Black, White, Happy and Ignorant of True Justice

Justice. It seems be the buzzword of today’s world. By definition, justice is the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action and conforming to this principle or ideal.[1] The idea of justice is saturated with words such as equality, rights, fairness, and freedoms. When one speaks of the exercise of justice, in essence, one is championing the perceived injustices of prejudice, racism, oppression, and tyranny. Those who fight for justice often see that the oppression of others, usually the less fortunate, is caused by those who have the power to relieve their suffering, yet refuse to accept blame and rectify their actions. In many circles, “justice” is synonymous with the term “social justice,” which is best exemplified in our modern era through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, led Martin Luther King Jr. The Jim Crow laws which promoted bigotry and discrimination toward Black Americans was clearly an issue where justice was appropriately instituted and rectifying the right for equality among all people. 

Fast forward to 2015. America is in a volatile place. Many believe that the fight for equality still exists and that issues like race and gender are still battles that need to be waged in our country. With the aid of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and bias media news sources, one can easily perpetuate their cause to the level of epidemic proportions---even if that is not the case. A few instances of perceived injustice can be magnified, vilifying any person, persons, people group, or race, and make a single victim of that injustice the poster child for the mentality of an entire nation. Yes there is injustice, but there is also justice enforced when necessary. For instance, a young black man, with a known and public criminal record (thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) who is involved in suspicious activity, confronted by authority, and then due to his RESPONSE, is unfortunately killed in the heat of resistance, does not speak of racism. How can I say that? Because it happens to white men as well [2] (See news links below of a few examples). I am in no way minimizing wrongful death or the abuse of authority. My point is not to reject the notion that racism still doesn’t exist, as it still exists equally among the races; rather, it is to demonstrate that justice is being misunderstood, and even worse, many in the church are in a state of confusion on this subject because social justice is not biblical justice!

Justice should be reserved for those who cannot help themselves. The Bible does not command us to stand up for those who in their quest for "rights" will choose to rebel, riot, and torch entire neighborhoods destroying the homes and business of hard working families. Nor does it encourage us to stand with those who adamantly oppose Christianity, protesting against the church, in and mocking the very One who saved them.

 






No, biblical justice stands with those who have no voice, who are neglected, abused, abandoned in society, with no means of ever having a chance without the intervention of others. James 1:27 articulates this idea by reminding the church that “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress…” The problem in America, and with Christianity that aims to join alliance with today’s social justice movements, is that it fails to see the hypocrisy present in the cause. For instance, issues like the race card can be played both ways. For every claim of "injustice" toward one race, one can also cite injustices against the other. Just because a white cop commits a crime against a black victim does not mean that there are not black perpetrators committing crimes against white police officers.  For every bit of "hate speech" that is cited by the LBGT community against those who oppose their views, that same community will spew forth "hate speech" directed toward those who oppose their views. The hypocrisy of all this lies in that the truth in neglecting to see things as they are. Why isn't there an outcry for "justice" when a women is brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant? Why isn't there an outcry for those who seek "justice" for the millions of babies that have been aborted and their body parts illegally sold? The truth is because the church is too engrained into the fabric of culture. Social justice is simply that----justice informed by the mentality and ideology of society. At the heart of society is the worship and magnification of man. So man will use whatever leverage he can to magnify himself to get what he wants, even calling it the pursuit of justice. There will always be the poor, neglected, discriminated, and abused in society. We live in a fallen world and there will always be the corruption of power. As the church, we need to remember one important fact: the greatest suffering occurred upon the cross where an unparalleled amount of injustice was demonstrated. There were no riots. No hashtags. No demands. Just a brutalized, tortured body, hanging on a cross, dying for a crime he did not commit. And why? For all of our sin. Do we have the right to fight  our own justice, when we are ALL blatantly guilty for the death of an innocent man? Biblical justice does not fight for the rights of men----it fights for the souls of men. It’s not ‘injustice” that is the responsible for the ills of our country, it is sin! Until we as a nation see that we are in sin and come to that place where we will “humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways” (see 2 Chronicles 7:14), we will never see an end to the chaos, divisiveness, and hatred which exists in our country. As believers however, we are not called to join in solidarity with the world and its causes----we are called to surrender our lives to Christ, serve others, and give up our rights for the sake of the kingdom. If we can do that, then perhaps we can make a difference not only in the world we live in but also one that will impact eternity.

