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What is the Work of God?

Today, over at blogs4God, Jen Kibler-McCabe provides this sermon from Vicar John Kibler-McCabe about St. Laurence the Deacon who was martyred on this day in A.D. 258.

From the sermon: Laurence mainly devoted his life to helping the poor, sick, and helpless in his area. This was actually a normal part of his job: as a Deacon, his main duty was to go and minister to people during the week.

Today, in my church, our pastor talked about John Wesley's vision for the church being in the community, helping those who are not as well off as we are. We have a summer basketball program for kids who live in our neighborhood. It draws a lot of kids and has even attracted kids from other nearby towns, some from as far away as the other side of our county (Mercer County), say about twenty miles away. It's a good thing to do, and we emphasize sportsmanship and teamwork more than winning, though we do give prizes for some special skills games, and everyone gets food each week, and everyone gets shoes and school supplies too, given by donations from our church members and local businesses who support us.

Now given that praise for our program, our pastor also had a critical sentence about the Episcopal Church, saying that the church needs to be helping the poor, and all some do is talk about whether to ordain a homosexual bishop. Well, that's all subjective you see, for there are some who think that ordaining a homosexual bishop is another way of doing social justice, and so, in the opinion of people who think that opinions carry the same weight as Scripture and Tradition, they are doing the work of God too.

So, what is the will of God, and how do we know what to do?
First off, I believe the will of God is for us to believe in Jesus (John 6:29), and to tell people why we do, and to invite them to believe in Jesus too (the conviction for repentance needs to come from God though, all we can do is steer them in the right direction). We need to know and tell what Jesus did for us, His atoning death and Resurrection. If we don't do that, none of the rest matters, all we're doing is making sinners more comfortable, and not actually inviting people to God's grand banquet.

Second, I believe we are called to help the poor, diseased, and less well-off. I think we are doing God's work by giving of ourselves to others. I also believe we need to show this compassion to people who live around us, and to people who live in other countries who may not have neighbors who are in a position to show similar compassion.

While I respect God's call for compassion, I don't think that it can be claimed that God's will calls for higher taxes or more government programs to do what Jesus calls us to do. It is not written in Scripture or the Apostles' Creed that Christians must support paying higher taxes. Christians can disagree on this, and everything which follows is my opinion on this. I agree with what needs to be done (within certain limits), I just don't agree on the how to pay for it, or the who will do it.

Now some people may be critical of this view - they say if government doesn't collect the money, people won't give enough. They've got a point, but my counterpoint is: is someone don't believe in compassion the same way I do, why should they be forced to satisy my ideals? I think it would be great for everyone to be a Christian, so why don't I write my congressman to tell him to pass a law to make it so? No - I don't go there, I respect freedom of religion, I know that religion cannot be forced on people. I believe in compassion the same way. Let people choose to do it. There will be greedy people who don't give -- that's their problem. Maybe if we went back to the first point above, there would be less greed, but I certainly believe that by going straight to point #2 and neglecting point #1, there will be less people with grace-filled hearts willing to act with compassion.

I alluded to certain limits on what I consider to be what needs to be done. I think social work should be limited to what everyone (let me call it an overwhelming supermajority) can agree is doing God's will. It's not reassuring to me that the Episcopal Church can, by a mere majority of bishops, many of whom have little or no respect for Scripture, throw away millenia of Church teaching on sexuality, and ordain a homosexual bishop. It is also not reassuring to me that the National Council of Churches, speaking for a minority of Christians, acts as an advocate for socialism even in countries where it has resulted in governments that do not respect basic human rights, such as Cuba (no freedom of speech and other violations of rights) and Zimbabwe (no freedom to live). Even in other more benign socialist states, it has not been shown that adopting socialism has made people better off. In general, it's a recipe for spreading the poverty around, which I guess makes the activists happy; just like the saying: misery loves company. Can you have an egalitarian economic system? “Oh yes, you can have an egalitarian society – but only at the lowest possible level.” - Friedrich Hayek.

Back to the NCC -- you can look at their website for hours and not find anything about making disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). In the NCC worldview, Christians are told to tolerate and respect people of other faiths, fine and good for tolerance's sake, but is doing that alone doing what Jesus asked us to do? Can't we at least tell others that Jesus died for them too, and that they can accept God's gift? Is it really a hate crime to tell them that their religion isn't adequate for getting them where they want to go? Is it really compassionate, given the eternal consequences, to do any less?

So to sum up: what do I believe is the Work of God?
Believe in God, and the One whom He sent (John 6:29)
Tell others about Jesus and invite them to believe in Him too (Matthew 28:19, Luke 10:1-24)
Act compassionately toward others (Luke 10:25-37)

There are other details which can only be known by each individual as they find their place in the Church, everyone has a different role to play - indeed, I even think there is a different role to play for all the denominations we have, some emphasize evangelism, some helping the homeless, and some summer basketball programs, but as long as we follow Jesus and glorify God and tell the truth to those seeking Him we're all doing His will.

Posted by joelfuhrmann at August 10, 2003 01:51 PM