Hawkins encourages Southwestern students to answer the question of their generation
Look deeper at the questions Jesus asks in the Gospels, encouraged O.S. Hawkins, chancellor and senior professor of pastoral ministry and evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, during his Aug. 24 chapel message at the Fort Worth institution.
In his introduction of Hawkins, President David S. Dockery said the two-time Southwestern Seminary alumnus is “a source of encouragement for the entire campus.”
Hawkins “has been an incredible encouragement to me, a source of wisdom on many issues, a preacher’s preacher, leader’s leader, and a Baptist statesman par excellence and we are delighted to have him as a part of the Southwestern community,” Dockery added.
Hawkins said that he has been “privileged to be a somewhat regular chapel speaker” at Southwestern Seminary and that he has preached on the text of Matthew 16:13-16 many times before. He added that it is “sometimes good to be stirred up about biblical truth that we might apply to our lives by way of remembrance.”
Introducing the ideas of the text, Hawkins said while reading through the Gospels he noticed a common theme of Jesus asking questions.
“Now, He was omniscient, He had all knowledge, and yet we find Him on almost every page of Scripture asking questions,” said Hawkins. “There are 150 unique questions found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that escaped the lips of our Lord.”
Hawkins encouraged students to ponder what makes a leader. He described different beliefs of what makes a leader. Hawkins described how some think leadership is characterized by a period or by an exclamation mark. However, Hawkins said that “more often than not, real leaders are characterized by that symbol that is bent in humility, the question mark.”
Hawkins said that he believes that “every epoch of Christian history has had a single question from Jesus, found in scripture, that was particularly applicable for that generation.”
Hawkins went through the different major epochs of Christian history including the early church period, the Council of Nicaea, the Reformation, the modern missions movement, and the falling away of mainline denominations in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Continuing the theme of major epochs and rivalries to the Gospel, Hawkins talked about the current hardships of inclusivism and pluralism facing the church today.
“This is the issue of your day as you go into ministry, the exclusivity of Christ,” said Hawkins. “The Christ who said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me’ as you go out to minister in an increasingly pluralistic culture all around you.”
Hawkins said, “There are two kinds of leaders: there are those who lead by public consensus and there are those who lead by personal conviction.”
Hawkins described the public consensus in Jesus’s question to the disciples in Matthew 16:13, Jesus: “Who do men say that I am?”
“The disciples got into a holy huddle and were pulling out all of their polling data,” said Hawkins. He described how the disciples answered Jesus with the ideas they had heard from the crowds.
Hawkins said, “You see what happens in this verse in a culture in which we live. We live in a world where what men say is far more important than what God says.”
Hawkins encouraged the assembly to lead by personal conviction, noting Jesus expresses this in what He asked the disciples in Matthew 16:15.
“The first question in verse 13 is not the question for us,” said Hawkins. “Let’s zero in on this question of personal conviction that He asks in verse 15 when He said, ‘Who do you say that I am?’” Hawkins provided the answer given by Simon Peter in the following verse, “You, Lord, and you alone.”
Hawkins said, “We are quick to rag on Peter quicker than anyone else because of how boastful and proud he was, but here, he’s inspired by the Holy Ghost, and he answers emphatically.”
Hawkins added that many martyrs answered the hard questions that Jesus had for their generations and they declared the exclusivity of Christ.
Hawkins concluded, “You have a question for your time. ‘Who do you say I am?’”
Hawkins is a two-time alumnus of Southwestern Seminary earning both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Hawkins received the distinguished alumni award from Southwestern Seminary in 2000. He served as president and CEO of Guidestone Financial Resources for 25 years, until he retired in 2022. Hawkins has also served as senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Dallas and First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale.
Hawkins’s entire message can be viewed here.
Chapel is held every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10 a.m. (CT) in MacGorman Chapel on the campus of Southwestern Seminary and TBC. Chapel may be viewed live at swbts.live.