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[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice

[2] http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/06/us/seneca-teen-dead-police-shooting/index.html

  http://www.texasgopvote.com/issues/restore-families/justice-james-black-cop-shoots-unarmed-white-veteran-orange-tx-over-racial-slur-0057061

Of Martyrs and the American Medicated Church

 I have recently met a fellow believer from Pakistan whose life is drastically different than mine. He lives in a part of the world where there is a constant threat of persecution and to further his challenge of being a believer in a Muslim country, my friend has taken in several orphan children into his home whose lives have been devastated by the loss of their parents. As I compare my life with his, it is not difficult to become easily disturbed at what I have prioritized in my own life the things I consider essential and important to daily living. Recently, my friend sent me a video that showed the reality of what is happening on his side of the world. Words cannot express the horrors of the atrocities that I viewed-----the slaughtering and beheading of innocent children because of their association of with Jesus Christ. When you see something that tragic, something inside of you almost doesn’t want to believe that it is real. And yet, when you allow for it to sink in, your perspective suddenly changes and you see the world in which you live in a completely different light. For those of you who know me, I have never been one from refraining from speaking the truth and sharing my concern for the condition of today’s church. After viewing the video, I have come to the realization that the church in America is in a state of disconnection from the reality of what is happening to other believers around the world. To their defense, there is a very plausible explanation as to why the average evangelical American Christian remains disconnected. The reason? Because week in and week out, they sit in a pew in order to be spiritually medicated with the message of self-help and achieving a happy life. If you do what I did and watch a video like that on a Saturday night, and then go to church Sunday morning, you might be surprised that your perspective might change. Do we for one second believe that our messages about being more successful in our relationships, how to be blessed in our finances, how to deal with our emotions, and overcoming stress in our lives would have one ounce of meaning to those who are truly experiencing what Jesus promised-----that “you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations on account of me?” (Matthew 24:9).  

What would we say to our brothers and sisters who are living in the midst of the fire? Here’s seven principles for healthy Christian living? Sitting in our  morning services, they would most likely walk away with the impression that “We want you to feel good about yourself, so take a happy pill from the pulpit and know you’re are loved and accepted just as you are!” From more recent trends, they might even hear, “Now, be careful not to judge groups like ISIS or any other Muslim extremists, after all they were born into that kind of life, so we shouldn’t cast stones. In fact, we should understand the pain we’ve caused them from the past because they’re still trying to overcome the detrimental effects that the Crusades had upon them.”  Why? Because it appears for the America Christian, we have this fascination of wanting the world to love and accept us.  The majority world Christians (which by is no longer in the West, but in Africa and the East), does not embrace the dynamics of “relativity” when it comes to engaging culture. The majority of them only understand one kind of church: a persecuted church! Preaching and teaching the gospel could literally cost them their lives. I cannot imagine that they sit around in a pointless leadership meeting asking, “How can we get more people to come to our church?” or “What creative elements do we need to put into today’s service to make the pastor’s message more effective?” No, the focus is more likely upon things like prayer, the Word, and how can they stay alive for another day in order to preach the gospel. In the meantime, American Christians fearfully concern ourselves with being labeled as homophobes and racists because we do not want anyone to be turned off by Christianity and its true message of sin, repentance, and the work of Christ. We do everything possible to protect the image of our church from being seen as judgmental and ensure that our services will accommodate those who might find the message of the gospel offensive. 

