Ecc Sermon Week 4

Intro

Pastor Justin, good to be with you

Welcome

Last March there were some disturbing videos that surfaced and were reported on by new agencies.

One shows an asian woman being attacked in broad daylight, right in front of a store.

While the people in the store, one being a security guard did nothing.

You can Youtube it.

If you were there, would you have done something?

If you saw someone being abused, oppressed, treated unjustly would you do something?

What about you?

Actually a psychological effect known as the Bystander Effect

The bystander effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation, against a bully, or during an assault or other crime. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is for any one of them to provide help to a person in distress. People are more likely to take action in a crisis when there are few or no other witnesses present.

Transition

We are in week 4 of our series through the of ECC.

King Solomon has been asking:

Is there anything to gain here under the sun? Ecc 1:3

Last week we learned that there is a season for everything, an appointed time.

We saw that living in light of eternity allows us to enjoy the present season

Solomon now is going to lead us on to a specific application of that truth:

dealing with abuse, oppression and injustice.

Today we are going to be talking about the futility of injustice, corruption and oppression in a fallen world, that is in this world ‘under the sun’

What does King Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes have to say about justice?

After all he was a King right?

He had the power to do something about it.

What are his reflections on what he has seen and heard and perhaps what he has even participated in in regards to addressing injustice?

In Our Day

This will be a timely word for us today

God’s word is always timely, becuase it is timeless

In our country we are deeply divided over this issue.

Each side has become deeply entrenched

We are perhaps as divided as ever.

Our nation is divided

Political Parties are divided

Families are divided

Christians are divided

Even churches are divided

I mean just express your opinion about Critical Race Theory and see what happens.

What wisdom does Solomon have for us today?

Is this something unique to our day?

to our particular form of government?

Let’s open up God’s Word and see.

Welcome

We’ll be in Ecc 3:15-4:3

Pastor Justin, good to be with you

Welcome

Let’s pray for wisdom.

Pray

praying for wisdom and courage

compassion and conviction

The Reality of Injustice & Oppression

Ecclesiastes 3:15 (CSB)

15 Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. However, God seeks justice for the persecuted.

He begins with this familiar phrase “whatever is...”

this is away of him saying again

“There is nothing new under the sun”

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (CSB)

9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 3:15 (CSB)

15 Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. However, God seeks justice for the persecuted.

Verse is ambiguous, ESV translates more literally

Ecclesiastes 3:15 (ESV)

15...God seeks what has been driven away/ what has been pursued.

I believe this is a transition verse to what comes next, which is all about injustice and oppression.

Solomon is saying that corruption, oppression and injustice are not new things

AND don’t expect them to ever be completely eradicated here ‘under the sun’

Good News

To summarize:

Solomon says injustice has always been, and will always be — bad news

BUT — God seeks justice for the persecuted.

Injustice Always Has been

This is true.

Because we live in a fallen world.

In fact in Genesis 4, In the very first act of violence in the bible we have Cain (the elder) brother murdering Able (the younger).

Why? because his heart was evil / corrupted / self-centerd

First senseless act of violence — of injustice.

Define Hevel: meaninglessness, futility, vapor

hevel hevaleem “its completely meaningless”

In fact it is extremely telling that do you know what Abels name in Hebrew is?

It is the proper noun “Hevel”

Lit. “The Hevel” = Abel

The same Hebrew word translated as vapor, futility, meaninglessness

In the first act of violence in a fallen world it is ‘hevel.’

The rest of the OT and the rest of World History repeatedly tell of corruption, injustice and oppression.

WHY?

SIN — Nothing new under Sun

We don’t have to look far to see injustice in our world.

Solomon identifies two sources of injustice in this life ‘under the sun’

The first he says is the Courts / the Judicial System.

Injustice in the Courts

Ecclesiastes 3:16 (CSB)

16 I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness.

This ‘place’ = the courts

The place where Justice is to be upheld and people held accountable becomes the very place where injustice is perpetuated.

This is a great tragedy — it is hevel

Proverbs 17:23 (CSB)

23 A wicked person secretly takes a bribe to subvert the course of justice.

This is a corrupt justice system due to corruptible individuals.

This was true in Solomon’s Day and it is true in our day.

