SBCWitness

I LOVE RG LEE BECAUSE….

In honor of R. G. Lee's preaching style I will wrap up my posts on him by attempting to steal his oratorical style and give his thoughts on certain subjects (the last post will be sound clips from his preaching). The title of the post is "I love R. G. Lee because…"

First, I love Lee because he loved Jesus. He preached on Jesus more than anything else. Sermons like, "Christ Above All, Jesus Above All, I Love Jesus Because, Things Unthinkable From the Viewpoint of the Cross, The Face of Jesus Christ, etc." demonstrate Lee's love for preaching the subject of Jesus. Jesus is the "theme of the Bible" according to Lee. "If you take Jesus out of the Bible it'd be like taking heat out of fire, melody out of music, blood out of the body and expecting health…" Lee said that in Jesus "all the hieroglyphics of the OT types find their keys." Jesus is the hero of the Bible and he was the love of Lee's heart, so Lee preached Jesus more than anything else. He told his wife on their honeymoon night, "Dear… you're not first in my life. I love you very, very, very much. Else, I would never have asked to marry you and asked you to take my name. But Jesus is first in my life. I love him more than anybody whose name I've ever heard, more than anyone I've ever known." I love Lee because he loved Jesus. He preached Jesus with power and eloquence. He told of how Jesus was co-existent, co-equal, and co-eternal with God. He said, "In eternity Jesus rested on the bosom of his father with no mother. And in time Jesus rested on the bosom of his mother without any earthly father. And God, who in Eden's garden took from man's rib a motherless woman, in Bethlehem's cow stalls took from the womb of woman a fatherless man. And have you ever heard of somone who was just as old as his father and younger than his mother?" He preached the person of Jesus. He preached the work of Jesus. As a young pastor I love Lee because he loved Jesus. In a day when many are turning to other topics in their preaching, I am grateful for a man who preached about King Jesus, who is the theme of the Bible. If we fail to preach him, then we fail to preach God's book.

Second, I love Lee because he loved the Bible. He said that his mom "seemed to have a prophetic outlook. And she told me, 'Son, you're going to be a preacher in a day when a lot of people won't believe the Bible. But I'm asking you to believe the Bible like I believe the Bible. And I believe it all, though I don't understand it all.' And I believe the Bible just like my mother believed it… It's the book my father touched with reverent hands. It's the book my mother stained with grateful tears." Also, Lee believed the Bible "like Jesus believed the Bible." Jesus said, "Search the scriptures… for they are they which testify of me, for Moses wrote of me." And Lee indignantly said, "These people who bow Moses out of his Pentateuch and steal from David his psalms… forget if they ever knew that Jesus is the theme of the Bible, from the first verse to the last." And Jesus "didn't deny one miracle of the OT and accepted without the any question its doctrine." He said that he wished God would bring Dr. Carroll out of the grave to cut loose over the modernistic teaching of our day. As a young preacher, I love RG Lee because he loved the Bible and defended it with all of his energy in a day when many would not. He said, "I love our Southern Baptist insitutions, all of them. But I want to ask a question. Are our people being given the Bible as the Bible ought to be given to them?" He lamented the teaching in some schools that denied the supernatural. He believed every word of the Bible and preached it as true. In a day when some "evangelicals" believe that "inerrancy" is not the best word to use when describing the Bible, in a day when some believe that inerrancy claims more for the Bible than the Bible claims for itself, in a day when some look with contempt on the "faith of their fathers," and in a day when some believe the battle for the Bible is won, I am grateful for a man who stood forth in his era as a herald of God's Book. May his example encourage preachers of every generation to fight for the truth of the Bible, because false teaching crops up in every generation.

