Church in the Community: Isaiah 58; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

“Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins (Isa. 58:1, NASB).

Recently, I received a telephone call from a young preacher that I know. He wanted to do a telephone interview with me as an assignment for one of his classes. Ro wanted me to answer a question. “What should be the role of the church in the community”? I responded, “According to scripture the church has one role in the community. The church is supposed to evangelize so that people in the world will become members of the church. After a person becomes a member of the church, the church has two responsibilities. The church is to teach new members to worship the Lord and the church is to make disciples for Jesus Christ (See Jn. 8:31-32). Then each member can either individually or in a group go into the community to minister in whatever way that they feel led. In this article I want to share with the readers the reasons that I take this point of view. I will reference the two texts above. I believe that both the Old Testament passage and the New Testament passage support this point of view.

Before I get into the texts, let me tell you one more thing that I mentioned in the interview. As already stated we cannot find in the scriptures an example of the believers in Christ getting involved in worldly affairs. You see Jesus did not get involved in the affairs that government has control over. However, there were religious leaders; the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees that did have agreements with the government of Rome. After, Jesus was ascended into heaven the apostles did not sit down with government officials to discuss what needed to be done for the people. We know that the religious leaders had some agreements with Rome. For example, the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus because Jesus did not share their point of view on religious customs and traditions. Since the Jews could not crucify a person the religious leaders held a mocked trail, and they took Him to Pilate the Roman governor for Pilate to execute. There was some cooperation between Rome and the religious leaders of the Jews. Let us see what the scriptures say.

Luke recorded in his gospel these words in reference to Jesus’ arrest in the garden and his trial. “So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people” (Lk. 18:12-14, NASB).

In his gospel, John tells us about the religious leader’s response to the charge that Pilate had written over Jesus’ head as He hung on the cross. “Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, ‘JESUS THE NAZERENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS’” (Jn 19:19). Pilate was required by law to have a legal reason to crucify Jesus. He charged Jesus with insurrection because according to Roman law only Caesar was king. Let us continue with the text. “Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, ‘Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews; but that He said I am King of the Jews’” (19:20-21). The Jews did not want to be associated with Jesus. They denied that Jesus was the king of the Jews; the son of David and the promised Messiah.

These are only two examples in scripture that shed light on the relationship between the religious leaders and the government. As the Promised Messiah, it was not Jesus’ role to transform the world. After all, the scriptures tell us time and time again and time again that this world will come to an end. The scriptures tell us that the world systems belong to the adversary, Satan, the devil, the evil one. In God’s own time the world will come to an end, God is going to create new heavens and a new earth. Jesus will rule over this kingdom. He will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords (See Rev. 11:15-17; 19:16; 21:1-2). Since the world systems are under the control of Satan, what is the role of the church?

In both the Old Testament and the New Testament the role of the leaders of God’s kingdom on earth is to invite all the people of God to repent of their sins, cease from their rebellion against God’s commandments and worship God in truth (Isa, 58:1). Jesus commissioned His disciples with these words: “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’’ (Matt. 28:19-20).

So what are the commandments that Jesus was referring to? Again, let us return to Isaiah 58 and then compare it with Matthew 25. In Isaiah 58:1 the prophet is commanded to cry loudly; to raise his voice like a trumpet. The prophet has a message that must be heard. He cannot allow other voices to speak louder than he speaks. There are many voices in the world, but the prophet is not speaking to the world. The prophet is speaking to the Jews that have returned from the exile in Babylon. However, it is not the voice of the Gentiles that the prophet is to respond to. Rather, it is the voice of the religious leaders. They teach that religious rituals such as fasting and observance of the Sabbath are the most import things that the people of God should do. However, we can see that the religious leaders are guilty of sin and rebellion. In effect, they are no different than the nations (Gentiles) that live among them.

The prophet is to make sure that the people of God, the Jews, know the sins that they are guilty of committing. The prophet makes two charges. First, their rituals are only an external show that serves to boost their egos for their own interest. God desired true worship. True worship and prayer would mean that the people would obey God’s commandments to live a righteous life before God so that they could overcome injustice with concrete actions to meet the needs of others. The term “Social justice” is not found in holy write. God call for justice could only be met if the people repented of their sin and ceased their rebellion.

Righteousness and justice are characteristics of people that know God. The people of God cannot blame the world for the injustices that are in the world. The Jews in Isaiah 58 were commanded to be righteous and practice justice in their own community so that the nations around them would see their light and join with them in being a people holy unto God regardless of social status. They too would repent of their sins and rebellion. The nations would follow the Jews in worshiping God.

When we compare Isaiah 58 with Matthew 25 we hear the same message. The people of God are to be righteous and practice justice among themselves. Today, there are people that believe that this passage is instructions to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit those in prison. Churches have ministries to perform these works. They include anyone that has a need. We know that these works are to be done. This is the problem. Meeting the needs of people is not the first priority of the church in relationship with those that do not know God. Few people are converted and repent of their sins because the church provides resources in the aftermath of a tragic and destructive event. Could it be that this is true because the church presents itself as a bunch of religious people whose job it is to meet people’s needs in times of calamities? What does providing a Christmas meal for families have to do with one’s relationship with God? The use of the term “Social Justice” simply means that everyone in the community have their needs met. It has nothing to do with a person’s salvation.

When we examine Isaiah 58 we learn that the righteousness of the Jews and their acts of justice are credited to the God of Israel. The gods of the nations have no requirements for how a person should treat their neighbor. The commandments that Moses gave in Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25 reflects the commands that Moses gave to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 4:5-9 when the people were preparing to take possession of the Promised Land. It is when the nations or we can say the people that do not worship God, see the people that do worship God practicing justice that they take notice that there are blessings in turning to God. They will see that the God of Israel and the church invites them to receive His love, His salvation, and the life that He offers them.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he advises the believers to not deal with unbelievers. His reason is much like that of Moses. Moses instructed the children of Israel not to marry the natives of the land or make any compromise with them. The reason was that the children of God would turn from God to worship the gods of the people (See Exod. 34:12-16; Deut 6:12-19; 7:2-4). Many people have used the passage in 2 Corinthians as grounds to forbid Christians to marry people that are not Christians. The passage is not limited to marriage. It includes all of life. The passage is a warning that believers are not to compromise with unbelievers.

It is the responsibility of the church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Disciples of Jesus learn His teaching and do as they have learned from Him. Disciples take individual responsibility to meet the needs of people in the community.