I believe it is time to evaluate the driving factors of the American church. If we are honest, we could easily see our sermons as nothing more than hour long counseling lectures that offers just enough medication to maintain the flock until they need their next weekly fix. I have a good friend who always asks a great question when making evaluations: “What is the end game?” What exactly are we accomplishing in America when it comes to the gospel? Last time I checked, we are in decline. And my brothers and sisters who aren’t “privileged” to live in America, they are thriving in the persecuted church! According to Operation World statistics, the two countries experiencing the greatest annual growth are Iraq (19.6%) and Afghanistan (16.7%). In fact, America is on the slowest growth/declining list with a rate of 0.8% annual growth.[1] If the way we are doing church is so effective with the myriad of programs, small group studies, amped up worship teams, and cutting edge technology, then why are we so ineffective in reaching our nation for Christ? Meanwhile, in places where even the Bible is scarcely available, the church is thriving. We want so much to believe that our churches are great and that we are the supreme example of leading the way for the rest of the world, but the truth is we’re not. We can have a mega churches and tell people they can have their Best Life Now, motivating them with all sort of clever antidotes that become memes on Facebook, but it’s doing nothing more than making us feel good about our dreadful condition. I believe the words of John in Revelation are pertinent for us today where Jesus addressed Sardis warning, “You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die” (Revelation 3:1-2).  And while our churches are teaching us to become “better people,” we are becoming horrible disciples. Yes, my language is strong, but the self-centered mentality that permeates the culture of the American church is what testifies against us. Face the truth, the American church is all about me, all about what I want, and all about what I believe. Jesus himself stated that being a disciple would cost us our very lives (Matthew 10:37-39, Luke 14:25-33) and yet, we do all that is necessary to preserve our lives and save face with our culture. After all, no one wants to be unpopular, unpleasing, and unappealing to the prevailing crowd. The issue isn’t our failure in demonstrating “love” for our world, it’s that we love this world too much.

The end game is this: we are disconnected from the reality of the true gospel. It’s not about us. It’s not about this quest to have a wonderful and successful life in this world. It’s about living the reality that we are citizens of another kingdom and inviting others to be a part of it. It’s time we stop the dosage of the self-help medication and begin to feel the pain of our failure in truly living as followers of Jesus Christ.  We as the church don’t have the answers to help our fallen world, only Jesus does. All of the self-help programs in the world cannot motivate a person to live for Jesus, only Jesus can.  Part of that reality is suffering, pain, and being rejected by the world in which we live. No matter how hard we may try, if we are truly living our lives for the kingdom, we will never live comfortably among our culture. Each day, men, women and children who live in these hostile areas in the world can testify that loving Jesus means being hated by the world. People are dying but we’re worried about crying! Here in the U.S. we cannot fathom that type of response from the world around us. We would find the newest book or begin a sermon series that would help us to cope the rejection (perhaps something like Eight Methods for Dealing with Rejection or Four Principles for a Better Self-Esteem?).  In the end, we just want everyone to see us loving, accepting, and good people, rather than the abandoned, radical follower of Jesus. And because of that, we will continue to live in a spiritually medicated state, watching the decay of the American church, while believing that as long as we’re feeling good about ourselves, all is well.

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[1] http://www.operationworld.org/hidden/evangelical-growth

Not Running With People of Color

I recently got a good deal on a printed T-Shirt and for those of you who know me, it would rightfully define some of my personality traits. It simply reads: I did not mean to offend you---that was just a bonus. With that said, I am once again going to be the unpopular killjoy that will most likely be offensive to the mainstream mediocre brand of American Christian.  Although my intentions are not to offend, I will most likely be offensive in stating what I believe is necessary truth that needs to be voiced. I am writing this on the heels of a weekend event held in Milwaukee: The Color Run. This yearly event is a well-organized, very popular attraction that is gaining momentum as one of those “cool things you can do for fun” that is for the most part, safe and family friendly. In fact, my sixteen year old daughter attended this year’s event. This being the second year we have allowed her to attend, I decided to take a closer look at what this event was all about. The primary focus of the run is to make people “happy.” Which in and of itself, is not a bad thing. It’s about having fun together in the context of community. So that’s a good thing right? After all, isn’t that what we are focusing on in the church of today? A place of community where we do life together and all is well? I almost betting that a Color Run church movement could draw a great crowd be an effective platform for a creative approach to reaching the lost for Christ. Well, not exactly. 

For a frame of reference, before I proceed to make my point, I want you to examine these images:

 

The upper images are from the Color Run. Perfectly harmless, right? The lower images are from the Festival of Holi, which is a celebration of worship based upon various Hindu legends of good triumphing over evil. In each legend, depending on what region of India of Nepal you may live, the story involves an evil deity being defeated by a good deity. The festival itself is celebrated around the spring equinox---thus the end of winter (Death) and the coming of spring (Life). 

