Christian Justice - Part One

Let me preface what you are about to see with a clear statment. Some of you will not be interested in this blog post. Some of you will be VERY interested in this blog post. It is the lesson that I'll be teaching this coming Wed. about Justice with reference to the book of Isaiah. You'll see it exactly as I wrote it with questions to ask and places to pause. I am doing this because I think that there are people out there who care about justice and want to play an active part in seeing it come to pass - they just need a subtle push. For some of you, let this be your push! Enjoy.

Christian Justice – Part I

What comes to your mind when I say the word “justice”?
What are some synonyms to this word “justice”?

So, the definition of the word justice is:
1. The quality of being righteous
2. impartiality; fairness
3. the quality of being right or correct
4. reward of penalty as deserved

Justice has a lot to do with ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’. Can you list some things that you would say is ‘right’ in life when it comes to the lives of teenagers? Can you give me a list of ‘wrongs’?

If we have a wrong idea of what’s right and what’s wrong in our minds, how can that affect your idea of ‘justice’?

Sometimes it is ignorance which keeps us from understanding injustice. Ignorance doesn’t mean we’re dumb, it simply means that we don’t know.

Can you give me an example of something that happened at school that demanded ‘justice’? do good on a test, kids get in a fight, cheat on test, graffiti

The Bible uses two words to look at justice. The first is ‘mish-pawt’ (pronouced) and means properly a verdict (favorable or unfavorable), a sentence or a divine law. Let’s read some verses using this word ‘mish-pawt’:

Lev 24:22 I am the LORD your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you. (H4941)

Pro 2:8 God sees that justice is done, and he watches over everyone who is faithful to him. (H4941)

Isa 5:16 But the holy LORD God All-Powerful is praised, because he has shown who he is by bringing justice. (H4941)

Psa 105:7 The LORD is our God, bringing justice everywhere on earth. (4941)

Hos 12:6 So return to your God. Patiently trust him, and show love and justice. (H4941)

Mic 6:8 The LORD God has told us what is right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God." (H4941)

Zep 3:5 All who do evil are shameless, but the LORD does right and is always fair. With the dawn of each day, God brings about justice. (H4941)

What are some things that we can learn from these verses about God and ourselves?

There’s another word that the Old Testament (Hebrew) uses for this word ‘justice’. This word is ‘tsaw-dak’. This word means ‘to be right in a moral or forensic sense’. So, we saw that ‘mish-pawt’ meant a verdict, ‘tsaw-dak’ means that thing which is right.

Deu 32:4 The LORD is a mighty rock, and he never does wrong. God can always be trusted to bring justice. (H6663)

Job 34:17 The mighty God is the one who brings about justice, and you are condemning him. (H6662)

Psa 45:7 You love justice and hate evil. And so, your God chose you and made you happier than any of your friends. (H6664)

Psa 58:11 Everyone will say, "It's true! Good people are rewarded. God does rule the earth with justice." (H6662)

Psa 97:6 The heavens announce, "The LORD brings justice!" Everyone sees God's glory. (H6664)

Isa 24:16 From all over the world songs of praise are heard for the God of justice. But I feel awful, terribly miserable. Can anyone be trusted? So many are treacherous! (H6662)

Isa 61:10 I celebrate and shout because of my LORD God. His saving power and justice are the very clothes I wear. They are more beautiful than the jewelry worn by a bride or a groom. (H6666)

Zec 8:8 and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, faithful to bring about justice. (H6666)

When we see this, we almost always see it equated with what God is bringing with Him. He’s bringing this sense of ‘rightness’ with Him and when we see injustice, we can be sure to know that He wants to be at work in the midst of it.

Can you give me any examples of injustice in the Bible?
How do we see God responding in the midst of that injustice?

In our lives, we all have seen things or been in situations that seemed ‘unfair’. Whether it’s someone being picked before us in gym class to not getting the scholarship we need for college, we’ve all faced unfairness in some way. There’s another word we’re going to look at today – “oppression”.

Definition: “Oppression is unfairness taken to extremes.”

Oppressors use lies and force to take what rightly belongs to someone else.

