As I have been preaching through Mark
I have been talking about Justice
this has led to many questions about what I mean by Justice
I wanted to examine that topic this morning
many think Christianity is not about justice
many think love is different from justice
that love is an improvement on justice
that Jesus taught love, not justice
We saw in Mark 13
that Jesus prophesied judgment and destruction on Jerusalem,
the Temple, and the leaders
for their failure to do justice
What is justice?
What quickly comes to mind is judicial punishment
this is “corrective justice”
but corrective justice is applied
when there has been a failure in “distributive justice”
distributive justice is treating another human being
in the way he has a right to be treated
this is first or primary justice
corrective/punitive justice is secondary
if there is failure in distributive justice
God commanded both
God was concerned about both
everyone should practice distributive justice
everyone (especially leaders) should be sure there is corrective justice
I must treat another person in the way
that gives him the good he has a right to
Neither do wrong to them
not fail to do right to them
human beings created by God have rights
given them by God
they have rights to be treated a certain way by other humans
justice is a boundary-marker
I can never increase good for myself (or another)
in a way that wrongs another person
deprives him of that to which he has a right
when there is injustice
it means a person has been wronged
he has not received his right
two parties
one many is guilty
and the other is wronged
one is a sinner
the other is a victim
the sinner needs punishment or forgiveness
the victim needs deliverance from the injustice against him
When we do injustice
we are not just guilty of breaking a rule
but wronging a person
God holds us accountable
as that person’s creator
we wrong God when we wrong human beings
*
Amos was a prophet to the cities of Israel
His prophecy parallels Mark 13 – Jesus prophecy against Jerusalem/Temple
Amos 5-6
7
Failing to do justice in some way
10
You are against the one who does justice in the courts
Who bears witness against injustice and tells the truth
11
The rich are practicing injustice against the poor
Taking his grain, trampling him down
12
The leadership, judges, elders
Take bribes—they help the wealthy to win their favor
And when the victims, the poor cry out for justice, you deprive them of it
24
This is what God desires
This is what makes him happy
6:12
Great sin
Is turning justice into poison—injustice
*
Jeremiah was a prophet against Judah
Especially on Jerusalem and its leaders
Jeremiah 21-22
21:12
The idea here is rescue of the victim from oppressors
22:3
The idea of rescue of the victim
And of course punishment of the oppressor
To cease oppressing the vulnerable and defenseless
Foreigner, orphan, widow
13
They get wealth off of oppressing the poor
Making them work for nothing, next to nothing
16
Defend the cause of the poor and needy
This is justice
This is what a just nation is to practice
Just leaders, just people
17
Dishonest gain
Shedding blood,
Oppression—exercise of authority in a cruel manner
Extortion—obtain money by force, intimidation or abuse of authority
*
Micah prophesies judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem, capital cities
Because of the injustice of their leaders
Micah 3, 6
*
Let me conclude with a prophecy of the coming Messiah or Servant of the Lord (Isaiah’s title).
Notice for what reason the Messiah comes.
Isaiah 42:1-4
To bring justice
If the Messiah has come
And we are his people
What do you think we are supposed to be doing?
I will give you 3 guesses.
*
This is my simple message today
Begin to think about justice
That is all.
Start thinking about it.
We are called to social justice.
We are called to make sure the vulnerable
such as foreigners, poor, widows, orphans
are defended and rescued from injustice.
We are called to practice justice ourselves in our dealings with people.
We should be the remnant in this nation that practices social justice.
Even if all else abandon it.
Think about justice.
It starts with thinking.
We can’t do it until we think about it.
3.18.07
Isaiah 30-31
the historical situation of this prophecy:
Judah was threatened by Assyria from the north.
Assyria was a world power, a terror to all smaller nations,
its great army was conquering them all.
Judah was so terrified of this threat that they sought help from Egypt,
the world power in the south.
They asked Egypt to come to their aid in their war against Assyria.
