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Introduction
One of the things that has been amazing about getting to know each and every one of you more is to see your heart for other people and the love that you have for one another!
As a church body love is extremely important as we live our lives and minister to those around us.
Tonight we are going to be mixing things up a little bit once again in our BFM study as we look at both articles 10 and 11 (Last Things and Missions).
I was preparing to simply do article 10 but I felt compelled to do both of these articles at the same time because I genuinely think that they are related.
Whenever we think of “last things” we often think of our eternal destination.
Some of us might think of the various bowls and trumpets in Revelation that bring in destruction and judgment.
We might think of the reign of Christ and the final judgment.
Some of us might think of our eternal hope of living in the presence of God while knowing that other people will suffer for eternity in hell.
The kicker in all of this talk about “last things” is that your perspective on these things can be changed if you are a child of God instead of a child of Sin.
If you are saved then you have nothing to fear regarding the “last things”, however if you are not then Revelation is a terrifying book to read.
Missions and Evangelism should be things that the Church is extremely passionate about if for no other reason than the fact that we believe what the BFM states about “last things”.
If we genuinely believe that there is a heaven and a hell then we should share the Gospel with others!
So, with this in mind let’s spend the first part of our time tonight looking at article 10 of the BFM on “last things”.
“God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end.
According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.
The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.
The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.”
Last Things
We know that the book of Revelation can be a very confusing book due to the dozens of translations and opinions regarding certain things within it.
We know that some people believe that Christians will be raptured up before the “bad stuff” happens.
Others believe that Christians will be forced to persevere through the tribulation.
Some believe that Revelation is to be taken literally while many others think that the book is Apocalyptic Literature and is not to be taken 100% literally like historical narrative (like Acts).
There are a lot of things in throughout Scripture that divide us, however one of the most divisive subjects is on the end times.
What the BFM does in this article is give a brief, unifying statement that all Baptists can gladly affirm.
As has been the case in several of these articles where there can be some controversy, the BFM seeks to find common ground and it certainly does that in article 10.
Baptists have affirmed various beliefs about the end times throughout our history.
Prominent, Godly men in our convention have taught significantly different teachings.
I say this to say that we can disagree regarding this topic and still have common ground as well in some capacity!
Christ will return visibly
Christ will judge the world
There are 2 destinations for people when they die: heaven and hell
Regardless of where you fall in other areas, we all can agree regarding these three things!
Let’s dive into these areas of common ground a little bit more.
Christ will return visibly
In the early church there was a heretical teaching that believed that Christ appeared to them secretly and taught them things not found in Scripture.
This has been an ongoing problem for the Church today as we know that the Mormon faith believes in this as well.
People think that Jesus returned and visited them and told them things not found in Scripture.
This is an extremely dangerous platform to build your beliefs on.
As Baptists, we believe that Christ is in heaven, seated on the right hand of the Father and one day will return!
This will be a visible moment and the entire world will know that it happened.
This will not be a secret meeting for the believers at Morgan Baptist Church but it will be something universal that all people will witness and experience!
He will in fact return - this is something we can all affirm regarding the last things.
Christ will judge the world
As we have talked about on several occasions, justice is something that our world says that we desire but is something that we personally hate.
We want grace, mercy and forgiveness.
At school whenever a student gets in trouble for doing something wrong the 12th time, he cries “just give me another chance, don’t send me to the principal’s office, i’ll be good!”
We don’t want justice on ourselves, we want another chance.... and then another.... and then another!
Now whenever someone we don’t like is in a similar situation we want justice given to them because “they deserve it!”
What we see in Scripture and in the BFM is that Christ will judge the world.
Praise God, though, that we do not get what we deserve!
If justice was served and we got what we deserved, we would be separated from God for eternity in a place called hell.
Praise God that Christ’s righteousness becomes our righteousness.
We know that some Christians will receive blessings and rewards in heaven, however the bottom line is that if you are in Christ then you will be judged as if you are Christ.
Just as God reckoned Abraham’s account with righteousness, our accounts are reckoned with Christ’s righteousness.
This is something that all Baptists can agree upon.
2 Destination: Heaven and Hell
There are several different theories on hell.
One theory that I have heard a lot of in recent months is called “Annihilationism”.
This theory states that non-Christians will suffer in hell (it could be a billion years or it could be a trillion years) and eventually they will be annihilated and cease to exist.
If you have ever heard of this view then you probably immediately thought that it was silly because “hell is eternal”.
I want to pause and state that there is more Scriptural evidence in the New Testament that affirms that those in hell are annihilated than Scripture that supports the idea of eternal torment.
Interesting, is it not?
Being that as it may, though, Baptists generally affirm that hell is a place of eternal torment where non-Christians experience the wrath of God without the mediating person of Jesus Christ.
Whether you subscribe to annihilationism or eternal punishment, though, we can all agree that hell is where non-Christians go.
We also affirm that there is another place where Christians go - heaven!
Heaven can get a bad reputation from non-Christians because it can sound like a boring place where all that we do is sing songs, wear white robes and try our very best to not upset God.
Heaven is so much more than that!
As Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Professor W.T. Conner stated, “Heaven is no lazy man’s paradise!”
There will be so much joy in heaven because we will be dwelling in the presence of the Creator God Himself.
We will be singing praises to God and experience fulfillment in that.
Obviously heaven and the return of Christ are topics that peak the interest of evangelicals today.
Even among atheists there is an interest in the end times and their very own future.
Books such as “Left Behind” have sold tens of millions of copies world wide and have convinced many people (Christians and non-Christians alike) of how Revelation will play out.
What I want to point out is that these books and other books like them are the opinions of various authors rather than what Scripture blatantly says (or does not say).
I love Christian fiction, but we must recognize that it is in fact fiction!
Lastly, many Christians believe that they are the generation that will experience the rapture.
Christians in the 1st century believed that Jesus would return in their very own lifetime.
Christians in the centuries since have thought the same!
What we must keep in mind is that whether Christ returns or not in our life, He will return one day because He said that He would!
The BFM article does a nice job of providing a balanced and carefully worded statement that all Baptists can affirm regardless of your view or perspective on a specific topic such as the rapture or the tribulation.
Evangelism and Missions
The reason that I wanted to combine these two articles is because if we believe in the end times article then there must be a massive response regarding Evangelism and Missions.
We have spent several weeks talking about Missions and how the Great Commission commands us to share the good news of the Gospel with the world!
As one atheist put it, “If there is such a place as hell then I would expect every Christian to let me know that there is an alternative out there.”
This is the task of the Church today!
We must evangelize the world around us and be missional in the way we live our lives.
The BFM states this in article 11:
“It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.
The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others.
Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all nations.
It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.”
What is an Evangelist?
It is not enough to simply live a life that bears witness to those around us, we must verbally bear witness about our faith in Jesus Christ.
Our actions and words must be aligned!
We cannot come to church on Sunday and live a lifestyle that is worldly in word and deed from Monday-Saturday.
The BFM helps to highlight this importance by showing the need for “verbal witness” and to “preach the gospel to all nations”.
We are all Evangelists and Missionaries.
As we go throughout our life, we are called to share the Gospel and make disciples.
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