A plane carrying a group of school aged boys was flying from Britain during the war and was shot down by the enemy. Luckily the boys were able to make it to a deserted island, but their teacher and pilots on the plane were both killed. Though it was a scary situation, the boys made the best of it and tried to gather what they needed to survive. They even built a signal fire just incase a ship or plane flew by. But soon the boys became more and more feral. One night, one of the boys came out of the jungle, starteling a two of the other boys who jump on him and killed him. Soon after, the other boys in the group started a hunt to look for those that had murdered the first boy. One of the two died, when one of this fellow school friends rolled a boulder down a hill and killed him. The last boy ran and hid fearing for his life. At the point of exhaustion, the boy realized that a British naval officer had found them. As the officer called for an explanation from the boys, they all begin to weep.
That is the gist of the novel, Lord of the Flies. A novel by author William Golding, that takes a look into who we really are as people. An idea that moves throughout the book is that when there is no one to control us, what to we do? When there was no adults, the boys fell into savagery. This begs the question what happens with humanity, when the boundaries fall away?
This idea of who we really are at our core, is what brings us back into our Counterfeit Series, where for the last seven weeks we have been talking about counterfeit teachings that have seeped into the Church as a whole, and how we need to be cognizant about what’s going on.
In our first three weeks, we laid a foundation to recognizing these counterfeit teachings. First we discussed how we must know God’s Word so well, that when we come across a counterfeit teaching, we’ll instantly know that it is counterfeit. Then we talked about how the Bible gives us clues to recognize false ministers. These clues consisted of, making false predictions, calling people to other gods, maybe having predictions come true but then also calling people to other gods, and denying the work that Jesus did in the flesh. If even one of these clues happens by a teacher, pastor, or prophet, then we know they are false and we need to reject their ministry. Then for the last part of this foundation, we talked about how false ministers need to diminish God’s Word, so that they can twist it. So we must be on the lookout for those minsters who do just that. And if you’re keen today, you’ll hear some of that twisting in one of our quotes.
After we covered the foundation for recognizing counterfeit teachings, we began to look at specifics. So far we’ve covered, the diminishing of God making him into a pantheistic being, the rejection of biblical sinfulness, diminishing Jesus’ divinity, and finally last week, rejecting the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to salvation.
As we get into our finally two weeks of this series, we are going to dive into two teachings that are the eventual outcome of everything we’ve talked about so far. But let’s step back for a moment, from the teachings that we’ve covered and look at the common theme within them.
In the first teaching, God is diminished to becoming a part of his creation. In the second teaching, sin becomes a behavior that can be changed with the right reinforcement. The third teaching has Jesus not being God, but rather a regular human, and the final one that we’ve covered puts forth that all the religions of the world hold a pathway to ultimate salvation. The common theme throughout all of these is the creation itself. The creation becomes the primary focal point.
God isn’t out there, but is literally here in creation. He’s the trees, the ground, the animals, the people. Sin isn’t something that determines our eternity, but is primarily important in the here and now. Jesus was just a regular human being like you and me, the only difference was that he was more in-tune with his humanity and therefore able to touch the divinity inside all of us. Therefore if Jesus could do this, all other religious founders must have done the same thing.
It is Creation, not the Creator, that is the center piece of what we have seen within the Progressive Church’s teachings. And so, what then is our purpose in this? What does the Progressive Church teach on what must be done by people while we are here?
Progressive writer Kurt Struckmeyer puts forth in this his work “The Two Gospels”, that there are two competing gospels in the New Testament. The gospel of Jesus, and the gospel about Jesus. Struckmeyer writes this about the gospel of Jesus that, “The gospel of Jesus is primarily a social gospel, announcing good news to the poor. It is the proclamation of the present and future kingdom of God—a just and peaceful human society.”
Whereas Struckmeyer writes that the gospel about Jesus, “…is a message of good news that the death and resurrection of Jesus has changed everything for humanity in relation to a wrathful God. It is a gospel aimed at individual lives and their eternal fate.”
Struckmeyer goes on to write, “The distinction between these competing New Testament gospels and their images of Jesus is extremely important, because which message one hears and responds to will shape one’s Christian faith and life. The gospel of Jesus focuses on personal and social transformation while the gospel about Jesus focuses almost exclusively on individual salvation from God’s wrath. The gospel of Jesus is primarily a social and public gospel; the gospel about Jesus is an individual and private gospel (https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/the-two-gospels/).”
And so Struckmeyer gives us an understanding of what the Progressive Church’s gospel is supposed to have as its focus: societal transformation. But what does that mean?
Well in his paper, “What is Progressive Christianity Anyways?”, Fred Plumer writes this, “Although TCPC (The Center for Progressive Christianity) has made an effort to spell out what we mean by progressive Christianity as an organization with our Eight Points, it seems to me there are at least four components that are essential to anyone who considers themselves a Progressive Christian today: to see oneself as a ‘follower of Jesus’ or Jesus’ teachings rather than believer in a creed; to recognize that Christianity is not the only way; to search the great mysteries of life with an open theology and an intellectual integrity; to recognize that ecology and social justice are interlinked and part of your faith; and to understand that gays, lesbians, transgenders and bi-sexuals are full participants in our world as a natural part of God’s creation.”
Following that, Plumer writes, “It is out of this understanding that we are compelled to work for social justice…” (https://progressivechristianity.org/resources/what-is-progressive-christianity-anyway/)
Now, if you have been following any type of news media since the spring, you might have heard this term social justice. What does it mean? Well, the Center for Economic and Social Justice defines it this way, “Social justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development (https://www.cesj.org/learn/definitions/defining-economic-justice-and-social-justice/).”
