Tag: righteousness

Longing for Justice and Righteousness

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
Some words make us squeamish.  Justice often gets a bad rap by some in the church, as if it were some code word for “liberal.”  Righteousness seems more like the “right” word, but gets thrown around like an old familiar blanket, as if we already know all that stuff.  So, what’s the big deal about justice and righteousness?  Other than being very biblical terms which get used a lot in Scripture, being just and right is what the Messiah is all about (Jeremiah 33:14-16).
 
            Justice and righteousness are most often paired together in the Old Testament.  They are really two sides of the same coin.  We often think of justice in punitive terms of giving lawbreakers what they deserve.  But biblical justice has much more to do with giving someone what they need and deserve in order to live and thrive as human beings.  To act justly means to provide things like clean drinking water, a safe environment, fair and equitable business practices, food to eat, a place to sleep, etc.  Righteousness is the relational element to justice.  To be righteous means to have right relationships, to connect with people, to move toward them and provide them with all the relational things that people need like respect, dignity, friendship, hospitality, fellowship, etc.
 
            Justice and righteousness are always to go together.  Justice without righteousness is at best, impersonal, and, at worst, condescending.  Righteousness without justice is only a dead faith that wishes well but never delivers.  But together, justice and righteousness brings love, peace, harmony, well-being, and human flourishing because all the basic necessities of life, physical and relational, are met in abundance.  This is what is meant in the Old Testament when Israel is referred to as “a land of milk and honey.”
 
            The time of abundance is here for us in the person of Jesus Christ.  Yet, it is not here in its fullness.  We anticipate, wait, and hope for the Second Coming of our Savior and King.  While we exercise patience, we long for better days.  A true Advent spirit is a deep longing for justice and righteousness because King Jesus is just and right!
 
            What do you long for today?  I long for things which are broken to be made right.  I long for biblical justice.  I long for the day when my grandson will have no more seizures.  I long for the day when individuals and families will not have to fight cancer anymore.  I long for the day when there will be no more depression, mental illness, or dementia.  I long for the day when people will be completely free of addictions.  I long for the day when there will be no more sex trafficking, death from malnutrition, grinding poverty, corrupt governments, whole families and communities torn by the ravages of HIV and AIDS, refugees with no place to call home, and devastating natural disasters.
 
I long for righteousness.  I long for the day when women and girls all across the world will not be abused and become the victims of disordered power.  I long for the day when Israelis and Palestinians, Iranians and Iraqis, Japanese and Koreans, Russians and everybody else will no more hate each other.  I long for all believers everywhere to experience the exhilaration of new life in Christ.  I long for my community to repent and believe the gospel.  I long for men and women of God to embrace Jesus and forsake all other gods.
 
            I long for the kingdom of God to come in all its fullness, in all its freedom, joy, prosperity, peace, and happiness.  God’s kingdom will not be ushered in through continued worship of things and the constant practice of accumulating more and more.  God’s kingdom will not come through worshiping a particular nation or country.  God’s kingdom will not be ushered in because of self-effort, savvy marketing, and full schedules.  God’s kingdom is not the same as our personal agendas for life. 
 

 

The kingdom of God will come when God decides it is going to come because Jesus is Lord and no one or nothing else is king!  I want to be doing justice and righteousness when he arrives.  The church of Jesus is a gathering of people who are to be just and right in their thinking and practice.  Holding those two important words together is vital to every congregation.

Psalm 11

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            God is quite serious about people living in such a way that is righteous, that is, in right relationship with others.  He does not tolerate the wicked – those who only have regard for themselves and violate others with hateful speech and actions.  At the core of God’s very being, he “hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”  We are to be righteous because God is righteous; we are to hate wickedness because God hates it.
 
            Anytime we talk about wickedness and righteousness, it typically is in the context of others who are violent and we who are not.  This is, at best, misguided, and, at worst, flat-out a self-deception.  It is easy to observe violence in others while ignoring our own part in wickedness.  We rarely equate violence with our words, but the sheer fact is that our tongues are prone to violent speech.  Whenever we seek to dominate a conversation; start an argument in order to win at all costs; put others down for their thoughts and ideas; engage in name-calling; or, speak against another behind his/her back; then we have come under the judgment of the God who abhors every form of violence.
 