But God had told them not to do this.
He had told them to look to him alone for help.
They wanted to get human armies
and physical horses and chariots.
So they ran to Egypt.
God says
Egypt cannot help you.
If you look to Egypt,
both Judah and Egypt will be destroyed.
Isaiah 30:1-5
31:1-3
Their sin was trusting in human power
and not God‘s power.
*
Now God gives Isaiah a prophecy of how he will defeat Assyria
if they would trust in him.
He promises them if they would call on him,
he would fight for them.
Isaiah 30:27-33
31:8-9
here is what they must do
30:15
In the face of such a fearsome enemy as Assyria
Judah must return to God, rest in God.
They will find strength and salvation
in quietness and trust in God.
What does this have to do with us?
We have an enemy threatening us as well.
We are in a war as well.
A war against the spiritual forces of evil.
A war against sin inside of us.
A war where victory
is obedience to God.
A war where defeat is disobedience.
In this war we must not look to Egypt
but look to God alone for power.
God has the power
to win victory in our lives
to conquer sin
to conquer the powers of evil.
But we cannot look to Egypt for victory
we cannot look to human power for victory
Where is our focus?
Do we put our trust in human power or in the power of God?
We do things, do things, do things,
and we add a dash of prayer like salt.
Prayer is resting and trusting in God alone
and not ourselves or any other power.
When we pray we are telling God we rest in him alone.
Prayer is the rejection of Egypt.
There is not method, no technique,
no activity that guarantees victory.
None of that can win the victory in our lives.
Only God can by his power.
Acts 6:1-4
Leaders of this congregation:
do you see what you work is?
the ministry of the word and prayer
we are to give our attention to that
that is our focus
As leaders of this congregation,
do we pray for the people?
or do we do a lot of human work and trust in that.
no program or activity we put in place guarantees victory
we can copy all the most successful churches
worship style, techniques, programs,
evangelistic methods
As a church we don’t need buildings,
we don’t need fancy programs, fancy fliers, fancy clothes.
We could sit under 4 poles and a grass roof on the ground,
study his word and pray
and the power of God would work in us
if we trusted in him and leaned on him.
Luke 11:11-13
Your Father in heaven wants to give you the good gift
of the Holy Spirit.
the power for obedience.
This is a promise.
Let us depend on God’s power alone
and ask for the Holy Spirit
Church services and religious activities mean nothing to God Unless they are strengthening us in doing good
We will discuss what doing good means in a minute but for now Feel the weight of this fact Church means nothing to God in and of itself
Verse 15 This verse sums up the whole idea They stretch out their hands to heaven or to the most holy place And they held up the palm In order to receive from God
But God says “I will hide my eyes from you” Even though you make many prayers Multiply your prayers Add prayer to prayer Fasting too “I will not listen”
Why? “your hands are full of blood” You hold up hands that are physically clean But God sees your hands dripping with blood Those hands you hold up in prayer Have harmed others
Many of us would say “I have no blood on my hands. This does not apply to me. I have harmed no one. I keep to myself and mind my own business.” So it is important that we press on to see why blood is on their hands.
Verse 16 Four admonitions Negatives.
Stop doing evil. The evil that is the concern here we shall see in the next verse Is oppression Oppression means those with power causing weaker people to suffer Stop oppressing others. I assume most of you are going to say quickly: “I oppress no one.” So let us press on again, because the next verse makes their sins plain.
