Social Justice is the Fruit of Salvation

    Of all the things to be divided over, somehow Christians have become divided over whether or not we should put a strong emphasis on helping people.... Yeah, I know. Yet, we will go to small group this week, the worship service this Sunday and wonder why people don't like to associate with us.With such a politically charged culture around us, you would figure that we could find something else to be divided over than helping those in need.

    The dispute is in the emphasis. Some Christians focus on social justice and only social justice. To them, the Bible, morality, living a spiritual life, and especially sharing the Gospel are at most a low priority and at least trivial and not relevant at all. The priority is in the here and now, the tangible things of life which is of course, the plight of humanity. On the other side, there are Christians that acknowledge the importance of social justice, but that is about the extent of their involvement. To them, humanities eternal plight and needs far outways any physical needs. What good is it to feed a man who is hungry if he still is going to die and go to Hell one day? Then there are those who claim to be in the middle just so they won't be labeled as either or so they won't offend anyone. And in the midst of it all is Christianity's reputation and ultimately the reputation of Jesus Christ Himself. Way to go brethren...

    Our debates about the importance of social justice not withstanding, Jesus made an interesting connection between social justice and the Day of Judgment.

"Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' They will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick and in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.'"
                                    -Matthew 25:41-45
   
    It is significant that one the most severe warnings about Hell from Jesus is made in the context of social justice. This is because social justice does indeed have much to do with the Gospel, the death and resurrection of Christ, and our salvation. As I have said in previous blogs, the real tragedy of "The Fall" is that mankind lost its ability to represent God and govern on His behalf, and that the goal of the Gospel is to restore humanity back to the position of rulers and priests so that we may in turn bring God's dominion of peace, equality, and justice to earth. On a personal level it means that Jesus Christ died on the cross to to remove everything that holds you back from your dreams, and rose from the dead to restore you back to a position of positive influence in your community.

    So the purpose of our salvation is restoration of first, our own lives, and secondly the restoration of our community through our own influence. So then social justice is the purpose and evidence of our salvation. This is why Jesus uses it in connection with such a dire warning of Hell. Jesus said every "tree" that does not produce fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. That fruit is described in scripture as "acts of righteousness". Another word for righteousness in scripture is, justice. The fruit our Lord is looking for is social justice.

    Lets be clear. This does not negate the Biblical truth that those who are saved are saved by Grace ALONE through faith in Christ. There is nothing we can do to earn, rate, or merit salvation. There is nothing we can do or not do to make us right with God. There is no amount of good deeds that can cover or make up for our sins. Righteousness and good standing with God is a gift that He deposits into our account, not a wage earned or a loan to be paid back. It has already been paid for with the blood of Christ. Social justice however is the evidence or "fruit" of the transformation that has taken place within us. So go out there and show the world that your life has been restored, or at very least, go argue about something else.

Racial, Gender, and Social Barriers Disappear in the Pentecostal Movement

    From the day of Pentecost to the Azusa Street Revival, the move of God has always attracted lots of criticism. Spirit filled believers have always been rebuked for believing in speaking in tongues, modern day use of prophecy and healing, lifting our hands in worship, etc. One rebuke that is overlooked however, is how every social barrier disappeared.

    In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, and what was the first thing that happened? A crowd of people from nearly every ethnicity came hearing the Word of God in their own language. After that day for the first time, Jews and Gentiles starting worshipping together. The rich, the poor, the slave, and the free sat at the same table on equal ground.

    In 1906 the Pentecostal movement got its start at 312 Azusa Street Los Angeles California. William J Seymour led revival meetings every night. People were saved, filled with the Spirit, and healed. This ofcourse brought attention from the press and criticism from other pastors. One of the biggest criticisms of this new Pentecostal movement was that it was integrated. Whites, African Americans, Asians, Latinos and Hispanic all met in the same worship service worshipping side by side. There were people of different races praying for eachother. New Pentecostal churches that were starting up were integrated. The preacher at Azusa Street was an African American. Remember this was 1906.

