A Contest: Second Reminder
Last week, in a post called “A Contest: Examples of Serving“, I announced a contest where the winner will receive a copy of John Perkins’ book Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development. Please read that post for details. Remember to submit your story about serving others before January 19, 2009. This means that you have two more weeks to submit your story!
When the Gospel is Social
In December 2007, I wrote a post called “When the Gospel is Social“. In the last year or so, God has taught my family so much about living out our faith in a way that impacts the lives of other people. The gospel is social. If its not social, then its not the gospel.
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Many evangelicals cringe when they hear the words “gospel” and “social” together in the same sentence. Many times their minds immediately connect the two words into one term: “social gospel”. And from there, of course, they think about terms such as “works salvation”.
Unfortunately, I think these thoughts have caused many evangelicals to give up on helping relieve social problems. In fact, I believe the “social gospel” may exist because those who believe the gospel are not concerned with social work. I’m glad that this is not the case with all evangelicals. Consider the following snippet from my Ph.D. mentor, David Alan Black (from Thursday, December 13 at 9:27 am):
As you know, it has long been our desire to dig wells and thus supply fresh drinking water in Alaba and Burji. There is always a certain tension among missionaries between those who are devoted to personal evangelism and those who are concerned about social issues. We see no problem in bringing both sides together in a joint operation. Once we have trained local church leaders to dig wells on church property, they will have an important preaching point where their evangelists can point non-believers to the Water of Life as they come to draw water for free. It will, no doubt, be very hard work.
I love the connection between the gospel and social work – between recognize the need for spiritual nourishment and physical nourishment.
If I remember correctly, John placed these two concepts (gospel and works) side-by-side:
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18 ESV)
And, James said something similar:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17 ESV)
These are sometimes difficult passages for those of us who believe we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). But, of course, that passage doesn’t end there, does it? We see that even Paul associated works with the gospel:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)
What do we do if our heart does not break and we do not take action when we see someone hurting, oppressed, widowed, orphaned, hungry, thirsty? What do we do when our faith does not work? What do we do when it seems that the love of God is not in us because we are not demonstrating the love of God? What if we are not concerned about “the least of these“?
I will leave those questions to you, my readers. How would you respond to someone who asked the questions above? How would respond to someone who said that they have faith, but they rarely if ever demonstrate that faith by caring for others?
A Contest: First Reminder
Last week, in a post called “A Contest: Examples of Serving“, I announced a contest where the winner will receive a copy of John Perkins’ book Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development. Please read that post for details. Remember to submit your story about serving others before January 19, 2009.
Serving through Relationship
Last summer, our family began spending time in a government assisted housing development in our area. This service began after a conversation with a friend who lives in that neighborhood. She had often asked us to pray for and help her neighbors. After talking with her, I asked if she thought it would be a good idea for us to start spending time in her neighborhood. She thought it was a good idea, and she said she would introduce us to her neighbors.
We had a simple plan when we started. We wanted to help the people physically, but we also wanted to begin building relationships with them. So, that first Saturday, we stopped by a local farmer’s market and bought $25 worth of vegetables and fruit and placed the produce in five small bags. As our friend introduced us to some of her neighbors that morning, we would give them a bag of produce, and ask them about themselves.
From the beginning, some of the people were very open to us. Others were suspicious. They are accustomed to nameless and faceless Christian groups and agencies coming in and giving stuff to nameless and faceless “poor people”. Often they are given “stuff” that they do not need – stuff like old bread, rotting produce, or cakes, cookies, and pies. Instead, we brought in fresh produce (only a little) and sat or stood with the people, talked with them, and got to know them.
Again, we did not have any other agenda. We had no plans going forward. Why? Because we did not know the people yet. We did not know what they needed. We did not know what God was going to do.
Over the last few months, other friends and families have started spending time in this neighborhood with us. By the time the farmer’s market closed in November, we were taking produce to 8 families every week. Also, we often took fresh baked (baked that morning) bread (made from freshly ground wheat) to the families.
But, more importantly, we’ve gotten to know many of the people who live in that neighborhood, and they have gotten to know us. They call us to check on us, and we call them to check on them. Even the people who were once suspicious because of past experiences with Christian groups have become good friends. We love each other… we say that we love each other… and we show that we love each other.
Besides visiting with them on Saturdays, we’ve had other opportunities to serve the people in the neighborhood. We sang Christmas carols in the neighborhood a few weeks ago. We had the opportunity to help one lady pay her utility bill. We’ve taken several elderly neighbors to doctor’s appointments, or visited them in the hospital, or even brought them home from the hospital. We tutored a single mother who is finishing her degree from a community college. We’ve provided furniture. We’ve taken meals to people who were sick. We bought toys for the neighborhood children for Christmas. We raked leaves.
We did all of these things because we love the people and we want to demonstrate the love of Christ to them. In fact, the reason that we were able to do these things is because we took the time to get to know them in the first place.
Let me repeat that: THE REASON THAT WE WERE ABLE TO SHOW THIS NEIGHBORHOOD THE LOVE OF CHRIST IS THAT WE TOOK THE TIME TO GET TO KNOW THEM FIRST. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to shout. But, statements like this are often overlooked.
As I finish this post, I encourage you to start spending time with people – both with people you already “know” and people you do not know. You will find that God gives you opportunities to serve and demonstrate his love through those relationships. It won’t be easy. It will often be messy. But, it will be real.
A Contest: Examples of Serving
Last week, as I was cleaning up my stacks of books from the last semester, I found a copy of John Perkins’ Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development that I thought I had lost. I read this book again this year, and wrote about it several times. (I discuss different aspects of this book in my posts “The Gospel in message and mission“, “Beyond Charity – Introduction“, “Beyond Charity – Our Vision“, “Beyond Charity – Our Gospel“, “Lollipop Love?“, and “The poor do not need your money“.)
