Justice in the Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Fight For Truth
Be Willing To Stand Alone
Love Those Who Despise You
Serve The Neglected
Fight For Truth
Fight For Truth
First thing, we see in this chapter is that justice is a matter of truth telling.
Exodus 23:1 (ESV)
“You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
As we’ve discussed a few weeks back, bearing false witness is more than just saying something that is factually untrue. It is about performing TRUTH ACTS.
The example we used from Tim Keller several weeks ago of a bank robber witness shows how someone can be factually accurate and still performing a false act. Say the person is a witness to an armed bank robbery. The robbery takes place at 4:00 PM. He watches a man who he doesn’t like walk out at 3:59 PM as the robber is walking in at 4:00 PM and when put on the stand at trial and asked did the 3:59 man robbed the bank, he responds “Well, I can tell you this the bank robbery happened around 4 and I saw him leave around 4.
That is technically accurate but it is a FALSE STATEMENT.
We, in our fallen nature, oftentimes play games like this.
We even do it at a personal level: two brothers arguing over the last slice of pizza and one brother who has already had his portion asks his brother, “Hey you still hungry?” And when the brother says the hungry brother goes into the kitchen and eats his brother’s remaining portion. And when the other brother actually does grow hungry and goes in search of his pizza slice only to find out it's been eaten, his brother responds “Well, you said you weren't hungry so I just assumed you weren’t going to eat it.”
Fam that’s playing games with the facts without attempting to act truthfully.
The idea of spreading a false report means not only not sharing things that are technically inaccurate but don’t even share things that are technically accurate in an underhanded way that casts innocent people in guilty lights.
Say, you and a friend or you and your spouse have a falling out...You get into a heated argument that leaves you divided…
Now you’re sitting down with someone and you’re recapping what happened so they can offer some counsel to you.
ARE YOU SHARING THE WHOLE STORY when you’re explaining it to them or are you withholding certain pieces that may place you in a negative light.
You told them that he said “he hates you” but did you tell them that he said it after you said “you hate him”?
You told them that she said “you don’t need to buy anything” but did you tell them that she said that “you don’t need to buy anything else” after you went out and purchased a new motorcycle without discussing it with her?
This is a FALSE REPORT…
In fact the first statement in verse 1 is a warning against gossip, and this is how most GOSSIP works! Not with clearly inaccurate information, but with deceptive half truths and pieces of information that cast the object of the gossip in a negative light.
The second statement in verse 1 paints more of a picture of a courtroom proceeding and gets to the heart of why many people perform these false acts…
They’re trying to help people escape accountability in their wickedness...
JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS can’t be established in environments where this is normal. Half-truths to get my way. Giving wicked people room to skate by as long as it suits my interest. We shouldn’t be surprised at the unbelievable levels of brokenness in our politics, in our denominations, in our churches, and even in our homes, when you consider that this is how SO MUCH of the game is currently played!
One theologians rightly highlights three ways in which this kind of posture towards truth can damage us:
It confuses the observers . It can influence what people thought about an individual so that they would relate differently to him than otherwise would have been the case…
It destroys the innocent. It can serve as the basis for improperly arresting and/or bringing to trial someone who was actually innocent or someone who was less responsible for a situation or crime than would rise to a prosecutable level; and so forth.
It divides the people. It could create factionalism as one group believed the report about a member of another group, and the person’s own group determined that the report had to have been started by the other group.
Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 523). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Truth telling is an oxygen for righteousness and justice. You want to see injustice and unrighteousness flourish? Create a space where you’re not just playing games with facts. You are actually working to be TRUTHFUL: speaking in truth and acting in truth.
ILLUSTRATION: You know when we think about racial reconciliation. One of the things we haven’t spent enough time on in the last 30 years of that movement is establishing what is the actual truth that has led to all of the division. Truth matters in the pursuit of Justice, Righteousness, and Unity.
It should come as no surprise to any of us that reconciliation has hit some many roadblocks. We are still coming to a place where we can even agree on what actually divides us in the first place.
