Just Church: Justice & the Great Commission
Biblical Justice • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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WELCOME
Welcome! (in-person/viewing online)
Welcome guests—visit welcome center (blue flag) to say hello and receive a gift from us; PBC members, if you see someone you don’t know, say hello and introduce yourself! If they’ve been a member here for 10 years you can just blame the masks.
Volunteers for Welcome Team (especially men!) go to the blue flag after the service
Members Meeting—Tonight at 6 PM (head to blue flag to pick up a packet)
Now turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28:16 as Elizabeth Wells comes to read for us.
Scripture & Prayer of Praise (Elizabeth Wells)
Blessed Assurance
Prayer of Confession (Dan Harris)
It Is Well
NEW CITY CATECHISM #5
What else did God create?
God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.
PASTORAL PRAYER
Thanksgiving—creating us male and female
Beautiful picture of equality and diversity
Help us to celebrate your glory in our differences
Help us to stand firm amidst the culture’s swift evolution on gender
Help us to be a haven for those who are casualties of the gender revolution
Prayer for PBC—families pursuing foster care and adoption
Boutots—thank you for a church that has supported us so well. Protect us as we travel and our church family while we’re away.
Hudnalls—patience
Tollisons—starting process this year, ability to find resources to self-match instead of going through an agency
Wells—prepare them to minister to the children given to their care; wisdom and patience to understand their unique needs
Prayer for sister church—Fox Hill Road Baptist Church
For Lead Pastor Nathan, wife Jancy, children Calvin, Suzannah, Bennett, and Jane
For the older members who feel they can never safely return to church again
Unity moving forward to greater faithfulness
Witness to the Fox Hill community
Prayer for US—president Biden’s cabinet
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
Defense Secretary General Lloyd Austin
Attorney General Merrick Garland
And others, including those who haven’t been confirmed
Against any agenda that would threaten the unborn, destabilize the family, or erode religious liberty
Success in anything that would correspond with biblical justice
Wisdom > Discernment > Humility > Courage > Salvation
Prayer for the world—Uzbekistan
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (shaf-kat mer-zee-yoy-ev)
Against institutionalized corruption at every level of government
Against human trafficking
Against Islam—City of Tashkent is the Islamic capital of Central Asia in terms of both numbers and influence
Against religious persecution (in the top 20 most persecuted nations in the world)
Safety, growth, and spiritual maturity for those in underground house churches
34 people groups completely unreached by the Gospel (Dungan, Kyrgyz, Pashtun)
Send laborers!
Pray for the sermon
SERMON
SERMON
Middle Church in New York City recently created a stir on Twitter when they posted this: “God cares infinitely more about making sure everyone has food, shelter and healthcare than ‘accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior” — Twitter, @middlechurch, Jan 26, 2021, 9:23 AM
Not everybody will say it so bluntly, but this is an increasingly fashionable opinion among Christians, especially those on the ideological left.
Practically: the mission of the church is to work for justice!
Which injustice should the church fight against?
Over the past two week we’ve talked about abortion and racism, but those two injustices only scratch the surface. . .
What about the attempted extermination of people with disabilities?
89 to 97 percent of mothers who receive a positive diagnosis of Down syndrome during the prenatal period choose abortion.
Denmark’s abortion rate for unborn Down syndrome babies is 98%
Iceland’s is almost 100%
Randy Alcorn, Pro-Choice or Pro-Life?, 45
What about the extermination of racial minorities in China?
Since 2017, at least 1 million Uighur people (a Muslim minority in China) have been interned in force labor camps
Forced sterilizations, forced abortions, and more have led experts to label what’s happening in China a genocide
https://apnews.com/article/269b3de1af34e17c1941a514f78d764c
What about Human Trafficking?
20-40 million people worldwide in modern slavery today
About 50,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-human-trafficking#:~:text=Estimates%20suggest%20that%20about%2050%2C000,trafficking%20cases%20involving%20only%20children.
What about the unequal access to healthcare?
In South Sudan, there are only four ventilators.
Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, 28% of health facilities lack access to reliable electricity, making it hard to operate critical machines and store medicines.
Millions of people die each year from preventable infections such as malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/unequal-health-care-access-covid19/#:~:text=Lack%20of%20Access%20to%20Essential,according%20to%20the%20World%20Bank.&text=Low%20pay%20throughout%20the%20global,shortage%20in%20doctors%20and%20nurses.
