This world was made by God. Since sin allowed [Satan to become more prevalent in the world], many things in it now exist that were not intended by God. According to Romans 8:22, “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Here, the “child birth” alludes to the new world and life that God is preparing for those who trust in Him.
God is interested in all of creation
God is interested in everything, not only our souls, according to Romans 8.According to Romans 8:21, “the creation itself will be set free.” God cares about the issues facing this world and desires their resolution. Of course, we ought to be as well. Jesus provides us with that example as well. He cured the ill. He treated ladies and outsiders with respect that was uncommon in His society. Jesus gave us a lot of advice on how to manage our finances. Furthermore, He instructed us to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” to our celebrations (Luke 12:13).
However, we also learn in Romans 8 that God’s work is the ultimate answer to the issues facing creation. Furthermore, according to Romans 8:19, it is predicated on individuals joining his family: “the revealing of the sons of God.” And Jesus’ life demonstrates that once more. Though He used many different means to demonstrate His love for the ill, the impoverished, and those in trouble, His primary goal was spiritual. Jesus addressed the most significant issue when he stated, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” to a lame man who was coming for healing (Mark 2:5). We ought to imitate Jesus. Helping others is crucial, but so is never losing sight of the fact that their spiritual issues come first.
Special task
What is defined by “the church” determines whether or not the church should become involved in societal issues. Yes, if by “all Christians” we mean to refer to them. We ought to care about individuals and their issues and lend a hand when we can, just like Jesus did. But the answer becomes a little trickier if we take the church as an institution. Acts 6:4 states that church leaders are called “to prayer and the ministry of the word,” not “to social work.” On the other hand, Acts 6:3 assigns a specific task to others in the church to assist the poor.
Nonetheless, there is no indication in the New Testament that the church as a whole became interested in extra-church social matters. To put what we learn in the New Testament into practice, it makes the greatest sense for all Christians to get involved in social issues in order to assist others. The impoverished people within the church should receive attention. Its members ought to learn to love their neighbors as themselves and demonstrate this in their day-to-day interactions with the community.
Showing God’s vision
The church as an institution always has to find the right middle between being so involved in social issues that it forgets about the Gospel, and so much stressing spiritual life that it does not have anything to say about life on this earth. The church is clearly called to teach how we should live, as the Bible says a lot about that. It is called to show the vision of how God has meant this world to be. But the church should be wise enough not to commit to specific policies to reach that vision. Then the church becomes political. The great danger is that it could be wrong, or advocating one policy while another course of action could bring the same result. That should be avoided, because the church should focus on preaching the Gospel of Christ. It should not make people dislike the church for any other reason than that they do not accept the Gospel.
Exceptions
There are certain instances in which churches ought to and can speak out on social issues. The church speaks up when anything blatantly immoral is tolerated in a community. The church has opposed abortion since the second century and continues to do so. Moreover, in certain cases the church is the only strong organization capable of speaking out against an oppressive or dishonest government. Churches were a major factor in the German Wall’s collapse. In many African nations, the church is or was the sole organization that could assist individuals in escaping poverty.
The Bible does not contain a directive for the church to carry out these actions. However, doing so has always seemed natural. We recognize [the Holy Spirit’s] guiding in it. To discern when God is calling the church to get involved in social concerns and when it should remain laser-focused on its primary vocation of teaching God’s Word, the church requires the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit.
