Justice: Identificational Repentance and the Cross

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Justice: Identificational Repentance and the Cross

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Isaiah 1:16-17

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.

In regards to injustice, we’ll either address things well now, or deal with the unresolved consequences later.  

No matter in what camp you find yourself, we must strive to get this conversation right.

“This is a defining moment for us as churches and citizens to decide whether we want to be one nation under God or a divided nation apart from God.  If we don’t answer that question right and we don’t answer it quickly, we won’t be much of a nation at all.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

Focus: We are Agents of Biblical Justice When We Walk In Identificational Repentance 

From Whence Justice Comes

The source that allows you to develop a heart for true justice is God’s Word. 

The very idea of justice points us to a God who is the standard for that justice.  

We must note this because not everyone rallying behind the idea of justice right now has God as their motivating source.  

Why is this possible?

Well, the Apostle Paul explains it this way:

Romans 2:12-16 

For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

This means that all men and women have God’s law written on their hearts, whether or not they choose to obey it. 

It also means that searching for true, lasting justice without an acknowledgment of God is ideologically problematic for at least two reasons. 

It leads to:

1. philosophical inconsistencies and 

1. a lack of historic longevity in providing permanent solutions to societal injustices. 

Philosophically it is inconsistent because as C.S. Lewis noted:

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

And if God does exist, we must look to him for the standard of exacting justice.  

Looking for justice without God is historically problematic because within all of the advancement in education and technology in the twentieth century, we still found it to be one of the most bloody in recorded human history. 

This was especially true in nations that found themselves intentionally separated from God. 

As Timothy Keller notes in his book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, 

“The 20th century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history: that the greatest intolerance and violence of that century were practiced by those who believed that religion caused intolerance and violence.”

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

As another commentator observed: “From Stalin to Mao to Pol Pot, a forced lack of religion has caused innumerable acts of violence, murder and subjugation of fellow humans.”

On the contrary, when people were not merely nominally Christian, but instead sought true Biblical justice, tremendous societal change took place.  

Christian social reformers like British abolitionist William Wilberforce and American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were advocating for justice while appealing for people to become more, not less, Christian as their answer to injustice.  

“Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being 'disturbers of the peace' and 'outside agitators.' But they went on with the conviction that they were a 'colony of heaven' and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be 'astronomically intimidated.' They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest. Things are different now. The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the archsupporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church’s silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Men of God like Wilberforce and King appealed to the Bible, where God often spoke of the abuse of religion.  

The Scripture contained within it God’s mechanism for self-correction even when the church lost its focus and went astray. 

I recommend Dr. Timothy Keller’s classic read, The Reason for God, which gives a fantastic historic discussion around this issue.

You can also read Dr. King’s Nobel Prize winning, Why We Can’t Wait, to understand much of the Biblical impetus behind the civil rights movement. 

Yet to even be moved to engage in ongoing acts of justice requires an understanding of the Biblical concept of identificational repentance.

This reminds us of the importance of where we have been so that, in Christ, we can get where we need to go. 

Where We Have Been

The posture that allows you to enter into God’s heart for Biblical justice is identificational repentance. 

Proverbs 14:34 

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

When we think about the issue of justice, we’re all quick to get defensive and want to absolve ourselves of any sin. 

However, we’ve all fallen short at some point and the sooner we can embrace that, the sooner we can begin helping one another get to a better place.  

When you look at the Scripture above, whether you feel innocent or not in regards to injustice, God says that he looks at us not only individually, but also as a nation. 

And as a nation, it is clear that many ungodly injustices abound, and not just the ones that have been highlighted in the past several weeks.  

“Today I worry that we’ve forgotten our past and remain in denial about many of the challenges we face in the present.  There’s a tendency to want to gloss over injustices for the sake of unity.  However, any authentic attempt to pursue unity and reconciliation must start with truth.  The journey to healing begins with an awakening.”

-John M. Perkins 

When speaking about Biblical justice, some people have trouble conceptualizing the idea of systemic inequalities.  

Yet we need to have a grasp on such injustices to obey the command given by Isaiah at the beginning of the message to “seek justice” and “correct oppression”. 

As followers of Christ, we are to lead in these challenging environments when it comes to tackling difficult issues regarding justice.  

