Jesus and Social Justice

Today we discuss Jesus and His relationship to social justice. Oh and Don Lemon tells millions Jesus wasn’t perfect. 

Show Notes

CNN DON LEMON – JESUS WASN’T PERFECT!

Be sure to check out our YouTube video on this → https://youtu.be/2P4pTskuaTk

Social Justice

Does supporting the idea that Black Lives Matter = Social Justice warrior = Marxism = Assault on Gospel?

• Every immoral issue is a sin issue. Racism is no different.

Salvation Isn’t Immediate

• The Gospel doesn’t necessarily bring about an immediate change. Salvation is contingent upon God’s arm operating in His time. Sanctification is a process that is lifelong once God has saved someone.
• Jesus who was the walking Gospel committed Himself to action that brought about immediate change. He didn’t just deliver the message of salvation in passing.
• Jesus spoke up for those who were discriminated against
• Jesus cared for the poor
• Jesus healed the sick
• Jesus chastised sinners
• Ultimately Jesus died so we may all be considered children of God, placed on equal footing as God show’s no partiality.
• Jesus did not take up arms or embark on a mission that was separate from His main mission, which was to bring salvation to all.
• Everything Jesus did was done in an effort to point people to Him. The miracles including even His birth, the parables, the mission, the chastising, the flipping tables, everything Jesus did was done to point people TO HIM.
• The moment we look at the work of Jesus and attempt to separate any of His intentions or acts from the Gospel we fail to see the larger picture just like those who rejected Jesus. We fail to understand why He did what He did.
• Jesus didn’t just preach sermons and walk off. He acted. He committed Himself to works.
• James 2:20-26

20 Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Definitions

There seems to be different definitions of what Social Justice means depending on your bias.

• If you have a bias against black people, then social justice may mean marxism, assault on the Gospel, social justice warrior, government handouts, reparations, etc..
• To paint all Christians who care deeply about inequality or injustice as those who seek to thwart the Gospel of Jesus Christ is wrong.
• Many proclaim racism and racial inequality is a sin issue, a Gospel issue, but then never preach on it.

Victimology

• There is a thought that the idea of Social Justice categorically places people into the status of being a victim who are then no longer responsible for sins or issues in their lives. However this is a bit of a straw-man as not everyone shares the concept of victimology.
• The problem that America has and has always had, is an inability to sympathize with those who are often victims of the colonist mindset.
• If you don’t hold to a racial bias social justice may mean this concern is everything. That it’s at the heart of the Gospel. We need to solve inequity and inequality everywhere. This view can lead to the view of humanism that devalues the power of salvation.

But Jesus…

• Jesus did not attempt to topple the government or force their hand to relieve the oppression of the Jews. Jesus didn’t advocate for reparations. He didn’t commit Himself to toppling systems of oppression.
• What do we say to the puritans who fought against the Roman Catholic Church?
• Reformation movement?
• Slavery in America?
• Jim Crow?
• We are called to be new creatures in Christ Jesus and commit ourselves to living out the Gospel.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash