Still a Place for Priorities

I like Russell Moore. He is a powerful preacher and an elegant writer. In particular, I’m thankful for his work on orphans, adoption, and abortion. I like him so much I asked him to write the chapter on “Kingdom” in Don’t Call it a Comeback. We are on the same team.

But I want to make a few comments on his recent blog post “Gospel or Justice, Which?” Instead of repeating a number of points I make with Greg Gilbert in our book What is the Mission of the Church?, I’ll simply add some brief thoughts to the mix.

1. I completely agree that Jesus ministered to bodies as well as souls. Moreover, part of his motivation was a profound sense of pity for those who were diseased and distressed. Jesus cared for hurting people. Luke 7:13: “And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.'” If we care nothing for those who are sick, who are confused, who are sad—if we have no desire to see hurting people with hurting bodies be helped, then we do not have the heart of Jesus. I think this is Moore’s main point, to which I say “Amen.” I’m grateful for the beautiful reminder.

2. It’s not quite right to say the mission of Jesus is the mission of the church (at least not without several qualifications). We are not God incarnate. We do not turn away the Father’s wrath. We do not die for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ mission was to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). This is not our mission.

3. We ought to be careful with the word “mission.” Moore demonstrates that God cares about vertical and horizontal reconciliation and that God is deeply concerned with personal, cosmic, social, and vocational healing. He shows that God wants Christians to love their neighbors and that love is holistic. All of this can be proved from the Bible. But demonstrating that something is important to God and should be important to us is not the same as proving that these good things constitute the church’s mission. We spend a lot of time on this point in the book.

4. While Jesus clearly attended to physical needs in his earthly ministry, we nevertheless see that he placed a priority on verbal proclamation. Take Mark 1:38, for example. Jesus was up late the previous night healing sick people and casting out demons (32-34).  Then he got up early in the morning to be alone and pray. But before long, Peter comes along, saying, “Jesus, everyone is looking for you.” In other words: “Here you are all alone, and everyone wants to see you. There are more sick people, more demon-possessed. The folks in Capernaum want you to bring more people to you.” But look what Jesus says in verse 38: “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” “Came out” means “came out in public.” Jesus is giving the purpose for his ministry. Verse 39 makes clear that he wasn’t done casting out demons. But that is not why he came out. There is not a single example of Jesus going into a town with the purpose of healing or casting out demons. He never ventures out on a healing and exorcism tour. He certainly does a lot of this along the way. He is moved with pity at human need. But the reason he “came out” was “that [he] may preach” (1:38).

I just finished a two year sermon series on Mark. I know that Jesus often healed and cast out demons. He cared about physical need and relieved suffering. So should we. I also know from preaching through the gospel that everything in the gospel points to the identity of Jesus (Mark 1:1). The miracles, the healings, the exorcisms all serve a larger purpose–to demonstrate, clarify, and prove that Jesus is the Son of God. Did Jesus minister in a holistic way? Yes. Was his priority proclamation? Also yes. The whole structure of Mark’s gospel and the shape of Jesus’ ministry aims at the goal that those with ears to hear might see Jesus’ true identity and follow him in faith. This is the same goal we see being aimed for by the early church in Acts. Their mission was to bear witness to all that Jesus Christ accomplished in his mission.

No Christian should ever side with gospel instead of justice or justice instead of gospel. The either/or will condemn us all. But just because we gladly say yes to gospel and justice does not mean we have answered the question “What is the mission of the church?” Some churches may need “balance.” But we also need priorities.