Dallas Willard - Can Social Justice Be Just Another Works-Righteousness Gospel?
Monday, February 26, 2007
The end of last week, I was with the T.A.C.T. group, Theology and Culture Thinkers Group in Woodland Hills (LA) California. This is a group called together to deal with the crisis regarding the lack of discipleship in the evangelical church of North America. I was honored to be invited. I was honored to spend some time among outstanding concerned people of the Navigators and Leadership Catalyst among other organizations.
Dallas Willard spent some time with us. It was rich. I offer the following summation of just one of the many presentations he challenged us with.
Dallas asserted that there are "3 Gospels Heard at the Present"
1.) YOUR SINS WILL BE FORGIVEN and you will be in heaven in the afterlife if you believed that Jesus suffered for your sins
2.) JESUS DIED TO LIBERATE THE OPPRESSED and you can stand with him in that battle.
3.) DO WHAT YOUR CHURCH SAYS and it will see to it you are received by God.
Dallas said compare these 3 gospels with the following:
4.) Put your confidence and trust in Jesus and live with him as his disciple now in the present Kingdom of God (Matt 6.33; Rom 8.1-14; Col 1.13; 3. 1-4; John 3.1-8).
He said "Salvation is participating now in the life which Jesus is now living on earth - Of course that involves forgiveness and heaven afterward and much more."
Dallas made the point that in relation to gospel 1.) you have to trust something Jesus did .. not in Jesus.
In relation to 2.) you have to trust something Jesus said … not in Jesus himself.
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Now Dallas would never be one to devalue the works of social justice. But it is the characterization of the gospel 2.) here that peaks my interest. In regard to the (some?) gospel(s) of social justice, he suggests you have to trust something Jesus said … not in Jesus himself.
As I have been thinking about the upcoming Evolving Church Conference in Toronto, Dallas' point about gospel no. 2 above is a challenge. For I have been considering for a long time how social justice can just turn into another program, or become something we do because we're supposed to. Pretty soon, social justice dies the death of all human efforts made apart from God. It is only as a manifestation of the Kingdom of God that the powers, the institutions of evil and the machinery of death can be undercut and destroyed. Of course the missional churches have been saying that mission is not another program, it is our life, it is the joining in with God in what He is already doing.
Not surprisingly however, this is easier said than done. And so this question is important to me, how can we avoid the mistakes of no. 1, and no. 3 as we go about justice in no. 2? HOW CAN WE NOT MAKE JUSTICE into another works righteousness devoid of power and transformation, another thing we are supposed to do? How do we instead see justice come as the manifestation of the Kingdom breaking through into our lives into the world? Where do people become formed in Christ so that justice flows out of our lives as opposed to something we are told we should be doing (another layer of works righteousness).
It seems to me this failure was the problem of the last unsuccessful wave of protestant justice. It simply lost the power of the person and work of Christ, thereby losing the people and turning justice into a campaign that inevitably made people feel better about themselves. HOW DO WE ESCAPE THIS?
Of course Dallas' no.4 is key, the Kingdom of God is where we must start. We must see justice as a manifestation of the Lordship of Christ over all our social forms of injustice. But I believe the local church; human on human justice is also key. I believe all other justice that would transform the structures must see first a structure transformed, i.e. us, the church, the little guys. I believe also we must undergo a spiritual formation that shapes us for mission. yet I believe we must see that in mission we are shaped and transformed by God. All of these things are stuff I hope to sketch comments on for my upcoming conference presentation on "justice in but not of capitalism"
I was incredibly blessed to be among these people at T.A.C.T.
What practical things can we do to avoid the pitfalls of gospel no. 2 becoming the same as gospel no. 1, and .3?
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Don’t Forget! Doug Pagitt comes to the Up/rooted gathering tomorrow nite (Tuesday February 27) 7 p.m. at Life on the Vine . Come and meet some people. I'll be there. Plenty of others!
Posted by David Fitch | 9:24 PM
COMMENTS:
Hmm, great thoughts from Willard, as always. Reading this makes me realize that I've been thinking about this for a while myself. The current emphasis on social justice will become just a rehash of the social gospel is we don't keep it personally focused on Jesus himself.
