Help the Poor: A Black and White Issue

I have been waiting for a couple months to get this series of posts going. I have been desperately looking for the time to deal with this issue properly. Over the past few months I have dialogued with two Christians who have politically left leanings. Both are mature Christians who serve the Lord and have engaged with me in a gracious manner. There have been a few issues that we have dialogued about, but the main issue has been the need to help the poor in our society. This is the one thing that I really love about Democrats, a genuine heart-felt desire to aid those in need. I do however think their efforts are misguided.

I want to take a look at the issue of Christianity and its relationship to the poor over the next few posts. I want to start with the statement that Christians are commanded by God to help the poor. Christians are not to question whether or not they should help the poor. Helping those in need is a black and white issue.

In Acts 6, the early church shows that they were committed to aiding the needy. The first deacons were appointed for the specific purpose of helping the poor widows within the church. Even today deacons, more than anything, should be leading out is service especially to the poor. We are building into the structure of Grace Community Church the purpose of Service. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are working towards eventually having a deacon being directly over our service projects which will be specifically to the poor and needy.

During Paul’s missionary journeys, part of what he was doing was raising funds for the poor within the church at Jerusalem. Even poor parts of the world gave generously to this cause of aiding the poor.

In Galatians 2:10, Paul records about one of his meetings with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. They were debating the theological issues surrounding the conversion of Gentiles into the church. The Jerusalem church ended up agreeing with Paul’s arguments, blessed his efforts, and as Paul concluded this account he records that “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.”

James records at the conclusion of some statements about genuine authentic faith that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

Aiding those in need is a black and white issue. The church is to lead the way in helping the poor. God gives us the command to help the poor and the early church generously gave to those in need. James connects our spirituality to whether or not we help the poor.

All of this leads to the conclusion that if you are not aiding those in need in our society then you are not a spiritual person. You have some issues with your walk with the Lord if you are not generous with those in need.

The Christian church, more than any other organization or institution, has a great history of aiding the poor. I pray that this never ceases to be, because helping the poor is one of the purposes of the church. It is not a question of whether Christians should help the poor; it is a black and white issue.

Help the Poor: Introduction

I have been doing a lot of thinking over the past few years about Christians' relationship to the poor in our society. This is an enormous issue and I have tried to look at it from many different angles. I have been challenged by some good friends on this issue including my co-pastor with GCC (Ross Appleton), the husband of one of my wife’s college roommates (Ken McKeever), and the constant debate over this issue in the news. I am indebted to all of these insights. I am also grateful for the work that the McKeever’s do with the poor in our society and am thankful that the Lord has given them this special calling.

I am excited to get into this discussion and pray there is much dialogue on my blog about the issue. I have to admit that I feel like a novice in many ways with this issue, but also have confidence in the Scriptures and confidence in my personal experiences in dealing with the poor in our society. This leads me to the conclusion that my views and experiences are like everyone else’s in that they are limited. This causes me to be humble with this issue. This also leads me to the conclusion that my views and experiences and observations are valid and I should not buy into the lie that simply because I am a white middle-class male I should not have a voice regarding poverty in America. Nor should I discount the experiences that God has brought me through. This gives me confidence in dealing with this issue.

I want of state from the outset that I believe there is not one simple answer to this problem. It is not as simple as “They just need to get a job” or “They just need to stay in school”. It is also not as simple as “We just need to give less money to the war in Iraq and more to the poor” (“For war billions more, but not more for the poor”) (By the way this statement is factually not true and irresponsible for a minister to say it at a funeral). It is also not simply a problem of bad school teachers, schools, or parents. The problem of the poor is not simply a problem of the establishment holding people down. It is not simply a problem of corrupt governments nor is it simply a problem of racism. It is also not simply a problem of people having a “poor me” victim mentality. All of these are major parts of the problem to varying degrees. I am interested in discussing the degree to which each of these issues are really part of the problem.

In many ways I am beginning my journey with this issue. My stances might change over time; they also might become firmer than they are today. My hope is that you will engage with me concerning the relationship that Christianity and the Church should have with the poor in our society.

Please keep your comments gracious and towards solutions not simply talking point jabs. I am really interested in dealing with issue not simply trying to give credibility to someone’s already formed principles.

Lessons from the King funeral

Yesterday I tuned in with eager expectation for the Coretta Scott King funeral. We all consider the Martin Luther King, Jr. family American heroes. As a speech communication major in college I grew to love Dr. King for his amazing oratory abilities. When I committed my life to ministry I grew to love Dr. King for his sermons. As a seminary student I have grown to love Dr. King as a theologian. Dr. King used the Biblical idea of the Kingdom of God as a theological basis for the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is one of the most powerful things I have ever read. That letter has been life changing for me.

I have grown to love that letter because it shows King’s view of the Kingdom of God and how it affected his work in the Civil Right’s movement. The idea of the Kingdom of God has always been a difficult one for Christianity. Saint Augustine’s view was used to establish the European Christendom of the Middle Ages and regrettably spurred on the Crusades. Even today we are only scratching the surface and seeing only the side that we want to see with this Biblical issue.

Most in the Evangelical community do not even attempt to have an understanding of this issue. Most theologians and some pastors understand the issue, but the debate is bogged down in the Covenant versus Dispensational debate. However, great strides have been made by Dr. Russell Moore in his "The Kingdom of Christ", and by Dr. Blaising and Dr. Bock in their writings on Progressive Dispensationalism.

Sadly the Christian left waves this banner but does it very irresponsibly and without the boundaries of sound Biblical theology. This was no more evident than the scene of Senator Kennedy speaking in a Christian pulpit and quoting the Sermon on the Mount at Mrs. King’s funeral. As Kennedy got behind the pulpit (where men of God are to expound the Word of God) I was shocked. When Kennedy (an opponent of Christianity, an unapologetic drunk, a slanderer of many good men and women who seek to serve on our Federal Courts including Bork, Thomas, Roberts, and Scalia, and a man who killed a women in a drunk driving accident and used all his power and money to get out of it) starting quoting from the Bible my shock turned to anger. When the predominately African-American crowd stood and roared in approval of his speech my anger turned to sadness.

