Taking a Deeper Look at Black Lives Matter and Social Justice

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (ESV)

Oftentimes, Christians see issues of their days and times and superimpose them into the biblical prophecy of the Last Days and point out the most likely public figure who fits the bill to be the Antichrist. This is usually a futile exercise in trying to give it a name and a label rather than trying to deal with the matters of the day.

Black Lives Matter & Protests for Social Justice

Is it still a question for some who believe if Black Lives Matter or not? I wish that I could say that it is an unfair question, but there are plenty who profess the love of Christ who find it difficult to love all of God’s creation and creatures, including their fellow man.

Look at blog posts from others that speak to the fact that Black Lives Matter has to be defended or justified as a statement. I read posts from folks like Cynthia Reyes and I feel like the depths of the despair experienced by countless people of color has been echoed in the kindred voice of another in the blogosphere. I read Thinking Moon’s post and realize that we both share a love for Toni Morrison (and she picked my two favorite works by her, too), but we both have two entirely different walks on this earth as a person of privilege and a person of color.

Christians do not have to hold a come to Jesus meeting about coming to an agreement about protests for social justice, police reform, and Black Lives Matter. We do need to acknowledge that there is a problem within our communities and across our nation in the United States that has captured our attention in the midst of a major health pandemic. We do need to agree that, despite many of the best intentions of good Bible-carrying believers, many Christians will not act on such matters until the pastor, the shepherd of the local church, has shared spiritual words of guidance on these same matters. The matters of today have come before the altar of the house of the faithful and await a word from on high as heavenly light from above shine upon them like a spotlight.

Doing What’s Right is Right

Seeking social justice is right. It is biblical. It is the Christian thing to do. The words in Micah 6:8 said for us to “do justice.” Naturally, English makes for a poor translation but I think we could get the point. Our measure for our religion is a matter for how we treat others. The question to answer is: Are we doing right by what the Lord calls us to do?

Aretha, the Queen of Soul, said it in a secular sense when she spoke a Do Right Woman and a Do Right Man. Could you be considered to be one who is in the business of doing right, especially doing right by others?

Jesus used a parable to speak about the “least of these.” He pointed out that the way to do right by the Lord was to do right by others. He depicted through this parable a way to do right for those who could not do you a solid and pay you back. He let us get a glimpse of what it truly means to be godly and gracious, by showing that we can show compassion towards and offer comfort for the hungry, the imprisoned, the naked, and the others that life seems to easily overlook.

And What Does the LORD Require of You?

And what does the LORD require of you? It is inserted in a retort in this passage due to the insinuation by the people that the Lord is asking them to do the impossible. The notion that the people presented to the prophet was that the Lord was being too hard on them in what He sought from them.

. . .but to do justice

We can say a lot but our actions speak louder and in greater volume than our words. We can say that Black Lives Matter is trending on Twitter and will fade away like the chants of “No justice, no peace.” The truth is that justice is right and we are called to do right as claim to love our neighbors as ourselves.

. . . and to love kindness

Kindness is like love. It’s all action and feelings. It’s not double talk. It comes down to our interaction with others, especially those who do not look like us, sound like us, or even believe what we believe.

. . . and to walk humbly with your God

Humility is a lost art. It is as ancient as things like respect and righteousness. To “walk humbly” requires us to humble ourselves. I believe C.H. Spurgeon said it best when he is quoted as saying: “Every Christian has a choice between being humble and being humbled.”

What will be your choice today?

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Engaging Others in Every Effort

Every opportunity that we get to speak to or serve others is an opportunity to heighten and extend our reach to others.  Such opportunities equal open season for us to act as extensions of God’s grace and love, even His forgiveness and mercy.  We could serve as instruments in the Master’s hands.  We could simply reach someone else for Christ.

I say no to that.

It is not that simple.  We have to expand our evangelism.  We have to maximize our missions.  We have to increase our impact.