It’s much worse in other parts of the World.

There is completely corrupt policing and governing systems.

It is a complete subversion of God’s design.

judicial authority is given to uphold God’s justice.

Proverbs 11:1 CSB

1 Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord, but an accurate weight is his delight.

IJM

This is why Gary Haugen founded International Justice Mission (IJM)

We are a global organization partnering with local justice systems to end violence against people living in poverty. - IJM

They realize that if you can work through support the existing justice systems you can bring an to end much violence and oppression.

The solution to ending poverty is ending the corruption that keeps people in poverty

?Solution is not to get rid of policing or courts, but to restore it.

Homicides are up in every major city. In New York City killings have more than doubled. – And campaign

Imagine if that were you.

Accused and arrested for something you didn’t do and convicted becuase of corruption in the Courts.

The First source is Corruption in the Courts, what about the second source.

Solomon identifies are those in political power.

Injustice with Political Power

Ecclesiastes 4:1 (CSB)

1 Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

Solomon observed oppression before his eyes.

Perhaps he even participated in it as a younger ruler

Oppression comes from those with Power — POLITICAL POWER

Again, the entity that, according to the Bible, that is supposed to rule for the protection and flourishing of its people are the very ones who are oppressing them.

This is a subversion of God’s Design.

CT aside

Notice this isn’t Critical Theory — Its Ecclesiastes 4:1.

This is a fact of human existence, those in power are the very ones who oppress those without power.

Now, As Christians, when we come to anything theory like CT we’ve got to do better.

Rather than just Retreating OR Rebuking

We need to do the hard work as ask three questions: Receive, Redeem, Reject

What can be received? (what’s true about it)

Is oppression a real thing? — Yes

Is it unbiblical — Yes

Does it need to be addressed — Yes

What can be redeemed? (what needs to be understood from a biblical worldview)

How we go about addressing the issue.

And what needs to be rejected as unbiblical?

In regards to CT, at the base, the foundation of the theory it is unbiblical.

There is no God, no Biblical understanding of redemptive history, No Cross of Christ

At its base it is a secular theory, and therefore will not stand — it is built on sand.

But it doesn’t mean we throw out everything.

Legitimate concerns are brought forth.

We’ve got to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves in our approach.

Resources? — Church Center — OneHope.info

Return

When the institutions that were mean to protect and provide become the ones who perpetuate injustice

This is tragic — it is hevel

It is akin to parents who abuse their own children

Parents have been instituted by God for the caring, nurturing and training of their kids.

When they abuse them that are inverting God’s design — This is a great evil.

What is the result?

many tears.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 (CSB)

1 Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them.

Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

No one to comfort them, to console them, lit. to come along side of them (gk).

It is so tragic that look at what Solomon says next

Ecclesiastes 4:2–3 (CSB)

2 So I commended the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive. 3 But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

He says, it is better to be dead than to live under oppression.

In fact, it is better to have never been born than to live under oppression.

That is a strong statement but it’s true.

How many of the millions of slaves involved in the African Slave trade would attest to that?

and many of them did die.

Slavery in Our day

Corruption, Oppression and Injustice is not just a thing for Solomon’s day, or American Chattel Slavery

But in our day as well.

IJM Website“Many people believe that slavery ended hundreds of years ago. Sadly, there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. Millions of children and adults are beaten, raped and starved as slaves in homes, brothels, boats and factories” - IJM

STATS

40+ million people in slavery globally

Human trafficking generates $150 Billion annually

1 in 4 victims of forced slavery is a child.

In our Lives

Now, we should fight for justice in our lives, and in our society.

But part of the problem today is that we have lost sight of our own SIN.

The problem isn’t ultimately out there — its IN HERE

We often fail to see that we are part of the problem.

I fear so much of what we see today is just political posturing.

Let me read you something that should disturb you.

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (206-207)

A few years ago I was shocked and deeply disturbed when I learned about the dark underbelly of globalization. I had no clue that a huge chunk of the items in my home and life were made unjustly, if not with full-on human trafficking and child labor.

Take the garment industry for example, which has radically changed since the mad men–era. In the 1960s, 95 percent of our clothes were made in America, and Americans spent on average 10 percent of their annual budget on clothing and owned very few items.

