No social Gospel here - Just the Gospel!

A very interesting debate at Gordon Cotterill’s Urban Army Blog (http://urbanarmy.blogspot.com/) has inspired me to post an important warning about the church’s current infatuation with social gospel (read on!)

Let me start with an absolute truth.

Christianity never operates outside of an eternal context. Everything a Christian does and says is done and said in an eternal context.

Christians exist and serve in ‘The Kingdom of heaven’, for Christians there is no clear definition as to where the physical realm ends and the spiritual realm begins. For a Christian the Kingdom of heaven brings both realms together.

Jesus said the following about the kingdom of heaven;

• It is near (Matthew 10:7)
  
• It is within you (Luke 17:21)
  
• It is in the future ( Matthew 22:1-14)
  

Accordingly, the Christian lives in the kingdom, strives to establish the kingdom (sometimes by ‘force’ ), does God’s will ‘on earth’ as it is done in the kingdom and at the same time looks forward to the kingdom.

Indeed, the Christian’s first thought in everything he does is the kingdom (‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God…’).

There is much talk today of a ‘social gospel'. The emphasis on action is most welcome but the delineation is definitely not.

Christianity is not a buffet of disciplines and practices in which the ‘believer’ can select those foods which are to his liking. Christianity is Christianity and comes as a complete lifestyle which requires as the bare minimum the absolute surrender of the devotee.

Breaking down Christianity into specialist chunks is dangerous, destructive, distracting and has deadly consequences.

No longer do we say ‘I am Paul’s man or ‘I belong to Peter’ instead we divide ourselves along lines of service and practice.

Let us be clear:-

• You cannot have mission without evangelism,
  
• You cannot have social service without evangelism,
  
• You cannot have ‘friendship evangelism’ without both the friendship and the evangelism.
  
• You cannot love for loves’ sake unless it is done within the context of ‘The Kingdom’
  

Jesus fed the five thousand because he was 'moved with compassion' – but Jesus never offered love or mercy outside of an eternal context.

In John 6:26-27 we read Jesus answered,

"I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Jesus is saying quite plainly my job is not to dish out free bread. Jesus is clearly saying, I’m on to you! You are following me because you are hoping I will meet your physical needs but that is not my immediate priority’. In effect, Jesus is saying it is not my job to subsidise your inability to organise a packed lunch my job is to preach the gospel. However he is saying (like Booth) that if a barrier to your belief is a physical need then I will meet it. If as a consequence of your seeking the truth you present a physical need then I will meet it.

Of course we must love, indeed Matthew 7:21-23 (probably the scariest scripture in the bible) makes it clear that isolated ‘preaching’ and isolated ‘ministry’ are just as dangerous as isolated ‘social service’. In addition Paul’s love chapter places compassion above even faith in the hierarchy of Christian practice and James (chapter 2) reminds us of the obligatory duty we have ‘to act’.

However, as a committed Christian, practicing an incarnational ministry, delivering a socially active gospel we must remember at all times that "Man cannot live by bread alone!”

Our only priority is to ‘save’ if you want a good definition of salvation – how about this:

To populate God’s eternal kingdom with citizens of this temporal world within the restraints and confines of the ‘time’ we have available.

L&P Andrew