What REAL Social Justice Looks Like

    While social justice may be the evidence and purpose of our salvation, we must be careful with how we live out this particular aspect of our faith. Understandably, many Christians are turned off by social justice because it implies giving people a hand out. With the original intent of humanity in mind we must realize that true social justice is not just meeting the needs of the poor, but engaging the community and fixing the systems that create an environment where people can become poor.

    Throughout the course of our lives we will encounter people that are in immediate need. We see the unemployment numbers. There is some hope as this number has dropped slightly but we wonder if that is simply because of people pulling out of unemployment. We see hunger growing in our cities. The homeless are increasing in number. Human trafficking has become a problem in this country especially in major cities. Our natural Christian reaction is to help these people and immediately meet their needs, and rightfully we should. If we are not careful however, we will merely be be treating a cough when the REAL problem is the virus creating this symptom. There is a system that is creating this environment that we must address.

    These "systems" lie in the different spheres of influence in the community. There indeed are many systems that need to be addressed in order to create an environment where people flourish and prosper instead of live in destitution. Two that are of significance are the education system and the family. We have allowed these systems to essentially break down. When the education system is built on the principle of how can being educated makes me look better, or gives me a higher status in society, there is no practical relevant skills acquired and the community suffers. When the priorities of schools is extra curricular activities and "national ranking", students lack the resources to be sufficiently prepared. Whatever happened to ensuring that students are on the appropriate reading level, computer literate, or possessing essential life skills in order be productive in society? I guess standardized testing to ensure that the school and its teachers scores go up took it's place.

    The family is such an essential sphere of influence in the community. In fact, the family is a community, society, and civilization in its most simplest basic form. This has huge implications. Whatever the health and stability of the average family in the community, so will be the health and stability of the community as a whole. The family will be a microcosm of what the community looks like.

    If the family is divided, so will the community. If the family is a place of favoritism of one and the shunning of the other, the community will be that way too. If the family is a haven for abuse, violence, and neglect, the community will certainly not be a safe place. If the average family in the community doesn't know how to responsibly handle their finances.... get the picture yet?

    We must engage these two systems and fix them. Its our job! God has entrusted us with the responsibility of governing this planet and bringing His dominion of peace, equality, and justice to earth. We lost that leadership ability at the fall, granted. But Jesus restored us back to that position by His death and resurrection. We are entrusted with building a society on God's behalf. What are we doing to engage and restore the education system in our community? How are we healing and restoring families that are broken?

    Lets build up homeless shelters for those with no roof, set up food pantries for those with no food, and establish a safe house for those trapped in human trafficking, but we absolutely can not stop there. We must engage the community and fix the systems that created an environment that allowed these atrocities to occur in the first place. That is REAL Social Justice.

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.

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.