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Newnan, Georgia
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Coweta Particular Baptist Church
Raymond, GA 30265
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Tearing Down the Modesty Walls
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2016
Posted by: Coweta Particular Baptist Church | more..
22,260+ views | 280+ clicks

Tearing Down the Modesty Walls

One of the unexpected benefits of growing old as a minister is that one becomes more… calm, more…quiet and sagacious; less bluster and more blessing, less heat and more light. But I had an experience recently that set me back 30 years in that department!

I was going about my normal day in the downtown district of our old Southern town when I passed by the largest Baptist church in our county – the great First Baptist church of Southern Baptist heritage. To my amazement, everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) from inside that enormous sanctuary was out in the street or on the sidewalk – pews, pulpit, lighting, even the carpet. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I’d never seen such a massive reconstruction up close, at least, not of a church building. I couldn’t resist to step in and look.

Sure enough, once I was inside I could see that they had indeed stripped the building down to the very skeleton. As Providence would have it, the main contractor in charge of this massive project was on site that day and welcomed me in to look around. Clearly proud of their skills, he graciously took on himself to give me a guided tour of the work and their plans. I followed quietly behind him trying to take it all in. As we approached the front of the sanctuary, he said, “And we’re tearing down these modesty walls up here to enlarge the stage.” Not knowing that such words would strike me like a ball bat to the face, he took another breath to continue on, but before he could begin his next sentence, I stopped him. I stopped in my tracks and said, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What did you say? Say that again.” He looked puzzled at my query, but graciously repeated what he had said. “We’re tearing down these modesty walls.”

I knew full well what he meant to do, at least with regards to the construction work, but I acted completely confused and requested an explanation. I simply could not resist some further comment on a statement so profoundly packed with spiritual implications. He paused a moment (for the first time since I’d met him) and proceeded to explain. “Well,” he said, “in the old days they built these low walls here so that the instrumentalists could not be seen by the congregation and all the focus would be on the pulpit, but we’re tearing those down. Now they want to be seen when they perform so we don’t need these walls any more.”

That was it – he had lit my fire! All the “spit and vinegar” of my youth was back in a flash!

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with two conflicting emotions, each clamoring for supremacy. On the one hand, I was filled with sorrow. Tears welled up in my eyes and I had to blink them back in front of this poor fellow. On the other hand, I was angry – filled with “righteous indignation.” Every blow of the carpenter’s sledge hammer seemed to be striking the very foundation I’d been building for forty six years. I had to get out! I almost ran as I bid him goodbye and flew out the front door again. I needed time…alone.

I wish I could tell you that this story ends there, but it doesn’t. Hardly a week went by when, in God’s Providence, I happened across the pastor of that once-great church at a shop in town. In honor of that genius from Bedford, we’ll just call him “Dr. Worldlywiseman.” Unable to just “leave it alone” (the everwise counsel of my wife) I spoke to him and related all that I’ve just recorded here for you. He listened, with his typical placid smile, all the way to the end and said nothing. NOTHING! I suppose such a response, or rather the lack of it, lit my fire all over again. Those former emotions came crashing back. Since he had no observations on the matter, I offered mine!

I said, “So the contractor said he’s tearing down the modest walls in the church, but that’s not true, is it?” Looking confused, Dr. Worldlywiseman said, “Well, I guess it is.” I said, “No sir! It isn’t! You’ve torn down the ‘modesty walls” in that congregation long ago. Is that not so?” Still wearing his sheepish smile, he said, “Well, I don’t know.” The words, “Well, I do,” came crashing past my teeth and out my lips before I knew what had happened. (I did tell you that I had reverted 30 years) It was somewhere along this point that my ever-watchful wife reminded me of our need to move on. Thank God for Godly wives!

If this story were not heart-rending enough, there’s more. While we grieve to see the old “flag ships” of Southern Baptist heritage go down the Modernist drains, we grieve yet more to see an even worse spectacle in some of our own ranks. There is a “new” (they say, “Neo”) breed of Calvinism among us today that spurns the law of God and revels in their unfettered “liberty” to the banishment of any vestige of “modesty” in life. They’ve heralded their doctrinal purity while denouncing any practical application of that doctrine to their lives. They’ve touted a “grace” that is free and sovereign which yet holds NO standard of holiness or separation from “the world” – NO “modesty walls”!

Such, my Brethren, is a false gospel. I suggest to you that such men are, “...clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withered, without fruit, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars…” Jude 12

Let us hold high the blood-stained banner of truth, while keeping our vessels PURE in this shameless, immodest and debauched generation.

LET US BUILD AGAIN THE “MODESTY WALLS!”

Dr. John Suttles

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