Micah 6:8 

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

When tackling such issues, we should follow godly: 

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 

1. Lead with the fruit of the Holy Spirit  

Proverbs 15:1 

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:4 

A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

2. Lead with information and facts, not just emotion.

Proverbs 15:2 

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.

Proverbs 25:15 

With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.

As a part of your starter kit, we encourage everyone to expose yourself a condensed history of the ethic economic disparities within our country by watching the link provided in your outline.  

It was shared by none other than, Phil Vischer, one of the co-creators of Veggie Tales. 

This has been an exposing time, for the Lord to reveal what is in our hearts so that we can deal with it. 

Just because we have friends, family members or co-workers of a different ethnicity doesn’t mean that we’re untouched by the sin that surrounds us.  

Our environments shape us. 

Our media affects us. 

Our limited experiences give us lenses through which we see the world.  

The algorithms on our social feeds are literally traps that can keep us entrenched within homogenous thinking.  

Our perspectives can be both skewed and limited by that on which we are feeding. 

And that’s everybody.  

We need to allow the Holy Spirit to do surgery, even understanding how our family history has affected our hearts.  

Ezra 9:3-11; 15

As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. 

Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

I’d like us first to notice two important subtleties seen in these Scriptures:

1. In Ezra 9:8, Ezra mentions:

“For a brief moment, favor has been shown”

Before God, the times that we are in are not simply meant for upheaval, but also for revival.  

We are to be as fully engaged as ever in making disciples of Jesus who know the Lord and walk in his ways. 

2. It is interesting in these Scriptures that Ezra is repenting on behalf of things that he did not personally do.  

I used to not understand the subconscious realities of this, but now I do.  

The power of identificational repentance is that you make sure whatever was passed down through word, sentiment or deed stops with you. 

Understanding identificational repentance takes out the need for need for defensiveness. 

It assumes the gospel truth that everyone has sinned in some manner.  

Its chief aim is to humble us before God, so that we can deal with sin in our land and be a part of the solution. 

It is what Jesus Christ, the only sinless one ever to walk the planet, modeled for us at the cross. 

According to Ezra, to engage in Biblical Identificational repentance we must:

1. Identify the Sin

2. Acknowledge how the sin has affected our families and land

3. Renounce the sin as an offense to God 

4. Commit to actively turning away from the sin to see the healing of our land

“Non-racism is not good enough. Followers of Jesus must be anti-racist.”

-Andy Stanley on Following the Law of Christ

Where does he get such a concept?

2 Corinthians 7:8-11

For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

Bitterness as a response to the evil we see in our days can literally try to eat us alive. 

Yet this must ultimately lead us to the Savior to whom we must go. 

To Whom We Must Go 

The person that allows you to enter into God’s solution for Biblical justice is Jesus Christ. 

To have a heart of Biblical justice, and truly understand indentificational repentance, you can look to Christ at the cross. 

It is here that both injustice and justice meet.  

There was justice in the fact that there was a price that was paid for the sin of humanity who broke the holy laws of God. 

There was injustice in the fact that Christ, the only sinless one, died for the sins committed by other men. 

He can therefore say that justice must be served while also comforting those who suffer injustice. 

So what is God’s ultimate solution? 

We should focus our hope for justice in the present and coming Kingdom of God

We look to usher in both. 

The Kingdom of God is a now and not yet Kingdom - it has come through the first advent of Jesus Christ, but won’t be fully realized until his return.  

To put your hope in anything else is unbiblical and will lead to both disillusionment and disappointment.  

Jesus commanded us to do good works, including fighting for Biblical justice, preaching the gospel and making disciples until his return.

To move forward, there must be redemptive justice. 

To make progress, there must be reconciliatory forgiveness. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We serve a God of great grace. 

He gives us in Christ and the cross what we don’t deserve - an opportunity for forgiveness and redemption.  

We are called to do that for one another, no matter where we’ve found ourselves during this turbulent time. 

“To make it through the extraordinary crisis of a pandemic and social unrest, you need to treat yourself and other people the way God treats you: with grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Grace means that God always gives you what you need, not what you deserve. If you got what you deserved, you wouldn’t even be here. “God gives us even more grace, as the Scripture says, ‘God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6 NCV).