Third, I love RG Lee because he loved the lost. Lee was a soul-winner. He told the story of a church where the pastor preached a sermon entitled "Rescue the Perishing." Then, the choir director arose and sang a solo, "Rescue the Perishing." Then, the choir stood to sing the special, "Rescue the Perishing." Finally the entire congregation stood to their feet and belted out, "Rescue the Perishing." After the service a young man who had been a Christian for only a few weeks went up to the pastor and said, "When do we start?" The pastor looked at him strangely and said, "What do you mean?" The young man replied, "I mean when do we start?!" "Start what?" asked the pastor. "Rescuing the perishing?!" said the young man. The pastor replied, "Oh, that was just a sermon. That was just a song." Lee asked his congregation, "Is it just a song to you when we sing 'I Love To Tell The Story?' Is it just a sermon to you when we talk about soul-winning? I ask you , answer me!?" Lee encouraged pastors not to "despise the visitation path." He said, "Some people look down on a door-knocker or a bell-ringer. But I WAS A DOOR-KNOCKER. I WAS A BELL-RINGER, AND THE SPIDER DIDN'T SPIN NO WEBS IN MY BAPTISTRY NEITHER." He talked about Paul who "encompassed the earth with truths of gospel redemption, who put out the altar fires of Diana, who lit a gospel lamp in the palace of the Caesars, and left a trail of gospel-glory across the Gentile world… This same Paul the Bible says, 'taught publicly and from house to house.'" I love Lee because he loved the lost. In a day when so many are groping about in darkness, young preachers can be grateful for the example of a man who took winning souls seriously.

I love R. G. Lee because of his love for Jesus, his love for the Bible, and his love for the lost. His example to me as a young preacher inspires me. Lee told a story in one of his messages at the SBC Pastor's Conference, when he was speaking to young preachers about faithfulness and rewards in ministry. Dr. Lee met a boy and asked him, "Son, are you a Christian?" The boy said, "No sir." "Son, do you go to church?" said Lee. "No Sir. My dad hates churches and hate preachers. He says if I go to Sunday School he'll whip me for it." Dr. Lee told the boy that he wanted to come to his house and talk to the boy's dad. "Oh, no preacher, I wish you wouldn't do that. Dad won't treat you right." Lee went anyways. The man met him at the doorway and screamed, "I don't want no preachers around here. I know who you are. Get outta here! I'll skin you alive boy for lettin that preacher come here." Then, Lee said that "the man screwed up his face as though he was going to spit on me. He spit down at my feet." Later on, Lee "won that boy to faith in Christ, and he snuck away from his father to be baptized." Later on, the boy got sick, and the dad called Lee, "Preacher, I never thought I'd do a fool thing like this, but my boy's sick and I don't got no money to get him in the hospital. Will you help me?" Lee got the boy in the hospital, and he was put in an oxygen tent. Lee went to visit the boy. The boy said, "Preacher, would you reach down in here and kiss me? I want the same lips that told me about Jesus to kiss me." Lee did it. Then, the boy died. Lee said, "Later on, I won that father to faith in Christ. That is reward enough for me. I don't have to wait for heaven to get rewards. I had it!" That story has stuck with me. Where do I look for my rewards? Do I find my rewards in the lives changed by the gospel of Christ? Lee did. I want to as well.

I love RG Lee for many reasons, and these are just a few. Lee preaches to us young preachers and older preachers from beyond the grave. He says keep loving Jesus. He says keep loving the Bible. He says keep loving the lost just like he did. He said he would do it until "those holy blessed pierced hands which opened up the gates of grace to me shall open up the gates to glory. And we shall see some faces long since lost. And best of all, see Jesus!"

(Quotes are taken from sermons: I love Jesus Because, Christ Above All, Pastors Faithfulness and Rewards, Quit Ye Like Men, and Things Unthinkable From the Viewpoint of the Cross)

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The Dallas Morning News ran Danny Akin's article on alcohol and Ben Cole's response (see previous blogs on this site). Dr. James Merritt, the pastor of Cross Pointe, the Church at Gwinnett Center in Georgia and former President of the SBC, has written a response to Ben Cole's article. Dr. Merritt has allowed SBCWitness to post this fine response. The following are Dr. Merritt's remarks:

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Just a few notes of observation in chronological order:

1. To label anyone who advocates abstinence as "older, narrow fundamentalists" is a gross and misleading caricature. First which of the 5 fundamentals does Ben Cole deny? Second, there were more than a few of the "younger" crowd that voted for the resolution. Third does "diverse" mean liberal? There are "diverse" people who call themselves Christians and even evangelicals that support gay marriage and monogamous homosexuality–is Ben Cole one of them?

