Compassionate Justice

reframing the conversation...

Seeing the Forest Beyond

the Trees(and then

some)

Noticeable Shifts in the Church (Esp. Last 300 Years)

• Dualistic Perspective

• Center of Faith - the local church - the individual

• Attractional Posture

• Heirarchical Structure

• German Scholasticism

• Darwinian R(evolution)

• The Great Exodus

• Anti-Intellectualism Intellectual Suspicion

Major Sectors of the Christian Faith

EvangelicalsRenewalist

Liturgical Social Justice

Social Justice:

Discoverynot

Invention

Compassionate Justice“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry" (Ex 22:21-23).

Levitical Prayer - "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!" (Deut 27:19)

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4)

Compassionate Justice"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has

anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has

sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Is 61:1-2).

“He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD.

(Jeremiah 22:16)

Compassionate Justice "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share

your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

(Isaiah 58:6-7)

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy

honors God. (Proverbs 14:31)

Compassionate Justice Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching

in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep

without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matthew 9:35-38)

Compassionate Justice

The Sheep &The Goats

(Matt 25:31-46)

Rich Man & Lazarus

(Luke 16:19-31)Rich Young Ruler

(Mark 10:17-31)

Compassionate Justice

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.(1 John 3:16-18)

All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

(Galatians 2:10)

Compassionate Justice“What good is it, my

brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks

daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace;

keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is

the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead”. James 2:14-17

Reframing the ConversationTHE POINT?

(concluding thoughts...)

Compassionate Justice

reframing the conversation...