Are We Socializing Jesus?

Dr. Mike Murphy

How often I have been taught, there are no coincidences with God! And this past week, I was reminded of just how powerful a statement this is. Each week, I often receive messages and emails asking questions about the Bible, and how His Word applies to all we see around us. One of the questions I received recently asked me, “Did Christ teach a message of social justice?”. At the same time I received this question, I had found myself in a discussion where I was being told that the need for social justice far outweighs our need to preach a message of salvation. That this world is far more in need of a social Christ than a redemptive One.

During this discussion, I was told things I never thought I would hear from the mouth of anyone calling themselves a Christian. Words telling me that we should “prefer” certain verses of Scripture over others. That protest will bring far more needed change than prayer. And the thought that Christ would one day return was just a fantasy, that our calling as Christians was to create a “heaven” on this earth in the here and now.

Hearing these words would normally cause me concern, and lead me to seek God’s help in showing them what His Word truthfully says. But part of those I was hearing these incredible remarks from, where those who called themselves ministers and pastors. And as I would attempt to remind them of what God has told us in specific scriptures, they would tell me how those scriptures should just be ignored. I found myself in a discussion with those who should know exactly what God’s Word says best, but with each of their replies, I found myself in a discussion with those who actually cared what His Word says the least.

Social justice is a term we often hear being discussed in many of our churches today. The Bible teaches us that our Lord is a God of justice, and that all His ways and works are perfect, just, righteous, and fair(Deuteronomy 32:4). And each of His words show us that we are to reach out socially to those in need, those less fortunate than we find ourselves. Christ, Himself, made it clear that we have a moral responsibility to care for the “least of these”(Matthew 25:40). We are to reflect Christ, who had His hands always reaching.

But when we look at how many in the Church today seek to explain social justice, it is a justice that our Lord has never known. The call that Christ gives us to care for those in need is an individual one, not a societal one. The contemporary notion of social justice replaces the responsibility of the individual, with concept of the group or whole. Often times willingly looking to give that responsibility to the government. No longer looking to this as a call from God, but a mandate for continued faith. A mandate that assumes that all wealth is evil, that the desire for comfort is a sin, and the idea of patriotism is an abomination.

Under this misguided philosophy, the willful giving of charity becomes the force decree of taxes, no longer freely given by your hand, but lawfully forced from our wallets. A philosophy that sees the wealth of one as an exploitation of those who have little, not the hard work and intelligence that success can often bring. And a philosophy that sees the love of country as selfish and misguided, replaced with a universal approach that would leave this world without borders. A philosophy that no longer looks at all this world has to offer as God-given, but man-centered. A philosophy that sees government as their savior, and a utopia that only government can build as their heaven.

This social movement we see today, can best be described by a large word that has a meaning that is small. The word, egalitarianism. Egalitarianism is the doctrine that expresses the belief that all people should have the exact same. The same not only economically and politically, but also civilly and socially. It is from this word that demons have arose, demons that have led nations and people of this world to death and destruction. Demons that carry the name socialism and communism.

When we take a hard look at the heart of this social justice movement , we find ethical relativism, the belief that there are no moral absolutes. Right and wrong are no longer a God-given standard, but based on what this world would see as social norms. In other words, the justice that they claim to be fighting so hard for, becomes nothing more than situational and relative. A justice that no longer looks to God’s standards, but to man’s circumstances. A social gospel that twists the Word of God to try and fit societal problems like poverty, education, crime, and war. While ignoring the doctrines of sin, salvation, Heaven and Hell. A gospel that sees its’ future more in political change and opportunity, than it does in the promised kingdom of God. A gospel Christ never spoke, much less ever taught.

Jesus never made the first call for political change while He walked this earth. The gospel He taught had nothing to do with social change or social justice. Christ came to change the heart of man, not the governments of men. Christ knew that our hope did not rest in government, but in the saving and transforming power of the Cross. Not in institutions, but in His coming kingdom. Not in man, but in the Holy Spirit.

Because this movement is so quick to look to man for answers, we see in it the absence of a biblical worldview. A movement, followed and believed by many who claim to know Christ, that no longer claim the words of Scripture are inerrant. But see the Bible as flawed, nothing more than the collective views of men. A view that not only sees His Word as flawed, but does not see it as literal. And a view that leads many to no longer see salvation as personal, but collective. A collective view that believes that unless we are all saved, none of us are saved. A view that no longer sees salvation as belief based, but worked based. A movement where acceptance is replaced by requirements.

Because this movement has pushed God’s biblical worldview so far aside, we see words being spoken by this movement that should never be heard from the mouth of anyone who professes Christ. Words that teach that the Trinity is not about being holy, but about being human. Words that try to tell us that the Bible is only great because it is in constant argument with itself. Words that try to tell us the biblical doctrine is not like facts to be believed, but rather a way of expressing experiences. And words that try to teach that a literal belief in the Bible kills itself by not being able to change through conversations and discussions. In other words, God’s Word is dead unless it is willing to change what it says. In all their words one thing becomes crystal clear, the Bible is not to be believed, and God is whoever we decide to make of Him.

We watch today as so many who are quick profess the name of Christ, are incapable of even recognizing the face of Christ. Who cause the words Christ spoke to echo through my thoughts, and to bring me to my knees in prayer. “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”(Matthew 7:21). Words of Christ that make my heart truly ache as I hear those who follow this movement. Because I know these words that echo in my thoughts, are words they will one day soon hear Christ speaking to them. A movement filled more with excuses than purpose. A movement that claims Christ, without even knowing Christ. A movement that sees greater hope in the social than in the salvation. A movement that thinks they are pointing at the Cross, without even realizing they are actually directing others toward Hell. And what saddens me above all, a movement that is growing in numbers within our seminaries and across this world everyday. A movement that is so blind to the truth, it can only see hope in socializing Jesus.