Social or Moral?
I am concerned about where the emerging church movement seems to be taking the church. In a recent article in the NW edition of the Christian Examiner (May 2010) “Speaker addresses ‘emerging church’ movement,” the following statement is used. “The majority of the emergent church views the role of the cross as an example-primarily. They tend to deny the atonement. It is not necessarily that they don’t believe it; they just don’t believe it is politically correct or appropriate to talk about these things.” The results of this type of thinking is that there are many people who might call themselves “Christians” and have an incorrect view or understanding of what that means. They reject biblical truth and instead hold to many different beliefs that are based on humanistic philosophy.
One such area is in how we help the poor. One of the arguments from the emergent church has been that the church is too far right political, too concerned about same sex marriage and in keeping a woman from choosing what is right to do with her body (abortion) then in helping and feeding the poor. From my perspective and I believe a biblical perspective, taking care of the poor is a social issue and same sex marriage and abortion are moral issues. In Matthew 1:21 we are told what Jesus came to do; “To save his people from their sin.” The emergent church doesn’t believe that same sex marriage and abortion are sins, so they have deemed it inappropriate to demand righteousness in these things. So instead of a spiritual focus on the needy, there is emphasis placed on the social needs of people.
I know this will not go over well, but the number of poor in the United States is unlike to decline no matter how much money is dispersed from federal budget programs. In Matthew 26 the disciples complained about the wasted perfume that could have been sold and given to the poor instead of being poured on Jesus as a form of worship. Jesus responded, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Jesus was saying a person’s spiritual condition is much more important then their physical condition. Does that mean the church should not be concerned with helping those in need? No, a thousand times no! The church has a moral responsibly to ensure that it does everything it can to see to the needs of others.
Nevertheless, the local church must minister to the hurting in its community by showing and telling the compassion and love of Jesus. Listen friends, Jesus and Jesus alone is the One who sets people free. Being set free from sin and its devastating impact on the routines of life can also mean being set free from poverty to find that God “will meet all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” We have seen a shift in the thinking of many in the church today towards a more social gospel then a moral gospel that is more concerned about meeting the physical needs with little emphasis on the spiritual condition. We must not go down that road, but instead understand that the first priority of the church is to go into all the world and proclaim Jesus saves! Same sex marriage, abortion and most causes of poverty are sins, being poor is not.
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