A new Way

Excerpt from: "Tension, Mercy, and Orphans" (whole article found at http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/article_tension_mercy_and_orphans/)
By Jedd Medefind | Christian Alliance for Orphans

Tension. A high-wire pulled taut between two poles; a bow stretched back as far as it can go. Christ's call is rarely to the "golden mean," a comfortable-but-often-flaccid moderation that shuns any extreme. That was Aristotle. Rather, Jesus' disciples most often must grip two seeming opposites, both held tenaciously in pregnant tension: grace and truth, humility and boldness, justice and mercy.

At its worst, Christianity loses its tautness. We seize hold of one pole with white-knuckled grasp and abandon the other. At its best, our faith is tense as a bowstring in the hands of a master Archer.

We catch a snapshot of this tension in the seeming competition between evangelism and mercy ministry. Despite wide affirmation that "we can do both," most Christian organizations tend to emphasize one and under-develop the other.
Yet Christ's way was to hold insistently to both, always interweaving "preaching the Good News" and "healing every disease…" (Matthew 4:23). As we follow him in this, we come to see the two are not competing after all. Far from it. Tangible mercy in Christ's name bears compelling witness to the Good News like nothing else on earth. Meanwhile, the true Gospel is of such glory that both apathy and injustice melt before it; those embracing it, like Zacchaeus, restore wrongs done and extend self in sacrificial giving.

The above excerpt does an amazing job of describing a problem that every single human being struggles with. Balance. We have such trouble living in the tension of opposites, in finding a balance in life instead of being black and white about every single thing we encounter. The example Jedd gives is one that I have noticed so much in the Church today: either we emphasize acts of justice and don't address preaching the Gospel enough, or we over-emphasize evangelism and don't give proper weight to the actions of mercy and justice Christ clearly calls us to. It is so hard for us to find a balance. To, as Jedd highlighted, Christ held insistently to both, explaining and proving that acts of justice and mercy bear witness to the Gospel of Christ like nothing else can. Both, in equal amounts, are completely necessary. Both are needed to live like Christ and do the will of Christ. Loving God and living in true worship of Christ will naturally result in acts of mercy and justice. There is no need to fight for one over the other! Christ intends both of them to exist naturally together as we exist in Him. As Professor Paul Louis Metzger says, “Justice flows from God's heart and character. As true and good, God seeks to make the object of his holy love whole…We, the church, are to live now in light of Jesus' restoration of all things…As we experience the wholeness that Jesus offers, we are to carry his justice forward in the world.” As Jedd and Metzger both emphasize, personal redemption in Christ and living out His mercy to the world are intimately connected, and are an equal part of living in Christ.

The problem the human race has in general with balance has become too evident to me in the context of politics. Political activism is something I am particularly passionate about, as politics and government can be such a huge tool of the Church to show the love of Christ. In fact, God makes it evident through His Word that He desires the Church to utilize the government as a tool to do His will. Living in a country where we have the ability to make our voice heard and affect the world around us, we especially are called to utilize the blessings God has given us to help those around us. God makes it clear through His Word that He calls His followers to become like Him and to join Him in His mission in the world. And it is clear through His Word what His heart beat for: how can we ignore the Year of Jubilee He wrote into the law of the Israelites, that said that for no logical or apparent reason, other than that it is His heart’s desire, every seven years there was to be a year where all debts were forgiven, all crimes forgotten, all slaves and foreigners released from captivity (Leviticus 25) – it is clear that justice, mercy, and peace are God’s very heart: “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed…” (Psalm 103:6). “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14). God clearly calls His Church to stand up for His truths: to proclaim His salvation through living out His justice, mercy, peace, and righteousness. One of the main tools we have to do “tangible mercy in Christ’s name,” as Jedd said, and thereby proclaim His Gospel, is through the tool of government. The government is not meant to take the place of the Church – the government is merely the tool of the Church, issuing decrees that the Church then carries out. How amazing would it be if the Church properly utilized the tool of the government, making our collective voice heard enough to affect policy in the direction of the truths of Christ, and then also being the ones to carry out the policies the government decrees?

