The other night I was listening to a panel of bright and successful citizens from all walks of life talk about what is wrong with our nation. One of the panelists said, “We can’t take care of everybody. In a capitalist system, there has to be winners and losers.” Yes? Maybe? It was one of those comments that just seemed to leap out at me from the discussion taking place. In life, there are winners and losers. This is Darwinian economics 101, and there is no mistaking that from a purely utilitarian perspective, unfettered capitalism is very efficient. But how do I reconcile that gentleman’s comment with my faith? If the kingdom of God is where God’s reign is being experienced, so it is not so much a place as it is a state of being. And if that state of being will involve following Jesus so that I’m living more and more like him, so that my life is characterized by a growing love of God, and my neighbor as myself…then how shall I then live in this world so that I not only have one foot in this life, but the other is firmly planted in the kingdom of God?
I don’t have answers, but these are the kind of questions Christians have pondered before me when they were confronted by a world whose values clashed with the values of being a Jesus follower. If we believe we truly answer to a “higher authority” rather than the powers and principalities of this world, there are inevitably going to be value conflicts. If there aren’t, something is wrong.
Grace-ful living is at some point going to have to wrestle with the issues raised when love requires justice, the kind of biblical justice that means that we put love to work in real life situations and do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. The prophet Isaiah captured the tension that must be present along with grace. As we said last week, grace does not free us to do wrong. Grace frees us to do what is right.
Isaiah 1:16-18: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
John Newton provides me a real life example of what this looks like in real life. He made his living as the captain of a slave ship that regularly plied the Atlantic between Africa and the Caribbean. It was acknowledged, that in order to maximize the profit, overcrowding of black slaves was the normal procedure and it was also considered a normal cost of doing business that upwards of twenty percent would die. It finally dawned on Newton that he was doing what was wrong not in the sight of God, and in that nightmarish moment, he was struck down by “grace, amazing grace” much like the grace that struck down Paul on the Road to Damascus. Newton left his profession to devote himself to life as a pastor, but there remained something yet for him to do…something he was in fact reluctant to do. Justice required that he lend his support and testimony to the growing anti-slavery movement lead by William Wilberforce and the Christians who realized the slave trade had to be stopped; it was an abomination. He had to stand up for what was right. The question I’m increasingly asking myself is,
“What does it mean for me to stand for what is right?” I can wrap myself in the cloak of grace, which is all well and good. But I can’t shake the deep conviction that from God’s perspective this just isn’t going to cut it. It sure didn’t cut it for the Newton’s, Bonhoeffer’s, Donaldina Cameron’s, or the others who relied on grace and did the next right thing, even if that meant taking on the culture of their day.
When Jesus prepared to send his twelve key disciples out on their first mission, he counseled them that it was a dangerous assignment. He said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless (gentle) as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) What does that mean for you and me today as we represent God’s kingdom in what we do and say every day?
Now for what’s on my desk…
Remember we’re celebrating St. Andrew’s 50th birthday this Sunday at both services with cake, balloons, and the retirement of our mortgage. Invite a friend and we’ll have some fun.
This Sunday is our last chance to bring our shoes boxes in so they can be shipped to their destination and placed in a child’s hands for Christmas. Thank you one and all who are working on a shoe box.
Now you know what I know.
Comments