Then there was the role of women in ministry. Traditionally, only men have been allowed to serve in ministry. This exclusion continues today. Pentecostals have always been different. In 1935 the Assemblies of God began ordaining women as pastors. By the year 1950 over 1,000 women pastors were traveling the country planting churches. Some notable women ministers were Zelma Argue, Hattie Hammond, Annie McPherson, and Kathryn Kuhlman(my hero). It has been said that church is the last part of America that is still segregated. I'm proud to be part of a movement where that is not the case. Much has been said about how Christianity puts down women and holds them back. Its good to know that in Pentecostalism, women are allowed to be in their rightful place of leadership. When God's Spirit moves, all these barriers seem to disappear. So I leave you with God's promise to remove these barriers by His Spirit. "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your son's and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." -Joel 2:28-29

Don't Like Organized Religion? Try Christianity

    People who are disenfranchised by organized religion should be flocking to Christianity. I hear people say this all the time; "It isn't that I don't believe in God, I just don't like organized religion." Well then we are the perfect community for you! Christianity, especially the Church is anything but organized religion. The church is not an organization, it is an organism. Always growing, changing and adapting.

    We are not an corporation, we are a community. The church is a community where life transformation and restoration takes place. It is a community we marriages are restored, wounds are healed, and lives rebuilt. It is a community where those who are held captive by destructive lifestyles are not only set free, but who also regain a sense of identity that grounds them. The church is a community where those struggling financially are empowered to no longer be a victim to debt, unemployment numbers, or a struggling economy. We are agents of life change.

    We do crazy things like leave the comforts of home and go to another country to help strangers. We share the Gospel in countries where admitting to being a follower of Christ can cost you your life. We speak out against slavery. We do weird things like draw a red x on our hands to let people know that slavery and human trafficking still happens in our world. We feed the hungry, clothe the poor. We drill wells in Africa and ship vaccines oversees. We build schools, hospitals, and orphanages.

    We do much more than worship together for an hour or two on Sundays. We spend time with each other in our homes. We hang out at Starbucks, we go out to eat. We go with one another to the gym. We embrace one another when our children are born or our friends do something crazy like get married, and we cling to one another when we loose a loved one or when life is spinning out of control. We laugh with each other when the times are good and cry with each other when times are bad. We create drama, stop talking when a spat arises, but we're always ready to drop everything and be there for one another at a moment's notice. We share life together. Were a family.

    Call Christianity whatever you want, but don't call it organized religion. Perhaps the reason we are not an organized religion is because our foundation is not an organization, system, or structure. Our foundation is a person; Jesus Christ. The most "alive" person that ever walked the earth. So alive in fact that He came back from death! His life is in us, and we are alive in Him. And that life permeates our entire community bringing about the dynamic transformation this world has come to marvel. So I say to all of you who do not like organized religion, why not try Christianity?

Lets Get Together... and Leave God Out of It

    Small group ministry has thrived in recent years as one of the most effective ways for believers to grow spiritually. This ministry is known by different names. Connections, Life Groups, Cell Groups, etc. Churches all across America have put a new emphasis on Christians coming together outside the church walls to pray, read scripture, discuss spiritual life, and fellowship.

    Without a doubt, small group ministry is one of the most effective ways to grow a church. When churches invite people to the small group first, then to the service later, there is no limit to growth. Lets say for example, that a certain church has 10 small groups, and each small group grows by one new member per month The church grows by 10 people per month. Once small groups start growing and splitting, growth becomes even more exponential.

    The problem is, like so many other things in the church world, small group ministry has become programmed and institutionalized instead of alive and dynamic as everything in the church should be. There is a certain understood model and format that small groups are supposed to follow. It typically should have more than five, but no more than fifteen people. It is mostly for believers. If you are not a Christian or if you are a "seeker", there is a separate small group for you.... What is this, school? Typically these small groups take place in a couples home or church classroom. There is a DVD series or curriculum to follow, typically the latest Francis Chan book tailored to a small group study guide. Oh, and we can't forget about the potluck food. That is the small group model and format. The unwritten rule is not to color outside of the lines and be creative.

