Growing in Justice and Healing

Scripture Text: Revelation 21:22-22:7

Quotes for Reflection

Tim Keller, A Biblical Critique of Secular Justice and Critical Theory
In the Bible Christians have an ancient, rich, strong, comprehensive, complex, and attractive understanding of justice. Biblical justice differs in significant ways from all the secular alternatives, without ignoring the concerns of any of them. Yet Christians know little about biblical justice, despite its prominence in the Scriptures. This ignorance is having two effects. First, large swaths of the church still do not see ‘doing justice’ as part of their calling as individual believers. Second, many younger Christians, recognizing this failure of the church and wanting to rectify things, are taking up one or another of the secular approaches to justice, which introduces distortions into their practice and lives.

Martin Luther King Jr., The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma, April 1957
The Church must remind men, once more, that God is the answer, and that man finds greater security in devoting his life to the eternal demands of the Almighty God, than in giving his ultimate allegiance to the transitory evanescent demands of man. The Church must continually say to Christians, “ye are a colony of heaven.”9 This means that although we live in the colony of time, our ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. We have a dual citizenry. We live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, we owe our ultimate allegiance to God. It is this love for God and devotion to his will that casteth out fear. We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization. Our motto must be, “Freedom and justice through love.” Not through violence; not through hate; no not even through boycotts; but through love. As we struggle for freedom in America it may be necessary to boycott at times. But we must remember as we boycott that a boycott is not an end within itself; it is merely a means to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor and challenge his false sense of superiority. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friend.

Application Questions

1. What is your next step with discipleship in Jesus?

2. To what community has God called you to be on mission?

3. How will you prioritize “life together” here at Oaks Parish?