Articles for tag: Justice

February 16, 2017

Christian Standard

Coping with What Jesus Said

By Bob Mink I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That  Stephen Timmis Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014 The Hard Sayings of Jesus F.F. Bruce Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983 Some book titles get your attention by implying they are about something you may not agree with. When I was a youth minister in the 1970s, I used Fritz Ridenour”s book How to be a Christian Without Being Religious, and was taken to task by a mother who misunderstood the title. Steve Timmis”s book, I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That (Zondervan, 2013), does the same thing. The title is his initial response to

January 13, 2017

Christian Standard

Helping Ministry Leaders Develop Skills, Relationships

By Jennifer Johnson This month, more than a dozen pastors in the Greater Los Angeles area will begin a journey of learning, leadership, and change as Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA) kicks off its second Communitas cohort. The program, which began as part of the Lilly Endowment, is designed to connect senior leaders who have served in ministry for 5 to 10 years and help them develop greater leadership skills; grow in their understanding of significant issues facing their communities; build networks with civic, business, and political leaders throughout the city; and develop strong relationships with each other. “Lilly discovered there

November 28, 2016

Christian Standard

A Different View of the Oppressed

By Casey Tygrett   Oppressed. What does that word evoke for you? I typed oppression into Google, clicked Search, and it returned 36.5 million results. There is a lot being said about oppression. And Scripture says much about oppression, too. In fact, the word oppression appears nearly 4,500 times there. The first Bible story about oppression details the plight of the Israelites in Egypt and the beautifully momentous exodus that set them loose to chase the everlasting land and the everlasting covenant under the everlasting God. It”s a wonderful story, but it begins with oppression. To Be Helpless, to Be

November 15, 2016

Mark A. Taylor

Tell and Show

By Mark A. Taylor It”s one thing to talk about justice; it”s another to work for it. It”s one thing to study justice; it”s another to seek it. But talking and studying are important, of course, especially at first. So in posts at this site this month we”re talking about the justice God seeks for those beaten down by society and circumstances. Three writers look at Scripture to see God”s compassion and the gospel”s concern for those ill served by the systems and situations trapping them in poverty, homelessness, or despair. Look again at the prophecy of Amos, the experience

November 14, 2016

Christian Standard

Seeking a Justice That Transforms

By Preston Shipp From the prosecutor”s office to advocacy for the imprisoned: a journey toward a new kind of justice.  The United States has an immense population of marginalized people locked away in its prisons. It is the largest prison population in the history of the world, approximately 2.3 million people. As a result of America”s war on drugs, which has been waged over the past four decades and disproportionately against poor people of color, many of these people are serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes. The collateral damage, both emotional and financial, of such mass incarceration to children, spouses,

November 11, 2016

Christian Standard

Missional Justice

By Kip Lines What is justice for followers of Jesus? What does it mean for the church to demonstrate God”s justice in the world? These are difficult questions I”ve discovered often lead to unexpected answers. In Kenya, together with Turkana church leaders, our missionary team sought to envision what it would look like in our communities if God really was in charge . . . if our following Jesus meant the kingdom of God was truly breaking into our human kingdoms. You might expect the largest injustice issues in a developing nation would be items like hunger and food security,

November 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Other Women, Other Fields

By Troy Jackson God hears the cries of those suffering from injustice. Do we? The Bible”s story of Ruth challenges us to look with new eyes at the plight of those still seeking justice today. When many think of justice, they reflect on the inequities that plague our communities and our world. Others consider the hundreds of millions of people who have little access to clean water. Some mourn for those caught in the horrors of human trafficking, and some are angered when they know people are mistreated and wounded because of race or gender or ethnicity or even geography.

November 7, 2016

Christian Standard

Pursuing Justice in an Unjust World

By Mark W. Hamilton What does a just community look like? Is the American church such a community?  Do we live out the call of the prophet Micah to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God?”* These questions confront anyone who studies the history of American Christianity. From that history we learn that Christians used the Bible to defend slavery and oppose it, to silence women and empower them, to cheer on Bull Connor”s corrupt police in Birmingham, Alabama, and to walk through hostile crowds in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Selma, Alabama, during the civil rights movement. Today,

November 6, 2016

Christian Standard

Seek First the Kingdom and Its Justice

By Robert L. Foster I work with a task force that connects churches with undocumented communities in partnerships that help our undocumented neighbors with the challenges they face here in the United States. Recently, at a church conference, the task force displayed an information table where churches and individuals signed up to receive information or to invite a speaker to talk to their church about creating such partnerships. Near the end of one day, a volunteer at our table overheard an attendee say, “We need to get away from all this talk about immigration and multiculturalism and get back Jesus.”

