Sermon Cloud

II.  The Royal Son's Job Description - (Ps 72 reads like a job description)

1. When the Son rules in Righteousness and Justice...
   
   • Peace and prosperity reign as well.
     
   • As I mentioned before - we have a hard time reconciling judgment with mercy.
     
   • But Solomon understands that this is his core work: to uphold justice - to judge between right and wrong.
   • And I said before, you cannot have mercy without justice.
     

  2. Justice is necerssary for:

In Countries around the world where justice is not upheld, where evil dictators who care nothing for their own people rule - famine, oppression, displacement, genocide, poverty and disease abound rather than prosperity and peace.

1.  
   • And this is not just for Israel but the whole world.
   • That is why we read in (8) that the king will rule "from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth."
   • (17) "All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed."
   • It was always God's intention for his kingdom to cover the earth.
   • Solomon got it - God's business is to reclaim and redeem the whole world and this requires upholding justice for all.

III. What does this mean for us?

• We talked about this - God loves justice and so should we.
• Justice has secured our salvation and guaranteed our forgiveness.
  
• Psalm 72 gives another angle of God's justice - justice to the poor and the oppressed to safeguard peace and prosperity.
  
• When the royal son reigns, peace and prosperity rains.

• 1 K.4:25 "During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel...lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree."
• True, this did not last - Solomon was not fully devoted to the Lord in his later years. And this caused great poverty and injustice.
  
• oes this mean it was all a flop? Not at all.
  
• Psalm 72 though it was Solomon's job description in its context is also a description of what to expect in the person of Jesus Christ.
  
• Like Solomon, Jesus is the royal son of God - the king, but unlike Solomon he is the only truly righteous man ever.
  
• He WROTE the job description - he has pledged to fulfill it himself, he is fulfilling it and is the only man who can fulfill it.
  

• Lk. 7:18 - While in prison John sent messengers to Jesus:  Are you the one we've been waiting for or should we expect someone else?
• "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Lk 7:22)
  
• Jesus came to this earth so that the poor might hear the good news.
  
• He came to fulfill and uphold everything written in Psalm 72. 

APPLICATION: I have several points of application I want to make.

• This is a broken world and there are alot of hurting people - alot of poverty - alot of oppression.
  
• If Jesus the royal son came to do all that is written in Psalm 72 - then

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   1. Jesus' job description is our job description: we are his royal subjects.

• Peter says "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 4:9) ^

• Because we are citizens of the kingdom - a royal priesthood and holy nation - we share in the Royal Son's mission to uphold justice, to help the poor and defend the needy.
  
• How do the poor become poor?
  

• This first point may raise some questions in your mind: how do we do this? Should we give a quarter to every bum that asks? No way.
  
• Giving handouts and creating dependency is not what I mean.
• What I mean is we must recognize their inherent dignity and treat them accordingly. 

Brian Fikkert is an economics professor at Covenant College and is the director of the Chalmers Center for Economic development. Here's what Brian writes: "Poverty is not fundamentally about resources. Rather, it is about not being fully human in the sense of being all that God created us to be. When our efforts to help the poor undermine their capacity to work and to exercise their creative gifts, we actually increase their poverty."

• So many "handout" programs have good intentions, but they often fail to acknowledge the dignity of those they are helping!
• Let's apply this to poverty that stems from oppression and difficult circumstances.

I am convinced that Jesus is deeply concerned about oppression in the world today. The Darfur region of Sudan is a prime example of this. The UN has estimated 400k people have been killed and over 2 million displaced. Why has this happened? The climate is changing, the grasslands are turning into deserts and the water supply is limited and so the result is people fighting over resources. Add to this the unjust Sudanese gov'ts siding with one ethnic tribe over another and the result is massive displacement and genocide of people who literally have no way to change their circumstances. I know that we cannot solve the problems of the world but we should everything we possibly can - maybe its signing a petition for our gov't to do something about it. The Church must speak up for those who suffer injustice in the world.

• Now lets apply this to our local context: (winter homeless shelter)
  

• Few of us would object to housing the homeless during the winter.
  
• Many of us would object to sleeping among them while they are here.
• Few of us would object to preparing a meal for the poor at the church.
• But many of us would object to inviting them to our homes for a meal
• Few of us would object to giving assistance (food/money) to NCEON.
  
• Many of us would not be inclined to give our time and attention.
  
• What many of us are unwilling to do is precisely what the poor need the most - to be treated with dignity and respect.
• They are human beings and have an inherent dignity given to him by the creator that cannot be taken away no matter how bad they smell.
• If we treat the well-dressed rich with more dignity that the poor man in rags we have become what James calls "judges with evil thoughts." (Jas 2:4) and have "insulted the poor." (Jas 2:6)
• So whether they are in Darfur, or in Somalia, or Nicaragua or in Baltimore, we must go to the poor with this message...
  
• Jesus Christ lived, died and rose again so that you could be all that you were created to be in Christ.
  
• And we must show this message is true by our deeds in helping them to become all they were created to be.
  
• 
  
• Failing to treat the poor with dignity stems from the second principle we must remember (Second half of 1 Peter 4:9)
  
• Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
• No one human being is better than another - we must see ourselves as poor sinners who are completely reliant on the Royal Son
• IN the Kingdom of the Son, there is not poverty, there is no laziness, there is no oppression, there is no injustice.
  
• In the kingdom everyone dwells in safety and has his own vine and fig tree.
  

CLOSER: In November DaySpring will particularize and too often when churches particularize they lose their missional focus. Both Mike and I feel it is important that we do not do this. So as we look ahead to particularization it is vitally important that we continue to seek the peace and prosperity of our community, to stand with the weak against oppressors and to proclaim the good news that Jesus came to establish a new humanity and to bring oppression, poverty, and injustice to an end - This is and will always be our mission. When Jesus began his ministry he entered the synagogue in his hometown and read from Isaiah 61. This chapter is another place where JEsus' job description is on display. That means it is our job description as well and I want to end by reading it to you.