Social justice and biblical truth
Dec. 4 2006
This post is from guest blogger, Doug Hayes. Doug leads Covenant Mercies a “non-profit organization established for the purpose of serving the poor, the orphan, the widow, and others facing severe adversity.” The photo was taken by David Sacks in Uganda as a part of a limited edition series known as Portraits of Hope.
What are biblical truths that can guide us in our involvement in social justice issues?
Genuine love for God is expressed in love for neighbor.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus, when he was asked for the greatest of all the commandments, was not satisfied to cite only one? He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” But he didn’t stop there. He went on in the same breath to mention a second commandment, and with the following words bound the two together forever: “And the second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:36-40)
Why did Jesus do this?
I believe the answer to this question is rooted in our remarkable capacity to deceive ourselves when it comes to our own spirituality. Love for God is essentially invisible--played out in the arena of heart, soul, and mind--and we can fool ourselves into believing that it’s resident inside us when in reality, it’s not. We are inclined to pretend that our lives are all about loving and worshiping God, even when our hearts are far from him.
Recognizing our weakness, Jesus gives us some very clear criteria for evaluating the genuineness of our love for God. Love for God is indeed an inner passion, but Jesus informs us here that it’s an inner passion with an outward, visible manifestation. Those who truly love God will love their neighbors. “You want to demonstrate your love for God?”, Jesus says, “The second command is like unto the first. Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Throughout history, it seems, God’s people have been prone to neglect this vital connection between loving God and loving neighbor. As a result, several Old Testament prophets proclaimed an astonishingly similar message across the generations, reminding us that it’s not our mere presence in the solemn assembly that pleases God. He’s simply not impressed with our pious performance of religious rituals (even forms of worship he’s commanded!) apart from a life that reflects his justice, mercy, and love toward others; especially toward marginalized and disaffected people who have no means of paying us back.
Have you been sobered by the powerful words of Isaiah recently?
“The multitude of your sacrifices--what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations--I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
(Isaiah 1:11-17)
Public worship is obviously good and right and necessary. It’s an indispensable ingredient in expressing love for God, but it’s a “vain offering” if the vital connection between loving God and loving neighbor is lost. The true nature of my love and devotion to God is exposed--as a sweet and fragrant offering that he loves, or as an insincere form of mock worship that his soul hates--not solely by my church attendance record, not by my singing and dancing and raising of hands in public worship, not by the amount of time I spend each day in private devotions; but by the testimony of my actions toward my neighbor. “Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
Consider the word of the Lord delivered through Amos and Micah, striking for their similarity to the words of Isaiah:
I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring me choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
(Amos 6:21-24)
With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
(Micah 6:6-8)
Now wait a minute� the Psalms are absolutely bursting with exhortations to sing joyfully to the Lord! The Pentateuch is full of obligations to bring sacrifices! Why then would God refer to the songs of his people as “noise” and refuse to accept their sacrificial offerings? Because the testimony of their lives, particularly as they related to the poor and marginalized people of their day, did not reflect a genuine love for him. This persistent prophetic record remains with us today as a reminder of the monumental significance God assigns to this matter. As his people habitually wandered into idolatry and neglect of the poor during times of prosperity, he graciously called them back through the prophets. God desires true worship, and true worship can only be produced by people whose love for him is authenticated in the context of their social relationships. There is no love for God without love for neighbor.
Does this mean that altruism earns us favor before God, and that ultimately our salvation hangs in the balance of our good works toward others? Absolutely not. We are saved through faith in Christ alone. However, the true nature of our faith toward God is revealed in our actions toward fellow man. The Apostle John points to the same principle in the New Testament, calling the bluff of anyone who would pretend to love God while hating his brother (1 John 4:20). The two are mutually exclusive. They simply do not mix. Love for God must be borne out in love for neighbor, both inside and outside the household of faith.
There was once a teacher of the law who knew this all too well. He spoke of the vital importance of the two great commandments, and even received the affirmation of Jesus when he did so. But the Lord’s words--"Do this and you will live"--must have produced a dissonance in this man’s soul. He wanted to claim that he had loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength� but he knew his life was not characterized by love for neighbor. Immediately he attempted to justify himself by asking the question, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus’ answer--the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)--left a brash lawyer with no room for self-justification. It also left him with the broadest possible definition of the “neighborhood,” and provided a beautiful depiction of what love for neighbor is supposed to look like. In a word, it’s supposed to look like compassion.
Love for God inevitably expresses itself in a life of compassion toward others. May we all engage in these acts of “pure religion,” thereby authenticating the genuine love we so desire to express to him in worship. He is worthy!