The Gospel & Culture: The Gospel & Justice

ORDER OF WORSHIP:

We Worship The God of Justice

Welcome
Song of Praise  “Holy Is The Lord”
Call to Worship Psalm 37:28-31
Song of Praise“Holy Holy Holy”
Confession of Faith Micah 6:8
Song of Praise “Build My Life”
Prayer of Adoration
Greet One Another
Ministry Spotlight Andrew Newman (RUF @ USF)
Prayer of Intercession
Giving of God’s Tithe and Our Offerings
Song of Preparation  “Before The Throne of God Above”
Scripture Reading Isaiah 58:1-14
Sermon “The Gospel  Culture: Gospel &Justice” Craig Swartz
Prayer of Commitment
Song of Response  “Amazing Grace/My Chains Are Gone”
Benediction

SERMON NOTES: 

Tim Keller:

“There have never been stronger calls for justice than those we are hearing today. But seldom do those issuing the calls acknowledge that currently there are competing visions of justice, often at sharp variance, and that none of them have achieved anything like a cultural consensus, not even in a single country like the U.S. It is overconfident to assume that everyone will adopt your view of justice, rather than some other, merely because you say so,”

Martin Luther King Jr.:

“You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression ….

If we are wrong, the Supreme Court of this nation is wrong. If we are wrong, the Constitution of the United States is wrong. And if we are wrong, God Almighty is wrong.n If we are wrong, Jesus of Nazareth was merely a utopian dreamer that never came down to Earth. If we are wrong, justice is a lie, love has no meaning. And we are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

1. GOD’S  FOR JUSTICE

Tim Keller:

“Christians know little about biblical justice, despite its prominence in the Scriptures. This ignorance is having two effects. First, large swaths of the church still do not see ‘doing justice’ as part of their calling as individual believers. Second many younger Christians, recognizing this failure of the church and wanting to rectify things, are taking up one or another of the secular approaches to justice, which introduces distortions into their practice and lives.”

Isaiah 58:1-3a

Isaiah 58:3b-4

Isaiah says in 58:6-7

Luke 4:17-18

Isaiah 30:18

Jeremiah 22:3

We see that in Proverbs 14:31

2. A BIBLICAL  OF JUSTICE

Leviticus 24:22

Job 29:12-17

Isaiah 58:9-11

Tim Keller:

“To treat all of your profits and assets as individualistically yours is mistaken. Because God owns all your wealth (you are just a steward of it), the community has some claim on it. Nevertheless, it is not to be confiscated. You are to acknowledge the claim and voluntarily be radically generous.”

Voddi Baucham:

“You and I are sinners. We do  not see ourselves accurately. Every one of us thinks more of himself than he ought. We are in desperate need of brothers and sisters who will tell us the truth. More importantly, we need to be the kind of people who acknowledge that truth.”

3. GOD’S  US TO DO JUSTICE

Beatrice Webb:

“In my diary in 1890 I wrote, I have staked all on the essential goodness of human nature. Now thirty-five years later I realize how permanent are the evil impulses and instincts in man, and how little you can count on changing them by and change in social machinery. No amount of knowledge or science will be of any avail unless we can curb the bad impulses.”

Matthew 8:20

John Stott:

“In a world of injustice, how could you believe in a God that was immune to it and therefore I would not believe in God if it wasn’t for the cross.”