IT'S AS EASY AS BEING LIKE JESUS
Ron Sider, a well-known Christian author, came to speak to our congregation this morning about the importance of individuals and churches doing both evangelism and social action. In fact, he is the founder and director of Evangelicals for Social Action, a name that once might have been mistaken as an oxymoron but increasingly reflects the dual mission of evangelical congregations.
He briefly but persuasively spoke about how evangelism and social action are two different things, and yet are equally necessary for individuals and churches to pursue. As his talk winded down, I began to formulate a question in my mind, a question that I had actually been ruminating on for quite some time. Fortunately, I got a chance to ask my question:
“Dr. Sider, I appreciate your perspective on evangelism and social action, and have a question about motivation. Sometimes I gravitate towards the spiritual stuff because the social stuff seems so complicated and intractable. And sometimes I gravitate towards doing good works because I get pats on the back for it from the world, whereas the world never pats me on the back for telling people about Jesus. I and this church don’t want to do what’s easy or what gets us pats on the back; we want to do what’s right. So what is our motivation to keep a proper balance?”
I sat down and looked forward to a lengthy and wise answer. Instead, Dr. Sider’s response took less than thirty seconds: “Just be like Jesus.” He offered that our model for this balance between evangelism and social action was the same as our model for life. And the gospels record Jesus doing both evangelism and social action. He did both perfectly, and He did both for perfect reasons: to do the will of His Father.
And so it is for us, that we ought to do both because we ought to be like Jesus. We ought not run from the complexity and intractability of social ills. And we ought not hide ourselves in the popularity of doing good works that we don’t mention the often divisive name of Jesus. Instead, we ought to seek to save the soul and heal the body. And we ought to seek to do both because we want to be like Jesus, because we want to do the will of our Father.
Ron Sider, a well-known Christian author, came to speak to our congregation this morning about the importance of individuals and churches doing both evangelism and social action. In fact, he is the founder and director of Evangelicals for Social Action, a name that once might have been mistaken as an oxymoron but increasingly reflects the dual mission of evangelical congregations.
He briefly but persuasively spoke about how evangelism and social action are two different things, and yet are equally necessary for individuals and churches to pursue. As his talk winded down, I began to formulate a question in my mind, a question that I had actually been ruminating on for quite some time. Fortunately, I got a chance to ask my question:
“Dr. Sider, I appreciate your perspective on evangelism and social action, and have a question about motivation. Sometimes I gravitate towards the spiritual stuff because the social stuff seems so complicated and intractable. And sometimes I gravitate towards doing good works because I get pats on the back for it from the world, whereas the world never pats me on the back for telling people about Jesus. I and this church don’t want to do what’s easy or what gets us pats on the back; we want to do what’s right. So what is our motivation to keep a proper balance?”
I sat down and looked forward to a lengthy and wise answer. Instead, Dr. Sider’s response took less than thirty seconds: “Just be like Jesus.” He offered that our model for this balance between evangelism and social action was the same as our model for life. And the gospels record Jesus doing both evangelism and social action. He did both perfectly, and He did both for perfect reasons: to do the will of His Father.
And so it is for us, that we ought to do both because we ought to be like Jesus. We ought not run from the complexity and intractability of social ills. And we ought not hide ourselves in the popularity of doing good works that we don’t mention the often divisive name of Jesus. Instead, we ought to seek to save the soul and heal the body. And we ought to seek to do both because we want to be like Jesus, because we want to do the will of our Father.
Comments