2. Is alcohol abuse and drunkenness possible without alcohol? Can the "nth" drink which finally causes the line to be crossed to drunkenness and alcoholism be taken if the first drink never is? With the answer obvious, these tragedies then can indeed be traced back to alcohol!

3. No one is condemning all use of alcohol–this is a straw man. Alcohol has its medicinal purposes (just as Paul said to Timothy) and no one is putting taking one drink or moderate drinking in the same category as drunkenness as indeed Akin make plain.

4. Cole exhibits a gross ignorance of the difference between the wine/strong drink of Bible days and that of today. His entire argument in one sense is irrelevant because it is comparing apples and oranges. It would be as if one would advocate that a car should not travel more than 25 mph because a horse at that speed traveling through the streets of Jerusalem would be dangerous in bible days so the speed limit of today applies accordingly. The alcohol content of wine today would be the equivalent of much strong drink in bible days!

5. Again marriages cannot fail because of alcohol if neither party drinks, no one gets killed by drunk drivers if no one drinks, and children do not have food robbed from their tables if no one drinks. So, alcohol is indeed a destroyer of marriages, menace to families, and a highway murderer. The gun/bullet analogy is laughable. A person with a bullet in a gun knows exactly when he is a menace to others–when he points his gun at an innocent person and fires. No one knows when their line of moderation in drinking is crossed into the danger zone–which is exactly why some people can "hold their liquor" better than others. There is no one "line fits all" standard for moderation which is why the bullet analogy fails. Furthermore there is no harm to a Christian's witness by having a bullet or a gun in their home–the same cannot be said if Budweiser cans fill the refrigerators and litter the house.

6. No one is trying to deny anyone their 21st Amendment rights–again another straw man. On the other hand just because something is legal doesn't make it right. The Supreme Court has ruled abortion on demand for all intents and purposes legal–is Ben Cole pro-life? Would Ben Cole have fought the abolitionists 150 years ago because slavery was then legal? When it comes to Christian convictions and biblical morality the Constitution is to put it bluntly irrelevant–at least to an older narrow fundamentalist!

7. Again the statement that "it is not true that the temperate consumption of alcoholic beverages leads to debauchery" simply is not universally true. The chain smoker comes from the one who smoked his first cigarette. The drug addict comes from the one who first tried drugs. It is true that not all temperate consumers of alcohol become alcoholics but this is a totally different statement than Cole makes and no one is saying any thing differently. Furthermore, no one is saying categorically that abstinence is the only acceptable position for Christian believers (as opposed to say a pro-life position which Southern Baptists do believe is the only "acceptable" position for Christian believers). What Akin and others are saying is that the abstinence position is the wisest and most responsible position for a Christian believer where Cole would say a moderation position would be–the question is which case has the strongest biblical backing.

8. Concerning alcohol and church leadership, God himself holds Christian leaders to higher standards as evidenced by who was eligible for the priesthood in the Old Testament and the requirements given for pastors and deacons in the New Testament (see also James 3:1). It is neither out of line from a biblical standpoint nor from a practical standpoint for the church to require a higher standard from their leadership in terms of alcohol use or tobacco use for that matter.

9. Cole himself stretches the "flexibility" and "nuances" of the bible to the breaking point. It is glaringly evident that nowhere does he mention the key text in this matter (and other matters of potential gray areas) which is I. Cor. 8. That text is the sine qua non for any discussion on alcohol. Paul's entire point (which is so plain it cannot be denied or diluted) is the trump card over Christian liberty is Christian love. In other words liberty which is not limited by love becomes license. Paul knew there was nothing inherently wrong with eating meat sacrificed to idols just as Akin and others know that there is nothing inherently wrong with taking a drink of wine with a meal. But then Paul dropped the love bomb on the liberty platform–if steak becomes a stumbling block I will not eat it (v.9)–and according to verse 13 he never did again. Now the key question–is there anyway that having a Budweiser at a ballgame or wine– or a Bloody Mary, rum and coke, gin and tonic for that matter–in a restaurant can be an enhancement to one's Christian witness? Put another way is there anyway those scenarios can be stepping stones to a weaker brother's walk with God? Conversely is it more likely those scenarios would harm one's Christian witness and be stumbling blocks to a weaker brother's walk with God? To most if not all (except to some young, "diverse" evangelicals) the answer is patently obvious. So, although I have the right to drink, because of Christian love and my desire to avoid any potential stumbling block to other Christians not to mention anything that could damage my witness to unbelievers I will pass– as I have all of my life to no regrets.