            We often feel justified in our violent speech because of our supposed pure motives.  But this disregards the mental activity that takes place in our heads before we speak.  Too many people are prone to jumping to conclusions and thus misinterpret another’s words and actions.  If we would but stop and listen to ourselves, paying attention to the erroneous stories we can tell in an instant about others, then we would measure our words and seek to connect them with the righteous nature of God.  Righteous deeds spring from righteous thoughts based in truth. 
            Holy God, your perfect character and righteousness has always been and always will be.  Help me to connect so deeply with your goodness that my thoughts, words, and actions reflect your impeccable nature through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.

Daniel 9:1-19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            Daniel was one of the godliest persons in the whole of Scripture.  It was not so much because he was wise and insightful, savvy and ingenious.  He was certainly those things.  But what made Daniel godly was his tremendous sensitivity to sin.  It drove him to prayer.  It led him to fast.  It caused him to cry out to God with a great penitential confession.  Now, mind you, Daniel did not have all this concern because of his own personal failings; he was not the one running from God.  Yet, he identified so closely with his fellow Jews that he was totally distraught over their disloyalty to God’s covenant stipulations.  In other words, Israel simply did not care to obey God and they were not concerned to offer any kind of prayer of confession.  Daniel did for them what they either would not or could not do for themselves.
 
            The Lord Jesus told his disciples what truly characterizes a person of righteousness.  He said that God’s stamp of approval rests upon those who mourn (Matthew 5:4).  Genuinely godly people react emotionally over sin – not only theirs, but the sins of others.  Dwelling in the light of God’s presence will always cause us to discern the blackness of sin in all its foul depravity.  To not grieve over sin and disobedience is to not know God.
 
            Every human being is rushing toward eternity, and will be judged according to God’s gracious revealing of himself and his ways for humanity.  The person who grasps this reality cannot help but grieve over sin.  He mourns over the sins and the callous disregard of God in his nation.  He mourns over the greed, the hate, the cynicism, and the base lack of integrity around him.  Indeed, such a person mourns that there are so few mourners.
            Merciful God, I confess to you the sins of your people – their inattention to the things that are most important to you.  I grieve over the state of so many that do not know your grace and goodness.  I am ashamed before you that so few are sensitive to sin, even in your church.  To you, Lord God, belongs mercy and forgiveness.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive.  To you do I plead on behalf of the sins of many so that your grace will become operative through Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Proverbs 1:1-7

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            One of the best aspirations for the New Year is the pursuit and accumulation of wisdom.  This is what the book of Proverbs is all about.  Specifically, to have wise dealings is to grow in three related yet distinct areas:  righteousness; justice; and, equity.
             Righteousness or righteous living is a relational term in Scripture.  It means to have right relationships with both God and other people.  In other words, righteousness is to experience peaceful and fruitful relations.  Concerning God, it is to know the wonderful freedom and joy of an unhindered relationship through Jesus Christ in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.  When it comes to fellow human relations, a person characterized by righteousness does not, for example, let the sun go down on his/her anger.  It is to know peace and to be a peacemaker so that relationships do not remain strained but enjoy harmony.
             Justice is a related term to righteousness.  We might tend toward primarily understanding justice as a punitive act.  It certainly is part of the term; God responds and acts in justice toward those who withhold righteousness and love through uncaring or evil events.  But justice is mostly concerned with providing a person with basic needs of life.  So, for example, if someone is hungry and needs food, or does not have clean water to drink, it is a just act for us to provide those necessities of life.  God is deeply concerned for justice, and he expects his people to act in this same manner.
             Equity binds righteousness and peace together by not being prejudice toward relationships and needs.  It means to not show favoritism.  Therefore, if we are righteous and just only toward people we like but ignore others in need, there is no equity.  To give our love and service to all without strings attached or without being concerned to get paid back is the practice of equality.
             To live in these ways of righteousness, justice, and equity is to be wise in our dealings.  A good place to start in pursuing these biblical virtues is to ask God to open our eyes to those within our sphere of influence in which we can demonstrate such wise living; and, then, follow through with loving those persons in which God brings into our lives.
             Righteous God, help me to grow in wisdom.  Teach me your ways.  Since you are a just God who shows no favoritism, lead me into being just like you in my dealings with others with Jesus as my example in the strength of your Holy Spirit.  Amen.