Early last month, Glenn Beck made some comments on his radio and television programs that has, quite literally, outraged Christians pretty much across the board. He said that the term “social justice” is really just a code word for communism and Nazism, and that Christians should leave their churches if social justice is held in high esteem there.
As a respected political analyst for conservatives, these comments have not been well received by a good portion of his audience.
Allow me to make something clear before I write the rest of this blog: the Bible is clear on how Christians should act towards the marginalized and disenfranchised. We are to love them, help them, and care for them to the best of our ability because in doing so we are actually, in some mysterious way, loving Jesus Christ himself.
Now, with that said, we need to make sure we get things straight.
Social Justice is Not the Gospel
Depending on your experience and what you’ve been learning, reading that may have been a source of minor (or perhaps major) outrage for you.
I get it.
For too long, Christianity was characterized by a sort of laziness when it came to actually helping people. The problems were too large and the needs too many to make much of a difference. So many Christians kind of gave up and said, “We may not be able to help them with _______________, but we can at least share the Gospel with them. That’s what is most important, anyways.”
In response, many of us have swung to the either side and, depending on who we’re spending time with, come to the conclusion that social justice is not only important to the Gospel – it actually is the Gospel. After all, Jesus was clear that one of the two greatest commandments was to love our neighbors as ourselves, and that in helping others we are serving him.
As a result, there are many Christians, and particularly within the younger crowd, who believe that as long as we are helping, serving and loving people to the best of our ability, God will either reveal himself to them or will prompt them to ask us why we love them so much. When that happens, we can talk about Jesus. But doing so earlier than that is offensive or presumptuous, so it’s best not to.
In that sense, we’ve adopted as our banner the quote often attributed to St. Francis of Assissi:
Preach the Gospel Always, If Necessary Use Words
Our social justice efforts have become our way of preaching to the world today. We all know that actions can speak louder than words, so if we just love the way we should and really help people, we are preaching the Gospel to them.
I get it. I really do. I see the appeal of living life that way. We would be making the world a better place and actively living out the love of God.
But social justice is not the Gospel.
Jesus did not die on the cross so you and I can serve at a homeless shelter or sponsor a kid for $30 a month to release them from poverty. Those things are wonderful…hear me on that. Christians should be doing those things. But they are not the Gospel.
The Gospel, the good news, is a message with content. It tells us that even though we are separated from God by sin and unable to do anything to earn His forgiveness, Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that we could not. He then died on a cross as our substitute so that, through him and only him, we can be forgiven and accepted back into God’s family. There is nothing we need to do to in order to get right with God apart from relying on what He has done for us in Jesus. His forgiveness and favor are completely free, so none of us can boast about what we’ve done to earn eternal life.
Because that message is true and we have responded to it in faith, we are now free to do all kinds of good works, especially those that fit under the social justice category. And by “free” I don’t just mean we finally get to do them. Anyone can do a good work. I mean we are liberated from trying to earn God’s approval by doing them. We do not get closer to God by our good works and we do not please him more by our good works. We are already close to God, pleasing to God, and loved by God as much as we will ever be because, and only because, of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
That is the Gospel.
And if we are not actually sharing that message with people, even if we are freeing them from poverty or whatever other hardship they face, we are not really helping them as completely as God intends us to. Because sooner or later they will die, and if they have not accepted God’s gracious offer of forgiveness before then, the rest of their existence will be exponentially worse than it was while on this earth.
Glenn Beck is wrong. But unless we put social justice in it’s proper place, there’s a good chance he won’t be for long.
Participate: Think back over the social justice projects you’ve been a part of, did you share the message of redemption offered through Jesus Christ as a part of it? Why or why not?
Engage: What would it look like for social justice to be put in its proper place in your life? Would you have to share the gospel more? Would you have to serve more?
Own: This is an important conversation for Christians to have. How can you begin to engage your fellow believers on this topic?