“We live in a world of
invertebrate theology, jellyfish morality, seesaw
religion, India rubber convictions, somersault
philosophy and a psychology that tells us what we
already know in words which we do not understand.”
"Praise God! Glory be! The
good Lord has done sent a preacher to this here house"
were the excited words of the midwife when Robert Green
Lee was born. Her words would be prophetic. In a three
room log cabin in South Carolina on November 11th, 1886,
R.G. Lee, distant relative of General Robert E. Lee was
born.
Lee's parents were strict
Christians and raised their children in the fear and
admonition of the Lord. Because of that influence young
"Bob" came to Christ in 1898 at a church meeting at
First Baptist Church of Fort Mill, South Carolina. He
always remembered the choir singing, "Out of my bondage,
sorrow and night, Jesus I come, Jesus I come. Twelve
years later he was ordained to preach at that same
church.
During R.G. Lee's life he
went from traveling by horse and buggy, to traveling by
car to traveling by jet airplane. By the time of his
death Southern Baptist Conventions had many thousands of
messengers and Lee had preached to many of them.
When Lee was 21 he went to
work on the new Panama Canal and upon returning enrolled
at Furman University. Robert excelled in his studies and
graduated magnum cum laude in 1913. Soon after that he
married, Bula Gentry. Lee excelled so as a scholar that
he was offered the chair of Latin at Furman. Many of his
friends encouraged him to take the position but he
decided to follow God's call to pastor and preach. When
he told his wife of his decision she replied, "That's
good! God never meant for you to dig around Latin roots.
He meant for you to be a preacher."
After a couple of brief
pastorates, Lee went to pastor at First Baptist Church
of New Orleans. During his four years there, over 1000
new members came into the church, the majority of them
by baptism. In 1927, two years before the Great
Depression, Lee was called to pastor Bellevue Baptist
Church of Memphis, TN. Because his tenures had been
relatively short at his other pastorates, many did not
expect Lee to stay long in Memphis. Lee would stay 33
years at Bellevue, not retiring until 1960. During those
years Lee was offered many other positions. George
Truett encouraged him to join him in Texas while others
pressed Lee to accept the prestigious Calvary Baptist
Church in New York City. He was also offered the
presidencies of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
and Union University in Tennessee.
His ministry was one of love
for his people and determined defense of the Word of
God. In his resignation address, Lee voiced his profound
dedication to the Bible: "You can count on me until my
tongue is silent in the grave and until my hand can no
longer wield a pen to keep my unalterable stand for the
Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God
- giving rebuke to and standing in opposition to all
enemies of the Bible, even as I have done for 50 years."
Dr. Lee laid the foundation for young preachers who
followed him who would fight the great battle for the
Bible within the Southern Baptist Convention.
PAYDAY SOMEDAY remains his
most famous sermon. First preached as a Wednesday night
devotional it still stands as what could only be called
a classic. In all, Lee preached it 1,275 times in every
venue from small churches to state legislatures to
foreign countries. The closing words of that great
sermon demonstrate the power of Lee's preaching:
"Payday - Someday!" God said
it - and it was done! Yes, and from this we learn the
power and certainty of God in carrying out His
retributive providence, the men know that His justice
slumbereth not. Even though the mill of God grinds
slowly, it grinds to powder. Yes, the judgments of God
often have heels and travel slowly. But they always have
iron hands and crush completely ... And the only way I
know for any man or woman on earth to escape the
sinner's payday on earth and the sinner's hell beyond -
making sure of the Christian's payday - is through
Christ Jesus, who took the sinner's place on the cross.
becoming for all sinners all that God must judge, that
sinners through faith in Christ Jesus might become all
that God cannot judge."
