"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a s@#t. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said s@#t than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."At first glance, this intentionally shocking statement gets you in the gut and makes you really think about your priorities. However there is a fundamental problem with the theology. It supposes that you have to choose between inward purity and outward actions. You can either be mad about swearing, or about poverty. You can either be morally correct, or missionally correct. But you can’t be both.
You could argue that this is one of the problems with postmodernism. It is sometimes a reactionary pendulum swing that leaves some of classic Christian teachings behind.
But listen to the biblical definition of true religion:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)I love how God says it’s both. He wants us to be justice minded and active in our faith, and he wants us to be pure in our inward selves. He wants us to look after orphans, and he wants us to be distinct from the world around us.
But why?
Jesus said that “out of the heart the mouth speaks.” He said that it is not what goes into a person that defiles him, but what comes out (Mt. 15:11). The idea here is that even our best actions are tainted if they don’t come from a pure heart. In God’s economy, the ends don't justify the means. He wants both the ends and the means to be done his way.
Of course neither outward actions nor inward purity is possible without the Holy Spirit’s help. But that’s the good news! We don’t have to do it on our own! God will transform our hearts and allow our good deeds to come flowing out!
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