Wisdom For Seeking Justice
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Proverbs, which is about gaining practical wisdom for everyday life, and today we’re talking about justice. We’re talking about gaining practical wisdom when it comes to the topic of justice, which is an intense topic considering our current cultural and political climate. I mean within seconds of discussing justice issues, you can be viewed as a hero, victim, or villain depending on your beliefs, and who you share your beliefs with. Our culture’s quick to cry for freedom of speech, but then quick to attack and censor others with differing beliefs. Our cultural and political climate is very tense when it comes to justice issues, and my goal for today isn’t to speak on specific justice issues. I’ll be speaking on specific issues like racism, cancel culture, and gender identity in the Fall, so for now you can holster your weapons. You can put the guns away, because today we’re seeing what Proverbs says about justice in general not specifically, so let’s turn to Proverbs 3 and get into it. You’ll find Proverbs in the middle of your bible, and we’ll be in Proverbs 3:17-29. The title of today’s message is Wisdom For Seeking Justice, and the big idea is we need wisdom when seeking justice.We need wisdom when seeking justice.
Context:
Here’s your context. These proverbs come from King Solomon who’s considered one of the most famous, wealthiest, wisest kings in history. Historically people traveled from all over the world to gain from his wisdom, and today we’re gaining from his wisdom when it comes to seeking justice. But before we get into the text, we need to define what justice is, because our culture has distorted it. We’ve created a singular view of justice that only advocates for our own areas of interest, which causes us to ignore numerous other areas of injustice. For example, some people are advocates against racism, but not abortion...Others are advocates against abortion, but not racism...We’ve become advocates for singular areas of interest, while ignoring numerous other injustices happening all around us. But a biblical view of justice is so much greater than our cultural view of justice because it addresses all areas of injustice. God’s not only interested in our own singular areas of injustice, He’s interested in all areas of injustice in our world!
But what is justice? What is justice according to the bible?...The bible uses 2 Hebrew words to describe justice. The 1st is mishpat, and it means to treat people equally and fairly when it comes to punishment, protection, and care. The 2nd word is tzadeqah, and it means to live a just and righteousness life toward others. Some scholars call mishpatrectifying justice since it entails punishing wrongs and caring for victims of injustice. But they call tzadeqah primary justice since we wouldn’t need rectifying justice if all of us lived just and righteous lives towards others. So biblical justice entails rectifying wrongs, protecting, and caring for victims of injustice, and living a life that treats people equally, fairly, justly, righteously. It’s about bringing God’s justice and grace to all areas of injustice, not just our own singular areas of injustice, which Solomon will teach us in today’s text. We’ll address the following 3 questions: #1 Why do we need justice? #2 What is our role in seeking justice? #3 How can Jesus help us in seeking justice? Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Proverbs 3:17-29 states this, “Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful.” Solomon’s talking about wisdom, he’s saying her ways are pleasant, and ‘peaceful.’ The Hebrew word for ‘peaceful’ is shalom, and according to Judeo Christian history it means so much more than just having an inner calm. Shalom is what the world would be like without sin, evil, and suffering...It’s what the world would be like without COVID, without other sicknesses, without death...It’s what the world would be like without sadness, depression, oppression, and injustice... Shalom is what all of us want, and it’s something creation once had, which Solomon states next.
Vs. 18, “She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are happy. 19 The Lord founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding. 20 By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew.” Solomon’s referring to what life was like in Genesis 1-2 when God created the heavens and the earth. He refers to the tree of life, to the way things were in the Garden before sin entered the world. He says Adam and Eve were happy, all of creation was happy! It’s because they were in perfect harmony with God, each other, with all of creation, and it was shalom...It was shalom, it was peaceful...When God created the world, He created it to be in harmony with each other, like a piece of fabric consisting of thousands of threads harmoniously weaved together. What makes fabric so beautiful isn’t the individual threads, it’s when those individual threads are weaved together into one harmonious piece. In a similar way God didn’t create the fabric of creation, the fabric of life to be self-sufficient, but to be harmoniously weaved together with other threads of life. As one scholar put it, “Shalom in the bible means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight. It’s a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied, and natural gifts are fruitfully employed, all under the arch of God’s love. Shalom, is the way things ought to be.”
