Freedom Sunday: Biblical Justice

Good Morning, man I am so pumped for this Sunday. I have truly been excited about this for the last several months. This again is as I spoke about last week a time where we as church are really joining along side thousands of churches and ministries around the country and globe as we partner with IJM (International Justice Ministries) to bring awareness and assist in the combating of the human crisis of modern day slavery. Recently, as many of you know this topic, this issue, really started to be brought to the forefront. Within the last couple of months we saw a movie that some tried to stop from coming out hit the theaters and although it only scratches the surface of this issue sparked a major discussion overall and brought awareness to a grave injustice within the world today. What was surprising to me was the fact that so many individuals thought that this really was not an issue, that it was not as prevalent as even the movie made it out to be, and some other theories that would take more time than I would like to go over.

Here is the reality, this issue is not just foreign, this issue is not small, the reality is, this issue plagues all of our communities. It does not discriminate, and it has effected parents from all over this country as well as around the world.

So let’s pray first this morning and then we will dive into this sermon together.

Now last week we went over what we as believers and as a church should be known for. We uncovered that at the heart of it all we should be known for our love; that is our love for God and love for people. Today, we are going to sort of continue on in this theme. Right what we are talking about today is central to achieving this charaterization, because the reality is if we remain silent on the issues that plague our culture, if we refuse to speak up for the justice of those oppressed, we ultimately are not taking our commandment of love all too seriously.

Often, when I speak to people there is this nagging question that remains at the back of our minds and it is this question of why am I here? Now this may mean different things to different people. This could be asked about why you’re at an event, it could be why you are in the career, marriage, or relational situation you are in, maybe it has to do with you current state of life; especially when battling seasons of immense grief or pain. But maybe and most importantly it is a question that is much deeper than that, and really hits at the heart cry of humanity which is why are we even on this earth? What is my purpose in life? You see throughout history, humans have asked this very question, heck there is even movies like the time traveler who is seeking for the answer of life and although the movie takes a very nihilistic understanding, it speaks to the reality of this question in the hearts of so many people spanding throughout the ages.

So how do we answer this question today, why are we even here?

Gary Haugen, who is the founder of International Justice Mission, answers the question this way: “The reason we are here on earth is to be agents of Christ’s redemption in broken lives and in a fallen world.” In other words, we are, each one of us, invited to play an active role in the world, right here and right now. Going off of the last several week and especially last week we are to be representatives of God, living examples pointing to the redemptive purpose of God in humanity.

A few weeks ago I laid out really what our created purpose was, which is that we were created to do the works of God here on this earth. We were… all of humanity created in the image of God and as such are His children. Yet, we know that sin entered into the picture. This sin really caused a fragmentation, it caused a chasm, it seperated God from man and made it where we now live under wrath and death. Since the beginning we have seen God moving throughout His people in covenant relationship and playing out this overarching redemptive story. The cool part is, that at every area the works of God are re-established in a way in which our lives demonstrate the glory of God, the love of God, and should be lived in such a way that is contagious.... What do I mean by that, when people look at our lives they should see their need for Christ. Our lives should stand as a living representation and image of the invisible God in such a way that people are drawn to it.

So what does this have to do with today, well today is a day that we really focus on the work of IJM in their fight for justice which is being done around the world. You will find that they are no stranger to the broken and fallen world. Day in and day out, they come face to face with the most henious evil acts, from human trafficking, to violence against women and children, to the online sexual exploitation of children. Their mission is to protect people in poverty from violence by helping rescue and restore vicitms and helping repair the system that allowed the violence to occur in the first place. Their vision is to protet half a billion people from violent injustice by the year 2030. Currently, 5 billion people—5 billion children, women and men, all made in the image of God—live outside the protection of the law. They have no one to call when they are trembling at the hand of violence. This is called the “justice gap.” Where people in poverty all around the world are uniquely vulnerable to everyday violence, which much of a daily threat is homelessness, hunger, and disease. This is the reality of people like Godwin and Maliha.

You see Godwin was a bright young boy who loved nothing more than reading his books and dreamed of becoming a doctor. When he was 17, a woman claiming to be related to his father appeared and offered to take him on a trip to meet his extended family, whom she said wanted to meet him and buy him school supplies.

