I’m going to transfer my very occasional series of posts that I call “The truth shall set you free” over to this blog. For those just joining, the series is a response to the concept of the social gospel, or social justice gospel.
The social justice gospel holds that Jesus’s teaching about helping the poor should lead us to support laws that help the poor.
My response is that Jesus absolutely positively did teach that those who followed him should love and give our lives up to help everyone who needs help — people who are poor, people who are oppressed, people who are sick, and many others.
But he always — always, always, always — charged you to do it. He never said “get the government to help the poor.” He never said “pass a law making sure everyone else helps the poor.” He certainly never said “use the implied threat of force to coerce people into helping the poor.”
You. Yes, you. The one looking down at your smartphone right now. You. Get out and help the poor.
Those who read Taking Jesus Seriously will hopefully remember that posts in this series generally focus on a particular verse or set of verses that I’ve read that day which seem relevant to the question of whether Jesus’ teaching to help the poor is model legislation or a guide for individual people’s lives. This is the one on my heart today:
“If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” — 1 John 3:17-18 (NLT)
This clearly says “take from what you have and give it to those who are in need.” The showing of compassion is directly and clearly tied to an individual person (“someone” does not indicate a society or class of people) and their personally owned resources.
So get out there and love the poor. Do what you can to help them. Don’t let slips into self-indulgence or acquisitiveness make you feel like you can’t do it. Just get back on the horse and try again.
Don’t wait for, expect, or try to force someone else to help the poor. Help them!