Verse 17 Five admonitions “learn to do good”
What does it mean to do good? He wants them to not only stop oppressing, but also start helping those who are oppressed
It means “to seek justice” Work for a situation where no one is oppressed
“To correct oppression” To stop oppression
“bring justice to the fatherless” “Plead the widow’s cause” In their society orphans and widows were oppressed groups
Fight for those who are oppressed (not just widows and orphans) Other groups the scriptures mention as oppressed: the poor, immigrants But we may see other groups in our country and in the world
Hear the words of a very similar prophecy brought by Amos to Israel Amos 5:21-24
All of this means That to do good Is to fight oppression And help the oppressed
And to not do those things Is to have blood on your hands
If you live in luxury without concern while others are being oppressed You do not do good It is this fact That I have had to face this week
I hear God speaking here through Isaiah I am suffering from spiritual nausea A strong sense that I am not doing good That I am a sham
I saw a group of children singing “Here I am to worship Here I am to fall down Here I am to say that you’re my God” I tried to sing with them But the words caught in my throat
All I could think was: I am not bowing down. To sing such words is a lie. This God I claim to worship Desires that the poor and oppressed receive justice But I do not concern myself with such things.
Do I care that people are oppressed and suffering terrible things? Am I willing to do anything about it? What right do I have to sing and pray if I do not?
Now let me deal with some common objections to this line of teaching. I know these objections because I have raised them in my own heart And found them foolishness.
You may ask Isn’t it enough to get saved and be religious? It may be nice to help the poor, but it is not necessary. We are saved by grace. God is more concerned about heart attitudes, that we pray and recognize our sin.
God wants more than recognition of sin. He wants you to do good. And he makes it clear that religion Without helping the oppressed He despises.
You may ask Isn’t it enough to give to charity? That is what middle-class America does. We give a pittance like most Americans 1-3%. That is the American way: To live in extravagance, indulge ourselves and give a pittance to worthy causes.
You must decide before God and seek his guidance. Is seeking justice and correcting oppression really amount to giving 1-3% of your money away, a loss you don’t even feel?
You may ask What about my children? I can’t neglect my children. That is my first responsibility. I must focus on them.
Think about the logic of that. You want to raise your children right. You want to teach them that there is a God who saves us and wants us to love others and do good. But you are not doing good because you are busy raising your children. Think about the logic. I will not do good so that I can raise my children to do good. That is not going to work.
You may say What if that is not my spiritual gift? I had a man in Africa say to me But my spiritual gift is not love or deeds of charity My spiritual gift is prophecy
We may offer other ones Teaching, evangelism, prayer, etc. I believe God makes it clear he does not approve of such religious actions apart from doing good to the oppressed. Doing good is fundamental.
You may say Isn’t Evangelism more important than helping the needy? Evangelism is not our first job. The calls to ordinary Christians to go out and call people to follow Jesus are few. Doing good to others is our primary witness to Christ. Disciples are not commanded to knock on doors, hand out tracts, preach with a megaphone on a street corner: they are called to do good to others, especially the oppressed.
Doing evangelism when you do not do good to the oppressed is blasphemy. This is taking the name of the Lord in vain.
This is what I am going to do Ask for forgiveness And ask for him to show me who he wants me to help And then by his Spirit endeavor to do good to them
Verses 18-20 That scarlet is the blood on my hands of refusing the help the oppressed He will cleanse me if I come to him
Some of you are going to disagree with what I say this morning. I am not going to hit you with a hammer. Let this sermon open dialogue on this topic. Bring to me your opposition. Tonight I am gathering a group to discuss it in the library. Join us and let us discuss.
The second half of this passage (16-17) I am going to examine next week. I am going to handle the topic: What does God mean by “learn to do good” and “seek justice”? This morning I am going to concentrate on the first half of this passage.
The people of Israel were engaged in many religious activities. Everything that is listed here are all good and genuine elements of Old Testament worship. But the point of this passage is that God hates all of their religious activity.
If you bring it into contemporary terms He hates their churches. He hates their worship services, their Sundays, their Easters, their sermons and communions. He hates their prayer meetings and Bible studies. All their church activities were worthless for one reason: they did not do good.
Religious activities are worthless unless they result in doing good.
Church programs and services do not please God. They are not what he wants from his people. They are not what please him. He doesn’t long for them to sing, attend services, take communion, get baptized, listen to sermons, participate in small groups, pray, eat fellowship dinners, etc.
