Justice Requires Righteousness Genesis 18:1-19

“‘For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him’” (Gen. 18:19, NASB).

On May 25, 2020 another Black unarmed man is killed by police; this time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Police officer Derek Chauvin holds his knee on the neck of George Floyd for eight minutes and forty-six seconds and two other officers press their knee upon his back while a third officer watches to see what the people around are doing. An autopsy by government personnel and an independent autopsy secured by the victim’s family conclude that death is caused by asphyxiation. There is an outcry heard around the world and there are peaceful protest and marches along with rioting, violence, destruction of property and business. The African American community is outraged.

Led by Black Lives Matter there is the demand for social justice. People that have brown skin and black skin are suffering from the effects of systemic racism, systemic oppression, and white supremacy. Police brutality has been the cause of the deaths of many Black men and women, and now there is a demand for justice to correct unjust laws, policies and practices in finance, education, health care, and practically every area of life. While I agree with almost every complaint I do not believe that the religious leaders; and especially Christian leaders e.g. pastors in the Black church are seeking to bring about justice in an effective manner. You may ask, “What are they doing wrong and what you suggest is the right way to bring about social justice? In this article I want to show us that justice can be achieved only when righteousness becomes the way of life for those that are expected to execute justice.

The Christian church is made up of people that believe in Jesus Christ. Supposedly, Christians look to the Holy Scriptures; namely the bible, the Word of God for instructions in all matters of life. The Teaching of Jesus is the supreme standard for Christian life. Jesus is the truth (Jn 14:6) and obeying His commands makes us free from sin; that is the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the future presence of sin (Jn 8:31-32). Thus, if there is to be any real hope for justice it must come through those that follow the teachings of Jesus, the words of the prophets and what is written in the Psalms that communicate to us the will of God and God’s commandments. Christians cannot enter into a league with people that encourage God’s children to do anything in any manner that conflicts with the word of God. It is the responsibility of the Christian church and its leaders to first get themselves right with God; to be righteous. The only way that a person can be made righteous is to surrender self entirely to the Lord. The prophet writes: “‘for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways declares the LORD’” (Isa. 55:8, NASB). Without righteousness there will not be justice. Let us examine this declaration.

The life of Abram whose name God changed to Abraham is recorded in Genesis 11:26-Genesis 25:11. God calls Abram to leave his home and go to a place that He will show him. God makes promises to Abram and Abram believes God. Because of Abram’s faith in God he is said to be righteous. “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6, NASB). Now Abram is not a man that does everything right. Yet, he is righteous; not because of anything that he has done, but because he believes God. How does this work? Abram’s faith is not just a cognitive assent to believe that God exist. Rather, Abram’s faith means that he will obey God. He will no longer live according to his own ideas. He will now hear the voice of the Lord and do what the Lord tells him to do; even when he does not understand the reasons and the outcomes. For example, God promises to give Abraham a son even though Abraham and his wife Sarah. To their knowledge and understanding, they are too old to have children. God keeps His promise and they have a son and name him Isaac.

In Genesis 18 we have an account of the Lord visiting Abraham. The angel tells Abraham that Sarah will give birth to a son in a year. The conversation shifts from the birth of a son to the destruction of Sodom (Gen. 18:16). The Lord tells Abraham that He is telling him His plans to destroy Sodom. There is a reason that the Lord is telling Abraham His plans. “The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him’” (Gen. 18:17-19, NASB). Let us examine this scripture closely.

We have already seen that Abraham believes God and God declare him to be righteous because of his belief. His belief/faith means that he will hear and obey the words of the Lord; and even if he does not understand the what, where, how, and why God is telling him to do. Now, God is telling Abraham His planes to destroy Sodom. Let’s pause here because in all of my church life the many Sunday school lessons, sermons, and bible classes that I have been a part of has emphasized the sins of Sodom and the lack of enough righteous people to save the city. I cannot remember ever hearing the reason(s) that the Lord is telling Abraham what He plans to do. So, here it is. It’s all about Abraham and what God has chosen Abraham to be and do.

