Justice for all
Sunday 19th May 2024
‘Here is my servant … and he will bring justice to the nations …
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.’
Isaiah 42:1-4 (NIV)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Justice for All
We long for justice. There is something deep within us that longs for things to be just and fair, and which is deeply troubled by what is unjust and unfair, especially when it affects us and those we love. It ranges from the fairly trivial (such as seeing a goal in football being unfairly ruled out due to a poor refereeing decision) to the truly life-changing (such as discovering that someone was wrongly convicted for a crime they did not commit, due to a lack or mis-presentation of evidence).
This longing for justice is surely one aspect of the fact that we are made in the image of God, who is just in all his ways and has “set a day when he will judge the world with justice” (Acts 17:31). Like the God who made us, we long for justice.
There is one feature of God’s justice, however, which we seldom consider to be a matter of justice, and that is the worship of God himself. It is simply this: it is not right that people worship idols instead of the living and true God. It is unjust that people should give glory to anyone or anything other than God.
This is the context into which God’s words through Isaiah came: the idolatry of the nations. And it is in that context, a few verses later on, that we read these words: “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8). It is a matter of justice that we give to God the glory due to him.
If we are God’s people, we should be concerned for justice, passionately so. It is an indictment on us that it is often others who lead the way here. We should be concerned for justice for every person and at every level. We should be the ‘justice people’. And we should be just as concerned, perhaps especially so, for this aspect of justice: that we and others give God the glory due to him.
God of justice, thank you that you are absolutely and thoroughly just; may we love, practice and pursue justice in all our doings, not least in giving you the glory due to your name. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)