Doing Justice in the Ordinary

When I first opened up Tony’s book, Ordinary, I was surprised to find a biblical appeal for Christians to act on justice and mercy. We’re excited to be talking with pastor and author Tony Merida this week on the issue of how we, as Christians, can do justice in the ordinary things of life. Often we can think (and I’m guilty of this) that justice and mercy ministries take away from “gospel,” but Tony quickly diminishes that idea by explaining that the gospel is what empowers us to do justice. Also, doing justice doesn’t always mean quitting your job and flying halfway around the world to bust a human trafficking ring (although it might), but it also looks like inviting your low-income neighbour over for dinner.

 

Who’s Our Guest?

Tony Merida is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, N.C. He has also served as Associate Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. His books include: Faithful Preaching, Orphanology, Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down, Proclaiming Jesus and eight volumes in the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series (B&H), of which he also serves as a general editor, along with Danny Akin and David Platt. He is happily married to Kimberly; and they have five adopted children.

Episode Links

If you’re interested in Tony’s book, Ordinary, be sure to check out the book site and trailer.

During our conversation, I found out that Tony also hosts a podcast for the Acts 29 Network.

And if you’re interested in looking at the church Tony preaches at, check out Imago Dei Church.

Read It

*Below is an edited transcription of the audio conversation.

With me today is Tony Merida. Tony is the pastor for preaching and vision at Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thank you Tony for chatting with me today!

Thanks Isaac, great to be with you.

Before we get into the topic of our conversation, why don’t you first let us know who you are – specifically, I always love hearing how you meet Jesus (or how did Jesus find you?) and where are you and what are you doing now?

Yeah, so I was born in Detroit, Michigan but moved to Kentucky when I was small. Grew up with a dad who was not a Christian. He was a hard-working factory worker. My mom was a Christian. She took me to church services when I was young, but I never really understood the gospel until later.

I went to college, went to a small college in Kentucky on a baseball scholarship. In my sophomore year I was a shortstop, and our second baseman, Steven, was a Christian. Through his witness, I became a Christian in my sophomore year. It was really a dramatic conversion in many ways. I was living a very rebellious lifestyle – was not interested in God, the Bible, or anything to do with Christianity. And he just lived a very attractive, grace-filled Christian life in front of me. He had a tremendous impact on my life. The Lord used him to bring me to Himself.

Then I started sharing my testimony a bit, attended Bible studies, and began to see that I really loved to teach the Bible – to preach about God’s grace. But I really didn’t know what I was doing.