Hey, Cobblestone,
The Christian church is being remade. At this moment, there
is a reshaping of Christian life and service that closely resembles the
original shaping of the First Century church. Lately, I’ve been privileged to
gain a fresh perspective on the church’s role in the world – in particular,
along the lines of social justice – and I’m eager to share it with you in this
third installment of the “Do-Gooders” series of letters titled “Command and
Encourage.”
A few of you know that, in addition to being a pastor at
Cobblestone, I’m also an elected official in a local government body. If you
didn’t know, my feelings are not hurt. It’s very, very local. Low-key, as we
say. But local as the position is, it has given me a lens to see the
similarities and differences in church and government when it comes to
supporting people who can’t quite support themselves. As a starting point, I’ll
use a short quote from Jesus to begin laying out what’s the same and what’s
not.
“For you always have the poor with you,
and whenever you want, you can do good for them.” (Mark 14:7). There are basically two
ways to act on this statement, and the church and government have each had
both.
The earliest church took Jesus’ words to mean that all the
poor were to be served all the time, no matter how many or how great the need.
Not a bad interpretation, but also not a workable one. In Jerusalem, the home
of the very first Christian church, the Apostles soon found themselves overrun
by the needs. They made some adjustments. Christians sold their possessions and
gave to the needy. But it still wasn’t enough, especially once the Judean
famine took hold in the fourth decade of the First Century.
Government has had a similar experience. In the fourth decade
of the Twentieth Century, it decided to eliminate the possibility of any
citizens being totally destitute, through a project called The New Deal. For a
while the math worked. And then it didn’t. Particular needs gave rise to
particular agencies. More needs, more agencies. Supported populations grew in
relation to working populations. By default, the only foreseeable plan is to
carry the project as public debt.
As with most worthwhile undertakings based on pure motives,
if it doesn’t work, the human reaction is to make a hard turn, driven by
frustration, and slam into the opposite extreme. Meeting all the needs is seen
as equivalent to holding the ocean back with a broom, so why even try? In the
early church, Christians – now scattered throughout the known world after
persecution broke out in Jerusalem – had developed a pattern of hoarding
wealth. In James’ letter, which was probably the earliest to go out to the twelve
tribes in the Dispersion (1:1), he sternly addressed and denounced the
economic, social, and even spiritual barriers set up by the rich against the
poor. In the eleventh chapter of First Corinthians, Paul blasted the idle rich
for showing up early at the love feasts to drink too much wine and eat the best
food. In government, officeholders are often elected on promises to slash
entitlement programs. Efforts that would leave legitimately disadvantaged
humans out in the cold are met with vocal approval by some members of the
public, and the tacit approval of others.
So where do we stand now, the church and government? In the
same place, basically, torn between the two extremes. Among Christians and
within government, it’s a tug-of-war with contenders of equal strength at the
far ends of a very long rope. There’s some see-ing and some saw-ing, but no
real progress.
Unlike government, the church should know better. And we
have. And then we forgot. The purpose of this letter, from this word forward
(and likely into the next edition), is to recall the First Century mandate and
regain the mission as Jesus intended it.
Work is a basic human dignity, a basic pride in being made in
God’s image, a basic trust that we are co-creators with him. Serving the needy
– “do(ing) good for them,” as Jesus said – has to involve meeting the
need for dignity. Without that, all the programs and agencies and food banks in
the world will eventually fail. Unless the building up of human dignity is the
basis for every relief effort, all the work of every Do-Gooder – Christian-faith-based
or otherwise – will come to frustration. And the needy, rather than being
helped, will ultimately be harmed.
One of the Apostles, namely Paul, traveled a lot more than
the others. He sought out the scattered Christians and helped them establish
cohesive assemblies: churches. In at least three major cities – Ephesus,
Corinth, and Thessalonica – he encountered believers who were taking advantage
of the generosity of their brothers and sisters in Christ. The situation was
unsustainable. It would take the full body of believers to build up those whose
dignity was being degraded. Here is some of what he wrote to the Thessalonians:
6 Now we command you, brothers, in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from
any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the
tradition that you received from us. 7 For you
yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle
when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's
bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and
day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It
was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in
ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even
when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not
willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear
that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work,
but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command
and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn
their own living
(2Thessalonians 3:6-12).
Was Paul just being hard-nosed? Was he simply miffed because
he had to work while others weren’t? I don’t think so, and the evidence is in
the fact that he not only commanded (verses 6, 10, 12), but also encouraged
(verse 12). Encouragement is for the betterment the one receiving it. The best
evidence of all is found in two phrases that bracket the paragraph: in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ (verse 6) and encourage in the Lord Jesus
Christ (verse 12). Jesus, the Redeemer of mankind, has his arms around the
idea of restoring human dignity.
Government policies do a poor job of distinguishing between
those who can’t support themselves and those who choose not to. I’ve seen
enough policies (and been part of developing a few) to know how ineffective
they are. To be fair, I’ve worked with some wonderful people who have the
kindest of hearts and want nothing but good to come from our efforts. But in
the big picture, the one essential element is missing. That element – the
Go/or/No-Go of every good work – is the topic of the next letter in this series.
Keep the faith.
Grace and Peace (in every good work),
John
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