Series: Justice and the Gospel 1 Texts: Is. 58:6-11 Valley Community Baptist Church Jan. 7/8, Does God Care About Injustice?

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1 Series: Justice and the Gospel 1 Texts: Is. 58:6-11 Valley Community Baptist Church Jan. 7/8, 2017 Avon/Bristol, CT. Pastor Jay Abramson Does God Care About Injustice? A man on trial for murder found a way to bribe one of the members of the jury to hold out for a lesser verdict of manslaughter. After debating several days, the jury finally brought in the verdict, Guilty of manslaughter. Sometime later the murderer asked the man if it had been hard to influence the others. Yes, he said. I had a lot of trouble. In the beginning, they all wanted to vote not guilty. 1 Over the next two months, I m going to be dealing with a difficult but necessary topic: justice and the Gospel. To begin, let me be clear about my role and your role in this study. I am in the role of an attorney at law, arguing my case before the bench. I m not the judge pronouncing a sentence and you are not the accused, trembling in fear. And you are not the judge! You re the jury. I will lay before you my evidence as best I can from the Word of God. You are to be honest and earnest jurors who examine it, consider it, possibly even debate it, and then make your decision concerning what is true. Who s the Judge? Well, that s God of course. He will judge you and me not only according to our words but also according to our actions. And in the end, no matter what we say and what we do, He will judge fairly, according to His Word. So, with that in mind, let s begin. First, we must see I. God s Heart for Justice. Ps. 89:14 declares of God: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne So, justice is a bedrock attribute of God s character. It is impossible for Him NOT to be just. In both Hebrew and Greek, the words translated as justice are the literal words for righteousness. Do you see what that means? It means that to God, these two concepts of justice and righteousness are synonymous. If what you do is righteous in God s eyes, it will also be just. And if what you do is unrighteous in God s eyes, if you break God s law, you are doing something that is potentially unjust for someone else. Justice and injustice are not determined by man s law, they are determined by God s law. And what are some of these unjust things according to God? Well, the list is long. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking on behalf of God, makes these charges against the Israelites: Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. (Jer. 7:9-10a, 5-7) The first five books of the Old Testament are known as the Torah, the Law. This describes what is good and evil, right and wrong, just and unjust from God s point of view, which is the only view that counts, by the way. Now, in the New Testament, God makes some adjustments to that Law. This series is not a study of the specifics of which laws changed and 1

2 which stayed the same. It s an overview of God s justice. We ll examine what Jesus had to say about the law next week. But what we must not miss this week is that justice issues are not small potatoes to God! He s deeply concerned with them and when He sees that justice is being ignored and injustice is taking control, He will act! For example, God made good on His threat to remove Israel from the land. This happened just a few years after Jeremiah pronounced this warning. So, why was Israel defeated and taken captive by the Babylonians? Was it because they had neglected their army s capabilities? Was it because they were outmaneuvered by the enemy? Was it because their king wasn t smart enough or brave enough? No, it was none of these. It was because they had violated God s law with their sinful and unjust behavior. So, what will make this country great again? According to God, it all turns on just one question: if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm This is what we will be discussing in the weeks to come. It s quite clear, I think, where God s heart is with regard to justice. The question is: Where s my heart? Where s your heart? But there s a second nagging issue that many people bring up when considering God s attitude regarding justice. There s an old saying, first uttered by William Gladstone, the Prime Minister of Britain, in the late 1800 s that says, Justice delayed is justice denied. Martin Luther King, Jr., quoted this in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, as he made his appeal to clergymen to take up the cause of racial injustice. But is not God guilty of this form of injustice? The prophet Jeremiah was not the first prophet to warn the people of Israel of their unrighteous ways. Isaiah warned the people nearly 150 years before Jeremiah. So, we must ask II. Why Does God Delay Addressing Injustice? Why doesn t he act immediately? Isaiah had given this word from God: Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Is. 58:6, 7) God warned the people of these injustices in their society but He let it go for 150 years before He brought judgment on them. Is it true that justice delayed is justice denied? From a human perspective, yes; but from God s perspective, no. How can I say that? Let me explain. For all humanity, our life on this earth is a trial. From the age of accountability (from when we are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong) until we die, you and I are proving whether we accept God s authority in our lives or whether we don t; whether we love Him and obey Him, or whether we ignore Him and disobey Him. Now, hear me carefully, our obedience does not save us, it doesn t cause the Judge to dismiss our guilt. Only Jesus death for us on the cross and our acceptance of that act can saves us. But our obedience DEMONSTRATES that we re saved. So, for us, the possibility of obedience or disobedience can only take place during this lifetime. And our performing acts of justice or injustice is only possible now. Why? Because it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. (Heb. 9:27). But for God it s different. He s not limited by time or death. In fact, God has promised that His perfect justice will not culminate on this earth in our time but in the afterlife. All people 2

