WorshipCentral

This is a HUGE topic which I can only begin to scratch the surface of in a few paragraphs, hopefully others will chip in!
There's a number of starting points for exploring the link between worship and justice, but a key one is Amos 5:

21 "I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Similarly James 1 (and loads of other places throughout the book) says this:

27Religion 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.

And the implication of these and other passages is simply that God is not pleased with our offerings of sung worship if we are simultaneously ignoring the poor and needy in our area or further afield, and doing nothing to help them. It's not an either/or situation in my view, it's a both/and - we're not called to choose between either worshipping God in song or serving the poor, we're meant to do both because both bless God's heart.

If you look through the old Testament prophets, you can see that whenever they rebuked Israel (which was pretty often!) there were fundamentally two sins that they were guilty of: Idolatry and Injustice. Those were the two stumbling blocks over which Israel fell, time and time again. It's interesting therefore that when Jesus was asked about the Greatest Commandment, he replied:

Love God with everything (i.e. have no idols before God)
& Love your neighbour (i.e. live with justice, righteousness and grace to everyone around you)

In other words, Jesus was saying that the answer to Israel's two big stumbling blocks is LOVE. Not love as in fluffy feelings, but hard-as-nails actions that seek after God and the good of those around us.
Again it's not an either/or, we're simply called to love God with everything and to love everyone around us, and leaving people without clean water when we could do something about it is clearly not loving them. Paying workers 10p a day to make the label clothes we walk around in is not loving them. etc etc etc - I could go on!

In saying all of this I'm not by any means claiming that I've got justice issues sorted, far far far from it. But I am very much aware that me leading others in worship on a Sunday is hollow and almost meaningless if I'm not seeking with all my heart to live justly in the rest of the week.

Micah 6:8 says this:
8 He has showed you, O man, 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.

Note the word 'require' - living justly is not an optional extra, it's how we should live.

Hope that begins to answer your question, the implications of it are huge but necessary for us to get to grips with. Anyone else got any thoughts on this?

www.RESOUNDworship.org
Free New Worship Songs

Very thorough answer, a good jump into the subject, and it seems a deep one for me to continue exploring... more thoughts on the matter are welcome!

"love each other as i have loved you"

this is the well-spring of justice, behind these simple seeming words is the choice between a world that resembles hell and one that is closer to heaven.

injustice springs from loving ourselves more than others on individual, corporate and "world" structural senses

our lives should be acts of worship, occasionally expressed in song, therefore its hard and a bit silly to separate worship and justice

hopefully that's not too superficial a treatment of such a weighty topic

typing "justice" into biblegateway.org should yield a great deal of inspiration references!

“worship on a Sunday is hollow and almost meaningless” is a phrase I’ve sadly heard many people (including myself) use to describe their experience with worship. It is not always meaningless, just inconsistent. I am beginning to agree that worship and justice are directly related. In my life my actions, i.e. justice, aren’t consistent and, given the connection, neither is my worship. It is a sobering consideration.

If I’m being brutally honest, I prefer to define proper Christian justice rather than seek God honestly. When I do that it sidesteps any real requirement from me. If I dishonestly seek God I do not have to respond to Him; I do not have to act justly. If I do not act according to Gods justice then I am the one who is still in control of my life. To honestly seek God would mean I have to be affected by Him. That is when the loads of verses in James become meaningful.

To be honest with God about my doubts, questions, concerns, inadequacies means that I am not as strong as I want to be. If I’m not as strong I must acknowledge my need for His strength. To be honest with God about my selfishness and how that affects my life requires that I acknowledge the superiority of selfless love. To be honest with God about how my effort to manufacture comfortable Christianity leave me empty, bitter, and dry requires that I give up my agenda to act upon His.

This kind of cuts to my heart, I just read James this past week in my morning study so the sobering truths of faith requiring works are still quite fresh for me. The funny thing, I want two things that are at odds with each other. I want God to give me grace and mercy that only serve my current condition, not requiring any change. I want a meaningful and honest life in which every breath is filled with purpose and hope. So I get frustrated with worship, church, Christianity, God, and myself. Yet, in order to find myself in God’s grace and peace I must recognize how my faith is empty if my actions have not been affected by that very faith.