Justice

Sermon Notes – January 16, 2022
Brian Becker – The Worlds We Create: Justice

Isaiah 61:3 (NIV)
…bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…

Isaiah 61:3b (NIV)
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Other-worldly

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person…

The Way We Think
The Words We Say
The Things We Do

Biblical Justice
Social Justice
Racial Justice

Orthodoxy: Believing the right things
Orthopraxy: Doing the right things

James 1:22-24 (NIV)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so decide yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

James 1:26 (NIV)
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it-not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it-they will be blessed in what they do.

James 2:14-18 (NIV)
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warn and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

The church is only as valid as it is effective in doing what Jesus did.

Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Jeremiah 22:3 (NIV)
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

We create worlds by:
The way we think.
The words we say.
The things we do.

Psalm 146:7-9 (NIV)
He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

God’s message is to bring justice to:
The outcast
The overlooked
The marginalized
The vulnerable
The voiceless

Micah 6:8 (NASB)
He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

Do justice
Love kindness
Walk humbly
-Micah 6:8

Biblical justice is the work of making individuals, communities, and our world whole, by supporting goodness and impartiality in work to reflect God’s original intention for all of creation to flourish.

Jesus was constantly drawn to:
The outcast
The overlooked
The marginalized
The vulnerable
The voiceless

Classism
Sexism
Racism
Ableism

1 John 3:16 (NIV)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:17-18 (NIV)
If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

“I’ve never done anything to them.” vs. “What can I do for and with them?”

How does my life reflect that I am for the vulnerable and marginalized in my community and my world?

Follow the pattern and path of Jesus:
Draw close.
Feel their pain.
Seek to understand.
Help alongside.
Sacrifice for others.
Point to Jesus.

Love God.
Love People.
Prove it.

Do justice.
Love kindness.
Walk humbly.
-Micah 6:8

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.