Waiting for Justice

Introduction

Pray

We’ve been going through a series at 10AM about The Until, which is a series about waiting for God, like what do we do in times and seasons of waiting?

ILLUSTRATION: Unjust business

Some of you guys know that I work for a company with Simon as well as doing full time ministry. The company we run is in the resources industry and in that years that I’ve worked with him - I’ve met and rubbed shoulders with a lot of people in that industry.

It’s taken a long time for our company to get where it is today - but one thing I’m immensely proud of is the fact that Simon and the team run this company with the most upright of intentions, without cutting corners, in as much of a Godly way as we can possibly manage - even when when we know that doing so will cost us deals and opportunities.

However there are many other companies out there - earning far more than we are right now, in a much shorter span of time. And I know for a fact that some of these companies are making significant profits via unjust means, cheating the system, going back on their word, abusing people and policies, the works. But they’re very profitable.

And it often causes me to ask a pretty real question in my prayers: God, where’s the justice in this? How is it that people who aren’t doing the right thing are flourishing and the ones who are trying to do things right by you aren’t?

Typically I think in church we like to give two very stereotypical responses: 1) Just let it go and 2) God will have vengeance on them

and while both of these responses have some part truth to them, neither of them are the full picture.

And so this morning I really want to look into this: How do we, as Christians, contend with the injustice that we experience?

Segment 1: God’s use of evil is not God excusing evil

I want to start by using the book of Habakkuk today to talk about this.

The book of Habakkuk was set in around 600BC in Judah. In a time where the Nation of Israel is pretty much rotting from the inside out.

Habakkuk is a book that is unique in the sense that all the other prophets in scripture stand in front of PEOPLE and speak for God. Habakkuk is different because Habakkuk stands in front of God and speaks for PEOPLE.

This whole book, in fact, is an argument - it’s Habakkuk arguing with God about the issue of justice. And I want to take us through the whole book by just giving you the major snapshots so you can see what’s going on here.

We start with the complaint in Habakkuk 1:2-4

Habakkuk 1:2–4 NIV

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

This is the setting of the book, Habakkuk lifts up a complaint to the Lord - and this complaint is about what is happening INSIDE Israel, there is injustice, corrupt courts, bent judged - the law is “paralyzed” and as a result justice never prevails. The wicked prosper. This is pretty much exactly the complaint that we ask at the start.

And so the Lord answers him in Habakkuk 1:5-7

Habakkuk 1:5–7 NIV

5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. 7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

The Lord’s response to Habakkuk is pretty mindbending. He basically says to Habakkuk in response to the complaint - Let me tell you what I’m going to do; I’m going to raise an EVEN MORE evil nation to bring justice on Israel. They will come with violence and gather your people as captives.

This is a terrifying solution that the Lord gives. It seems like God’s solution is to quench injustice with an even greater injustice.

Habakkuk is appropriately horrified and launches a SECOND - more fervent, more emotional complaint to the Lord

Habakkuk 1:13 NIV

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Habakkuk’s final appeal - God I know you; you are a JUST God, you are a RIGHTEOUS God; you can’t even tolerate wrongdoing; so why are you doing this? How can you tolerate this?

Habakkuk’s final appeal is to God’s character - it’s raw, it’s desperate; it’s from the depths of his being: How could you God? You’re meant to be good - you’re meant to be just, how could you let something like this happen?

And the Lord’s final response to Habakkuk in which speaks of the vision (the coming justice) Habakkuk 2:3-4

Habakkuk 2:3–4 ESV

3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

And God finishes His address by issuing a warning to the Babylonians - a warning to the people that HE was going to use to punish Israel.

Habakkuk 2:16–17 ESV

16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

This is the gist of the book of Habakkuk - it is the Lord responding to a complaint raised against Him in the name of Justice and I want to state something, in case you didn’t pick it up from the onset: God doesn’t actually answer Habakkuk’s question.

Habakkuk asks God a clear question right at the start: How long do I have to WAIT for Justice? How long will you permit this injustice to continue?

And God doesn’t directly answer that question anywhere in the book.

At this point the reader is just left waiting on an answer that never really comes - and perhaps that’s how many of us feel today as we’re waiting on God.

But here’s the thing - while Habakkuk doesn’t receive a direct answer to His question, God gives Him truths that lead to an even more powerful revelation at the end of the book.

The first of these truths is: God’s allowing injustice is not God excusing injustice

Because we can be tempted to see this in the passage the fact that God uses the babylonians to punish the Israelites, can easily look like God is not just allowing injustice to continue, but excusing injustice as well.

And this is the greatest stumbling block for Christians. We feel like there is little point hanging on to justice when it feels like God is EXCUSING injustice.

We’re conducting our business faithfully, living our lives with integrity - and when we see those who are doing it the WRONG way thrive and succeed it can be all too tempting for us to just assume that justice does not matter so much to the Lord, He is blessing the unjust, and seems to be cursing the righteous.

