At the Intersection

We are called to be part of one body of Christ, joined together with Him and through Him.  And, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 4 about the makeup of that body:
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

As members of that body, the blood of Jesus has flowed toward us, and His Spirit unites us, keeping us together, moving in the same direction - if, in fact, we are willing to allow that to occur.  Unfortunately, we can allow those areas in which we are different, issues over which we disagree, to sever what God has built for us in Christ.  The Church has been established on His firm foundation, but division will cause us to take our eyes off His principles and get them on each other's perceived deficiencies.

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In the book of 1st Corinthians, the apostle Paul is warning against artificial divisions that he observed in the church at Corinth - with people identifying more with labels than the love of Christ.  After
addressing such issues in chapter 1, he's back with more in chapter 3:
4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

Last week, I briefly called attention to this idea of "intersectionality," recognizing that there are true injustices in this world, primarily because the world is populated by imperfect human beings.  And, true justice ultimately comes from our Savior, who will ultimately make all things right under His authority.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned, there are attempts to redesign society by categorizing people into various oppressed "categories," and to level the playing field.  You may have heard the term, "intersectionality."  Tom Gilson, writing for The Stream, states:

The idea behind it is that it’s hard enough being a minority group member, but for people who are in more than one group at the same time, the oppression gets worse. One page lists five interacting categories: race, disability, sexual orientation, nationality and gender identity. Those are the categories that count. People who live in their intersections “face multiple forms of oppression.”

Josh Buice, a pastor in the greater Atlanta area, on his blog, wrote:

Intersectionality was originally coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a political activist and radical feminist, in order to describe oppression against women on specific different points of intersection. Today, it’s used in a more broad sense. In short, intersectionality as it has been defined, is discrimination based on overlapping layers of individual classes of discrimination. 

I related that Pastor Buice warns about this philosophy creeping into the Church, writing that, "it’s now being used within evangelical circles to describe people who are oppressed and 'held back' from certain advancement within evangelicalism. Today, conferences are being held, articles are being written, and people are talking quite frequently about social justice and intersectionality as it pertains to ethnic diversity and women empowerment."

Gilson points out that in this philosophy, people are divided by categories, which he doesn't see as an effective way of uniting people.  Gilson states:

Intersectionality treats people like categories, and it assigns special value to a handful of those categories. But categories don’t have pain; they don’t have experiences; they don’t live lives at all. People do. Members of minority groups have a much higher probability of discrimination than others do, yes, of course. But I’ve never sat and had coffee with a probability. Only with people.

Buice is one of the leaders of the multi-racial group of originators of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, which addresses matters relative to people being divided up into different categories.  It states:

WE DENY that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ. We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression. While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice.

John MacArthur, who is heard weekdays on Faith Radio, is a signer of the statement, as well.  On the Grace to You blog, he writes:

Today, critical race theory, feminism, intersectional theory, LGBT advocacy, progressive immigration policies, animal rights, and other left-wing political causes are all actively vying for evangelical acceptance under the rubric of “social justice.”

Not every evangelical leader currently talking about social justice supports the full spectrum of radical causes, of course. Most (for the moment, at least) do not. But they are using the same rhetoric and rationale of victimhood and oppression that is relentlessly employed by secularists who are aggressively advocating for all kinds of deviant lifestyles and ideologies. Anyone who claims victim status can easily and effectually harness the emotional appeal of a plea for “social justice” both to gain support and to silence opposition.

There are a few concepts that we can grapple with here.  I think you could surmise that the more you try to divide people into groups and labels, the less likely you are to foster unity.  We, like Gilson writes, should be concerned with compassion, not categories. Jesus in Matthew 25 called out certain groups of people - the sick, the stranger, those in prison - but He did not do so in order to establish categories of societal oppression, but to point out how His people, motivated by love, can seek to demonstrate that in how we allow Him to use us to meet their needs.

We should also seek to reflect His victory, rather than victimization.  Too often, people blame external factors for the difficulties they face and attribute more privileged classes of people with conspiring to mistreat them.  We understand that we live in a fallen world, and we will face hardship and suffering - it's part of the human condition.  But, rather than blame others for those circumstances, we can seek to trust God and follow the direction of Christ.

We can emphasize joy, instead of "justice."  Today, there are those that take justice to mean evening the score, leveling the playing field, trying to manipulate societal trends in order to guarantee the myth of equality - meaning equal outcomes.  This can produce rivalry and bitterness.  Rather, each day, we should be intent of reflecting the joy of Jesus, rather than seeing who we can blame for the negative circumstances of our lives and seeking to get even.  Biblical justice is not predicated on hatred for a perceived oppressor; we should all be concerned about justice, because it involves doing the right thing because it pleases God; it's motivated by love for Him and others.