Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Tree Beard and the Case for Thoughtful Conservative Baptist Collaboration

To facilitate greater cooperation within the Southern Baptist Convention (and one could argue within broader evangelicalism) conservative Baptists who cherish scriptural fidelity need to embrace the reasonableness of J.R. Tolkien’s Treebeard. In other words, if conservative Baptists hope to nudge their convention back towards right doctrine, they must allow for diversity on nonessential Baptist doctrines and practices, embrace all who follow the essential doctrines, and oppose all who oppose the essential doctrines.  

A Quick Trip to Middle Earth

Treebeard, the mythical tree shepherd of Fangorn forest, first appears to the hobbits Merry and Pippin in the second volume of the Lord of the Rings. After telling Treebeard of their quest to keep the all-powerful ring out of the grasp of the evil Lord Sauron, the hobbits ask Treebeard the all-important question of whose side the Ent was on. ‘“And what about yourself?’ asked Merry (74).”

Treebeard responds as follows: “I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even the Elves. Still, I take more kindly to Elves than to others…And there are some things, of course, whose side I am altogether not on…I am against them altogether…these Orcs, and their masters (Two Towers, 75).”

In this short paragraph Tolkien moves his plot forward and provides conservative Southern Baptists with an analogy for proper, meaningful, and yet wisely limited cooperation.

Allow for Diversity on Non-Essentials

First, conservative Southern Baptists must allow for diversity on non-essential doctrines and issues, acknowledging that no one else will ever be fully aligned with them on every subject and topic. No person in this fallen and confused world will be perfectly aligned with his brothers and sisters at every point. To borrow from Treebeard, no one will care for the woods, one’s secondary theological priorities, and one’s pet projects with the same fervor as the one who made them his pet project. Even the most seasoned and friendly of reformed Baptist can and will diverge at points as Albert Mohler and Danny Akin’s controversy over the rightness of sporting a hoodie in the pulpit has made clear. If conservative Baptists make absolute fidelity to their personal worldview the test of cooperation, they will find themselves isolated, alone, and able to influence precious little outside their homes.

Embrace Those Who Follow The Essentials

Second, conservative Southern Baptists should partner with anyone who supports the essentials of the Baptist Faith. When putting together coalitions to define marriage as between a man and a woman, to end abortion, or to restrict the office of pastor and elder to biblically qualified men, conservative Baptists should walk beside all who share their convictions even if they diverge over secondary matters such as politics, education, the plurality of elders, spontaneous baptisms, and Calvinism.

In arguing for broad cooperation, I am neither attempting to minimize nor cancel the debates being had by the Never-Trumpers and the Pro-Trump advocates or those being had by Calvinists and Arminians. Such robust conversations over these and a host of other issues should continue in Christian charity. I believe the SBC is better for such discussions. But I also believe that we can still partner with those with whom we disagree on lesser things to advance the essentials of the Baptist faith. In other words, instead of criticizing Ents for not being more Evlish or Elves for not being more Entish, some Baptist for not being more Trumpish, conservative Baptists should embrace the spirit of Merry and Pippin who promised Treebeard that, “We will do what can (77).” Wherever the roads traveled by the various tribes of conservative and even pragmatic Baptists “go together (77)” conservative should embrace those who will walk with them.

Oppose Those Who Oppose the Essential

Third, conservative Baptists must not partner with Orcs who openly undermine the essentials of the Baptist Faith. Conservative Baptists cannot cooperate with those who do not share their view of salvation, the authority of Scripture, and Baptist Confessions because such individuals traveling away from and not further into the historical Christian.

For example, Southern Baptists cannot partner with those who deny the trinity or the doctrine of justification by faith alone. To walk with them, Baptist would have to surrender the essential claims of the gospel. As a theologian of old noted, “Unity without the gospel is a worthless unity; it is the very unity of hell (106).” Conservative Baptists cannot partner with fellow Baptists if the deny essential elements of the gospel.  

