The Widow & The Orphan
Let Justice Roll Down • Week 2
In the early church, the care of widows and orphans was designated to the church. In the centuries that have passed, that has not changed. We are called to care for those vulnerable and be the hands and feet of Christ. This is how we are to "do justice". In week 2 of Let Justice Roll Down, Adam Barnett shares from the book of James and expands on what caring for the widow and the orphan can look like.
MESSAGE NOTES
The Orphan & The Widow
Let Justice Roll Down | Week 2
April 18, 2021 | Adam Barnett
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To do justice is to make things right in relationships, communities, and creation.
James 1:27 NIV
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27 AMP
Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.
Matthew 23:23 NIV
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Exodus 22:22-24 NIV
Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.