Look in Acts.  Barnabas mentored and partnered with Paul.  They took John Mark along with them on their missionary journey.  Later, Paul and Silas took along Timothy.  Somewhere in there, Luke his way into the text, too.

What do I mean?

Add an element of engagement to your ministry.  Engage youth in a mentoring and training program, even rites of passage.  Prepare youth for college withal rigorous teaching based on sound biblical principles and include a summer intensive tied to. community outreach and service.  Mandate scholarship recipients serve as summer interns with vacation Bible school or other church ministries, even working with the church administration.

Read Titus chapter 2 again.  It’s about how we engage youth through our churches and communities.  We, the pastor, the men, and the women, are to serve as a “pattern of good works.” We need to engage others in every effort that we make.

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Talk of the Town

Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything  like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation.
– Joel 1:2-3

When things happen- whether they be good or bad- we tend to talk them up with others. We broadcast the news. We share the latest happenings. We make a lot of noise about what we have going on.

Pass on the Good News. Let other generations to come hear about it
Let them read about it. Let our poetry, songs and other writings speak about it.

Publish it among all of the people so that it will continue to speak generation after generation.

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Christians are like Comic Book Heroes

 

If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. – John 15:18 (NLT)

Think about the Avengers or X-Men.  Those guys were bitten by spiders, struck by gamma rays or born mutated, only to emerge with super powers that spanned the full range of strangeness.  As much as we may love Professor Xavier, we certainly do not want anyone reading our minds or trying to control our thoughts.

We’re like these mutated brothers and sisters to a degree.  The world does not understand us, so in turn, it despises us and seeks to destroy us.  The world resists what we have to say, especially about Jesus.  It will consider us weird because of how intensely we follow the steps of Jesus along with His words, almost in the same way that some follow Star Wars or Star Trek.  For us, our church conventions and praise festivals are like our own version of Comic Con spread from town to town.

No one in this world will ever hate the follower or fan as much as they hate the original icon.  We are not hated because Captain Kirk and Spock grew old or that someone got thrown off because Mr. Sulu came out of the closet and that viewers discovered somewhere around Babylon 5 that the same plots keep playing over and over.  No, we’re hated because the world first hated Him. 

Just like Professor X and the Uncanny X-men, we represent the world’s opposition to tolerance.  We stand in outright defiance of all that seems so-called normal to the folks who cannot accept change.  We live as the litmus test of the degree of openness such an “open society” really has for all of its people, even the ones who seem to be as weird as mutants.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. – John 7:7 (NIV)

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Make Contact to Make Connections

. . . I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

– 1 Corinthians 9:22-23 (NIV)

“Let us long to be used in the conversion of sinners.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

The people of God are called to make a difference in this world.  That’s why the Lord called us salt and light.  We have a calling to make the world a different environment than a realm of sin and debauchery.  He desires us to have a positive impact upon others by serving Him through our daily interactions within this world.  We are to live in contact with the world, both believers and others.  The Lord does not leave us on earth to live in isolation like the Essenes of ancient times, hiding ourselves from others of this world in order to remain pure among ourselves.  We are to live in this world.  We are to be in close contact and proximity with the world around us, making a difference in the world before the very eyes of those who are full of doubt and unbelief.  We, as Christians in this society, must serve as the very salt and light necessary to purify what has become polluted and penetrate the darkness.

God wants us in contact with others.  God wants us actively making connections with the people who live in both doubt and darkness, the ones who live without hope.  Jesus said that we should let our light shine so brightly that others would see our good works and glorify the Father (Matthew 5:16).

In order to connect with them, we have to make contact with them.  We have to shop with them, play sports with them, and hang out with them.  We have to interact with them.  We have to hang out with and be around them.  We have to show them our light as the light of the world.

