Fighting Injustice Versus Preaching The Gospel Pt. 2

In the last article I made a few comments on how parts of the Church have gone astray from preaching a pure Gospel of Jesus Christ and been sucked into the "safe" trap that beckons under the guise of the modern social justice movement, namely actively promoting social justice as a higher work than the propagation of the Gospel. This worries me, and God has put it heavily on my heart for over nine months now to pray over, and I know that the movement plays a major part in His plan for the Church as we are nearing the end of the age.

I shall, in this second part, respond to a few objections or comments that I anticipate receiving: whenever I write an article such as the one previous to this one, I almost always receive some sort of feedback along these lines of thought: "God calls different people to do different things", "the Gospel is a social justice movement", "Maybe it's wiser that organisations don't advertise they are Christian so they have a wider influence".

"God calls different people to do different things."

I agree, and I will say with confidence that each person has an individually unique role in the world, designed and created by God. But I also believe that the Great Commission of Matthew 28 and Mark 16 applies not just to the eleven, but to all who believe on the name of Jesus. It is everyone's responsibility to teach the gospel to all creation, no one is exempted.

"The Gospel IS a social justice movement"

Again, I agree. However... this seems like a pretty silly objection to me. I mean... isn't that all the more reason to focus on preaching the gospel? I'll comment more later on how I think that hte gospel is the most effective method of bringing about social change.

"Organisations [that] don't advertise they are Christian... have a wider influence"

I'm sure this is probably true, actually. I don't have any research to respond to this properly, but I do have some thoughts.

I have a few Biblical role models, which you might be able to name if you've been following my blog for some time: among them are Noah, Moses, John the Baptist, the eleven disciples, and Paul. Outside of Scripture, some of my heroes are Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley. What makes these 18 men so unique as to capture my attention (and obviously the attention of untold milliions throughout history)? They were completely uncompromising in their faith and vision. Noah preached for 120 years while the rest of the world laughed and mocked him, and none listened. Moses repeatedly dealt on behalf of the Israelites before God when they disobeyed, and always sought God. John the Baptist spent his whole life preparing for less than two years of ministry before he was beheaded... but that ministry was so passionate and joyful that powerful men would travel out into the desert just to hear him speak. Jesus Himself repeatedly told off the religious leadership of the day and spoke of a lifestyle so radical that it eventually brought down the Roman Empire. Ten of the eleven disciples were killed because of their faith when they would not recant, though John probably died of old age (althoug he also suffered much persecution). Paul... oh Paul. The guys entire life was consumed by the teaching of the Gospel, and he spread it far and wide through his influence. Martin Luther took a stand on the Word he memorized in prayer and sparked the Reformation. John Calvin was decided to complete the great commission in his lifetime, and sent out many, many missionaries (letting alone his contributions to theology!). John Wesley was ejected from pulpits, churches, streets and cities but still he preached the Gospel at every opportunity, even in fields.

These are some of the men whom I see having massive impacts on the world around them in their times, not by fitting in and doing what the rest of the world is doing, but by stoking the fiery passion God placed in their bellies and standing firm upon what God had spoken.

I'm not against having a wide influence as organisations, but I think when we are afraid to tell people that we are Christian because it might close doors... that is a shame. I would certainly rather see one man of the quality of those I have mentioned living at the most extreme end of life than one hundred half-baked men preaching a gospel hidden behind the banner of "we can fix this so it's better".

I suppose in my heart I believe that "real" organisations aren't necessary, at all, when it comes to the gospel. Why dump two million dollars into short-term missions that aren't even primarily focused on spreading the gospel when that same amout of money could send a thousand missionaries one-way anywhere in the world?

I'm not criticising any one organisation in particular, indeed, different parts of an organisation can be more or less effective; but asking some general questions for all of them. It seems to me the need to have a wider influence is rooted in our attitude towards the gospel... it is not alive to us. There is no desperation there, we don't realise that we are living at the end of the age, our desire to fulfill the Great Comission is not so strong as to push us to the extremity of our very lives to tell people of God's glory. We shouldn't be working to gain favour and then launching our salvos of gospel... we should be glorifying God through the impassioned conviction of the joyous Gospel of His Son. God will be your influence, the Holy Spirit will be the one that moves to change men's hearts.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3