Godwin, always a model student, took all of his schoolbooks with him so he could study while on the trip. But the woman sold him to a man who used trafficked children to fish for him on a remote island. When he woke up the next day, the woman who brought him there was gone, and he was informed that the chief of this island had paid her for five years of Godwin’s labor. It only got worse as he saw the woman return again and again with more trafficked children—including his own half-brother, who was six years younger than him. Godwin watched his little brother and other young children work on the fishing boats every day. He saw them be beaten when they failed to meet the fishermen’s demands. Godwin began to lose hope that he would ever return to his family or continue to pursue his love for learning.

Finally, after several years of Godwin attempting sporadic calls to his aunt Jessie, an older man who had also been trafficked to the island used his phone to give Godwin’s family enough information to know his location and report it to the authorities. IJM joined police on an operation to free Godwin from slavery on the island in May 2018. But Godwin was not ready to go home yet. Godwins intel was an asset to IJM investigators and police, and he bravely chose to return to the place where he was enslaved without blinking an eye. Over the course of multiple rescues, with help from Godwin, 29 children and trafficked young adults and one infant were rescued. Some had been enslaved for 10 years or more. A total of 17 suspects were arrested. Now Godwin has picked up his books again and is back in school, beloved by teachers and just as determined to pursue his degree of being a doctor.

I also want to share another story with you, that is similar and although this is not one of the stories that was from IJM I think it gives the otherside to this issue as well, David Platt in his book Counter culture shares the story of Maliha, now Maliha literally means beautiful in her language and she was born in Nepal high above the Himalyan mountains. Since entering into the world her family struggled to surivive; lacking clean water, sufficient food, and basic medical supplies.

Then a man came through the village and saw Maliha outside washing the family’s clothes. She was 9 years old though she looked even younger than that. The man knew where Maliha lived so he went and introduced himself to her mother utilizing the Tibetan greeting of blessing to give off this false sense of kindness and respect. Throughout the discourse the man spoke to the mother about how she was a hard worker and how he had an opportunity for her to work that would ultimately provide more for her family than what she can do while staying at home. The mother did not oblige on the first visit but not long after, he returned. In the time between the first visit and the second Maliha’s mother thought on how great of an opportunity it would be for both Maliha and the family and so she agreed to have her go with the man for a time. The man sweetened the deal as well paying her 10 thousand rupees which is approximatley half a year’s wages. As well as promised to bring her up for visits.

As they walked together over the next few days the man gave instructions on what would happen as they approached the city, advising her to slip amongst the crowds to avoid being caught by the police at check-points. Finally, after doing as was asked of her they finally made it into the city. It was evening and they went to a restaurant to get somethig to eat, but this restaurant was different from other restaurants. It was called a cabin restaurant. It sat along a row of restaurants where families would come and eat, but the booths were drastically different. They were more like cubicles. Wood frames starting at the floor and reaching all the way to the ceiling divided each booth from the other so that no one could see into or out of the booth. A small table sat in the middle of each booth with a bench wrapped around it. Other girls, all of them older than Maliha, sat at the front of the restaurant. She assumed they were resting after a long day of work and so she smiled as she past by them.

After entering the man led Maliha into one of the booths, where she sat down, and soon a large plate of food was placed before her. She at it all and then the man escorted her to her room up-stairs, a room that was small and had a cot-like bed in the corner. A dirty, stained sheet covered the thin mattress, and he told her to give him the bag she had. After resting for the night she was awoken to new clothes to wear that were tight and revealing. She was instructed to change and then meet him downstairs at one of the booths to discuss the work that she was to do. Maliha sat across the table from him, and he began to give her instructions; “Now in order to provide for your mom, your sister, and your brother back home, all you need to do is what I say. I have already paid your family a lot of money, so you are going to need to start working today to pay that back. Then, once you make more money, I can send it to your family.