Everybody’s having a tough time right now. To maintain your emotional health, you need to cut yourself some slack and do the same for others. Everybody’s feeling the stress, particularly the millions of people who are out of work and concerned about the future—maybe even about how they will make it to the next day. Be kind. Be gentle. Even the hardest people to love are fighting some kind of battle right now and need your grace.

This will often take a lot of humility. With tensions high, it’s easier right now to return wrong for wrong, give a sharp answer, withhold the benefit of the doubt, and speak before listening.

Your neighbor needs your grace. Your children need your grace. The person you disagree with politically needs your grace. The world is on the defense, and there is nothing that will disarm people more than being given unexpected grace.

God has given you great grace. Go and extend that grace to others so they get a glimpse of what Jesus has done for them.“

-Rick Warren 

At some point, we have all been guilty of wicked mentalities, attitudes and actions. 

This means that the only way we’ll be washed and made clean is through the precious blood of Jesus shed for our wrongdoing at the cross. 

Yet Jesus is the giver of grace to anyone who would come to him in repentance and faith for the forgiveness of their sins. 

That includes the sin of racism. 

It includes the sins of drunkenness and sexual immorality. 

It includes the sins of slander, hatred, murder and pride.  

Let’s embrace the true source of justice through God’s word today. 

And understanding our times, let’s look to God for through identificational repentance. 

As we do so, may we find not only healing in our hearts, but also the healing that our land so desperately needs in Christ Jesus.  

Study

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Second City Church - Justice - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Justice: Do Not Become Weary in Well Doing

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Justice: Do Not Become Weary in Well Doing

We know that right now, everyone is dealing with emotional fatigue. 

And with so many conflicting voices, we desperately need God’s perspective found in his Word. 

We want to continue to ask the question, how do we move from a place of simply observing the problem of injustice to being part of the solution?

Focus:
To participate in true Biblical justice, we must not become weary, we must continue to do good and we must continue to preach the gospel.  

We hope to provide you with resources during this time to help accomplish these directives, so please keep out something with which you can take notes. 

Do Not Become Weary

To realize Biblical justice, we can not become weary in doing good. 

Galatians 6:7-10 

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Biblical justice is a part of sound theology. 

You see it in the character of God and represented as a focus point throughout Scripture. 

Deuteronomy 16:18-20 

“You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

God’s mandate of justice deals not just with the heart condition of partiality, but also with inequality. 

Injustice is inequality on display when rewards and judgments are distorted by our sin expressed towards others.

This does not just apply to racism. 

It includes sexism. 

It includes agism. 

It includes xenophobia (defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as the intense or irrational dislike of people from other countries).

It includes all of the sinful biases maintained in the human heart.  

Though there are plenty of people within societal structures who are trying to do what is Biblically just, the issue is people with sin in their hearts within these structures who perpetuate dominant narratives that need to be uprooted.  

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

In an hour like this, you should be as proactive to understand justice as you would be going to a work meeting where you had to give a presentation to a live audience. 

Do it like your job depended on it, because someone’s quality of life, or life, actually does. 

Educate yourself about the statistics regarding the history of ongoing systemic inequality within our culture that brought us to this boiling point today. 

Here are some suggested resources as a starting place:

1. Your BIBLE to understand the nature of humanity and God’s solution to its fallen state

2. 13th on Netflix regarding the penal system in America 

3. Time: The Kalief Browder Story on Netflix 

   or

   Just Mercy on Amazon Video
   to see a modern example of the cracks in our U.S. justice system 

4. Woke Church by Dr. Eric Mason to have a foundational Biblical response to these issues

Biblical justice results in the godly, fair and discerning treatment of individuals. 

It is an outward expression of righteousness - not as a condition, but as an action. 

“Justice points to the extrinsic execution of the heart of God, and righteousness means intrinsic impact by the heart of God.”

-Dr. Eric Mason

We see God’s mandate to execute justice in Scriptures such as:

Exodus 23:6-7

“You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

and

Leviticus 19:15 

“You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

Again, the recent movie Just Mercy was based on the true story of Walter McMillian, who was falsely accused of the 1986 murder of Ronda Morrison in Alabama.  

The manner in which the proceedings took place was an example of these injustices to which the Bible speak. 

Being educated about these things and moving as communities to act justly on these issues can lead to things like the June 12th repeal of 50-A in NYC.  This is an example of reform that can take place in regards to police misconduct within affected communities. 

