Our brother James, the author of the book of the same name, shows us that he was indeed an experienced veteran in the role of shepherding people when he said:
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body…For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:1-2, 7-10, ESV)
This abundant truth has given me pause over the last week and a half as I have watched the world set on fire by actions and words, and in some cases, that fire has been stoked by inaction and silence. I have personally been begging God through prayer to give me wisdom as I attempt to walk the tense line between two biblical truths:
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8–9)
“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” (Proverbs 10:19)
Unfortunately for those of us who did not head the warning of James, and became shepherds and teachers anyway, we find ourselves in the difficult position of having questions posed to us such as “What do you think about what is going on in our country?” And “What can we do about it?” I want to help shepherd our church through these hard questions in a way that is Jesus honoring and loving of all those made in the image of God. And to do so, I found myself looking to scripture, specifically Amos 5 and 6. Before you continue, why don’t you grab your Bibles and open there so you can walk along with me. You can even read through them to get some context.
These two chapters are to be read together as a “lament and woe” section. This seems pertinent for the state of our culture and country given where we find ourselves today. To give you context for this passage, chapters 1-4 of Amos are proclamations of judgement upon Israel, Judah, and her neighbors. Chapter 4 begins to morph into reasoning and evidence as to why God is proclaiming judgment. To summarize, the nation of Israel was not holding up to its end of the covenant they had with God.
For those of you that have attended Mission Fellowship, or heard any of our teachings through Isaiah or Deuteronomy or Mark, you have heard us often reference Deuteronomy 4:5-8:
“See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:5–8)
In other words, the Creator God chose the seed of Abraham to be a people with whom he could enter into covenant. He would save them from the oppression of their enemies, provide for them, grant them forgiveness of sin through grace and an ongoing sacrificial system of repentance and reconciliation, give them the oracles of his truth and law, and be their God. In response, they were to understand His character and heart as provided in His law that, when acted out as intended in that cultural and chronological context, would provide a model for righteousness to the rest of the Gentile nations and draw them to the Lord. To not live out that law in a way that showed God’s righteousness would violate the covenant and bring His wrath. This was the state of the nations of Israel and Judah as we come upon Amos 5. This is why Amos is stating clearly that God is angry because they “oppress the poor, and crush the needy.” (Amos 4:1) They were not holding true to their end of the covenant.
The end of the chapter, from verse 6 through 13, is God condemning the nation for not returning to Him and upholding their covenant with Him, even though He sent plague, drought, blight and mildew, locusts, and war. It is with this background that Amos digs in, beginning in chapter 5, holding out hope that there is a chance for repentance, which could bring relief from the finality of God’s judgment upon their nation.
Amos begins chapter 5 with a declaration that he is singing a “lamentation” or qinah (קִינָ֖ה) in the Hebrew. This was a genre of funeral song or funeral dirge sung over the already deceased. In essence, Amos is saying, “You are pretty much already destroyed, but I will give it one last shot to see if you actually repent.” To the hearers of this pronouncement, this was ludicrous. At this point in time, Israel was rich, powerful, and overall prosperous. Collectively, the response to Amos would have been “Why on earth do you think that we need to repent? We are doing just fine!” But Amos was letting them know that their impression of their own strength and prosperity was an empty illusion. They needed to repent of their prideful religious practice that was devoid of any action leading to justice for the oppressed. Amos was lamenting the fact that they did not see their own lack of righteousness and justice.
One of my professors once taught that an easy way to understand righteousness and justice was this: Righteousness is right relationship between God, man, one another, and creation (i.e. what the Hebrews referred to as Shalom or “Peace”). Justice is the action that worked to bring about this righteousness. The Bible Project produced a video a few years ago that powerfully captures this idea wonderful graphics. I would highly recommend watching it if you haven’t already. You can find it here.
Amos was prophetically proclaiming that Israel was not on God’s side because they were not acting in just ways that lead to bringing about shalom, or equality between the people of their society. I want to invite you to go look up the importance of this idea of righteousness and justice in scripture to see how core it is to our faith (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 16:19; 1 Kings 10:9; 2 Chron. 9:8; Job 37:23; Psa. 33:5, 37:6, 37:30, 72:1-2, 89:14, 94:15, 97:2, 99:4, 103:6, 106:3; Prov. 1:3, 2:9, 8:20, 18:5, 21:3, 21:15; Isa. 1:27, 5:7, 5:16, 9:7, 28:17, 32:1, 32:16, 33:5, 56:1, 59:9, 59:14; Jer. 4:2, 9:24, 22:3, 22:15, 23:5, 33:15; Ezek. 45:9; Hos. 2:19; Amos 5:7, 5:24, 6:12; Hab 1:4; Zeph 3:5).
