Harambee Church
The Gospel and Social Justice by Mike Gunn
Why Do We Do That? The Mission and Values of Harambee Church Part 8, The Gospel and Social Justice: Isaiah 58:1-14; Preached @ Harambee Church by Pastor Michael Gunn on September 24, 2006.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Introduction
Harambee’s
Harambee exists to know and worship God by enjoying Him and joining Him in His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever.
This is the last week we will be taking a look at the missions and important values of our church in order for us to know what Harambee is all about, and why we do the things that we do. It is also important to remember that all of these values encompass our overarching value of worship, which is a response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our values are born out of our theology and our understanding of the whole gospel. Our value that we are exploring this week is Social Justice.
From the Head…
A. God’s Concern for Justice
In verse two we see that the people sought to be holy and were passionate for morality, yet God did not hear their prayers (vv. 3b-4). Pietism (which has dominated the evangelical church in
B. Justice Defined
What is the biblical idea of justice? Everyone from movie producers to Marxists have used justice as their mantra. Is justice just another disguise for fascism and bloodshed when your agenda gains power? What could a pacifist like Dr. King mean by his statement (above)? Does God demand justice, and what does he mean by that? First, biblical justice, like other forms of justice requires a payment for breaking a law. Biblically we see that mankind is born a lawbreaker, and continually breaks the absolute law of the Lord. We all stand guilty before God as liars, blasphemers, adulterers, murderers, and thieves. That is why personal attempts at pietism always come up short. These people were “good” church people fulfilling their religious duty, but their hearts were far from God. In other words, their pietism was strong, but their relationship was weak. This is why Christ came and died to execute perfect justice. This is why He became sin on our behalf, so that we would be “made righteous” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Justice was served legally in Christ for our sake, so that we wouldn’t be served the justice of God. According to Romans 3:25, God’s justice was upheld because of Christ’s work on the cross. Because of this, we can and should be righteous or just people. Tied up in this idea of justice is the biblical concept of “shalom” (peace). Notice Romans 5:1, since we are “Justified by faith, we have peace with god through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace is connected to justice not as an act of force, but an act of sacrifice. In our passage today verse seven gives us an idea of this “shalom,” which according to theologian/philosopher Neil Plantinga is, “The webbing together of God, humans and all creation in equity, fulfillment and delight.” Shalom means a wholeness (which was intended by God in the creation of the cosmos and mankind). Verses 6-7 remind us that the holiness and justice that God seeks includes our dealings with the “homeless/aliens” which are literally refugees in foreign lands. Notice that Isaiah explodes our tribal, familial notions by exhorting the Israelites to treat aliens as their own flesh (Verse 7; see too Jeremiah 29:7). In our humanistic, individualistic mindset, we view justice and freedom as a freedom from all restrictions to do what we want; but biblical freedom frees us of our addictions so that we can use our resources for the good of the group. True biblical righteousness/holiness includes both personal and corporate morality. We are simply called to “share our bread,” and unloose the bonds of oppression (Isaiah 58:6-7).
C. Becoming People of Justice
Guilt is a poor/wrong motivator. Social work cannot be the mechanism to get what we want from God. Isaiah 58:2-3 show that the people worshipped God to get something from Him, or to gain God’s favor. Self-centeredness is not mitigated by a works base religion. Both personal morality and giving to the poor are religious ways to get God’s favor. Our heart is still the issue. Doing good things is religion motivated by fear and pride.
The answer is found in delighting in the Lord! (Isaiah 58:13-14). Delight in the Lord is the end in itself. If our delight is in the Lord, we are not looking toward other things to fulfill and sustain us. Our prosperity is in Him, and not the stuff that people put in its place. God identifies with the poor! (2 Corinthians 8:9). And we are to follow the heart of the Lord in all He delights in.
As believers we recognize the suffering in the world, and we know that sin’s consequences are horrendous for all involved. We also recognize once again that God is not immune to that suffering. He suffers with the poor as well as the poor in Spirit. To this, African American author Joanne Terrell was quoted in Time Magazine as saying, “I suddenly began to realize that Jesus Christ did not just suffer for us, as we’ve always been taught, but He suffered with us,” and the article went on to say, “I realized Jesus Christ had been lynched!”
Only Christianity’s leader and founder can say what Christ says in Matthew 25, because they stripped Him naked, beat Him, and He thirsted on the cross for our sake! John Stott rightfully quips that, ”I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross... In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” Christ took upon our yoke for our sakes (2 Corinthians 5:21), and subsequently our motivation is from His beauty, and our delight in Him, and our love for God and others.
…to the Heart
We are motivated by the love of Christ and sustained by our delight in His beauty. This is one of those values that only you can supply the application of it to your own lives. However, this is why
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