Tags: Southern Baptist Convention by Jonathan Akin
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Payday Someday

When R. G. Lee pastored the First Baptist Church of Edgefield, South Carolina, he gave a devotional during a prayer meeting called "Payday Someday." A deacon told him afterwards that he had some pretty good material and needed to work on it some. Lee did! He ended up preaching "Payday" more than 1,200 times! This was arguably the greatest American sermon in the twentieth century. Lee is perhaps the greatest Southern Baptist preacher of all time, and "Payday" is perhaps the greatest Southern Baptist sermon. "Payday" is a narrative sermon. Lee masterfully tells the story of Naboth, Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah as a theater tragedy with eight scenes: the real-estate request, the pouting potentate, the wicked wife, the message meaning murder, the fatal fast, the visit to the vineyard, the alarming appearance, and payday itself.

Ahab and Jezebel cheat Naboth out of his vineyard, and Jezebel signs a letter ordering his assassination. It looks as though evil will triumph and go unnoticed by God. Lee erupts, "Where is God? Where is God? Is He blind and He cannot see? Is He deaf and He cannot hear? Is He dumb and He cannot speak? Is He paralyzed and He cannot move? Where is God?" Then, Lee assures his audience, "Wait just a minute, and we shall find out." As a result, Elijah announces God's judgment sentence upon Ahab and Jezebel, "Ahab, as the Lord God liveth before whom I stand, God sent me here to tell you that someday, someday, where the dogs licked Naboth's blood will the dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab God sent me here to tell you that someday, here, by the walls of Jezreel the dogs will eat Jezebel." The sermon is about God's judgment. God must and will judge sin. He may not punish today or tomorrow, but He will punish eventually.

Lee pauses the story after Elijah passes God's judgment sentence and begins to drive home application. He tells his audience that "Payday Someday" is written "in the constitution of God's universe." God has revealed the reality of judgment in His Word, and it cannot be sidestepped or avoided. Sin will be repaid 'Someday.' Lee lists certain sins and the payday God promises for them, "Oh, you can take God's name in vain, if you will, if you're indecent enough to be a profane swearer, but I have a book that tells us about the cursers payday, 'God will not hold him guiltless who taketh His name in vain.' You can tell lies, if you will, forgetting that lying lips are an abomination unto God… Here's the payday, 'All liars,' says this book, 'shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.' You can drink your rotten booze, if you will, or legalize it, if you will, and go home and not know the keyhole of the door from the mouth of mammoth cave, your wife from a baboon, or the railroad track from a clothesline, but I have a book that tells us about the boozer's payday, 'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise… at last' that is someday, 'at last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.' And liquor never touched an individual that it didn't leave an indelible stain. Liquor never was served in a home that it didn't plant the seeds of dissolution and misery. Liquor never got a place in a community that it didn't lower the moral tone. Liquor never was legalized by any government that it didn't increase that government's troubles… You can live to flesh and sex, if you will, like thousands do, but I have book that tells us about the payday for that, 'the works of the flesh are these: adultery, fornication, uncleaness…' Well, what's the payday? God says that, 'He who soweth to his flesh will of his flesh reap rotten flesh, corruption, carrion, which buzzards love.'"

Lee presses play on the story and describes how God's payday came on Ahab and Jezebel. An arrow kills Ahab. He is stood up on the chariot while the bottom fills with his blood. Then, the dogs leap up in the chariot and lick his blood, "according to the word of God spoken by Elijah the Tishbite… God said it, and it was done. 'The wicked shall be turned into Hell with all the nations that forget God.' God says that, and it shall be done!" Lee's point is that just as God's promised payday came upon Ahab, so God's promised payday will come upon all sinners. God's payday continues to come to bear as Jehu, the newly anointed king of Israel, is told to blot out the house of Ahab. Jehu kills Jehoram, son of Ahab and Jezebel, and soldiers place his body in the vineyard Jehoram's parents stole from Naboth. Lee points out the irony, "Listen, the vineyard they got by shedding Naboth's blood is now stained with their own blood as it flowed in the veins of their son Jehoram. God's payday train is coming into station, and all the powers of men and hell can't put on the brakes…" Finally, Jehu commands eunuchs to throw Jezebel down from a palace window. They do, and the dogs eat her, leaving her head, feet, and hands. Lee pleads with his listeners to escape the sinner's payday for the Christian's payday though Jesus Christ, who took the sinner's payday. "Jesus became all that God must judge, so that we, in Him, could become all that God cannot judge."