I think that in order to do so, we need to throw efficiency out the door. A focus on efficiency leads to mechanics and depersonalization that will turn us into program purveyors rather than embodiers of Jesus' kingdom in this world.
Jacob's Well does this by insisting on not being a soup kitchen, but rather sitting down for a community meal where everyone takes part in the meal prep and cleanup. Here, relationships have been prioritized over efficiency, favoring quality over quantity.
9:35 AM
good thoughts. I think this issue is very similar to every issue of "externals of holiness". I think that being kind, just and humble are just as important in the work of sanctification as any other external behavior trait. And just like any other external, it can get empty and lifeless and meaningless real quick.
There are a few thoughts I have. 1. it's not always a bad thing to have a discipline that you practice because you know it's good and right even if you don't always feel like it or if sometimes it feels empty. I think that the social aspects of the Gospel can occasionally be that way...the "fake it till you make it" idea but 2. just like any other external, the heart is always more important and we need to emphasize what puts the heart in the right place and keep the focus on the motivation.
i think the commenter above has it right - what is the motivation for social works? we have to nail that down and sacrifice everything to keep that motivation at the heart of what we're doing.
It's not a simple task and there are no easy answers but those are some of my initial thoughts.
oh, and I also think we have to make sure people are seeking to serve in these areas within their strengths and graces - because taking up someone else's vision or passion will burn you out fast.
10:15 AM
There's nothing wrong with efficiency as long as you're following the Holy spirit's guidance. Throwing out efficiency is tatamount to throwing out and wasting the provisions God has provided you for your mission. It doesn't have to be a "one or the other" scenario.
-- T. Pacey
11:00 AM
Pursuing Christ involves dancing on a delicate balance. With humility and self-examination we follow Him and practice justice. But, we must do so without the expectation that we will receive justice from anyone else. In fact, to be most like Christ we endure injustice without complaint.
We pursue justice on behalf of others, but in the context of a fallen world just how far do we expect to get? Am I able to forgive and extend grace and mercy to the very hand of injustice the way Christ did ("Father, forgive them for they know not what they do")?
For my part, until I have any personal credibility at home, I feel vulnerable to the criticism of hypocrisy for taking on the world's problems without tackling the spiritual/social injustices that are going on right under my own roof!
Peace, Kim
12:13 PM
Great post (yet again) David. I've found Hauerwas helpful in my framing of the issue...it seems like anytime we make Jesus a tool for something it ceases to be about the Kingdom. I'm trying to rework my own theological categories in such a way that the concepts of "social Gospel" or "personal Gospel" are meaningless. Indeed it starts with the idea Kingdom is centered on Jesus Christ and is something that the church inhabits and points towards (instead of advances). If we are the embodiment of Christ in the world, point to a deeper reality (the Kingdom) and embodying shared practices that help reveal the Kingdom, then it is hard to think in terms of "social gospel" devoid from personal transformation (and vice versa).
Practically, this is hard to work out. Some of it is simply intuitive...determining if I'm doing something AS Christ, FOR Christ. At Missio Dei, we try to make everything relational. We practice hospitality and take time to know our guests. We also resist abstract political activity and try to do things as directly as possible.
3:59 PM
In practical terms, this means spending time in devotion and worship... both personal and communal... where I discover myself known and loved by God, and in turn I know and love Him. As the monastics phrased it, God is not known if not loved.. so we have to learn that inward gaze (looking not at the things which are seen, but which are not seen)... or we never really move from the house of fear to the house of faith (Nouwen).
7:56 PM
Great stuff... Our call is to be a community of people who live as a sign of the kingdom. While justice is part of this there is so much more. What we focus on is living the way we will live when the kingdom is fully realized (as much as possible). If we keep this focus, it keeps us humble because we are relying on the Spirit to guide us as a community as to how we should live together and for others (which is to say to live for God's Glory). Justice is not a cause to take up but rather it is one aspect of the "sign" which we are to be for the kingdom of God.
9:52 AM
We're rebels without a cause! Ha ha...
10:01 AM
I am currently blogging through "The Spirit of Discipline". Stop on by and check it out.
http://matbathome.blogspot.com/
11:51 AM
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