By The Rev. Dr. Paul A. Leggett
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sermon Text: Jeremiah 22:13-16
Sermon Theme
Scripture says that God loves justice and righteousness (Psalm 33:5). God’s justice signifies both what God requires and what God provides. Justice refers to right relationships and fair standards. God is opposed to injustice and oppression in any form. The Ten Commandments summarize God’s just requirements of all of us. God makes it clear that rebellion against his standards and abuse of our neighbors will not be tolerated. God’s justice and righteousness apply to all levels of human life, personal, familial, social and political. We are called to account by our failure to live up to God’s standards. We stand under his judgment. Yet God provides his own righteousness for us in the cross of Jesus Christ. The power of the cross is seen in Christ’s resurrection. We are called to live in that power (Philippians 3:10). To know God is to live out his justice and righteousness. We can only do this as we surrender ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon Outline
- Reveal. God is revealed in his call for justice. Jehoiakim was an unjust King of Judah in the time of Jeremiah. He exploited workers and did not care for the alien, the orphan and the widow (Jeremiah 22:3). God sends Jeremiah to confront him with the fact that his unjust deeds will not be tolerated. To practice justice and righteousness is to know God. This truth is grounded in Scripture as far back as Abraham (Genesis 18:17-19).
- Require. The prophet Micah states that God requires us to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). James tells us that true religion is to “care for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Jesus confronts the religious leaders of his time with their false view of faith. While they cultivated an excessive image of religious devotion they were exploiting widows (Mark 12:38-40). God’s call for justice reminds us that faith is never a matter only of personal spirituality (Proverbs 19:17; Galatians 2:10). It is also a social obligation especially to “the alien, the orphan and the widow” (Matthew 25:31-46).
- Rescue. God’s call to justice and righteousness can neither be softened nor minimized. This call, however, confronts us with the sad truth that we are an unjust people. If justice and righteousness is only the standard which God requires of us then we are hopelessly guilty since we have neither loved God completely nor our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:25-27). Yet God’s justice and righteousness revealed in the gospel refers to the righteousness which God gives us in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-24). This righteousness has a twofold effect. First, it takes away any claim we may have for ourselves before God. Second, God’s righteousness empowers us (Philippians 3:9-10). It is a gift received but it is also a genuine power. We now have the ability to live out God’s righteousness and justice. God’s justice is a crucial dimension of the gospel. Without it we cannot fully know God.
Questions for Us
- What is our understanding of "justice and righteousness"? What do you think God means when he says that judging the "cause of the poor and needy" is to know him (Jeremiah 22:16)?
- Do you think we minimize God's standard of righteousness? Can we say that we identify "religion that is pure and undefiled" with caring for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:27)?
- Martin Luther based the Protestant Reformation on the understanding that in the gospel God's righteousness is ultimately not what God requires but what God provides for us. How does this truth empower us to live out "justice and righteousness" in the Sodom and Gomorrahs of our time (Ezekiel 16:49)?