One cannot adequately set forth "Payday Someday" as it deserves. "Payday" is a masterpiece. It is meant to be heard. I encourage everyone to listen to it. If you have heard it before, I encourage you to listen again with fresh ears. If you have never heard it before, listen for the first time to maybe the greatest sermon from perhaps the greatest preacher in the long line of Southern Baptist pulpiteers. May we be terrified at the reality of God's judgment on sin. We deserve the fate of Ahab and Jezebel. We should be food for the dogs, and much worse. May tears fill our eyes as we consider the lost who are certain to face the dogs of judgment let loose by a holy God. May we be overjoyed and awestruck that King Jesus received the full force of God's payday on our behalf. God crushed him and healed us. May we resolve to plead with sinners to be reconciled to Christ, because there will be a payday, someday!

Jon Akin

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LEE'S PREACHING METHOD

R. G. Lee's oratorical style creatively turned a phrase into the topic of his sermon while passionately and doctrinally proclaiming God's Word. Lee's sermon "The Face of Jesus Christ" is an excellent example of his methodology. The text for the sermon is 2 Corinthians 4:6 which mentions "… the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." He used the last phrase of the verse as his subject matter and title. Lee introduced the Bible as a "vast portrait gallery." He listed God's portraits in the Bible: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Paul, etc.

These biblical portraits set up the contrast for the thesis of his sermon, "But on every page we will get evidence that all its portraits lose their splendor in the greater glory of the face of Jesus Christ. Of His face, His blessed face, His sweet face, His dear face, we would now speak. What kind of face is it?" Lee said that Jesus' face was: sad, shining, stained, smitten, set, scorching, shrouded, and seen. Jesus had a sad face, which speaks of people rejecting his teaching, his compassion on the lost, and his sorrows. Jesus' face was a shining face because his appearance transfigured, his face blinded Paul on the way to Damascus, and his face shone like the sun on Patmos when he revealed himself to John. Jesus had a stained face. This speaks of the tears he wept for Lazarus, tears shed for Jerusalem, blood he sweat at Gethsemane, blood he shed at Calvary, and even spit he received from Roman soldiers. His smitten face speaks of God bruising him and soldiers beating him. Jesus' set face points him toward Calvary. His face scorches because he violently cleared the temple and furiously judges his enemies. Jesus' shrouded face speaks of his death. Yet, his seen face proclaims to the world that Jesus is alive and "we shall see him as he is!" Lee, "The Face of Jesus Christ" in Payday Someday and Other Sermons, 68-87.

This sermon shows how Lee used the scriptural phrase from the verse and turned it into the theme for his sermon. He strung together meditations and thoughts on the theme for the body of the sermon. Indeed, turn of phrase is the most striking feature of his preaching. Mostly he used scriptural phrases or phrases loosely derived from the scriptures (i.e. the sermon title "Christ, Above All" is derived from Philippians 2:9-11 and John 3:31), but there are features other than turn of phrase to note quickly. His oratorical abilities were also demonstrated by his use of: repetition, poetry, and rhetorical questions.

An example of each of these features will make evident Lee's oratorical method of preaching. His repetition is seen in the sermon "The Blood of Christ" where Lee preached (italics mine), "The blood in drops, falling like red rain from the cross… The blood in rills, pouring down like red wine from the crevices of a wine press… The blood, splashing like shafts of red sunlight in the face of his enemies, is saving blood" Lee, Blood of Christ, 3-26. The poetic aspect of his preaching was not only seen in the artistic way that he strung words and phrases together, but it was also seen in the way he used poems in his sermons. One sermon about the Gadarene Demoniac he quotes the boy's testimony by using a poem:

In loving kindness, Jesus came

My soul in mercy to reclaim;

And from the depths of sin and shame,

Through grace he lifted me.