First, God chose Abraham. Abraham will become a great and mighty nation. Abraham will have descendants that will become a particular nation. This particular nation is Israel. Through this nation all the nations of the earth will be blessed. How does this play out? Abraham becomes the father of Isaac. Isaac becomes the father of Jacob/Israel. Jacob has twelve sons and their descendants become the twelve tribes of Israel. From the twelve tribes of Israel comes David and continuing through David’s descendants come Jesus Christ the blessing to all the nations. Let’s move on.

Secondly, the Lord tells Abraham that Abraham must command his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord. This means that Abraham and his children and his household must live life according to the road (way) that God commands them to live. Thus, God gives the Israelites a covenant that has ten basic commandments that they are to faithfully live by (Exod. 20:1-17). These Ten Commandments form the basis of all the laws, statues, and ordinances that the people are to live by. So, the Israelites are to be right with God on the basis of their obedience to the Law.

The Israelites are to be righteous and their right living under the rule of God is to be an example to all the nations. In his farewell instructions to Israel Moses command the Israelites to obey the statues and judgments adding nothing to them and taking nothing away from them so that they can take possession of the land (Deut. 4:1-2). Further, Moses says, “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the people who will hear all these statues and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deut 4:6, NASB). Now let us return to Genesis 18.

Thirdly, Abraham’s descendants are to “keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice. Now, from the construction of this sentence we can see that in order to do justice they must be righteous. This is the idea that Moses is expressing in Deuteronomy 4. The Israelites are not to negotiate with the nations around them. Instead, they are to be righteous and execute justice among themselves. The nations will see them; how the live together obeying the laws of their God.

Fourthly, the nations will only learn to be righteous and do justice when they see how obeying the Lord’s commands effect a more prosperous life for the people. You see if a people are not righteous; that is to be right with the Lord, they will not have the wisdom and understanding to do justice. Throughout the Old Testament and especially in the writings of the prophets we see this same idea. Justice can be executed by righteous people. Those that would execute justice and see justice executed must first be righteous themselves. The Christian is righteous only if she or he is in right relationship with God. Then, and only then will their quest for justice be realized. No righteousness, no justice.

What does this have to do with the African American Christian and Church in our quest for “social justice,” and end to systemic racism, oppression and white supremacy? We, the African American Christians must first get right with God. Laws and voting for persons that advocate that we compromise our Christian values, morals and ethics will not bring a lasting solution to the problems that we are faced with.

If Black Lives Matter and therefore All Lives Matter, we must come to grips with the fact that the life of the unborn matter. Why then do we support candidates that tell women that they can ignore God’s law against murder? Why do we support candidates that advocate that federal dollars be spent on the children of poor women and their children while the fathers are made free of their God given responsibility to be protector and provider for his wife and children?

We must first protect the unborn. We must address murder among ourselves. We must stop discrimination that exists in our churches. We must take care of the poor in our communities ourselves. We cannot live in luxury, drive to church in expensive cars and pass by our brothers and sisters as they lie on the streets passed out from the consumption of alcohol and drugs. We cannot refuse entry into our sanctuary our brothers and sisters because they don’t look like us, dress like us, and smell like us. We could go on and on listing the many ways that African Americans fail to do righteousness and justice for our own people. When the white supremacist see that our ways are better than their ways, then and only then will they come to understand justice. Until then, there will be movements stirred on by emotional outbreaks and laws that bring about symptomatic relief.

This is what the conversation between the Lord and Abraham is about. Those that live outside the law of God are headed to destruction. God chose Abraham to command his children and household to do righteousness and justice so that the nations will be blessed. In America, the church is the spiritual descendant of Abraham. The church is called to make Jesus Christ known in the world by living by faith, obeying the teachings of Jesus, and by loving one another and welcoming all people into their communities.