Instead of sticking this book on a shelf along with my other copy, I thought I would give this book away in a contest. Yes, you heard me correctly. I’m going to have a contest on my blog, and the winner will receive John Perkins’ book Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development free of charge. I will even ship it to you.
Now, here are the rules of the contest:
Email me (aknox@sebts.edu) an example of how you, your family, or you and a group of people served others. It could be a story of serving people within the church, or serving people outside the church. You are allowed to submit more than one entry. I may choose to publish some of these stories as “guest blogger” posts, so if you want to remain anonymous, let me know. If you want me to include a link to your blog or web site, let me know that as well. I will choose my favorite from among the submissions. (Yes, it will be completely subjective. But, hey, its my book.) Please email me your submissions BEFORE January 19, 2009. That gives you four weeks to submit your stories.
I will announce the winner – and include their story – in a post on Monday, January 19, 2009.
Hopefully, when I publish these stories, they will encourage others to serve the people around them. According to Paul, we were all created for good works that we should walk in them. Let’s start walking in those good works, and encourage others toward obedience and maturity with our stories.
I look forward to reading your stories!
Angel Tree
I’m proud of our small church family. We’re not very big in number, but we care about people. And, we don’t just say that we love people, we actually demonstrate our love for people.
The most recent demonstration occurred in the last few weeks. Our family and some friends have been spending time in a government assisted housing development. Several families who live in that development have kids – nine children in all. We asked if we could do an “angel tree” for the kids.
If you’re not familiar with an “angel tree” its where you put the name of a child and a gift on a cutout of an angel. You ask people to take an angel and to buy that gift for the child. We made an angel tree for the nine children with two or three gifts for each child – more than twenty gifts total.
This week our little church family (around 60 at most including kids) purchased all of the gifts for these children. We’re so excited to be able to give a little to these families. And, we’re even more excited that we actually KNOW the families that we’re serving and that we will continue to have opportunities to interact with them.
The least
John Santic at “Toward Hope” recently published this in a post called “The Least of Who?“:
I was hungry,
And you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned,
And you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.
I was naked,
And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick,
And you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless,
And you preached a sermon on the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely,
And you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God
But I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.
This reminded me of “Scripture… As We Live It #16” which I wrote a few months ago:
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For
I was hungry and you gave me foodyou made a profession of faith,I was thirsty and you gave me drinkyou were baptized,I was a stranger and you welcomed meyou faithfully attended church meetings,I was naked and you clothed meyou joined a Bible study,I was sick and you visited meyou gave your offerings to the church,I was in prison and you came to meyou even gave to the building fund.’ (Matthew 25:34-36 re-mix)
May God teach us to actually care for the least.
Caroling
As my regular readers know, our family and some friends have been spending time in a government assisted housing project since last Summer. We usually spend time there every week.
Last Wednesday, several of us got together to sing Christmas carols in that neighborhood. It was such an amazing experience! One lady – who is usually very stoic – was grinning from ear to ear. Another lady sang along with us and cried when we had to leave. A family with three kids took a break from their pizza dinner to listen to us sing, the children smiling the whole time.
I think the best moment of the night, though, was when we sang to a family that we do not know very well. They only moved into this neighborhood recently. We first met them when we raked leaves in the neighborhood a few weeks ago (see my post “Bread, Cup, and Leaves“). When one of the children from this family walked outside, he recognized someone – I’m not sure who he recognized, and it doesn’t matter. He pointed and said very excitedly, “I remember you!”
What a great time we had singing Christmas carols! I think that what made it special is that we already have relationships with the neighbors, and we’re building relationships with others. We love them, and they love us. Singing Christmas carols is not the extent of our demonstration of God’s love, but it is one specific demonstration of how much God loves them, and how much we love them.
(By the way, tonight (Saturday night) we’ll be singing Christmas carols in the neighborhood of our friends Maël and Cindy. They’ve also built relationships with their neighbors, and we always look forward to singing to their neighbors.)
Worship Service
Two years ago, Margaret, my wife, had ankle surgery. While she was recovering, several of our brothers and sisters in Christ took care of her, our children, our house, etc. while I was at work. I wrote about this in a post called “Worship Service“. Given my series this week about semantics, I thought this would be a good opportunity to use the words with their scriptural meanins. So, here is a post about real worship service.
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We have seen various worship services during the last few weeks while my wife is recovering from her ankle surgery.
Several people prepared dinner for us, and many of them did not drop the food off, but stayed with us and spent time with us.
Some friends came over to our house and cleaned while I was at work.
Other friends picked up our children and took them where they needed to go, because Margaret could not drive.
There are many, many, many other acts of service that people did on our behalf. I believe that God sees this type of service as an offering of worship to him. Consider these verses:
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies–in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:8-11 ESV)
Have you participated in a worship service lately?
Loving with Lionel
Are any of my readers in the Dallas area? If so, why not join Lionel (of “A Better Covenant“) and others on December 21st in demonstrating the love of God to the homeless of Dallas? Lionel tells about his plans in a post called “Downtown Dallas Homeless Outreach: The Starfish Mentality“.
If you’re not in the Dallas area, why not do something in your area that demonstrates the love of God? You know… something like giving food to a hungry person, or giving a cup of water to someone who is thirsty, or spending time with a stranger, or providing clothing for someone who needs clothing, or visiting those who are sick or in prison? Why no do for the “least” who can’t do for you in return.
Or, then again, perhaps Jesus was joking when he said that whoever did for the least did for him, and whoever did not do for the least did not do for him. I can’t remember now… what was the outcome of that story in Matthew 25:31-46? Oh well, I’m sure there was some deeper, spiritual meaning that doesn’t require you to actually care for people.