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Transformers

08/24/2008 - Justice, Selected Scripture

"It's not fair! It's just not fair!" Did you ever say that? Sure you have, if not out loud then certainly to yourself. We learn that phrase at an early age because one of the first things we discover about life is that life's not fair. Go to any school playground where kids are old enough to talk and pretty soon you'll hear some one yell out, "That's not fair!"

In working on this teaching I discovered a new children's book written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld called "It's Not Fair!" The two authors wrote the book to help young kids understand that life doesn't always turn out the way we want it to. That's one of the biggest and toughest lessons we ever have to learn.

So along with bright, colorful pictures they say things like, "Why did I get the smaller half? Why did he get the bigger laugh? Why can't we have a pet giraffe? Why can't we have a pet giraffe? Why don't you yell at her? Why does my team always lose? Because that's life and life can't always go the way we want it to."

Throughout the book the authors try to reassure kids that everyone, including pigs, planets, and square pegs sometimes thinks that life's not fair! Even the back cover of the book says, "Why does the front cover get all the glory? Why does the inside get all the story? Even the spine thinks life is hunky-dory. It's not fair!"

And it isn't fair? The Bible never promised us that life would be fair. Personally, I think the injustice we see in life is one of the most compelling reasons to believe in the existence of a God who is perfectly just. Because if we are truly made in the image of God it makes sense to me that built into every human being would be an innate sense of justice. It's part of our DNA. We don't have to teach our kids what's fair and what's not fair. They seem to know it intuitively.

And deep inside all of us there's an ache for a world where everything would be fair, where every wrong would be made right and even better, where nothing ever would go wrong. And that world is coming some day. That's the new world that God dreams about and that one day we'll inhabit in our resurrected bodies, but its not here yet and until that day comes our souls ache for justice to be done. Let's trace that ache for a minute.

The ache started all the way back in Genesis 4 when Adam and Eve's first born son, Cain, murdered his younger brother, Abel. He took him out to a field, attacked him from behind and killed him for no good reason. And so we read in Genesis 4:10 that, The Lord said to Cain,"What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." It's not fair! It's just not fair!

The Psalmist expresses that same ache in many places one of them is in Psalm 73:3-5 where Asaph writes, For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴They have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. ⁵They are free from common human burdens. They are not plagued by human ills.

He continues in verse 12, That is what the wicked are like - always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. ¹³Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. ¹⁴All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. It's not fair! It's just not fair! The bad guys win and the good guys lose.

The Hebrew prophets cry out for justice all the time. Jeremiah complains to God in Jeremiah 12:1, You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? It's not fair! It's just not fair!

Do you ever feel that way? Are you feeling that way right now about something or someone in your life? Do you ever get upset with God about the unfairness of life? Do you ever want to speak with him about his justice or lack of it in this world? Well, take a number. You're not alone. Get in line behind Jeremiah and Asaph and Abel and a whole string of God's people who have struggled for centuries and continue to struggle with the injustice of life.

This morning we continue our series called Transformers: changing us … changing the world with a teaching on justice. Today we're turning a corner in this series. Up until now we've been talking about the ways and means that God uses to transform us. He uses worship and the Scriptures, prayer and the church community to morph us into the image of his Son Jesus Christ. He's out to change us, to make us fully alive and more fully human so that we can change the world. He's out to make us holy, different people, so that we can make a difference in this world and one way we do that is by being people who are committed to justice and making wrong things right. We are part of God's answer to the injustice in this world.

Micah, another one of the Hebrew prophets, writes in Micah 6:8, The Lord has shown all you people 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.

God wants his people to act justly. That's one way that we make a difference in this world. But how do we act justly? Do we take justice into our own hands like Batman does protecting Gotham City in The Dark Knight? Is it vigilante justice that God encourages his people to practice?

If you have a Bible turn with me to Romans 12:17-21 , Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Vigilante justice is not the way God's people are to respond to evil. We're not to take the law into our own hands and make people pay. That's God's responsibility. He will repay in due time. That's his promise. That's the perfect justice we hope for. Instead, Paul says when we're wronged and evil is done to us that's the time to show mercy and to overcome evil with good. As far as it depends on us we're to live at peace with everyone. Next week, Tim's going to talk about the transforming power of peacemaking.

But God has provided a means for justice to be accomplished on earth right now. That's what governments are for. That's why there are laws and authorities who enforce them. They've been established by God as a good thing which is why Paul immediately continues in Romans 13 with these words.

Look at Romans 13:1-7, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ²Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. ⁶This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Right after the passage in which Paul tells us not to take the law into our own hands he says that's what governments are to do. God is not into anarchy. He's into order. And he wants societies to be well governed. The alternative is complete social breakdown where the powerful and the rich will always win. And so God uses authorities, even those that don't acknowledge him and abuse their power to bring some level of justice into this world. It's not perfect justice, by any means, but it's something. And he calls us to submit to it, not to overthrow it.

I like what Shane Claiborne says about submission in his book Jesus for President when he writes, "That God establishes all authority does not mean that God approves of all authorities. The point is that God is greater than, not equal to, all the power of this world. Paul isn't trying to convince unpatriotic Christians to pledge better allegiance. Instead, he's trying to convince Christians, who are not conforming to the patterns of this world, not to overthrow the government!"

