Let Justice Run Down Like Water

Let Justice Run Down Like Water

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. - Amos 5:23, 24 (NKJV)

God is just; therefore, He desires justice for and from His church. Influenced by the world’s system, we often equate justice with punishment alone, demanding to see the perpetrator suffer, and once that suffering is exacted, we walk away.

There is a passage in Matthew that is often used to justify this harsh way of dealing with people, but the overall context and purpose of these words gets lost. God wants us to have His perspective regarding the compassionate justice and reconciliation He desires. Let’s look at the larger context:

Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. (Matthew 18:10-17; NKJV)

Several points are worthy of examination:

1. “The little ones” are not necessarily children. The Greek word translated “little” could also be translated “least.”  The little ones, therefore, can be those who are new or immature in their faith; it could also be those who are weakest or most vulnerable. In some respects, we are all “little ones.”

If one of us goes astray, the heart of Father God is for that one to be rescued from the rocky perils of worldliness and to be restored to His flock.

2. In this passage, God gives us the process for reconciliation. We are just as accountable for following this progression as the wayward sheep is for his actions in leaving the fold of the Shepherd.

Unfortunately, we frequently follow another path: we gossip over coffee, take one or two others with us to “ambush” the offender, which humiliates the “lost sheep.” Then we quickly spread the word that God will remove blessing from the church if that wayward one remains. This is neither compassionate nor just.

3. God tells us that, if the offenders do not repent, we are to treat them as we would treat unbelievers or the tax collectors. We have generally taken that to mean cutting them off or dismissing them, but what if we were to consider what that means in the context of how God Himself treated the heathen or tax collector in Scripture?

Remember, Abraham came from a family that worshipped false gods (Joshua 24:2), but God revealed Himself to this heathen and made a profound covenant with him.

In the New Testament, Matthew, who is sometimes called Levi, was a tax collector, yet he was called out to be one of Jesus’ disciples. Zaccheus—another tax collector—was sought out by Jesus and invited into a life-changing encounter.

The heathen and the tax collector represent those regarded with great disdain in the Hebrew culture, yet the Lord pursued them, loved them, and discipled them.

4. Godly justice requires not only that we are held accountable for our decisions and our actions, but we are also to be loved, counseled, discipled, and brought back into the fold. And while it is true that sometimes people resist this process, still God’s unfailing love never writes anyone off.

Since the Fall, God’s plan has been to redeem and to reconcile a people for Himself.  True justice—compassionate justice—requires making a pathway to repentance and restoration. Reconciliation, rather than ostracism, will create an atmosphere where justice can run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

The Church: God’s Voice in Media

The Church:  God’s Voice in Media

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”  (Ephesians 4:29; NKJV)

We are weary of falsehoods, misrepresentation, half-truths, name calling, etc. that have become part of worldly media.  However, one reason that the Church has had so little effect in bringing change in the media, is that we are too often guilty of the same shortcomings.  The sinful practices we engage in have power over us rather than vice versa.

Each Sunday, our church makes declarations over the seven mountains of cultural influence.

Over the media particularly, we declare that this industry will be the result of truth and integrity in the lives of those who produce it. Through these words, the Holy Spirit has convicted us with the truth that we, too, are a form of media. God’s people are His voice crying in the desert, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” Therefore, we must guard our words, and we must live and speak with integrity.

There are many Scriptures that have significant implications for the concept of the body of Christ’s role as media to the world:

·         We are instructed on what things we should definitely speak up about: “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:9).

·         We are reminded to be guarded in how we speak: “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction” (Prov. 13:3). We must do all things—even speaking up for truth—in love, with gentleness and forbearance.  

·         Perhaps most significantly for us these days, Paul even extends caution about engaging in the divisive language we’re so used to in the media:

But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26)

Our purpose as God's media representatives is to display the loving nature of our God so that those in opposition may be drawn to Him, especially through the words of life we speak.

Consider Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Our words, both positive and negative, both truth and fabrication, bear eternal consequences. They also expose our inner nature; they flow from our hearts and reveal what is actually there. (See Luke 6:45; Eph. 4:29)

Too often, our conversation sounds more like the gossip columns that appear on the back pages of the newspaper or those celebrity gossip shows. This even spills into our prayer groups sometimes. We do not have to know all the “down and dirty” details in order to pray. Some prayer requests should not go public. Just because we heard it in the beauty salon does not mean that it should go on the church prayer chain or be discussed in the coffee shop. We must respect the privacy of those in need. The private, fervent prayer of the righteous still avails much.

The gospel is good news—and our world is hungry for good news, for the knowledge that God thinks good thoughts toward us, that His desire is to give us a future and a hope. We are to broadcast that good news not only by our words, but also by our lifestyle, by our joyful countenance, and by our work ethic.

