Merciful is Missional – and vice versa.
January 26th, 2010 by Dan
There is a small brouhaha in the corner of the blog world that I occasionally surf over the precise relationship between being merciful and being missional. There is some reason for it; the word ‘missional’ has so many meanings today that it probably means milkshake to someone out there.
But really. The Lord jesus said clearly that we are called to ‘go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…’ (Matthew 28:18- 20). We are called to proclaim the gospel in word; ‘you shall receive power when the Holy spirit is upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8-9).’
He also said we are to show our discipleship following of him by showing mercy and doing justice: see His clear teaching here.
So when respected Christian leaders say that an emphasis upon social justice may lead to theological slippage, they are, I think, getting the cart before the horse. It is true that historically, some churches and denominations departed from biblical orthodoxy in the early 20th century, retaining only a strong biblical sense of social justice. In response, orthodox evangelical churches grew wary of both the doctrinal departure of many mainline churches, and of the social justice that they emphasized. The first wariness is healthy, wise and necessary. But the second wariness – of embracing social justice – needs to end. Now.
Mercy is not an option. Mercy is a reflection of the gospel of God who had mercy upon poor, miserable, sin-addicted self-destructive slaves – you and me. The gospel is all about mercy. Jesus showed spiritual mercy, physical mercy, social mercy, relational mercy in His ministry; he foreshadowed the new Creation He will one day bring in.
And, by the way, mercy is missional. Mercy puts credibility to the message in a way that almost nothing else does. Mercy makes the gospel real, shows it’s transforming power, and validates the reality of the Spirit to a skeptical world. In the words of a Vancouver church planter: ‘mercy may be our final apologetic.’
Mercy, then, is embedded within the gospel. Let us learn to love justice, to do mercy, and to preach the grace of God in Christ contagiously and consistently.
2 Responses to “Merciful is Missional – and vice versa.”
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Dan,
One of the problems with over-emphasizing social justice issues, however, is that one can get so caught up in activism that you can begin to forget that ultimately it isn’t our saviour. I would suggest that the mainline churches’ focus on social justice was not strongly biblical, because too often it spoke in terms of saving humanity by our own actions; by speaking about “ending poverty” or “ending war” by this or that policy, yet forgetting that at the root of both problems was sin and its affect on our relationship with God. By focusing on social justice, we run the risk of forgetting the gospel; it’s more popular (especially in downtown Toronto) to go on about peace and love. It was D.A. Carson who talked about the necessity of not assuming the gospel and then going on to discuss its implications; it is by this that we lose the gospel altogether, like the mainline churches.
-Ben
Ben:
Thanks for the reply, and I agree with you. I think we completely agree with each other. However, I also think many people are using your thoughtful arguments to justify an unnecessary wariness about mercy and justice. So let me speak to them in my response to you, and assure you that I think you already heartily agree with what I am about to say. If not, please let me know! See my comments on a similar thread at http://fiddlerzgreen.blogspot.com/
I think we must be careful not to fall into the opposite error. Some of us out there are so afraid of losing focus on the gospel, and the foundational truth of the death of Christ for our sins- that we become wary of anything like social justice and mercy, simply because it is championed by people whom we depart from biblically. But then we are reacting to theological and cultural trends, instead of biblical injunctions.
Mercy is not a departure from the gospel. It is simply part of following Jesus. Just because it got co-opted doesn’t mean it is not still part of the gospel. So while we should never replace gospel proclamation with social justice, neither should we abandon social justice in our gospel proclamation. Social justice is part of our evangel. Does it replace the message of Christ crucified? No. Does it become part of that message? Of course.
Jesus said He was preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. In His healing and deliverance ministries, He foreshadowed the coming glory of the New heaven and Earth, when the Kingdom will be consummated and fully experienced by His Followers. So the point of the gospel is this: I came first as your Substitute, to deal with your sins, but I return as the King and Re-Creator of all things, so that you may enjoy the fulness of my Cross-work for you. And this new creation is the key to understanding how mercy and mission go together.
In emphasizing, as we do almost weekly, the need for individual repentance and faith to enter the Kingdom as it is now constituted, we should not forget that this is not all we have to hope for.The present kingdom is spiritual and partial. This is a pale version of the fulness of the Kingdom to come.
Therefore, when we preach the gospel to people, what are we doing? We are asking people to enter into the New Creation of Christ by becoming new creatures themselves; being born again, through faith alone in Christ alone. We are asking them to start living in their lives now, the kind of life that we will live fully in the new creation – lives of wholeness and holiness, purity and love.
But then, in the church, we do the same thing – we try to foreshadow the New creation by living a communal body-life of love and mercy and care and grace. And we are called to show mercy on the poor and destitute among us as a public witness to that New City that will one day come to earth, and whose citizens we are.
Now let us go one step further. We tell individuals to repent and believe and enter the New Creation. We exhort the Church to act in accordance with the New Creation ethics. What about the city? Do we express our new Creation citizenship and allegiances to the city as well?
I think that Christ’s teaching,in the Sermon on the Mount and throughout the New Testament, leads us to go beyond the individual, beyond even the church, to start foreshadowing the New Creation in how we live our lives in and to the city.
You see, I think the gospel goes this far. The foundation is always the individual need for faith and repentance – for there is no New City coming unless we are born again as new creatures. But that foundation quickly turns to a living out of new creation ethics and lives – in the church, and in the city.
We are proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom. It is always the Gospel of the Crucified King, but it should also be the gospel of a New City, where mercy reigns.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Ben!!