"Too Reformed to Be Baptist"

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog article called Doctrine Divides in which I discussed the dangers of anti-intellectualism within the world and Christianity today. I wrote mostly in generalities, but as a whole I answered the accusation that “doctrine divides” with a rebuttal that it isn’t doctrine that ultimately divides us, but it is selfish ambition within us that desire for us to get what we want and how we want it and when we want it. It is such that we want to be right regardless of the truth that is presented. I will say that I wrote that particular article in generalities because ultimately I have never had to debate anyone more than on a surface level of this fallacy. However, this past week I received the egregious honor of this division bestowed upon me. Let me not hold out on you, but share with you the joy of persevering as saints but the additional honor of being persecuted by “saints.”

A few weeks ago, I put together a flyer and sent it to most of the Baptist Associations of churches in the state of Texas. This flyer was regarding a request for speaking engagements for a conference that I was offering called The Covenant Family. For the sake of any concerns about what I wrote in the flyer, here is the content of the flyer without costs of conference:

Dear Church Pastor,

Over the past 20 years of ministry, I have noticed something occurring across our communities, our state, and our nation that have caused great alarm for me. What I have noticed is that there has been systematic destruction of the family. Guess what? Churches are not immune from this. Families walk through the doors of our churches every week that outwardly look like they have it all together and they might even say so, but inwardly they are falling apart. Families are dealing with the same issues inside the Church as those outside. For starters, we have the same divorce rates inside the Church as there are outside the Church. Whether seen or unseen, there are issues of cohabitation, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, physical abuse, pornography, adultery, homosexuality, and other issues that go on and on right within the walls of our churches. We can deny these truths and say, “Not my Church”, but the reality is still there. The Church today is more American than it is Christian. Why is that? How has this happened? What are we to do? The issue of the family must be addressed, but where do we start?

I believe the answer is found in what is called, The Covenant Family. I have written, preached and taught on this subject extensively over the past few years in the church I pastor. I believe the call of God for His Church is to live as the Covenant Family that we find consistently in Scripture; for our God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. We find this at Creation (Genesis 1:26-28), with Noah (Genesis 9:1-17), with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-14), with the Law (Deuteronomy 6, Joshua 24:1-28), with the New Covenant in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 2:37-41), and even down to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Covenant is everywhere in Scripture.

I want to say it again. Our God is a covenant-making and a covenant-keeping God. He is faithful and He is true because He is truth. God never breaks covenant with His people, but most, if not all, of the covenants He has made are conditional. Covenants are not based on the condition of Him because He never changes. Rather, they are based upon our obedience to the covenants He has made with His people. This is true for the family. God has a plan for the family and when we obey His commands we receive the blessings associated with being the Covenant Family. Today, we see the result of not being obedient to His covenant around us in the world and in our churches. A shocking and heart-wrenching statistic for me is that less than 1% of families in Southern Baptist Churches have a time of family worship and devotion at least once a year. How can we as families obey God when we and our children do not know God’s Word or His commands?  Is this the Church’s responsibility alone? How do we break this trend in the families that attend our churches?

What I am offering you and your church is my experience, knowledge, service and time to provide a preaching/teaching series on the Covenant Family to your congregation, as well as, train your church leaders to continue this process of reclaiming God’s intent for the Covenant Family. This series can be taught through many different avenues and venue types including a single session, but for true authentic transformation in your church, it should include at least 4 sessions to get the heart of the issue, to call our families to a Biblical worldview, instruct them of what God has commanded us in His Word and then allow them to ask questions, in order to get answers on how they can begin applying God’s intent for the Covenant Family to their lives. Regardless of your church size, this is a teaching that needs to be brought to your church and your community.

We will address particularly the areas of:

• What is covenant?

• What is a Biblical family?

• What is the purpose of the Covenant Family?

• What is the role of men in the Covenant Family?

• What is the role of women in the Covenant Family?

• What is the role of children in the Covenant Family?

• What is the role of the Church in the Covenant Family?

• Identifying destructive and divisive elements standing against the Covenant Family!