She asked what she was to do and never could have expected the response that was to come; It would start that evening during dinner with the man, who gave her alcohol to drink with her meal. Then he escorted the nine-year-old girl upstairs, her senses now impared, where he took off her clothes, took away her innocence, and raped her in her room. In the days following this abuse continued to ensue, where the man repeatedly raped her—sometimes more than once a day. Each episode was accompanied by drinking and in the weeks following drugs were introduced. At first Maliha tried to fight. But over time the fight was eliminated as the sheer force of the man overpowered the fragility of her body and eventually submission was accomplished and her spirit was broken.

From this point the stage was now set for other men to get involved. They would walk into the restaurant, where they would find Maliha, this beuatiful young girl, sitting at the entrance, looking down at the floor with a string of condoms hanging from the ceiling abover her head. A man would grab her by the hand, and she would quitely follow him into one of the booths. There, he would eat and drink and then either take Maliha upstairs to her room or stay right there in the booth and force her to do whatever he told her to do. After he was finished, she would go out and wait for another man, and then another man, and then another man. Sometimes, on a busy night, fifteen or twenty different customers would have their way with Maliha however they desired.

You see these two stories are not as unique as we would like to believe and they do not just happen oversees. It occurs everywhere even here in our own backyard and it leaves us with a challening question of what does this demand of us?

In scripture we find that God has a heart for justice. One of the most well-known stories and parables is the Good Samaritan. In it we see an expert in the law—the Torah—come to Jesus with the question, “What do I need to do to get eternal life?” To which Jesus replies, “What do you think?” Then the man says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” To which Jesus replies, “Yes. Do this and you’ll live.” But then the man asks a pivotal question, “But… who is my neighbor?” And Jesus responds with this story:

Luke 10:25–37 (ESV)

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

One thing that I think is quite intriguing about this story is we really don’t know who the injured man is. Right Jesus does reference his culture, his background, really nothing identifying other than his gender. You see this is really part of the potency of this story. What Jesus is doing is showing that this could be anyone! He could be you, a relative, Godwin, we don’t know. What Jesus is pointing us to in this story is the biblical idea of what it means to be a neighbor. Jesus uses this story to widen the hearer’s understanding to see that a neighbor is more than just someone who lives close to you or shares the same culture as you. Jesus is calling us to love and serve and do justice for anyone and everyone in need.

You see what Jesus is essentially saying, “If you see someone in need, don’t just pass them by, don’t just be concerend with your own comforts, be there… take a stand… interviene… love them” You see the priest and Levite only cared about their own comfort and were concerend with only themselves. Yet, the Samaritan was different.

God is a God of justice, and all throughout scripture he calls his people to do justice. The Hebrew word of Justice in the Old Testament is mishpat, which means giving people what they are due, whether punishment or protection or care. We do justice bceause God cares about justice. We see this all throughout scripture. Psalm 82:3-4 states,“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” God cares deeply about those who are vulnerable, overlooked, mistreated, abused, trafficekd, and enslaved. And he has created you to do something about it.

But there are some aspects of doing justice that have been overlooked that I want to bring to the forefront today. These four aspects are a reminder of how we CARE as followers of Christ.

God calls us to compassion:

He is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and aboudning in love and faithfulness (Ps. 86:15). In Latin, the word compassion means to suffer with. When we are compassionate, we enter into anothers suffering. The Samariatan clearly had compassion on the man on the side of the road. And we all know we should have compassion on those who are experiencing violence. But how do we grow in compassion? This isn’t something we can simply strive for; this is a heart issue. The work of doing justice actually begins with being—being with God and communing with him, which then transforms our hearts. As transfromed and transforming people, God is at work in our hearts, forming us to share the same heart he has for people who are being mistretead. Our heart toward those who are vulnerable is directly tied to our relationship with Jesus. If we don’t have compassion for people who are experiencing violence, then we probably need to start by examining our own relationship with Christ. God wants to transform our hearts in order that we might share his heart for the sake of the world. How might God be inviting you to grow in compassion? How may HE be asking you to simply be with him?

2. God calls us to Act!

Our compassion forms how we act; how we respond to injustice. As God changes our hearts, growing us in love, mercy and compassion, he calls us to do something. God has not created you to be a bystander, he’s made you to be a person of action. As a follower of Christ, God has empowered you with the Holy Spirit to step into the hardest places in order to bring hope and healing to those who are experiencing violence. You are not made to stay comfortable or play it safe; God is calling you and challening you to courageously extend the love and grace you have experienced by reaching out to the world around you.

