This past weekend, at my church, we concluded the justice series in which our Pastors (7 multi-sites) and more counting in other countries taught on God's justice. Our senior pastor concluded these takeaways from the series:
- Justice is God’s nature.
- Justice is human beings co-laboring with God to bend or restore God’s world back to God’s created plan.
- Justice is every Christian’s calling and responsibility.
- Justice is more than a cause, protest, blog post or event.
- Justice is nearby because injustice is nearby.
- Justice is messy, yet not to be avoided.
- Justice is giving every human being, from inside the womb to the tomb, dignity, honor and respect.
- Justice is ministering to those who suffer injustice whether it be on our daily path or at our table. (Think Mephibosheth/Good Samaritan)
- Justice acting requires sacrifice of time, resource and life.
- Justice begins with God changing our heart.
- Justice is our response to God’s act of justice in Jesus’ life suffering, death and resurrection for us
Yesterday afternoon, in our small group, we talked about the Justice series and I played a video from, I am second series and we discussed in our group things that make a difference. Because our group is a special group and we have all agreed what is said in that group stays in the group, I cannot share what each person is doing, but I can tell you the things that would make a difference in each of our wheelhouse:
At Home:
- We can show our spouse the love of Jesus
- We can show our kids the love of Jesus
- We can show our grandchildren and distant family members this love
In our community:
- We can reach out to our neighbors by serving them
- We can love our neighbors by listening and doing for them without expectant return
- We can love our neighbors by being good listeners to them and getting to know them
In our work place:
- We can show our co-workers (and employers if you are not one) integrity, honor, perseverance and love
- We can be ethical in our decisions and actions
- We can be tolerant and peaceful in how we act with others
In leading my small group I have to admit that I was in a desert place as others were not able to attend due to needs or whatever their case may have been (not their problem, but mine) and I have to say how blessed and surprised I was by what the Spirit did in that small group - He overwhelmed me.
The two other husbands, in some of their stories and recommendations, made tears come to my eyes in their love and generosity toward others. I love where they are in their walks (raw and uninhibited by others) and honest with their thoughts and emotions. They are not impostors, they are real men! In Scripture it says in Matthew 6:3-4 (NIV) 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I know what we discussed and how I want to make a difference one little thing at a time. The beauty of this Sermon series and our small group is that it doesn't always have to be a big thing, rather, it sometimes just requires us to do the little thing(s) for our neighbor. So you ask, "Who is my neighbor?" and we say, Seek and you will find!
Blessings,
Dante