    Having this "programmed" mentality sucks the life out of small group ministry and completely misses the point. Lets change small group ministry and get back to its original intention. Here is my suggestion if you are considering starting a small group. Get with a few Christians and go to Starbucks, Cold Stone, Buffalo Wild Wings, the Movies, Six Flags, a concert, bowling, camping, hiking, fishing, the gym, yoga, zumba, whatever. You could simply get together at your house and grill out. Will you pray, read the Bible, or talk about God during your time together?
...maybe, maybe not.

    Either way, who cares? If you get together and like the book of Esther, God is not mentioned even once, it is just as much fellowship and spiritual development as meeting in a class room watching session 4 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Here's why. To whole point of small groups is Discipleship. Discipleship does not happen in teaching, training, studying, or even praying. Discipleship happens in relationships. In fact Discipleship is all about building relationships, and growing together. So when you get together, focus on building healthy meaningful relationships with other believers, and the rest will fall into place. When you get together, don't be afraid to leave God out of it.

The Goal of the Gospel... Restoration

    When God created the human race, He had very specific instructions.

"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish and the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'"
                                                                                                         -Genesis 1:28

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
                                                                                                          -Genesis 2:15

    God's original purpose for mankind is to rule and govern the earth on His behalf as His representatives. This becomes clear when you fast forward to the end of the Bible. What we find in Revelation 21 is a new city. It is much more than a city however. It is a new utopian society from which mankind rules with God. We find this theme again in Isaiah.

"They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat."
                                                                                 -Isaiah 65:21-22

    From Genesis to Revelation we see a common theme for the purpose of mankind; to build a society. To bring God's utopia of peace, equality, and justice to earth. The Bible begins with mankind in a garden, and ends with mankind in a city.

    The tragedy of the fall is that mankind lost its ability to represent God and govern on His behalf. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we no longer lead our society as we should. Then came Jesus. The restorer. Lets look at the first public sermon of Jesus.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind. To release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
                                                                                                       -Luke 4:18-19

    In His first public sermon, Jesus makes it clear that His ministry is one of restoration. Throughout the New Testament concluding with a New Heaven and New Earth, we see Christ seeking to restore the human race back to the position of rulers and priests.

    Now what does this "restoration" look like on a personal level? God has placed dreams in you. He has put ambition in you. He has placed the desire and the drive to do good, and to influence your society and impact your world.

    But we are a fallen people. Fallen meaning we have corruption in us that prevents us from making the difference in society that we were intended to make. All over the planet we see mankind bringing pain and suffering because of these flaws. Perhaps you have seen them in your own life. You try to do good. You try to make an impact and be a positive influence but it never seems to work our right. Sometimes there are consequences to your shortcomings.

    Jesus Christ died on the cross to remove everything that holds you back from your dreams and rose from the dead to restore you back to a position of positive influence in the community. Embracing the savior means embracing your original destiny to make your world a better place while at the same time forsaking everything that's makes it an unfair painful place to be. This is the goal of the gospel, not only for the world or the human race, but also for you. To restore EVERYTHING that was lost and taken from you.

Church Planting in a Post-Christian America

    Planting churches has historically always been the most effective way to reach the lost. That was the strategy of the Apostle Paul. Everywhere he went on his missionary journeys, he planted churches. Even today, newer churches reach more lost people than established churches. One study found that churches over 15 years old only win an average of 3 people to Christ per year for every 100 members. That same study found that churches under 3 years old win an average of 10 people to Christ per year for every 100 members.

    Even though church planting has always been the most effective way to reach the lost, the strategy of church planting has changed, especially in the 21st century. Some believers from previous generations resist these changes at times. It is not that we want to leave our history and tradition behind, there is simply a different spiritual climate in America that must be understood and addressed.

    Twenty to thirty years ago, everybody went to church. To the point that no businesses were open on Sundays! This was a Chistian nation. When you built a church back then, you built it for church people. Since everyone went to church your goal was to convince people to leave their home church and go to yours. So your church had to have all the trappings and trimmings of church. It had to look like a church, feel like a church, sound like a church, even smell a like church. In fact, if you wanted to succeed, your church had to be more "churchy" than the other churches. In short, in previous generations, you planted a church for church people.