What about unequal access to clean drinking water
Approximately 1.8 million children die each year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This is around 5,000 deaths a day.
Water-related diseases are the second biggest killer of children worldwide.
https://www.epm.org/blog/2013/Jan/2/without-clean-water
What about crippling global poverty?
689 million people survive on less than $1.90 a day
Shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to reverse decades of progress in the fight against global poverty. While the full impact is unknown, the World Bank estimates that an additional 88 million to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview
What abut world hunger?
8.9% of the world’s population (690 million people) is undernourished
An estimated 14 million children under the age of five worldwide suffer from severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, yet only 25 percent of severely malnourished children have access to lifesaving treatment.
https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/world-hunger-facts-statistics
All this despite the fact there is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone on the planet
A report from the United Nations published in the medical journal The Lancet estimates that because of the world’s response to the virus 300,000 people could die due to starvation every day over a three month period, meaning shutdown-related deaths would far surpass the novel coronavirus’ total death count.
What about religious persecution?
260 million of our brothers and sisters experience high levels of persecution
In 2020 . . .
2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons (8 per day)
9,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked
3,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned
https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020_World_Watch_List.pdf
I believe that each of these examples is a type of injustice
Remember our definition. . .
What is Biblical justice?—Conformity to God’s moral standards as revealed in Scripture (1) by giving all humans their due as image-bearers of God, especially the most vulnerable and (2) by impartially rendering judgment, righting wrongs and punishing lawbreakers.
Yet these are only a handful out of thousands of examples. In a world filled with injustice, what does it look like for the church to be just?
I believe the answer becomes clearer when we understand the mission of the church.
Turn to Matthew 28:18
Jesus has died on the cross, risen from death three days later, and now just before He ascends into heaven He issues His marching orders for the church.
His marching orders aren’t about feeding the hungry, helping the poor, healing the sick, visiting the prisoner, freeing the enslaved, welcoming the marginalized, or any other social justice issue. Each of these issues matters, but none of them are the church’s mission.
Read verses 18-20—All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
What are the four action words in the Great Commission?
Go > Disciple > Baptizing > Teaching
Grammar school: one imperative and three participles
Imperative is a command—“Open your Bible!”
A participle is a word formed from a verb that often helps us to understand the main verb. In English, usually ends in -ing
“Clean the kitchen, taking out the trash, sweeping the floor, and wiping down the counters.”
Which word is an imperative? Which is a participle?
Clean tells you what to do, the participles tell you how to do it
Go back to the four action words in the Great Commission: Go > Disciple > Baptize >Teach
One word tells us what to do, three tell us how to do it. Three are participles, one is an imperative.
Which of those four words is in the imperative? . . . MAKE DISCIPLES
MAKE DISCIPLES . . . as you are going . . . by baptizing . . . and teaching
Making disciples is the mission of the church! If we’re not careful, we can get so focused on important and urgent issues that we forget the unique mission that Jesus has given to us!
One statement that we’ll unpack over the next two weeks:
The church’s job is to make disciples, the Christian’s job is to be a disciple.
In a world filled with injustice, what does a just church look like?
A just church is a disciple-making church.
Three Characteristics of a Just Church:
A Just Church:
1) Proclaims the Gospel to Anybody
1) Proclaims the Gospel to Anybody
First participle = “go” = “as you are going” (wherever you are, wherever you’re going, DISCIPLE!)
But what does it mean to make a disciple?
Second participle = “baptizing”
In Jack Black’s comedy Nacho Libre, the main character is a Catholic monk in Mexico who decides to become a masked luchador to raise money for the orphanage where he works. Before one of his fights, he becomes concerned that his partner, Escuelito, has not been baptized. So he fills up a bowl with water, sneaks up behind his friend and shoves his head in the bowl for a quick baptism.
This is not what Jesus is calling His disciples to do, and not just because Escuelito didn’t get fully immersed
The idea isn’t just to get people wet, but to lead them to repentance and faith in the Gospel which is then symbolized in baptism
Not a Christian, we want you to repent and believe the Good News
Explain the Gospel
Christian, we want you to publicly proclaim your faith in Jesus through baptism (FIRST STEP OF DISCIPLESHIP)
What does all this have to do with justice?
Verse 19—“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . .”
Every ethnic group
Justin Martyr--“We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies.”
