God’s Justice & Following Jesus
For three years now, I have led a student ministry at Christian Life Center. Below is a letter I wrote to parents following the death of George Floyd to let them know we were pausing our current series to discuss what it means to seek justice as a follower of Jesus.
In sum, Justice is a Biblical word; one that should be part of the regular vocabulary for followers of Jesus, because following Jesus should lead us to lead us to the world’s deepest hurts.
Though undoubtedly imperfect and incomplete, this reflects my initial response and my desire to lead the students at our church into a Jesus-centered understanding of what was taking place. Thanks to wonderful professors at my alma mater, I had been exposed to theologians and thinkers that helped me get started, but this summer marked an intensification of my journey to learn and to be “anti-racism.” I hope this helps.
Letter to Parents on June 3, 2020
Good afternoon Motion Life Fam,
I wanted to take some time and give you a heads up about the topic of discussion for ML students tonight and give you a little more of my heart behind it and share some resources that have helped me in the last little bit.
Tonight, we are taking a break from our Holy Spirit series and will talk about “God’s justice and following Jesus.” We will use this Bible Project Video that overviews the theme of Justice in the Bible to get our conversation started. I plan to share (1) why Christians should care about what happens to others and (2) where I’m starting in processing and engaging what is happening in our world and in our country. In what follows, I flush out those ideas.
God’s Plan for Creation
First, God’s plan includes the flourishing for all of God’s creation in all aspects of their lives. Jesus says in Mark that he came to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, and this mission was for the wholistic well-being of all humans, as God intends. (cf. Micah 6:8; Matthew 25:31–46; Luke 4:18–19)
The Responsibility of a Jesus Follower
As followers of Jesus, our primarily responsibility is to faithfully represent him and his mission in this world. Our singular purpose is to be more and more like him each day. When and where see someone hurting and suffering injustice (the effects of sin), to be like Jesus means we cannot ignore that (Luke 10:25–37).
A Practice & a Posture
As I am wrestling with this movement for racial reconciliation and justice and seeking to follow Jesus faithfully in this moment, I’m leaning into a practice and a posture in this season.
Listening— I do not and cannot fully understand the experiences of living in this country as a black person. For that matter, I cannot fully understand any experience other than my own. With that I confess that I have been ignorant of the experiences and to the cries of others. And because of that, before charging in with solutions, I have to practice listening. Listening first to the Word of God and the voice of the Spirit. Listening to the stories of those whos experience may be different from my own. James 1:19 instructs us to be quick to listen and slow to speak. For many of us, our response has to start there.
Humility — I’m also assuming a posture of humility. In Micah 6:8, the prophet says to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. Confessing my ignorance and lamenting with those who are expressing pain and sharing stories of suffering, I have to remain humble. It would further damage the situation if I charged in believing that I knew all the right things to say or had a 4 step plan or what needs to be done. In humility, I am taking my cues from pastors of color and brothers and sisters in Christ who have been a part of this movement far longer (see below).
What I want to say is that following Jesus should lead us into engaging the deep hurts and suffering of the world. That was how He demonstrated the coming of God’s Kingdom — not in a display of power, but in entering into the suffering of the world and overcoming it with new life available to all.
I’m still wrestling with this, and I want to be transparent in that. I’m still working to find what needs to change in my life and how I can best represent Jesus and care for others in this time. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed with all that is happening, especially if it’s new for you. But as we seek to follow Jesus faithfully, as we strive to care for all who bear the image of God, as we work to build bridges to those who are not like us, we must start prayerfully with the practice of listening and the posture of humility. Otherwise, our efforts will be scuttled from the outset.
Below I’ll leave some links to resources, articles, videos that I have been helped me.
I’m here to talk more about this with your or with your students. My heart is to model what it means to be faithful to Jesus and to represent him well. My study of the scripture leads me to believe that Christians cannot ignore this because where there is suffering, we have the message of life that comes only from Jesus.
Grace and peace,
Tyler Shores
Associate Pastor
Christian Life Center
Additional Resources for Next Steps:
- Be the Bridge
- Esau McCaulley’s Pentecost Sunday Sermon: The Flames of Pentecost, a World on Fire, and Hope for the Kingdom
- Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil’s Roadmap to Reconciliation
- Dr. John Perkins, Let Just Roll Down & One Blood
