Social Justice Gospel? Hold Up.

I see a lot of pastors and Christians these days talking about social justice and about racism in general and using the words of Jesus to justify their positions and I'm here to say - the Gospel may have something to say about Social Justice, but it is not primarily about Justice or Social Justice, on this side of Heaven. In fact, the only true justice that the Bible speaks of, is the justice that Jesus will oversee when he returns in Glory and sits on his throne, judging the living and the dead, in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2). I think Christians and Pastors walk a dangerous line when they make statements like, "if you call yourself a Christian and don't have a social justice mindset, you might be following the wrong Jesus". That's a paraphrase of sentiments I've heard and read lately and to me, it's a slippery slope that confuses the true message of the Gospel.

Let me be clear - do my statements above suggest that I don't think Social Justice is an important issue? No. By no means. I will explain further where I believe the nuance lies, but I am not dismissing the history of oppression and marginalization that blacks, Native Americans and others have suffered in the United States, over it's history. I am not saying that anyone is free to wipe their hands from doing hard work related to racial reconciliation; that is important work that needs to be done, of that there is no question.

Jesus makes many statements in the Gospels about what our attitude, as disciples, should be towards the poor, the widowed, the sick, the prisoner, etc. Matthew 25 comes to mind, "whatever you did for the least of these brother and sisters of mine, you did for me." Luke 4 also comes to mind - the scroll that Jesus reads when he emerges from the wilderness, which is a quote of Isaiah 61, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Others for consideration: James 1:27, Galatians 2:9-10, Matthew 6:1-4, Proverbs 14:31)

In talking about Luke 4, there is some nuance, and the nuance lies in the 'when' - if you are a Kingdom Now type of person - what evidence do you have to point to that Jesus' Kingdom is being established right now? Do we have any less strife now, on nearly any level you want to talk about, than we did 500 years ago? To boil it down all the way, was Jesus saying that he came to proclaim freedom for the prisoner, now? Was he saying that he came (the first time) to reverse oppression, now? I would argue that the unequivocal answer is no. I think what Jesus is saying in Luke 4 is that He came to give hope - to proclaim that there is a day coming when the prisoner will be free, when the oppressed will no longer be oppressed - when the blind will see and the lame will walk. In other words, Jesus came to tell us exactly what his Kingdom will be like, to show us glimpses of what His Kingdom is like (with miracles) and to tell us how to we can be a part of it. Most the miracles that Jesus performed during his ministry were related to provision and healing - the 'first fruits' of what His kingdom will be like - a window, if you will, into what is to come. Were those miracles performed in order to suggest that we can have all of that now...no, it was to say, "hey guys, I'm going to do what I've said, all along, that I'm going to do and it's worth persevering in your faith to see that happen, whether in your earthly lifetime or not."

And what about the suffering that Jesus PROMISES to those who follow him (Matt 10:38, Matt 24:9, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23)? How much social justice will Christians feel when the tide of public opinion turns against them (which it most certainly will at some point) and they are shouted down, beaten and killed for faith in Jesus?

I think it is more than fine to preach messages about how we are to care for our fellow man - but if that message is not paired with the Gospel - we are only shallowly teaching people to save others from suffering in this world, and potentially delivering them to an eternity of suffering in Hell. Let me say that again in a different way - if anything that we do in the service of others, as Christians, is not paired with the eternal hope of Salvation that can be had by trusting and believing in Jesus' sinless death on the cross, then we are simply alleviating temporary suffering on this side of His return and potentially damning people to eternity of suffering in hell. The true message of the Gospel, which Jesus preached, is "repent and believe" - it is the same message that John the Baptist preached and the same message taught by the Prophets in the Old Testament. There are certainly ways we can emulate the life of Jesus in caring for the poor, sick, widowed, imprisoned and oppressed, but none of what Jesus did in those efforts was ever devoid of telling people the Truth about the coming Kingdom.

Paul is very clear that in this world - our problems will continue on until Jesus returns. Sickness, death, and suffering will all be present right up until Jesus restores everything. At the end of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says

"But we have treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. [...] So we do not lose heart. Through our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (7-12, 16-18)

Paul and the disciples were not suffering beatings, imprisonment and death because they were going around caring for the poor/widowed/imprisoned and healing people. No, they were suffering because of the truth about the Kingdom - for the message they carried that says that in order to inherit the Kingdom, we have to submit ourselves and our very lives to His authority; that we have to take up our crosses with Him and follow Him.

 

As a result of everything I have just said, the Church has an extremely difficult job. If taken too far, the issues of the world become distractions that take us away from truly following Jesus. As my pastor likes to say, the gospel is Jesus + Nothing = Salvation. In very emotionally heated times, it can become easy to get caught up in a good cause, without remembering that the only cause that will ultimately matter is that of the Gospel. Does this abdicate anyone from responsibility? No - but that is the difficulty. How do Christians be in the world but not of it? To truly care for our fellow man is to sit with them in their suffering, yes, but also to share the hope of something better - to share with them the hope that one day the King is going to return and set everything right. It is an acknowledgement, inherently, that everything in this world, good and bad alike, is temporary. It is an acknowledgement that try as we might, without Jesus, nothing will truly be fixed - that suffering, injustice, sickness and death are a part of this fallen world until He returns.

So how are we counseling people? Are we pointing them to Jesus - are we most concerned about their souls, with everything else coming second? Are we willing to sit with someone in their suffering and deliver a true message of hope?