Injustice and Humanity
Notes
Transcript
It is said that good news doesn’t sell. Only bad news does. Which is why if you turn on the tv or pick up a newspaper, most of the news you will see, a great majority is bad news, about injustice, oppression, turmoil.
It’s amazing what happens when you follow the money.
But, that’s not the whole story.
There is so much turmoil in the news because we live in a world filled with turmoil. We read about injustice and oppression because there is injustice and oppression in the world.
The World Justice Project records:
1.5 billion people who cannot obtain justice for civil, administrative, or criminal justice problems. These are victims of crime and people with civil and administrative justice needs who may live in contexts with functioning institutions and justice systems, but who face obstacles to resolving their everyday justice issues.
4.5 billion people who are excluded from the opportunities the law provides. These are people who lack legal tools – including identity documents, land or housing tenure, and formal work arrangements – that allow them to protect their assets and access economic opportunities or public services to which they have a right.
253 million people who live in extreme conditions of injustice. This includes people who are stateless, victims of modern slavery, and people who live in fragile states with high levels of insecurity.
We could dispute those categories and those numbers, but it doesn’t remove the fact that this world is filled with pain and chaos.
Jesus himself said:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
Turmoil, oppression, injustice. Chaos.
We do not live in a peaceful world and we should not expect to live in one.
Solomon lived a long life, as we have discuss. He experienced so much of life, and as a king he was able to affect so much of life.
However, he looked at his world the oppressions filling it and shook his head in hopelessness. But, in his despair, he had hope, but not in the hope that so many people latch onto in todays world of social justice.
Before we dive in, will you pray with me?
1. This World Has Turmoil
1. This World Has Turmoil
Solomon looks at the world and shakes his head at everything wrong that he sees.
Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
But better than both
is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.
We can look at everything that is happening during our time and shake our heads, wondering at the chaos around us. So many people are wondering what riots are going to happen after this election. People on both sides are keyed up and ready to cry “injustice!” Because of fraud or any other excuse.
But, these things are not new. As Solomon wrote earlier:
Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
I remember my mother reading me a book and the beginning talked about rioting in the streets, burning buildings and breaking windows because of race issues. This was written about 25 years ago, so it didn’t have to do with the most recent riots. I thought the book was about the 60s and 70s. However, it was actually about the 1860s, riots in northern cities against the Civil War.
There is nothing new under the sun. There has always been injustice. We could go all the way back to the beginning of time and discuss Cain and Abel. Cain killing his brother because of a perceived injustice. And then Cain’s great, great, great grandson Lamech told his wives:
Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
He felt injustice and so he killed someone and committed an injustice. We live in a world of injustice and in the face of that injustice, more injustice.
So much so that Solomon looks at it all, being able to do nothing about it, and say that people who have never been born are in better shape than those who have breathed this air. Because, once you are born, you are thrown into the chaos and pain.
But, why can we do nothing about the turmoil, the injustice. Why was the most powerful man in the world, Solomon, not able to do something about it?
2. Turmoil Comes from Sin
2. Turmoil Comes from Sin
Because Turmoil comes from sin.
The minute Adam and Eve turned their backs on God and ate the fruit, the world has been in turmoil.
We could talk about pride, selfishness, hypocrisy, lying, all these sins that we enjoy wallowing in, all these things that are against God.
Solomon narrows down on two that he especially saw in his time, which created so much injustice and turmoil.
A. Envy
A. Envy
He points to envy.
And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Fools fold their hands
and ruin themselves.
Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.
We look at everything that everyone else has, like the precious moments figurine that my sister recieved when I was around 8, but we talked about that last week. We look at what everyone else has and we want it, so we do what it takes to get it.
James talks about this:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Envy shows us that we are not content. Last month, we discussed the key to finding satisfaction in this world, because this world will not provide satisfaction. Satisfaction comes only through faith in God, a faith that produces a trust, knowing that he will provide everything that we need. That knowledge produces contentment, that we will enjoy what we have, knowing that it is what we need.
When we are envious, desiring to have what others have, we will start doing whatever it takes to get it.
To the point of denying our savior by acting in ways that are not right. In ways that are “not Christian.”
Solomon talks about the fool who “ruins himself.” Literally, this means that the fools eats his own flesh. He wants something so bad that he will destroy his life in order to get that thing.
James talks about the destruction of envy.