What we must see is that this is a kairos moment where the God of heaven and earth is opening a door for change. 

Yet where will our interests be in a year?

Some people are acting like they just watched a movie and this issue should already be over. 

We need to beware of the “Fashionate” ideals to which social commentator Tim Elmore speaks, only taking up causes because they’re fashionable.  

We need to instead ground our convictions in the heart and Word of God, which are eternal.  

When we do so, we see that Biblical justice is achieved through the Holy Spirit fruit of faithfulness reflected in prolonged empathy.  

Proverbs 3:3-4 

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

If you say that you’re tired of talking about injustice, think about how tired people are of experiencing the discrimination, unjust killings and fear that haunts their families on a daily basis. 

Someone recently said: “It’s a privilege to educate yourself about racism rather than experience it.”

Jeremiah 6:14 

They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

We have a tendency to just want a quick fix.  

Yet we can not just “move on” from this.

If you try to move on and walk on an injury too quickly, the wound won’t heal.  

The problem can persist and get worse.

Societal change takes time. 

Think about the history of injustice in our country. 

• Legalized American slavery lasted 246 years. 

• Legalized segregation lasted 89 years.  

We’ve been living in a post-segregation society for only 56 years. 

That means most of your grandparents were living as a part of a legalized ethnically biased society and what has been on display recently shows we have a long way to go. 

How do we expect to move past this issue so quickly when it has been so deeply entrenched in our society? 

It has been what was presented to our parents as norms, and what’s been created as subconscious, validated expectations. 

Think about the efforts made in the civil rights movement of the twentieth century:

• The Birmingham movement lasted 37 days. 

• The Greensboro sit-ins lasted six months. 

• The Freedom Rides lasted seven months. 

• The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 382 days. 

Let’s reject fashionable activism and instead choose to take up our prophetic voice for Biblical justice.  

Continue to Do Good 

To realize Biblical justice, we must speak with God’s prophetic voice which leads to godly action. 

We’ve spoken previously about becoming a voice - but it needs to be a prophetic voice. 

When we speak of becoming a prophetic voice, it means, at its base, being a mouthpiece for what God has already said and will always say in regards to justice. 

We must be GOD’S prophetic voice to our culture, not simply our own. 

This begins with Biblical character. 

It leads to godly action. 

If we live, respond and sound like the rest of the world, we lose our place in shaping society in the love, wisdom and eternal purposes of Christ. 

This is resonate of Jesus saying that the salt can lose its saltiness.  

Matthew 5:13-16

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

As the people of God, we should be Christ’s prophetic voice of justice and reconciliation, not merely a cultural echo chamber of anger.  

Jeremiah 1:9-10 

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

A civilization can not be repaired or build while living in a determined state of faction. 

Demonstrations are meant to bring awareness and highlight necessary conversations.  

If done God’s way, they will pluck up culturally rooted evils, break down divisions, overthrow demonic ideologies and destroy the barriers of sin between God and man, and man and man. 

The end goal is the termination of the injustices that have been systemic within our society to create an equal playing field, before God, for all humanity. 

Yet what do we do once the conversation begins?

We need to build and plant the truth.  

In attempting to assume a prophetic voice:

• Don’t burn bridges in your anger or discomfort where Jesus is trying to build them through the cross. 

• The venue of discussion needs to be a bridge strong enough to carry the weight of the topic and connection that is trying to cross it. 

To bring people gracefully to the truth, you’ll need to consider body language, misunderstandings, offense, etc. 

We must be living epistles, not just talking heads. 

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Who we are needs to be able to seen and read by everyone.  

Our lives are to be as a work of art with God’s gospel wisdom on display. 

We are called to be living epistles of God’s justice and reconciliation.   

We are to look to the Shalom of all mankind within our cities. 

Jeremiah 29:7 

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

This doesn’t just mean our neighborhood or part of the city.  

The city of Chicago, for example, has at least 59 distinct neighborhoods. 

We are called to seek the welfare of all of them to obey this command. 

Start small and build. 

In his book Woke Church, Dr. Eric Mason speaks about three levels of engagement in society that help promote Biblical justice:

• Intervening justice

• Preventative justice

• Systemic justice

These three means of doing the good works to which God has called his people (Ephesians 2:10) are particularly useful for helping to upend issues such as the school to prison pipeline within our cities.  