Now what’s interesting is if you ask a skeptic if they believe in justice and that there’s a certain way things ought to be. They’d say “Yes, of course I believe in justice! There needs to be a judicial system and justice for wrong doings.” But you can’t say that if you believe God doesn’t exists, if you believe our world is an accidental result of Darwinian evolution and natural selection. You can’t say that because natural selection doesn’t care about justice or the way things ought to be, it cares about survival. It cares about stronger organisms destroying weaker organisms, stronger nations destroying weaker nations, stronger ethnic groups destroying weaker ethnic groups, and you can’t claim any of that’s injustice because according to natural selection it’s just survival. You can’t claim it isn’t how things ought to be, unless you believe in a God who created things to function in ways that should be! This is critical to understanding justice, because Solomon’s saying God created our world to function in certain ways, to function in harmony with each other. He created our world full of shalom, full of peace, and without injustices. But things aren’t functioning like that anymore, things aren’t as they ought to be, because our sinful injustices have created disharmony, which is the answer to our 1stquestion.
Question #1 = Why do we need justice? Why do we need justice? It’s because our world had shalom, but we lost it when we vandalized our world with sin. Our sins and other people’s sins created a world of injustices, which lead to disharmony and our need for justice. If sin didn’t exist there wouldn’t be any need for justice, but because sin exists there’s a need for justice. When people live sinfully and selfishly for themselves it leads to the breakdown of societal shalom. It leads to things like poverty, racism, sexism, wars, crimes, injustices. Justice is us taking the threads that are unraveling in the fabric of creation and weaving them back together so they can experience shalom again. The reason we need justice is because the world was built for shalom, but our sins are causing it to unravel everywhere. Biblical justice is about restoring shalom in places where it’s unraveling, which Solomon addresses in vs. 27-29.
Vs. 27-29 states, “When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs. 28 Don’t say to your neighbor, ‘Go away! Come back later. I’ll give it tomorrow,’ when it is there with you.” Notice Solomon says don’t withhold ‘good’ from your neighbor, and the word ‘good’ entails so much more than just being nice to your neighbor. It entails giving up your time, talent, and treasure to help your neighbor pull what’s been unraveling in their life back together again. It entails weaving your life into theirs in such a way that it helps them to flourish and experience God’s shalom. Solomon’s saying don’t live as if you’re a single thread living next to other single threads in the fabric of life. Instead, be so intertwined with others, that you get involved when you see their lives unraveling. Biblical justice is about so much more than legal justice, than holding people accountable for wrongs they’ve done. It’s about helping to restore peace, helping to restore shalom to the places in our world, where sin has caused it to unravel. It’s about helping to care for our neighbors, instead of withholding good from our neighbors.
Vs. 29, “Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor, for he trusts you and lives near you.” The implication here is that the person was so intertwined with their neighbor, that a relationship was formed. They spent time with their neighbor, poured into their neighbor, invested in their neighbor to the point where their neighbor now trusts them and enjoys living by them. It’s like our code to love the few so we can love the many. We want to love a few people so well that they can’t ignore the love of Jesus for their lives. Are you doing that? Are you investing in your neighbors so well, loving your neighbors so well, that they can’t ignore the love of Jesus for their lives?...Do your neighbors trust you, and enjoy living by you?...Would your neighbors even miss you if you were gone?...Look this is about so much more than just hanging with your neighbors, it’s about being an instrument of grace and shalom to your neighbors! It’s about being an asset to your neighborhood, instead of just taking up space in your neighborhood!...It’s about being an asset to your neighborhood, instead of just taking up space in your neighborhood!
ï Jeremiah 29:7, “Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to.
ï Proverbs 11:10-11, “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices...Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted...”
City Awakening how can you pursue the well-being of our city?...How can you be a blessing to our city, be an instrument of grace and shalom to our city?...How can you be an instrument of grace and shalom in your school, in your work place, in all the extracurricular activities you’re doing?...What are some simple things you can start doing in your weekly rhythms, that can be an asset to your neighbors, instead of just taking up space in your neighborhood?...All of this is addressing our 2nd question which is:
Question #2 = What is our role in seeking justice? What is our role in seeking justice? Solomon’s teaching us we’re to be actively involved in seeking justice to restore shalom in our cities. Some Christians think the church should only focus on sharing the gospel for salvation, instead of talking about justice issues like poverty economics, healthcare for the poor, and racism. But that neglects the command Jesus gave us in Matthew 5 to be “salt” and “light” to the world! It also neglects Jesus’ teaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 where he tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. When Jesus was asked “who’s my neighbor” he basically says it’s anybody in need! My point is sharing the gospel is certainly our greatest priority, but it isn’t our only priority! We’re to care for those who are hurting like the Samaritan did, including those hurting from racial, gender, economic, and hundreds of other injustices. Proverbs 31:8–9 states, “Speak up for those who have no voice,, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. 9 Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy.”