They also cannot partner with those who deny the authority of Scripture.” Those who follow the path of “Thus says the watching world’ or the path of “Thus says the attorneys” or the path of “Thus says the latest public opinion poll” will in short order cease to walk the path of “Thus says the Lord.”  As the authors who helped compose the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 note, “We believe that true cooperation is grounded in a common commitment to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and in a common obedience to the Bible as the Word of God (145).” Baptist unity flows through scriptural authority.

Lastly, conservative Baptist cannot walk with those who seek to undermine Baptist confessional statements. While confessional and doctrinal statements fall short of the authority of Scripture, they do form the foundation of Baptist cooperation and preserve the SBC from rejecting the clear teaching of the Bible. For example, if the SBC allows messengers to interpret the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 in a way that allows for practices that contradict a direct reading of their confession, then the basis of SBC cooperation will shift from its doctrinal statement to the whims of its messengers’ feelings about those doctrinal statements. In other words, the basis of unity will shift from a shared understanding of the Scriptures as articulated in the document to a shared understanding of someone’s opinions of that document. Such a shift leads one away from the path of historic Baptist faith and until it places them at odds with the essentials of the Baptist faith. Conservative Baptists must reject such cooperation. They cannot partner with Orcs on their path to Moria.

But they can work for the betterment of Orcs and extend grace to those that turn from their Orcish errors. Past mistakes and divergence on essential doctrines should not keep conservative Baptists working with those newly return to historic conservative Baptist positions. Instead of chiding their slowness, conservative Baptists should praise their transformation. If ever a people understood the need for grace, mercy, and forgiveness it should be conservative Baptists who value the gospel precisely because they have experienced the unmerited forgiveness and love of the Lord and Savior. May we have a heart like Treebeard and Merry and Pippin make common cause with all who long to advance the essentials of the Baptist faith.

Peter Witkowski Discipleship, Ecclesiology

Praise the Lord for the Small Work of Small Days

The Lord often expands his kingdom through the ministry of small things though many western Christians tend to assume the opposite. They believe that God is best seen in megachurches and massive conferences that pull together thousands of people. And while God does work through large evangelical churches and parachurch ministries, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob is just as much at work in the church of 10 as he is in the church of 10,000, as Ezra and his fellow Jewish exiles discovered thousands of years ago, when they began building the second temple.

Ezra and Small Days

Following the leadership of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and others, the Jews of Ezra 3 set the foundation of the second temple in 536 BC bring 70 plus years of worship futility to an end. They rightfully long to celebrate and set aside a day to worship the Lord for his good gifts.

But as the worship unfolds with loud hymns and joyful praises, another dissonant sound begins to invade the service…the sound of weeping. Ezra describes the scene as follows: “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy (Ezra 3:12).” Instead of rejoicing in the laying of the temple foundation, these old men derided this day as a day of small works…a day that could not measure up to, much less rival, the glory of Solomon’s temple, whose every corner sparkled with ornate gold designs (Zech. 4:9; Hag. 2:4). As the quirky baseball coach Yogi Berra once noted, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

Though cultures have changed a lot since then, the temptation to compare—and then complain about—God’s ongoing work remains in full force. Western evangelical denominations seemingly mourn their declining numbers without end and spend countless hours coming up with baptism strategies, giving campaigns, and church-growth proposals in an effort to recapture the glory of the 1950s. Similarly, local congregations can remain fixated on past glories, complaining about the smallness of their children’s ministry, the lack of people at worship, or their trickle of baptisms. They remember when the children’s ministry was busting at the seams, when the church had to hold two services to accommodate all its members, and when the church was spitting out baptismal candidates faster than Ford made cars. That was when God worked. But this?

