3/7/21
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the popular term “social justice warriors.” SJWs are those people who see an injustice in society and take personal responsibility for seeking its correction. But to be honest, it’s not really a balanced term; we tend to apply only to left wing activism. We don’t use the term for right wing activism for justice. Those Texas citizens who monitor their borders for illegal crossings are not called social justice warriors, nor are those who express outrage over voter fraud or the injustice of property crimes—vandalism and illegal squatting—although these, too, are citizens taking personal responsibility for seeking the correction of injustices.
Even the word “justice”—all by itself—has taken on a great deal of political baggage, so when we would like to speak of “doing justice,” we can’t simply assume we are all agreed on the course of action. We have to define our terms carefully before we arrive at agreements. And good luck with that, congress!
Our concern is not social justice as defined by our contemporary terms, but the justice of God, to which all human beings are subject and accountable.
We’re going to take a brief look at four texts by four of God’s Justice Warriors—prophets of God who bear His Word to the people of God in ancient Israel—namely; Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Micah. All have justice—God’s justice—at the center of their proclamations.
ISAIAH 29: 13-14 NRSV
13 The Lord said: Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote; so I will again do amazing things with this people, shocking and amazing.The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden. †
We don’t know much about Isaiah, son of Amoz, except that he wrote his prophecies with elegance and great, poetic style. Part of the book rails against the injustices of Israel, and the latter parts declare God’s will to redeem His people.
Isaiah is a justice warrior against the injustice of insincere worship. He clearly sees phony worship for what it is and calls it out. These descriptions ring in our ears as well. “Their hearts are far from me, and their worship is a manmade regulation learned by rote.“
Haven’t we all been guilty of this? Of going through the motions and leaving a service wondering where our mind was? This is also a criticism of certain kinds of liturgy—“heaping up empty phrases,” as Jesus says—not because the words themselves are bad, but because we can recite them and no more be praying than a parrot.
The cliché penance of Catholic confession is something like, “Go say ten Hail Mary’s” or “Go pray the the Lord’s Prayer a dozen times.” The Lord’s Prayer, in and of itself, is wonderful, but it is possible to mouth the words and while having no purpose to them in one’s heart.
Jesus criticized the Scribes and Pharisees of this same thing, even citing this verse. In Mark 7:9 we hear Him say: said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!”
It is quite possible for worship to serve the traditions of people and completely forget to serve God.
The result of unjust worship is the perishing of wisdom and the loss of discernment. To have neither wisdom nor discernment is spiritual blindness—grand confusion like the Tower of Babel.
What would that look like? Have you ever heard of a congregation that has lost all moral compass? Standing up in grand self-righteousness for something the Bible clearly contradicts? Yes, I’ve seen it too—the perishing of wisdom and the loss of discernment. Lukewarm water, seeds on the path, good for nothing but gravel.
Justice, from the mouth of Isaiah and the Word of God, means worship—worship in spirit and in truth.
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Amos was an outsider. He claimed be neither a prophet nor a son of a prophet, which means he wasn’t part of the normally recognized calling. When Amos was in town, I think it was like one of those old westerns. Mothers pulled their children close and quickly disappeared indoors. Shop keepers pulled their shutters closed, and everyone cleared the streets, because they knew this Amos meant bad news.
AMOS 5: 18-24 NRSV
18 Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord! Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light; 19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. †
The Day of the Lord meant the coming of justice. This was regarded as good news, because it meant God would set everything in its proper place. That’s a good definition of justice: everything in its proper place.
Though they look forward to the Day of the Lord and the coming of Gods justice, Amos tells them not to be so sure. God’s justice is coming, but it will not be good news for you because you too will be sorted out—much more than you’d like to think.
“I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies”
People can do these things for their own self-satisfaction. We can certainly gather and worship just to manufacture good feelings about ourselves, or just so we can feel that we’re being good, dutiful Christians, but that’s all about us, and if it’s about us, it is something other than worship.
“Shut your noise,” says Amos, “the Lord detests your hypocrisies.” Nice worship is not enough. Instead, God demands our service—real service:
“let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
We are to live the life of faith—24/7—not just do God lip service once a week.
For Israel, their key unrighteousness was self-absorption. They worshiped to meet their own needs rather than to bring glory to God. There are still churches like this, where the worship focus is “all about us” and who we think we are. Again, true worship focuses on God and God’s glory. We do not worship to meet our own needs; we worship because God is worthy of our worship.