Specifically in Amos 5:10-15, the discussion has to do with the court system that occurred “in the gate” where judgments were issued. It seemed that certain groups of people, such as the poor, needy, and marginalized, were getting disproportionately negative judgment due to injustice.
“Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:14–15)
Because this was not happening, Amos 5:16-17 warns that God was coming in judgment upon those who sit silently by while injustice occurs. The people of Israel were saying that they were acting justly, but in reality, it was bitter (“Wormwood” in Amos 5:7) to those that were being treated unjustly. Even though they think they are strong and protected (“the fortress” of Amos 5:9), God will quickly lay them low.
To make matters worse, the Israelites pride was showing through in their eschatology and theology. In Amos 5:18-23, God speaks pointedly that the religious practices that they performed so consistently were actually despicable. “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” “Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.”
God condemns their prideful view of the end of days or “The Day of the Lord.” They firmly believed that they were God’s people and they wanted Him to come and vanquish their foes to bring about eternal shalom, not realizing that in their lack of pursuing justice and fighting for the oppressed, they were actually God’s enemies who would be judged and destroyed at His coming. Their lack of repentance and confession of injustice on the part of themselves and their ancestors placed them in a place in which they were seen as enemies of the God whose throne is established in righteousness and justice. This is reminiscent of God’s proclamation in Malachi 1:10 in which God declares that He wishes He could find one righteous priest among the people that would close the place of worship. God would rather that occur, than to have his people offering vain sacrifice of praise while injustice runs unchecked among the nation.
One of the most obvious condemnations that God delivers is in Amos 6:1-7. God says “Woe!” to the people because they are “at ease and feel secure” (6:1), their life is prosperous and affluent (6:4), all they concern themselves with is idle forms of entertainment (6:5), they are drunk in abundance (6:6), but all the while are not grieved over the ruin of their nation and people (6:6). Unless they repent, these same religious, secure, and at ease people will be the first to be taken into exile. (6:7).
Reading this brings us to a point of sadness where we wonder if there was any way for the people to repent and turn back to God so that His anger would be averted and they would again be His covenant people? God’s grace was abounding and ready to be given. But the people needed to rightly understand that while injustice abounded and the righteous stood silent, God’s hand of wrath would stay outstretched. In loving truth, Amos declared the solution: “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:15). He summarizes God’s desire for His people like this, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).
Smith and Page, in the New American Commentary on Amos summarize Amos’ point: “The way people behave in the marketplace or how they judge in the gate” are as much a part of worship as singing and sacrifice. In other words, matters of justice, and what was done to fight for righteousness to be restored was indeed an issue of worship, without which, all other worship was seen as despicable.
I firmly believe, dear brothers and sisters, that God would have us examine this text today in light of the 400 year history of racial tension and disparity within this country, most recently punctuated by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. What would God have us do? “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Now because this is not the first time I have taught on righteousness and justice, I know that some of you reading may likely be experiencing frustration, defensiveness, or possibly even anger. Words like “liberal” or “social justice warrior” might be popping into your mind. You might be wondering if I suffer from “white guilt” or have been brainwashed by the media. You may be wondering if I, or the church I serve, have suddenly “abandoned the gospel for the sake of social justice.” If that is you, I want to beg you to go back, re-read this blog up until this point and re-read Amos 5 and 6 in proper exegetical context, and I want to invite you to reason with me from scripture. I write this blog not to put forth a liberal or conservative opinion, but because the heart of God is passionate about matters of justice and reconciliation and I feel personal conviction that I would be neglecting my role as pastor to ignore this issue.