N.T. Wright say it this way: “No church, no Christian, can remain content with easy definitions which allow us to watch most of the world lying half-dead in the road.” There are no bystanders when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Count how many actions the Samaritan took in this passage.

He went to him

He bandaged his wounds

He put the man on his own donkey

HE brought him to an inn

HE took care of him

He gave money to the inkeeper

He rpomised to return and reimburse

You see God invites us to become active participants in the work of justice. Justice flows form our being-from who we are in Christ-into action. That is that God’s people are to go into the world to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God. What action may God be calling you take?

3. God Calls His People To Repair:

God is a repairer, He is making all things new, and he invites us into this work of reparinging what is broken. This includes repairing broken roads, broken systems, and showing a broken world what the Kingdom of God ultimately will look like. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “one day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway.” We can and should continue to provide food and shelter and build wells, but what about the girl who is too afraid to walk to this well because of the very real threat of violence? Violence robs people of the reality of seeing a better tomorrow. We are called by God to step into the work of reparing what is broken. With God’s supernatural power at work within us, we are God’s plan to paint a more vivid picture of the world as it will be when Jesus returns.

Through the two decades of IJM’s work, they have witnessed story after story of injustice. They began to ask, “How can we reapir what is broken so that these horrible injustices never happen in the first place? What can we do so that people like Godwin and Maliha never have to experience what they experienced? The work IJM does and the role it plays in seeing God’s Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven, requires perseverance. And not a flash-in-the-pan kind of work. This requires a long obedience in the same direction—it’s the long road of justice.

4. This Work of Repairing then leads to empowering others.

As we participate in the work of justice, there is a beautiful ripple effect. The Samaritan cared for the man who was left for dead, and then he invited the inkeeper into the work of justice, as well. Just imagine the end of this story. Once this beaten man had been healed, what was the story he had to tell? ‘I was beaten and left for dead and these two religious guys well they just walked by, they ignored me, but then a Samaritan came and helped me. And he brought me to an inn where this kind innkeeper cared for me. And now, I will use my story to ensure that no one else is beated and left for dead laong this road!’ As we do the work of justice, we empower others to do the work of justice, and we see the miraculous and redemptive power of God as suriviors heal and share their stories. When God’s people care, lives are changed.

This is who God calls his people to be, because this is the kind of God he is. God the Father, in his compassionate love, Sent Jesus to walk this earth, to draw near to the people, to suffer with the people he so dearly loves. He took action; action that led him all the way to the cross, bearing our sin and our shame so that we could have freedom and ultimate rescue. Jesus is the repairer of brokenness, making all things new and restoring the world to his original intnet, which is just, right and good. God is an empowering God, sending his Holy Spirit to live in you so that you do even greater things. Remember last week, the Spirit should be so alive and active within us that the Love of God becomes complete and overflowing in abundance. Right just as Jesus is the visible represenation of the invisible God so to are Christians today a living representation of God. My friends, you have the opportunity to be most who are meant to be. The question is will you seize the opportunity? Will you go and do likewise?

How do we do this, as I stated in the beginning I wanted to close out this series on missions in a pratical way and how I saw this unfolding is through a partnership with IJM. I am inviting you today to step into God’s story of redemption in the world by becoming a Freedom Partner. As a Freedom Partner, you are linking arms with a community of people who are doing the work of justice by giving monthly, by praying regularly, and by being part of repairing broken “jericho roads” all around the world. You are invited to be deployed as one who steps out of your comfort zone by giving sacrifically so that people in poverty, including those like Godwin and Maliha are no longer abused, enslaved, and trafficked.

This is why you are here, to be Christ’s agents of redemption. You are called to compassion, to act, to repair, and to empower. To love God and to love your neighbor, especially when the world is crashing down around you. And so who is your neighbor? More importantly, are you willing to act as a Samaritan and assist in the solution of combatting modern day slavery?

Let’s pray and then we will close out with this final song. I ask that you take this time and pray about getting involved, by becoming a freedom partner, and assisting in bringing an end to this human tragedy. After the closing of the song we will all head to the fellowship area together.