Defined by Dr. Mason:

1. Intervening Justice is helping to meet the current needs of individuals who may be suffering  

2. Preventative Justice is getting ahead of the issues that confront our communities through proactive Biblical education and training. 

3. Systemic Justice is bringing the gospel to systems within our city to seek their renewal

Things we’ve mentioned before that you can still do to help along with others in the church are found in each of these categories:

Examples of Intervening Justice:

• Volunteer with organizations such as Safe Families or Foster Care to minister to families in the city of Chicago 

Examples of Preventative Justice:

• Support ministries like A House in Austin 

• Tutor children with Together Chicago education initiatives or through programs like the Jesse White Foundation

• Bring Financial Peace education and investing courses to at risk communities

Examples of Systemic Justice:

• The Justice Centers spearheaded by the Together Chicago interdenominational ministry 

Please visit: Togetherchicago.com for more information.

Finally, remember that a prophetic voice continually reminds people of God’s Word and his eschatological ends.  

It is the mandate of the church to contextualize present human suffering with a preview of the end of the historic screenplay in which God will have the final word. 

This provides both hope and a necessary check to all of our attitudes, activities and judgments with the fear of the Lord. 

Proverbs 9:10 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

This helps us discover what to do and how to do it. 

Revelation 7:9-12 

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

This is how the script ends, with the redeemed from every nation, tribe, people group and language worshiping in unity before the throne of God. 

This is God’s ambition and pervading program. 

It is where his zeal is placed to act as an umbrella for all temporal efforts. 

While speaking on behalf of present day justice, remember that you are first ambassadors of the only thing that is truly eternal, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Continue to Preach the Gospel

To realize Biblical justice, we must continually preach the gospel. 

We are called to be ambassadors of God’s gospel as central to the solution of finding justice. 

This means that our understanding of the centrality of the gospel as God’s foundational solution must be in all of our efforts for reform.  

It is because as people are changed by God, so are the systems that they govern.  

So are the people who need to rise out of those unjust systems. 

When talking about the gospel:

As a practical note, you can join our outreach rhythms as a church. 

We hope to begin in every place we have people or community groups in the city and then expand. 

You can also be trained even during the modified shelter in place utilizing free apps like GODS NOT DEAD. 

We encourage each of you to download it. 

What is that gospel?

It is at least three things:

1. The gospel is God’s good news that is of first importance. 

   It is Christ’s life declaring that even in death, a new day is possible. 

I Corinthians 15:1-8

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

2. The gospel is God’s statement that he understands injustice and suffering. 

Jesus endured unjust, criminal treatment at the cross. 

The gospel is also God’s statement of justice that he will deal with all things, even as we look to conform all things to his righteousness. 

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 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.

3. The gospel is Christ’s statement of hope. 

It is God’s divine invitation to new beginnings. 

2 Corinthians 5:13-21 

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus came to the world that he created, which belonged to him, yet rejected him. 

There was an injustice in the crucifixion of Jesus that we will never fully comprehend.  

Being God incarnate, living sinlessly, and loving extravagantly, Jesus was crucified precisely because of who he was. 

His crime was not what he said or what he had done, but it was his admission of his being the only begotten Son of God.  

And therein we find our Savior. 

One who experienced the injustices of our world, yet never tired in doing what was good. 

One who spoke as the promised prophet of God who would point the world to its true salvation. 

One who was the gospel embodied, a living epistle that brings freedom to our hearts, freedom in our minds, freedom in our spirits and freedom in our souls as we turn to him for true justice.  

He died on the cross, satisfying God’s justice for our sins and offering forgiveness to us. 

By Christ’s resurrection, we have the offer of new life as we turn to him in repentance and faith.  

Let’s do so today even as we look for a new day in our land.  

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Second City Church - Justice - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Justice: Continuing the Conversation

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Justice: Continuing the Conversation

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Proverbs 28:5

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.

This is our hope and aim as we continue this series.

We are seeking the Lord to align our hearts with HIS heart regarding the issues of our day.

We want to know Christ’s stance on justice and how to respond as the people of God.

Focus:  We will come to understand Biblical justice when we embrace empathy, lament and the centrality of Jesus as our hope.

Empathy

We come to understand Biblical justice through empathy.

Our charge before Christ is to continue the conversation, and fight for change in all godliness and love.