But before I continue, let me take this chance to help clear up any confusion that may be coming up, since, if I can paraphrase the words of James from earlier, “communication is hard.” I love my country. I am thankful for the freedoms that I have and the opportunities I have received. I love our military and the sacrifice that they have given so that I can bask in freedom and liberty. I love our police force, and because I believe the proper solution for misuse of any institution is not disuse but proper use, I want to work with local agencies and local government to make sure we all move forward together. I know that there are some really bad people that are rioting and looting, but there are also people simply trying to be heard by exercising their constitutional right to protest. I know that there are some really bad police officers. But I also know that there are wonderful, godly, sacrificial men and women laying down their life to protect and serve our community who are likewise appalled at the abuse of power seen across our country. I am heartbroken for the slander that has been thrown towards my friends who serve our community in this way, often by people who have no interest in learning how difficult and complex the job of police officers really is. At the same time, I am also heartbroken to hear the numerous stories of my black friends over the years who are still fighting racism and structures of oppression.
It is a false dichotomy that says you have to back agencies of authority or work for racial reconciliation. Not to mention the false dichotomy that says that you can either preach the gospel or work for justice. Anyone who attends our church at any gathering will hear our church unabashedly proclaim the gospel truth of Jesus’ death, resurrection, enthronement, and empowerment of His church through the Holy Spirit. They will hear that through the gospel, we receive forgiveness of sins and are reconciled to God through His substitutionary atoning sacrifice that gained us victory over sin, death, and Hell. All of this so that reconciliation between God, man, one another, and creation should be accomplished. The gospel, and righteousness and justice are not mutually exclusive.
The God of the Bible is known as the Exodus God, the one that heard the cries of the enslaved (Exodus 3:7-9). He is the God whose throne is founded on righteousness and justice (Psa. 89:14). He is the God who came in incarnate form and proclaimed liberty to the captives, good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and setting at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18). He is the God who, through the sacrificial and atoning work of Christ, broke down the ethnic and religious separation between Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:14-16). He is the God that commands equality and proclaims His royal law that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (James 2:1-8). This is the God whose view of peace is pictured in His throne room as a great multitude, from all tribes and peoples and languages, stand before the throne together in perfect unity of the fellowship of the Spirit (Rev. 7:9-12).
Issues of racial equality and racial reconciliation matter to God. And when a people group is consistently oppressed and harmed by some in positions of power as the black community in this country has been for 400 years, regardless of if progress has been made, it is appropriate to say Black Lives Matter. To do so is not to automatically have disregard for any other lives. For example, if one of my three children is hurting and I focus on them until they are restored, it does not mean I am showing disregard for my other children. That is a false dilemma.
Repenting from decades of slavery and inhumanity requires us as a nation to decry the wrongs of our fathers that went before us. It requires confessing the sin, repenting from the sin, and acting to reconcile with those that were harmed by the sin. In the words of the prophet Daniel:
“We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.” (Daniel 9:6–10)
So now you generally know my answer to the first earlier question “What do you think about what is going on in our country?” At the risk of making a long blog even longer though, I hope that you would permit me to answer the second question as well, “What can I do about it?”
Over the last week, I have been scouring any resource I can get my hands on to answer this same question. Like many white evangelicals, I have a desire for racial reconciliation, but I am admittedly very unknowledgeable on the topic. I freely confess that the events of recent weeks and years have progressively pressed me to make it a higher priority to educate myself. The list below of ways to act is only partial, and I am the first to admit that many of these are new to me, and I am probably going to make mistakes. I am still a complete novice on this journey of racial reconciliation. But I am so thankful for some of the voices I will point you toward and I hope you, and our church, will stumble with me as we find our way to emulate God’s heart on this topic.
To begin with, we need to continue to preach the gospel with abandon through our lives, words, and actions. Do this at home, in our neighborhoods, and in our place of work or school. Racism occurs at both a systemic and individual level. Changing the hearts of those around us by drawing them to Christ must be our foremost priority. From this priority then, works of righteousness and justice can overflow. For many of us, this is where we need to begin to enlist other voices of wisdom.
One of those voices is a brother in Christ, and fellow Notre Dame alum, Jemar Tisby. He is a theologian, historian, and author. In a speech you can find online here, he stated this robust truth: “There can be no reconciliation without repentance, there can be no repentance without confession, and there can be no confession without truth.” Last year, he released a book called The Color Of Compromise: The Truth About The American Church’s Complicity In Racism. He largely groups actions we can take to combat racism into three categories of Awareness, Relationships, and Commitment. The following suggestions are largely formed from his ideas that you can find in his book.
