The Heart of True Christianity Social Justice

Hebrews 5: 14: But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV)

There are a lot of messages coming from the world and within the church which we must be vigilant in our discernment about. We cannot assume something anyone says is automatically correct or from God. The Bible actually says we are to test everything. The key verse explains that our power of discernment needs to be constantly trained so that we may distinguish good from evil. We are living in the last days beloved and there is little time remaining. Jesus is coming back and just as there is a heaven to be gained, there is a hell to be shunned. False teachings are not new the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Colossae:

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. Colossians 2: 4

As it was, so it still goes. There are still voices which offer us fine sounding arguments. They make sense to us in every human sense possible. But when measured up against the Word of God, they fall flat on their face. Their motives are not pure; certainly not of God. We need to be careful to what we lend our ear to and more importantly our mouth.

Let me say this with complete certainty and no ambiguity people who think that there is no social justice within Christianity do not understand Christianity. It was suggested recently by a popular talking head that people should leave their churches if they even mention social justice and that such mentioning was a "perversion of the Gospel." What utter nonsense.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1: 27

The comments made were political in nature, not religious but because of the propensity for religious leaders to lie in bed with politicians, the message gets blurred. The talking head in question is popular amongst the quasi-political religious right crowd that often confuses the things of this world with the things of God. This perspective does not believe in truly helping the poor. They believe in an almost Darwinian model of survival of the fittest on a social scale. It is anathema however to the true teachings of Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

After salvation the number one dominant theme in the entire Bible both testaments is taking care of the least in society. There hundreds of verses, if not thousands, dealing with this subject. God is very clear about social justice He believes in it and instructs us to as well. Take a good long look at this verse from James cited above. It says that RELIGION God will accept as pure and faultless consists of only two things social justice and avoiding being polluted by the world. The concept of religion is man made. God did not create religion; He wants relationship. But this passage from James states unequivocally that God will accept religion as long as it is not polluted by the world and that it cares for needy people!

Discernment is so critical in these days beloved. There are political forces just dying to use you. They co-opt the name of Jesus and pretend to be concerned about doing His will but their underlying agenda is clear. It may be "fine-sounding" but it is clearly not of Christ. How important is social justice to Jesus? Let's take a look at how we will be judged when He returns:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Matthew 25: 31-33

Jesus then tells the sheep what they did for Him and eventually turns His attention to the goats:

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Matthew 25: 41-45

The least of these. That sure seems to sound like it is going to matter to God about how we looked at social justice. We are to be the arms of Christ placing clothes on the backs of the needy. We are to be the hands of Christ serving food to the hungry. We are to be the compassion of Christ to visit the sick and imprisoned. Why? Because at one point we were hungry and someone fed us the Gospel. When we were wrapped in the clothing of the world that hate and misery someone gave us the garments of Jesus. When we were sick in a dying world, imprisoned by sin someone visited us. No social justice to Christianity? Social justice is Christianity.

How much does social justice mean to God? He realized the true depravity of man and the instinctive nature we would have to try and acquire and consolidate wealth and power. So, He created Jubilee. Every 50 years God would seek to undo what man had done by two amazing provisions all slaves were set free and all land reverted back to the original owner. Here is a portion of God decreeing Jubilee:

"'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property." 'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 25: 13-17

Do not take advantage of each other. But God goes even further. When God says to loan money or to help another person, we are to do so with pure motives not profit in mind:

" 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. Leviticus 25: 35-37

And be careful to not fall for the parsing of language designed to sound like a fine argument but really only continues to propagate this myth that helping the poor is somehow a bad thing. Defenders of this notion have tried to say that individual helping of the poor is fine but not governmental. Once again, it comes down to a debate about the politics of man, not the ways of God. But even on this point the detractors are horribly off base and do not understand scripture:

Sodom's sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. Ezekiel 16: 49 (NLT)

Note it was not just the individual people, but the city of Sodom the Lord is rebuking in this verse. When God destroyed Sodom He did not spare the government. Want a more specific example? Let's look at the Prophet Isaiah:

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? Isaiah 10: 1-3

Unjust laws and oppressive decrees? Is that individual or governmental? It is as if the defenders of this line of political thought forget that it is people that make up the government and our specific form of government is a representative republic. The people in government in our country are supposed to be representing the people. What does God say about this through the Prophet Jeremiah?

and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?" declares the LORD. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? Jeremiah 5: 28-29

Avenge myself on such a NATION as this. Certainly God is concerned about what we do in our individual lives. He is very concerned that we always stand up for the cause of social justice and helping the neediest in society. It is through that individual love that people will see the love of Christ. That is how we clothe them when they are naked and visit them when they are sick. That is how we are the hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and dying world. But to pretend that this does not translate then into government is to ignore the teachings of the Bible as a whole. Yet there are political operatives and talking heads that are using Christians every day to achieve their own socio-political ends. You can have you own personal philosophy about the appropriate role and scope of government; just don't pretend that God is somehow endorsing it when He is clearly not. Take a good long look at that verse from Ezekiel. We often correlate the sins and immorality of Sodom as being purely sexual in nature but these verses tells us differently. Sodom was guilty for ignoring the poor as well. For living on plenty while oppressing the needy. Pride, gluttony and laziness. Sound like any countries you know today?

I understand that politics and religion have become intertwined in modern day America. It is sad because I watch as political forces, who care nothing about the cause of Christ, continue to pit Christian against Christian. That is why the key verse today is so important. We must be constantly training ourselves to be discerning. To be able to separate out what is of God and what is not. To be able to separate out what the pure motives are from the political ones regardless of party. God is devoid of party. He is and always has been concerned with the concept of social justice. How much so? Go back and read those verses from Matthew 25. God not only takes the side of the poor He puts Himself in their place! God did not say as you treated the republicans, so you have treated me. He did not say as you treated the democrats, so you have treated me. No beloved it is how we treat the least of these among us, the poor, THAT is how we treat God Himself.

No social justice in the Gospel? Nonsense. God is entirely about social justice. God created it, institutionalized it, and expects it from us as people; as well as from the institutions we create.

Reverend Anthony Wade March 19, 2010