    But America has changed. A survey came out last May that showed that 20% of the American population identify themselves as non religious. In Clayton only 35% of people belong to a church. In Garner only 43% percent. About 4,000 churches in this country shut their doors every year. For every 5 churches that closes, only 1 opens. 4 out of 5 churches have either plateaued or are declining. 85% of churches are the ones declining Out of the 15% that are growing, 14% is because of people changing churches. This is no longer a Christian nation. In fact, it is now being called a Post-Christian nation by historians.

    As a result, our strategy has to change. Where as in the past we planted churches that church people would want to go to, now we must plant churches that unchurched/dechurched people want to go to. This is going to take a dramatic shift in the way we do "church". We must throw away everything we know and go back to the drawing bored.

    This has huge implications. Now our job is even more critical. Not only are we planting a new church(lower case), we are also building a new Church! We are going to have to change everything we do when it comes to ministry because our audience has changed from the churched to the unchurched.

    We have no intention of leaving the "older" generation behind. Their wisdom, experience, and guidance is not only needed, but valued. Yes, the Joshua generation must lead God's Army, but the Moses generation must also keep their arms raised in order for there to victory(Exodus 17). These two generations must be in Alignment. Lets come together as the next generation of Spirit Filled believers.

Who Should be Allowed to Come to Our Church?

    Who is our church for, the churched or the unchurched? Perhaps this is a silly question. Most churches will atleast on the surface, claim that everyone is welcome. "Whosoever will, may come". The real question should be, what will we require of those who want to be a part of our church? Are we going to ask them to abandon a few behaviors, and adopt some others before participating? Will we ask them to dress differently before attending, go through a class, remove any "eccentric" piercings, or cover up their tattoos?

    To answer that question I would like to defer you to Acts 15; the first business meeting of Christianity. First of all, it is very important to understand the setting and context of the Christian faith during the first couple decades after Jesus' death and resurrection. During this time Christianity was confined to Jerusalem and the surrounding cities. In fact, Christianity wasn't even called "Christianity" yet. It was still considered a sect of Judaism. When you decided to follow Christ, it was understood that you were converting to the Jewish faith.

    The events that led to this meeting in Acts 15 were quite controversial. The Gentiles were anyone who wasn't a Jew. They were considered "outsiders" by the Jews. Now these Gentiles all over the known world were coming to Christ. There was only one MAJOR problem... They weren't converting to Judaism! Their men weren't getting circumcised, they weren't giving up pork, they didn't meet in the synagogue, or keeping any of the Jewish regulations.

    During this tense meeting many believers made the assertion that these Gentiles could not be Christians until they converted to Judaism. This caused a major debate among the Christian leaders. That was until Peter reminded them that they are saved not by religion, rites and rituals, rules and regulations, works or performance, but by God's grace alone through faith. Then James made the ultimate decision that "we should not make if difficult for those who are turning to God".

    Then they sent a letter to all the Gentile congregations informing them of their decision. Remember, Christianity was still considered a part of Judaism back then and hadn't become a separate religion. Judaism had over 600 rules and regulations to keep daily, dozens of rights and rituals, not to mention circumcision.

    The apostles decision was for Gentiles to be courteous about eating food sacraficed to idols in front of Jews, blood, eating the meat of animals that had been strangled, and to abstain from sexual immortality ..... That's it... No other rules, regulations, "do's and don'ts". If they did all this, they were part of the faith, then still being Judaism.... wow! That was a HUGE leap of acceptance.

    I believe we have answered our question. It is not right for us to place extra burdens on people who want to be part of the church. Especially when the burdens we seek to place on them are are mere traditions of men. Given the rigorous nature of the Jewish faith, the apostles made radical efforts to make the Gentiles feel accepted into the fold. We should follow their example. We shouldn't make it difficult for those who are coming to God.

The REAL Tragedy of "The Fall"

    To some, it's a familiar story. God created Adam and Eve innocent and without fault. Then He placed them in a paradise that the Bible calls, "The Garden of Eden". God gave Adam and Eve absolute freedom except for one rule. They must not eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge or they will die. One day, Eve was tempted by the serpent and her and her husband broke that one rule. With that one act of disobedience sin, suffering, and spiritual death entered the world. Our relationship with God was severed. This was indeed a tragedy.

