Justice
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Intro Slide
Facebook has been collecting every tiny little scrap of information that they can about us and then selling it to other companies so that they can target us. It would be mildly annoying if their work was limited to serving up similar ads in your facebook news-feed, but its so much more insidious than that.
I sometimes listen to an investigative reporting podcast called Reveal, and one of their recent episodes is entitled Harpooned by Facebook. In it, they uncover a sinister scheme that is nothing short of evil.
A 12 year old named Ian gets paid for doing chores around the house, and he often uses that money to purchase power-ups and coins for his favorite games. One day he was playing a game through facebook and he asked his mom, Glynnis, if he could use her credit card to purchase a $20 bundle of coins. She had done this before on his Play Station and so she agreed. She entered the card once, and then put it back in her purse. The next day her husband got a call from the credit card company asking if they had authorized dozens of small payments to facebook that amounted to over $1,000. When she talked to her son, she found that all he had to do when his bag of coins ran out was to click on the bag and it would fill up again. He had played for a couple hours, tapped on that bag of coins a couple dozen times, and racked up $1,000 in charges on his mom’s card—and he didn’t even know that’s what he was doing.
When Glynnis realized what was going on she tried to get a refund from facebook, but they declined. Their position was that she had willingly given her son her credit card number, and therefore authorized every one of those transactions.
She decided that she couldn’t be the only one with this trouble so she started a class action lawsuit against facebook. Ultimately facebook settled and Glynnis got her money back, but what the lawsuit revealed was so much deeper than she could have imagined.
Facebook has developed algorithms based on all the tidbits they know about us that allow companies to target people who they think are likely to dump lots of money into their game or app. Facebook allows blatantly manipulative and fraudulent behavior by these companies because they get 30% of every dollar those companies make through facebook.
One email exchange that was revealed in the lawsuit shows how facebook has developed a culture of greed. A facebook employee asked his supervisor if he thought he should refund over $4,500 of “accidental” charges from a 14 year old girl that he called a “whale,” as if she were a high roller in a Los Vegas casino. The supervisor said, “absolutely not. I wouldn’t refund that whale.”
Facebook has known for a long time that their method of collecting a credit card once was causing a lot of unintended charges, but they didn’t do anything about it. The FTC categorizes a company as a potentially fraudulent company when they get in excess of 2% “claw backs” from credit card companies. Facebook has had as much as 9% of claw backs from credit card companies for many of the gaming companies that use its service. Internal suggestions from facebook recommended a fix—just require the person to put in at least some of the numbers from the credit card each time they make a purchase. But when facebook did a study to determine what the impact of this change would be, they discovered they would loose millions of dollars by implementing this feature. So they never did.
The story gets worse. Much worse. The podcast told the story of a woman named Suzie who was addicted to a casino game on facebook who spent over $400,000. She repeatedly tried to quit, but the social casino game kept enticing her in more insidious ways than even Las Vegas casinos would stoop to. In fact, one casino manager looked at her case and said, “we would have sent her home long before this.”
Behind the scenes, the companies that run the social casino apps are able to target people that will have a high lifetime value like Suzie because facebook empowers them through the data they collect.
I’m not preaching a sermon about facebook, but if I were I’d recommend cutting them loose. I’d be in favor of cancelling facebook and all their apps like Instagram and Whatsapp. The company is irresponsible and in many situations, just plain evil evil.
But that’s not what my sermon is about today.
title slide
Today I’m presenting the last part of our series on Joel. I call this message: Justice.
In the first chapter of Joel we found that God brought destruction on Judah for the purpose of calling them to repentance. We don’t know the why, but we know that the solution was for them to repent and consecrate a fast. Or, turn their face to the Lord like Jehoshaphat did when he was faced with a huge army surrounding Jerusalem.
In chapter two we saw a merciful God who responds with pity and compassion. He promised to restore what the locust plague had eaten, and He promised to pour out the Holy Spirit. Joel couches all these promises of restoration in what he calls “the Day of the Lord.” We found that there are two applications for these promises of Hope and restoration—one after the resurrection of Jesus back in the time of the early church that the Bible calls the “early rain,” and one jut before the second coming of Jesus that is called the “latter rain.”
That phrase, “day of the Lord” is something you can find throughout the Bible—always pointing to a future date that has the dual purpose of bringing justice on evil and the hope of victory for God and all his followers. Joel says that after the Day of the Lord there will be no more war. He says that there will be an abundance of pleasant food. He says that God will dwell with His people in Jerusalem.
Let’s read a few verses in Joel and I think you’ll see why I brought up facebook in my introduction:
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1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, 3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
If you want to find the wrath of God in the Bible, just look where evil things are happening to children and you’ll find an angry God. When people are throwing babies to the alligators and drowning them in rivers, God shows up in judgment. When people are sacrificing their children on altars to false gods, the true God shows up and He’s angry! When rich people exploit the poor; when bosses treat their workers badly; when financial institutions rob their customers with exorbitant fees; God gets angry. He’s angry for the same reason you and I would be angry if our children were being molested by a teacher. Or if someone came and abducted our child from the streets and sold them into slavery. He’s angry because vulnerable people can’t protect themselves from evil. He’s angry because He is the one responsible for the protection of mankind.
This is what is meant by righteous indignation in the Bible.