God intended the church to be the pillar and foundation of the truth in society. (I Timothy 3:15)

The church is not to respond as an echo to the culture, but as a voice to help shape it.

How do we do this with the thoughts and heart of God?

Romans 12:15 

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

This is a picture of Biblical empathy. Empathy enters into another person’s experience and helps them shoulder it as if it were your own.  

Galatians 6:2 

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

You can not be loving and dismissive at the same time. 

This is true in any relationship, whether it be in a marriage, between friends or between people of different nationalities, cultures and ethnicities.

“Love for your neighbor means caring deeply about things that do not touch you or affect you in any way.”

-Paul David Tripp

In regards to societal racism, a lack of concern would be perpetuating the problem.  At the same time, we need to make sure that our love is sincere.  

Romans 12:9-12 

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,  serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

As we posture ourselves in this way, remember that our social media world can be deceiving.

This venue can somehow encourage us to empathize with the people who we don’t know to the neglect of the people who are actually right in front of us.

When empathizing, we need to “Think globally.  Act locally.”

The question is:

How have you not just hopped onto an ideological bandwagon, but instead loved and supported the people you actually know?

This is where true Biblical justice begins.

Empathy provides space for understanding.

When people are weeping in this hour because of the pain and trauma that has been inflicted through the sin in our land, we need to enter into that weeping with the love and hope of Christ. *Healthy empathy actually leads to mourning.

Yet mourning also leads to healing when we turn to the Lord.  

Matthew 5:4 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

May we provide comfort to others, even as we learn the importance of lament. 

Lament

We come to understand Biblical justice through lament. 

“Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.”  

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lamentation is a biblical term referring to a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.

This is what the prophet Jeremiah was doing in his canonical book of note in the midst of Israel’s sin. Where as mourning and weeping can be an individual activity, lamentation involves interaction.

It should begin with an interaction with God. From that place, lament should produce godly action in our involvement with others on behalf of God’s righteous purposes.

As an example, birthed out of the church, peaceful protest was the foundation of the civil rights movement on whose shoulders our world is standing today.

DON’T EVER BELIEVE THE LIE THAT GODLINESS DOES NOT WORK. 

We see this going back even further. Amidst the backdrop of unjust persecution of Christians in the first century Roman Empire, the Apostle Peter authored these words to the church by the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 3:8-12 

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

I believe the track record of God being involved in such responses to injustice speaks for itself as the group to whom Peter was appealing went from 120 on the Day before Pentecost to, according to Gordon Conwell Seminary’s research department, 2.5 billion+ who identify with the name of Christ worldwide today.

This does not mean that all of those who profess the name of Christ are representing him accurately, but that the conversations have begun which are leading people to the God of justice. Again, speaking by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul continues his earlier exhortation regarding weeping with this instruction to the church:

Romans 12:16-21 

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So what we see in the Scripture is that true justice is in God’s hands.

God’s wrath will be realized by the unjust. We should not look to avenge ourselves or take revenge against others.

God has set a day where he will bring every man and woman into judgement for the things that they have done, whether they be good or evil. That means your wrongdoing. That means my wrongdoing. That means the wrongdoing of everyone else to whom I might point fingers.

We need to lament not only over other people’s sin, but first and foremost, over our own.

Romans 3:23-24

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

So we see that God intends justice and redemption to work hand in hand.

Yet to redeem us from our sin, Jesus had to absorb the penalty of our wrongdoing at the cross to so satisfy the justice of God.

A price always has to be paid for justice to be done.

Yet justice can be done without redemption. Justice alone can end a matter, yet not fix it. Redemption is needed to fix it.

This is true individually as well as societally.

Yet just as justice comes at a cost, so redemption will always come at a price.

The price will always be someone carrying a cross.

And in our laments, God calls us not to forget redemption.

We need to look for the goodwill of the very one who is declared our enemy to win them over with the same grace that Christ Jesus first extended to us.

This is God means when he says, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Specifically,

Romans 12:21 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is our charge.

People continue to ask when looking to God for how join the fight for Biblical justice, what they can actually do to help.

Positive actions can be taken to seek the welfare of our cities as we live out the justice and redemption that God desires.

What does doing good and righteousness look like in our different spheres of society?

As examples:

• If you work in government, you can labor to help develop policies that intentionally uproot the systemic injustices entrenched in our society. 