The Christian and political left only embraces parts of the idea of the Kingdom of God that they want and thus they have a very harmful view of reality and truth.

We are in a sense in the Kingdom of God and in a sense the Kingdom has not yet arrived. The Kingdom of God exists in a messy “already/not yet” reality. Christ sits upon the throne and desires for us to enact laws that reflect justice and mercy in our societies. If there is a law that robs the rights of anyone then it is unjust and should be combated.

King rightfully used the idea as a theological basis against the Jim Crow laws of the South. The Jim Crow laws of the South were those types of unjust laws.

There is also a “not yet” aspect where we need to understand that heaven on earth will not happen until Christ returns. We should not stop the fight but also not expect for humanity to not have a sin nature either.

King rightly used the Kingdom of God, but he was described as less a follower of Christ and more a follower of the non-violence philosophies of Ghandi yesterday. Everyone will admit that by human standards, Ghandi was an amazing human. There were some great lessons to be learned from Ghandi. The problem with completely embracing Ghandi was that he was not a Christian but a Hindu thus reality was eschewed at his core philosophies.

Where am I going with all of this? The Kingdom of God does not mean “Peace at all Costs”. Those political advocates who disgraced Mrs. King by turning her funeral into a political rally have a view of “Peace at all Costs”. This is not what the Kingdom of God is about. In fact before the Kingdom of God will be enacted a period of horrible war between Jesus and his followers against the satanic forces will erupt and descriptions of it are shocking and amazing.

People like President Carter (embarrassingly a Baptist) attack the Iraq war with a “Peace at all Costs” philosophy. This is part of what made him a terrible president. The Kingdom of God has not been fully realized, therefore sin and evil and the flesh are very real and scary realities. There is a place in our current age for the sword. “Peace at all Costs” is a scary and irresponsible idea that cannot be supported by the Biblical idea of the Kingdom of God.
What are we to learn from Mrs. King’s funeral? First, embrace the full Kingdom of God theme in the Bible. Don’t just embrace the parts that fit your little agenda. I am largely speaking to a “Peace at all Costs” political and theological left, but also to conservative Biblical Christians who don’t even really understand this issue. Second, “Peace at all Costs” is not what the Kingdom of God is about. We are to reject this irresponsible view. Third, the Christian left and the African-American church is shamefully accepting a character like Senator Ted Kennedy and they must clean up their act. Hold your leaders to accountability like the right did with President Bush over the Harriett Meier’s nomination. Fourth, the legacy of the Kings’ should not be a “Peace at all Costs” ideology, but a fight for justice using the Kingdom of God as a theological basis.

View of Christian Counseling

I was recently asked on a post to talk about my views of Christian Counseling after taking the Biblical Counseling 101 course at Dallas Theological Seminary. I really enjoyed the class and found it very helping in forming a philosophy of Christian Counseling.

I embrace the DTS approach to Biblical/Christian Counseling. They have what they call an “integrated” approach. This means that they are trying to integrate Biblical Theology with Psychology. Dr. Barnes was quick to note that this can be dangerous business. There is so much bad secular Psychology that if one is not grounded in orthodox Biblical Theology then devastating mistakes can be made.

I embrace the integrated approach for what will appear to be two scandalous reasons.

First, the Bible does not speak to all situations. I believe that the Bible is God’s inerrant infallible Word and is truth without mixture of error. The Bible is largely a Theological History of the things that God wants us to know about Him and his mission. It deals with the “big” issues and enables Christianity to have the answers to the most important “big” questions. The Bible is special revelation meaning it is truth handed down from the divine and gives us knowledge that we might not otherwise possess. Human reason alone cannot arrive at the conclusions of the Bible. Psychology can help us understand general revelation. Good Psychology can help us understand humanity in areas that the Bible remains silent. The danger is what defines “good” Psychology? Good Psychology must stay within the bounds set by Biblical Theology.

Second, those who only use the Bible without “good” Psychology can possibly misdiagnosis a situation and cause major harm to the client. I am a pastor and most of the problems I deal with end up being sin issues. In pastoral counseling the problems that people have are typically brought upon by their own sin or the sin of others. There are times that this is not the case. For instance, ADD is a real disorder that can and should be treated. ADD is also misdiagnosed a lot. I say misdiagnosed because there are times when a child has ADD and it is not diagnosed and other times when the child is simply not being submissive to authority and they are diagnosed as ADD (sin issue). The best thing I learned from my class is when I am out of my training with someone and when I need to refer them to a professional Christian Counselor.

If done properly, the Christian community (small groups, accountability groups, or Sunday School classes) will point out sin is an individual’s life. Authentic community will help us in counseling each other through the different problems that we have. If a problem is out of the training of the small group then the pastor should be able to handle the situation. If it is out of his/her training then the individual should be referred to a Christian Counselor.

Much of our emotional problems are a result of sin. These should be dealt with in an honest, loving, and gentle manner. Many of our emotional problems are as a result of our past. Groups like Men’s Fraternity should aid in overcoming those past demons. Emotional problems can also be biological in nature, thus one of the roles of Christian Counseling.

Theology and Psychology working arm in arm can help us accurately identify problems that people are having and then the solutions to the problems.

I feel it is important to tag a footnote to this discussion. God might not bring ultimate healing from pain, He might be using it to sharpen us and grow us. We should pray for healing, but if in God’s sovereign plan we are not healed from physical or emotional pain then we must learn to glorify God and find our happiness and joy in God through the pain. God has never healed Joni Eareckson Tada. God has not completely healed thousands of Bi-Polar people across our country. We should always be working towards healing the many Psychological diseases, but if you find yourself struggling then don’t give up when God does not answer your prayers in the manner in which you want Him to. You don’t have to be happy about your situation and it is fine to go through periods of anger and fits of crying if you are hurting, but at the end of the day God is still good and He is still sovereign. Even in our darkest days God loves us so much that He died on the cross for our sin and indwells Christians with the Comforter. At the end of the day embrace His grace.