Today only 2 percent of our clothing is made in the US, and we spend only around 4 percent of our annual budgets on it—a decrease of 500 percent.

How did our clothing get so cheap? Well, multinational corporations started making our clothes in places like Vietnam and Bangladesh, where government corruption is rife and officials do little or nothing to stop the victimization of workers.

Things like minimum wage, health care, and unions are alien. Workers are likely to work six to seven days a week in a sweltering factory, often in unsafe conditions with little or no protection.53

And we’re talking about a lot of people here. One in six people in the world work in the garment industry. That’s just south of 1.5 billion people.

For those who care about feminism, approximately 80 percent of those workers are women. Fewer than 2 percent of them make a living wage.

No wonder we call a cheap item a “steal.” That’s exactly what it is. Theft. And we’re no Robin Hood stealing from the ultra-rich CEO that we love to villainize; we’re more likely stealing from a single mother in Burma just trying to take care of her family.

It’s easy to post something on Instagram about how there are twenty-eight million slaves in the world today and we need to #endit.

That’s great; I’m all for it, genuinely. But many of the clothes we’re wearing for our selfie (that we took on a device made in rural China) are causing it, not ending it.

That is deeply troubling.

How much is America contributing and perpetuating modern day slavery?

How are the people in this room?

This is not a guilt trip

but it is meant to open our eyes that things are not what they seem.

That we are all guilty.

if you make $25,000 a year or more, you’re in the top 10 percent of the world’s wealth. And if you make $34,000 a year or more, you’re in the top 1 percent.45

There is nothing ‘new under the sun’

So is it all just hevel then?

meaningless? futile? hopeless?

Thankfully no.

Here is the hope Solomon gives to us.

God’s Justice

Ecclesiastes 3:17 (CSB)

17 I said to myself (lit. I said in my heart), “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.”

There is a time for everything — including God’s judgment

This is a dominant theme throughout the whole Bible

Three of the Worlds largest religions Judaism, Islam and Christianity all believe in a Judgment day

that is half of the worlds population

A day of reckoning is coming.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 (CSB)

14 For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

God, who knows the hearts of every man, women and child

will bring every act, every thought, every inclination of the heart under His perfect judgment

When?

The Final Judgment when Christ comes back and the New Heavens and the New Earth appear.

This is what Solomon is appealing to.

immediately after this statement he begins talking about death.

I’m going to read the ESV here b/c I think it has a slightly better translation.

Ecclesiastes 3:18–21 (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.

The word for testing here can mean: sifting, purging out, selecting or keeping clean

He says, God’s wants them to see that they are like the animals…in what sense?

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.

Solomon calls to mind the reality of death.

Just like the animals (beasts) we will die

we all go to one place — meaning the grave

We came from dust and to dust we shall return.

Everyone will be buried when they die.

In this sense there is no advantage to being a human.

And then he says something very interesting.

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?

What is Solomon saying here?

Some think that Solomon is dismissing the idea of an afterlife.

I don’t think that makes much sense given what he has just said about judgment.

I think He is actually asking a rhetorical question.

Beasts — Secular — we are just animals.

The answer is: No one can answer that

no one— under the sun.

But God can, and God will.

on that day of judgment.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (CSB)

10 ....there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

But if this life is all there is, as secularism proclaims

then the best we can hope for is enjoyment in this life

This is our lot

Ecclesiastes 3:22 (ESV)

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?

And if that’s true — then how tragic for those who happen to live under oppression.

And there are millions of peoples today.

But if we were made for eternity — then there is more than this life.

for those who are oppressed, a hell on earth — this could be the closest to eternal hell you ever get

For those who are rich, this could be the closest to heaven you ever get.

God will judge every act

Ecclesiastes 12:14 (CSB)

14 For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

How will you fair on that day?

The Cross

The Bad News

Here’s the bad news:

Nobody is making it through on Judgment Day

It doesn’t matter if you are Mother Teresa, Ghandi, or the Apostle Paul.

Nobody is passing muster on that great and terrible day.

When I read that quote from RLH earlier you felt it.

we are all guilty.

And that’s just one industry, think about all the things we have:

computers, clothes, shoes, cars...

