Today all we hear about is Social Justice, but in all this time did we never have justice? One needs to be open to the truth to find the truth. If you finish reading this I think you may be surprised at what you may find. Let’s look at the beginning of Social Justice. Today we have one movement after another and everyone is protesting to have some right or another, racial justice, environmental justice, social justice to name a few. Everyone is talking about inequality and equity and what’s right and what’s wrong. It seems like the resistance movement is in every area of life today. But how many of these movements does there have to be? It seems that the basis of all these movements are the same, the rich vs the poor. The elites vs the working class people. In America there has been the middle class that has taken the responsibility to care for the poor or lower class of people. This has allowed the upper class to become even richer, and can we say, even more elite. The years have caused a big division between the rich and the poor, so vast that the rich can no longer relate to the lower class of people. Here lies the inequality. It is not the middle class who all along has given a helping hand to the poor, but the vastness of worldly good the elite has over the poor. And yet, the poor seem to think, because they are told, that it is the middle class that has denied them justice. There are poor people in all races, creeds, and color, and yet, the poor are told that there is only one race, that there is inequality, that there is no equity, no justice. It has been nothing more than a distraction, a smoke screen, so that the elite upper class can continue hiding behind their riches, while the poor continue to walk in their rags. This is Social Justice, it is political and it has been dangerous to our society. We see this term used by liberals and progressives, organized labor movements, which are unions for short, and social democracy or socialism is their cry. But all of this for the most part, has only been with us here in America for about 100 years. But there has been a call for justice over thousands of years and it began with God. In Exodus 23:2 God tells us not to follow a crowd and not to join in false testimony. “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.” Again in Deuteronomy 16:19 God says this, “You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” And once again God tells us not to pervert justice in Deuteronomy 24:17, “You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge.” Again and this time with harsher words God tells us in Deuteronomy 27:19, “Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.” Deuteronomy 32:4 says this, “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” God hates injustice, but this is what we are to do about it. Psalm 10:18 tells us, “To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more.” Who is the man of the earth? Anyone who does not live by God’s Word. Psalm 72:4 says, “He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.” How does God bring justice to the poor? Through us. Proverbs 19:17 says, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward them for what they have done.”
God is all about justice for everyone, and He does not have to bribe us, but He tells us to speak the truth and do good. This is what is required of each one of us, Micah 6: 8 says, “ But He’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just (justice) to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and live humbly and take God seriously.” Proverbs 29:7 says, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” 1 John 3:17 tells us who really is for justice. “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” Luke 12:33 tells us this, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” Luke 14:12-14 even asks more of us. “Then Jesus said to His host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” You see, justice is about us, you and me, giving of ourselves and carrying the burdens of others, not the government, not even the church per say, but you and I, not through protesting, not through social programs or through lawmakers. No, you and I are to give of ourselves, rolling up our sleeves and hitting the street, giving of ourselves, and giving of our goods. God never forgets those who give of themselves to the poor. Luke 6:38 says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Jesus told this story to His disciples and those gathered around Him in Matthew 25:31-40, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’”
I hope that you will see the difference between Social Justice where the elite uses you as a pawn to distract from the truth, because they are not opening their own wallets or their homes to the needy. God tells us that we need to give to the poor and not the government, and God will one day give back to you all that you gave and more. True justice starts with you and I and if people only realize it, the poor would have a helping hand lifting them up from their poverty or homelessness or any other injustice to them. When we let the poor steal and say this is justice, this is not. Taking what is not ours is wrong, but for those who have, if they freely give, then that is justice.
We need to be on the right side of everything in life, because one day we will give an account for all that we have done in this life as the story was told to us.