2.2.24
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
Yesterday I gave you my response to a gentleman who had asked about our church’s role in seeking Biblical justice. He wrote back thanking me, and then wrote the following:
“You may not see standing up for justice as a biblical value as I do (Isaiah 58), but you sound like you have compassion.”
Here is what I wrote in response:
Justice is a Biblical value, and every follower of Jesus should be actively concerned with seeing the realization of Biblical justice. There are various ways of ‘standing up’ for Biblical justice. You can vote your values, you can live out your values, and you can identify with various organizations you believe are advocating for and advancing your values. Each individual is uniquely shaped by their home, their nurture, their experience, their education, and their larger culture. No one is a cookie-cutter replication of another person. Someone may not ‘stand up’ for justice the same way I do, indeed, someone may view Biblical justice quite differently than I do, yet Christian charity directs me to treat them with dignity and respect, for they are made in the image of God.
2020 was the perfect storm for our culture and for the church as three storm fronts collided. The medical pandemic of COVID, the social pandemonium following the murder of George Floyd, and the bitter political partisanship of the 2020 election brought painful division to our nation and to the church. For many people (nation and church), relationships that were broken during that time have still not healed.
Following this, it seems like people who seek to join a church are more interested in the ideology of the church than the theology of the church. Are you pro- or anti-Trump? Are you pro- or anti- BLM and CRT? Are you pro- or anti- vaccinations? Etc. All these positions have merits and demerits. It is not the calling of the Church to champion a certain version of justice and work for that to the exclusion of everything else. It is the mandate, mission, and message of the Church to preach the gospel and disciple all nations and lift up the name of Jesus. Unfortunately, in many churches, Jesus is buried underneath all the righteous causes the people are pursuing. No longer is Jesus the Main Thing, but a particular version of Biblical justice is the main thing. At Calvary Chapel Fremont – Jesus is the Main Thing!
If you do visit us, please introduce yourself to me.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
Blessings – Tim
At Calvary Chapel Fremont – Jesus is the Main Thing!- That’s why I attend CCF, well, one of many reasons.
“murder of George Floyd”
Well I can tell which side you’re on.