Vote the Agenda

This week we see an interesting situation concerning American political parties and the abortion issue. Samuel Alito is going to be the next Supreme Court Justice. Alito appears to be a good, honest, smart, fair-minded, conservative justice. Alito should be a good justice, but he might not have gotten in as smoothly if the Republicans were not controlling the executive and legislative braches of government. When you vote you are not simply voting for the person, but the agenda of the candidates’ party. There are obviously exceptions, but if the two candidates are equal then we must vote for the party with the best platform.

The majority party in the Senate and House hold so much power in our system that you must embrace the reality that you cannot simply vote the person, but the party.

The Democratic Party has propped up the Pro-Choice movement for thirty years. Are there Pro-Life Democrats? Yes, but they are in the minority and worse then being in the minority they do not stand up for this issue to keep the radical left factions of the Democratic Party in check. Moderates are the only way to save the Democratic Party, but the radical left fights tooth and nail to keep them out of power.

The Democratic Party has made it clear that Conservative Evangelical Christians do not have a home in their camp. The leadership of that party is responsible for propping up Roe v.s. Wade along with many other secular issues. The Democratic Party mocks people of faith, especially Evangelical Christians (c.f. Democrat bumper stickers).

Democrat Christians, all thirty five of you (http://www.henryinstitute.org/commentary_read.php?cid=165), it is nice that you want to help the poor in this country, but you are losing site of the larger agenda. Further the Democratic Party does not actually helping the poor, they only keep people down by their economic and welfare plans.

Democrat Christians start interpreting the Bible with some integrity and join the movement that was given theological legs by Francis Schaeffer and Carl Henry then a political vision from Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

I Shall Return

Friends and Fans, it has been over a month since the last entry. I am completely committed to not having the blog become one of those things that I started strong with and then withered away at. I plan on posting at least a couple of posts a week from here on out.

The reasons for not having posted in a while is largely because of Mason. He is down to only waking up once during the night, but we are praying that very soon he gets to the point of sleeping all night. I also took a one week wintermester class at DTS. I took a class on Biblical Counseling which I found very interesting and useful. It was a good experience, but a lot of work.

We are now officially back in the swing of thing, so I am looking forward to returning to my work on the blog. I have a few things that I have been working on and hope to post them over the next couple of weeks.

Enjoy the pic of my little man.

My Little Elf

Kristen thinks he looks like an elf in this picture. Merry Christmas to all.

The Gospel in our Churches

One of my uncles recently asked me how my studies were going at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a former Baptist who now is part of an independent Bible church in Arkansas. I told him things were going well and that I really liked where the seminary was at. He asked what I meant, and I told him that the institution as a whole had become more conservative. He further asked what I meant by that and I don't feel like I gave him a good answer. I said something along the lines of it being more committed to the testimony of the Scriptures, meaning it was more theologically conservative on some important issues.

This week I heard of a friend of mine who has been in church for years and just became a Christian late in life. She is a wonderful, fun, loving, caring wife, mother, grandmother, and even great-grandmother. The times I have been around her she has truly been a joy. He concern has been that she has simply not been good enough. One of my other friends has been teaching Paul's book of Galatians to her. Through his teaching and their wrestling through the good news of the Gospel of Grace she was converted. It has been a great source of joy for me and her evangelist seeing God work in her life.

I have also recently read of the story of John Wesley. This summer Kristen and I got to see where Rev. Wesley is buried and where he studied at Oxford. Wesley was a true Christian hero and had a great impact on not only American Christianity, but on America itself. I read how Wesley had started "Holy Societies" in Oxford and around England, was an ordained Anglican minister, was raised in a church going household where his father was a minister, and had been a missionary to the colony of Georgia AND YET WAS NOT TRULY CONVERTED! It was not until Wesley came in contact with the German Moravians that he was truly converted!

How could Wesley go through all that church and not have a correct understanding of the Gospel? How can my friend have been in a Presbyterian church her whole life and then at the end be worried that she has not been good enough? What was wrong in the church in Wesley's day and still in our day?

The most glaring problem of the American church continues to be that it is not clear enough and doctrinally sound enough with the Gospel.

This problem is directly connected to the battle of conservative evangelical Christianity with moderate and liberal Christianity. At its core it is a Gospel issue.

Churches that are more conservative in their Bibliogy and Theology will have a better understanding of the Gospel. The battle over the authority of the Bible and for conservative evangelical theology is essentially a fight for the Gospel of Grace through Faith in Christ. It is the battle for the historical Reformed calls for Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, and Christ Alone.

If you are in a church were people have sat there for years and think they have to be good enough to enter into heaven, then run your pastor off. If you are in a denomination that is filled with people who are trying to be good enough and the grace of Galatians is not taught then reform it. If you are a minister and do not understand the importance of what I am talking about or are not weekly preaching a gospel of grace then quit and go sell cars.

Last night I was holding Mason and thinking about this reality. I promised him that as his father and his pastor he would grow up in churches that clearly teach the gospel. The churches I pastor will be churches where the gospel of grace is clearly and constantly taught.

P.S. Since I reference Mason at the end I thought it gave me license to post another picture of him. This is a proud Poppa with his son watching his first Dallas Cowboy game.

Magnify

Mary’s Song
Luke 1:46-55

"And Mary said:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name.

'And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him.'

He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
'He has filled the hungry with good things';
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
He has given help to Israel His servant,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and his descendants forever."


Intro

I love the symbol of Desiring God Ministries. Desiring God Ministries and Dr. John Piper have had an enormous impact on me. The book Desiring God is what God used to really change my life while I was in college. Their symbol or logo is four simple red arrows. If you simply see the four red arrows then you probably don’t get what they are trying to say, but if you purchase a DVD and see the arrows in motion then you get it. The meaning is found in bringing these four arrows from the four corners of the screen into the center and thus forming a cross in between the arrows. They are attempting to be Cross and Christ centered in all that they do.

That has been my heart this Christmas season. I have wanted to point believers to the person and work of Christ. I have felt called to focus not only on your blessings this year, but to focus more on the Blesser.

There is a portion of the Christmas story that you seldom see. I have never heard Linus from Charlie Brown quote this potion of the Luke Christmas story. It is Mary's Song found in Luke 1.

In it we see WHAT Mary did at the major crossroads of her life, during a significant season of her life. We then see WHY she did what she did. Basically we see Mary’s heart and where her joy and priorities rest. We see how we are to react to the Significant Season of Christmas.

