Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Social Justice or God's Justice?

A brief thought (definitely not all thoughts on this topic) before I head off to bed. It's not perfect, it's not meant to be, but I have to get some of this out as the church continues to be lied to about ideas and movements which do not come from His spirit...

No matter what's being fed to this generation, Jesus' message was not one of "social justice" and "causes". Both of those, while seemingly good things on the surface are not the best things in the eyes of our Creator. Deep down they are guilt driven (not from God), politically driven and in most cases both. Instead, Jesus was all about God's justice and the Gospel. It is those two things that led and still lead to the call of sinners to repentance, death to self, the importance of receiving grace, sanctification, transformation, service and a life of love which is Kingdom driven.

While the "social justice" folk constantly remind the "out of the loop" Christians that we "should be" taking care of widows, orphans, "the least of these" and those in need, they fail to recognize that only a thorough understanding of God's justice and the Gospel is what gives a follower of Jesus the freedom (not the obligation) to love God and to love others like those mentioned above. It's that love, which comes from the Holy Spirit, that moves us to joyfully give to those who are in need without ever knowing how much is actually given since we believe it call comes from God's hand (not our own innate goodness) anyway.

We must not miss the fact that in this movement of "social justice" Satan has been lying to us, riddling us with guilt and shame, telling us "that's what Jesus would be doing today" and moving us from the truth so that the Gospel will be forgotten or lost in the translation. There is a huge difference between the justice's and we must remember that God's justice and the Gospel is more concerned with saving souls, while social justice is more concerned about people's finite feelings, making people "equals" (not a biblical command) and tugging at their heart strings by using an unquestionably good God-given emotion like compassion against us so that we forget to keep the "main thing, the main thing". That main thing is the Gospel who is Jesus Christ. Don't forget that Satan knows Scripture, but like Jesus on the mountain, we must be able to discern when it is being taken out of context.

Social Justice cannot be God's mission as it sees people as inherently good, deserving of good gifts, a good life, and a lack of pain and suffering. God's justice is so much different, different enough that I question if "social justice" can actually come from the God of Scripture. God's justice says that the wages of sin is death, that deep down our righteousness is as filthy rags and apart from God is where we deserve to spend eternity if not for the Gospel. I am certain of this, when reviewing the differences above, I can't help but see how a counterfeit Spirit has taken over the Church, cancelled out the Gospel with a message of "do good and you'll feel good" and caused many Christians to live outside of the Kingdom without recognizing it. We must not share a gospel of "social justice", or "equality for all" leaving out a Gospel that is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A Gospel that removes our sin, guilt and shame by bearing it on a cross so that we may fellowship for eternity with our Lord. A gospel that de-fills us and in turn fills us with the Holy Spirit.

The message seems fairly simple, the answer to social problems is Jesus. The answer to political problems is Jesus. The answer to your life's problems is jesus. The answer to the sin problem is Jesus and most importantly the answer to your eternal problem is Jesus.

Love this quote below:

“I believe in justice: but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to justice. I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love. I am committed to peace, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of peace, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to peace. I believe in the value of the simple life, but I am not the preacher of the simple life, but of the Gospel of Christ that calls us to the simple life. Let us beware of the ultimate plagiarism of borrowing some great concepts from Jesus then running off proclaiming these concepts and not sharing the Christ that empowers these concepts.”~ Myron Augsburger