Freedom and Justice for All
Oneness Embraced • Sermon • Submitted
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· 15 viewsOneness Embraced Week 6 - Freedom and Justice for All
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The US has historically had a strong link with the idea of freedom
Declaration of Independence
Bill of Rights
Liberty Bell
Statue of Liberty - “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”
Freedom - normally to be pursued within the bounds of Biblical morals (until recently)
Immorality, divorce, homosexuality, abortion - all fine
Prayer, Bible reading in public schools - not allowed according to the Supreme Court
Biblical teaching on morality - seen as “hate speech”
Good is called evil; evil is called good
More of an emphasis on freedom than most any other country (e.g., gun ownership)
Does this American view of freedom line up with the Bible’s? (Joshua 5:13-15)
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Not “is God on our side” - but rather, “are we on God’s”
Sometimes people want to write off the message of the Bible because it fails to condemn slavery. This shows gross ignorance of ancient culture and history, and of the Bible itself.
“If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired worker and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee.
Does that sound like the Bible in any way speaks approvingly about the type of slavery in this country, where people in Africa were kidnapped and forcibly transported to America and sold as property?
“Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.
If the Bible’s view of Freedom differs with that of society, we side with the Bible
If the Bible’s view of Justice differs with that of society, we side with the Bible
Freedom
Freedom
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
Several allusions that we need to understand
Fulfilled Prophecy from Isaiah
Who is “upon me” ?
Some Jews - Isaiah?? but that doesn’t make any sense
Others - The servant of the Lord, the Messiah
What parts are missing? “the day of vengeance of our God”
The Year of Jubilee
Sabbath year - one year in 7: no sowing the field, no pruning the vineyard
Year of Jubilee
The day of atonement comes first - sin is dealt with (at lease symbolically)
The land has rest - v. 11
Proportional sale prices - v. 14-15
“Slaves” are freed - v. 39-40
Genius of the law
Law of gleaning - Those with possessions could not harvest every last kernel of grain for themselves; but…the poor had to work for what they received
Even if hard times befall a family…at least once in a generation, things are reset
Did Israel keep these sabbaths? years of jubilee? No
Jesus’ message of liberty - literal or spiritual?
Good news to the poor? Yes - to those who believed in Jesus (many rich did not)
Liberty to the captives? No
Sight to the blind? Yes
Liberty to the oppressed? No
The year of the Lord’s favor? In a spiritual sense
Is liberty part of the gospel? Is it part of our mission as Christians?
Content - Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15: 1– 4)
Scope
The gospel’s scope, however, reaches further into sanctification, within which is located the concepts of justice and social action. We see this scope in Paul’s use of the word gospel when he informs the Christians in Rome that by the “gospel” they are established (Romans 16: 25). Likewise, in the book of Romans the gospel is called “the power of God for salvation” (1: 16), and is said to include “the righteousness of God … revealed from faith to faith” (v. 17). This righteousness includes sanctification, since “the righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2: 4; Romans 1: 17).
Evans, Tony. Oneness Embraced (p. 267). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
We should be concerned for the welfare of our enemies as well as our neighbors
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.
13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14 And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. 15 You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16 If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God.
Justice
Justice
What is justice?
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology God, the Righteous Judge
Justice is rooted in the very nature of God (Isa. 40:14). He evenhandedly rewards good, and he does not ignore the sins of any (Pss. 33:5; 37:6, 28; 97:2; 99:4). Human judges do well to remember God in their courts. God does not take bribes (Deut. 10:17) or pervert justice in any way (Gen. 18:25; 2 Chron. 19:7).
At the same time, God rarely delivers instant justice. The world does not seem fair while evil still abounds, and so the oppressed petition God to intervene on their behalf (Ps. 7:9; Prov. 29:26). Their prayers may even take the form of a complaint (Hab. 1:2–4), although people must not challenge God’s essential justice (Job 40:8; Mal. 2:17). That God will decisively intervene in the future is the biblical hope.
If the principles of biblical justice were implemented in our society today, we wouldn’t have prisons full to overflowing. This is because the aim of biblical justice is always a cessation of the crime coupled, when possible, with restitution to the victim. In biblical times, this was carried out in one of three ways: capital, corporal, or economic punishment. Capital punishment addressed heinous offenders by applying a severe penalty to severe crimes. Corporal punishment regulated a controlled form of physical punishment, along with the potential for restitution (Exodus 21: 22– 25, 28– 30). Economic punishment put economic justice into effect through the repayment with interest of what had been lost through the crime (Exodus 22: 1– 3).
Evans, Tony. Oneness Embraced (pp. 274-275). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Biblical justice is not first of all a set of bullet points or a set of rules and guidelines. It is rooted in the very character of God and it is the outworking of that character, which is never less than just. - Tim Keller
Tim Keller - four part series. More philosophical but no less helpful.
Justice is God’s nature
Justice is God’s law
The truest idea of justice is in understanding these two; man’s definition will always fall short.
What is social justice/injustice? It depends on definitions
Police brutality, racial profiling, When an African American is killed by police due to excessive force - that’s just justice
A demand for equality of condition and outcome (vs equality of opportunity). The idea that wherever some imbalance exists, whether of wealth, power, education, or prestige, injustice is at work. This is not Biblical justice
Thomas Sowell - “what is your fair share of what others have worked for?”
Jesus:
- The poor you have with you always
- It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven
- The last will be first; the first will be last
Applications
There can be a role for believers to play in proclaiming freedom
The ultimate freedom is in salvation
Our sanctification should include good works and concern for others
True justice is based on God and His word
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?