Igneous Quill

"Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." - Martin Luther, Diet of Worms, 17 April 1521

During my brief time as a Presbyterian I heard the phrase "always reforming" (ecclesia semper reformanda) thrown around.  This, of course, referred to the idea that the Protestant Reformation wasn't something completed in the past, but rather an ongoing process.  Though ground had been gained, much more remained to be done.  Later, as I became more involved with the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement churches (Christian Churches/Churches of Christ) I learned that the early leaders of this American reformation saw themselves as continuing the work of the Protestant Reformation.  Some even believed they were completing it.  I would like to suggest what really should be obvious.  There needs to be a renewal and furtherance of the Restoration.

The Protestant Reformation in Europe challenged the papal domination of all matters spiritual, placing the canonical scriptures back in their rightful place as the source of authority for Christians.  The doctrines of grace and faith were rediscovered and much of the Bible was read in light of the struggle against earthly centralized relgious authority that claimed monopoly over salvation.  This re-reading was often quite flawed and tendentious, leading the reformers to make pronouncements citing passages that frequenly had little to do with the subject at hand.  In any event, ground was gained, despite errors of both moral and theological natures.

In the heady, democratic free air of the United States, where no single version of Christianity was given official approval, voices began to be raised calling both for an end to sectarianism and a return to the simple nature of the New Testament church.  Unity was emphasized along with fidelity to sacred writ.  In this process of deepened study and rigorous debate the truth was uncovered that baptism by immersion is not only a sign of discipleship, but the point at which remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit is applied to the life of the believer (Acts 2:28).  Over the following decades, stretching out over nearly two centuries, the key hallmarks of this restoration movement have been the necessity of baptism, weekly communion and local church leadership by elders.  While there have been serious differences over many points of faith and practice, including these three I just mentioned, they have nevertheless remained prominent characteristics of this fellowship.

We are at a point now where I would like to suggest that a renewed restoration is needed, a firm commitment to the idea of "always reforming."  We can't possibly believe that any of us individually or all of us collectively have arrived at a thorough understanding of all that God has to tell us in His Word.  Without leaving behind the teachings of faith, grace, baptism and biblical church order, it is perhaps even past time for us also to gain an understanding for and appreciation of three inter-related areas of biblical doctrine: justic, resurrection and New Heavens/New Earth.

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday." - Isaiah 58:6-10 NRSV

We who concern ourselves so deeply with being correct about how we organize ourselves as churches have, with some brilliant exceptions, done a rather poor job of taking seriously the call to living justly.  God regularly and consistently called his people, Israel, to look out for the poor, the aliens, the widows and orphans.  In the New Testament Jesus lived and died with his message of passive resistence to evil, a third way that neither fights directly nor runs from the oppressor.  He had compassion on those around him and healed them.  The first century church apparently kept a list of widows who received assistance.  If God's chosen fast is mercy and kindness, setting free the oppressed, how can we consume ourselves with endless morbid debates about words and chasing after faddish gimmicks to achieve "church growth"?

"Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 NRSV

If you blinked you might have missed it.  Notice how the passage above, from a section of Paul's first letter to the Christians in Corinth that focuses on the resurrection of the dead, comes to a close.  After a long discourse about how our future hope is not a disembodied, ghostly existence in the afterlife but instead a more-real-than-real bodily resurrected condition, the apostle Paul reminds us that our work done in Christ's name is not in vain.  There is deep meaning hear that we have not yet begun to tap.

"But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home." - 2 Peter 3:13 NRSV

In hymn after hymn and sermon after sermon, all I hear is about dying and going to heaven.  The hope of salvation held out in most Gospel presentations is dying and going to heaven.  This is not the hope we are given in the Scriptures.

From Abraham's promised land to the New Testament's closing description of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the hope of believers has not been an escape from supposedly evil physical existence.  In fact, it is a gnostic belief, foreign to the teachings of the apostles and prophets, that supposes there is anything wrong with matter.  The Bible speaks of God creating the heavens and earth and calling it all "very good."  In Jesus, God the Son took truly human form, dying as such and being raised from the dead, and in that same body was received back into the throne room of God.

The Christian hope is not death, judgment and then heaven.  It isn't even death, resurrection, judgment and heaven.  The Christian hope is dying (and going to be with Christ), resurrection, judgment and New Heavens/New Earth.