When I heard the story about facebook I was angry. I was angry on behalf of that mother and son who lost $1,000. I was angry on behalf of that young girl who cost her parents $4,500 without knowing she was doing anything wrong. I was angry because a small group of greedy people are exploiting our children and our elderly and profiting from their misery. They have sold our daughters for a bottle of wine and gotten drunk off of it, in the words of Joel.
God looks at these wicked people and says,
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4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.
Skip forward to verse 9
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9 Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
In a sense these wicked people have already declared war on God by attacking and abusing His people. So God calls out to them and says, “if you want me, come and get me. I’ll be in the valley of Jehoshaphat.”
They don’t have to come up for war. They have a choice. But they come anyway. By the time this battle is called, evil people will have given themselves completely over to the control of Satan. They have joined a battle that Satan has been waging with God since before the earth was created. And this “Day of the Lord,” that Joel talks about is God’s promise that the war is going to come to an end.
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If Joel were a prophetic picture, it would have a few missing pieces. But if you look at all the other places that talk about the day of the Lord, like Ezekiel and Zephaniah, and Malachi, and Thessalonians and Peter and Revelation on top of each other like so many pieces of a puzzles and you’ll find that the picture becomes more clear.
Joel is pointing to the time when Satan gathers the nations to do harm to God’s people. And God says,
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16 The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.
Joel points to the time when Jesus takes his people home to heaven and says,
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17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. 18 “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.
20 “But Judah will be filled with people forever, and Jerusalem will endure through all generations. 21 I will pardon my people’s crimes, which I have not yet pardoned; and I, the Lord, will make my home in Jerusalem with my people.”
Joel’s prophecy points us forward to a time of justice. When all those who do wicked, harmful things will be judged and sentenced.
But wait.
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All Have Sinned
All Have Sinned
Haven’t you and I done wicked things? We have each harmed someone. We have deceived or gossiped or stolen or acted hatefully. The truth is, while we might not be doing what facebook is doing, our hearts are filled with the same corruption as those greedy tech companies.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There is only one hope.
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14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
Joel 3:12 called this valley the Valley of Jehoshaphat. It’s not so much a place as it is a scene of judgment. The name Jehoshaphat means “the Lord’s judgment.” Here in verse 14 Joel adds detail to this description by calling it the valley of decision.
There are two individuals who are making decisions in this valley.
The first one is you.
Today, you are in the valley of decision. You have a choice to make. Are you going to join the army of Satan and fight against all that is holy and just and good? Or, are you going to surrender?
Its interesting to me that Jesus calls himself the “true vine” in John 15. It’s interesting because Joel describes a time when mountains will flow with sweet wine—delicious grape juice—and grapes come from grape vines. I’m not saying that there won’t be real grape vines in this future, celestial Jerusalem Joel is describing, but I don’t think its a stretch for Jesus to use this symbolism to point to Himself. It is only through Jesus that we even have a choice in this great judgment of evil. When we surrender ourselves to Jesus, he grafts us into himself, as though we are branches on his grape vine. And in so doing, he becomes our shelter and protection.
We can either fight against God, or we can surrender to Him and become one of His children.
The judgment isn’t a scary thing, unless you decide to make weapons for war and then go after God.
The second individual who is making a decision in the valley of Jehoshaphat is God. He is looking at each one and seeing if they have a weapon to attack him, or if they’ve bowed in surrender to join Jesus.
Right now thousands are in the valley of decision, but at some point every person will have made up their mind, and then it comes down to God’s decision.
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But God’s anger and judgment never goes where his love hasn’t been first.
Did you know that everyone dies in the judgment? No one is left alive. Not the righteous, and certainly not the wicked.
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The reason that Jesus calls himself the True Vine in John 15 is because he’s sitting with the disciples eating the passover feast. Back in John 13 he washed their feet, and said, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. for I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15) And then he took a round of bread and broke it into pieces and handed it around to the disciples and said, "this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) and then he poured grape juice into cups and said, “this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:20 & 1 Cor 11:25) Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 11:26 that every time we participate in the communion service we “proclaim” the Lord’s death until he comes.
In Romans 5 Paul pointed to baptism as a symbol that our wicked, evil hearts are dead and buried with Christ, and that we have been resurrected to a new life. A life where Jesus lives in us.
We either die the spiritual death of surrender in baptism and communion and let Christ live in us as new creatures.
Or, we wait a little while, and do our best to defeat God, and then die in the judgment in the valley where all decisions are final.
Today, I’d like to invite you to surrender—to die. To give yourself wholly and unreservedly to Jesus. He is the true vine, and he desperately wants to be your protector and refuge in the day of judgment.
Footwashing
Footwashing
We’re going to separate for a special ceremony of surrender that is called the Ordinance of Humility. If you’ve never done this before, it can be kind of strange. But imagine Jesus bending down and washing the dirty feet of the disciples while they were all bickering among themselves about who would get to be the greatest. Jesus, the kind of the universe, became a servant. And then He asked us to do the same thing—serve each other.
The men will go down the stairs to the right. The women will go down the stairs to the left. A room has been prepared for families and couples as well. If you don’t feel comfortable participating with this ceremony due to health or other concerns, please feel free to stay in the sanctuary and read or pray.
When you have finished, please come back here for the communion service.
Communion
Communion
Elder 1 — Pray for the grape juice
Elder 2 — Pray for the bread
Distribute the emblems
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”