    Was this the worst of it though? Lets look at the bigger picture. Why did God create Adam and Eve in the first place? What was the original purpose for the human race?

    The Bible says in Genesis 1:26-30 that God made mankind after His own pattern and put His own identity in the human race. He goes on to give humanity dominion and authority over the whole earth. He commands mankind to fill the earth and rule it. So we can infer from the scriptures that the original purpose of the human race was to be placed in charge of God's creation. So then the real tragedy of "The Fall" was that humanity lost its ability to represent God and govern on His behalf.

    This in ability to govern is self evident in our society today, especially in our own government here in the United States. Ours is a house divided. We lack the simple unity needed to govern the nation entrusted into our care. Our lack of leadership is evident in our environment. Daily our planet is negatively effected through the release of pollutants and neglect. God delegated the responsibility of caring for the earth to us. We are failing that mandate.

    Then there is our fellow man that are suffering. We let crime, violence, and injustice thrive in our societies. We leave the education system broken and inadequate thus neglecting our inheritance and our future. The poor, the hungry, the homeless, the sick and the dying. We either leave these to fend for themselves, or not do enough to fix the broken systems that facilitated the environment which caused their suffering. This is the tragedy of the sin of Adam and Eve. We have lost our ability to lead as God's representatives. This is what is meant by the statement, "we live in a fallen world". Its not so much a fallen world as it is a fallen race leading the world.

   There is hope however. There truly is a Gospel given for man's redemption. God sent another man created in His own image. This man, unlike Adam the first man restored humanity to our original calling by His life, death, and ressurection. He died to recover what was lost and to restore what was. This man was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This is the goal of the gospel. To restore human beings to the position of rulers and priests so that we may in turn bring God's utopia of peace, equality, and justice to earth.

Social Media and Technology in the Church

Facebook now has over 1 billion users. If Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest country in the world by population. Twitter has over 500 million users. Thats more people than there are living in the US. YouTube, the 2nd largest search engine uploads over 60 hours of content per minute with 4 billion videos viewed per day. There are over 13 million articles on Wikipedia. There are 60 million professional users on Linkedln.

 1 in 5 couples meet online. Generation Y and Z consider email to be a thing of the past. To the point where some universities have stopped issuing email accounts. Its too "old fashioned". The mobile device will be the worlds primary tool for connecting to the internet by the year 2020. Kindergartens are learning on iPads, not chalk boards. 11 is the average age that children in America receive a cell phone. 10% of parents say that their children received a cell phone between the ages of 7 and 9.

 With these trends needing to be updated at an increasing faster pace, a question then arises. Should the Church be heavily plugged into social media, social networking, and new technologies? It can be a heated debate depending on who we ask. One side would say that we need to stay out of the world and not get into the toxic environment that social networks can bring or involve ourselves in the distractions that surrounding ourselves with technology and mobile devices can create.

Proponents of the Church engaging in social media and technology would argue that sites like Facebook and twitter give us a method of influence never before achieved. I would like to argue for a more digitally connected church from a different perspective. Look back in church history and what do we see? Historically the Church has always led the way in innovation and progress.

The Gutenberg Bible was the first book ever published by a printing press. From then on the Church led the way in literature and poetry. In music, the monks developed the foundation for modern western musical notation. Likewise in art, much of the renascence art now famous around the world was commissioned and promoted by the Church. Even in the areas of philosophy and science the Church was on the forefront promoting progress in these areas.
 The Church historically has led the way in education. Centuries ago the most literate among the people were the clergy. Sunday School was started in the 1700's as a means of educating the poor. In America's infancy, the Church and religious institutions were responsible for educating the public. The Church has led the way in nearly every area of progress and innovation in society EXCEPT social networks, social media, and technology. Instead we resist it, speak against it, and now at the last minute are trying to play catch up.

The world is leading us in this area instead of us leading them. Why? God has called the Church to be His body on this planet. We are Kingdom ambassadors with the local church being the Kingdoms embassy. We the Church should be leading the way in this new area of progress and innovation. Not only do social networks and technology open new doors for evangelism and outreach never before imagined, it keeps the Church's tradition of being the leader and example in our society alive.