Jesus JusticeSo Easy a 5-Year Old Can Do It?

Presented by Jeremy Del Riowww.JeremyDelRio.com

All He Wants“I can’t stand your religious meetings.I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.I want nothing to do with your religion projects,your pretentious slogans and goals.I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,your public relations and image making.I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.When was the last time you sang to me?Do you know what I want?I want justice – oceans of it.I want fairness – rivers of it.That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”

- Amos 5:21-24

Justice: Righting Wrongs

• More than acknowledging wrongs

• More than compassion or empathy

Justice is about righting the underlying wrongs that create the problem in the first place

The Class ChasmWhat’s just about the rich getting richer

and the poor getting poorer?

Globally, 6.7 Billion People ...+ Top 1 billion consume 32x the resources of the bottom billion+ Top 1% owns 40% of wealth+ Top 5% owns 70% of wealth+ Top 20% earns 83x the bottom 20%

Purpose Driven“I had to say, ‘God, I repent, because I can’t think of the last time I thought of widows and orphans.’ … And so I went back and I began to read scripture, and it was like blinders came off. Now, I’ve got three advanced degrees. I’ve had four years in Greek and Hebrew and I’ve got doctorates. And how did I miss 2,000 verses in the Bible where it talks about the poor? How did I miss that? I mean, I went to two different seminaries and a Bible school; how did I miss the 2,000 verses on the poor?”

– Rick Warren

A Parable"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' 

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

- Matthew 25:31-46

I. Denial is not an option

The Sheep:

+ feed the hungry

+ refresh the thirsty

+ welcome strangers

+ clothe the naked

+ nurture the sick

+ visit prisoners

The Goats:

- ignore

- ignore

- ignore

- ignore- ignore

- ignore

Sodom’s Fatal Flaw

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen."

- Ezekiel 16:49-50

Sodomy Visits the Gospel

The ONLY PARABLE that speaks of HELL AS ETERNAL FIRE

Those who ignore people in need reap Sodom’s fate: “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

II. Despair is not an Option

Feeling stuck without options and powerless to change things is ...

A trap of systemic and generational poverty.

The incarnation offers hope

A Boy in the Ghetto

The Kingdom came “on earth as it is in heaven” ...

When the King“became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14, The Message)

Jesus invited class scorn

+ Born into straw poverty + Childhood as political refugee+ Immigrant teenager in the ghetto+ Worked his ministry with no place to lay his head + Made his last trip on a borrowed donkey + Spent his last evening alive in a borrowed room + Watched his lone possession become a gambler’s

prize at his death+ Buried in a borrowed tomb

Been there. Done that.

Jesus knows what means to feel disconnected, rejected, exposed, and exploited.

He offers hope by restoring options.

III. Jubilee Justice

Jesus’ Mission Statement:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." - Luke 4:18-18

Do you love justice?

He quotes Isaiah 61, which concludes:

“Instead of their shame, my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance … and everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the Lord, love justice.” - Isaiah 61:1-8

The Year of the Lord’s FavorThe Year of Jubilee (50 yrs) - Lev. 25 The Year of Canceling Debts (7yrs) - Deut. 15

Jubilee:• Debts forgiven• Loans granted without interest• Property returned to original owners

• Slaves set free

Good News to the Poor

+ Rejects systemic poverty + Provides opportunities for the economically disadvantaged to break free.

“There should be no poor among you … if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today” (Deut. 15:1-6).

Always with you

“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy.” - Deut 15:11

(Contrast with Judas’ self-righteousness in Matt. 26:6-13)

IV. Justice for All Classes

If Luke 4 is the Mission Statement, Sermon on the Mount is the Core Kingdom Values

Jesus’ longest recorded sermon offers guidance

Compassionate Act #1: Recognize Your Own Poverty

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3).

Compassionate Act #2: Change Your Goals

The Kingdom upends what we regard as valuable:

wealth, happiness, knowledge, self-assuredness, strength, and security

And provides a new range of aspirations:

mourn, meek, hunger & thirst for righteousness, etc.

Pursue Shalom

• N. T. Wright: “putting the world to rights.” • Apostle Paul: All creation’s waiting “in eager

expectation” to be “liberated from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:19-23)

• It’s what the Prince of peace came to reestablish.

Dr. Tim Keller describes Shalom as:The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in a state of universal flourishing, wholeness and delight. It’s an intricately woven garment that diminishes when things unravel physically, psychologically, and economically. Social unraveling comes when people who “have” hold on to their blessing rather than thrusting it out and interweaving it with those who “have not.”

Compassionate Act #3: Give, but Give Quietly

On Giving to the poor:

“Do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do” (Matt. 6:2)

On the true value of earthly wealth:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures of earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (vs. 19-21).

Righting economic wrongs meanssharing our power and possessions with those around us to enable their social flourishing.

The Western idea of justice revolves around and protects individual rights, but the biblical idea is the opposite: we owe one another what we have.

Dr. Keller: “The way you treat the poor and the way you treat [God] are absolutely linked. If you don’t treat the poor as you ought to it’s because you aren’t treating [God] as you ought to. If you have a bad relationship with the poor it’s because you have a bad relationship with [God], whether you know it or not.”

Or, to paraphrase Proverbs: If you insult the poor you insult their Maker; but if you are kind to the poor you lend to the Lord and He will reward you (Proverbs 14:31,19:17).

Compassionate Act #4: Forgive

Scripture describes the fundamentals of Kingdom faith – sin, its wages, redemption, forgiveness, and even people who hurt us – in economic terms.

Because our heart rests where our treasure is, Jesus

speaks directly to the hearts of his hearers.

• Sinning is like racking up debts that are increasingly difficult to repay.

• Being sinned against is like holding a worthless loan that can’t be repaid.

• Forgiveness relieves the debtor of his obligation to repay.

• Redemption comes after the price has been paid in full.

Kingdom economics return in the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus teaches to ask for personal forgiveness only “as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:9-13).

Because Jesus paid the price of Shalom in full, he expects nothing less than forgiveness from us.

Compassionate Act #5: Worry Not About Stuff

Don’t even worry about sustenance – “what you will eat or drink … or wear”

Instead seek first his Kingdom and everything else will fall into place (vs. 25-34).

For Americans raised on a culture of rugged individualism and Puritanical self-reliance, what could be more contrary than that?

The upside-down Kingdom turns basic necessities, what we eat and drink and wear to survive, on their head.

The same impulse reminded Jesus: “Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Justice, kindness, compassion, and the everyday realities of the Word made flesh and living among us sustained Jesus throughout his ministry.