Rev. David Holwick H
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 22, 2004
Deuteronomy 16:18-20
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I. Images of justice.
A. High profile cases in the news:
1) Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was led to
court in handcuffs.
2) On a more tasteful note, Martha Stewart is on trial for
insider trading.
3) Ex-basketball star Jayson Williams is on trial for
murdering his limousine driver.
4) Alleged terrorist Jose Padilla, an American citizen, finds
out what rights he has as an "enemy combatant."
5) The Supreme Court is regularly in the news with cases like
the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, or prayer at
high school football games.
6) Court shows are a staple on TV.
a) Instant justice at low cost - fines are paid by show.
B. We are a nation of laws.
1) For all our cynicism, it does matter.
a) Iraq struggles right now to come up with national laws.
1> (Iraqi home used as a torture chamber)
b) Problem in Haiti - laws are what the powerful say
they are.
2) In the Bible, the law is above even the King.
a) He was required to have a copy of God's law with him
at all times.
b) All humans are accountable to God.
c) We will answer for how we have done.
1> (Samuel's defense of his integrity...)
C. Justice can be entertaining, but injustice eats our soul.
1) Gerald Sittser's mom, wife and daughter were killed by
a drunk driver. The drunk got off on a technicality.
2) It took Gerald years to get over the anger - with the
driver and with God.
II. Biblical concept of justice.
A. What is justice?
1) Justice is powerful.
a) Amos compares it to a great river. Amos 5:24
2) Justice is doing the right thing. Isa 56:1
a) Often interchangeable with righteousness. Job 29:14
3) It is conformity to an unbending moral standard.
a) God's principles of right and wrong are eternally valid.
1> Specific applications can change over time, but
the core principles do not.
b) Rights and truths are not negotiable.
1> Dad and living arrangements?
2> Standards are God's, are not whims dependent on the
social climate.
B. Justice ultimately derives from God.
1) From the beginning, he is described as the "judge of all
the earth.
a) God loves justice.
b) His justice is consistent - all his judgments are right.
2) Humans are made in God's image, and have rights.
a) Justice acknowledges these rights, and defends them
when they are attacked or disregarded.
C. God's justice is gracious.
1) It is far more than giving you what you deserve.
a) Our just God gives you MORE than you deserve.
2) God's justice and mercy are often viewed as conflicting.
a) In fact, they are perfectly compatible.
3) Justice goes beyond legality.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn at Harvard graduation, 1978:
People in the West have acquired considerable skill in using,
interpreting, and manipulating law....
Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law.
If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is
required.
Nobody may mention that one could still not be entirely right.
I have spent all my life under a communist regime and I will tell
you that a society without any objective legal scale is a
terrible one indeed.
But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite
worthy of man either.
Wherever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations,
there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's
noblest impulses.
#1214
III. Let justice roll down like a river.
A. Justice is for everyone. Deut 16:18-20
1) In Israel, judges were set up in each town.
2) Justice is not just for rich people.
3) It is the right treatment of every person.
B. Justice belongs in the business world.
1) Use just weights and measures.
2) Don't cheat people.
C. Justice belongs in the courts.
1) It must be fair, not perverted, not partial.
a) Public opinion should not sway it.
b) Ideology should not drive it.
2) Justice must not be blind - it must see what is right.
a) Bribes are forbidden.
IV. Justice is best shown on the edges.
A. In Israel, aliens had the same rights as the native-born.
"You are to have the same law for the alien and the
native-born." Lev 24:22
B. Justice demands the righting of wrongs.
1) Much emphasis is put on the oppressed.
a) Those who were weak - widows and orphans.
b) Those who were poor.
2) Isaiah's admonition: 1:16-17
"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.
V. How just are you?
A. Live justly.
1) Don't cut corners or seek favors.
2) Give others what they deserve. (we are positive)
3) Give people more than they deserve. (they are negative)
B. Pursue justice.
1) Most of us aren't oppressing others.
a) But are we liberating them?
2) We CAN make a difference.
VI. God's justice is not merely gracious but redemptive.
A. Our Judge is our Savior.
B. Justice will not be perfect until Christ returns.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
This sermon derived many of its ideas from the article "Justice" by Eddie
Broussard in Discipleship Journal, #133, page 47ff.
#1214 "Justice Is More Than Legality," Cheryl Forbes, Christianity Today
magazine, July 21, 1978, page 8.
This and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html.html
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Discipleship Journal #133 "Justice," by Eddie Broussard, page 47.
I. Every human has dignity because we are fashioned in God's likeness.
A. Mistreatment of any person is no small thing.
B. Bible shows how God has a fierce desire to protect the outcast
and the weak.
C. God wants justice - the right treatment for every person.
II. Justice in the Bible.
A. What is justice? (Amos compares with a great river)
1) Doing the right thing. Isa 56:1
2) Connected to righteousness. Job 29:14
3) Treating people with graciousness, compassion, and
mercy. Zech 7:9
B. Most common context.
1) Treatment of vulnerable people. Deut 24:17
a) This wasn't a strength of the Israelites. Isa 1:16-17
b) Jesus continued the rebuke. Matt 23:23
2) Injustice is generally financial or judicial.
a) Financial:
1> Robbery.
2> Extortion.
3> Excess interest.
4> Unfair wage.
5> Exploiting poor.
6> Favoritism to rich.
b) Judicial:
1> Bribes.
2> False testimony.
3> Depriving poor of their rights.
C. God's relationship to justice.
1) He loves justice. Isa 61:8
2) His judgments are just. Jer 30:11, Acts 17:31
3) He establishes justice for the oppressed. Ps 10:17-18
D. Justice is not perfect until Christ returns.
III. Personal justice.
A. We have a responsibility to pursue justice.
1) Most of us aren't oppressing others.
2) How much difference can we make?
a) We CAN make a difference.
B. People who are most likely to be oppressed.
1) Those whose status and power were diminished by loss
of a father, husband or country.
2) The dynamic of exclusion is the same today.
a) Racial, cultural, socioeconomic differences.
b) The genesis of injustice: labeling leads to exclusion.
C. Injustice starts in our hearts.
1) How do you see and treat people who are different?
a) Avoid them?
b) Build honest relationships with them?
c) Try to make them feel they belong?
2) Acceptance is the first step toward justice.
a) God wants us to be compassionate toward the mistreated
and excluded.
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The Illustrated Bible Dictionary
I. Nine stages in development of justice.
A. Straightness in physical sense.
B. Conformity in abstract sense.
1) An accepted standard of values.
C. God's will and activities that result from it.
D. The moral standard by which God measures human conduct.
E. Descriptive of punishment for moral infraction.
F. God's deeds of vindication for the deserving.
G. God's pity, love and grace, rather than his strict application
of law. Ps 51:14
H. Human justice that is derived from God's gracious justice.
I. Justice as goodness.
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