How do we as the body of Christ see our role as the church in the city?  We are constantly carrying the tension of seeing the city as the city of God that is being restored by the power of the Gospel and will one day be fully restored in the New Creation (Jerusalem—see Rev. 21) and the city of Satan that is now present and in opposition to the city of God.  So when we look at the city we tend to see it in one of four ways:

• We despise the city. Church as fortress. (Forgetting the city as Jerusalem).
• We are the city. Church as mirror. (Forgetting the city as Babylon).
• We use the city. Church as space capsule. (Forgetting the city as battleground).
• We love the city. Church as leaven. Jeremiah 29.

Do you despise the city, only seeing it as a place to turn your nose up at and toward which to fire “evangelistic missiles”?  Do you see the church as a mirror, trying to make the church look as much like the city as possible?  Do you see the church as a space capsule, cloistered from the sinful world outside; a holy huddle safe from the dirtiness of the city?  Or do you see the church as leaven, seeking the welfare of the city, being witness not only by our individual lives, but by the beauty of our communal life?

Jeremiah 29 gives us a beautiful image of God’s people working for the welfare of a city that is not their home.  The Israelites want to return to Jerusalem.  They have their bags packed.  But God speaks through Jeremiah, telling them to dig roots.  He says, “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.  The Israelites were now citizens of Babylon (whether they liked it or not), but their heart longed to be in Jerusalem.  Christians today are in a very similar situation.  We have one foot in this present age and one foot in the age to come.  We are at the same time citizens of an earthly city and citizens of a heavenly one.  So the church should reflect this dual citizenship in her generosity with money and simplicity of life; in her racial diversity ethnically, economically, and socially; and in the purity of her members.  We are not to despise the city, mimic the city, or use the city—we are to love the city.

So how are you loving the city?  How are you working for the welfare of Louisville?  When is the last time you simply got to know your neighbor—that person in the apartment ten feet from yours that you pass every day and never say a word to?  Have you been living as leaven, seeking to love the city, or have you sought only your own welfare, forgetting that Christ died not only for you, but for your neighbor as well?  Take courage, Christian!  Be bold and seek to love your city by loving your neighbor!

(Adapted from Tim Keller’s A Biblical Theology of the City, http://www.e-n.org.uk/1869-A-biblical-theology-of-the-city.htm).

The only true and enduring motivation for the ministry of mercy is an experience and grasp of the grace of God in the gospel.  If we know we are sinners saved by grace alone[1], we will be both open and generous to the outcasts and the unlovely.

There are two powerful effects that the gospel of grace has on a person who has been touched by it.

1.  Grace and Loving Outcasts.

The person who knows that he received mercy while an undeserving enemy of God will have a heart of love for even (and especially!) the most ungrateful and difficult persons[2]…He thinks:  “Spiritually, I was just like these people, though physically and socially I never was where they are now.  They are outcasts.  I was an outcast.”

God gives mercy to the ungrateful and the wicked – that is what we were.  So shall we be like our Father in heaven if we show mercy even to these.  See the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matt. 18:21-35. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

The language of the Christian Heart sounds like the following:  “I am only where I am by the sheer and unmerited mercy of God.  I am completely equal with all other people.”  This understanding from the heart wells up compassion for all people who need the mercy of God.

2. Grace and Generosity

The second major effect that the gospel of grace has on a person is that it creates spontaneous generosity.

One of the reasons that Jesus puts the Samaritan in the parable is that he, by virtue of his race and history, has no obligations at all to stop and give aid.  Yet he stops.  Why?  Luke 10:33 tells us he was motivated by his compassion.

Mercy is commanded, but it must not be the response to a command, it is an overflowing generosity as a response to the mercy of God, which we received.

Often books and speakers tell Christians that they should help the needy because they have so much.  Of course this is true.  But this approach is very limited in its motivating power.  Ultimately is produces guilt.  The Bible does not use the guilt-producing motivation, yet it powerfully argues for the ministry of mercy.

Mercy is spontaneous, superabounding love, which comes from an experience of the grace of God.  The deeper the experience of the free grace of God, the more generous we must become.

What motivates you to love the poor?  the outcasts?  the unlovely?

Do you think of yourself as someone who is spiritually poor, a sinner, and in need of God’s mercy? Take some time to reflect on your need for God’s mercy.  Own your sin and your need of a savior.

Now, reflect on the grace of God showered upon you through the gospel.  Go and do likewise.

Much of the content of this blog can be found verbatim in the book Ministries of Mercy by Tim Keller.

[2] Romans 5:8ff