Justice, cause for praise and thanksgiving and a challenge

Last night I was at a dinner hosted by International Justice Mission. IJM is one of the mission organisations which we at St Paul's support, with our contribution going to the work of the office in Bangalore, where the focus of the work is to secure the release of slaves, often from brick kilns, by bringing the cases to the local law enforcements authorities, assisting in preparing and executing raids to free the slaves, bringing convictions against the perpetrators and arranging safe aftercare for the former slaves. In 2010, the work of the IJM secured the release of 217 slaves, 139 were formally categorised as labourers. It is wonderful to see how God's people have carried out God's work of freeing the slaves.

Gary Haugen, the founder and president of IJM, explained how IJM has come about, and explained the four emphases of the work - victim relief, perpetrator accountability, victim aftercare and bringing structural transformation. In little more than 13 years, IJM employs 400 workers in 18 field offices, all of whom are committed Christians, standing up against violence and injustice.

One part of his presentation really struck me. He put up three circles:

- faith: evangelism and discipleship
- mercy: relief and social engagement
- justice.

In the faith circle, he showed the names of various organisations who were active in evangelism and discipleship, and the circle was full. In 2007, he quoted a figure that these organisations wer spending $1.3billion (for North America).

In the mercy circle, a whole host of names filled the circle, and the figure for 2007 was $2.6bn.

The justice circle? This was empty. He said that IJM was far and away the largest organisation in this area, and its budget was $25million.

Why does this matter? He quoted two verses - Micah 6:8 - He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. / And what does the LORD require of you? / To act justly and to love mercy/ and to walk humbly with your God.

Matthew 23:23 - What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

These three elements - walking with God (faith), mercy and justice are on God's heart for us to do. They frame our purpose here, and the body of Christ should develop all three elements.

Returning to the circles, Gary Haugen gave a challenge and a word of encouragement. The challenge is to populate the third circle, and bring God's justice to a world which badly needs the kingdom of God. The encouragement was that if you have put up those circles in 1950, the second (mercy) circle would have been just as empty as the justice circle. In the last 60 years, God's people have responded to the stirring of the Holy Spirit to bring mercy to a hurting world.

It is a privilege that we at St Paul's can be a small part of bringing His justice to an unjust world, but perhaps each of us can see if there is something else to which God is calling us.