Prayer meetings and worship services and communion meals and evangelism programs do not necessarily help people follow Jesus. They may actually distract them from Jesus. Churches are busy doing many things, but there is only one thing that must be done.
Churches keep people running from one service to the next, one activity to the next, one program to the next– and all of this busyness keeps people from doing the one thing they must do.
A restaurant exists to provide people with food to eat. A hotel exists to provide people with rooms in which to spend the night. Why do churches exist? Churches exist to provoke people to do good to others to the glory of Christ.
Provoke means “to stir to action” To rouse, to stimulate, to incite one to action Hebrews expresses clearly the reason we “meet together” “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.“ Hebrews 10:24-25.
The goal of a church is not worship services and programs and conferences and retreats. The goal is good works.
We meet together to prepare to go out and do our real work. Services, songs, preaching, evangelism, communion, baptism, small groups, Sunday School, fellowship suppers are not ends. They should be means to an end. The end is doing good to the glory of God and Christ.
They should equip people to do what Jesus loves.
And unfortunately many of us are doing church and not doing good.
Pastors are so distracted by work that is not their job, that in some churches they never get their real work done. Pastors are not administrators, managers, or program directors. It is not their job to plan services or pick songs. It is not the pastor’s job to lead the liturgy. It is not their job to plan activities, events, retreats, or trips. It is not their job to make a budget and manage the money. It is not their job to attend board meetings and committee meetings, to argue, make decisions, and vote.
Many think it is the pastor’s job to marry you, baptize your babies, feed you communion, and bury you when you die. These are not their jobs.
Nowhere in the New Testament does it teach that only an ordained pastor can administer communion or baptism. Nowhere does it say that a pastor must marry you or bury you. Pastors have one job: to lead people in doing good. They are to teach publicly and instruct privately. They are to equip the people of the church to do good.
Many churches function as clubs for members who pay dues and support the club, and revolve around five activities which they label as worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. Worship is singing club songs and saying club vows. Fellowship is hanging around in the club and eating food with other club members. Discipleship is attending club meetings where you learn information. Ministry is participating in club-sponsored activities. Evangelism is inviting others to join the club.
Different kinds of churches focus on different aspects of the church.
There is the worship church. The service is big and exciting. The music is dramatic and powerful. But The worship that God wants from us does not involve hymns and organs or guitars and drums. True worship is doing good to the glory of Jesus. If we sing it had better be to prepare our hearts to do good. The New Testament mentions singing songs a handful of times, while doing good to others is mentioned again and again. It is hard to believe we have missed the point. It is hard to believe we have replaced doing good with singing songs in church services. Much of the time, the singing and the services are a distraction from the main task.
There is the educational church. These churches are like schools and a great deal of Bible learning goes on. But God does not gather his people together to teach them facts. God is not pleased by us gathering to listen to sermons and Bible studies. In fact he hates when we listen to sermons and Bible studies, unless we obey. Hearing and not obeying does not please him. Possessing the Scriptures, and knowledge about the Scriptures, without doing good is worthless. God does not want us to listen to the truth. He wants us to practice the truth. The one church activity that is mentioned frequently in the New Testament is teaching and discipleship, but of course the purpose of teaching and discipleship is stirring up people to do good.
There is the Gospel Church. Such a church preaches what they call the “gospel” every week. God loves sinners. God loves you. Believe it. Accept him if you have not yet. God does not want us sitting around talking about how much he loves us while no one does the good he desires. This is saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace. God does not want us to sit around with hundreds of others listening to sermons about how to be saved while no one does good. He does not want us to listen to evangelistic sermons and give altar calls and convert people to nothing.
There is the sacramental church. The church exists as a place for the eucharist to be administered to the people. Once again the New Testament only mentions communion a handful of times. Communion is not an end in itself. Communion is spiritual food which nourished and strengthens disciples to do good.
