Who Is The Disgrace To Grace?

Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, became
Disgrace to grace, the proud preacher announced;
For God's children, the world's ways are a shame!
Well. that's true, and Lot ought to be denounced;
But the Spirit whispered, "He should be told,
'Look at yourself, blind guide, before others!"
I knew, he was one who planned to control
All Baptists, this Allen, naming brothers!
How arrogant! New leaders pre-approve,
Coaching messengers, and stacking the vote!
Backroom politics, brothers to remove,
Judging who's fit; casting some from the boat!
Lot was hardly apt a target for you,
Who undid Baptists with your judging crew!

"When you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye." (Matthew 7:3)

One of the most difficult tendencies to eliminate from our habits is the one Jesus spoke of above. It is an ingrained trait in every person to observe the faults of others with a calculating, judging, comparing eye. We comfort ourselves by concluding that we are not as bad as the next guy. This trait is an obstacle in trying to enlist a friend to join us in serving Jesus. The most frequent reaction is, "You think you are better than I." We don't think that at all, but it strikes our friend in that way, because he is comparing his life with what he sees in ours.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7:1-2)

Baptists have just passed through a 40-year period of internal conflict, during which some Christians took it upon themselves to take control of the central coordinating offices and all boards of trustees of schools, seminaries, and mission boards. It was accomplished by the smoke-filled backroom politics used by the world in its power struggles; delegations were stacked with pre-coached members, slates of new officers pre-approved, based on rumor and hearsay. The established leadership were naively depending upon everyone's good will and dependence upon the Holy Spirit; the attackers took no chances, putting up persons sworn to their agenda. We're past that now, with the Baptist conventions in ruins, missions declining, converts at an all-time low. No one knows what will happen next.