None of us would pass

Why?

because the standard is not just good enough.

It’s not just better than Hitler

It is perfection.

There are only two categories of people:

Sinners and Sinless

Perfect and imperfect

Pure and impure.

God is perfect and to be with God forever we too must be perfect.

in our endeavors, in our actions, in our hearts, in our motives, in our love of God and others.

The Good News:

In Christ, we are perfect.

All we need on the day of Judgment is a backstage pass / a passport

What will get us through security.

You just need to have the right t-shirt / the right attire that says “in Christ”

On that day of judgment

we won’t cry out for justice, we’ll cry out for mercy

and if we have believed in Christ, we shall have mercy.

How do we get the T-shirt?

We simply have to acknowledge that we need it

And then we need to put it on.

Needing the T-shirt means that we confess that we are not perfect, that we are imperfect

that we are not sinless but sinners

That we too have fallen short not just of God’s standards, but we don’t even live up to our own standards.

And then to see that Christ’s perfect life can be ours b/c he suffered the death we deserve for Sin.

When we accept it by faith, then we put the shirt on

Then we are changed

And when we put on the Shirt — we begin to become more like him.

We become the kind of people who care about Justice

Who care for others.

Who lay down our lives for others

This is what the world is missing right now

and the church has a chance to thrive

to be that light in the darkness

the salt on a decaying world, a corrupt world.

Application

There has always been injustice

There will always be injustice — until Christ returns.

How?

Pursuing Justice — pursuing righteousness / rightness

We put our hope in God’s Final Justice

We believe and rest assured that justice will come.

We pursue justice here and now in light of God’s coming Justice and because we are Jesus people.

When justice fails, we will not become discouraged because justice will eventually come

You can make a difference

You can make a difference in whatever season you are in.

Courageously stand for justice whenever and where ever you see it, hear it

Be the person to step in (asian hate crime)

Parents — raise kids who understand and fight for justice

Partner with organizations such as IJM, Compassion international, World Vision

Use the wealth God has given you to bless others.

Make small changes to promote justice.

Shop at places like Transitions Resale Boutique off of colonial which is a ministry of Samaritan Village

Transitions Resale Boutique

Provides a training ground for survivors to acquire on the job skills and experience

Serves ANY survivor in the region that needs clothing. Often survivors are recovered with only the clothes on their back and they can shop at Transitions for free

Supplies victim advocates, law enforcement and other agencies with a safe place to bring survivors to shop for clothes

Sends revenue directly back to supporting survivors of sex trafficking

Creates a place for our village to gather for outreach events, Sip-N-Shops, donation drives, and service projects

Samaritan Village M&V

Mission: To provide a safe place where sexually trafficked women can heal from trauma, recover from addiction, and reclaim their lives to become catalysts for change in their communities. Samaritan Village offers a long-term, trauma informed, and holistic care model of rehabilitation for survivors.

Vision: To see communities where women live free from sexual exploitation, finding restoration and wholeness in Jesus Christ.

Redeem Politics

Societally: Redeem politics. The Fight isn’t over.

Justin Giboney - Compassion and Conviction

We know Jesus will eventually set all wrongs right, but until then he has invited us to join him in his work. Politics is an essential arena for pursuing justice. -43

Don’t give into either-or false dichotomies

Do you advocate social justice or family values? Do you support women or are you against abortion? Do you love the poor or do you believe in personal responsibility?

Take a nuanced approach — a biblical approach

“I support social justice, morality, and family values. I don’t affirm ungodly behavior, nor do I hate the individual; I affirm the human dignity of all people. I love and care for the poor, and I believe in personal responsibility - 41

Read Compassion & Conviction

6. Keep the main thing the main thing:

Preach the Gospel with your life and words

The Gospel

The gospel leads to changed lives which leads to changed communities

It is the only lasting solution to injustice

to see that are all sinners in need of a savior and to live in response to that salvation.

Gospel Call

Let’s be a church that believed the Bible and lives it out in our lives with Compassion and Conviction as we stand for biblical justice.

Let’s Pray

avg. american disposes of 82 pounds of textile waste a year

11 million tons from america

It’s not so much that we don’t care about justice, its that we don’t care a the person enough.