Following Mary’s example we see that During Significant Seasons, we are to Magnify God.

Body

Luke is written by a Gentile believer to Gentile believers. It is a gospel not necessarily written to a Jewish audience like Matthew was, but more towards a Gentile audience. It announces that Christ has come to take away the sins of the world and reign on His throne forever.

In Luke 1 we see a very common and relatively poor Jewish girl (around the age of 13 or 14) who is chosen by God to bear the Christ child even though she is a virgin. God does this in is sovereign grace, but he chooses a pious young lady in Mary. Mel Gibson wonderfully captures the character of Mary in his movie The Passion of the Christ. She was probably my favorite part of the movie. She added such a powerful dimension to the film, a real emotional angle that I now understand better as a new father.

In Luke 1, she goes to see her pregnant cousin in the Judean countryside. This young woman travels to the countryside by her self, by all accounts! She is a strong, obedient, pious woman. She does what the Lord desires with such a positive, obedient, faithful spirit even though she does not fully understand what is going on.

Mary is at a major cross roads in her life. She is pregnant for the first time even though she has never been with a man. She is in a significant season of her life. In Luke 1:46-55, Mary writes a song of declarative praise to God in this significant season of her life. We never see Mary complain, doubt, or become self-centered in any way. We see exactly the opposite, we see Mary praise God in her significant season.

What do you do at your cross roads? We are in the Christmas season, a significant season, what do you do and why do you do it during Christmas? Let’s see what Mary did.

I. WHAT Mary does in her Significant Season (1:46-47)

Mary writes God a song of praise in her significant season. She is so filled with emotion that this illiterate Jewish peasant girl sings a song the source of her powerful emotion.

Her Soul --> Magnifies the Lord
Her Spirit --> Rejoices in God her Savior

Mary is filled with joy and happiness. Her soul and spirit are filled with powerful emotions and the source of this joy is God Himself. As a result Mary does the natural and appropriate thing, she praised him. The ancient Latin Christians simply called this psalm “Magnificant” because Mary was magnifying the Lord.

Magnification is trying to view something larger, not smaller. It is taking an image and making it as large as possible in order to see it better. Mary is declaring how great God is. She is trying to magnify God. She is declaring to the world the glory of God.

This is a very natural and appropriate thing for Mary to do. It is natural because her soul and spirit are filled with these rejoicing emotions. It is appropriate because it is true. God is to be magnified and we are to rejoice in God because He is our Savior. There is nothing greater than God, and thus there is nothing that we should magnify more, and rejoice in more than God Himself.

Like Mary, our ultimate joy is to be in God Himself, the Blesser not simply the blessings. Mary was very God centered in her crossroads of life, her significant season. Are you focused upon magnifying God in this Christmas season? Does you soul and spirit well up with joy and rejoicing for God this Christmas? How can you rejoice in the Blesser this Christmas?

II. WHY Mary does what she does in her Significant Season (1:48-55)

In the following verses (1:48-55) we see not what Mary does (she magnifies and rejoices God in 1:46-47), but now we see WHY she magnifies and rejoices God. We see the “because” of her singing.

1. Because

In verses 1:48-50 we see three reasons why she rejoices God, three “becauses”.

a. God has blessed me (1:48-49a)

First, she magnifies Him and rejoices in Him because he has blessed her. Mary could not have understood everything about this child, but she knew that he was the Savior the ultimate Savior; not a Savior but THE Savior. He was not simply a picture of what was to come (like Abraham, Moses, or David), He was THE promised one. This was it and she knew it.

Because of who Christ was and what He was going to do she knew she was blessed. Her happiness and joy were all wrapped up in the person and work of Christ. Because of Christ she knew that all generations would call her blessed. The Mighty One had done a great thing for her.

b. God is HOLY (1:49b)

Second, she praises him simply because he is holy. The simple statement in 1:49b is so theologically accurate and so simple yet so wonderfully great. Yeah, “wonderfully great”, that is the best a simply guy from Texas can do. God is holy. He is perfect in all that he does. He is perfectly righteous. Everything he says and does can be trusted because he is holy. Nothing else is holy.

c. God has Mercy on all generations that fear Him (1:50)

Third, she praises him because through Christ the covenant has been fulfilled and all generations from that day forward will be shown mercy. Like the Old Testament covenant, it was for those who feared the Lord, who keep their end of the covenant. Psalm 103:17-18 says that God will show loving kindness for eternity to those who keep His covenant. For us in the dispensation of grace, our end of the deal is to simply place our faith in the person and work of Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we are saved by the Savior by His grace through faith in Him not ourselves or our own works. God will show mercy upon those who fear him and place their faith in him.

If you were to write a song or poem to God, why would you magnify him? What “becauses” would you include? I want to challenge you this Christmas season to sit down and write a poem or song to God this year. Even if you have never done something like that I want to challenge you to get out of your box and attempt to magnify God as Mary did.

2. And He Has

Mary concludes her song with a list of things he has done that are mighty and great. Before she is very personal in her praises, now she gets out of the box of her own life and praises him for all the mighty things he has done throughout the ages.

a. Done Mighty Deeds (1:51a)

From verses 1:51, Mary compiles a list of praise for her mighty Savior God. He has:

- Scattered the proud (1:51b)
- Brought down rulers (1:52a)
- Exalted the humble (1:52b)
- Filled the hungry (1:53a)
- Sent away the rich (1:53b)
- Shown Mercy to Israel (1:54a-55)

Conclusion

As you work on your poem or song this week, I want you to not only praise Him for what He has done for you personally. I want you to also praise Him for what He has done throughout the ages for all peoples. I want you to think through your knowledge of the Bible and praise Him for His works. I also want you to think through History and praise Him for his mighty deeds. I want you to think through your understanding of Science and the Natural Order and then praise Him for His marvelous plan and creations.

What are some things that we can praise Him for this morning? What are some things in the Bible that are worthy of praise? What are some things from history that are worthy of praise? What are some things from the natural world that are worthy of His praise?

This Christmas season do as Mary and During Significant Seasons, Magnify God.