Finally, Lee used rhetorical questions to drive home his points. In his sermon "The Paths of Disappointment" he said, "What shall it profit a man if he be a great artist and know not Jesus, the one altogether lovely? What shall it profit a man if he be a great architect and know not Jesus, the Chief Cornerstone? What shall it profit a man if he be a great baker and know not Jesus, the Living Bread? What shall it profit a man if he be a great banker and know not Jesus, the Priceless Possession? What shall it profit a man if he be a great biologist and know not Jesus, the Life? What shall it profit a man if he be a great carpenter and know not Jesus, the Door? What shall it profit a man if he be a great doctor and know not Jesus, the Great Physician? What shall it profit a man if he be a great farmer and know not Jesus, the Lord of Harvest? What shall it profit a man if he be a great geologist and know not Jesus, the Rock of Ages?" Lee, "Paths of Disappointment" in Whirlwinds of God, 33. Ralph Turnbull described Lee as an orator when he said, "Part of the secret of Lee's effectiveness lies in his oratory. He is one of the few men left in this era who has a link with past oratorical preaching" Turnbull, A History of Preaching vol. 3, 221. Comparison, repetition, clever phrases, poetry, and much more demonstrate the depth and uniqueness of Lee's abilities.

Lee was best known for his powerful preaching. The two biggest influences on Lee's preaching were T. DeWitt Talmadge (whose sermons were published in full in the New York Newspapers every Sunday) and Sam Jones, the great evangelist. Paul Gericke said, "Lee's own preaching style would combine the biblical wisdom and oratorical skill of Talmadge with the down-to-earth applications and evangelistic fervor of Jones" Gericke, The Preaching of Robert G. Lee, 13-14. Lee possessed old era oratorical skills repackaged and applied to his modern hearers. He commanded attention. People could listen spellbound for more than an hour. Turn of phrase, repetition, rhetoric, and poetry demonstrated his oratorical skill. He used these to build his sermons.

Modern preachers need to study the way that Lee used words in a Spurgeon-like way to engage his audience. Words are extremely important, and preachers should be intentional in the way they craft their sermons to dynamically communicate God's Word. Lee and old era oratory may both be resting quietly in their coffins, but the need to craft our words intentionally to effectively confront modern hearers has never been more alive! This and much more can be learned from the preaching of Robert Greene Lee.

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Part 1: Introduction and Biography

Many Southern Baptists (especially younger ones) seem to be ashamed of their roots and heritage. Sometimes they treat the SBC like the cousin you are afraid for your friends to meet. Southern Baptists are certainly not perfect, nor is our history. There is embarrassment and sin in our past. However, there are also faithfulness, evangelistic passion, cooperation, and triumphs in our past (and in our future by God's grace). There are also godly men, pastors and preachers, who have gone before us. These men are heroes who faithfully followed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and led others to follow Him as well. Robert Greene Lee was one of those men that we are proud to follow. Not to sound cliche, but he is indeed a giant upon whose shoulders we stand as Southern Baptists. SBCWitness desires to honor those pastors who have gone before. In order to do that, we will spotlight each month a pastor who has died. We will highlight his ministry and the ways God used him. We do not intend to forget or be embarrassed of those men who led the way, so that we can minister today. One man whose footsteps we would like to follow in is R. G. Lee.