I know you have heard some interpret Paul’s words of light having no fellowship with darkness as to mean that we should not have anything to do with so-called sinners, but that is an extreme interpretation of that biblical text.  How can we impact a dying world without ever interacting with it? The onus is on us.  We are to share the gospel with the hopeless and doubtful.  It is up to us to reach those who do not know the love of Christ with a message of hope and a ministry of reconciliation.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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Living by Saintly Standards

According to 2008 U.S. statistical data from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), 34,169 people claimed “no religion.” That includes atheists and humanists.  That is almost 5,000 more people than in 2001.  In 2008, according to the same survey, over 173,000 people identified themselves as “Christian.” That’s over 13,000 more than in 2001.

Obviously, Christianity grew and expanded during this period.  That sounds good.  However, the adult population surveyed increased by approximately 20,000 during this period.  We gained 13,000 and the “no religion” folks gained 5,000.  That means 2,000 people became Muslims, Jews or some other religion.  Or, the same 2,000 just did not dare claim any religion at all.  Either that or it is some mix between the two of them.

The world has its own standard.  It may not be one that we, as Christians, desire to follow but it exists.  It is alive and well within the world.  That’s suitable for those who do not know the Lord.  It works for those who live in the darkness of unbelief.

It doesn’t work well for Christians.

For us, things are just a little different.  We answer to a higher calling in Christ Jesus, seeking to mature in Christ as we walk with Christ.  We are to live by a different standard than the world.

So what is this standard of living for Christians and where does it come from?

• The Lord sets the standard.  He lays it out based upon His supreme reign over all things as the Creator, the Maker and Elohim.  He answers to no one.
• The Lord shares the standard in the Scriptures.  Christians have the upper hand because we have been provided the play book.  We can read it.  We can reference it.  It is for our consumption.  The Lord gave it to us.
• The Lord demonstrated the standard.  The Word became flesh.  He dwelt on earth and dealt with some serious troubles like being born to poor parents and living in a society where foreigners ruled over His people.  He showed us the standard and expects us to live up to the standard.

Live it up.  Live a life of influence that inspires others from interacting with you and your business.  Live up to Christ’s standards as you work, as you play golf and as you go to and fro.  Handle your business and live up the Lord’s standards.

Providing Support, Promoting Success

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5 Things Christians can Learn from the 2012 Political Race

“Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished

by being governed by those who are dumber.”

–Plato

Read Plato’s Republic or Walden by Henry David Thoreau and you can get a worldly view on politics and its citizenry.  That may not go well with the Bible.  In fact, it may not match at all.  However, there are some key things that Christians can learn by observing the current political race for presidency.

1. You have to announce that you are running in the race.  Christians should not act like they have the best-kept secret in town.  The gospel is translated as “good news.” You share good news.  You don’t keep it to yourself.  We have to announce it to the world that we are in the race.
2. You have to make an effort to reach people one way or another.  The Obama Campaign of 2008 incorporated all sorts of means and mediums to involve every type of potential voter around the country.  We have to reach people with our message with the same fervor that candidates push their agendas and campaign slogans online and in print, even through the media and public appearances.
3. You have to let people know where you stand on the issues that matter to them.  Politicians will constantly talk about taxes, public assistance programs, business development and employment, even education and health care.  They may step into controversial areas like birth control, abortion and same sex marriage, even illegal immigration.  We have to know what matters to people and share where we stand with people.  We lose any opportunity to win souls like we should when we fail to share what the Good Book says about this life and eternity.  Look at Luis Palau, James Dobson and Chuck Colson for examples of how to evangelize with hope and a firm standing on the issues of today.
4. You have to keep your cool and your composure in the heat of the debate.  Political jousting is nothing new.  It is as old as politics itself.  However, as Christians, we have to be able to maintain our cool when our beliefs are attacked.  We cannot get on the defensive, taking it personal, and become arrogant or abusive with our attackers.  The Bible tells us that our spiritual warfare is not fought against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:10-18).  After all, even as Jesus hung on the cross, He did not call upon the armies of angels to rescue Him as He endured the fatal punishment of the storied execution style of the Romans and the cruel mistreatment of His own people.  We, too, must endure the attacks of slander and assumptions regarding our beliefs.
5. You have to carry yourself as a winner.  No candidate enters the race with the hopes of being a loser.  No, political candidates go for broke with a winning attitude.  They are confident in their own abilities.  We do not have to get conceited or cocky.  We just have to go forward in faith, with full belief in the Lord’s ability to provide for us and protect us.  We have to take Paul’s words to heart, believing: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

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Let Your Faith Be Seen

“Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.”
– Mahalia Jackson

Faith is expected to be on display.  In one way or another, believers are expected to somehow show that they truly believe what they profess and proclaim.  We are supposed to walk and live by faith.