• In business, you can proactively look to extend merit based opportunity and promotion to individuals who have been historically overlooked because of their ethnicity.

• In advertising, entertainment and art, you can change negative rhetoric by highlighting the noble and true attributes of misrepresented people groups.

• You can look to invest through patronage and through service in communities that have been underdeveloped through preferential bias.

• Anyone can educate themselves about the metamorphosis of racism, as it evolved from forced slavery (which was defended morally, and ultimately legally in the U.S. from 1619-1865) to Jim Crow (discrimination that was lawful and defended both morally and often violently from 1865-1964) to the 1964 Civil Rights Act that did not end legal discrimination, but gave African Americans legal tools to fight back against injustices to the business associated with things like the privatization of prisons today.
  Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws

• You can look to invest financially and through service in communities that have been underdeveloped through political zoning.   

These are examples of how we can do good works in Christ, right where he’s placed us, to see the narrative change.

As we do these things, there is a trap of which we need to be aware that can destroy our efforts:

As we are lamenting, we need to make sure that we are not antagonizing one another while emotions are running high.

Just as there have been violent opportunists showing up to disrupt and discredit the peaceful protests, so there are demonic forces at work trying to turn the church on itself with a spirit of accusation.

Let me tell you what will not help the cause of Biblical justice - any of us turning on people who are trying to do what’s right.

Be careful when you say that people aren’t doing enough.

In some cases that can be true, but you don’t know what everyone is doing.

DON’T be prideful. 

Don’t be myopic.

Or you also become part of the problem. 

To a certain extent, it has become socially profitable to take up the anti-discrimination cause.

When you say someone is not doing enough, what that generally means is that people aren’t doing what you’re doing.

It does not mean people are not doing anything.

There are 10,000 ways to be active right now.

The church of Jesus Christ needs to fight as a team.

Don’t turn on one another. This is the trap of the devil.

As Jesus said in Matthew 12:25,

“Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.”

Someone in a recent Facebook post said it this way:

“Some are protesting on social media. 

Some are protesting in the streets. 

Some are donating silently. 

Some are educating themselves.  

Some are having tough conversations with friends and family. 

A revolution has many lanes - be kind to yourself and others who are traveling the same direction. 

Just keep your foot on the gas.”

Though this is a good exhortation, there is a cycle of sin that we see repeated throughout Scripture:

Pride/Arrogance - Self-Righteousness - Judgments - Hypocrisy - Discord - Lack of Fruitfulness

Or put another way:

We need to continue to be godly thinkers and not simply get caught up in the emotion of our day.

1 Peter 1:13-16 

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

So what should our action plan entail?

Action plan for empathy and lament:

1. Ask afflicted individuals to share their story

2. Actively listen with an open heart

3. Commit to being a godly part of the solution at the point of pain

4. Pray for people 

5. Share the gospel 

If you aren’t thinking about involving Jesus, your confidence is in the wrong place. 

It is a deception to forget that Jesus is GOD’S solution for the ills of the human heart, and thus society. 

The Centrality of Jesus 

We come to understand Biblical justice through the person of Jesus Christ.

We must preserve the centrality of the person of Jesus as our hope.

Those of the aforementioned civil rights movement, spearheaded by men of God like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., understood this.

The oft forgotten third stanza of Black National Anthem reads this way:

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who hast by Thy might,

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

We all should be active for justice now.  

YET IT MUST START IN PRAYER AND END IN THE PERSON OF JESUS. 

If we’ve been talking about what we need to do before or more than talking to God, we have an idolatry of self and our results will be temporary, at best.

Psalm 127:1

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord  watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

If we’ve been shouting out more than we’ve been crying out to God, than it shows us something about where our confidence is placed. 

No one needs to treat God like a cosmic Santa Clause.

Just as our faith is not substantive if we are not doing anything to help real everyday issues, so our faith is not genuine if we find that we don’t go to God to Lord over our responses to these “real issues”.

First, we need to identify our true enemy, the devil, who is working in the men, women and systems of this world. Then we need to address the ideological battle, but spiritually.

We do this even as we educate ourselves academically, communicate verbally, serve physically and reform politically.

Ephesians 6:10-20 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Jesus is the answer to societal ills that we face.

