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Your Sin Will Find You Out

I’ve been a Southern Baptist for my entire life. I grew up in Southern Baptist Churches, went to Southern Baptist schools, and pastor a Southern Baptist Church. By doctrine and conviction, I am a Southern Baptist. And I am broken and angry.

Sunday afternoon, May 22, the Sexual Abuse Task Force posted the Guidepost Solution’s Investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee and its handling of sexual abuse allegations. It is a devastating read. The headlines of the report are being published on mainline news sites.

But as devastating as it is to read about dismissing victims, cover ups, dishonesty, immorality, and the like, I can’t even begin to imagine how devastating the abuse was for the victims detailed in the report. No one should be sexually abused. Ever. And it most certainly should never come from someone claiming to be a Christian or someone who is a pastor or church leader. When victims are shamed, dismissed, and dishonored to protect perpetrators, it only adds to the sin.

At last year’s SBC annual meeting, the messengers spoke loudly that they wanted an investigation into allegations that denominational leaders had mishandled allegations of sexual abuse. This report details those findings. The sober reality facing our denomination is that you cannot hide from God.

In Numbers 32, two and a half of Israel’s tribes asked to be able to settle on the not-Promised Land side of the Jordan. Moses told them that they could settle there, but that their men/warriors must travel with their brothers into the land to help them inhabit the Promised Land. Here is what he told them:

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. 

Numbers 32:23

This text suggests a fascinating contrast. Israel was about to inhabit the Promised Land. They were finally at their place of refuge and redemption. God had rescued them from Egypt and judged them through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Yet even in his judgment, he sustained them with food and protection for 40 years. Then on the precipice of fulfillment, a few tribes wanted their land early. The warning, fulfill your obligation to your brothers or “be sure your sin will find you out.”

This is where we are as a denomination. God has accomplished many good and redemptive realities through SBC churches, missionaries, and seminaries. God’s redemptive work uses even fallen men and women.

Yet our sin has found us out.

Maybe like me, you have tried to hide some sin. And like me, God uncovered that sin.

Our denominational leaders who were more concerned about liability than truth cannot hide from God. It has been uncovered.

Those who have perpetrated abuse cannot hide from God. Some were uncovered in this report. Too many more will not face justice in this life. But none can hide their sin from God. It will be uncovered.

Southern Baptists should be angry after this report. Most of us are not guilty of abuse or cover up or dismissing victims. Rank and file Southern Baptists just want our denominational leaders to act with integrity and justice. We should be angry that our polity was used to excuse acting with compassion and justice. Every dollar given by Southern Baptist Churches has been funneled through an entity entrusted with the stewardship of money and mission for the sake of the gospel. But those entrusted with these offerings have damaged that trust. Opting for personal and institutional protection, they neglected the abused and the broken.

I’m not sure about what will happen next. The Guidepost report recommends specific actions that the messengers can take. We will see at the annual meeting on June 14 and 15.

What do we do going forward?

  • We confess. Part of the reason so many of us are angry is that our cooperative giving through the entity of the Executive Committee connects us to this report. It is appropriate then that we confess the coverup and dishonesty that is present among denominational leadership.
  • We pray. We pray for the victims. We pray for the abusers. We pray for denominational leaders. We pray for the messengers in Anaheim who will meet and act on the recommendations brought to the floor.
  • We act. It is our obligation as a church to care for the abused and broken. Churches should be safe havens for the hurting, not for predators. Churches must take care through policies and procedures to protect those who attend and make it difficult for abusers to use our churches for their sins. I believe the messengers got it right last year asking for an investigation. It will be important that the messengers act again this year with a path forward holding our entities accountable for how they handle these issues.

Photo by Joshua Brown on Unsplash

Are you Exercising your Faith Muscles?

In my devotions last week I was struck by the juxtaposition of two very distinct chapters in the Bible: Numbers 14 and Hebrews 11. I have followed for a number of years Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan. The plan he developed hundreds of years ago takes you through the Old Testament once in a year and the New Testament and Psalms twice. The plan leads one to read four chapters of the Bible daily in different Bible books.

Last week’s devotions took me through Numbers 14 after Moses had sent twelve spies into the Promised Land. The spies came back and reported on the land. Ten spies discouraged the people of Israel from believing that God would give them the land promised. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed that God would fulfill his promise. The result, fear overcame faith. The people rebelled against God. And God spoke judgment upon them. None of the adults who witnessed the miraculous redemption from Egypt (plagues, Passover, parting of the Red Sea, destruction of Pharaoh’s army, manna, water from a rock, etc.) would enter into the Promised Land. Instead their judgment would be 40 years of wilderness wandering.

In contrast, Hebrews 11 is the great faith chapter of the Bible.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

The author of Hebrews lists example after example of faith in the Old Testament. Unlike Israel in the wilderness, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Joshua, Rahab, and on and on, took God at his Word and believed. Their faith was commended, while the unbelieving Israel was judged.

The contrast between the two chapters is striking.

The contrast got me thinking about my own Christian life. Too often my faith (or lack thereof) is like Israel in the wilderness. I’ve witnessed God’s greatness, his redemptive work, his mercy, and his provision over and over again. Yet when faced with an obstacle or an opportunity, I have failed to believe.

As I read and thought about these two poignant chapters of the Bible, the Holy Spirit convicted me. He convicted me about my faith.

What we need to understand is that believing in God is not some sort of blind leap (like Kierkegaard proposed). God does not expect us to close our eyes, shut off our reason, and believe irrationally. No, God’s invitation to believe is based on his Word and his Works.

Consider Israel, they witnessed miraculous intervention after glorious miraculous intervention for weeks and months. Yet when God gave them the opportunity to believe and take the Promised Land, they failed to believe. It was not blind faith they lacked. Rather, they looked at their surroundings (the walls and the armies and the Canaanites) and feared what could happen. They did not look at God, nor what God had done, nor what God had said.

The great examples of faith in Hebrews 11 are different. They were not more holy or more deserving of God’s intervention. It was not their holy lives that were commended, though many did reflect their faith in acts of obedience. They were commended for their faith: their belief in God based on what he had already done and what he had said.

So in my next moment of crisis (obstacle or opportunity), here’s what I’m going to try to remember and what I’m going to ask you to remember.

  • Read what God has said about himself and about us. God’s Word is our primary source for God’s character, purposes, and interventions in our lives (his works and his words). Who God has always been is who God is today (see Hebrews 13:8).
  • Remember what God has done in your own life. Remember God’s redemption of your soul, how he’s protected, defended, helped, and cared for you over and over again. Look back at God’s work in your own life and let his faithfulness undergird your faith.
  • Reflect on God and on his Son. I’m convinced that my own failures in faith are because I’m looking around me or looking inside me. If I look at circumstances, I’ll fear. If I look at my own capabilities, I’ll faint. If I look at God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, then I’ll have faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Friend, this reminder is why we need God’s Word, prayer, and the gathering of believers in corporate worship. When we read the Bible, pray, and testify together in song and sermon about God and his goodness, we build our faith muscles.

Will you join me this week in exercising your faith?