Tonight and tomorrow the Glendale Church of Christ in Glendale, CA is hosting the First Annual Risen Young Adults Conference. The theme this year is “How to Start a Riot: Lessons from Acts.” I am one of the speakers tomorrow, and the title of my session is entitled “The Bible as a Social Justice Manifesto.” I will attempt to demonstrate how the theme of social justice runs throughout scripture. I will focus on the life and ministry of Jesus and the words of the prophets, but I will try to show how it is found in every portion of scripture. Here are the scriptures I’ll be referencing. If you want to hear my explanations and connections you’ve got to come out to the conference tomorrow!
Isaiah 58:1-12 (All scripture quotations come from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.)
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways,
As if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
They ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
To loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And bring the homeless poor into your house;
When you see the naked, to cover them,
And not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly;
Your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
Then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong;
And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Deuteronomy 15:1-17
Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts…
There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession ot occupy, if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today…
If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be…Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”…
If a member of your community…is sold to you and works for you six years, in the seventh year you shall set that person free. And when you send a male slave out from you a free person, you shall not send him out empty-handed. Provide liberally…giving to him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you…You shall do the same with regard to your female slave.
Amos 5:21-24
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them;
And the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let just roll down like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Ezekiel 16:49
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.
Luke 4:16-21
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
To let the oppressed go free,
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 7:18-23
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’”
Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: 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. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Matthew 9:13; 12:7
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
“I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
Matthew 23:23-24
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
Matthew 25:31-46
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
James 2:14-17
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 and 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.
1 John 3:17-18
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
1 John 4:20-21
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
And I leave you with Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness (mercy),
and to walk humbly with your God?
Meditate on these passages. Think deeply about what they are saying and what implications they have on faith and discipleship. They have revolutionized my life. Will you let them revolutionize yours?
Jimmy,
I have been looking through your blog trying to gain perspective and understanding of who you are before I reply. I believe your sincere, I respect your passion, and I admit up front to making assumptions about you. I didn’t find definitions of the words you use so I’m left with using my own. For example:
“Social Justice” on the blogs you list in your blogroll and the books you’ve posted often means a centralized entity taking from one for the benefit of another which is merely theft by the state or slavery and very far from justice. God commands you and me, not the state or society, to meet the needs of the poor, the widow, and the orphan.
When the Bible is used as a “tool” for social justice it misses the point. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus as the salvation of the world. Jesus was not an activist or a community organizer He is our savior. The “social justice” line of thinking takes away from Jehovah Jireh and fosters a victim mentality.
You are justifiably upset with Christian merchandising yet what you seem to be selling is a secular world view wrapped in Christian Compassion without the foundational truths of the gospel. Namely God alone as our source, Jesus as our salvation and the Holy Spirit as our guide.
As I read through your blog I get the impression you have allowed your life experience and world view to shape your theology instead of allowing the Word of God, living and active, to shape your world view, politics, and ultimately your theology.
I’m asking you to step back and look at the Bible without the filters from a well meaning but misguided group of educators and leaders.
I imagine you and I would agree on the problems we face however we would disagree on how to fix them. I don’t question your motives that’s God’s job. I do however question whether you are being informed by “the whole councel of God”. The “social justice” conversation threatens to take us further from the solutions we need. Please consider James 3:1 as you prepare to teach and influence those entrusted to you.
If I missed your point I apologize. My heart is broken for the bride of Christ and the country I love. The church is the only hope for the world and the paths chosen by both sides of the isle are taking us further from the solutions.
Thank you for allowing comments.
Blessings to you.
Gary
[...] 22, 2009 by jimmymccarty A few days ago I received this comment on my post entitled The Bible as a Social Justice Manifesto from a guy named Gary. The spirit of [...]