Acts 1:8—But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We proclaim the Gospel to those near us (Jerusalem and all Judea)
Who is near you that hasn’t heard the Gospel?
Co-workers, family, friends, neighbors, etc.
Not necessarily geographically near you. If you have a brother-in-law in Tokyo, you may be nearer to him than the little Baptist church five blocks away
We proclaim the Gospel to those we don’t like (Samaria)
Who are the types of people you don’t like?
Social Justice Warriors? People in MAGA hats? People in the LGBTQ+ community? Muslims? Terrorists?
We proclaim the Gospel to those we can’t see (the end of the earth)
7,414 unreached people groups — The Joshua Project
3.23 billion people in unreached people groups — The Joshua Project
By the way, the Great Commission doesn’t take a year off until Covid-19 is over! We’ve got to press on making proclaiming the Gospel (personally and corporately!)
The church’s job is to make disciples, and to do that justly we must proclaim the Gospel to anybody. A just church. . .
2) Makes Disciples of Everybody
2) Makes Disciples of Everybody
Imperative = “make disciples”
In Jesus' day many rabbis had "disciples" who followed the word and ways of their teachers
A Christian disciple is a follower of Jesus
To make disciples is to help others follow Jesus
Those who are baptized should be helped to follow Jesus
Sadly, this is not always the case. . .
Decision culture vs. Discipleship culture
Ronny Tullos revival
Winter Jam concerts
Our mission as a church is to Glorify Jesus by shepherding sinners from lost to leader.
Are we making disciples of everybody?
A just church is seeking to make disciples of every member, without distinction
This is always easier said than done!
Galatians 2:11-12—But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.
Peter is at the church in Antioch hanging out and eating with Gentile Christians
Pastor James sends a group of very Jewish representatives from the church in Jerusalem to see how things are going in Antioch
Peter withholds fellowship from his church family in Antioch because he’s afraid of what the Jewish people will think
It’s easier to prefer people who are like you
It’s a wonderful thing for God to grow a sense of community in this church, but we dare not allow ourselves to only make disciples of people who are like us!
James 2:1-4—My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James is writing to churches scattered throughout Asia Minor
This is probably not a hypothetical scenario, but something that was happening in these churches
It’s easier to prefer people who can benefit you
It’s a wonderful thing for God to grow a sense of community in this church, but we dare not allow ourselves to only make disciples of people who scratch our backs if we scratch theirs!
What group of people in this church are most likely to fall through the discipleship cracks?
The elderly? The quarantined? Young children? Teenagers? Struggling moms? The depressed? The introverted?
The church’s job is to make disciples, and to do that justly we must make disciples of everybody.
3) Teaches Obedience in Everything
3) Teaches Obedience in Everything
How do we make disciples? If we look at the three participles we see it should happen wherever we go, it begins with the symbol of baptism, but then what?
Verse 20—teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Not merely the words in red
2 Timothy 3:16-17—All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We need to talk about . . .
The evils of abortion and racism
The importance of caring for the poor and the dignity of work
The good gift of singleness and the good gift of marriage
The responsibility of government and the role of the citizen
The goodness of generosity and saving
The gifts of feasting and fasting
We need to talk about hard things like . . .
Gender and sexuality
Sexual intimacy
Marriage
Divorce
Alcohol and drug abuse
Social justice vs. biblical justice
It is the church’s job to talk about the types of injustices we addressed earlier so individual Christians can do their job to fight against them
We need to talk about theological issues like . . .
The Trinity
The sovereignty of God
Election and predestination
The incarnation
The reality of hell
Like Paul in Ephesus, we need to be able to say:
Acts 20:26-27—Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
HOW?!?
Be okay not being cool
So much of what the Bible teaches is increasingly foreign to our culture
Be in it for the long haul
There’s no way we can cover all this week-to-week.
Your pastor needs to be committed to preaching God’s Word week after week and you need to be faithful to hear it
The church’s job is to make disciples, and to do that justly we must teach obedience in everything.
An unjust church? Consider this story . . .
(Rich Man and Lazarus, Luke 16)
19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31“But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Yes, many people will suffer great injustice in this life. But if they have joy and peace in the next, this light momentary affliction is working for them an eternal weight of glory.
The mission of the church is not to make people more comfortable in this life. It is to prepare them for the next. A just church is a disciple-making church.
O Church Arise
BENEDICTION
Ephesians 3:20-21—Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.