The church’s role is to ‘speak up’ against all injustices, not just the ones that affect us or the ones in our singular areas of interest. We’re to speak up against all injustices and let the bible not our politics drive our speaking up. Political conversations are important, but they’re divisive if they’re not gospel centered and biblically based. Our unity and loyalty to Jesus must always be greater than our unity and loyalty to a political party. We aren’t political or social activists, we’re disciples! We’re ambassadors for Christ who’ve been sent to speak against all injustices! We’ve been sent to bring shalom, into every crevice of society. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, “Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.” It’s because at any given moment we can be the ones experiencing injustice. Injustice done to anyone, is a threat to everyone, because it’s an attack on our societal shalom. Both Solomon and Jesus said we need to speak up...Our role is to speak up against all injustices! This brings us to our 3rd and last question.
Question #3 = How can Jesus help us in seeking justice? He can help us in 3 ways.
#1 Jesus can heal you, from sinful injustices done against you. = Some of you’ve been wounded deeply by sinful injustices done against you, and Jesus can relate with your wounds. He knows what it’s like to be wounded by injustice, to experience injustice, and to come out of it perfectly healed on the other side of the cross. Tim Keller states, “A lot of people say, ‘I can’t believe in God when I look out in this world and see all this injustice.’ But Jesus Christ, God himself, came to earth and knows what it’s like to be under the lash. He knows what it’s like to stand up to power and be killed for it. He knows what it’s like to be the victim of injustice. He knows what it’s like to be lynched.” Jesus can relate with your wounded heart, he can heal your wounded heart, because he overcame the wounds of a broken heart. He experienced injustice too.
#2 Jesus can forgive you, of all the sinful injustices you’ve done against others. = We’ve all committed sinful injustices that’ve vandalized God’s shalom in the world. Jesus says in Mark 10:8, “No one is good, except God alone.” We can blame God all we want for how messed up our lives and world is, but we’re the ones who messed it up! It’s our own sinful injustices that’s disrupted the harmony of God’s shalom. Everyone’s committed sinful injustices, but Jesus offers forgiveness to everyone. Through his death on the cross the justice of God is satisfied, and the mercy of God’s forgiveness is extended. As an act of justice, he dies the death we deserved to die for our sins, and as an act of mercy he offers us the forgiveness we don’t deserve have. Through the cross he offers us forgiveness and eternal shalom with God.
#3 Jesus can empower you, to live a life of justice and shalom. = Jesus can heal you from injustice, forgive you of injustice, and can also empower you to live a life of justice and shalom. When Jesus came into the world, he came with a plan to restore eternal shalom in our world like it was in the garden before sin vandalized our world. Every follower of Jesus is a part of that plan and empowered by Jesus to fulfill that plan. Our souls have been eternally knit together with Christ, and he’s empowered us to bring his justice and shalom to places where it’s unraveling.
The Big Idea:
The big idea is we need wisdom when seeking justice...We need the wisdom and help of Jesus to restore shalom to our lives and neighborhoods. There are sinful injustices being done in our lives and neighborhoods every day, that remind us we’re living in a world that isn’t shalom. But Jesus is the Prince of Shalom and when he returns, he’ll bring his eternal shalom with him. He’ll bring his eternal shalom for anyone who repents and turns to him.
If you’re a skeptic, you need to repent and turn to Jesus before it’s too late. You need to ask him to forgive you of all your sinful injustices that’ve contributed to disrupting his shalom in the world. It’s hypocritical to want justice in the world but expect God to ignore the injustices you’ve done in the world. You need to repent for disrupting God’s shalom in the world and put your faith in Jesus...If you’re a believer, remember the fabric of creation is still being restored, and Jesus wants you to help restore the threads that are unraveling. When Jesus returns, we’ll get to experience the fabric of creation as it was originally intended without injustices, and all of creation will thrive in perfect harmony with our Creator. Until then let’s seek the wisdom of the Prince of Shalom and live as instruments of his grace and shalom.