The Glory of Small Days

But what evangelicals miss today—and what the Jews of Ezra’s day missed—is that the work of small things advances the kingdom of God just as much as the work of large things. What the old men mourning the temple foundation did not know was that this temple would one day house the glory of the Son of God. As the Lord told Zerubbabel: “Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts… The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.” Jesus would come to worship and teach in this temple, guiding men and women to eternal life. Though this work seemed small, it would be used by God to advance his glory in ways those men could never imagine. In other words, the small works were not to be lamented but praised for they were even more glorious than the fomer.

What was true of the temple is true of every denomination and local church today. God is still advancing his glory through the ministry of small things. As Reuben Bredenhof notes in his book, The Ministry of Small Things,” The most glorious and everlasting foundation has been laid, and that is Christ (1 Cor 3:11). If we are building on him, then we need never despair, nor discourage these small beginnings.” God can and does use the woman teaching five children in Sunday school to regenerate the hearts of lost children. God can and does use the pastor faithfully counseling two to three members a year to sanctify and grow his people. God can and does use the finances of small church budgets to sponsor missionaries around the world. The hours spent advancing the gospel in small places, in small ways, are not wasted but are being used by God to expand his kingdom. One day soon, countless men and women will be gathered around the throne of God, praising Jesus because men and women were faithful in the day of small things. Praise the Lord for the small days of ministry.

Spurgeon and the Day of Small Things

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon, who preached to thousands and shaped much of nineteenth-century evangelism through his prolific ministry output, came to saving faith through the ministry of small things. On the snowy morning of January 6, 1850, teenage Spurgeon slipped into a small Methodist church that was even smaller than usual that morning. Because the church’s pastor could not even make the service, a senior deacon had to ascend to the pulpit in the pastor’s place. The faithful old saint preached a simple and yet direct message of salvation that God used to awaken and redeem Spurgeon’s heart. The Prince of Preachers was brought into the people of God because a man was faithful on the day of small things.

Small Things Are Essential

What was true of the second-temple era and of the nineteenth century is still true of the church today. The gospel goes forward because men and women like Zerubbabel, that deacon, and countless others keep up the ministry of small things. For example, my church exists today because our finance team faithfully collects and deposits the church’s offerings and pays bills. My church can gather for worship because the deacons faithfully show up early to unlock the church, because my church’s worship team faithfully practices during the week; because the nursery team faithfully watches the children; and because men set aside time to prepare prayers, Scripture readings, and sermons that guide the worship of the church. Worship occurs in my church and in millions of other churches across the world because men and women are doing small things. The next generation of Christians will be in heaven because this generation of Christians, like every other generation of Christians before it, delighted in the ministry of small things in small days. As Bredenhof notes, “we should remind ourselves that oftentimes the little things are the big things.”

Dear saint, do not grow weary in doing good. God is advancing his kingdom through the service of small days.

Final Thoughts

While all Christians should aspire to see the universe praising the Lord and should praise the Lord for grand displays of worship, they should also recognize that God is working in the small days as much as the great days. Brothers and sisters, when you see the smallness of your denomination or church, do not complain about what you lack and lament what you once were. Rather, rejoice in the knowledge that hearts are still being changed and that lives are still being sanctified. Rejoice in the small works of the Lord that are advancing his kingdom and filling up the reservations for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And then… do the next small thing.

Peter Witkowski Discipleship

God’s Stirring & Church Growth

Vanishing men’s breakfasts, shrinking children’s classes, and plummeting worship attendance often drive local church members to despair and then to complaints. They assert that their church would be growing if only their leaders were more relevant, if their fellow members would do more, and if their facilities were nicer. In short, they complain because they believe the solution to their church’s woes lies in the power of other men and women.

How God Worked in Ezra

Though such thinking pervades local churches, it does not align with the realities of Ezra chapter one. The book about the restoration of faithful worship after seventy years of desolation attributes that revival of true worship to the stirring of the Lord. Ezra 1:5 reports, “Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.” God brings about and expands worship through his sovereign call.

