Pop Justice:

1
Pop Justice

• Is social action the latest church trend?

2

• Bono has helped the evangelical church in America
  become more sensitive to those in need around the
  world and awakened our marginalized, or in some
  places forgotten, call to see justice. But, is
  the new focus on social justice just another
  pop-Christian trend?
• http//blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives
  /2006/09/pop_justice_is.html

3

• What if social justice and compassion projects
  are simply the latest trend?
• In recent years, many church have become involve
  in social justice issues, or at least talking
  about it.
• Will it last or will it fade like every other
  trend?

4
Trends in the Church

• Small groups
• Seeker sensitive
• Vineyard worship music
• Cell churches
• Baseball diamond for assimilation
• Holy laughter
• Radio preaching

5
Routine of Trends

• Excitement
• Adoption by early innovators
• With time, most churches participate
• Eventually, it passes and we wait for the new
  thing.

6

• Will all the attention the church at large is now
  rightfully and biblically giving to social
  justice fade with time?
• It is horribly sad if this rising interest in
  justice is only short-term.
• Hopefully it wont fade away, but come to be seen
  as central to what it means to be a disciple of
  Jesus.

7
www.johnstott.org/the-impact/?id1f6a337f297229822
6695eb2b1d28d82
8
Evangelism

• The Lousanne Covenant (1974) defined
  evangelization as the whole church taking the
  whole gospel to the whole world.

9
Use the Whole Bible

• Holistic theology and practice of mission
  requires a holistic understanding and use of the
  Bible.
• The Bible shows us Gods priorities and passions.

10
The Bible shows us Gods heart

• For the last and the least (socially, culturally,
  and economically) as well as the lost
  (spiritually).
• For those dying of hunger, AIDS, and war, as well
  as those who are dying in their sins.
• For the landless, homeless, family-less and
  stateless as well as for those who are without
  Christ, without God and without hope in the world.

11
Old Testament Prophets

• OT prophets confronted Israel and demanded that
  they change their ways, if they were to have any
  hope of fulfilling their mission of being a
  light to the nations and a blessing on earth.
• The dominant prophetic call was to repentance
  among Gods people, so that God could get on with
  the job of blessing the world.

12
Scandals and Abuses in the World-wide Community

• Mega leaders wielding vast wealth, power and
  controlunaccountable, unattractive and
  unChristlike.
• Scandalous biblical ignorancemultitudes of
  ordinary Christians in so-called evangelical
  churches never hear the Bible preached or taught.

13

• Prosperity gospela 21st century form of
  indulgences, except you pay your money not for
  release from pains after death, but for receipt
  of material blessings here and now.
• Ungodly alliances with secular powerpolitical,
  economic and militaryidentifying themselves with
  agendas and ideologies that reflect human empire
  not the kingdom of God.

14
Criticism of 16th Century Reformation

• Was criticized because it lacked missionary
  awareness and energy..
• They were so obsessed with tackling abuses in the
  church that they neglected world mission.
• How ironic and tragic will it be if 21st century
  evangelicals are so obsessed with world missions
  that we neglect abuses in the church and remain
  willfully blind to our own idolatries and
  syncretism?

15

• If reformation without mission was defective,
  then mission without reformation will be deluded,
  self-defeating and even dangerous.

16
Course CorrectionsAjith Fernando

• At the end of the 19th century, theological
  liberals began emphasizing the humanness of
  Christ while evangelicals reacted by emphasizing
  the atoning work of Christ.
• Liberals concentrated on good deeds while
  evangelicals focused on saving souls.
• www.christianvisionproject.com/2007/11/getting_bac
  k_on_course-print.html

17

• By the middle of the 20th century, evangelicals
  realized their mistake!
• C. F. H. Henrys work, The Uneasy Conscience of
  Modern Fundamentalism (1947), and the Lausanne
  Covenant of 1974 were landmark documents leading
  the church to see social concern as an element of
  the churchs mission.

18

• Regardless of political allegiances, Christians
  were encouraged to engage the culture and seek to
  daily demonstrate the Christian ethic.

19

• The old evangelism versus social action war was
  overor so I believed.
• Serving in Sri Lanka, I was devoted to raising up
  a post war generation for whom social
  involvement and evangelism were natural
  outgrowths of commitment to Christ.

20
Neglecting Evangelism?

• I hear evangelicals talking a lot about justice
  and kingdom values but not proclaiming the gospel
  to those of other faiths and winning them for
  Christ.

21
Proclamation or Presence?

• Evangelicals emphasized proclamation
• Liberals emphasized presenceliving out our
  Christianity before the people.
• I believe the presence versus proclamation
  battle has come back to the church.

22

• Many nations are outlawing conversion through
  coercion.
• Severe persecution is the result.
• We face several obstacles that could stop our
  evangelistic momentum and replace it with more
  palatable agendas.

23
Questions to Challenge Our Shortsightedness

• Do we talk about the coming judgment?
• If not, the next generation wont believe it.
• One generation neglects the belief, the next
  generation rejects it.

