We have witnessed a lot of turmoil in our country over the death of George Floyd. This, on top of the restrictions related to the covid-19 virus, has resulted in much social, racial and political unrest.
How should we, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, relate to these issues? How would Jesus relate to them? Would He march with the protesters? Would He be a community organizer seeking to change corrupt, bigoted practices that marginalize some people groups? Would He engage in civil disobedience to bring about change?
Our church is divided over how we should relate to these things. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rhetoric and emotions we see in the media; some changes must take place. Many see Isaiah 58 as a call to get involved in changing these injustices:
“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins...Is this not the fast that I have chosen; to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:1, 6).
But who should bring about the change? Who is God speaking to through His prophet Isaiah? He’s speaking to His people – “tell My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins.” God deals primarily with reforming His church – not the government, because His church is to be the salt and light which permeates and changes the secular culture around them. But how is this to be done?
Jesus is to be our example in all things. He lived under the harsh government of Rome, which was not a social-equality type of government. God describe the Roman Empire in these words: “dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet” (Daniel 7:7). Jesus saw and experienced Rome’s social and racial injustice but how often do we find Him marching in protest against its social abuses?
Jesus had plenty to say to the leaders of the Jewish nation regarding their oppression and corruption.
Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees He said: “For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4). In verse 14 He tells us these hypocritical leaders “devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers.” How did Jesus respond to such abuse of power? Did He stage protests or circulate petitions to have corrupt leaders removed from office? No, He simply told His followers: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Mathew 23:2-3).
Jesus taught against racism in the story of the Good Samaritan. He demonstrated that all lives matter in His dealings with the Roman centurion whose son was dying, the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and the two demon-possessed men who lived among the tombs in Gergesa. But there are voices among us who say: “Teaching and helping others is good, but we want stronger action. We want change in the power structures that create and perpetuate social injustices.”
Jesus instructs us in the stronger actions we should take:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who ask you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:38-46).
That’s not the kind of action many want. They say it’s not fair, it’s not justice. Friends, it’s not about justice, it’s about winning hearts by showing the love of God in our words and actions. Corrupt men cannot bring about justice, only God can do that – which He will when Jesus returns.
Let’s go back to Isaiah 58. Our human nature likes the “cry aloud and spare not” aspect of pointing out the sins and abuses of individuals/government agencies. What is God’s solution to relieving these injustices? It’s not a day for the church to spend in fasting and prayer over the matter. “Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and go spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord” (verse 5)? This is not the action God is looking for from His people. His solution is found in verse 6: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” We can all agree this is what is needed in our country today.
God continues with the specifics of how to do this: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out” when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?...If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday” (verses 7, 9b,10).
God’s solution is for us, His church, to do this work, not government. Notice what happens when we start doing this work: “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (verse 8). About this time the old excuses start coming up again: But we don’t have the resources or the people to do this. The government or other agencies need to do this.
God has an answer for that excuse. When you and I start doing the work God has given us to do, “Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry (not against the failures of government – but to God for wisdom, strength, and resources), and He will say, ‘Here I am’” (verse 9a). This is the work of the church, not the government. It’s an individual work.
When we start doing this work God will supply the resources. People will begin to experience the miracle-working power of God in their lives. We will become a light in the darkness, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (verse 11). The church is God’s ordained means of dealing with the social and racial inequalities in the world.
This makes sense when we consider the causes of the social and racial problems in society. Whatever our problems, be they financial, health, personal relationships, destructive behavior or thinking, the answers are found in the Word of God. God didn’t give secular authorities the gospel commission – He gave it to His church! The reason we don’t see more progress in these areas is because of what Isaiah 59:14 says: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” This is not because government has failed, it’s because we, the church have failed. Righteousness has largely been confined inside our church buildings and homes. We haven’t taken the compassion and righteousness of Jesus into the streets and workplace through personal involvement.
Look at Hosea 10:12-13: “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men. Therefore tumult shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be plundered.” Isn’t this what we’ve been seeing on the news recently? It’s because we have bought into the lies, we’ve trusted in the mighty men of government to solve these problems.
Jesus had an interesting dialogue with Pilot in John 18:33-37: Pilot “called Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?” (verse 33). Jesus doesn’t directly answer his question. He knew the Holy Spirit was striving with Pilate, so Jesus gives him an opportunity to acknowledge his conviction: “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”(verse 34). In other words, is it the accusations of the priests, or a desire to know the truth that prompted your question? Pilate understood Christ's meaning; but he would not acknowledge the conviction that pressed upon him. ”Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” (verse 35).
“Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’” (verses 36-37).
Jesus acknowledges that He is a king, but His kingdom is not of this world. If His kingdom were of this world, what would His servants do? They would fight for it. Since it’s not of this world, what should His servants do? Live it!
Ponder this thought from Desire of Ages, p. 509-510:
“The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,--extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.
“Not by the decisions of courts or councils or legislative assemblies, not by the patronage of worldly great men, is the kingdom of Christ established, but by the implanting of Christ's nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13. Here is the only power that can work the uplifting of mankind. And the human agency for the accomplishment of this work is the teaching and practicing of the word of God.”
Racism, social and economic injustice will not and cannot be solved by more laws, government programs, or better educational systems, because they are not social problems, they are heart problems. The only thing that can change the heart is the power of God, and the only heart He can change is the one given to Him. As followers of Jesus we are not to unite with groups who use unbiblical and unChristlike methods to protest against social injustices.
It is satan’s work to divide us into groups – black and white, rich and poor, privileged and underprivileged; it is his work to turn us against each other through envy and strife. What are the results?
“For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:16-17).
Are we seeing these heavenly characteristics in the protests and hearing them in the rhetoric? No. The things we see and hear are the fruit of satan, and we should have nothing to do with them, “for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness” (2 Corinthians 6:14)?
Summary
Brothers and sisters, let us accept the wisdom which comes from God, and then go out and live it wherever we go, with everyone we meet, and in whatever situation we are in. We can’t change the world, but we can change the world for one person by bringing them to Jesus.
“Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).
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Dick Bullock is the pastor of 3 churches in “the Thumb” of Michigan.