The Justice of God

Good morning church!

It was good to Zoom with you this morning.

I know you are probably aware that I recorded this yesterday and therefore I couldn’t know that it was a good Zoom, but trust me, if I got to see and talk to you, it was good.

Just to update everyone on where we are with re-opening.

I meet with the Elder’s last week and we are of the mindset, as of now, that just because the state allows us to start meeting doesn’t mean that we need to rush to make that happen.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and listening to what it will take for us to re-open safely.

I am taking all the information I can get my hands on and take all of it very seriously.

It is more important to myself and to the elders and staff that when we re-open that we do it in a way that is safe for all involved than it is for us to do it quickly.

Join us in praying for wisdom as we make plans.

You know our hearts on this and we want to be sure that we do this the right way.

I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.

I’ve been thinking about all of you this week.

All day I’ve been trying to find the words for this part of the video.

Then as I was wrapping up the sermon, Bethany asked if I saw the video that Mattie posted.

I had not, so I stopped and watched it.

Mattie voiced all the things I’ve been trying to figure out how to say.

It’s hard because I haven’t been through those things and I want to be delicate and honoring.

Honestly, I know myself well enough to know that I am not good at either one of those things.

If you didn’t get or didn’t see Mattie’s post, please go watch it later and thank you Mattie for sharing.

Isn’t that an incredible part of being in the body of Christ?

To be able to learn from one another and to share each other’s burdens.

To those who have struggled with having children or who have lost children, I want you to know that you have been in my prayers and you are known and loved dearly.

Ecclesiastes 3:16–22 ESV

16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

As we begin this morning, I think it is good to address the elephant in the room.

I’m sure you guys are aware of the case of Ahmaud that has been in the news this week.

I only know what has been shared by GBI and there is much more that will come out in the future, but without really knowing any details, we can all agree that it is a tragedy that a young man was killed.

I have always made a point to not comment on political things and until a judge and jury review the details of exactly happened I am not going to make any further comments.

But I do want you to know that when studying this passage and after hearing the news, my heart just sank.

I wanted to address this today to give us all the head and heart space to take a moment to process.

What we are seeing is that things have not changed.

What was true for the preacher and what is true for us is the same.

Wickedness is alive and well in our lives just like it was for him.

As believers, who profess to love Jesus and to love our neighbors our ourselves, we should be heartbroken.

I can’t speak for you, but I am heartbroken.

Our hearts should break every time we hear of death and injustice.

We see in our passage today that the preacher focuses on the hypocrisy that exists in the realm of justice.

The fact that the very place that we should be able to find justice, instead we find wickedness.

This is not a new concept for us.

If you remember when Russ introduced this study he talked about the word Hevel and how it is the same word used for Abel’s name.

Knowing that helps us understand the upside-down-ness of the world.

Abel, the righteous son, received death, while Cain, the murderer, received a long and prosperous life.

Unfortunately, this is part of life in a broken world.

It isn’t always fair and there isn’t anything we can do about.

My dad tells this story of when he and my uncle were kids, they were told to share a candy bar.

So my uncle broke it into two pieces, examined them, saw that one side was bigger so he bit off the bigger side so they would “be the same size.”

Isn’t that how life feels sometimes?

I want to remind you of what we have talked about over the last two weeks.

God’s timing is not like ours.

He sees what we don’t see and comprehends what we cannot.

That doesn’t make the hard things any easier, but it does give us some perspective.

But the preacher tells us in verse seventeen where he places his hope for justice.

Ecclesiastes 3:17 ESV

17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.

We can place our hope just as the preacher does.

Our hope for justice is in God.

It isn’t easy when we are treated wrongly to just be silent and wait for God.

Sometimes God calls us to speak up for ourselves or for those that can’t speak for themselves.

But sometimes, God tells us to wait and let Him be our defense.

Many of us have a history of suffering unjustly which makes this topic incredibly difficult for us.

In living with that suffering, we find ourselves often asking God why we must go through such affliction.

We can find comfort in understanding that we are not alone.

We see the preacher wrestling with the issue in our passage today.

These words from Jeremiah were in my devotion this morning.

Jeremiah 12:1 ESV

1 Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

Isn’t it freeing to know we aren’t alone in struggling with what we see in the world?

Church, how we respond to all this has significant implications.

In every case, we need to ask God how we are to respond to what is happening to us and around us.

We can rest in the fact that scripture is clear that God will deal with the sin of all people.

Matthew 16:27 ESV

27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Romans 2:6–11 ESV

6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.

2 Thessalonians 1:6–10 ESV

6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

I think it is worth noting, that in all these passages, and across scripture, we see the same truth.