October 17, 2016

Christian Standard

Faith & Virtue

How and Why America Is Still Searching By Neal Windham I fear that our ability””maybe even our desire””for dialogue is gone. What does this mean for a people whose first and greatest prayer is, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”? I live and dwell and have my being in a nation that”s been in search mode for better than 50 years. Long before Google, in the decade of the Kennedys and Vietnam, of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Greenwich Village and Haight-Ashbury, Americans were engulfed in a search for what it means to be a free

August 29, 2016

Christian Standard

Lesson for September 4, 2016: The Peaceful Kingdom (Isaiah 11:1-9)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the August 28 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  The Prince of Peace knew that wars and rumors of wars were standard fare in a fallen world (Matthew 24:6). But Isaiah, who predicted the coming of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), knew about rumors of peace as well. Even though the northern kingdom would fall to Assyria and the southern kingdom would later

August 19, 2016

Christian Standard

From Despair to Hope

By Victor Knowles The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011. Visitors pass through the divided granite “Mountain of Despair” on their way to the “Stone of Hope.” An inscription on the “Mountain of Despair” reads, “I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness,” a statement King once suggested for how he would like to be remembered. But today we celebrate a different kind of memorial. It is not carved in granite or set in stone. The memorial consists of two extremely perishable elements: unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine. You

May 20, 2016

Christian Standard

Celebrity Doubles

By Tom Lawson During the 1930s a hopeful contender in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in San Francisco was disappointed when he did not even make the finals. The contestant was, of course, none other than the real Charlie Chaplin. Today, an entire industry of celebrity doubles has arisen. Want Arnold Schwarzenegger at your 5-year-old”s birthday party? No problem. Want Barack Obama to speak at the church”s annual Thanksgiving dinner? No problem. Among the billions of human beings on earth, some clearly bear striking similarities to others. In European folklore this may be behind the myth of the doppelganger­””a person”s

April 27, 2016

Christian Standard

Escape Eschatology

By Jim Tune Dispensationalists, especially modern dispensationalists, promote an eschatology that amounts to little more than “escapeatology.” Popular treatments of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13; Mathew 24; Luke 21) and the book of Revelation present an eschatology that induces a mind-set of escapism. And many Christians are eating it up. Consider the popularity of the Left Behind series of books and movies with their view of eschatology as merely a means of future escape from this world, with a corresponding flight from any present responsibility to this world. Escapeatology views Revelation”s portrayal of the new heaven and earth as a reality in the distant

February 8, 2016

Christian Standard

How Jesus Did Theology

By Casey Tygrett Jesus didn”t give us words about God. He lived as the Word of God. What does that show us about what impact God”s words should demonstrate in our lives? When I was a kid, I had an uncanny resemblance to my dad. Our facial structures, mannerisms, and senses of humor were so closely aligned that the folks in my small hometown knew whose I was before they knew who I was. They looked at me””my long angular nose and the way my eyebrows elevated and separated when I spoke””and they saw my father from years past. There

January 22, 2016

Christian Standard

Evangelical Warning, Improbable Convert, Uncommon Ministry

By LeRoy Lawson The Great Evangelical Recession: 6 Factors That Will Crash the American Church . . . and How to Prepare John S. Dickerson Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013 Good God, Lousy World, and Me: The Improbable Journey of a Human Rights Activist from Unbelief to Faith Holly Burkhalter New York: Convergent Books, 2013 The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected Nik Ripken Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2013 John Dickerson”s The Great Evangelical Recession is depressing reading. Being told the truth isn”t always an “upper.” This book tells the truth. At least it tells the truth as things stand

January 10, 2016

Christian Standard

Baptize Your Children Well

By T.R. Robertson How do we determine that a young child is ready to be baptized? There are many answers, and several of them are explained in this article.  “It”s almost like I”m talking them out of it, because I really want to see if their decision is real.” Trent Schake, senior minister at Blue Ridge Christian Church in Columbia, Missouri, is one of several ministers who talked with me about their experiences shepherding parents and children through the decision to be baptized. “I don”t want to put someone in the baptistery if they”re not really ready,” Schake continues, “but

November 30, 2015

Christian Standard

Why White Christians Just Don”t Get It

By Brian Jones If you”re angrier with rioters for looting and pillaging than with the event that preceded it””the killing of an unarmed black man by police officers””there”s a really good chance you just don”t get it. Let me explain. One of my favorite memories growing up was going to the police station with my grandfather, who was a Franklin County sheriff in Columbus, Ohio. He pretended to lock me up in cells, fed me prison food, introduced me to all the guards, and allowed me to sit in his cruiser and turn the siren on. My grandfather was a

November 23, 2015

Christian Standard

Lesson for November 29, 2015: Teaching God”s Word (Acts 18:1″“11, 18″“21)

Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, and has held preaching ministries in Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado. This lesson treatment is published in the November 22 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott  Our lesson title is taken from verse 11 of our text: So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God. The content was not Bible exposition as much as gospel announcement. Could teaching the gospel reverse an immoral

August 24, 2015

Christian Standard

Lesson for August 30, 2015: A Plea to Return to God (Malachi 3:1-12; Matthew 7:12)

This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the August 23 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone  During the past three months we have seen how various Old Testament prophets took God”s demand for justice to the people. We have considered Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. Though their careers spanned several hundred years, they preached a single message: the nation”s relationship to God called for faith and obedience. When the prophet Malachi came on the

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