Living Out Justice: A Christian Call to Action

1) "Now, every one of us, the day we were born, we were instilled within us a sense of right and wrong. Romans one says, everyone who's ever lived has been born with a conscience. It's what rises up within us when we see somebody being treated unfairly. It rises up in us. When we watch the news, when we hear reports, when a friend or family member tells you about how they were treated, when a young child tells them how they were treated at school, it rises up in us. That's not fair, right? When we're at the grocery store and somebody with twelve items goes to the line that says ten items or less, everything in us says that's wrong. There's rules for this type of thing, and you're outside the rules. Get into your own line, right? We feel it every day, hundreds of times a day. There are things in us that we see. And it was like, that's not right, that's not fair. That is because we were made in the image of God. That is one of the implications, being made in the image of God. We have a sense of right and wrong." [01:00] (-440 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "And when we see somebody being treated unpoorly, it is our right and our obligation to do something. We are in the middle of a series that's coming to an end called Jesus. And every week we've been looking at different cultural topics that we are faced to address, even as a follower of Jesus. Things like gender and politics and abortion. And this week we're looking at justice. Now, at first glance, you may think, well, I don't understand the problem with justice. Actually, it's becoming more and more of a hot button topic, especially even in the church. Justice, this term called social justice, that, no, all the church should be doing is preaching Jesus. We shouldn't be involved in social justice. And so there's really two camps of thought when it comes to justice. One is that's an individual problem. So the individual needs to solve the problems in their life, pull themselves up by their bootstraps and figure it out. Come on, what's your problem? The other camp would say, no, this is a systematic issue. This is because of poor corporations and this is because of government programs." [02:10] (72 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "When I was just graduated from Bible school, my wife was still in college, and so I needed a job in the Chicagoland area for a couple years. So I took a job at Lydia Home association. It's a residential home for boys and girls, about 40 boys and girls, 20 girls, 20 boys. And I was a house parent on a floor of about ten boys. Now these children were so behaviorally challenged, they couldn't go into a, quote, foster home. And so this was more of an institutional home for 40 children. Now, remember quickly of being exposed to injustice by working in this home, because six out of the ten, the first ten boys I worked with, six of them had physical scars on their body that they were carrying around from the sins of their parents. Scars like cigarette butts that they would burn into. I mean, one boy had, his whole arm was covered with cigarette butts, or children that had been strangled with extension cords and tied up in closets. And I remember I had all this biblical training. I was idealistic and zealous and ready to go change the world. And my first job was in this home in Chicago. It was overwhelming. And as that moment, I realized what God calls himself. All throughout scripture, God identifies himself as the father to the fatherless. He sees the refugee. He identifies himself with the poor and with the widow. Those are what the Bible calls the vulnerable quartet, the beautiful quartet that over and over and over again, all through scripture, God says, I'm their God. I see them. I see every immigrant, I see every widow, I see every orphan, and I see everyone who would consider themselves poor." [03:35] (117 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "Every week we've identified three things that you and I are to do all throughout our day. When we run into a need, when we see a challenge as a follower of Jesus, we're to say, I see you, go to places where you see people who are in need. I see you. I empathize with you empathize. I understand I'm going to do what I can to understand. I'm not in your shoes, but I want to be in your shoes. I want to understand what it's like to be in your shoes. And the third is, I want to help you. I want to help you. I see you, I empathize with you and I want to help you. God identifies himself. There is no other God of any other religion that would identify himself with the poor. I mean, that is his name." [05:00] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "In the Old Testament, over 200 times, this idea of justice shows up over and over and over again. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is what we would call a theocracy. We won't see the theocracy again until God's kingdom comes to earth. But right now, we don't live in a theocracy. So don't try to implement the theocracy, Christian. But we live in a republic, right? And so we have a say in what laws and legislations are passed. We get an opportunity. We have the responsibility of, of voting. But what does justice look like in the Old Testament? In God's economy, he always made room for the vulnerable quadrant, always made room for the poor, for the widow, for the orphan, and for the immigrant. And as such, you and I should always make room for those four. Our church should make room and have margin for those four." [06:52] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Micah six eight. What does the Lord require of you? Here's a summary of how to live Christian. What's the Lord require of you? To do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with the Lord. Does that define you? Does that describe you? To love kindness? The word for mercy in the Old Testament is hesed. Hesed. That is, the disposition or the attitude of mercy. When you see someone, you have empathy for them. That's hesed. It's God has said for us. But he doesn't stop with hesed. He doesn't just stop with the attitude, right? God hasn't called us just to have sympathy for people, but to act on it. The verb of mercy is misfought. It's justice. To treat people equitably, either punishment or rights, to give them their due. What is due them? That is the verb." [07:54] (65 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "Why? Why would I do that as a follower of Jesus? Because I've been made right. Because I was made right. It is always right to help make you right. If you're taking notes, let me say that again. Because there was nothing I could do. I was spiritually poor. I was spiritually broken. There was nothing I could do to save myself. It was only by God's grace that he came to me and he saved me. He gave me grace. He gave me misfot. He gave me mercy. He didn't just have sympathy for me. Aren't we glad Jesus just didn't have sympathy? He showed it in action. Because I've been made right. Because of the goodness and the grace of God in my life now. It is always right to help make other people around me right. Defend the rights of the poor and the needy. Give people what they are due." [11:03] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "If you are in school, you see injustice in the classrooms, if you are at work, you see injustice. In the corporate world, it happens. The quartet of the vulnerable why? Why does God highlight those four? Here are the reasons why they had no social power. When was the last time you did something for someone who could not pay you back and it wasn't, you give to them so that one day they'll give to you. They had no social power. They lived at a subsistence level. They lived day. Today they were only days away from starvation. Because if famine arrived, if invasion came in, if social unrest showed up, if they went to Costco and there's no toilet paper left, are we really doing this again? I think today's modern age, we could add a few other groups of people, homeless, seniors who live on a fixed income and have no family around. The refugee. At times it could be the single parent. Anytime we see someone who's in need, it is our job as followers of Jesus to respond, to execute justice. God's always thinking about these four. God is not the God of power. You think of the life that Jesus lived when he came to earth." [13:11] (98 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "Jesus shows up and he sets prisoners free. He gives sights to the blind. He watches over the immigrant. No preference to the rich or to the poor. Luke 14. He's telling a story of the owner of the home is going to throw a party, which is not wrong to throw parties. It's okay to throw parties. It's okay to spend money to have some fun in this world. But the owner opens up his doors and he asks and invites his coworkers and all the people that hang out with him, the people who are like him, and none of them show up. So Jesus tells the story. Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. It's easy to give to people who can do something back to us. It's easy to give to people who can repay us. What would it look like for you and I to meet needs of people who in no way on this side could ever repay us? That's what Jesus is asking, Jesus lived his life. He raised the son of the poor widow. He tells the story of the good Samaritan that we read this morning, and he makes the hated Samaritan. He's telling to a jewish crowd, the jew was the one who was robbed, who was laying sick in the ditch. And, you know, he makes. The hero of the story is the good Samaritan who they all hated." [20:12] (81 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10) "At the end of the day, whatever we do, we do it unto Jesus. Jesus says, hey, when you went to visit the prisoner in prison, you visited me. When you gave that bottle to the man at the corner, you gave it to me. When you brought clothes to clothe the family, you did it for me. We do it because Jesus did it for us. Here's the reality. We were all spiritually poor. And anytime you see somebody in need, do not have an attitude of superiority, for that was us. For that was us. Spiritually, we're all poor. We're all immigrants. This is not our home, my friend. We're all foreigners. We're all strangers. We're passing through. We're all orphans. Spiritually, through Jesus, we have a heavenly father who sees every need. And in the church, we're the bride of Christ. Prior to Jesus, we were all widows. Jesus is the groom of the church. Love always works." [33:06] (78 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)