Because Christ’s love compels,

Russell Traweek

Who would have known that offering such a conference would create a great doctrinal firestorm or even debate? Do you find anything suspicious or deceitful or threatening to Christendom contained in this document? Well, I had an association respond by email and as I saw the little icon in my Inbox, my heart jumped with joy and excitement. Then I opened the email and as reality set in, I did not know how to respond. It was a polite rejection of my offer. But why did they reject it? Why did the association refuse to send it on to its churches? Was it because they had their own ministry to families? Well, it is because…Well, here is their response:

While we would agree with your assessment, and the need for holiness and real life-transforming surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every believer, this is a Southern Baptist Association and we can advertise and promote only those events that are in total alignment with the doctrinal views of the member churches…

Who would have thought that a conference on the family would be rejected by any Christian denomination or an association of such churches? Especially Baptists, right? Don’t those guys believe in the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture for all areas of Christian living (2 Timothy 3:16-17)? Don’t they believe in a Biblical view of marriage as one man and one woman for life? Don’t they believe in making disciples of all peoples and wouldn’t that include their families? Don’t they believe in family devotions and passing on God’s Word to their children by “training them in the way they should go (Proverbs22:6)? Well…yes that is what the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states. So what is so clearly damning about teaching on the covenant family that this association would declare it as unsound teaching? Well, because of the word covenant. Particularly, the word covenant causes a problem because they assumed it “was a reference to the reformed or covenant theological position, which the pastors of this association stand firmly against, both SBTC and BGCT“. What? They stand against a reformed or covenantal theological position and against the word “covenant”?

What does the word “covenant” mean that it could start such a barrage of reprisal? In Hebrew, it is the word בְּרִית (berÎyth pronounced ber-eeth) which means, “A Divine ordinance with signs or pledges.” In Greek it is the word διαθήκη (diathēkē pronounced dee-ath-ay'-kay) which means, “an arrangement, a compact, a testament...i.e. God’s covenant with Noah, Abram, people of Israel, and eventually the new covenant, available to all in Christ Jesus.” Nowhere in Scripture is covenant looked at as a bad thing, but as something that God has done and God has purposed. Covenant is consistently throughout Scripture and how God interacts with His people. From the Covenant of works in the Garden to the New Covenant made in Christ Jesus, God has covenanted with His people. Do they stand against the New Covenant and the salvation that Christ has brought? Do they stand firmly against Communion or “The Lord’s Supper” in which Christ Himself says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25, ESV)? Is Christ wrong here? Has He done something heretical? I think not and that is evidenced by the fact that they remember by participating in the sacrament. So are they being hypocritical or selective or are they just ignorant of what covenant is? I believe the answer to that question is a bit of each.

These opponents to covenant are hypocritical, because they say that covenant teaching is wrong and then they partake of that which is part of the New Covenant. It is selective, because they want the salvation that the New Covenant represents, but without the meaning of the language implied. It is also ignorance because it is easier to distort and cast blame against that which one does not understand, but stands in stark contrast to what one believes without looking at the evidence presented (both Biblical and historical) than it is to do the leg work and understand what is truly behind covenant and the teachings that follow it. Let me be very clear. I understand the fears that are encompassed within the unknown or that which is contrary to what I been taught all my life growing up for I myself was raised in a Southern Baptist Church, but is sinful to put the teachings of men and denominational affiliation above that which is consistent with Scripture and taught. I have made some major changes in my beliefs regarding salvation, baptism, discipleship, evangelism and even marriage and family because of the implications of covenant on the Christian life revealed throughout Scripture. In fact, it forced me to write a book which is right now at publication.

Over the next few weeks, I want to take my readers on a journey of what covenant and reformation really is. On my journey to know God and His Word more, what I found to be true is that for revival to occur in His Church there must reformation and for reformation to occur there must transformation (i.e. new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17). Take this journey with me and see without the blinders of relativism or denomination and see God’s Word through the eyes of a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God.

Because Christ’s love compels,

Russell Traweek