Courageously Preach Against Injustice

Courageously Preach Against Injustice

Proverbs 22:22-23
“Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Or crush the afflicted at the gate;
For the Lord will plead their case
And take the life of those who rob them.”
(NASB)


Introduction:

In the Spring of 1963 a Baptist minister sat in a jail because he courageously preached against the injustice of his day. He received a lot of criticism from many different people. He learned that he didn’t have to answer all the criticism, because most was unfounded and it wouldn’t do any good to respond. He learned to simply stay the course in his efforts. As he sat in jail this day he was moved to respond to a loud criticism leveled at him. The man was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the criticism was from eight ministers who called him out for coming to Birmingham to march against segregation. Eight ministers criticized Dr. King’s courageous efforts to preach against injustice!

We still have injustices today. Every generation has injustices that are common to all generations and then some that are unique to them. Are you going to be like Dr. King and courageously preach against injustice? Or are you going to be like the eight critical ministers?

Proverbs 23:22-23 gives us an important teaching on justice. This proverb deals with the problem of injustice, then gives us God’s solution for injustice, and I will then apply this teaching to a specific unique injustice that we face today.

Body

I. Through the Israelite Sage, God Preached Against Injustice

A. God gave us a command concerning injustice (22:22)

These verses show us that “Through the Israelite Sage, God Preached Against Injustice”. In this first verse we see a command concerning injustice. God spoke through the writer of this proverb about his view of injustice. This passage sits within a group of scriptures that some commentaries call the “Thirty Sayings” which are thirty sayings concerning different moral issues. This saying deals with how to treat the poor or oppressed in society.

1. Justice was denied by the powerful, simply because they can (22:22a)

The first of four statements in this proverb deals with the powerful who oppress or rob the weak or poor simply because they can. They have no compassion for the less fortunate, but simply seek their own greedy and sinful desires.

After pondering on why he got into a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton said that he did simply because he could. For some reason I really liked his authenticity about his sin. He didn’t lie and say that he was in love with her or something like that, but simply took advantage of the situation because he could.

The first line of this verse is a command to not take advantage of the weak simply because you can. There will always be poor and we are not take advantage of them simply because they are poor.

2. Justice was denied by a wicked godless government (22:22b)

The first part of the verse told us to not take advantage of the poor, weak, or afflicted in a general sense. This part of verse gets more specific. It tells us not to take advantage of the poor, weak, or afflicted through the legal system. It commands the reader to not crush or bruise, or apply pressure that kills those who are less fortunate that you. In ancient Israel, the city elders sitting at the city gates heard trials. This was the common means of justice and is seen in numerous passages like Proverbs 31 and the story of Ruth and Boaz.

I want to address an important point at this stage. We live in a democratic country. If you live in a democratic republic then you are a ruler. You and your morality establish the foundations for your legal system. You have a responsibility to make decisions for your country. You are responsible for who is the President and the Senators from your states. They reflect you and your morality. If there is a corrupt law in your country then you are responsible for it. Because we live under the blessing of democracy we all, in a sense, sit as rulers at the city gate of our society.

With that said, those in your government should affirm justice as found in your ultimate authority, the Bible. This means that your government should affirm a Christian God. This does not mean we have to be a theocracy, which will come in the end times, but it does mean that you cannot separate your faith in Jesus from your politics. Your God dictates your morality, and your morality dictates your politics.

In the legal system, we should have laws that do not crush, kill, or take advantage of the poor, weak, or afflicted. Your Christianity is connected to your morality, your morality to your politics, and we all establish the laws of the land through our politics. Vote your values and don’t let justice be denied at the city gate.

B. God gave us a threat concerning injustice (22:23)

The Sage has given us a command concerning justice, now he tags unto this command a threat to those who don’t heed his warning.

1. God promised to plead the case of the innocent (22:23a)

Sticking with this theme of justice we see that God promises to serve as a defense attorney for the innocent who were oppressed by you.

Picture this scene. You are charged with a crime that you know that you are guilty of and you look over to see who the prosecutor is going to be, knowing that he will shred you on the stand. You look over and it is God Himself! This is the same God that says that he knows every hair on your head. Then you look over and see who the judge is going to be, the judge who will hand down your sentence and it is also God, the perfectly righteous judge! If you think Johnny Cochran was tough, try to go up against God in the courtroom.

Those who are denied justice because they are weak, poor, or afflicted will have their case plead by God himself. That brings me great hope.

2. God promised justice for the innocent (22:23b)

We next see a little poetic justice in that those who took the lives of the weak will have their lives taken by God Himself. You rob their lives; He will rob your life. This verse sends chills up my spine, but it also gives me a great feeling of hope. God will and has thrown into hell those Nazi and Communist leaders and murders who slaughtered millions in the last century. Hitler, Pol Pot, and Stalin have faced justice in the form of God Himself. Those who enabled the wicked Jim Crow laws of the American South will answer to the Judge.

Like Bob Dylan sang:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls,

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

The Israelite Sage was saying that ultimately God will judge those who abuse the weak.


II. Through His People, God has Always Preached Against Injustice

Biblical religion has always had a great tradition of preaching against injustice. “Through His People, God has Always Preached Against Injustice”. The Israelite sage did it in his day. The Minor Prophets like Amos and Micah cried for justice in their day. History has forgotten that Roman baby girls were saved from death by the early Christians who established the first orphanages, the opium trade was combated by the Christians, drunkenness was battled by the Christians, slavery was abolished in the British Empire by the Christians, and the American abolitionist movement was a distinctively Christian movement.

The Bible is filled with verses like Micah 6:8:
“He has told you, O man, what is good:
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?”

“Through His People, God has Always Preached Against Injustice”.


III. Today, Will YOU Courageously Preach Against Injustice

As I have studied, prayed, and thought through these verses I have tried to narrow down the most important thing that we need to apply from this. Concerning application we are to Courageously Preach for Justice.

But the question I had through this whole study is what injustice does our generation face? In the 1940’s it was clearly Nazi Fascism and Japanese Imperialism that cruelly murdered millions. In the 1950’s it was clearly Soviet Communism, which before it was done had killed over 100 million in the previous century. In the 1960’s I think America was rightly dealing with racial injustice and the Civil Right’s Movement. But sadly I think that many don’t realize that we are now in the first decade of the 21st century. Many are still focused upon battles of the past. There are skirmishes to be fought on these issues but the war is won on all of these injustices.