God may not answer Habakkuk directly about why the righteous can suffer at the hands of the unrightous, but one thing that is FIRMLY established is that God NEVER overlooks injustice.

In other words God may not have given Habakkuk a TIMELINE for justice, but He did give him a VERDICT.

There WILL be justice.

Segment 2: Delayed, Not Dismissed

Just as Israel is facing justice through being invaded by the more evil Babylonians, even the Babylonians that God uses are warned in Chapter 2 that their time for facing justice will also arrive

Habakkuk 2:17 NIV

17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

This is the Lord saying - as much as injustice may abound in any situation; it is NEVER overlooked

And I think this frames the foundation of how we are to respond while waiting for justice.

Whatever situation that we may find ourselves in - where injustice may abound and the righteous may seem like victims to the wicked; one thing we must always know is that God is a God of justice.

He does not overlook injustice, He does not excuse injustice - it is not in His nature, nor is it His character. God is a God of justice

Deuteronomy 32:4 “4 “…His work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

And one truth that we must understand as a function of His JUST character is that Delayed justice isn’t Dismissed justice.

Just because we don’t experience justice in the here and now - does not mean that justice is not coming.

To the external observer - God using the wicked babylonians to bring about justice on Israel may look like God REWARDING evil. It seems like God has just abandoned justice entirely in this situation.

But despite what it may look like, God’s hand is still very much in this. God never abandoned justice - even though it may be delayed, it is never dismissed.

**APPLY SOMETHING PERSONALLY**

Segment 3: The Righteous shall live by his faith

But what do we do while we’re waiting for justice?

Well God addresses that too in -

Habakkuk 2:4 NIV

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—

Again - God may not answer Habakkuk’s question directly - “How long must I wait for you to bring justice God?”

Yet God clearly tells Habakkuk how the righteous are to live if they find themselves in this very predicament.

The righteous person will live by his FAITHFULNESS. He lives by his FAITHFULNESS in God, by how he clings to His belief that God is Just and will bring about Justice in His time.

This is the POSTURE that we are called to have in waiting for Justice.

In other words there is a RIGHT WAY that we are called to wait.

This verse gives us the two ways that a person can go about waiting: The FIRST WAY - is puffed up, swollen, with unclean desires - this kind of way is giving IN to injustice, by practising injustice. You get sick of waiting for justice - and so you become unjust yourself.

The SECOND WAY - the right way - is that we live by our faithfulness in God. The word faithfulness here is emunah - and it means steadiness, unwavering. It is a POSTURE of faith that we have in God - regardless of what the SITUATION or OUTCOME is, because it is a POSTURE grounded in God’s NATURE. God is JUST. He will bring JUSTICE.

I think that there is always a temptation - when we find ourselves in a bad POSITION because we try to live uprightly.

We are living upright, faithful lives - but we still get sick Or we don’t get that promotion Or that deal doesn’t come through

There is always the temptation to surrender that faithfulness, to surrender living uprightly because it seems like there is no point, it seems like God does is not upholding justice.

But scripture clearly tells us: don’t let your POSITION change your POSTURE

God calls us to live by our faithfulness; to continue to trust in Him, to continue to hold fast to His character, to have FAITH that He is just, and that He will ultimately bring Justice.

To not live through OUR understanding of the situation, but to live through our faith in Him.

ILLUSTRATION: Being the Judge

I have an old church friend that I walked with for a long time who was hurt badly by the church that he was attending. No point going into details but I can say that what happened to him wasn’t right. Church isn’t a perfect place, and people do get hurt - but this was a particularly bad situation. He was effectively chased out of his church for something he didn’t even do.

He left church for a short period - but then brought himself back to attend again. But when he did, something had changed - he was bitter, cynical, just so broken and angry. When we’d catch up he’d do nothing except complain to me about the church he was attending - the preaching was wrong, the people were fake, the theology was off, the worship songs were ungodly.

And I’d always ask him why do you keep going there? He would say the same thing “someone’s gotta tell them what they’re doing wrong” - because of what happened to him, he saw the church incapable of acting justly, and that meant that he would have to enforce it himself. And so he became a bitter, constantly embattled, whiny Christian with nothing good to say about the church he was in - didn’t want to move, and also didn’t want to serve. He was just there to enforce his form of justice.

A couple of years later we caught up again - and something had changed. He was serving on the welcome team. It’s not like he was a balm of sweetness but you know, he wasn’t the same cynical, bitter person that he was from before.

And so I just asked him “what changed? How come you’ve decided to get involved and serve?” and his answer was profound to me - he just said, “got my role mixed up with God’s”.

That was profound to me - because it was a showcase of what happens when man tries to take justice into his own hands. Just like the passage - he becomes puffed up, starts to walk in his own way - and that way will always lead to us walking the path of the unjust.