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Not only does it ruin our lives, but it makes us an enemy of God. We are choosing to find satisfaction in the things of the world, instead of the God who has promised to provide, who provides us enough to live in tranquillity.
No wonder there is so much turmoil and chaos in the world.
B. Greed
B. Greed
Not only does Solomon highlight envy, but he also highlights greed.
Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
There was a man all alone;
he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
“and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
a miserable business!
This is the miser who lives alone because he is focusing on getting all that he can, and then one day he wakes up and realizes that he is all alone, he has chased away everyone who could be close to him, because of his focus on getting.
That’s the extreme. There is also the workaholic husband or wife that is so focused on their tasks and their jobs that they allow their marriage and their family to suffer.
And one day they wake up to a divorce, and their spouse and kids are gone.
Greed. It produces turmoil and injustice.
I’ve talked with pastor’s kids, who feel the injustice of their dad. He spends so much time helping others, but he is not there to help them. He is greedy for the approval of everyone around, for the sense of being able to help and fix, that he turns his back on his number one ministry.
We have such a temptation to pursue all the stuff that we can get, and that we can do, whether we are a pastor, a farmer, a publisher, a business man, a service worker, we pursue all this stuff and lose out on the important things.
Jesus said it this way:
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
So many people try to gain the world world, and they lose their marriage. They lose their children. They lose their friends, their reputation. We shake our fists at politicians who will do anything to gain a vote, but we are no better, because we will sacrifice those who are closest to us to meet the next goal.
Greed. And on top of all the things that we sacrifice, we turn our back on God. Instead of trusting him to provide what is needed, we say that we need more and more. There is no end to our toil, because nothing is enough.
And one day, we will wake up and say: where are you, God? Why did you leave me? And the truth is, we left him, because of our greed.
No wonder there is so much turmoil and chaos in the world.
3. Turmoil Is Survived through Relationship
3. Turmoil Is Survived through Relationship
There is no way that we can take away turmoil and injustice from this world, because everyone is a sinner.
The only time that we will experience a world in peace will be when Jesus comes again.
Isaiah speaks of this time:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
Until that time, we live in the midst of the injustice and turmoil.
At first, Solomon says that because of the injustice, it would be better if someone hadn’t been born.
And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living,
who are still alive.
But better than both
is the one who has never been born,
who has not seen the evil
that is done under the sun.
However, at the end of the passage, he changes his tune.
He says that there is a way to survive turmoil. Through relationships.
A. Relationships with others
A. Relationships with others
He points to our relationships with others.
Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
If we are like the greedy man, pushing everyone away, refusing to invest in relationships because we want our stuff. Or if we are like the envious man, ruining our lives and the lives of others because we want what they have, we will have misery. We will sow chaos.
But a different story is lived out when we invest in community.
A new movie came out recently about the childhood of some Christian singers, called Unsung Hero. It explains how the dad lost everything and had to move to the United State from Australia and make a new life for themselves. They moved into their house without furniture. They had a few dollars in a jar and picked up odd jobs, while they looked for more permanent work.
They went to church and invested in the relationships there and through those relationships, they rode out the turmoil and chaos in their lives.
Except for the dad. Who was proud, wanted to provide and make his own way, and he ruined relationships in the church and his family, until he realized the wisdom of not living life on your own.
God has blessed us with a church that loves, that is a family, and as a family, we yearn to walk with each person through the hardships of life, if each person would but tell us. We want to lift up the person that falls down. We want to defend the one who feels overpowered. We want to warm the one who feels cold.
Turmoil is survived through relationship with others, specifically the church.
B. Relationship with God
B. Relationship with God
Solomon then writes something very interesting at the end of this section, when talking about relationships, he says:
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Simply, he says that if having the help of one person is good, having the help of more than one is even better. We should immerse ourselves in community.
But, there is a deeper meaning to this.
The cord of three strands was the strongest made. the number 3 is used as the symbol of completeness and perfection.
One strand is ourselves. The other strand is our community. And the third strand is God.
In the midst of turmoil and injustice, if we are follower of Jesus Christ, we can say:
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul faced the height of injustice. But, he got through it because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. Nothing could separate him from God’s love in Christ Jesus, so he could walk through the turmoil and the injustice.
Yes, there is injustice in the world. Yes, there will be injustice in the world because of sin. But, as Jesus said:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
There is a way to survive it, through the community which God has given us and through the relationship that he offers.