Many moderate and progressive-minded Christians are trying to live our faith in the most actionable way possible. We want a church that takes suffering seriously, tells the truth about injustice, shows up for neighbors and looks like Jesus in public.
I want that too.
Jackson Campbell-Walker
But there is a subtle trade we can make without noticing. We can let the good work of the church replace the good news of the church. We can become people who do good in Jesus’ name while drifting from the message that makes us Christian in the first place.
I have seen this up close. In one congregation I served, we were busy and generous, always starting the next ministry and funding the next project. Yet it often felt like the gospel was assumed rather than proclaimed, and our identity was becoming “the people who do good” instead of “the people who live by good news.”
Let me be clear. Justice, mercy, compassion and service are not opposed to the gospel. They are part of what the gospel produces. The problem is not that we care about justice. The problem is that we sometimes try to let justice do the work only the gospel can do. We can speak fluently about what Christians should do while neglecting to say what God has done. And by “saying what God has done,” I do not mean corner preaching or door-to-door scripts. I mean a whole-life immersion in the central announcement that God has acted in Jesus for us and for our salvation.
“Our identity was becoming ‘the people who do good’ instead of ‘the people who live by good news.’”
The ancient church summarized that news with one phrase: “For us and for our salvation.” In Jesus Christ, God has acted to reconcile the world to Godself through Christ’s life, death and resurrection. By faith and through the Spirit we are forgiven, freed and made new. Without this truth, we have lost the plot.
So why are we tempted to trade the Cross for a cause? I am preaching to myself here. Some of us carry an understandable suspicion of “cheap grace,” especially if we grew up in spaces where “the gospel” sounded like forgiveness without repentance. Some of us feel pressure to be credible in the public square, so we keep proclamation quiet. And if we are honest, we can make activism into our assurance. We begin to feel safe because we have done a good thing, rather than resting in the blessed assurance that God has done the saving work we never could do.
Our causes can accomplish real good, and we should thank God for that. But they cannot do what the Cross already has done. The Cross addresses what our projects cannot finally solve: Sin, guilt, death and our estrangement from God. That is why the gospel must come first.
When the gospel comes first, it does not eliminate action. It produces it. Good works are fruit that grows from grace, not the root that produces it. When we reverse that order, our work collapses into burnout, cynicism or despair. But when mercy and justice flow from grace, the action looks different. It becomes less performative and more humble. It becomes more patient and hopeful.
“Good works are fruit that grows from grace, not the root that produces it.”
We can usually tell when we have made the trade because the center of gravity shifts. Jesus becomes strangely distant. We talk more about causes than Christ. Words like “repentance,” “conversion” and “salvation” start to feel embarrassing or “too much.” Worship becomes optional. Prayer becomes a last resort. Scripture becomes a toolkit for supporting what we already believe rather than a living word that confronts and comforts us.
So how do we find our way back? Not by turning away from justice and mercy, but by returning them to their proper place. We re-center preaching and teaching on Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. We recover repentance and confession as the freeing practice of telling the truth before God. We keep prayer and Scripture central because cross-shaped action requires cross-shaped formation. We serve and advocate, and we also speak plainly of forgiveness, new life and the hope that has a name.
I am not saying progressive Christians are uniquely bad or that our concern for the vulnerable is misguided. Much of it is beautiful and faithful. My plea is simply this: Do not trade the Cross for the cause. Do not replace the good news with good deeds. Hold them together in the order the gospel gives: Grace first, then fruit; Christ first, then action.
Jackson Campbell-Walker serves as associate pastor at First Baptist Church of Morehead, Ky.