What was true of temple worship proves true of new covenant church worship. God builds his church through the stirring of his people to action. Commenting on his church planting and evangelistic ministry, the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

Pray for Stirrings

When church attendance sags and ministries dry up, men and women should first and foremost take their concerns to the Lord. Instead of complaining to their friends or attempting to guilt the bottom tier of the church’s roles into action, believers should implore the Lord to stir them, their fellow church members, and their unsaved neighbors to action. As J.I. Packer notes, “This is the universal rule, in evangelism as elsewhere. God will make us pray before he blesses our labors in order that we may constantly learn afresh that we depend on God for everything.” In other words, Christians should pray that the Lord would stir the lost out of Babylon and into their local church through the waters of baptism. Christians should pray that the Lord would stir their fellow church members to be done with pornography, greed, and anger. They should ask the Lord to raise up the elders and deacons that the church needs to care for the saints. They should ask the Lord to stir up older women to disciple younger women, to stir up men to evangelize their neighborhoods, and to stir people of all ages to serve in the nursery. They should pray to the Lord who builds his church.

At times the growth will be slow and almost unnoticeable. The nation of Israel waited seventy years for their restoration. Our prayers too may have to span generations. But the Lord will answer. The gates of hell will not prevail. Though our local churches may come and go, the great church triumphant will never disappear and will be forever renewed in local assemblies until all are gathered to Jesus in the unending worship of the new heavens and the new earth. Pray for the Lord to stir, for he will not abandon his church.

Act on the Stirrings

Second, church members should follow the Lord’s stirring. Those who long to see their churches revived must join with the Jews of Ezra’s day and go rebuild their church as they are able. They must respond to the Lord’s stirring and put sin to death when their consciences convict them. Following the Lord’s leading, they should pursue righteousness and knowledge so that they can be qualified to lead their church and to disciple their brothers and sisters in Christ. They should follow the Lord’s stirring and invite their neighbor over for dinner and begin a relationship that will facilitate the sharing of the gospel. Those who are stirred to see more children in the church should begin volunteering in the nursery or teach a children’s Sunday school class. Those stirred to give to the church should increase their tithe and support of gospel ministry. Those who truly long to see their church grow and the worship of the Lord expand will ask the Lord to stir and also act on his stirring.

Test the Stirring

However, not every idea that pops into a believer’s head should be equated with the Lord’s divine leading. To determine an idea’s or a stirring’s source, the believer must ask and answer two questions. First, he should ask, “Does this idea or desire align with the clear teaching of Scripture?” The Lord stirred the Jews toward Jerusalem because he had promised to bring them back to Jerusalem after seventy years of desolation (Jer. 25:11–12; Dan. 9:1–2). Consequently, the man stirred to confess his sins to a trusted mentor should do so and turn from his sins. The woman stirred to divorce her husband because she finds him boring has not been stirred by the Lord and should not act on those stirrings.

Secondly, the believer should ask, “Has the Lord given him the skills, the station in life, and the resources needed to accomplish this stirring?” When God sent the Jews to Jerusalem, he sent them with the resources needed to accomplish the rebuilding of the temple. As Ezra 1:6 notes, “And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.” Consequently, if a man feels called to go on a mission trip that will cost him his job and his ability to provide for his family, he should not go. He lacks the resources. But if the man feels stirred to have his neighbor over for dinner to share the gospel, he should work with his wife to put that dinner on his calendar. Similarly, if a woman feels called to give a large sum of money to her church’s building fund but would have to take out a loan to cover her gift, she should not follow that stirring. The Lord has not blessed her with the ability to wisely fulfill her desire. Conversely, if she receives an unexpected bonus and is stirred to give some of that as a special offering to her church, she can and should give in accordance with her resources. God provides his people with the resources they need to follow his stirring.

Final Thoughts

Though Christians can be tempted to view the rebuilding or revitalization of their church as the work of others, Ezra 1 presents a different narrative. The Lord rebuilds his church through the stirring of his people to action. Those who long to see their church renewed so do two things: pray that the Lord stirs his people and then follow the stirring of the Lord. The Lord must build the house.