Calvinism and Social Justice

At City Light we’re right in the middle of a class on Calvinism. We’re talking about election, infant baptism and the whole nine yards. In the coming year we’re starting one on Social Justice. We’ll talk about issues like immigration, homelessness and racism. In recent church history these two topics were handled exclusively by two different kinds of churches. The Calvinistic churches majored on theology but minored in outreach. The “liberal” churches focused upon social issues but seemingly lost the gospel along the way. But the one nagging question we should ask is this: Isn’t there a way to wed these traditions together or are these views mutually exclusive?

I believe that the answer is that they are compatible and that social justice flows out of the gospel. Calvinism itself shouldn’t cripple our attitude to the world and the lost. Calvinism exalts a glorious God who plucks us from the grave and seals us for heaven. Many argue if God predestines everything, what is the use of evangelism? But Calvinism properly understood never insists that God doesn’t use means. Instead of making evangelism unnecessary, Calvinism actually gives us confidence in evangelism: God’s elect WILL come. Calvinism also shouldn’t cause us be these pious religious people with no love for the lost. It propels us upward and outward to serve the city in the name of our glorious King.

Don’t get me wrong. Social justice shouldn’t overshadow the gospel. The gospel should always remain the central truth and power in the church and our lives. But when the gospel is fully realized it propels us outward to the darkest of places. The Old Testament is bursting with themes of God’s love for the widow, orphan and immigrant.The whole story of Ruth exemplifies these themes. Jesus’ love for the outcasts is apparent in his treatment of prostitutes, tax gatherers and his telling of the story of the Good Samaritan. When you really understand the gospel, you have to understand that the gospel is not just for religious people trying to live a comfortable life. God calls us out to the streets, to the brokenness of life in the city and to serve as peacemakers. Christians should be at the forefront of trying to solve problems like poverty, eduction, racism and crime.

At City Light our vision is to go deep in theology which will lead us to go deep in our love for the each other, the lost, the city and the world. The goal of theology is not to feel smug and secure. It’s to worship and to let that worship propel us forward to serve as His people in a broken world that God is redeeming.

God is starting to move and awaken His people to this glorious mission.

Filed under: City, City Light

Whatever Happened to Hell?

Los Angeles is the forgetful city. We don’t often think too much about the past or much more than a few years in our future. I’ve been meditating the last few weeks on the forgotten biblical truth on hell. Hell is one of those things that has been dislodged from the modern pulpit and much more so from modern conversation. If it’s not mentioned in the pulpit, there’s no way it’s going to gain a hearing outside. If the church doesn’t preach hell, the world sure won’t!

Jesus portrays hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12). It’s a place devoid of the presence and glory of God. A lot of people think that hell is unfair. But think about this: Hell is simply God saying, “no” to being in His presence. Everybody claims that they have a right to reject God in their life. Everybody intuitively believes that they can walk away from God. But how can you say that you have a right to say, “no” to God and then say God has no right to say “no” to you at the end of your life? Or would you say that you have rights that God doesn’t?

If you accept the premise of hell a lot of things follow:

Only when you understand what you have been saved from can you really appreciate the significance of the idea of salvation. If you don’t have hell what exactly are you saved from? But with the idea of hell we fall on our knees in gratitude that we have saved from the depths of destruction unto a life eternal.

The doctrine of hell also gives us perspective on what is at stake in this life. In Philippians 3 Paul speaks of “enemies of the cross” whose end is destruction. But he never says this casually. He says this with tears in his eyes (vs. 18). So often we have all these relationships with people who are going to hell but we don’t say a word. Instead of weeping for them we laugh with them. Instead of warning them we talk about the last sports game. There are family members and friends who stand on the precipice of disaster and we speak not a word.

I think about these ideas and it drives me to repentance for the shallow and insignificant ways I spend my time. May God revive this truth so long forgotten to his church and his people.

 

 

Filed under: Bible