Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRO—

[[Everyone get out your Bibles.

Hold them up, and…]]

QUESTION: “Does Christianity have an impact on living “here & now?”

YES.

QUOTE: “Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a might stream”

Who said it?

—AMOS (5.24)

[Amos 5.24 “But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.”]

Attribution on the memorial is… MLK, Jr. ( “I Have a Dream” speech (1963)).

[[& “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere;” Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)]

JUSTICE DEFINED

Webster’s: “the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments”

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary: (Two major aspects of justice biblically) “the standard by which penalties are assigned for breaking the obligations of the society…and the standard by which the advantages of social life are handed out, including material goods, rights of participation, opportunities, and liberties.

It is the standard for both punishment and benefits and thus can be spoken of as a plumb line.”

Isaiah 28.17 “And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.”

Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.”

[Note the correlation of JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS.]

JUSTICE APPLIED

ETERNALLY

Romans 3.23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;”

Romans 6.23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

TEMPORALLY

God’s Call

Micah 6.8 “Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Correlation of Righteousness and Justice

Hab 2.4 “Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity.

But the righteous one will live by his faith.”

Rom 1.17 “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”

[The focal point of the Reformation!]

Hab 1.4 “This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges.

For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.”

Amos 5.7 “Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground.”

[[Also, Ten Commandments (Exodus 20.1-17) AND Exodus 23.2 ““You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing.

Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.””]]

Opportunities!!!

Proverbs 24.11 “Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter.”

Psalm 139.13-14 “For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.”

[[You know…after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, I don’t hear anyone calling for “moving on”… “that issue is settled.”]]

Psalm 103.6 “The Lord executes acts of righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”

Psalm 106.3 “How happy are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times.”

Proverbs 31.8-9

“Speak up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed.

Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.”

Ecclesiastes 5.8 “If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them.”

Jeremiah 22.3 “This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness.

Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor.

Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow.

Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.”

Leviticus 19.34 “You will regard the alien who resides with you as the native-born among you.

You are to love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”

[[Ephesians 2.13-19 “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.

He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,”]]

CONCL—

QUESTION: “What would our Lord find us doing if he returned today?

The Micah 6.8…Justice, Mercy, Humility???

Matthew 23.23 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

These things should have been done without neglecting the others.”

Jeremiah 9.24 “But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me— that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things.

This is the Lord’s declaration.”