We are in the 21st Century, but we either live in the past or have not learned from the past. We refuse to preach justice on an issue that is staring us in the face. An issue of injustice by the powerful over the weak. An issue of the wicked laws established by the people that you and I elect. An injustice that is killing people by the millions like the Nazis and Communists did. An injustice that is killing more and is enacted upon a more innocent and weaker victim than the African-Americans in the Civil Rights movement.

The injustice that I am talking about is the injustice of abortion upon the unborn. Since the 1973 verdict by OUR United States Supreme Court in the Roe v.s. Wade case more than 40 million abortions have been performed. Our elders at the gate have established a legal law that is both unjust and forced upon us without a vote of the people. Our courts decided this in one instance without my vote or your vote. They said that the right of a pregnant woman to murder her child was in the constitution and since then we have seen a case of genocide in this country that is worse than the Jewish Holocaust. The victims of this genocide are truly innocent and cannot fight back.

I was born in 1978 and a quarter of my generation was has been murdered due to abortion and many of us arrogantly sit in our ivory tower and place racism and feminist issues on the same plane as abortion!

Even at Dallas Theological Seminary I have heard two Systematic Theology professors raise racism and feminist issues to the same level of imporatance as abortion! I have also heard one of them act like it was not wrong to support an American political party that is mainly responsible for this injustice! DTS needs to do more about this injustice and needs a better message to their students.

Many in our own generation have not done enough because we down play the reality of this injustice or buy the lie that Francis Schaeffer destroyed which said that “Jesus would not part of the political process.”

I recently heard the lawyer who is now representing “Roe” in her fight to over turn the law. She is an evangelical Christian now and understands that abortion is murder. He said that the Roe v.s. Wade is built upon two false pillars. One, that the unborn child is not alive and second, that abortion does not harm the mother. I could hear my son’s heart beat around 22 days after conception, before most even know that they are pregnant. We also saw him moving around throughout the pregnancy. Even before Mason was born, he was clearly alive. Second, the psychological trauma is so severe upon women how have abortions that they have their own syndrome, Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS) which is marked by “drug and alcohol abuse, personal relationship disorders, sexual dysfunction, repeated abortions, communications difficulties, damaged self-esteem, and even attempt suicide” (National Right to Life website). Abortion is clearly the greatest injustice of our day performed against the most innocent, the poorest, the weakest, and the most defenseless victims.

The second half of the last century found some new voices that helped frame the evangelical movement. Carl F. Henry and Francis Schaffer both were strong on this issue because they understood it in a larger theological context. The Henry Institute at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is headed by Russell Moore. Moore has written a book dealing with the new evangelical perspective of the Kingdom of God. I attend DTS so I understand the issues of Dispensationalism versus Covenant Theology. Moore basically affirms a sort of Progressive Dispensationalism that does not see our immediate future in completely negative terms. The traditional Dispensational movement typically gives up and quits trying to change our society for the good. The traditional Covenant camp sees the future in probably a too positive light. Look, the end times will be horrible but that does not mean that we are to not continue being salt and light, changing our culture for the glory of God.

Sadly the most dangerous place for a child in America is in his or her mother’s womb and we can help change that injustice. If we see injustice we must Courageously Preach against it. Courageously Preach for Justice

Conclusion

In conclusion I want to share an excerpt of a letter written to eight Alabama ministers (Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, Bishop Joseph A. Durick, Rabbi Hilton L. Grafman, Bishop Paul Hardin, Bishop Holan B. Harmon, the Reverend George M. Murray, the Reverend Edward V. Ramage, and the Reverend Earl Stallings) on April 16, 1963.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”:

“Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.”

The unborn can’t write letters, they can’t march in protests, they can’t vote, they can’t Courageously Preach for Justice. The unborn are more poor and weak than the African-Americans in the South. The most dangerous place for an American child to be is in the womb.

Are you too cool or too spiritual to get involved with this injustice? What are you going to do with your voice as a Christian and a Christian leader? Are you going to tickle ears or are you going to change society?

Give to the Pro-Life movement, vote for people who will help change the injustice of abortion in America, and lend your voice and support to this injustice. Courageously Preach for Justice.

Christ Church and the Awe of God

My wife and I had a wonderful experience this summer. We traveled England with a seminary group and experienced the wonderful churches of old England. When you walk into these ancient structures the architect/artist draws your eyes to the beautiful stained glass windows which pulls your eyes up to the heavens, as your head is pulled up gravity drops your jaw, and you stand there with a look of "awe". This is one of the most important reactions to God, AWE.

These buildings were all so beautiful and many of the little villages were very proud of their church structures. If the architect was pious he would not want us to be in awe of the building, but the God that the building is trying to worship.

As I have held my new son and watched my wife be a great mother to Mason I have taken great joy in God's blessing of a wonderful healthy son and beautiful loving wife. I am blessed beyond words. It has been important for me to remember my first love however. My first and greatest love, joy, and happiness are not my wonderful wife nor my perfect little boy but the giver of these blessings.

Matthew 13:44 says, "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field."

Do you love God's blessings over God Himself? Do you find so much joy in God and you would sell everything to be in His presence?

Christmas provides many blessings and joys for us. This Christmas season, worship the creator over the created. Find you joy and happiness more in the Blesser than the blessings.

In His Grace

Advertising Note

Crew, sorry about the seedy advertisements at the top of the blog. I felt weird putting them up and did it mostly out of blog curiosity. After making a note about Mason's blood sugar being low and then reading a bunch of blood sugar advertisements I am officially in the process of figuring out how to take the advertisements down. I promise we are not hurting for money that bad, I am however working on a pyramid marketing scheme that will cause all your friends to hate you, give me a call.

I am not sorry about randomly throwing another pic of Mason. For the record I am proudly and very contently sitting in a dark office, listening to lullaby music, wearing the dorkiest hat that says "good dads: Presbyterian Hospital of Denton", and listening to Mason sleep and toot at the same time. If I had a "#1 Dad" shirt I would wear it. Life is good. Does anyone out there know how to put in a car seat correctly?