Robert Greene Lee was born in a log cabin to poor sharecroppers in South Carolina on November 11, 1886. Mam Lindy, Mrs. Lee's midwife, said at his birth, "Praise God! Glory be! The good Lord has done sent a preacher to this here house" (Lee, Payday Someday and Other Sermons, 5). Lee trusted Christ at the age of 12 in the First Baptist Church of Fort Mill, South Carolina. Lee was a hardworking, blue collar Southern Baptist. He worked on the Panama Canal at the age of 21. He delivered newspapers at 4 AM every morning walking his eight mile route in order to pay his way through Furman University. He said, "Thank God He gave me a body strong enough to stand it." He also pastored a little country church up in the Mountains in order to pay school bills. The church paid him 50$ a year for one sermon a month. When the topic of a raise came up, one of the longstanding deacons, spitting tobacco from his mouth, said, "We've been paying 50$ for a long time. And, we can't afford now to bite off more than we can chew, or swallow, or digest. And, as far as I'm concerned we're paying for as much as we're getting" (Lee, "What Have I Done," audio). Not only was he a hard worker, but he was also a brilliant student who graduated magnum cum laude. He earned a Ph.D. in international law at Chicago Law School in 1919 ( http://fundamentalbaptistlinks.com/EBOOKS/RGLee/l0.htm ). One of his most significant crossroads came when Dr. E. M. Poteat, the president of Furman University, who mentored Lee, asked him to chair the Latin department at Furman. Lee soon found out that the university would not allow him to pastor and teach at the same time. He resigned, and his wife Bula said, "That's good! God never meant for you to dig around Latin roots. He meant for you to be a preacher" (Lee, Payday, 5). Lee pastored churches in South Carolina (Edgefield, South Carolina, First Baptist Church, Chester, South Carolina, and Citadel Square Baptist Church, Charleston) Louisiana (FBC New Orleans, adding over 1,000 new members in his four years), and Tennessee (Bellevue Baptist Church, which grew to over 10,000 members in his 33 years). Lee was a prominent preacher, a masterful pastor, and a denominational leader. He served three terms as president of the SBC and four terms as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Not only was he a gifted preacher, but he was a brilliant scholar. He turned down presidencies at Union University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (see more biographical information about Lee at http://www.siteone.com/religion/baptist/baptistpage/Portraits/lee.htm).

Southern Baptists should not forget the godly men who have gone before. Indeed, young pastors and seminary students should not fail to learn about these great men of yesterday. There is much to learn from Robert Greene Lee, though his life and ministry belongs to a former generation. Lee was a blue collar Southern Baptist through and through. He earned money for college working on the Panama Canal. He began his ministry delivering newspapers before sunrise, attending classes during the day, and preaching on the weekends. He was a man who stood strong against the moral evils of his day without compromise. He was a man who stood strong against the theological error of his day without compromise. While many in the SBC were just going along, Lee stood against rising liberalism by defending the complete truthfulness of the Bible. He said he believed it all. Someone asked him if he really believed a whale swallowed Jonah, and Lee responded, "The Bible tells us that God prepared a big fish to swallow his runaway preacher. I think if God can make a preacher he can make a fish big enough to swallow him. But let me tell you young people something if that fish had to hold down some of your liberlistic professors he wouldn't hold him down any three days" (Lee, "Christ, Above All," audio). He said he believed the Bible like Jesus believed it, never putting a question mark after God's Book. Lee never backed down from preaching hard topics. He was not willing to compromise the judgment of God, while in modern times so many feel-good preachers want to steer clear of it. His most famous sermon (arguably the most famous sermon of the 20th century) was "Payday Someday." In that sermon, which he preached over 1,200 times, he taught thousands that God's payday will come, whether tomorrow or twenty years from now. He pleaded with men to avoid that payday by trusting in Christ who took the sinner's payday!

What can Southern Baptists learn today from the ministry of R. G. Lee? We can learn hard work. We can learn to study hard. We can learn to stand with a firm backbone against the immorality of our day. We can learn to defend God's Book in every generation when question marks are put after it, because we learn from our heroes that the battle for the Bible is never over! We can learn to preach the hard things of the scriptures while passionately pleading with men to be reconciled to Christ. Indeed, that is how Lee is best remembered. Lee was a preacher. This is the first in a series of posts highlighting the ministry of R. G. Lee. In subsequent posts we will look at the preaching of Lee and its value for today. R. G. Lee once said, "I would not give up my preaching to be the president of the United States" (Lee, Payday, 9). In a day when the centrality of preaching is being compromised we have much to learn from a man so dedicated to this high calling. R. G. Lee was an orator, a poet, a language scholar, a pastor, an evangelist, a husband, and a father, but Southern Baptists will always know him as a preacher.

Tags: Southern Baptist Convention by Jonathan Akin
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