” world. And, though further clarification is unnecessary, it may be therapeutic.
We live in an unhealthy world.
The fact that we live in an unhealthy world was again made plain to us all with the news of the murder of an Illinois Baptist pastor—Fred Winters, senior pastor to the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill.
Fred Winters was a friend of mine.
We both attended the St. Louis extension of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the mid to late 1980s. Later Fred Winters and I shared experiences as we both had the privilege to serve as president of our respective state conventions and we served together on the National Alumni Association of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Fred was a friend, a peer and an ally. I have long been impressed with his integrity and I have always admired his passion for the Lord and his love for the Lord’s church.
I remember very well how a very young Fred Winters challenged me the first time we met. Fred was lamenting the sad condition of too many churches and he was advocating for excellence in ministry. He was right. And, Fred Winters demonstrated excellence in ministry throughout his life. First Maryville enjoyed more than 20 years of passion in preaching, great insight in teaching, truth in counseling, devotion to the Lord’s church, dedication to pastoral ministry and Christ-likeness in their pastor.
Because of effective pastoral leadership, First Maryville is a healthy church. But on Sunday morning, March 8, the unhealthy world crept into First Maryville and in a senseless and utterly insane moment, Fred Winters was murdered in the pulpit. That we live in an unhealthy world is an outrageous understatement.
We live in an unhealthy world.
Two days after Fred Winters was killed, a gunman in Alabama, Michael McLendon, killed 10 people, including the wife and daughter of a local policeman, and several members of his extended family. The shooting spree began when McLendon shot and killed his own mother in the house that they shared. The gunman then placed his mother’s body on the couch and set fire to the house. McLendon also shot four dogs at the house. His final act was suicide. We live in an unhealthy world to say the least.
We live in an unhealthy world.
All over the world are signs that we live in an unhealthy world. A day or two after the Alabama shooting, 18 people were killed when a German gunman entered a school in Erfurt, Germany. The German gunman, masked and dressed in black, killed 14 students, two teachers, a police officer and himself. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder described the massacre as “beyond the powers of the imagination.” Surely we can agree that we live in an intolerably unhealthy world.
We live in an unhealthy world.
We live in an unhealthy world filled with debauchery and depravity resulting in disease and death. We live in an unhealthy world full of sin and sadness leading to sorrow and sickness. We live in an unhealthy world overflowing with iniquity and immorality flowing out of ignorance and insanity.
We live in an unhealthy, degraded world—evidenced by more than the murder and mayhem described above. Widespread sexual immorality, insidious violence, rampant pornography, shameless homosexuality, murderous abortion and embryonic stem cell research, collapsing government and financial systems, even the simple but sinful disregard for authority are evidences that we live in an unhealthy—an utterly wicked – world. When eight academy award nominations—and two winning Oscars go to a movie that glorifies and attempts to normalize homosexuality, it is easy to understand that we live in a perverted, unhealthy world.
We live in an unhealthy world.
But, thanks be to God, there is hope, help and healing for an unhealthy world.
· When Jesus found a woman caught in adultery, He fully forgave her and forever changed her. That’s the effect of the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
· When Jesus met a leprous man, He wholly healed that man. That’s the power of the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
· When He encountered a thief and a tax cheat, Jesus went to his home and He preached the healing Gospel to Zacchaeus and his friends. That’s the reach of the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
· In the middle of the night, when an academic came to Jesus to debate the Master, Jesus gently reasoned and taught the man so that Nicodemus could know how to be born again. That’s the authority of the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
· As Jesus was being killed, a thief turned to Him, asking for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus immediately and graciously granted his request. That’s the result of the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We live in an unhealthy world—an unhealthy world desperately in need of healing. For Fred Winters, complete healing came on Sunday, March 8, when he stepped into the physical presence of Jesus Christ as he entered the glories of heaven. What Satan meant for evil, God worked for His own good and glory. The home-going celebration service for Fred Winters was a joyful time of remembering a life well lived, praising a God well served and celebrating the triumph of Christians.
We live in an unhealthy world, but through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, each of us as individuals, our world and our churches can be healed and made healthy. And, it will be so when Missouri Baptists genuinely become spiritually healthy Christians, coming together in healthy churches, going to an unhealthy world with the healing Gospel of Jesus Christ.