05/19/2020
Repent of Injustice/Do The Right Thing-Jeremiah 22: 1-10
The last phrase of our pledge of Allegiance says, “One nation under God with liberty and justice for all.” But for a nation to be truly under God, it must have godly people leading it. If the character of our government is to be good, we must put good characters in office! Abigail Adams was the wife of the second president of the United States, John Adams. She wrote her husband a letter in which she made the following observation: “[A] true patriot must be a religious man. I have been led to think…that he who neglects his duty to his Maker may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public. Even suppose him to possess a large share of what is called honor and public spirit, yet do not these men, by their bad example, by a loose, immoral conduct, corrupt the minds of youth and vitiate the morals of the aged and thus injure the public more than they can compensate by…generosity and honor?”
President Rutherford B. Hayes once said, “Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office seeking.” One of the reasons why its so difficult to decide who to vote for is that we refuse to hear from God. If we would just hear Him He will tell us what a godly leader looks like! First, a godly leader is dedicated to righteousness. Jer. 22:3 – “Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the king of Judah and speak there this word, “thus saith the Lord execute judgement and righteousness. In other words, do what is just and right.” God has a message specifically for the present king of Judah regarding the standards that he should rule by. Proverbs 16:12 says, “Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established through righteousness.” God’s standards are always just and right because He is always just and right. The hearts of godly leaders must always be for God and His ways.
Godly leaders must not only value righteousness, but they must pursue it. They must strive to do what is right by God’s standards. And that means they must daily choose to cooperate with God. God is saying that unless the leaders have a heart for Him, the people will not have a heart for Him. There is always a great risk when people choose leaders. In I Sam. 8 the Israelites went to Samuel and said they wanted a king “ like all the other nations had.” Through Samuel God warned them that if they got a king like other nations they would become like other nations and stop following His standards. In I Sam. 8: 18: God said, “’When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day.’ But the people refused to listen… ‘We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations…’” Godly leaders must be dedicated to righteousness, they have a commitment to do right.
That commitment was best seen in David who had the opportunity to kill King Saul on two occasions. But he knew that killing Saul was not right by God’s standards and so he refused to do so. He knew he was accountable to God. Many, if not all of our elected leaders think that they are accountable to the electorate, the lobbyists and their campaign contributors. But the truth is, the leaders of our nation and all nations are ultimately accountable to God! Godly leaders must act on godly principles. When godly principles cease to be important, religion, truth, honesty, and integrity begin to disappear. Secondly, godly leaders must have is a desire for justice. “….and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor. The “spoiled” were those that were being robbed and who needed to be rescued from those who were robbing them through fraud and unjust practices. …and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger (alien), the fatherless, nor the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”
To act justly is to secure and provide help for the oppressed, those who have no voice and have been treated unfairly. (Proverbs 31:8-9/Isaiah 58:6-10) Jesus reminds us that doing justice is really a matter of loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves. He even goes on to clearly tell us that our neighbor is anyone near us who is in need. Godly leaders must have a desire for justice. They must always be aware that God measures societies by how they treat the people at the bottom. Godly leaders must not only seek to provide for the needy but also to build them up and equip them to live in health and wholeness. The Word of God, for the people of God, thanks be to God, Amen
