Putting faith into action

This blog is about the Word of God, not politics. But after linking to a National Review article earlier in the day (albeit about sin & evil, not politics), I'm giving a few lines to an article from the March 2005 issue of Sojourners (Note: free registration is required to view the original). Elizabeth Palmberg writes on the Micah Challenge, an effort by evangelicals to put into practice the call of Micah 6:8:

He has showed you O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Palmberg notes that social action in the name of Jesus Christ has fallen out of favor among evangelicals:

In recent decades, evangelical Christians have been known more for individual piety than for heeding the prophets’ call for justice for the needy. The Micah Challenge, a new worldwide coalition of evangelical churches and relief groups, aims to change that - and to seize today’s unprecedented opportunity to put a serious dent in global poverty. . . .

The Micah Network aims to mobilize Christians to affect national governments in the global North and South, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and transnational corporations.

What does this have to do with preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ? For Christians, after all, social justice is not an end in itself. Stated bluntly, it's little consolation that someone live a more just or comfortable life if they spend eternity in hell. For this reason, proclaiming the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is central to the church's mission.

But the Kingdom of God is more than a sinner's prayer, a quick wash in baptism, and a life of individual morality. The Kingdom is the reign of the one whose coming to earth meant that "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them" (Luke 7:22).

Promoting justice and relief in the name of Jesus Christ is a manifestation of the Kingdom of God. By helping others we learn to look beyond ourselves and overcome the temptation to obsess over the progress of our individual discipleship. Helping the needy and oppressed is extending the grace of Jesus Christ. In these ways we serve Jesus by serving "the least of these my brethren" (Mt. 25:40).