One way to show your faith is to show it with your appearance.  T-shirts or buttons can show your faith in Jesus.  Your accessories can have inspirational images or messages.  Even your car or truck can display your faith with window decals, bumper stickers or personalized license plate frames. 

This Easter season, Life Path Ministries spreads the Gospel message through our Spread the Love Campaign.  Join the movement and get on board with your church or ministry, even your small group, and spread the love with other believers during the week leading into Easter Sunday.  How could we expect people to show up on Easter Sunday if we never show, share or spread the love of Christ? Check out the Love Your Neighbor t-shirts and buttons that we sell on Zazzle through Life Path Ministries.  These are examples of how you can get others to show it more than they say it.

I Love My Neighbor!! Button by Lifepath08
View other Christian Buttons

Read more inspiring quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_faith.html#ixzz1oelnL700

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Online Communities for Christians

Let brotherly love continue. – Hebrews 13:1 (KJV)

This walk of faith can seem lonely.  We can get to the point where it feels like no one is on our level.  We can feel as if we have grown into isolation.

That just should not be so.  Sadly, it is a real truth for many who believe in the Lord.  They are in church, but they feel very much alone.  They don’t feel the brotherly or sisterly love.  They feel on the outside.

Numerous churches have worked diligently on being missional and developing community.  They have worked tirelessly to create relevant ministries in their local communities.  In fact, some like Saddleback Church and Willow Creek have gone on to create resources such as study guides and e-books on ministry based upon what has worked for them.

Here I have listed some online communities of faith that may help others discover their ministry or a sense of Christian community:

• http://www.gracehope.com/
• http://www.urbanministry.org/
• http://www.youversion.com/
• http://www.shoutlife.com/
• http://www.relevant.tv/

Be sure to check out Christian Publications Available at Amazon

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Multigenerational Ministry

 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
  -Titus 2:1 (ESV)

There is nothing that comes naturally to us in this new life.  Our rebirth as children of God leads us to enter into a new life with a blank slate.  We are to put off the old man who has lived within us for so long, so that we may put on the new man who is to be developed and nurtured within us as new creations in Christ.

Sometimes it works.  At other times, it just doesn’t work.  We fail when we fail to rely upon the Holy Spirit.  We tend to not mature as steadily when we focus more on what we will get out of it or gain from it rather than simply submitting to the will of the Spirit.  We lose out when we lose sight of the unveiled mysteries that God has revealed to us through His Word and by His Holy Spirit.

Paul admonishes Titus to teach what is “sound doctrine.” In doing so, he shares with Titus how to lead multiple generations in ministry.  He offers a strategy for incorporating the people by empowering his people to teach one another in the Christian life.

Titus is to “exhort and rebuke with all authority”(Titus 2:15 ESV).  He, as the pastor and spiritual leader of the church, is to lead, guide, direct and provide the means for the older men to minister and mentor the younger men as well as the older women to do the same for the younger women.  In essence, according to Paul’s instructions to Titus, everyone has a role to play within the ministry of the church, ministering to each other in unity.

Read Titus 2 in its entirety.  Read through it, then study it.  See what God asks of us as believers when it comes to ministering to one another.  Pray over it.  Subject yourself to pastoral authority for the good of all concerned.  Do not simply go along to get along.  Give of yourself, sharing your experiences and lessons learned.  Let God use you to minister to your brothers and sisters so that the entire body of Christ will be strengthened in “sound doctrine.”

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