By Paul R. Madson

If you follow the news, you probably heard the latest hubbub raised from Glenn Beck’s statement on his Fox News show this past month.

(I personally don’t watch his show, I heard it through other Christian news sources). I’m not here to debate whether or not you like Glenn Beck, but what he said certainly troubles me. In essence, he said that if you go to a church that uses the term ‘social justice,’ leave that church, because it is a ‘cover’ for socialism. (NOTE: by ‘social justice,’ I’m referring to issues such as helping the poor, orphans and widows; helping children and defenseless women against sexual slavery, etc.)

Now, I’m the first one to say that there are certainly churches out there today that major on social justice issues and do not preach the true, full, complete, uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ (these would be what we call ‘liberal churches’). Churches such as these, which are not preaching the whole of Scripture, are therefore preaching a false gospel. As the old saying goes, “A half truth is a lie.”

It’s not just what a person preaches, but what they don’t preach that can mislead people. Liberal churches will talk a lot about the love of God, the goodness of God, the importance of compassion for other people, the realities of heaven, etc. But what they never mention (or twist) are subjects on God’s holiness, His wrath against sin, His judgment, the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to God, the reality of an eternal hell, etc.
But in the midst of our American culture today, there are many, many churches that are involved in social justice issues that are also truly preaching the full counsel of God’s Word! This is biblical! We should applaud these churches.

In the midst of all of this bantering back and forth between political talking heads, we must remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure for what ails our world today. Sin (the root) has caused massive social justice issues (the fruit) that the church needs to be involved in as we demonstrate to a lost and dying world the love and compassion of a just God.

One of the things that excites me is the renewed emphasis within the Church today on social justice issues! We need this strong, biblical emphasis on our responsibility and involvement in social justice issues. This is a good thing!

But one of my concerns, as I look across the landscape of America (as well as around the world), is that many of these “social justice initiatives” are devoid of the true Gospel of salvation that is found in Jesus Christ alone (one reason, I believe, is because it is very ‘politically incorrect’). When social justice is divorced from the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it ends up being essentially no different than what Oprah Winfrey or any other secular person does when they go out and do good works.

Now this doesn’t mean that when you hand a poor person a loaf of bread you must at that moment tell them the gospel. Every human being on planet earth has dignity and is made in the image of God and therefore should be treated as such. Many times the “music” of the gospel (serving social justice issues) needs to be heard first before they are ready for the “words” of the gospel. The “music” (our good deeds) prepares the person’s heart to be open to hear the “words” of Christ. But we must eventually move towards the “words,” and not leave them out.

In the midst of promoting social justice causes, we must never forget that social justice ALONE is simply putting a band-aid on a terminally ill patient. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution for mankind’s sin problem. Until the problem of sin in man’s heart is dealt with, we are simply putting band-aids on the passengers of the “Titanic,” all of which will face a certain eternal death unless the “life preserver” of Jesus Christ is embraced within their heart. Social Justice must always be wedded to the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ for it to fulfill its ultimate purpose.

As a wise old pastor friend of mine said years ago, “There is an eternity and it is real and it is forever. Sin is the main issue. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution.” We must never forget that.

Alistair Begg, one of my favorite speakers and writers, wrote recently in one of his newsletters specifically about this issue:

“In every generation it falls to some to sound the alarm when the message of the gospel is in danger of being diluted or distorted. Throughout my life I have watched the pendulum swing from a neglect of the social and material needs of men and women to a preoccupation with these needs at the expense of the message. We must remain vigilant lest we succumb to doing good deeds as a substitute for declaring good news.”

Christianity Today ran an article this past year entitled: “The Greatest Social Need: It Happens To Be Something That Evangelicals Are Especially Gifted To Meet.”

In it, the editors discuss the amazing surge of involvement in social justice issues among evangelicals in recent years. They point out that movements to address and confront evils like sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, poverty, malaria, clean water, etc. have grown in massive ways recently. While strongly affirming the need for Christians to be involved in fighting all forms of injustice, the authors articulate clearly that the greatest need of all continues to be one thing: man’s alienation from God.