So what is your point Jay? Are we not allowed to have some fun or are you about to compare the Color Run with pagan rituals? Yes, but its not just that. I’m tackling a greater concern which is becoming a more disturbing trend among the American brand of Christian. If you have not noticed, (if you really haven’t noticed, then I guess I am speaking directly to you), there has become a blending of the secular and sacred cultures. Its not that the world has decided to give in and involve themselves in the practices of the church; rather, the church has decided to involve themselves in the practices of culture, polished it off a bit, and slapped the label of endorsement upon it. We’ve joined forces, we’ve locked arm in solidarity, and we have refused to see any significant differences between us and them (After all, this would be considered prideful, judgmental, and downright rude!) Wait, I can hear it now, “Jesus would have run the Color Run, He identified with sinners.” That has about as much fact as the Scripture where Jesus allowed the demons to enter into the pigs, allows them to kill the pigs,  so He could use the pigs to enjoy a plate of bacon! Jesus may have talked to the sinner, reached out to the sinner, eaten with the sinner, but He never identified with them----sinners identified with Jesus. Jesus’ identification in life was crystal clear and it was not with man, but with His Father. He spoke this truth in phrases like, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father (John 14:9) and I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus never made statements like, “Look at this world, you can see that I am just like them and I want you to be like them, to live as they live, so that you can identify with them.” In fact the premise of Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus’ commission to the church, was to make the world identify with Him in becoming disciples. (Just in case you need to be reminded, a disciple is literally to be a mirror reflection of who they are following).

In becoming a Christian, there is a metamorphosis. As Paul states, “If any one in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is past and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are no longer to be identified with our old life. Paul makes this point clear to the Corinthian church, which by the way, continually struggled with their inability to separate themselves from the culture they lived in in serving Christ. Reflect upon this passage:

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God (OUR IDENTIFICATION). As God has said, “I will live among them and I will be there God and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord.                                                                       

(2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

Evangelism doesn’t take place through blending in with culture, it takes place when the believer stands apart from it and looks drastically different than the world around him. We have somehow convinced ourselves in the American church that in order to be effective in sharing our faith, we need to “do life” with unbelievers. In reality the opposite is true, we need to live in such a different way from the rest of the world, that unbelievers want to “do life” with us! We do have to live in this world and interact with those around us; however, there are limitations and definite lines which we can cross. Every time we compromise our witness by being participants in the things that would identify us with this world, we are allowing identity theft  to take place against Christ---and this is where things like the Color Run come into play. Yes its is something that our culture does; however, what is it identified with? I posed this question to my daughter upon her return: 

“Do we think that God looks at the Holi Festival in India any differently than the Color Run in America? That somehow, He says, ‘They’re worshiping demons overseas and just having a good time in the states?’ Do we think that someone who has never known of a Color Run, and yet, is a devout Hindu, would recognize any difference between the two events?”

  

The truth is, when we place ourselves in various cultural practices, we seldom think about the identity of Christ within us. We pretend that there are no repercussions to our participating in activities that identify us with the world. In essence, we are making Jesus to look like someone He is truly not. He was all embracing to people, but not all embracing of what people did. He did not strive to be relevant, accepted, or even liked. But what He did was to tear apart His culture’s understanding of what it truly meant to worship God, by exposing the falseness of the practices of the day that were not based upon the truth of Scripture. Why? Because His culture was misrepresenting God. Whether it was the Pharisees, Sadducees, Samaritans, or Syrophoenians , Jesus attempted to correct the perspective of people when it came to their approach in identifying who they believed God to be. In the end, we want to believe that what “we do” doesn’t matter because of our misguided understanding of grace and love. In reality, it does matter whether we choose to believe it or not. One only has to read through the New Testament to see that Scripture is overwhelmingly clear about our identity as believers and our participation in our culture. If what we do is going to misidentify Christ in our lives, making Him embrace things which He never would have identified with, then we are doing nothing more than worshiping the pagan gods while believing that we are just having “fun.”