Unfortunately, I have seen the Church so often of late get caught up in this problem of balance, so much so that instead of utilizing government and doing the work we are called to do, we so often fall into the partisan ways of politicking, feeling pressure to pick a side, to be black or white. We have the choice to be either “conservative, Gospel-proclaiming, right-wing, evangelical Christians” or “liberal, social-justice emphasizing, watered-down Christians that trust big government too much to do the work of the Church.”

When really, we do not have to choose sides at all. In Christ, there is a third Way. There is an in-between. There is a balance. We can hold to the Gospel, and also just as strongly hold to social justice – because in Christ, the two are intricately connected. We can be conservative in that we believe the words of the Bible, but liberal in that we are open to the reality that the Church is changing and the truth of God can be understood and presented in new ways – without the Truth itself actually being changed. In this new Way, we follow Christ’s truths, and do not give in to the culture of the world that tells you there are only two options, one of which we must choose. In Christ, sometimes it is left, sometimes it is right, sometimes it is neither: we pursue what is just, peaceful, merciful, and righteous – we support those policies, politicians, campaigns, etc based on their identification with these truths. In this new Way, we choose the way of Christ, no matter the party affiliation or tradition. I am not in any way saying we should support the increase of religion in place of a party, or just make Christianity the new party – no, I am supporting the increase of the truths of Christ, and promoting that we stand up for whatever will increase these truths. Christianity should not be a political party that becomes a part of government – the Church should promote the truths of Christ in politics and government, and then the Church should be the one that the government can most trust to carry out their policies. It is the increase of Christ’s principles, and not the increase of a political party, that will truly benefit our society and lead to a higher standard among politicians and a higher standard when it comes to political priorities and policies.

By promoting these principles, society will only benefit – in His way, peace and unity are promoted in the political realm, modeled off of the tension Christ showed in His life from holding a wide range of truths in balance. Justice and mercy are promoted, which will further bring the love of Christ into the world. By seeking to promote Christ’s truths instead of fighting for a certain political party, the Church will help lead our political culture – as well as society – to a higher standard, in the direction of peace and justice, where human lives are truly a priority above self-interest and politicking. By promoting Christ’s truth, the Church will lead people to truly see the love of God – instead of the Church leading in the opposite direction, joining in and promoting the divisiveness that comes from picking sides.

As Christians, we are called to care about and participate in the political sphere – God has blessed us with a political system where we can actually make our voice heard, where we can speak up for the poor and oppressed. But that is what we are called to do: speak up for the poor and oppressed and seek justice for the widowed and the fatherless (Isaiah 1:17), seek peace (1 Peter 3:11) and love mercy and walk humbly (Micah 6:8). There is no need to pick political sides: we are called to support whatever and whomever promotes Christ’s truths, utilizing politics and government to carry out Christ’s mission. By promoting Christ’s truths, we will be demanding a higher standard for politicians and for political priorities.

How beautiful would it be if, because of the Church’s voice, our government stepped up their aid to the orphan and the widow? What if more relief was given to the poor and the oppressed? How amazing would it be if the voice of the Church was loud enough that not only were policies influenced, but that the government then relied on the Church to carry them out? For example, what if the government gave more aid to fund programs for the homeless, or to provide medicine for third world countries, and then entrusted more of these funds to faith-based organizations to implement? By focusing less on partisan politics and more on the truths Christ asks us to stand for, the Church will be much more able to carry out the mission Christ has called us to. To get to this point, though, it is essential that the Church realize our crucial role in utilizing the government to speak up for the poor and the oppressed, and live by Christ’s higher standard to do so, pursuing His truths and not letting ourselves fall prey to the current standards of the political culture. Let’s get to the place where not only is our voice strong enough to influence politics and policies for the better, but also to the place where our voice is trusted enough and passionate enough to then carry these policies out.