Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice. Show all posts

Monday, August 29, 2016

What You Believe about Wrath Determines What You Believe About Justice



Wrath is our self-inflicted wounds.  Sin blinds us, separates us and gives us false illusions about the importance of self.  Justice then turns into winners and losers, us and them, comparison and blame games.  But God's wrath is not aimed at you.  It is redemption aimed at our sinfulness.  When we fail to love our neighbor, it leads to injustice.  The church unfortunately is often more concerned about how kids behave in church buildings than they do about those same kids misbehaving in the world.

People are so negative looking at all the social problems among the younger generation.  Can we see with eyes of faith that the young meth addict may be the next Billy Graham.  Who would have ever known that a terrorist by the name of Saul would become the great apostle to the Gentiles?  Who would have known a slave trader like John Newton would become a hymn-writing Christian?  Who would have known that an atheist Cambridge professor by the name of C. S. Lewis would become one of the great intellectual defenders of the Christian faith?  Who would have known?

The church can no longer avoid justice issues or acts like injustice only deals with personal sin without resisting the very environment and structured evil that perpetuates so much injustice today.  It is easy to write a check to end human trafficking but we lack concern for how we demand cheap affordable clothing and so many of our technology toys that exploits workers in other countries.  We can say we are against global terrorism but still demand our need for cheap gas from middle east countries that often pays terrorists to do the evil things they do.  We can say we want to see world hunger and poverty end and continue to support large corporations that exploit the poor in other nations.  The law of God's economics is for life, not death.  What are we teaching our kids when in comes to God's wrath and justice and the economics of life?


Pray For Peace, Work for Justice



Ezekiel the prophet is known for many things, but one of his most popular moments is his vision of the wheels.  Here is this strange vision from heaven with four strange looking creatures and a great chariot of fire in the sky.  This is not about UFO's or aliens.  Ezekiel is giving this strange and powerful vision of God to broken people in exile.  The vision is scary, difficult and not safe or comfortable.  One of the greatest challenges for the church today is to regain a sanctified imagination and have a scriptural vision from God once again.

If Ezekiel vison means anything, it means God is on the move.  God can not be tamed or domesticated or pushed to the fringes of society.  Even when the world pressures God's people to conform and act like everybody else, the powerful Spirit of God is moving us to sweet surrender to build into us a daring and bold faith.

Ezekiel name literally means "God strengthens."  We can do nothing on our own without the help of the Holy Spirit of God.  The book of Ezekiel wants to strip us of all our self-sufficiency, our pride, our self-righteous illusions.  We are to no longer be preoccupied with self but only with God.  When this happens, compassion for others leads to sacrificial service and giving.

The whirlwind of conflict and social upheaval is all around us.  Just this past week I dealt with marital strife among couples, children in jail, and attempted suicide, a child in critical condition, and a family whose father is in a coma.  We live in a world of chaos and deception.  God is on the move and sometimes in the most unusual ways.  One family prayed their teenage creating havoc would get help and their child got arrested.  It may not have been the way this family thought God would answer the prayer but now that child is actually getting some help.

Do we choose the path of least resistance or do we take the fiery path of God to places of the unfamiliar? The book of Ezekiel not only calls us to a higher vision of God but it also transforms God's people into a new creation.  All the sudden justice issues really matters and are not just ideas to share and talk about.  When it comes to standing up for the poor and powerless against the bullies and powerful of the world, it is easier to stay out of the fight, back away, and become cowards.  The Bible will not leave us where we are or let us easily off the hook.  Are we resisting the empire and the status quo or are we inadvertently supporting them?  When I pray for peace, am I also working for justice?


Thursday, July 7, 2016

Pray for Peace, Work for Justice



With all the political chaos going on this year, I have been preaching through the book of Ezekiel focusing on justice issues.  This has been both challenging and encouraging as I have seen the lights go on for some people while some may be wondering why is our preacher bringing up political issues at times in the church.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is a spiritual revolution to change the politics of this world to the politics of the kingdom of God.  Can we all pray for peace and work for justice?

We had a special service on fourth of July weekend and ended with a moment of silence and a prayer for peace around the world.  Then we san the song "Let there be peace" and there was a strong sense of God's presence among his people.  Various people began to pour out words of passionate change that we all need to work or justice as we pray for peace.  I realize that this is a powerful word that God is speaking to his people of 2016.  "Pray for peace, work for Justice."