24

• Jesus said, What does it profit a man to gain
  the whole world and forfeit his life?
• The context indicates that the Lord is talking
  about eternal destruction which can only be
  averted by accepting his grace, denying self,
  taking up the cross, and following him.
• Does his perspective color the way we look at
  people who do not follow Jesus?

25

• Why did the Holy Spirit ensure that there are
  seven statements of Christs Great Commission in
  the New Testament?
• Is it not because Jesus believed that before he
  left, it was important to drill into his
  disciples minds the priority of the work of
  saving souls for eternity?

26
Does Evangelism Have Priority Over Social Concern?

• Reluctant to use the language of priority.
• Such talk comes out of the Western desire to have
  things nicely lined up in logical progression.
• I prefer, that our calling is to be obedient to
  God totally. If God is in control of our lives,
  he will lead us so that we will give the proper
  place to the whole will of God for us.

27
Holistic Thinking

• We are called to be holistic.
• But part of holistic Christianity is the
  statement of Christ that all earthly gain is
  worthless if a person loses his life to eternal
  destruction.
• The stark fact of lostness places before us the
  urgency of evangelism.
• I will encourage people to live the Christian
  life in society, but I will also follow Christs
  example in placing before Christians the fact of
  eternal damnation and the glory of eternal
  salvation.

28

• I am reluctant to reinsert the priority argument.
  But we need clarity. Some will rightly say that
  because of calling or circumstances in some parts
  of the world, faithful Christians cannot always
  preach. They are called instead to social work,
  and government regulations prohibit combining
  social work with evangelism. Fair enough.

29

• Some parts of the body of Christ may be called to
  do things other than proclaiming the gospel of
  eternal salvation, though they would verbally
  advocate other aspects of the kingdom agendasuch
  as justice, fair play, and righteous values.
  Indeed, every Christian needs to be committed to
  the whole gospel, seeking to be a personal
  witness through life and word.

30

• To that end, Christian social-service
  organizations must ensure that their workers are
  not only committed to their social work, but also
  to Christ as the Lord of their lives. So even
  though verbal witness may not be part of their
  job descriptions, they need to be committed to it
  in their person lives.

31

• Practical realities will dictate that not every
  segment of the church will be involved in all
  forms of proactive evangelism and all forms of
  social engagement.

32

• Taken together, the whole body of Christ will be
  engaged in the whole mission of the church.
• As the Lausanne movement puts it, The whole
  church must take the whole gospel to the whole
  world.

33
Brussels Statement Commentary
34

• A long history of reaching, planting, training,
  and touching people.
• Touching is what we do.
• Our actions in compassionate ministries should be
  clearly enunciated as part of an intentional
  theology and strategy.

35

• Kingdom of God is key term to formulate biblical
  principles of church missions that seeks to obey
  all Christ's commands
• Signs of the Kingdom are seen clearly in Jesus
  ministry
• Jesus exemplary ministry and sacrifice on the
  cross is a summons to service for all His
  followers.

36

• Though the Kingdom of God plants signposts of the
  future in the present
• There remains an eschatological fulfillment when
  the messianic salvation will be perfectly
  accomplished in the age to come.

37

• To enter the Kingdom requires a radical
  transformation in ones life through repentance
  and faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
• The blessings of life in the Kingdom come by
  Gods gift of grace alone.

38

• The Pentecostal narrative in Acts connects the
  Kingdom of God and mission of Jesus.
• The empowerment of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 and
  the eschatological hope in the return of Jesus
  energized the early church.
• The Spirit empowered disciples to do all that
  Jesus began to do and teach.

39

• Acts demonstrates the rule of God pushes
  followers to
• Continue miracles, signs, wonders
• To continue compassionate responses to human need
• To break down humanly constructed social barriers
• Continue to proclaim the Gospel to all nations

40

• To enter the Kingdom is to come under Gods rule
  and be incorporated into the new order of life
  where love is normative.
• Moral imperatives such as love, mercy, peace,
  justice, respect of person are not prescriptions
  of law, but what life looks like under Gods rule.

41

• The local church is called to be Gods visible
  and corporate entity bearing witness to his
  Kingdom in mission and reconciliation between
  people.
• The ministry of the church is to all people
  because all people have been made in the image of
  God.

42

• Jesus earthly ministry demonstrated a deep
  concern for every aspect of human existence.
• To follow Jesus example, the church must do the
  same.

43

• The church models Jesus lead
• Ministry to children provides dignity
• To the marginalized, it provides self-worth and
  justice
• To the sick, it provides healing

44

• The hope of the return of the Lord makes demands
  on our life and service in the present.
• We long for Jesus return, but we are not passive.

45

• The promise of Christs return compels us to
  continue to proclaim the good news, engage powers
  of darkness and show compassion of Jesus to
  suffering people.
• This is the gospel preached and demonstrated to
  all nations until the end.