#generous justice

[iscl]

Christ literally walked in our shoes.

Tim Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just

[derekdevine]

If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn't live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God's grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.

Dr. Timothy Keller, “Generous Justice”

Father, may I so grasp the meaning of Jesus and his gospel that I cannot not do justice. Forgive my selfishness. Forgive my unlove. Make me just. Make me love the poor, the needy, the lonely, and the marginalized. For in my lack of love for the least of these, it is revealing that I do not see myself as the least of these who has been generously loved by you. Fill me with your Spirit. Fill all Apostles Brooklyn with your Spirit. And send us out to share your love.

[reflectionsofachristone]

While the Bible agrees industriousness or the lack of it is an irreplaceable part of why you are successful or not (Proverbs 6:9-11;10:4), it is never the main reason.... If you have money, power, and status today, it is due to the century and place in which you were born, to your talents and capacities and health, none of which you earned. In short, all your resources are in the end the gift of God...  Therefore, just men and women see their money as belonging in some ways to the entire human community around them, while the unjust or unrighteous see their money as strictly theirs and no one else's...  If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn't live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God's grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.

Tim Keller, Generous Justice

[angstykidsreading-blog]

Generous Justice by Timothy Keller

There seems to be a fear among more conservative church circles that an emphasis on “social justice” detracts from sound theology and, instead, promotes a vague, pluralistic, moral outlook. I have seen this paranoia condemn the term “social justice,” assigning it only as a zany motto touted by overly optimistic, barefoot college students or those with liberal political ideas. Timothy Keller’s Generous Justice rescues the banished ideas and shows that enacting justice in our world is a job assigned to every Christian that reflects the heart and mission of God. 

While reading the book, it becomes obvious that Keller is mainly writing for those Christians skeptical about the role justice ought to play in their daily lives and the workings of the church. To calm concerns,he cites the Old Testament commands given to the Israelites which lay out guidelines to protect marginalized groups and proceeds to show Jesus proclaiming a gospel that incites internal change which leads into external, social concern. He then continues to relate these theological truths into exhortations about individual church involvement in enacting justice, as well as involvement in every individual Christian’s life. Keller believes that the three necessary levels to creating a more just society are “relief, development, and social reform”. With typical Keller eloquence, he uses the our desire for human dignity and justice as proof of a divine order which tugs at humanity’s heart. 

As with any good book, the reader of Generous Justice is left to decide how to handle what has been learned. I will admit that Keller’s book has brought forth angst and discontentment with my own commitment to repairing “where the fabric of Shalom has broken down”. How am I to fill the gaps that I have created in the way I act out the Gospel?  My fear is that, after seeing the truth of how I ought to live, I will try and block out this news. I hope my ears more attuned to the cries of injustice, and when I hear them, I will have the courage to act. Can I save the world? No. But I serve the One who became poor, naked, marginalized and mistreated for my debts. How can I justify ignoring the needs of those He became most like? 

-LB

[ramhatter]

A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith.

Tim Keller

[wewontneedlegs]

"It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

From Sermons of M'Cheyne (as cited by Tim Keller in Generous Justice)

"Now, dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to the branches of the true Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving ... "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor" ... Objection 1. "My money is my own." Answer: Christ might have said "My blood is my own, my life is my own" ... then where should we have been? Objection 2. "The poor are undeserving." Answer: Christ might have said, "They are wicked rebels ... shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels." But no, he left the ninety-nine, and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving. Objection 3. "The poor may abuse it." Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood. Oh, my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."