There is a place for speaking uncomfortable truths, said Barber, but added, “Don’t fall for the lie that the truly prophetic voice is the one that is always criticizing.”
Some people who speak well of SBC entities are criticized for being “a company man,” but “why would we get mad when people commend good things that are happening?” Barber asked. After all, Scripture gives believers that very command. “It’s not that we cannot rebuke, or refute, or criticize,” said the SBC president. Rather, “We should be people actively on the hunt for a way to say something nice.”
“Have you become confused on this point?” he challenged. “Jesus is calling us to rise up and be better than the world. What if we did that?”
Barber emphasized that he was not asking messengers to “pretend that there are no ugly things.”
“God is not pointing us to any sort of a cover-up,” he said. “Nobody could ever accuse Paul of turning a blind eye, for goodness sake, to the ugly things in the world…He was Paul, not Pollyanna.”
The fact is, said the SBC president, “You don’t have to cover up the ugly things in order to dwell on the beautiful things.” There are those who accuse the SBC of compromise and corruption, while others praise the denomination for spreading the gospel through the world. “What if they’re both right, in a way?” Barber asked.
Referencing the churches appealing being disfellowshipped, the SBC president pointed out that there were churches that were disfellowshipped that did not appeal. No one should celebrate any church leaving the SBC, and messengers should be “unafraid to say what is beautiful about those churches” that have left.
Serving others for Jesus’ sake requires being able to see the beauty in them, even when most people miss that beauty. “My momma taught me that,” said Barber. “My dad taught me how to see the beauty in God’s Word. But it was my momma who taught me how to see the beauty in people.”
“Yes, have the courage to call a spade a spade when you need to do that,” he said. “But also have the good sense to call a masterpiece God’s masterpiece when you encounter it. “
“There is so much beauty around us,” Barber concluded. “Keep looking, Southern Baptists. Keep looking.”
