Every Sunday when SCBaptists gather in our churches, we celebrate the resurrection. On April 20, we will gather early in the morning outdoors for sunrise services and in our churches for our Easter celebration. What do we celebrate on Easter? We celebrate Jesus taking our sins to the grave and leaving them there. We celebrate Jesus coming out of the grave living, risen, and victorious. We celebrate God’s plan for our salvation and for Satan’s defeat that was prophesied throughout the Old Testament. Paul wrote: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4).
Believers have the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life as a sign that our old self has been crucified with Christ and, like Jesus, we have been made new. As new creations in Christ, we celebrate the truth that our old master no longer has a stranglehold on us. The penalty for sin no longer hangs over the head of those who have been reconciled to God through Jesus. On Easter, we celebrate that, like Jesus, believers have life that the grave has no power to keep.
On Easter Sunday, like every other day, an estimated 170,000 people will die around the world, most of them never having been reconciled to God through Jesus. According to the International Mission Board, 59 percent of the world’s population, or 4.6 billion people, are unreached with the gospel. How will those who have never heard the story of Jesus have the opportunity to be reconciled to God through Him? Jesus taught us that the spiritual harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Who will go into the harvest fields here and around the world? How will this vast work be supported financially?
At the 1925 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, an innovative approach to cooperative giving was adopted with a goal of each church giving 10 percent or more to fund state, national and international missions and ministries. For 100 years, the Cooperative Program has served as the financial fuel for Southern Baptists to reach every person for Jesus Christ in every town, every city, every state, and every nation. This year we celebrate 100 years of Southern Baptist churches sacrificially giving to send missionaries around the world to share the hope that we celebrate each Sunday. Since its birth in 1925, the Cooperative Program has been dependent upon individuals, churches, state conventions, and SBC entities cooperating, working toward a common goal of sharing the gospel with the perishing all over the world.
SCBaptists, let’s celebrate all that has been accomplished for the kingdom of God as a result of the sacrificial giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program the last 100 years. Since 1925, the Cooperative Program has allowed Southern Baptists to work together in ministry and mission at home and around the world. For 100 years, the Cooperative Program has taught Southern Baptists the power of cooperative giving and the power of working together as a whole. We cannot begin to imagine how many people are in heaven today because we partnered together! We are, and we have always been, better together.
As we celebrate this milestone birthday for the Cooperative Program, let’s make or continue to make the Cooperative Program a priority in our churches. One of the beauties of the Cooperative Program is that each church has the opportunity to make a difference. The heart of the Cooperative Program is not measuring what individual churches give but what we give together. The Cooperative Program promotes and celebrates equal sacrifice. It is my prayer that we not only rediscover the heart of the Cooperative Program, but that Southern Baptists also rediscover the whole concept of cooperation. Come to Taylors First Baptist Church Nov. 10-11 and celebrate 100 years of the Cooperative Program with your SCBaptist family.