There is spiritual gifts church. Everything is focused on speaking in tongues, healing, or some other powerful visible manifestations of the Spirit. But the Apostles could not have been any clearer that love and good works are fundamental, and spiritual gifts are extras to edify us, strengthen us to what end: doing good.
There is fellowship church. These churches are closeknit communities, almost like extended families. People offer each other friendship and a comforting setting. The fellowship that God wants from his people is not coming together in the same building, rubbing shoulders, exchanging cordial greetings, and eating at a table together. The true fellowship that God w
ants is doing good to one another.
There is the Health and Wealth Church Such a church emphasizes God as a secret to success and prosperity. God wants you to be rich and healthy. No. I am afraid not. God wants you to do good. God is not selling success and prosperity.
There is Therapy church. Such a church brings people together to work on themselves and piece there lives together. To find inner peace and harmony. To work through their issues and to get healthy in mind and body. But the only way to find peace and harmony is by seeking grace from God to do the good that gives life meaning.
There is Prayer meeting church. Such a church gathers to ask God for things. People are sick and need to get well. Other people need to find jobs. Etc. They gather to run through lists of wants and needs. God give us this. God give us this. God does want to give. He wants to give us love. He wants to give us peace in a new life of doing good.
There is Political church. Such a church focuses on political issues. The main thing God wants us to do is oppose gay marriage, oppose abortion and oppose welfare. I don’t think the church is a special interest group. I don’t think God has called us to take over the government and make Americans do what we want them to do. God has called us to witness to Jesus by doing good. Compare us to the early church. We speak out against abortion and want the laws changed. The early church simply took the unwanted children. How many of us are going to take the unwanted children?
There is the community service church. Such churches have various programs you can volunteer for. The problem here is that people can be deceived into thinking that if they volunteer a little time they have paid their dues and done their good. The ministry that pleases God is not participating in church programs. We have institutionalized and programmed ministry. Church programs can actually distract you from doing good. God wants you to minister to others by doing good to them. Everyday in your whole life. He wants you sacrificing yourself for others not giving 1 hour a week or a month.
There is the evangelism church. They send out teams of people to confront strangers, either on their doorstep or on a street corner, with a quick message they can accept or reject. But speaking about Jesus without doing good is blasphemy. This does not bear witness to Jesus. Evangelism must bear witness to a life already in us and that life is love and good works.
There is the seeker sensitive church. Some try to get people to come to church and then intrigue them with a service that makes them want to come back. We are not be luring people to Jesus with impressive services. We are to be luring people to Jesus with amazing love and good works.
There is morality church. Church is about getting people to stop doing major sins, cleaning up their lives. I admit we must stop doing certain things. The man who gets drunk must stop. The man who sleeps around must stop. But that is not yet what Jesus wants from us. He wants us to not only stop, but to start to do good.
There is experience church. Church is about experiencing God. The only experience of God that means anything is one that results in overwhelming love for others and good works.
I could go on and on but let me stop here And give you two proposals For our church.
I. The first proposal is that we only meet together for one reason: To provoke one another to do good to the glory of Jesus by pointing us to the grace that comes from Jesus (The only other reason to meet is to do good. A few of us, perhaps two, perhaps more may come together to cooperate in doing good.)
This means we must stop doing all the superfluous church activities. If a service, meeting, event does not advance your growth in bringing glory to God by doing good you should stop attending it. If you are leading some activity or meeting at this church that does not strengthen people to do good, then either cancel it today or change it so that it does.
II. Let us all in our lives away from church do the good Jesus told us to do. The best way you can encourage others is by setting an example. The leaders are not to teach publicly and instruct privately and then wait for the people to do the work. The leaders of this congregation must lead by doing good. And all of us strengthen other disciples by doing good. Encourage others with words as well, But first show them the good.
The Church Model I propose is simple We gather to provoke one another to do good When we leave here we do good The result is glory brought to Jesus And conversions “Let you light shine before men So that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
