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NASHVILLE Dallas pastor Tony Evans urged Southern Baptist messengers gathered in Nashville to set aside earthly differences and to be “fully committed” to the Great Commission, saying “it’s time” to declare “Jesus is Lord” to the world.
Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, spoke to messengers during the North American Mission Board’s Send Conference, which was held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in June.
Preaching about the Great Commission from Matthew 28, Evans discussed a multitude of issues — including race and politics — while encouraging Southern Baptists to stay focused on their primary goal.
Pointing to John 2:23-25, which says Jesus “didn’t trust” a group of people who recently believed in him, Evans said, “Jesus Christ is not with all Christians equally.”
“He would not commit himself to them, because he knew they hadn’t been fully committed yet” to Christ’s cause, Evans said, referencing the text. “So you can be on your way to heaven and not participate in Christological authority.”
Underscoring how the modern world can be changed by only a few individuals, Evans referenced the chaos sewed by the 19 hijackers from Sept. 11, 2001.
“If 19 men in the name of the wrong God can reshape how our country operates, what do you think the SBC can do in the name of the true God when we are fully committed to our cause?” he said. “So it’s time now to go public. It’s time now to make your declaration. It’s time now to declare: Jesus is Lord. I am not ashamed. And I’m going to take my stand for the risen Christ. And I will do it with love, but without apology.”
Too many Christians, Evans said, are divided over politics.
“God is not going to skip the church house to fix the White House until the church house decides to be a Kingdom location, rather than … just a denomination affiliation,” he said.
Most Anglo Christians, he said, “are Republican because you’re concerned about the moral decay, decadence, abortion, scope of government, marriage laws. You are concerned for righteousness.” Most African-American Christians, he said, “vote Democrat because of the thought that there will be more justice, that there will be more equity. There will be more inclusiveness. There will be more sensitivity to the poor.”
But “God doesn’t ride the backs of donkeys or elephants,” Evans said to applause.
Evans referenced the story of Joshua talking to a messenger from God prior to the fall of Jericho. Joshua asked the messenger, “Are you for us or for our enemies?,” and the messenger replied, “neither.”
“God stands above this,” Evans said of politics. “And since no political party fully represents the Kingdom of God, either [in] character or content, regardless of how you vote, you should be at your heart of hearts, a Kingdom independent. Because you represent another King, and another Kingdom. And you and I are to never allow the politics of men to break up our ‘together’ — to divide the Church of Jesus Christ.”
Discussing racism in the world, Evans said, “the racial problem is a gospel issue — not a racial issue.”
“It’s the gospel applied to race,” he said. “But because we’ve gotten sucked up by the culture, we spend more time discussing cultural dynamics than biblical authority. And Jesus says all authority belongs to me.”
Southern Baptists, Evans said, should not walk away from the Send Conference unchanged. He compared the conference to a huddle in a football game, saying “70,000 people” in a stadium “don’t pay $100 a ticket to watch 11 grown men bend over” in a circle. Instead, the fans want to see what the players can do after the huddle.
“They want to know, having huddled, can you now score?” Evans said, before referencing the thousands of messengers gathered at the Send Conference. “… So this is a great huddle. But after your Send Conference is over, you’re gonna have to break huddle. Now the question is, did you score? Or did you just have a nice, private gathering?”
