![]() Check it out, give it a read, and let me know what you think. Keller doesn’t settle for a simple trite answer, but digs deep as to the what, why, and how of justice within the christian life. If you are looking for a challenging conversation on biblical justice, I strongly recommend you read Generous Justice. So in essence the church must continue it’s focus on proclaiming the good news, while equipping it’s people to bring God’s Shalom (for definition see note at bottom) to a hurting and unjust world. That being said as individuals we are called to be active in the restoration of justice. In regards to our conversation on justice, Keller argues along with Kupyer that the church as an institution has the primary task of expanding God’s Kingdom through the preaching of the gospel. ![]() Kuyper, a turn of the 20th century theologian and one time Prime Minister of the Netherlands, believed that the individual, the church, and the government each had differing responsibilities within society. As Christians we are called to impact all three areas as we work to restore the poor to an equitable level.īut, what then is the role of the church? Are we to be a social service agency? Is that our corporate call to justice? Keller answers this question by pointing to Abraham Kuyper’s concept of sphere sovereignty. In fact in most cases the poor are poor due to a complex combination of individual choice, environmental state, and systemic powers of oppression. He acknowledges the fact that most injustice and poverty is a problem that goes deeper that either the simplicity of a personal inability or a systemic problem. Keller also considers some of the sources of injustice in society. If we’re really called to imitate Christ, if we’re really called to become more like him shouldn’t we do the same? For Jesus forgives and provides for us sinners time and time again, especially when we fail to use his aid appropriately. We should not worry about their track-record, whether or not they will use the aid we provide for the right reasons. Keller posits that fundamentally we are called to empower and equip the poor regardless of the possible outcome. The book provides a powerfully, biblically based argument for Christians living justly in an unjust world. In his book, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just, Tim Keller argues that as Christians we aren’t simply called to bring about justice in the world around us, but we should be propelled by the reception of God’s grace to be intimately involved in bringing God’s intended Shalom to every aspect of His world. In particular, we ask, “How socially minded should we be? Should justice be a priority in our planting efforts? How do you balance evangelism and justice action? Or are they one in the same?” This interwovenness is what the Bible calls shalom, or harmonious peace.As we prepare to plant Center Point Community Church an aspect we wrestle with is our understanding of biblical justice. Just as rightly related physical elements form a cosmos or a tapestry, so rightly related human beings form a community. God created all things to be in a beautiful, harmonious, interdependent, knitted, webbed relationship to one another. Only then do you get a fabric that is beautiful and strong, that covers, fits, holds, shelters, and delights. Each thread must go over, under, around, and through the others at thousands of points. ![]() The threads must be rightly and intimately related to one another in literally a million ways. If you throw thousands of pieces of thread onto a table, no fabric results. ![]() Even more than the architectural image, the fabric metaphor conveys the importance of relationship. ![]() “Woven cloth consists of innumerable threads interlaced with one another. “He alone can make our fearful, selfish hearts generous…His spirit makes us feel that we have plenty for ourselves, and only then we will be generous to others.” ![]()
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