We are the newspaper that our friends and neighbors read daily. We are the social network that joins together a disjointed community. We are the news commentators who bring hope in the midst of despair.

As with all renewal, revitalization of the media must begin in the House of God. When individual members of the Body of Christ step out of the pews and become the media of God in our daily lives—when we speak truth and life—we will eventually see that change reflected in the worldly media as well.

(Originally published at https://www.generals.org/articles/)

Scriptures That Have Gripped My Heart: Amos 5:24

Scriptures That Have Gripped My Heart:  Amos 5:24

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

As we read or hear the Word of God, many times the Holy Spirit will quicken a particular passage and cause it to become powerful in our lives.  In this series, I have the joy of sharing some of those scriptures that have gripped my heart and transformed me by the renewing my mind (Romans 12:2).

In our troubled world, it seems that righteousness and justice have no voice, no place in a culture teeming with lies, deceptions and legislation determined by self-protecting cabals rather than the good of the people.  

To understand that this situation is not new in our time, we need only look into the Word of God.  The prophet Amos delivered a message calling out for the repentance the nation of Israel.  The Lord, speaking through the prophet, expressed His despair over offerings and meaningless religious rituals from a people steeped in sin.  He declared, “But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.” - Amos 5:24 (NKJV)

God cries out for justice and righteousness, but not vengeance. 

Justice and self-styled vengeance do not go hand-in-hand. Our hearts are stirred to vengeance when even we, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, do not wholly understand either godly vengeance or godly justice.

“‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord” appears twice in scripture—first in Deuteronomy 32:35 and again in Romans 12:19. But when we quote scripture partially or out of context, we miss the message. Note the complete verse:

Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. - Deut. 32:35 (ESV)

When God says that vengeance is His, He is not saying that He will always heap punishment, pain and shame upon those who have come against us. He is saying that, if people continue in their evil, the natural consequences of their actions will overtake them. Evil brings about its own downfall. Vengeance is often the natural consequence of evil. We must, in faith, leave vengeance and recompense in the hand of God.

It is by faith that we can forego vengeance and embrace justice as we find it in the nature of our God. Proverbs 28:5 reminds us that, “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand all.”

The fullness of justice is seen in Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Justice flows in mercy and humility.

We must be fully cognizant that mercy does not enable the sinner to remain in sin. Mercy also does not deliver us from the consequences of our actions. God, in His mercy, has paid the wages of sin for us, but also, in His mercy, we must face the consequences of our decisions and of our behaviors. We grow when we accept the responsibility for what we have done.

Remembering that the mercy of God has redeemed us, we must pray for the salvation of those facing justice both in the worldly and heavenly courts. That is mercy. That is humility. It is not God’s desire that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).  It is also not our place to wish the tortures of hell upon anyone.

Justice, in itself, will not satisfy the anguish of our hearts while we walk in unforgiveness. It is an unforgiving spirit that cries out for self-styled vengeance.

As Christians, we often struggle with forgiving others and ourselves because we operate under a false perception of forgiveness. To forgive does not mean that we deny the hurt and anguish that other people or circumstances have brought into our lives. To forgive does not mean that we do not want others to face justice. To forgive does not necessarily mean that we put ourselves back into the line of fire.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to forgive is “to stop feeling anger toward someone who has done something wrong; to stop blaming someone; to stop feeling anger about something.” Forgiveness—especially for the deeply wounded—is a process, not a single event. When we are wounded, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually, we cannot heal without experiencing a grieving process.  Progressive forgiveness, whether we are forgiving ourselves or others, will expedite that process.  

An everpresent prayer in my own life is, “I forgive. Father God, please help my unforgiveness.”

Many of us have recited the Lord’s Prayer so many times that we pay little attention to the words we are speaking. Whether we say, “forgive us our trespasses,” “forgive us our sins,” or “forgive us our debts,” we are asking to be forgiven to the extent we forgive others. I cannot receive forgiveness from my Heavenly Father if I do not extend it to others. This forgiveness is not the same as what Jesus accomplished on the cross, allowing me into eternal covenant with God, but it is the forgiveness necessary as we confront the difficulties, obstacles and angst of living in a fallen world.

If we do not forgive, the wounds put down deep roots and infect every area of our lives.  Our desire for vengeance does not heal. Forgiveness does, enabling us to accept the justice of both the heavenly court and the worldly court.

In the spirit of justice—with mercy, humility and forgiveness—I cry out for my community, for my nation, for all communities and all nations, “Oh, God, we repent for our sins in order for justice to run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

And as we are reminded in the Psalms, “Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times” (Psalm 106:3). Let’s do the right thing.