They write, “We are right to give so much of our energy to relieving social ills, but we must never forget that the greatest social ill has spiritual roots.”

“The biblical picture is clear: the breakdown of society is rooted in the breakdown of our relationship with our Creator. And the biblical response is equally clear: the way out of social chaos begins with people being restored to God. This won’t solve all social problems immediately. But transformed individuals go hand in hand with transforming social networks.”

This article resonated deeply with me, and brought to mind a quote from E. Stanley Jones, a missionary to India in the early 1900’s:

“An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost and the other is a corpse.”

Or, as Richard Stearns described it in his excellent book The Hole In Our Gospel:

“If we simply preach the Gospel and never act upon Jesus’ commands to love and care for the poor and oppressed, we are not preaching the fullness of what the Gospel truly consists of. On the other hand, if we simply reach out to help others and never speak of Christ and His salvation, we are rendering the message impotent. And ultimately, we will harm those we so desperately want to help by not sharing with them the incredibly glorious news that God loves them and desires a relationship with them.”

It is, by far, very “politically correct” to simply sidestep the Gospel and reach out to others with good works. I still remember returning to the States after a trip to India in 2002, and several conversations I had with various people I met while running errands or going about my day. They would ask what I had been doing in India, and when they heard I had been involved with helping to construct an orphanage, their eyes would light up and they’d become very interested. However, any time I shared that we had been sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the conversation would abruptly end.

It may be easier and more comfortable to simply not mention the Gospel, but we fail in our commission as Christians to truly love and serve the whole person – body and spirit.

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 NASB)

As believers in Christ, we are commanded to “learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17). It is essential that we care for victims of injustice. At the same time, we must share winsomely and compassionately about the only true Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

I want you to know that GTN is involved all over the world in promoting social justice as we teach and train pastors and leaders from the Scriptures. We train these pastors and teach them that it is the indigenous churches’ responsibility to care for orphans, widows and the poor within their own community. They have gotten used to abrogating this responsibility to the Western church as it simply “dumps money” without the accompanying teaching of the local churches’ responsibility to be involved in these issues (yes, no matter how poor the culture or church may be). What’s amazing is that when many of these pastors (in the poorest parts of the world) realize what the church is supposed to be about within a community, they begin to teach their congregations these same truths! The result: transformation begins to happen within their villages and surrounding communities!

The root cause of all our social ills throughout society is one word: sin! And the only cure for this root cause is Jesus Christ and the Truth found in Scripture! I realize that is as politically incorrect as anything you could say now days, but it’s the truth! At the heart of why nations are and continue to be mired in poverty, sexual slavery and other social justice issues is sin. The way to bring transformation must involve at the center the Truth of Scripture and a biblical worldview.

Darrow L. Miller, co-founder of Disciple Nations Alliance (a great ministry!), wrote a brief endorsement for an excellent book (that I highly recommend) entitled Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations by International Scholar Vishal Mangalwadi, the following…

“The world has it wrong – money, technique, and technology are not the keys to a nation’s healing and prosperity. Truth is the root from which vigorous and wholesome societies flourish.”

Darrow writes along these lines in one of his recent blogs the following:

“As I began to travel with Food for the Hungry (the organization that I served with for 27 years), I quickly became aware that poverty was not ultimately caused by a lack of material resources.  If this is true, then what are the root causes? During these days I read the lectures that Abraham Kuyper presented to Princeton Seminary called Calvinism: Six Stone Foundation Lectures. Through this book, I realized that worldview was the key to development. This helped to move my thinking on worldview from the abstract to the practical.”

Bringing God’s Truth to the pastors and Christian leaders throughout the developing world is what will ultimately help to bring about long term, systemic transformation throughout a village, town, city and ultimately an entire nation!

Bottom line: Are we as followers of Jesus Christ supposed to be involved in social justice issues? Yes! But we must always remember that our involvement in social justice must never be divorced from the message of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He came to bring. Sin is the root issue. Jesus is the cure for sin!