3 will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). For what reason? To be judged! This is when perfect justice will be delivered. Why do I say perfect justice? Because that s what this will be, as opposed to the imperfect justice that happens in this world. For example, murderers are punished in this life for their actions. They kill an infant, they pay. In some states they pay with their lives. But even if they die, this does not bring back to life the one they killed. But under God s perfect system of justice, the child WILL be brought back to life in the world to come. And the murderer will pay the price forever. So, God s delay does not deny justice. If we delay doing what is right, it MAY deny justice in this world. So, if we re really God-followers, we won t want to do that. Our hearts won t let us do that. If you re a real God-follower, your passion will be to accomplish kingdom business on this earth, which includes treating people with fairness, equity and justice. So, what might that look like? [show photo of Brian Oldrieve] This is Brian Oldrieve. He s the founder and president of the mission organization my son Adam works with in Zimbabwe, East Africa. He s a remarkable man, though you wouldn t know that in meeting him, as I did this past summer. He s very humble and soft spoken. But his story is filled with power God s power. In 1978, he was a very, very successful tobacco farmer in Zimbabwe. Then, his life was thrown into financial chaos. How? He became a Christian. He says: I began to have a conscience about growing tobacco, a poison, for hundreds of thousands of people. One night when I couldn t sleep, I took out my Bible and I read there from 1 Cor. 10:31, Whatsoever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I realized that my life s work of growing tobacco was not glorifying God and so in the middle of that night I promised God that I would never grow another leaf of tobacco. He and his wonderful wife, Cath, whom I also met in Zimbabwe, decided they d try to find a job growing food. Brian was hired as manager of a farm of about 1,000 hectares (about 500 acres) that was in financial difficulty. He quickly applied the farming techniques he knew of deep plowing and burning off the stalks afterwards. Things just got worse. The soil structure was collapsing and the heavy African rain would wash away the topsoil. Brian turned to God: I would go into the virgin bush for times of prayer and one day God began to reveal to me His ways in nature. There I saw that there is no mechanism in nature in which the soil is inverted and that there is a thick blanket of fallen leaves and grass which covers the surface of the soil I was in such a desperate situation that I thought I must try and God gave me the faith to launch out. This was the beginning of what Brian now calls Farming God s Way. In his first test plot he doubled the production of the traditional farming method. Brian gradually increased the acreage under no tillage farming until, six years later, the whole 1,000 hectares were being farmed God s Way. It was so profitable that they bought up several farms around them until it was the largest privately farmed property under one owner in all of Africa! But now, God began to do a deeper work in Brian s heart. He began to break his heart for those living in poverty in Africa. He writes: We continued to be saddened by the desperate poverty around us and we continued to turn to God to ask him why Africa is the poorest continent and getting poorer We have traveled widely in Africa and we have come to believe that our basic problem is that we have not been faithful with the very first things that God has given us in the soil, sunshine, rainfall and seed. If we are faithful with that, then that will be the beginning of 3

4 our rebuild This is why we are getting poorer in spite of two billion dollars of free aid over the last 50 years. So Brian and Cath began to journal what they were learning from God for the purpose of sharing it with Africa s poorest farmers. This is what eventually developed into the organization Foundations for Farming which now has offices in four countries in Africa, in Canada, USA and Mexico. Just this past fall Brian was invited to China, by the government, to begin a work there. In every place, he shares the goals of their organization and, if the government does not agree to allow him to operate within these goals, he won t open an office. Here are those goals: The GOAL of Foundations for Farming The Lord wants us to produce HIGH YIELDS from the soil in a SUSTAINABLE WAY that makes a PROFIT, so that we can: Glorify God and lift up Jesus in all that we do Remove the yoke of oppression causing hunger, nakedness and poverty Feed our families Produce a surplus for sale that will help feed our nation; and so that in turn we can: Be independent of the money-lending system as soon as possible Grow to the size God has equipped and called us to Be a model and example to teach others FfF and how to make a profit Tell others that it is God s Way so that we can tell them about Jesus Help strengthen weak churches and plant new strong churches Bring unity to the whole Body of Christ so we can show the whole nation God s Way of how to manage any business or enterprise faithfully and make a profit Show the nation how to rebuild God s Way A co-director now with Brian is another Zimbabwean named Craig Deall. He had a large farm that was re-distributed or taken over by the government and given to someone else under the dictator Mugabe. How would you feel if your government did that to you? When the new owner arrived, Craig asked him if he knew how to farm. The man said, No. Craig said, If you d like, I ll work for you at whatever wage you decide and show you how to farm. The man agreed. Craig said he did this for one reason he believed Jesus wanted him to. Jesus said: You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:43-45a) In the first half of Isaiah 58, we hear God condemn Israel for practicing and condoning injustice. But in the second half, we hear Him describe what will happen if they do amend their ways, repent, and begin practicing justice. God says: Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, 4

5 whose waters do not fail. (Isaiah 58:8-11) This, my friends, is the only way to make America great again. Let s pray 1 Michael Hodgin, 1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998), p. 84 5