Open in prayer. Play the video âConfronting InjusticeâIntroduction.â
Word
After watching the short introduction video, letâs begin our time together in the Word of God. Open with prayer, then have volunteers read the following four passages aloud:
What does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily. . . .
If you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday. (Isaiah 58:8, 10)
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 22:16)
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood. . . .
Cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widowâs cause. (Isaiah 1:15â17)
Welcome
According to the inspired passages we just read, God does not suggest, he commands that we do justice. Doing justice brings a brightness and blessing into our lives. Defending the cause of the poor and needy is what it means to know God. Apathy toward the oppressed can actually hinder our prayers. In short, God takes justice seriously, and so should we.
But what about so-called social justice? Combining the word social with the word justice is a bit like dropping Mentos into a bottle of soda. It can be highly explosive. Though the term was originally coined by an Italian priest named Luigi Taparelli in the nineteenth century, it has since taken on new meanings, often meanings that stand in contradiction to the historic Christian faith. Journalist Jonah Goldberg shares, âI put on my prospectorâs helmet and mined the literature for an agreed-upon definition of social justice. What I found was one deposit after another of foolâs gold. From labor unions to countless universities to gay rights groups to even the American Nazi Party, everyone insisted they were champions of social justice.â1
When groups like Antifa, which sees physical violence against those who think differently as âboth ethically justifiable and strategically effective,â and groups like the American Nazi Party both claim the moniker of âsocial justice,â then as Christians across the spectrum, we can certainly agree on one thing: Certain ideologies branding themselves as âsocial justiceâ are a far cry from the kind of justice God calls us to in the pages of Scripture. It is our Christian duty to both expose such doomed ideologies and also embody a more beautiful and compelling and biblical justice before the watching world. In this section we will draw some important distinctions that will help us to do precisely that.
Watch
Play session 1, âWhat Is âSocial Justiceâ?â As you watch, use the outline below to follow along and take notes on key insights.
âą People mean very different things by the term social justice. What does the Bible say?
[Your Response Here]
âą God does not suggest, he commands that we do justice.
Jeremiah 22:3
Micah 6:8
Isaiah 58:6
[Your Response Here]
âą Doing justice will bring blessing into our lives.
Isaiah 58:8, 10
[Your Response Here]
âą Doing justice is what it means to know God.
Jeremiah 22:16
[Your Response Here]
âą Apathy toward the oppressed can sever our connection with God.
Isaiah 1:15â17
Jeremiah 7:5
[Your Response Here]
âą Godâs command to truly execute justice presupposes that there are ways to execute justice that we think are helpful but are actually hurtful.
[Your Response Here]
âą Thereâs a big difference between what we might call âSocial Justice Aâ and âSocial Justice Bâ (think A for âawesomeâ and B for âbadâ if it helps you remember).
[Your Response Here]
âą Historic examples of Social Justice A include the following:
⊠Ancient brothers and sisters rescued and adopted the precious little image-bearers who had been discarded like trash, often simply for being female, at the dumps outside many Roman cities.2
⊠Our Christians brothers and sisters throughout history built more hospitals and orphanages to serve the suffering than any other movement in history, while offering a robust framework for human rights and human sexuality that has brought freedom and dignity to millions.3
⊠Christians brought skyrocketing literacy rates around the world, even introducing written languages into cultures that had none and spearheading linguistic breakthroughs in modern English, French, and German.
⊠Christians through history inspired universities into existence, including St. Andrews, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, and many more, along with sparking the scientific revolution under the conviction that science exists âto the glory of God and the benefit of the human race.â4
⊠Sophie Schollâs White Rose Society, along with Dietrich Bonhoefferâs and the Confessing Churchâs resistance movement worked to subvert Hitlerâs Third Reich.
⊠William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect worked tirelessly to topple slavery in the UK, as did Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and others in the US. Christians led the movement to abolish slavery not only in America and the United Kingdom but also in India, Africa, Brazil, the Ottoman Empire, and South America.5
âą Believers practicing Social Justice A and serving their communities arenât mere relics of the past.
⊠Practicing Christians in the US outpace all other groups in providing food to the poor, donating clothing and furniture to the poor, praying for the poor, and giving personal time to serve the poor in their communities, according to a 2018 study.6
⊠A dozen faith communities around Philadelphia generated $50,577,098 in economic benefit to their neighborhoods in a single year.7
⊠Christian communities today excel in adoption, foster parenting, fighting human trafficking, and community development.
âą The Newman effect: âSo youâre saying . . .â
[Your Response Here]