Segment 3: Relinquishing our Rights as Jesus did

Nowhere do we see living by faith exemplified more than in Jesus. 1 Peter 2:19-23

1 Peter 2:19–23 NIV

19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

The perfect model of this is given in Jesus Christ - who died for our sins, sins that He did not commit, sins that He did not need to bear.

When they hurled insults at Him, when they commited injustice against Him and accused Him of doing things that He did not do; scripture tells us that He didn’t even retaliate even when He suffered.

And the reason - which we saw in Habakkuk, and which Jesus modelled for us perfectly is found in the last part of v23 “Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who Judges justly”

Jesus chose to not take matters into His own hands - but He chose to trust in the Father, who Judges perfectly.

He chose to LIVE BY HIS FAITHFULNESS. The Righteouss shall live by their faith. This was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave up His right to repay, without giving up His faith in God.

He chose to give up his own right to repay - but He did not do so carelessly, it was not giving up on justice, it was not losing hope, is was not losing heart as some of us are tempted to do when we can’t perceive justice.

He gave up His own right to repay - but He did so OUT of His trust in God the Father, who He knows sees all things, and will judge everything perfectly, in His perfect time.

When we are waiting for justice to come - our response comes down to a simple quesiton: Do we have FAITH in God to be JUST, to judge perfectly?

Do we trust Him enough to be able to relinquish our right to repay? To relinquish our own personal desire for justice?

Segment 4: God Himself is our satisfaction

But you know, the truth is that I undertand Habakkuk’s complaint deeply - because even though the righteous can wait for the Lord; even though there is a promise for FUTURE justice; is it no guarantee that justice will occur in our time. And that can be a painful pill to swallow.

Does that mean that the righteous living by faith are not guaranteed any form of satisfaction for the injustice that we’ll experience on this earth?

Well - no, that’s not true at all.

Habakkuk finishes his book, with a beautiful revelation in Chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3:17–19 ESV

17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

Don’t lose the profoundness of what’s happening here - Habakkuk moves from his initial complaint where his eyes are turned toward toward the injustice, the situation he’s in “Why do you make me SEE iniquity?” - his vision is consumed by what is broken, and so his soul is filled with the bitterness of his complaint.

But by the end of the book - by the end his interaction with God, his eyes have moved from being fixed on his circumstances, to gazing on the glory of God.

And this brings him his greatest revelation - that God Himself is Habakkuk’s reward.

Habakkuk’s true reward was not a resolution, it was relationship

“Habakkuk 3:18–19 “18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.”

When we fixate on only obtaining justice - we take our eyes off God, and we lose sight of a simple truth that God calls us to live by: justice may or may not come within our lifetime - but God is present with you now.

The real reward for any believer is never vindication, it is the fact that they have a relationship with the sovereign God.

If our desire to pursue justice overtakes our desire to have communion with God - then what you have is a transactional faith

A faith that stands only as long as your circumstances remain good

Such faith is powerless because it does not worship God - it worships an outcome.

But today, friends, God is calling us, not to surrender justice, but to trust in His justice. And more than that - He invites us to discover that He is a reward, greater than any outcome we could receive.

ILLUSTRATION:

You know we can learn so much from the youth sometimes, and how clearly they see this. One thing you have to know about our church is that we have one of the largest youth groups in the state - and it’s filled with kids who may not be from Christian homes. So many of the salvations we get in this church are first generation salvations which is just amazing, but also these kids don’t get much support from home in their faith walk, and many are from homes whos parents outright reject their faith.

Last year I was talking to one such youth member. And the situation was at the point that this kids parents wanted them to renounce the faith and cease coming to church completely - on threat of kicking them out of the home if they persisted in the faith.

And as I was talking to them, I was gently trying to take away the sting of injustice in the situation to make it easier on them - “hey your parents care about you, they just want to know that you’re being safe, they care about the things that you believe in, especially while you’re younger”

Kids often have the most simple and yet most profound faith. This youth just looked at me and said, “It’ll be ok pastor Jon. Whatever happens - I’ll still have Jesus.”

They didn’t even need the injustice explained away - because they had found Someone far more valuable to cling to.

The righteous shall live by his faith. May it be the same for all of us.

Altar Call

Now here, I have to add an important disclaimer - please don’t hear this as “we have no duty towards justice in this world” because that is the opposite of what I’m saying. Christians are called to be the voice, the hands and the feet of justice here on earth.

If an abuse, or assault has happened to you - this is not me asking you to be quiet about it. Wherever we can, we pursue given means of justice. Human courts, law enforcement, although imperfect, are God’s given form of justice here on this earth.

Paul himself talks about this in Romans 13:1 “1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

Altar call - pray for people who feel like they are dealing with an injustice and need prayer.