The change God wants to bring to our society and to our world is not going to happen by violent revolution. Jesus modeled Romans 13 behavior when he submitted himself to Rome and said to Pilate inJohn 18:36, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.

And then he tells Pilate in John 19:11,You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.

When it comes to justice our responsibility as Christ followers is not to take matters into our own hands and avenge ourselves. And it's not to violently overthrow governments. But instead, our responsibility is to hold governments accountable, starting with our own, to take care of the weak and the poor and the needy in our midst. We are to be a voice for those who have no voice. That's the key.

One of God's greatest indictments against the nation of Israel was the fact that they didn't take care of the weak and the poor and the needy in their midst. Which is why we read words like these in Amos 2:6-7, This is what the Lord says, "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.⁷They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed."

And these in Micah 3:1-3, Then I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice, ²you who hate good and love evil, who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; ³who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?"

Do you get the feeling that God's a little upset with his people?! He hates social injustice and always aligns himself with the poor and the oppressed and the marginalized. And he wants his people to do that as well. He wants us to stick up for those who can't stick up for themselves. So how do we become people of justice?

Well, this is an election year. In three months we'll be voting for a new president. And there are a lot of issues at stake like the war in Iraq, our struggling economy, the environment, healthcare, the ethic of life, education, taxes. It's all very complex. But when you look at the platforms of the presidential candidates also pay attention to what they have to say about issues of social justice and poverty and how they plan to care for the poor and the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society.

Do their budgets and tax policies reward the rich or show compassion for the poor? Do their foreign policies include fair trade and debt reduction for the poorest countries in the world? These are spiritual issues that are close to the heart of God. And one of our roles we have as Christ followers is to hold our government accountable to values of social justice. And in our country voting is a way to do that.

Protesting is another way to do that. Some of you may be led by the Spirit of God to peaceful acts of civil disobedience to bring attention to issues of social injustice. That's what Martin Luther King, Jr. did in this country to address racism. That's what Bishop Desmond Tutu did in South Africa to address apartheid. That's what William Wilberforce did in England back in the 1800's to end slavery. But if we choose to do that we have to be ready to submit ourselves to the authorities and accept the consequences of our civil disobedience.

Another way to address injustice is by helping to redistribute resources to those in need. That's something that as a church we've been doing more and more of over the last couple of years. We love to come alongside those from our Valley View community or those in the area who are working with people in need and help to resource them with clothes or computers or chairs or desks or school supplies or food or Phillies tickets or whatever we can do. That's helping to address the injustice in this world. We believe that's being a blessing and making a difference. Operation Christmas Child is a great way to introduce our kids to the needs of the world.

But there are systemic causes of injustice that need to be addressed. God may be calling some of you into a vocation in law or in government or in economics or in some other field where you can address some of the root causes of injustice and really make a difference in this world.

We can get creative too. I love what Greg Porter's doing in Phoenixville through Papa lacrosse and how he's giving kids an opportunity not only to learn a sport, but to learn what it means to be a responsible adult some day. I think of what Ann Downs is doing for unwed mothers at Birthright and what my wife, Jennifer, is doing for the victims of domestic violence at the Laurel House and what Genny O'Donnell is doing for the homeless at the shelter. They are being voices for those who have no voice. And that, I'm growing to see, is at the very heart of the mission of the church which is why I love what N. T. Wright says in his book Surprised By Hope.

"One of the things I have most enjoyed about being a pastor is watching ordinary Christians (not that there are any "ordinary" Christians, but you know what I mean) going straight from worshipping Jesus with the church on Sunday to making a radical difference in the material lives of people on Monday by running playgroups for children of single working moms, by organizing credit unions to help people at the bottom of the financial ladder find their way to responsible solvency, by campaigning for better housing, against dangerous roads, for drug rehab centers, for wise laws relating to alcohol, for decent library and sporting facilities, for a thousand other things in which God's sovereign rule extends to hard, concrete reality. Once again, all this is not an extra mission of the church. It is central.

"When the church is seen to move straight from worship of the God we see in Jesus to making a difference and effecting much needed change in the real world, when it becomes clear that the people who feast at Jesus' table are the ones in the forefront of work to eliminate hunger and famine, when people realize that those who pray for the Spirit to work in and through them are the people who seem to have extra resources of love and patience then it is not only natural to speak of Jesus himself and to encourage others to worship him for themselves and find out what belonging to his family is all about but it is natural for people, however, irreligious they may think of themselves as being, to recognize that something is going on that they want to be part of. In terms that the author of Acts might have used, when the church is living out the kingdom of God, the word of God will spread powerfully and do its own work.

"Of course, no one individual can attempt more than a fraction of this mission. That's why mission is the work of the whole church, the whole time. Some will find God nudging them to work with handicapped children. Some will sense a call to local government. Others will discover a quiet satisfaction in artistic or educational projects. All will need one another for support and encouragement. All will need to be nourished by the central, worshiping life of the church, and that central life will itself be nourished and renewed as the friends of Jesus come back to worship from their mission in the world."

That's the church we dream of being and that's the church we're becoming together more and more all the time.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.