Rush to Justice

 This is a sermon addressing the culturally popular call for "social justice" in our society. The message attempts to analyze justice from a biblical perspective and to contrast the biblical message from what is being promoted in society. If you would like to view a video recording of the worship service in which this message was delivered, please click here.

Written excerpts of the message are provide below.

Micah 6:8 (NKJV)  He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Introduction:

You may have heard the phrase, “… a rush to judgment” as a reference to those who are seeking some kind of retribution against a suspected offender, without proper care for evidence or facts. Kris and I have been watching some videos loaned to us by our daughter. We have seasons 1 & 2 of the old TV series, “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” In the episodes we have watched so far, there has occasionally been an accusation raised against one of the townspeople or the neighboring Cheyenne Indians. Most of the time there is a presumption of guilt levied against the offender, and nearly the whole town is ready to “string them up.” Thankfully, in these videos as in most movies, there usually seems to be a resolution to the issue and the correct villain is identified, and the innocent is vindicated as the true facts come to light.

What has been true at times about the rush to condemn an individual without all the facts, is also true about the rush to condemn certain aspects of a society or culture without knowing all of the facts. This particularly applies to the current push in our society for what many are calling “social justice.” Social justice is such a nice sounding term. Who in their right mind would oppose such an idea?

You have all watched and listened during recent months and even years as the mainstream media networks have provided positive coverage of those in our society who have been agitating for cultural, economic and legal changes in order to make us a “more fair and equitable society.” The demand for such revolutionary changes has been intensified most recently by the violent protests and riots that have taken place in dozens of cities around the country.

I acknowledge that I purposely avoided speaking from the pulpit about those events for awhile for this reason: I assumed that most of us had been seeing and/or hearing about the unrest all week long, and looked forward to coming to church in order to get away from it and focus our minds on eternal truths that remain constant in spite of the upheaval and unrest all around us. I still believe that focusing on eternal truths in the midst of chaos is crucial for our own mental health and spiritual health. It is important for us to remember that God is not shaken, confused or frustrated by all the unrest and chaos. However, I also believe that God wants His church/people to impact our culture with truth, so that our “rush to justice” isn’t void of truth and facts.

Kris and I had the opportunity to attend a conference a few weeks ago in KY where one of the topics addressed was “social justice.” Since then I felt the Lord leading me to speak on the issue from a biblical perspective in order to help us all have a better grasp on what is happening and how we should respond.

Today, I want to focus on some biblical foundations for the concept of justice, then I want to follow up next Sunday by evaluating what is often meant by “social justice” in contemporary public discourse. Before we get started, I want us to understand that the concept of “justice” in the Bible is truly about being righteous. It involves right conduct, and right treatment of others. In regard to judicial matters, it is the punishment of evil as well as the reward for the good.

I.             God cares about justice.

A. Justice is rooted in the character of God.

Psalm 72:1 (NKJV) Give the king Your judgments, O God, And Your righteousness to the king's Son.

Amos 5:24 (NKJV)  But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.

This text follows verses that describes God’s disdain for religious rituals while righteous conduct has been forsaken.

When God established a covenant with the people of Israel (The Ten Commandments), He outlined how the people were expected to act toward Him and how they were to act toward each other. He revealed the fact He was not only a God who wanted to be revered and obeyed in regard to worship, but He also cares deeply about people and it matters how His covenant people treat one another.

Ezek. 18: The passage of Scripture that was read earlier this morning provides an example of the kinds of behavior that God expects. This passage describes hypothetical behavior of a father, his son, and the grandson. The first one follows specific expectations of righteous conduct. The son does not follow in the father’s footsteps, but violates all of the principles of righteous behavior, while the grandson returns to the conduct of the grandfather and lives a righteous life as well. God declares through the prophet that the father should not die for the sins of the son and the son should not be spared judgment because of the righteous life of the father. Finally, the grandson should not die for the sins of his father. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

B. Two lessons we can take from the passage in Ezekiel.

1. Obvious one - Everyone will be held accountable for his own life and not what others have done.

2. It provides us with an example of the kinds of conduct that God considers to be righteous and unrighteous and shows that God cares about right behavior toward others.

Righteous conduct involves right behavior towards our fellow human beings. We have the positive examples and the negative examples. There are numerous other examples in the Bible where God’s people in the OT and in the NT are expected to act righteously toward their fellow human beings.

For example: Job 29:12-17 (NKJV) ¹²  Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper. ¹³  The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. ¹⁵  I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. ¹⁶  I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know. ¹⁷  I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.

Leviticus 19:35-36 (NKJV) ³⁵  'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. ³⁶  You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

God cares about justice and He reveals it in His word through the law and the gospel.

II.           Christians are expected to act righteously.

Micah 6:8 (NKJV)  He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Sermon on the Mount contains many directives for personal righteous behavior that reaches the core motives and attitudes of the heart, not just outward actions. e.g. murder/hatred; adultery/lust

James 2:1 (NKJV)  My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.

In the same chapter he illustrates the absurdity of only saying words but not following up with action, and the illustration involves feeding and clothing the poor.

1 Samuel 8:3 (NKJV)  But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

We could provide dozens of Scriptures that teach Christians and children of God to not only live morally pure lives and be devoted to the Lord, but to also demonstrate their love for God by caring for others. All of our actions and business dealings are to be done with honesty and integrity.

III.          Christians should influence national righteousness.

Righteous conduct on the part of individual Christians includes doing whatever we can to influence just, good and righteous policies in the society.

I have repeatedly referred to Matthew 5:13-16 where Jesus teaches His disciples that we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.” There are all kinds of ways this principle can and should be applied to daily life, but the simple truth is that we must be a positive influence for righteousness in our world.

e.g. Slavery – Before there ever was a civil war over the issue of slavery, there were countless individuals who were exerting every possible influence to change the minds and hearts of those making laws.

There are different ways we can influence our world for a more just society, not by attempting to set up a theocracy, but by being righteous, being salt and light in our own personal lives. There are all kinds of ways for Christians to work together to help those who are in need. We can write letters to the editor or to elected officials to express views that are consistent with biblical truth. 

We can influence righteousness on a state or national scale by electing righteous individuals to positions of authority where they will govern with righteous values. We believe in the “separation of church and state” only in the original meaning of our founders – there will not be a state sponsored religion forced upon our citizens. However, the phrase did not mean elected citizens must divorce themselves from their faith values and govern like pagans. A Christian was never expected to stop thinking and acting like a Christian just because they had a government position. Now it seems that Christians are expected to act and govern like pagans whenever they get elected.

Conclusion:

Today I have tried to show from the Scriptures that God cares about how people are treated. I’ve tried to show that God cares about how we personally conduct ourselves and live out our faith in care and concern for others. I’ve tried to give a biblical basis for having a positive influence in our culture and our society. However, there are many people who have completely twisted the truth of Scripture to promote policies and actions that go against the righteousness of God.

The Lord willing, I will continue our topic next week by sharing how modern efforts for “social justice” go contrary to God’s standard of righteousness. I want to encourage everyone to pray for true righteousness and justice that is approved by God to prevail in our communities, all across our nation, and around the world.