Bryan Stevenson, Christian, Public Interest Lawyer, Activist, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and author of Just Mercy once said when asked about the connection between truth and reconciliation:
“I think we all want reconciliation. We want peace, we want understanding, we want redemption—all of these wonderful things. But we haven’t committed ourselves to truth-telling. Truth and reconciliation are not simultaneous. They are sequential. Tell the truth first, and it’s the truth that motivates you to understand what it will take to recover, repair, endure—to reconcile.
I think we haven’t done the hard part, truth-telling, which is a predicate, the precondition to the reformation and reconciliation that follows.”
In order for us to be the kind of people where righteousness flourishes inside our walls as God designs. In order for us to be the kind of people that can serve as a miraculous example to the world outside of our walls as God desires.
We must be a people wholly committed to fighting for truth.
What else do we need...We need to be willing to stand alone...
Be Willing To Stand Alone
Be Willing To Stand Alone
Exodus 23:2–3 (ESV)
2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
There are two ways the crowd is depicted here. Actually DOING INJUSTICE. Another way is BEARING FALSE WITNESS to SIDE WITH THE MANY and PERVERT JUSTICE!
In order to truly understand justice, you must also understand that the pursuit of it may sometimes lead you to stand in solidarity with the masses but it oftentimes leads us to stand in solidarity with the few.
We live in this culture that is pulling us in two directions. There is a crowd on one side and they have positions that they established. There is a crowd on the other side and they have all of their position that they have established, but I truly believe where most of the justice is to be found is the minority that isn’t on either side. The minority that is willing to speak truth as loudly to the camp they’re closest to as they are the camp they are farthest from. The minority that is willing to affirm when one side is right and when that same side misses it.
When we yearn for the favor of our peers over the commendations of our God, we will remain silent in the face of unrighteousness.
Pastors/Theologians Phil Ryken and Kent Hughes have this to say about this passage:
“This is the law to remember when everyone at school is making fun of the kid that nobody likes or in college when everyone wants to go out drinking on Friday night. It is the law to remember when your company is cheating or when everyone on the board wants to approve something immoral. These are only the pressures we face from our peers. Add to them all the pressures we face from the culture around us. What does the crowd tell us? It tells us to get as much as we can, to prize outward beauty more than inward piety, to go ahead and gratify our sinful desires, and not to let ourselves be inconvenienced by other people’s needs. Before we know it, we are not only dressing the way other people dress and buying what other people buy, but thinking the way they think and doing what they do. But God has called us to be different. He says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing what is wrong. You belong to Jesus, and you need to follow him.””
Ryken, P. G., & Hughes, R. K. (2005). Exodus: saved for God’s glory (p. 748). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
You know when we think about those who’ve gone before us in the faith. Those who stood for righteousness and justice. We invest an awful lot of time dwelling on their triumphs...
Daniel
Joseph
Moses
Before Daniel was rescued from the Lion’s Den, he stood alone and refused to bow to the King in worship.
Before Joseph stood second in command in Egypt rescuing them from years long famine, he stood alone, sold into slavery by His brothers, and incarcerated on false sexual assault charges
Before Moses was victorious in delivering the children of Israel out of bondage, he was alone in the wilderness banished from the Kingdom he was raised in because he tried to step in and defend his own brothers who we were being brutalized.
We have to willing to stand alone in righteousness to enjoy the eventual blessing of righteousness. Whether it be in this life or in the life to come...
Impartial Justice…When the poor man is wrong, he must be held accountable...
3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
When the rich man is wrong, he must be held accountable...
6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.
Love Those Who Despise You
Love Those Who Despise You
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
What they might deserve versus what we choose to give...
Justice requires mercy in order to flourish.
A system, a people, a church that is only filled with vengeance leaves no room for justice.
The cycle of vengeance has to cease...
What’s happening in our city...
What happened in the Civil Rights Movement
What must happen in the Kingdom...
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.
Brothers and sisters, the kingdom of God at every level is about exchanging mercy for vengeance. Love for retaliation...
