Baptist News Global: A Conservative Case for Why the Church Should Lead the Way in Being "Woke"
Texas Baptist Standard: We Have Mourning to do and Action to Take
I strongly recommend clicking this link and reading this article, written by Stephen Baldwin, a media producer and author, in Baptist News Global. Baldwin writes, "It is the very wholesale rejection of 'social justice' and anything they deem 'woke' that gives the appearance that Christians lack compassion." That's the statement that captured my interest and got me to read the article, and then decide to share it here. It's excellent, even for those who are not Christian and claim no religious faith.
The focal point of the Christian experience is conversion. It is that point where terms like conviction and repentance, forgiveness and restoration describe the spiritual and intellectual act during which one is forgiven of sin because of their dependence on Christ, acknowledgement of his divine and human nature, turning from sin.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked, lacks daily food, and one of you says to them , "go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill", and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead. James 2:14-17 NRSV
The good works that follow are not what brings about the conversion experience. They are a demonstration of conversion, evidence that there has been a spiritual transformation which has taken place. And good works are not the immediate result of conversion. A new convert to Christian faith needs guidance and instruction, along with motivation and inspiration, in order for their values to be aligned as an expression of their faith and their identity as a Christian. Those instructions are found in the Bible, so a working understanding of how faith fits together and is lived out depends on an understanding of what Christ, and the early church apostles, had to say about it.
An Infinite Set of Virtues and Values
The Apostles and leaders of the early Christian church who wrote the New Testament, most of them eyewitnesses to the three year ministry of Jesus, were absolutely convinced that he was the promised Messiah, belief in which was the focal point of Judaism and the Old Testament writers. Their assertion is supported by their meticulous connection of their observations to Old Testament prophecy they contend was fulfilled by Jesus. In fact, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus himself makes this claim.
The long, troubled political history of the Jewish people, from the time of their exile in Babylon to the coming of Christ, had cause many of them, including most of their religious leaders, to believe that the promised Messiah would be a king, restoring the throne of David which had been unoccupied since Zedekiah was killed by the Babylonians. But it's clear from the words of Christ himself that he never intended to establish another Jewish political kingdom. He used the terminology to apply to his church, connected Old Testament prophecy that talks about the restoration of the Kingdom of God in the Messianic age to the establishment of the Christian Church on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 2, and declared while he was on trial before Pilate that his kingdom "is not of this world."
And so, while evangelistic activity aimed at converting pagans to Christian faith is the starting point, the Christian faith is defined by its virtues and values, which are found in absolute abundance throughout the New Testament. Observation of the lifestyle of Christians was designed to be the lifetime fulfillment of the conversion experience, as well as a means of attracting those mostly pagan people around whom they lived to the Christian faith. Volumes of commentary interpreting the New Testament's words on good works of righteousness--not self righteousness--and the values which are intended to identify the Christian church have been written.
How that should look was characterized by the Apostle Peter. Speaking to the gathered church on its first day of existence as the "Christian church", the day of Pentecost, describing the unusual happening, he explained and defined the church's mission and purpose:
"This is what was spoken of by the Prophet Joel: 'In the last days it will be , God declares, that I will pout out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my spirit and they shall prophesy.
And all of those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" Acts 2:16-18, 21, NRSV
Peter ended his explanation of what was happening by declaring that Jesus was Lord and Messiah and the Kingdom of God that he was establishing would be the church, not the political kingdom with successors to the throne of David, but a spiritual kingdom that did not require human political power or favor to exist, and thrive.
Christian Faith and Practice
Faith is what makes a person Christian. It is the conversion experience, which includes repentance and the receiving of God's grace through Christ's Messiahship. It is both an identifiable event and a lifelong process. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ form the interpretive lens through which the Bible is interpreted and Christian faith is discerned.
Practice is exactly what it sounds like. It is the application of the spiritual values and principles in the systematic theology laid out by Jesus and his apostles as they interpreted the covenant relationship between God and humanity in the context of Christ's gospel message. It includes the inward spiritual transformation as well as what James refers to as "works," or actions that are motivated by faith.
So what does this look like?
