Sermon Tone Analysis

Scriptures

Flow Ideas

Introduction

Read Primary Scripture

Focus: God’s concern for justice

Exegete key aspects of text

Supplemental texts as a tour de force

Judgement for how we do this — clearly it matters that we do justice and love kindness

Clarity: Biblical justice vs. social justice

Compare and contrast.

Think vinn diagram.

Overlap in some ways.

But two very different starting points and systems of thought.

Biblical justice...

Is the fruit of authentic faith

Begins in the family

Emanates out in society

Social justice...

Is the fruit of the fear of man

Begins in society

Deconstructs the family

God’s concern is that we love our neighbor well in practical, tangible ways

What does it look like to be a person of justice and mercy?

Good Samaritan story

Who is my neighbor?

Proximity

Passions

You are not called to carry the weight of all the justice issues on earth

You are called to carry the weight of your neighbor’s burdens.

The church has done this incredibly well throughout its history

Examples...

Intro

The black eye of the church?

Paint the popular picture

Reality: God and His people have always led the way in works of justice and mercy

We are called to continue that concern.

Plan: show God’s heart for true justice and mercy, and to invite our people to walk in it.

Quotes

WE DENY that political or social activism should be viewed as integral components of the gospel or primary to the mission of the church.

Though believers can and should utilize all lawful means that God has providentially established to have some effect on the laws of a society, we deny that these activities are either evidence of saving faith or constitute a central part of the church’s mission given to her by Jesus Christ, her head.

We deny that laws or regulations possess any inherent power to change sinful hearts.

(“The Dallas Statement”)

Baucham Jr., Voddie.

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe (p.

240).

Salem Books.

Kindle Edition.

As the Lord said to Shallum, King Josiah’s son, “Did not your father have food and drink?

He did what was right and just, so all went well with him.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.

Is that not what it means to know me?” (Jer 22:15b–16).

Two applications of this passage are offered by Stuart:

1. Faithful participation in worship is not enough.

It must be accompanied by faithful, proper living.

2. A good look at the past reminds us of God’s loyalty, and of our responsibility to be loyal to him in return.29

Introduction

The last six weeks we’ve been looking at the characteristics of a disciple of Jesus — the vital signs of someone who has truly believed the Gospel and is living in an abiding relationship with the Triune God.

These vital signs should be descriptive of your life if you are a Christian.

For any area where you’re lacking, they should at least be aspirational.

You should be able to say, “Yes, I want that.”

So we’ve looked at worship, community, intimacy with God, generosity, and living on mission with the Gospel.

Today, we end the series by looking at one final vital sign of dynamic life in Christ.

It is this:

Dynamic disciples of Jesus are people of justice and mercy.

What is Justice?

But what is justice?

My guess is, for some in this room, me just saying the word from the pulpit makes you squirm a little bit.

You can’t hear justice without thinking we’re about to run this thing into the ditch of political ideology.

For some of you, “justice” conjures the idea of “law and order,” absolute standards of truth, equal opportunity, and Blue Lives Matter.

For others of you, “justice” is more about “voting blue” than “backing the blue,” political activism, deconstructing oppression, and Black Lives Matter.

The world on the Right and the Left