The teachings of justice, resurrection and New Heavens/New Earth must be restored to the church.  As we commit ourselves to correctly teaching and living out the hope we have received in Christ, through faith, repentance and baptism we will find ourselves and the Lord's church renewed in power and purpose.

"We are now erelong to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces more. But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not, I charge you before God and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry, for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word." - Rev. John Robinson, in his farewell message to the Pilgrims departing for the New World, 1620

Not long ago one of my friends posted on Facebook about the duty of Christians to help those in need.  One of the first comments in response came from a gentleman who stated that we should only help those who are Christians or who are already in process of becoming Christians.  Really?  That sounds more like conservatism speaking than the lavish, unbounded love of God. 

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” - 1 John 4:10 NIV

“We love because he first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19 NIV

While the world was in sinful rebellion, God took the first step.  He had compassion on us in our miserable, unworthy state and took a risk. Those who argue that God knew the future (I disagree with such a view inherited from Greek and Roman philosophers rather than the apostles and prophets of God) seem to me to be simply looking for an easy way to get God (and by extension themselves) off the hook. Honestly, the whole deal could have gone bad.  It didn’t, though.  By God’s predetermined purpose Christ died for the ungodly while they were yet in their sins, and the love of God inspired in many a response.

This radical love of God is something Jesus of Nazareth taught with regard to one’s “enemies.”  In the original context Jesus’ peasant listeners would have understood he was speaking of the Romans and all those who oppressed them.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." - Luke 6:32-36 NRSV 

Did you notice how Jesus described God’s attitude toward “the ungrateful and the wicked?”  The word he used was “kind.”

If one is looking for worthiness or even gratitude in the work of helping the needy, perhaps a little self-examination in light of the Scriptures is necessary.  From a human perspective we want to see people who have already proven themselves worthy of assistance receiving what aid we can provide.  From God’s point of view, though, when we do so we are putting the cart before the horse.  

There are, of course, other objections to be made in support of only helping Christians or those “close to the kingdom” and against seeking to aid any others.

First, resources can be strained.  If we focus only on those who are in the family of God already there will be more to go around than if we accept also those from the outside.  We don’t want supplies to run low, do we?

Jesus faced this problem in his own ministry on at least two occasions. He had his usual entourage which included the twelve disciples, but also a large multitude.  People were hungry but no one had anything to eat, other than some loaves of bread and some fish.  Here’s what happened one of the two times:

"Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?' He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.  Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.' One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.  And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 'Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.' So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, 'This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!' Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." - John 6:5-15 NASB

While this account is rich with content and meaning, one point should be abundantly clear: resources (or lack thereof) are no obstacle for God.  While we must be good stewards of what God provides, if despite our best efforts material runs thin, we must look to Him for provision.

Second, we don’t want to create a dependence on us in the needy.  In other words, if we provide resources long enough, people will come to count on it.  I’ve heard that something like this has happened in large parts of Haiti, though I have no direct personal experience to rely upon.  One example would be the “free” rice that is shipped in as aid from other nations.  Quite a lot of it gets sold on the market, and so cheaply that it has driven down the value of locally-grown rice.  Don’t expect rice-growers in Haiti to be doing well until the nation is weaned off of foreign food aid, at least where rice is concerned.

Mistakes have been made in the past.  Today we are seeing more and more non-profits working under the venerable principle of teaching a man to fish, rather than merely giving him a fish.  Men and women are taught trade skills and other techniques for better sanitation and food production in order for them to improve their own lives.  Even where there are food and material “hand-outs” this is rarely the full extent of the work being done.

A misgiving I’ve had regarding the annual “Dump Day” to raise funds to help people who live off of what they find in a Honduran dump is that, up until recently, I’ve only heard about the missionary and a crew going out weekly to the dump with food.  Where’s the development and sustained outreach that lifts people out of poverty? With the most recent Dump Day there were two encouraging signs.

One was the involvement of Bread for a Hungry World, an organization that seeks to provide material resources but also programs that focus on breaking the cycle of poverty.  A second was news that with the extra money raised a clinic near the dump could be built, staffed (as I understand it) by public health workers.  This is progress!

Yes, Christians should seek to help their sisters and brothers in Christ. The love can’t stop there, though.  The signs of God’s in-breaking new creation will be made clear in changed lives that reach out to those still in darkness, lost in the oppression of this present age and held captive by the evil one.  Help starts at home, but it can’t end there.

"So then,as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." - Galatians 6:10 ESV