Mason Pics

Mason Lawrence

I want to announce that Mason Lawrence Caswell was born on Monday evening at 9:23pm after my wife courageously worked through 13 and a half hours of labor. I was very proud of her on Monday. Mason was born weighing in a 10 pounds and 1 ounce, not bad for a first child. He was also 20 and a half inches long. His chest measured in at over 14 inches which leads me to believe he is going to be a powerhouse. Mason has a think head of dark hair, blue eyes like his parents, and some bear claw mitts for hands. So far he is a pretty chilled out baby. We are very proud of the dude think he is pretty cute. I know that we all think new borns can sort of look like lizards but he came out looking pretty good.

Mason and Kristen are going to probably be released tomorrow. He has had low blood sugar due to his large weight so he has been on a IV for most of the time. It was hard to see to little man all hooked up, but it has given us so breathing room on breast feeding. As of this morning they are weaning him off the IV due to his continued strong blood sugar readings since yesterday afternoon.

Thanksgiving Tribute

Happy Thanksgiving. I have much to be thankful for this year. We have a baby on the way, we are also birthing a new church, the Cowboys have a shot at the playoffs (and are currently tied with Denver), and the Longhorns could win the National Championship. God is good, we are thankful.

Seriously, I am thankful for so much right now. I am at a wonderful fun place in life. I have wanted to do a tribute to a certain man and ministry and Thanksgiving give me this opportunity.

The first Thanksgiving was modeled after the Old Testaments days of Thanksgiving. The point is giving thanks to God for His blessings. God has given me personally and my generation a special blessing in the person of Dr. John Piper and his ministry, Desiring God Ministries.

I received their holiday calender this week and quickly ordered some Christmas presents to myself. His ministry more than any other has changed my life. I still remember coming out of a hedonistic college fraternity lifestyle and reading "Desiring God". Before I knew it I was no longer starting new little businesses to make a quick buck but was starting Men's Bible Studies, I was not longer seeking happiness in wine and women but in God Himself, I was no longer a casual Christian who thought I was against Calvinism but embraced the soveriegnty and grace of God. Much of this is owed to the life and ministry of John Piper.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Piper twice is he is truly a man of humility and grace. Desiring God Ministries has also allowed me to pay what I can for their resources. Dr. Piper and Desiring God are truly Christ centered and grace filled.

Dr. Piper is the greatest preacher of our day and his message of Christian hedonism is what my generation needs. If you haven't yet, drink deeply from this ministry. You will walk away changed and finding that you desire God deeper than you ever thought. Piper upholds the richness of Christianity and our God.

Lukewarm Church Membership

As we have worked at laying a solid foundation for Grace Community Church we have been forced to deal with different problems within churches and deal with the Biblical vision for God’s Church. At GCC we identify one of the purposes of God’s Church to be “Membership”. We believe that the Great Commission teaches that new converts should be baptized which is a step of membership into the universal body of Christ and into the local congregation they are joining. We believe that baptism is a symbol that identifies one with not only Jesus Christ Himself, but also the local body of believers the individual is joining.

This is simply the traditional Baptist view of baptism that began with the early British Baptists. These British Baptists sought a church that was more pure than the Church of England. They felt that membership within a church should mean something. They rejected the reality of many in the Church of England that were baptized as babies and thus were members of the Church, but were clearly not believers. They sought a more authentic version of Christianity.

For years I have been frustrated with the idea of membership in our churches. I have rolled my eyes at official membership roles of a church that might have over 2,000 members but only around 1,500 attend on a Sunday morning. If a church is in this situation then there is a major problem. If this is the case it is clear that the church does not value membership, membership does not mean anything, and that the congregation does not know what membership is all about.

While in England this summer I made an interesting discovery. We toured the over 200-year-old Baptist church in Moulton that William Carey pastored before becoming the father of the modern mission movement in India. Moulton is and was a small community and when Carey arrived it was a church in disarray. People rarely attended and the members were discouraged. The first thing that Carey did was to draw up a document that outlined what it meant to be a member at the church and had those who sought membership in the church to sign the document. This was a very Baptist thing to do and it made a ton of sense then and now.

Many of our churches lower requirements for membership based upon an erroneous view of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. There are numerous scriptures that teach that individual believers are to submit to the church in doctrine and practice, that Christianity is a call to a holy life, that Christians should have accountability in their lives which rebukes their personal sins, and that being part of the body of Christ means more than a financial discount on using the church facilities for your daughter’s wedding. Churches that do not value membership enough to set clear standards and clear church discipline for its members will produce mediocre lukewarm Christians.

We are still working on our Membership Covenant for GCC, but feel this is an important part of the life and DNA of our church. New churches as well as more established churches must be purposeful in outlining the expectations for membership. To side step this issue will lead to a culture of mediocre Christianity within your church.

P.S. The attached picture is of a stained glass window in the Moulton church that is of the Baptist General Conference’s symbol, which is inscribed with Carey’s famous quote, “Expect Great Things From God and Attempt Great Things For God”.

P.S.S. For more information about the original Moulton covenant leave a comment or go to www.thecareyexperience.org.uk

The "So, What Does It Mean To You?" Interpretation

Have you ever sat in a Sunday School class or a small group Bible Study and the teacher opened the Bible, read the text, then said to everyone, “So, what does this mean to you?” I have had this happen a number of times over the years. This is a problem of interpretation method and Martin Luther argued against a similar problem in his day.

In his theological classic “The Bondage of the Will” Luther says that he is fighting a “pretty fierce campaign against those fanatics who subject the Scriptures to the interpretation of their own spirit” (pg124). Luther was fighting against people who derived meaning or interpretations from the Scriptures outside of their intended meaning.

You might say, “How can you confidently interpret the Scriptures?” Well, you must first understand the passage you are teaching in its historical context. This requires you to understand the purpose of the Biblical book that the passage is found, the context surrounding the passage, and the plain normal meaning of the text. In preaching we call this moving from an exegetical proposition to a theological principle then to the form and application of the sermon.