Can you give me some examples of oppressors from today or history that you read about or saw on TV?

What made them oppressors?

God is very patient with failures and mistakes and slips and backslides and screwups but is incredibly intolerant of oppression.

Let’s read a portion of scripture that we’re focusing on today. Isaiah 1:10-17

“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah?” vs. 10

Who does it appear that Isaiah is talking to?

Can anyone tell me the story of Sodom and Gomorrah?

History tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in the time of Abraham who lived around the year 2000BC. In his time Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed. Isaiah lived around 700BC – 1300 years later.

This would be like me calling you after a city that was destroyed in 700AD. What made the story of Sodom and Gomorrah one that was remembered for 1300 years and then even over double that after this reference?

What were some of the attributes of Sodom and Gomorrah that Isaiah was trying to put on Judah?

Let’s keep reading.

“The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood…” vs. 11-15

If God were saying this message today to the church, what would it sound like? What words would be different?

If I was Judah, I would feel pretty helpless right now. Here, God has basically said that I could give as much money in the offering as I could and it wouldn’t make Him happy. I could pray till I was blue in the face and He won’t listen or even look at me. He’s telling me that all my special church services that I attend are worth nothing in His eyes.

If you were to look at an individual who gave money to the church, attended every time there was a service and prayed, would you think that this is what God would be saying to him? Why or why not?

The good news is that God gives hope. He’s in the hope business. This portion continues to say… “…Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong. Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Vs. 15-17

I love how the CEV puts it. “Stop doing wrong and learn to live right. See that justice is done. Defend widows and orphans and help those in need.”

I’m a simple guy and I love simplicity. God, through Isaiah, makes this so simple for us.

Just from reading this, what do you think is more important in the eyes of God – coming to youth group or seeking justice? Coming to church or seeking to overturn injustice?

Let’s look a little deeper at this verse. We see the command from Isaiah – ‘Stop doing wrong!’ We have to remember that Isaiah was not an evangelist at this moment trying to get people to turn to God. He is talking to the ‘church’. He is talking to believers.

What wrong doing do you see in some people who follow God today?

If you don’t want to answer this aloud, you don’t have to. But if you do, you can. What wrong doing have we seen when we look in the mirror?

The command, right after ‘stop doing wrong’ is "learn to live right". If the command is to learn, this means that it is not innate. It is something that we have to develop or learn.

What are some things that we can do to ‘learn to live right’?

Next, two words ring loud – “Seek Justice”. This word seek can mean to tread or follow or ask or question. It gives the idea that we should look intently for justice and, if we don’t find it, begin to question why it isn’t there. Conversely, we should locate where we do see justice and find out what is allowing that situation to be just, learn from it and apply it elsewhere.

“Encourage the Oppressed” is the next command. The King James Version of the Bible says ‘relieve the oppressed’. The word used here can mean ‘to be straight with’ or ‘to be honest with’ or ‘to be right, honest or happy with’. When I first read this I thought to myself, ‘I wouldn’t want to be straight and honest with someone who is oppressed – it said that I was supposed to encourage them, not depress them.’ Then I started thinking. They know their situation. They know what’s going on. And, if my heart’s right and I really want to help them out of their oppression then my honesty will be a sense of encouragement toward them.

Let’s take a moment and look at the oppressed. Give me some examples of those who are oppressed in some different categories:
1. In the world
2. In the US (country)
3. In Arizona (state)
4. In Wickenburg (city)
5. In our school

The next command is to ‘Defend the cause of the fatherless’.

What does it mean to defend?
In your opinion, who are the fatherless?
Can you think of some other people who need defending?

Lastly, we read that we are to ‘plead the case of the widows’.

What is life like for a widow?
What does it mean to plead their case?

I am a fan of simplicity and pleased that God used Isaiah to make this portion of scripture so simple for me. Unfortunately, its simplicity to understand does not lessen its difficulty to implement. I see the need. It’s immense. It’s vast. It’s more than I can handle at some times. But if not you… then who? And if not now… then when?

I hope you enjoyed!
GP
www.gphintz.com