According to Jesus, in more than one of the gospel accounts, the two greatest commandments were to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. From the way he conducted his ministry, it becomes very clear that the primary means of identification as a Christian isn't in proclaiming belief, or condemning others who don't share the same faith, but is seen in how other people are treated. Because the definition of neighbor, according to Jesus, was not limited to just those who are like minded or who are fellow Christians.
Christian practice is an influence which produces character and testifies to their value. Jesus, after laying out a set of values known as the "Beatitudes" in a narrative called "The Sermon on the Mount" recorded by Matthew, calls on his followers to be "salt" and "light." "In the same way," he said, "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." That's obedience to the two great commandments in one sentence.
Jesus responded to a question about his identity as Messiah from John the Baptist by sending a message to tell him, "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. (Luke 7:22), In the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, he read from Isaiah 61 and then told those gathered that "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled within your hearing. (Luke 4:21). The prophecy he read said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Christian practice looks like Jimmy Carter, who humbles himself, puts on a pair of coveralls and an old shirt and spends countless hours volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, in addition to promoting the program itself and helping to raise money for it. It looks like Danny Thomas, who said, "A dream is one thing. A realization is something entirely separate," about the establishment of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where childhood cancer research has been highly successful in saving lives, and providing essential treatment and care to children whose parents receive no bill for the services.
It looks like Dr. Martin Luther King, the Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy, Medgar Evers, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Jesse Jackson and a host of others. The American Civil Rights Movement, which began in the 1960's, is one of the best examples we have of Christians taking the lead in American social and cultural life, in a positive way, using the influence of the church to make a positive change. Most of its leaders stood behind pulpits on Sunday.
It looks like Mother Teresa, who took her calling into one of the world's most impoverished cities and made a difference. It looks like George Mueller, who provided orphanage care to over 10,000 orphans and educational opportunities to over 100,000 children from poor families who never would have been able to afford it. He did so much for the poor in England that he was accused of raising the poor above their station in British life.
But it also looks like ordinary, everyday people who do things on their own for others without prompting, simply because they see a need. Most of what they do is inconspicuous, because those who do this because they are motivated by their faith aren't looking for recognition or accolades. They aren't self-promoters and they're not using their good works as a launching pad for influence or fame. They're paying attention, they see a need and within their own ability and means, seek to meet the need.
It looks like a small congregation in a gritty, inner-city neighborhood of a large, eastern American city, buying a run-down house next door, investing time and volunteer labor in a complete renovation, setting up a community center where career skill training and counseling is available to women in poverty. The center provides job skills training, help with child care, food and rent while their clients get on their feet, interview and resume skills, arranges job interviews, serves as a reference and referral, and provides shoes and clothing appropriate not just for the interview, but to wear to work as well as counseling support to help the women stay on the job.
Connected to it is a crisis pregnancy center, a real one, where women get more than just an ultra sound and a lecture that passes as counseling. They arrange pre-natal care, assistance with food, clothing, rent, child care, helping relieve some of the effects of poverty that are factors in many abortion decisions. The services for women are available to the clients during and after the pregnancy. They also provide adoption referrals if that is needed. The center was able to expand its clientele, almost tripling the number of women it served during the Obama administration, when federal funding was available to help with expenses.
Christianity is an Intentional Influence on Culture and Society, Not a Political Control on it
You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored. It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16, NRSV
Christianity, allied with a partisan, political party and worldview, is salt that has lost its saltiness. It is a dimmed lamp, casting long, dark shadows instead of brightly illuminating a room. That's the way I interpret what is happening among some branches of American Christian churches, both Protestant and Catholic, as an ungodly, pseudo-Christian political cult infiltrates churches and subverts their purpose and preaching away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Christian practice cannot be legislated into acceptance. If it isn't motivated by the inward spiritual transformation that occurs in conversion, then it becomes dead ritual. If it is visible, then the practice of values like honesty and integrity, sense of community and purpose that includes a lifestyle of simplicity, avoiding excess and being good stewards of common resources, having a desire for the common good, the equality, giftedness and inherent rights of all humanity and living a life that promotes peace, are the influences Christianity contributes to society and culture, as well as government in a democratic union. If it does not do this, then it is not Christian.
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