God is the one that brings forth justice.

I don’t about you, but this causes several questions.

What are we to do when we see injustice?

Don’t we all, at some point, feel a sense of responsibility to act?

How do we know if we should?

God can and will use all of us, but we need to understand that if God chooses to use us, it is still God that is doing the work.

“Nevertheless, though we are limited in many designed ways, Qoheleth (the preacher) emphasizes human responsibility by placing it at the fore of this passage. Just as God does everything beautiful in his timing, we are expected to do everything in its time as far as we are empowered to do so (emphasis mine). We were created in God’s image, we are to be mature as he is mature (Matt. 5:48), and we are to reflect his nature in the timing of our activities.”

I want to repeat here again, for effect, we are expected to do everything in its time as far as we are empowered to do so.

Matthew 5:48 ESV

48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In everything we do, but particularly in the realm of justice, what, when, and how we speak and act is a reflection of God.

That means that the comments we make on social media, in conversation, and even in our home, are informing people in the nature and character of God.

I want you to take a minute and take in the weight of that statement.

How we address those things shouldn’t be our opinions because as believers we aren’t representing just ourselves, we are representing Christ and His bride.

We cannot bring God’s love into a broken world if we are representing our opinions.

If we are just sharing what we think, we are just sharing our brokenness.

What our world needs is God’s love which means when we speak, we need to be speaking on God’s behalf, what He has told us to speak.

Do you see the difference and realize how big of a deal that is?

We shouldn’t let this paralyze us with fear.

In fact, it should do just the opposite, it should cause us to seek God with diligence.

In doing that, when God tells us to speak out, we can have the confidence that we are operating in His power and not our own.

You may be thinking that there are times where we need to respond quickly and I would agree with you.

That reinforces how important that we are daily spending time with the Lord and abiding in Him moment by moment.

In doing so, we are allowing to prepare our hearts and often we aren’t even aware that He is preparing us.

We have a constant reminder that we are not God.

Ecclesiastes 3:18–20 ESV

18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

You know, in talking about justice and injustice, it is good for us to remember that we cannot fix the world.

As I stated a minute ago, we can and will be used by God to bring about justice, but we need to remember that we are not qualified or capable of accomplishing that on our own.

Specifically, because we are not God.

Our constant reminder that we are not God is death.

We talked about this recently, that God, in His mercy, gave us death so that we would not have to live in anguish forever.

It is also mercy that He shows us that we are not gods.

Consider the world that we live in.

How much of the suffering that people go through is a result of the people in authority over them take and use more power than they ought?

People suffer because of the abuse of power.

However, at the end of it all, we all have the same fate as the beast of the earth.

We die.

From dust, we came and from dust, we return.

This is the clearest example that we are not in control.

We can see at the end of this chapter that we are being pointed again back to the garden.

Ecclesiastes 3:21–22 ESV

21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

The preacher is reminding us of what God told Adam and Eve.

Genesis 3:19 ESV

19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

He rounds out this chapter in which we have talked about our relationship with time, work, and justice by reminding us that we are only here for a short while.

Knowing that begs the question, what should we do with the time we are given?

The teacher again brings us back to obeying what God has commanded us.

Because we cannot see the future, we should live in the moment and enjoy the work that God has given us to do.

It is obeying God that we find fulfillment, peace, joy, and justice.

So church, what is it that God has given us to do?

He has called us to abide.

He wants us to know Him by experience, through obedience.

As you all have seen this week, God has given Glen a word that now is the time.

Now is the time for us to share this incredible knowledge that God has given us.

But here is the thing, in order for us to be able to share this message with authenticity, we have to be living it.

I know that some of you have struggled during this season with your daily time with the Lord.

I want to encourage you to bring that to the Lord.

Ask Him to give you the desire and the time to do it.

I want to close today with a passage that was in my quiet time this morning.

It is such an encouragement to me.

Isaiah 55 ESV

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

It is and always has been God’s desire that we would know Him.

He has given us the tools to do that and He is calling us to Himself.

Do you feel that? God is calling you to himself.

Not only is He calling you to Himself, but He is also calling us to share this message with people in our lives.

As Glen said on his Facebook post, ask God for one person in the state and one out of the state that you can send a copy of the Abiding Cycle to. Ask them to read it and then share it with one person in the state and one out of state.

This isn’t about book sales, we are selling the book, literally, as cheap as Amazon will allow.

This is about putting this message into people's hands before they have an opportunity to get back into the habit of dead religion.

Church, let’s live as a people that abide in Christ, and let’s share that blessing with others.