First, we can tackle awareness. We can admit that our country is plagued with the fallout from our nation’s original sin of racism and slavery, and research history as it was, not as we want it to seem. Within that, we must recognize that many of us are unknowingly operating within the fog of implicit bias, not even realizing how we inherently think through issues of race, religion, and relationships. The first step to seeing if this is true is to ask some critical questions:
Do I operate in implicit bias? If David could pray for God to search him and know if there was wickedness unknown to him (Psalm 139:23-24) and to forgive him of even his secret sins (Psalm 19:12), then you and I can also engage in some introspection of our unknown faults. There is a great tool provided by Harvard University that you can find here. Take the test as a guest by selecting your language/nation and clicking the “go” button. You will then read and agree to a statement, and then you can select any test on implicit bias. For our discussion here, I would suggest you scroll to the bottom and at least take the “Race IAT”.
Does our country even have a history of racism? If you are asking that question, I would highly suggest you begin researching the topic. There are numerous documentaries from reputable sources that you can find. If you need a starting point, you can begin with The Shadow of Hate.
Additionally, we can educate ourselves on these issues by listening. Remember that to listen, you don’t have to agree with everything that is said, you simply have to listen. Utilize the internet to do research and find and share resources on the topics we are discussing. Here are some books that might be of value:
The Color Of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
I cannot recommend this book enough. If you are not a book reader, there is also a master lecture series through a subscription through Zondervan. It can be found here.
Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
Be the Bridge: Pursuing God's Heart for Racial Reconciliation
Here are some additional online resources that might give us some insight into some current views:
Understanding The Heart Cry of #blacklivesmatter
Racial Reconciliation, the Gospel, and the Church
If you are on social media, diversify the voices you are listening to. If you want some suggestions, here are some names you can follow:
Jemar Tisby - Theologian, Historian, Speaker, and Writer
Latasha Morrison - Speaker, Author, and Leader In Racial Reconciliation
Thabiti Anyabwile - Pastor and Speaker
Walter R. Strickland II - Professor at Southeastern Seminary
In light of current issues, I would also highly recommend that you speak with any police officers you know so that you can gain an understanding of how difficult their job is in today’s world and climate. Our church is blessed to have some amazing police officers and corrections officers that serve their communities in Christ-like fashion. If you do not know them and would like to meet them, let me know and I will connect you with them. Also, on a recent call with the Salem-Keizer chapter of the NAACP, both the Marion County Sheriff and Deputy Chief of the Salem Keizer Police Department invited citizens to connect with their departments to get to know how they work and what they are doing to tackle the very topics we are discussing. Reach out to them and start a dialogue.
Until this last week, I also didn’t realize that there are approximately 19,000 municipalities in our country and over 18,000 local enforcement jurisdictions. Law enforcement is governed at a local level. Get involved in local politics and realize that when one agency in one part of the country needs reforms, another agency in another part of the country may have already been working hard to put those reforms in place. Check in with them and inquire. Again, the solution for misuse is not disuse, but proper use.
Second, we can tackle relationships. Intentionally diversify your social networks. Enter into the stories of those you know that might be different from you. Listen with empathy as you establish a friendship. Don’t just view these friendships as sources of information, but as fellow image bearers of God. Intentionally try new activities where you will be exposed to people that are different than you. Intentionally seek out, research, and join groups that tackle issues of justice.
On this topic of relationships, recognize that while we may want to engage at a level that changes our nation, often, the best work of reconciliation that we can do is within our own small sphere of influence. Practicing true biblical reconciliation in conflict with spouses, friends, and fellow church-members, is how we learn the tools to reconcile on larger topics with one another. Then take those and enter into larger conversations and events of activism.
Third, commit to this being an issue that is not just the issue of the day, but something that is part of your work of bringing righteousness and justice to bear in our world over a lifetime. Vote with this topic in mind. Make this a topic that you pray about regularly. Donate money to organizations that advocate for racial and social justice. Discuss the topic within the security of loving, covenantal relationships within your church so as to unite behind bringing biblical reconciliation to Salem and the surrounding areas. Step into this issue for the long-haul. There are over 400 years of cultural, social, and religious issues that need to be worked through and reconciled. It will take time and consistent involvement.
Like any work that walks out the commands of Christ, tackling the issue of racial justice and reconciliation will be hard work for many of us that are trying to engage it for the first time. For many of us, we have blindly walked past our fellow-Americans, fellow image-bearers of God, and in many cases, our brothers and sisters in Christ, without pausing to see if there is a way we can help. Let’s follow the lead of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told us about, and cross the street to help our fellow image bearers of God in their time of need and lament. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24)