Social Righteousness

A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman

Abington Presbyterian Church

February 11, 2007 

 

Amos 2: 6-8

Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Israel,
   and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for silver,
   and the needy for a pair of sandals—
⁷they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
   and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
   so that my holy name is profaned;
⁸they lay themselves down beside every altar
   on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
   wine bought with fines they imposed.* 

 

An elder in my last church in Texas, named Tom, was musing about the piety that was often displayed at Texas High School football games.  In particular, he was referring to all the signs that people held up which read:  John 3: 16.  (For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life).  He had no objection to this particular display of piety, but felt that someone should hold up a sign that read: Micah 6:8, (What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, qnd to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.)    His point was simple and straightforward. 

 

One of the purposes of the church is to announce the good news of the gospel and certainly John 3:16 announced the good news of salvation.  But he felt that the church also had a social responsibility.  The church needed to promote social justice and so he responded to the words of Micah that the Lord requires of us: “to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.” 

 

I am not sure if Tom was ever familiar with the Great Ends of the Church, but he sure understood the importance of one of them.  Fifth Great end of the church is “to promote social righteousness.”  One of the purposes of the church is to address the issues of justice and human need in the larger world.  This is the prophetic message of the church: a message that called Amos to condemn, in the name of the lord, the scurrilous financial dealings of the people of Israel.  There was such disparity between rich and poor that people were being sold into slavery for the price of a pair of sandals.  Prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation were condoned and even promoted.  These social evils, the prophet Amos declared, were an anathema to God. 

 

The great end of the church, the promotion of social righteousness, is at the core of the Prophet Amos’ message.  He even took on the religious festivals, the special offerings, and the religious services to God.  Speaking for God he declared in the fifth chapter of Amos:
 

“I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  I will not accept your offerings, I will not look upon them.  Take way from me the noise of your hymns and I will not listen to the melody of your instruments.”  What does God want: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” 

 

James, our New Testament text, declares: “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”   It is not enough to hear and understand God’s promise.  It is not enough to hear the words of Jesus.  It is not enough to say you believe them.  Christian faith requires action.  Christian faith believes that God wants something better for God’s creation. Christian faith believes that faith in Christ is manifest in the way we live, not merely as individuals but as communities. 

 

The great end of the church for today is the promotion of social righteousness, and indeed it is often the most controversial.  Preachers who declare it are often silenced.  Prophets who demand it are soon alienated and marginalized.  Social righteousness.... the church is called to make the world better.  As Presbyterians, this is part of our constitution.   I have shared the biblical foundation of this end, but would like to look at how this has manifest itself historically and how it challenges us today.
 

I

If I ever have the time to organize my material, I would love to teach a course in church history that uses the Hymnal as its text.  I would look at the hymn by John Greenleaf Whitter: 
 

O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother;
Where pity dwells, the peace of God is there;
To worship rightly is to love each other,
Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.

 

Then shall all shackles fall; the stormy clangor
Of wild war music o’er the earth shall cease;
Love shall tread out the baleful fire of anger,
And in its ashes plant the tree of peace.

 

Worship rightly… is how we treat each other… with love???  The shackles that will fall, are none other than the shackles of slavery…  Whittier, a quaker, was an abolitionist, and believed that discipleship should lead the church to denounce and condemn slavery and fight for its extinction.  He paid a price for that view. In Boston, he was pelted by eggs for his views.  Here in Philadelphia, a mob burned his offices of the Anti-slavery Center.

 

I would look at the hymn by James Russell Lowell  “Once to Every Man and Nation” 
 

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;

 

This hymn was part of a much larger protest poem written when Texas was annexed and entered the Union as a slave state.  In Lowell’s eyes this was evil and a falsehood and God called the nation and individuals to decide either for it or against it. 
 

Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

 

I would look at the hymn, “God of Grace and God of Glory” and once again set it within its context… Fosdick, the great Baptist preacher of the 20^th century wrote that hymn when the Presbyterians were trying to silence him because of his social views and his willingness to accept the new Biblical scholarship. 
 

God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient church's story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.

 

My point: Church history is the story of the church of Jesus Christ that did not shrink from the social evils of its day.  It is the story of the underground church in Germany that bravely stood up to Nazism in the 30’s and paid as martyrs.  It is the story of the thousands of Christians who said that racial discrimination in this country was evil and God says “no” to oppression.  It is also a quiet story… the story of Clarence Jordan, who in 1942 founded Koinonia farm… retranslated the gospels into the “Cottenpatch Gospel” and through his efforts to enable people to escape poverty, he birthed Habitat for Humanity.   It is the story of Donaldina Cameron who bravely stood up to the exploitation and sexual enslavement of young Chinese women in San Francisco, starting a shelter in 1874 that is still at work today.. Cameron House.

 

It is the quiet story of women and men through the ages who have sacrificed in the name of Christ for others, to ease their lives, to make the world a better place… to promote social righteousness.

II

And then there is our story.. it is really a challenge.  How far do we have to look, to go to see the need for the promotion of social righteousness?   Not too far…  The homeless are not far away… the hungry are at our doorstep… 45 million people in our wealthy nation are without health insurance.  In Africa and Eastern Europe and part of Asia, slavery is once again rearing its evil head.  Sadly, these have all become ideological issues, with people arguing about the causes and the possible solutions. But few are saying that these things are evil.. and that we all share in that evil.  This may be a political problem but it reflects moral vapidity and a lack of moral courage.

 

What I have said is not easy to hear. Amos was not easy to hear, and he is not easy to study.   We are called, as a community of faith to promote social righteousness in the world.  We are called, not only to hear the word… but to do it.  We are called to say “no” to the evils of the world. Indeed.. to every individual and nation.. a moment of decision comes in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;  How will we decide?  How will we decide?  This is the challenge of this “great end of the church.”  Amen.

 

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org