Social Restoration & Mercy Ministries

The interaction between Charles and myself continues. (See Question 1 and Question 2.)

This time around it's Charles' turn, and here's what he's come up with:

Question 3: What is the church’s role (corporately and individually) when it comes to “social restoration” or “mercy ministries”?

I emailed him back to let him know he managed to push multiple buttons with that one, so lets see where my thoughts take us. Be forewarned, I'm going to ramble on this one; I know where I want to end up but I'm not sure how or if I'll get there, so here comes a stream of consciousness...

Charles pointed me to this conversation and indicated he would be jumping off from there. I scanned through the thread with increasing discomfort until I came across a comment to the effect that "Jesus healed in order to demonstrate salvation" and I couldn't go any further. At this point in my journey I've come to the conclusion that making statements like that is a risky endeavor, but if you held a gun to my head and forced me to, I'd probably say exactly the opposite of the above. I'd say something like "Jesus saved in order to demonstrate healing." To be honest, I don't even like that one because the "saved" part of the equation is somewhat ambiguous, but I'd still take it over the first in a heartbeat.

And that is the crux of the matter, as far as I'm concerned. There is, or should be, no such thing as "mercy ministries." Quite frankly I think I find the term offensive. The implication is that there is other stuff, and then there is this thing, which has an air of optionality about it. Some of the writing I was doing earlier in the week was on this very subject, and thinking through the question these past few days has been very helpful in connecting a few of the dots.

Some groundwork, most of which has been stated at various times here before:

• I believe God's plan is a redemptive one. He is redeeming all of creation (i.e., not just us people.)
• Our Gospel is a participatory one. God chooses to work through us, and we have an important role to play.
• This makes sense, as we are the Body of Christ. In other words, we are to be Jesus to this world.
• Jesus came to teach and show us this, and left us the Spirit to empower us to do it.

So to use Charles' term, as far as "social restoration" is concerned, well, that's it. That's the plan. That's the role of the people of God. This is the reason we are here.

These kind of statements often get me accused of espousing a "works salvation" theology. And, as I've said here before, I almost am. Almost. I agree completely with Paul who said:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9 NRSV)

If I had a dollar for every time someone has quoted me those verses in response to what I am saying I'd have a lot of money to give away. Here's the problem. No one has ever--not once--quoted me verse 10:

¹⁰

For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

So as I read that, it says in a sense that we are not saved by works, but we are saved for works. That is why we are here! But like I said, I hear 8 and 9 a lot, but never 10.

And of course there is James:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? [Mike's note: Apparently James thinks the answer is "No."] If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14-17 NRSV)

These verses, and others, have helped to form my thinking for the past little while, but there has recently been a dramatic shift in what I think is going on here. I've had the faith/works either/or question thrown at me for so long that I've been guilty of resorting to a both/and type of response. It's faith and works that Paul is talking about, isn't he? James believes we need to be doing both, doesn't he?

I no longer think so. My thinking has been too linear here. It's not both/and any more than it's either/or. Insert my usual disclaimers here: I'm not talking about salvation--whatever that is--and I'm acknowledging that we are constrained by the limits of language. With all that under our belts, watch where I go with this:

Faith without works is dead. Faith without works is not faith. There is no faith without works. Faith is works.

When did works get such a bad reputation in the church? After New Testament times, apparently. Actually, I lay a lot of this at the feet of Martin Luther. Perhaps more to the point, it's about what we did to what Martin Luther had to say. It's almost as if we said, "Look, we're saved by grace through faith, not by works... so we're not going to do any works just to prove the point." A few hundred years later we find that this isn't working anymore. We still believe it, unfortunately, but there's no denying that that attitude is not changing the world much. So, we introduce "mercy ministries" into the church budget and think we have discovered something new.

Sometimes I wonder if we've thrown the baby Jesus out with the bathwater.

OK... enough rambling. Charles, in a manner of speaking I've butchered your question, but this is the only thing I could do with it. Thanks for helping me think this through. And this is just that - thinking. As always I reserve the right to change my mind on any of this tomorrow. I'm looking for all sorts of responses here--good, bad or indifferent--so please let fly.

Charles' response to the question is here.

Comments

[david]

We're so scared of "works" that we now get offended when someone speaks about obedience.

There will always be someone on the sideline waiting with a well-aimed "yeah, but..." and here is where they miss it: defending the faith is not the labour to which Jesus called us; the labour to which He called us is living/doing the faith.

The faith needs no more defending than baby Jesus does. In fact if you want to defend Jesus, the ONLY ways He's prescribed that we do that: defend the IDP's, the refugees, the defenceless, the widows, the orphans. The great distraction is that arguing and defending and being right all the time is the work. Sadly it is not only NOT the work, it is an attractive (EASY) alternative to the work.

I'm rambling some, but I think I said what I think. Or feel.

[Mike]

Well said, either way.

[Lynn]

I'm reminded of what Bonhoeffer wrote when he talked about this faith/works dichotomy. Have you come across this?

The way Bonhoeffer put it is that this statement "grace saves and not works" is something a person can say only if he's obedient to God and actually follows God's commands: feed, clothe, comfort, take care of the poor. A Christian can't use that statement "grace saves and not works" as an excuse to sit on his hands.

Bonhoeffer said that the statement "grace saves and not works" is the end-result, the Q.E.D., the conclusion *after* a long life of attempting to do God's will. It's not an excuse never to embark on trying to follow God's clearest commands.

And, anyway, if it's not clear enough, Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say?"

How did we Christians go from being known for our love for the outcast and the poor for being known for building mega-churches and being hypocrites? So weird.

[Andy in Germany]

I can run with you on this- it's given words and a focus to something that's been nagging at me for some time. We are in a small village on the edge of Stittgart in Germany, and trying to see how we could regain this balance and understanding of faith as evidenced by works- in a Lutheran church...

How can this work practically? I've got a few ideas but I'm open to any thoughts.

[robert]

I've never understood the problem with this whole "works" thing. If you're doing good, how is that a mark against you getting into heaven?
I could see why not believing might not get you in. I could see how not being good to others (even though you might say you believe but how can you really?) but how can being good, kind, generous, ever be a negative?
You people with your crazy club and goofy made-up rules are hilarious. Seriously.
Go give a homeless person a sandwich and STFU.

[Mike Todd]

Andy - 2 thoughts, one obvious and one not so much.

1. Just do it.

2. Connect with others who are doing the works thing who are not necessarily Jesus Followers. Good things happen.