Criswell alum and SBC EC chairman: Prioritize Great Commission in preaching

DALLAS?Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee Chairman Roger Spradlin reminded the Criswell College homecoming audience of the priority of preaching that reflects the Great Commission.

"We as Baptists and evangelicals are Great Commission people. But even though that's the underpinning of so much of what we believe and do, it's easy to neglect preaching on the Great Commission," said Spradlin, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif., and one of two featured speakers at the 40th anniversary of the school's founding on Oct. 5.

Before preaching his sermon, Spradlin poked fun at former professors who "trained my Okie tongue to make the guttural sounds of Hebrew," he said, and who taxed his intellect while teaching Ugaritic.

"I stand here today as a 'B' preacher," said Spradlin, noting that he didn't earn an 'A' in homiletics class because he "talked too fast." Quick to admit that he got the grade he deserved, Spradlin looked over to his former professor who was seated in the audience and added, "But when you're from Yazoo City, everyone preaches too fast."

"If you're a student here today, my very presence should give you a sense of hope and encouragement," quipped the Criswell College graduate.

Preaching on the Great Commission?one of the hallmarks of founder W.A. Criswell, longtime pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas?Spradlin read from Matthew 28:18-20.

Spradlin then offered five guidelines for preaching the Great Commission.

"Great Commission preaching emphasizes both evangelism and missions," he said. The Bible commands believers to "go therefore and make disciples of all the nations."

Spradlin said the Greek word for nations doesn't refer to political states, but to all the ethnic groups of the world, and could be translated as "all clans, tribes, ethnicities and people groups."

"Taking the gospel to the nations, to the people groups?that involves what we would call missions. But it also involves evangelism, because God doesn't save people groups, he saves individuals."

"We are to proclaim the gospel to all people groups and to all nations," said Spradlin, noting that "1.7 billion people have virtually no access today to the gospel. We should be absolutely consumed with the lostness of the world we live in."

"There's something of a generational divide in understanding the Great Commission," Spradlin said. "In the past, some have talked about the Great Commission purely in terms of evangelism. It would seem the goal simply is to populate heaven with as many born-again people as we can. Yet, some now interpret the Great Commission solely in terms of missions?taking the gospel to various people groups. The fact is, it is both: Evangelism is reaching individuals with the gospel, and missions is taking the gospel to the people groups."

"Great Commission preaching emphasizes all of the biblical revelation [because it] permeates the whole of the Word of God," said Spradlin, who traced from Genesis to Revelation multiple verses that reveal the salvific intent of God and its results among the nations.

"We tend to dilute the Great Commission. We make the message simply about witnessing ... but it's more than that. It is also missions; it is God's grand plan for his kingdom as seen throughout the Old and New Testaments."

Spradlin also said believers are "conditioned to think of salvation in terms of us. We say sometimes that if we were only one on earth, then Jesus would have died for us." Though true, Spradlin characterized the notion as "egocentric theology," which he said "misses the big picture. What is the big picture? The big picture is what God is doing among the nations, the people groups of the earth."

Citing Luke 24, Spradlin quoted Jesus, saying, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

"That is the mission of Christ for you and me," he added. "We are to declare his name to all nations; our salvation is not simply for our benefit."

"Great Commission preaching emphasizes the power of God and the responsibility of every believer," he continued, saying that the power is from God because Jesus said all authority had been given to him.

Noting that evangelism should be a lifestyle, Spradlin cited two approaches: Some think the lost must "come and see, come to the church, take a look at my life, while other believers say, 'No, it's go and tell.' Which is it?" Spradlin asked. "It's both. Evangelism is not a matter of opportunity; it's a matter of obedience."

"Many in our churches, when they think of the Great Commission, they think the command is to go. Actually, the only imperative is to make disciples," he said.

"The goal isn't a participle; it's as we go?plural?that puts responsibility on us," he said. "God has the power but we have the responsibility."

"Great Commission preaching also emphasizes the significance of baptism," Spradlin said, noting that baptism is a means of identifying with Christ and the people of God. "Some want to devalue and deemphasize baptism. But we should not deemphasize what Christ has emphasized in the Great Commission."

"Great Commission preaching emphasizes obedience as well as knowledge and discipleship," Spradlin said.

"We've developed a kind