Even after the Conservative Resurgence we still have this problem in moderate and liberal Baptist churches. This is a disease that must be diagnosed and healed otherwise we will produce childish Christians who only interpret the Scriptures based in their own little problems of the day. Our people are sick from the disease of forcing meanings of certain texts that God never meant to be derived.

The better you understand what the passage meant to the original readers, the better you will be able to apply it to the lives of the people you teach. Interpret based on sound historical, grammatical, theological, and normal methods of interpretations. Remember, the story of Jericho does not mean that a disgruntled employee needs to walk around their office seven times blowing a horn.

Teachers, work hard and be accurate in your studies because you will be judged by the content of what you teach. Christians, grow up and seek what God is communicating through the passage not what you want to get out of the passage.

In His Grace

Economic Injustice

I am not a Democrat (nor a Republican but have consistently voted Republican because I am a Conservative, I will continually vote Republican as long as they remain faithful to the Conservative movement), but there is something that I really like about the Democratic party. Democrats have a genuine interest in helping the poor. I identify with this as I seek to embrace the Biblical teachings on justice to the poor. The problem with the Democrats is that even though their heart might be in the right place their strategies for economic justice are littered with historical failures.

The Communists sought economic justice for the poor by implementing class warfare which resulted in millions dieing in the previous century and countries getting left behind in human progress. The Soviet Union ended in failure. Cuba is a disaster. Socialism is also bankrupt. Noone who desires to advance themselves economically rushes to Western Europe.

What is the point of this interpretation of history? The best way for provide economic justice for the poor is to create a free society with laws that promote entrepreneurial advancement, and enforces the law.

Ironically the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton did nothing to enforce the illegal activities of internet pornography and looked the other way as big business abused the system. It has been the Bush administration and an evangelical Christian Attorney General that brought down the crooks of Enron.

How do we apply Proverbs 22:22-23? Compassionate Conservatism, Just Capitalism should be the rally cry of the evangelical Christian.

I love Rage Against the Machine, but their economic philosophy has never worked and has only brought death and destruction.

In His Grace

PS The pic is from a T-Shirt found at www.ThoseShirts.com

Correction to "Primary Injustice"

I am still a blogger novice. For some reason some of the lines of text that I intended to put in the "Primary Injustice" post did not get in there. I think I ran into problems by posting quotes.

With that said I wanted to be clear that my intention was not to run down Span or Harris, but to voice my disagreement with the view that poverty and racism are the primary injustices in our society today. This point is to counter the view of Span's that nothing is more urgent for the church to battle than poverty.

Poverty and Racism are problems that we can improve upon, but I don't believe that we have structures or systems that are inherently racist or force people to remain in poverty. It is actually the opposite. In the United States we have structures and systems that punish racism and help people out of poverty.

We do have laws in this country that not only do not protect the unborn but actually put their lives and health at risk. This is why it is a greater injustice.

Primary Injustice

I am currently preparing a sermon on Proverbs 22:22-23 which reads, "Do not rob the poor man because he is poor, and don't crush the oppressed at the gate, for the Lord will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them." This proverb is about justice. Justice is a major Biblical theme and I have been think much on this topic. I strongly believe that this proverb is not simply about the poor but a broader idea of those that are oppressed and afflicted. These three terms are used interchangeably in different translations of this proverb.

I believe that the evangelical church does not address this clear Biblical theme of justice enough and when we do we address the wrong issues.

I have been thinking much about injustice in our society when I came across an article yesterday at http://www.baptistpress.com/bpnews.asp?ID=22064. The article was about a panel on poverty in America and a quote from the article really got my attention.

The quote from the article is:
"Nothing is more urgent in this hour than the church's involvement in the eradication of poverty," said Derrick Span, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Community Action Partnership, who appeared on a panel with Land. "Poverty is sinful, and poverty is anti-God. Those who believe in God have no alternative but to be involved in this struggle to eradicate poverty."

I want to be clear, I applaud Mr. Span's work with CAP and I like their misison statement of, "It is the mission of the Community Action Partnership to be a national forum for policy on poverty and to strengthen, promote, represent and serve its network of member agencies to assure that the issues of the poor are effectively heard and addressed. " (www.communityactionpartnership.com). I believe that there is poverty in the world today and the church should play a key role in being part of the solution of helping those in poverty.

My problem with the quote is that Span believes that the primary social injustice of our day in America is poverty. Some on panelannel make the connection between poverty and racism. Another panelistelist says, "Forrest Harris, president of American Baptist College in Nashville, said, "Racism is not only a sin" but is part of "the very system and structures of American society," and "it creates poverty." (www.abcnash.edu)

In wrestling through my sermon on injustice I asked that simply question, "What is the greatest injustice in our society?" It seems that Span would say poverty and Harris would say racism connected to poverty. I take issue with either poverty or racism being the greatest or primary injustice of our day because America provides numerous ways out of poverty and generaly speaking poverty in America is living like a king compared to the average person in a county like Haiti. There are INSTANCES of injustice dealing with poverty and racism but I don't believe that our government or society has structures that force people into poverty or force them to remain at that level, nor do I believe that there are laws or structures that are racist (comparatively speaking). We rightly did away with the Jim Crow laws of the south and there are numerous stories of people coming out of poverty in this United States of America and our powerful economy.

I say all of this not to belittle the fight against poverty or racism but to put it in its context of social injustice. The greatest social injustice of our day is federal law that allows for the killing of the most poor, oppressed, and afflicted (Proverbs 22:22-23) of our society, the unborn. My unborn son Mason has no rights in this country.

I was born in 1978 and a quarter of my generation has been lost to abortion and the liberal church still wants to fight the 1960's battles against racism and poverty. Fight those fights where they need to be fought but have some integrity in placing those issues in their proper place otherwise you will only isolate yourself instead of convincing others of your cause. These types of over-the-top accusations by Span and Harris cause me to want to distance myself from any of their issues. Fight the fight, but do so with that boundaries of orthdox Christianity and do so as reasonable people who keep their issues in context.

If you desire to fight injustice in our society like the Bible commands us as Chrisians to do, then take up the fight of the Pro-Life movement and give to your local Crisis Pregnancy Center.

In His Grace

PS the pic is of the president of the American Baptist College in Nashville