Jesus wined and dined with sinners.
This was no mere social justice campaign. That it appears as such is merely the insistence of reading modern Western politics back into something totally alien. It’s not as if Jesus never engaged in social justice, but He would have defined it on totally different terms. He would ridicule modern social morals.
We who seek to walk with Jesus must join Him, both in ridiculing modern Western mores and in walking among sinners to reclaim their lives. This isn’t merely a question of social outcasts, though it surely will include that. Rather, it requires each of us to consider where the mission is for us in revealing His moral imperatives, which are unavoidably contrary to whatever the world might be claiming in almost any context.
The fallen world will seize upon anything except the truth as God revealed it. That is the starting point when you evaluate your own social context for opportunities to glorify Christ. Your basic assumption is that the majority voice of any human element is likely wrong. Not in the whole; Satan is a smarter liar than that. But when you pick over the details, the Devil has already won. We might discuss them only as symptoms of something much deeper, something that typically defies mere words. Our Enemy walks all around the truth, attempting to pervert everyone’s perception of it.
Each of us is called into a specific context. As God opens doors, we enter into whatever human activity is available to us, not with a heart and will to promote that activity, but as the field of operations for His Kingdom. It’s almost as if we are spies against all human institutions. But instead of working hard at sneaky tactics, we can operate in the full light of honesty because most people aren’t going to comprehend what is plainly set before them. The truth of what we do is veiled by its nature as contrasted with human fallen nature. No matter what we sense as our native element in this world, we rejoice not so much in that sense of comfort, but that we can be used to bring Him glory because of where our flesh belongs.
Delving into computers, I am not committed to any particular technology. It’s all just a tool. I find good things and useful opportunities in Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, etc. All of them have their place. What I seem to like at any given time is merely a reflection of where the Spirit leads me as His divine influence working through me to touch others for His glory. That I forecast the eventual institutional failure of Microsoft or commercial software as a whole has little to do with my personal emotional loyalty to something else. That kind of loyalty is quite plastic because it is merely a reflection of what fits my needs at the moment. It’s just software; none of it is sacred. It’s just a tool for His glory.
While I grew weary of the insanity, I also enjoyed some elements of my military service. Something in that beckons to my human side. It’s not as if I delight in the destruction of human lives across the globe, nor am I ignorant of the moral horror of US imperial arrogance. But give me a chance and I would gladly commit my flesh to that atmosphere again. I can recount for you a very large crop of spiritual fruit, a magnificent harvest of souls, from working among the people who wear military uniforms.
It might be more difficult to show you what I accomplished when I worked with those who live with various handicaps, but my favorite students in public school were often those with special educational needs. It was very tiring work, but I always volunteered to take the temporary vacancies in those classes. Then again, having worked extensively in public education, I can assure you I cannot go back there. The training and experience are invaluable to me, but that is not where I am called.
There are other spheres of human activity where I am comfortable, and even more where I am not. That’s just human nature. Feel free to condemn or approve, because it has little to do with how I discern the will of my Lord. Join me where our paths converge, but stay on your own path. The vast majority of Christians, at least, are seriously misled about what constitutes a spiritual “Do not enter” sign from God. They prefer to project their own personal mission onto all humanity, as if their own experience is normative for humanity. How could God lead someone differently? That shallow intellectual absolutism is what keeps so very many Christians out of the real action. They talk a good game but castigate other Christians who faithfully serve Jesus. They would refuse to eat with the sinners among whom Jesus hung out; they would side with the Pharisees.
The fallen human impulse to repair this world itself is a poor substitute for how God actually operates through us. He flatly said He would not fix this world, but has announced concrete plans to destroy it, though He surely offers us a chance to claim the very best part of this fallen existence through His Laws. Yet His Laws plainly treat this world as of no great importance in itself. What matters is His holiness within an irreparably broken, wholly limited and temporary context. The larger human political stream of history is just a background upon which His glory is projected through us. We don’t belong here and dare not claim any part of it as our home. You can afford to commit your flesh to doing a good job at whatever your calling may be, because you aren’t going to change this world.
Where do you meet Jesus? Where are the sinners with whom you will dine so you can serve Him?