Israel’s key injustice was was neglecting those in need—the poor and the oppressed, the widows and the orphans—those who, because of the limitations of their cultue and world, had no way of helping themselves.
Similarly, helping those who cannot help themselves is a duty of the Church. We are to never allow anyone to suffer alone. If we can do something to mitigate that suffering, it is our obligation to God to do so.
Justice, from the mouth of Amos and the Word of God, means reordering things into their proper place—Love of God, love of neighbor.
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Hosea is remembered for marrying a woman named Gomer who was unfaithful. This was a sign of Israel’s idolatry and unfaithfulness to God, and though Israel was unfaithful, God remains ever faithful.
HOSEA 6: 1, 6 NRSV
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.†
“Come, let us return to the Lord”—this is the nature of repentance: returning to God. Knowing God as God and loving Him.
God desires “steadfast love.” The Hebrew word is chesed, and it means love that endures and remains ever-faithful. That chesed is the love God shows to Israel (and to us). It is chesed—steadfast love—that God wants from us.
Returning to God with steadfast love is more important than sacrifices and burnt offerings. Read: nothing we do for God is any good whatsoever if our hearts are not in the right place. If we worship in all the right ways, but our hearts are not in it, then the worship means nothing.
The key injustice for Hosea is having wrong priorities—the cart before the horse. Worship must follow our knowing God. Otherwise, all our religious observance is empty and misdirected.
It is the “knowledge of God” that matters more than everything that makes up religious practice. This isn’t merely knowing about God, but knowing God personally. We must know God as God, know that there is none other, and love Him as God.
Justice, from the mouth of Hosea and the Word of God, means knowing and loving God
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MICAH 6:8 NRSV
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?†
Micah’s main target was Jerusalem, and he warned them that its destruction was coming. In compact form, he tells the people of God what God expects of them: to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
“Doing justice” is simply doing the right thing. Do what is right and don’t do what is wrong. It sounds so simple when Micah puts it this way. As our attitudes go, though we stumble, we should make doing the right thing our pattern and desire.
To “love kindness” is also a worthy thing. The Hebrew word here is chesed again—remember: steadfast love—we could say that we are to love steadfast love. We should love kindness, steadfast love, and mercy, because know and see that much of the world does not love kindness.
We should honor the practitioners of kindness—the merciful, the tender-hearted—and pray that in honoring them we too may develop more of that characteristic ourselves.
This is how we “walk humbly with God,” seeking constant faithfulness and letting God be enough for us. His grace is sufficient for us; we can relax and find our peace in walking with Him.
Justice, from the mouth of Micah and the Word of God, means to value and practice kindness.
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SOCIAL JUSTICE
So from these four justice warriors, we learn how God means to set everything in its proper place. Our role in doing justice—God’s justice—involves sincere worship, love of God and neighbor, practicing mercy and kindness. Does this have anything in common with social justice?
The Presbyterian Book of Order proclaims that one of the great ends of the Church is “The promotion of social righteousness.” Recently, many have wanted to revise that to read, “The promotion of Social Justice,” but there are times when the promotion of social righteousness does not mean the promotion of social justice.
Are social justice warriors interested in loving God above all else? Some, perhaps, but that’s not their message. Are they interested in worship in spirit and truth? Again, that is not their message. Is it necessary to know God as God to be a social justice warrior? Absolutely not. Are they committed to kindness? Again, some are, but others clearly despise kindness as a form of weakness. Some would even say that kindness and mercy perpetuate oppression and suffering. This is where we break our ties with them.
Social Justice—as we know it in today’s America—leans heavily on racism, sexism, homophobia, now transphobia, and whatever cause is next in the pipeline they invent. They will call for “economic justice” without defining either the ends or the means. The real danger for the Church is that we are seen as a useful tool to their ends, and many would have us turn over the Church’s agenda to political activists. It means the Church becoming co-opted by social activism and its aims, rather than pursuing the central and uncompromised proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The center is not human good, human accomplishment, human striving, or human happiness. Humankind is not at the center of the cosmos, but rather the glory of God.
The call to God’s justice is what we hear in the true prophets: return to God, love Him with your whole heart, be kind to others, and walk humbly with Him every day of this life.
The justice of God is made manifest to us in Jesus Christ, who meets us today in the flesh of this bread and wine. To all who suffer—who are truly poor or oppressed—good news: God loves you and is for you. Social justice warriors, get off your high horses, come down to the table and walk humbly with God.
Let us all worship The Lord in Spirit and in Truth as we grow in our love and learn to walk in God’s chesed, steadfast love.†