Personal relationships, Corporate Relationships,
Serve The Needy
Serve The Needy
From this text we’re reminded that God’s law also charges us to serve well those who have been neglected and overlooked.
To practice justice is to consider how the neglected among you are viewed and treated. This often includes the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner.
Here is Bryan Stevenson again: “You ultimately judge the civility of a society not by how it treats the rich, the powerful, the protected and the highly esteemed, but by how it treats the poor, the disfavored and the disadvantaged....”
As He is forging the path for Israel to be a just people, the Lord points to this in several ways.
The first way is actually in chapter 22.
Exodus 22:21–27 (ESV)
21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child...25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.
Don’t take advantage. Do not exploit them. Don’t do wrong to them based on some preconceived notion of what they deserve. Don’t see them as opportunities for quick gain.
In other words, don’t play on their desperation.
Many of our systems literally are built to play on the desperate. Payday lending raises interest rates to astronomical figures because of the desperation people feel in needing money immediately with no other place to turn to for it.
But we can see similar exploitation at a local level. Hiring immigrant workers and refusing to pay fair wages because they may be in fear of their status in this country.
We can even see this type of exploitation at a personal level: Paying poor people pennies on the dollar of what the work is actually valued because they're desperate enough to accept it.
“We’ll work for food” should not be an invitation to pay less than a fair wage for whatever work they do. When we cut checks for people, we are representing Jesus. When we place tips in jars for people we are representing Jesus to them. We must treat the fatherless child, husbandless widow, the struggling foreigner, the moneyless poor with the same dignity as we treat all people. OTHERWISE, HE himself will come for us.
Exodus 22:23-24
23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
We see instances in Scripture of the Lord announcing judgement on those who exploit the neglected. One such place is Amos 2:
Amos 2:6-8
6 The Lord says:
I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four,
because they sell a righteous person for silver and a needy person for a pair of sandals.
7 They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground
and obstruct the path of the needy. A man and his father have sexual relations
with the same girl, profaning my holy name.
8 They stretch out beside every altar on garments taken as collateral,
and in the house of their God they drink wine obtained through fines.
Notice the Lord’s indictments. In verses 6-7, He says Israel is collectively exploiting needy and desperate people. However, here’s what’s striking in verse 8 as He declares the final indictment. They are now worshipping God with the fruit of their exploitation.
They drink wine that was bought using the exploitative fines from the needy.
They lay prostrate near the altar on garments given up as collateral because they had nothing else left to give.
God says this kind of conduct requires judgement.
We see hear it again in verses 7...
Saints, God shows His regard for the neglected by showing how passionately He will defend them when they are taken advantage of, but He also shows His regard for the neglected in how weaves their care into the very fabric of Israel’s way of life.
Exodus 23:10–11 (ESV)
10 “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.
This is a fascinating passage…
The ground must rest...
The poor must be prioritized...
Conclusion (verse 13)
Conclusion (verse 13)
Where is the root for pursuing Justice in this way…Fighting for truth, Standing Alone, Loving our Enemies, Serving the needy in this way...
First root is in verse 9...
9 You must not oppress a resident alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.
You were once the neglected...
The second root is in verse 13
Exodus 23:13 (ESV)
13 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.
God has called you out to be different...
Dealing with our neighbors in this manner and upholding righteousness in this way is what it means to obey God.
These standards cut against the natural bend of your heart: You’re going to be tempted to follow the crowd, to payback those who mistreat you, to justify your neglect of the neglected by telling yourself that they probably did something to deserve it.
The third and most important root is found in our Savior...
Fight For Truth
He not only fought for truth, He was the very embodiment of truth.
Be Willing To Standalone
At the moment of the cross, He was abandoned and deserted in order to complete the mission assigned by His father.
Love Those Who Despise You
At the moment of the cross, Jesus hung there and did good for those who meant Him harm. He brought forgiveness to guilty while the guilty punished Him in His innocence. As He hung there, He declared “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!”
Serve The Needy
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”