A new element to the Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference is one that evangelism director Sammy Gilbreath calls one of his “most glorious moments” — partnering with Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School during the conference.
Charles T. Carter, one of the Tuesday morning preachers, was also one of three Beeson professors delivering the divinity school’s annual William E. Conger Jr. Lectures on Biblical Preaching, which began Tuesday and ran through Thursday, Feb. 26.
Professors Robert Smith Jr. and Doug Webster presented the other two lectures.
So, during the normal divinity school chapel time of 11 a.m. Tuesday, divinity students gathered in the Wright Center alongside Alabama Baptists attending the evangelism conference. Gilbreath handed the service over to Beeson Dean Timothy George, who explained that each year, the lecture has a theme related to the “Lordship of Jesus Christ, Proclaiming Jesus the Lord.”
“We want to say in this lectureship that Jesus is the one and only way of salvation to peoples everywhere and He is the Lord of all life,” George explained.
Carter chose Jesus’ lordship as his lecture topic as he preached from Philippians 2:5–11.
“It is not an exaggeration to say the definitive part of Christianity is the lordship of Jesus Christ,” Carter said, noting the term “Lord” is used 650 times in the New Testament alone. “Everything in the Christian faith stands or falls on this.
“The heart of biblical Christianity is the lordship of Jesus Christ,” he said. “It is not just screwball hyperfundamentalists who believe Jesus is Lord.
“When you stand or preach or sing about the lordship of Jesus Christ, you have what Scripture says, what Jesus says and what scholars have said on your side.”
Pointing to Acts 2:32, 36, Carter explained that “lordship is a post-resurrection belief. If He died and stayed dead, He is not Lord. … (But) the historical revelation of the lordship of Jesus Christ happened on that early Sunday morning … (when) God raised Jesus from the dead, never to die again. This is the basis for our believing He really is Lord today. He was crucified, buried, went to the realm of the dead … and was raised from the dead.
“His resurrection is not what made Him Lord,” Carter said. “It is what revealed Him to be Lord.”
Because part of the implication of Jesus’ lordship is the love shown by Christians, Carter challenged Alabama Baptists in their love for other denominations, other races and other Baptists.
“If we are not careful, we Baptists can act like ecclesiastical snobs to other people,” he said. “We are not the only ones going to make it to heaven. If Jesus Christ is Lord to anyone, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ.
“You are a Christian if you believe Jesus is Lord regardless of the denominational flag that is flown. … What a church believes about Jesus Christ is far more important than the politics of the denomination,” Carter said.
“God is no respecter of persons,” he added. “All people stand on the same level at the foot of the cross.”
“Often we pride ourselves on not being prejudiced against people of other races or religious traditions. At the same time, we are prejudiced against other Baptists down the road who may hold differing views from us — and we arbitrarily want to have them excluded from places of service.”
But Paul said, “Get your act together, come together under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”
As far as the faith proclaimed, “we in evangelical circles face a real issue in our proclamation of the gospel. … [I]f we are not careful, intentionally or unintentionally we make a dichotomy as Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Lord,” Carter said. “We won’t let our own people hold onto to their gods of humanism, secularism and other ‘isms’ and still claim Jesus is No. 1.
“The main thing of biblical Christianity is I make Him Lord of my life,” Carter said. “He saves me from my sin, but He only does that when I make Him the Lord of my life. When we proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ, it is only as people make Him Lord that they really do become part of the family of God. Nothing else will get them in.”
And then there is the hope, which is based on who Jesus is, Carter said.
“The Bible teaches that He is the One who is our hope. He is King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Share with others: