ARTICLES
Q TALKS
DISCOVER Q
EVENTS
All Q Events
Q Nashville 2014
Q Session | Innovate
Q Cast
RESOURCES
Books
Studies
Bible
Church Leaders
Speaking
PARTICIPATE
Praxis Accelerator
Host Conversations
Church
Business
Education
Social Sector
Arts + Entertainment
Science + Tech
Government
Media
Cities
Gospel
Restorers
Tweet
1
Gospel
Picture Justice: Embracing Our Global Neighborhood
by
Bethany Hoang
Many express concern that justice ministry be subordinated to “direct” evangelism and church planting. One church leader, for example, stated his concern that “justice ministry can devolve into ‘the social gospel’ if it is divorced from direct evangelism.” He even recognizes the potential root of this concern as he continues, saying, “I think this is partly a reaction against more theologically liberal/ mainline denominations that took up the mantle of justice ministry while compromising on the authority of scripture, the priority of evangelism, etc.”
However, his solution is not to bring understanding to the role of justice ministry in the comprehensive biblical narrative of salvation. Instead, he explains, “Nevertheless, not wanting to throw out the baby with the bath water, our church seeks to support ‘word and deed’ ministries, ministries that care for the physical needs of those who are suffering as well as their spiritual needs through direct evangelism and discipleship, especially through church planting.”
Implied here is that the church will only support ministries that have direct evangelism as their primary emphasis. The meeting of physical needs is deemed important, but secondary. But where does one draw the line? How might this kind of bifurcated thinking play itself out in situations of violent oppression in our world right at this moment? Would Kunthy and Chanda need to hear the Gospel
before
being rescued? Would their new lives of freedom appear to have been given for naught if they did not at some point trust their lives to the Lordship of Jesus after they had been rescued? Is there any missional value, any true witness to Jesus that comes simply through their physical rescue? Does their rescue in and of itself glorify God and witness to God’s desire that ‘none should perish but have eternal life’?
The very fact that many evangelical communities cannot let ministry to physical needs stand alone from “direct evangelism” and church planting indicates a dualism in our understanding of not only mission, but of salvation and eternity. It was Greek philosophy that introduced the idea of the immortality of the soul, apart from the body. Christian Gnosticism (the heretical world-view that undergirds
The DaVinci Code,
as one example) continued this proposition. Orthodox, robustly biblical Christianity has never tolerated the idea of the immortality of the soul in separation from the body. Our belief in eternal life is wholly grounded upon the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We believe that through Jesus there is not eternal salvation of one’s soul only, but rather “resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”
It is important to note that this is not an issue of mere semantics. What we believe about the life to come has everything to do with the way we live God’s mission in our lives of today. If we have fallen into believing that the life to come is a matter of our souls only and not our bodies, we have not held to orthodox Christianity but have rather fallen quite blindly into the realm of Gnosticism’s commitments. We have neglected to believe Jesus’ promise that he has come to make all things new.
Jesus did not come to abandon this world, nor did he ask us to follow him away from this world. Jesus
did
promise that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, that one day all things will be restored, that just as God created this world, and just as humans sinned in utter disobedience to God, creation groans toward redemption, and one day our redemption will be complete (Romans 8). There will be a final restoration – and this restoration will not look like disembodied souls living eternally. It will look like a new heaven and a new earth, with resurrected bodies eternally worshipping around the throne of Jesus, casting all of our crowns at his feet (Revelation 4).
AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD
What is at stake in whether we see ministries of justice and mercy as central to mission? In short, our understanding of the character of God is at stake. Scripture is clear on the point that God is a God of justice.
3
And God’s justice does not extend to our need for justification from sin alone. It extends to free us from the bondage and suffering imposed by the sin of others as well.
God’s justice encompasses the whole of human existence. God’s justice intervenes in the most fleshly matters of humanity’s inhumanity, and God’s justice calls us to live out his character on behalf of the oppressed.
Our lives of justice witness to the God of justice – and this in itself is significant. Our lives of justice witness to the cross of Jesus, as we put ourselves in places of darkness, as we risk suffering alongside of those who suffer in our world, in the here and now. Our lives of justice point to the reality that all things will be made new, that one day all of creation will be restored.
Our souls are inextricable from our bodies, our lives are inextricable from the lives of others around us, our discipleship is inextricable from the way we treat even the parts of this world that are surely passing away. All will pass away. Only God’s word will remain. And yet God’s word will renew
all
things.
How can followers of Jesus robustly engage the tangible, physical needs of our neighbors throughout the world – even those who are seemingly farthest from our reach – while still holding to the ultimate authority of scripture, still proclaiming Jesus as the only Way, Truth, and Life, still admonishing the need to be reconciled to God, still professing the call for all to profess Jesus as Lord and to follow Him with their lives?
Whether we choose to engage this question or not will determine whether current interest in ministries of justice and mercy become rightfully integral to mission and discipleship or casually sidelined as secondary to soul salvation.
Matters of justice are matters of salvation. Any separation or ordering of physical and spiritual needs forces a false choice. Our action will not be sustainable unless we retool our thinking to align with the whole of the biblical witness to salvation.
WHEN JUSTICE IS DONE
Brilliant stories of hope blaze the trail for us to move forward. In fact, it is precisely because of the way God’s people are mobilizing in response to the biblical command to seek justice that little girls are being rescued from lives of serial rape. It is precisely because God’s people are responding to God’s passion for justice, made clear in abundance throughout the scriptures, that Kunthy and Chanda now live as free children.
Because of the generous prayer, financial, and mobilizing support of church communities and individual Christians, the organization I serve with, International Justice Mission, was able to respond to the reports we were receiving about the country of Cambodia. Cambodia has long been a hot-bed for trafficking; certain parts of the country were in fact notorious for providing the youngest of the young to sex tourists who came asking. But because of the support of Christians who believe justice to be central to the mission God calls His people to live, when we at IJM received a tip that two little girls were being sold for sex at a certain brothel in Phnom Penh, our investigative staff was able to respond, and we were able to do the work of helping an entire nation to reverse a whole industry of exploitation.
Previous
1
2
3
4
5
Next
Tweet
Comments
Todd Colwell
I just read this as I sit here in a little suburban coffee shop off of Main Street in Norcross, GA. Not far to the north is my city, Johns Creek. Here in Norcross, I know where injustice is at work, but it's away from the aroma of coffee. Where I live, it's next to impossible to find anything that our city's culture deems "wrong". I mention my context because it shapes me more than I know. It easily cheapens grace's impact on me and this is why my "cross" has been the exercise of practices of the faith. Why, I find these practices help me in the transitional times. Those times are when I travel the web or roads and come across injustice and the need for me to respond. If my conscience is not shaped by the Spirit of the Kingdom of Jesus, I'm not very good at action on behalf or even with God. But when I am, I'm able to move beyond my culture into the heart of the Father. I agree with much of what Hoang writes here and see once again that justice is not just a good idea but a genuine expression that those of us in God's Kingdom need to act on whenever we face it.
Comments are now closed
ALSO IN GOSPEL
Contemplative Activism as a Model for Mission
by Phileena Heuertz
The Single Biggest Change You Can Make in 2013
by Matthew Sleeth
Conversion and Contextualization
by Jonathan Dodson