Justice
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How should we respond to injustice?
How should we respond to injustice?
we live in a world filled with injustice. Where right is wrong and wrong is right. Where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. We often walk around with rose coloured glasses thinking that if it doesn’t effect me or my family I can ignore it all.
42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
What is the Justice of God? Justice is said to “mean rightness with God; nothing is just until it is adjusted to God.” it goes on to say: “Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.”
Chambers, O. (1936). The moral foundation of life: a series of talks on the ethical principles of the Christian life. Hants UK: Marshall, Morgan & Scott.
Doing justice in an unjust world means we need to align our lives with God’s justice.
What does that look like?
21 Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
What is justice for God? Knowing what is right and doing it.
What do we do?
What do we do?
14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
You have great faith in God. You have asked him into your heart. You are reading your Bible, praying daily. You are active in your church, you go to bible study, prayer meetings. Yet when you see those hurting, lonely, hungry, you see injustice yet you walk by. As I have so many times.
1 Let love of the brethren continue.
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
Now this is not meant to be our only motivation for doing what is justice or right in the eyes of God. But it should cause us to stop and think.
2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
We don’t do works of righteousness or Justice for acknowledgement.
3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
We do what is right because this is what God asks us to do. We may never get any recognition or praise.
Why do we do it? Hear the case against Israel’s leaders
1 God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers.
2 How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.
7 “Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations.
We don’t do this work for the sake of just doing it. We have a higher calling. We reach out to the poor, the orphan, the weak, the needy so they can know the one true God.
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
And glorify your Father who is in heaven .
The best thing you can give a person alone is the presence of God, the best thing you can give to an orphan is a Father in heaven, the best thing you can give a hungry person is the Bread of Life; Jesus, the best thing you can give a thirst person is Living Water so they will never thirst again lead them to Jesus. Now that doesn’t mean don’t cloth them, feed them, give them a drink, or be their friend, or take the orphan in your home. But in doing this your purpose needs to be show them Jesus.
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Love, Live, and Toil
The late Will Rogers had these lines engraved on a huge watch which he presented to David Rubinoff, the consummate violinist:
The Clock of Life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop,
At late or early hour.
Now is the only time we own;
Love, life, toil with a will;
Do not wait until tomorrow,
For the Clock may then be still.
Use wisely the time you are given. Make a difference in the world around you not just to make a moment of difference. But to bring real justice to those in need, to feed the hungry physically and spiritual, be a friend to lonely walk with them and help find the friend that will never leave them. By a mother or father to the orphan but help know their heavenly Father.
This year in the passing of my dad I realizes we only have so much time to make a difference. My hope is that I can be all that God wants me to be. Not looking for justice but be the justice of God to all people. SO they can know what is right and just in God. That all will know his love. SO all people no matter who they are or how they are can know God as I know him.