In other words, social justice is to bring about social and economic justice, especially for those who society considers marginalized. In the case of the US, these groups would be black, hispanic, and the LGBT+ communities, to name a few. And so Progressive Christianity emphasizes a need from God’s people to right the wrongs of the social and economic problems that our world faces.
Struckmeyer says that the gospel of Jesus is to bring about a just and peaceful human society, and Plumer points to social justice as a means to that end.
So the question we must ask is, what does God say on the matter? Let’s look at several passages today, starting with Micah 6:8. We’ll start in verse 6, where God speaks through the prophet Micah saying, “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
In this passage the Israelites were doing their religious duty. They were sacrificing the required animals, and following the required laws, but they were missing something. Their religion was a show, because it wasn’t affecting their hearts. And so God gives a clear instruction of what he really requires. First, it’s for his people to act justly. This means to make good and fair judgments when it comes to people. In Leviticus 19:15, God says this, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” This comes in the middle of God calling his people to do good to one another. Biblical justice then, is passing correct and impartial judgment. Not upholding or tearing down anyone because of who they are, but rather solely based on asking the question, did they or did they not commit the crime. And so, as Christians, we must look beyond the economic, social, ethnic or power some might have or not have and seek justice for everyone.
After God calls his people to act justly, God calls them to love mercy. In his prayer at the dedication of the first temple, Solomon speaks these words in 1st Kings 8:49-51, “49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy…”
This occurs in a paragraph of Solomon asking God to forgive his people when they willfully turn their backs on God and sin against him. Solomon is asking for mercy, which is the biblical idea of not receiving the full punishment of a judgment. And so God’s people are called to be restrained in our reaction, we are to forgive quicker, and love deeper so that people may be restored to right relationships.
Finally, God calls his people to walk humbly before him. Why? Because only in humility can we truly be taught by God. As the Psalmist in Psalm 25:8-10 writes, “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.”
And so, we as Christians must seek to be humble people, to not lift ourselves up, but as James says in his 4th chapter, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
So there is an element of social work that God’s people are called to do. In James 1:27, James writes this, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
But if we stop there, and say, the goal of the people of God is to bring about a peaceful human society, or to bring about social justice, then we have missed large amounts of the Scriptures. In his “The Two Gospels” work, Struckmeyer heavily implies that the kingdom Jesus proclaimed was a kingdom that had, as it’s primary focus, this world. Yet, when asked about this kingdom, as recorded in John 18:36, "36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’”
To say that the goal of the people of God is to bring about a peaceful human society and social justice, is to say that Jesus’ kingdom is of this world. If it were, and you and I could bring about this type of society, then Jesus words in Matthew 24 wouldn’t be true. Listen to what he says starting in verse 4, “…“Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.”
Jesus isn’t describing a world in which his people have created a peaceful, socially just world. No, instead he is describing a world in chaos. A world that is far from him. A world that is wicked, full of those that are willing to kill and destroy God’s people, and filled with those who claim to be prophets and messiahs, but are really false. And it’s so bad that in verse 22, Jesus states, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive…”
This isn’t a peaceful society that Jesus is revealing, it is a hell-scape of the like humanity hasn’t seen. And to think that we can change Jesus’ revelation, is to call Jesus a liar. It’s to take our focus off of the Creator and place it on the creation. It’s to reject the words of God, and replace them with the words of man.
And so, what then is the role of the Christian in this world? Jesus put it this way in Matthew 5:13-16, “13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Paul adds to this what he writes in 1st Thessalonians 4:9-12, “9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
The believer’s role in this world has always been to be a light to the work of God. To work in justice in all circumstances, whether that’s in our careers, in our society, or in our personal lives. We are called to stand on biblical principles and teachings, and to direct others in light of those.
The problem with the Progressive Church and Christians that fall into this trap is, what Paul sates in Romans 1:22-23, “22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”
We can easily think that our purpose as Christians is like a captain on a sinking ship. His job is to save it from sinking. But the reality is, the ship is sinking, our purpose is to get people onto the life rafts. We can’t save the ship, but we can seek to save those that will get on the raft of Jesus.
This is why Paul states in 1st Corinthians 9:22, “22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Jesus was once asked about a group of Jews who were killed by Pilate in Luke 13:1, this is what we get as his answer in the next verse, “2 Jesus answered, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
For us to look to this world and think life is found in this dying place, is to take our eyes off of God and onto ourselves. If we could have fixed this world, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to go to the cross. But he had to go to the cross, because our sin has devastated this world and the only remedy is the the return of Jesus. Which next week, we will talk about.
So my challenge for you this week is this, are you trying to save this world as if that is your calling, or are you being a light pointing people to Jesus who is the only Savior? This is important because it will dictate where, as Jesus says, our treasure lies. If you believe that we are here to save this world, to create a perfect human society, how are we doing? Has the world become better off? Has there been less murder, less crime, less poverty, less selfishness?
No there hasn’t, because as Jesus has said in Matthew 24:12, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
We must wake up to the reality that this world is coming to an end, and we must be a light in this present darkness. And so, this week, I want to challenge you to be just with people showing no partiality towards one person over another. I challenge you to be merciful to people, not passing out punishment, but rather handing out forgiveness. And I challenge you to walk humbly before God, drawing ever closer to him in the midst of a dying world. Finally, I challenge you to take a moment to share the hope of Jesus that is found in you; pointing people to the life raft of Jesus, the only way in which we can be saved.
We are called to not consider this world our home, but to realize this is a momentary stop on the path to the new creation that God has in store. Amen.
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