It is so because unjust brutality is a product of humanity’s wicked heart. It is so because racism in any direction is also a product of humanity’s wicked heart.

So it is good to:

• Get educated, but you still need a change of heart.

• Donate to affiliated causes, but you still need a change of heart.

• Have tough conversations, but you still need a change of heart.

• Participate in peaceful protest, not just to make yourself feel better, but to be a voice, and you’ll still need a change of heart.

And for that, we need a perfect Savior.

There’s only one Messiah, and his name is Jesus.

Matthew 12:17-21

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Why does this make Jesus so appealing as the true arbiter of justice?

“It is this paradox - that he is both God and human - that gives Jesus an overwhelming beauty. He is the Lion and the Lamb.  Despite his high claims, he is never pompous; you never see him standing on his own dignity.  Despite being absolutely approachable to the weakest and broken, he is completely fearless before the corrupt and powerful.  He has tenderness without weakness.  Strength without harshness.  Humility without the slightest lack of confidence. Unhesitating authority with a complete lack of self-absorption.  Holiness and unending convictions without any shortage of approachability.  Power without insensitivity.  I once heard a preacher say, “No one has yet discovered the word Jesus ought to have said.  He is full of surprises, but they are all surprises of perfection.”

-Timothy Keller, Encounters with Jesus

Jesus perfectly empathizes with our pain.

Jesus perfectly lamented over our sin. Jesus suffered unjustly at the cross Jesus took all of our sin there. And he rose again to provide forgiveness from that sin and new life in him.

Acts 17:30-31

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

This man to whom Paul in the Scripture refers is Jesus.

No one is innocent.

We have all been guilty in some way before a holy and righteous God.

We all need a Savior. Jesus is the one who will bring true justice to victory.

He did it through the cross. He will do it in our lives if we repent and allow him to today.

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Second City Church - Justice - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Justice: Starting the Conversation

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Justice: Starting the Conversation

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Some of you feel like you’re waking up to a bad dream.  

Others of you feel like all your life, you’ve been in a nightmare that you can’t escape. 

How do we make progress?

How do we contextualize all that we see going on around us in the person and purposes of God?

• Why Biblical Justice Matters

• The God of Justice 

• The Hard Road to Justice 

• God’s End Game

Why Biblical Justice Matters

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

- C.S. Lewis

When we talk about justice, we can use two working definitions from Merriam Webster’s dictionary:

1. the maintenance or administration of what conforms to fact, reason or a standard of correctness, especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments

2. the quality of being impartial or fair

Justice is the basis of our social contract within society. 

This social contract is how you can understand the biblical concept of covenant - meaning an agreement between two parties in relationship with one another - whether it be relationship with God and man, or man and man. 

Our social contract within society is predicated on the idea that if I uphold my side of the agreement, certain consensus rites will be afforded me. 

If one of the parties violates this agreement, then repercussions will be realized. 

It matters not whether the violation comes from the majority group or the minority group within the contract. 

When the social contract is not upheld there is no basis for mutually agreed upon interaction, otherwise known as civilization. 

Justice is what keeps civilization intact. 

Yet without a divine plumb line, we have no basis for appeal as to why any man, woman or child should be treated with the decency that justice demands.  

Even the Declaration of Independence is an appeal to divine authority as the source justice. 

The Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Without a foundation in God, the evolutionary principle of “might makes right” becomes the order of the day. 

This leads to injustice. 

Yet there is a God and his character defines for us why justice matters. 

The God of Justice  

Embedded within the nature of God is the character quality of justice.

Psalm 89:14

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

That means that not only is God just, but that he fights to bring about just ends in the world in which we live.  

We speak against injustice because God first speaks against it. 

We condemn bigotry and racism because God himself condemns them. 

We cry out against the senseless destruction of human life because the God of heaven and earth abhors it (Proverbs 6:16-19). 

Psalm 10:17-18

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Justice means that whenever any man or woman commits a wrongful act, they are to reap the consequence of their sin. 

It also means that those who are to live righteously have a responsibility to help shape an environment where justice can flourish.

Yet wouldn’t it be better if we just talk about mercy?

Mercy does not ignore justice. Mercy works hand in hand with justice. 

In doing so, mercy triumphs over judgment. 

James 2:8-13

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

God’s mercy allows you to put yourself in another person’s shoes.  

If you would not enjoy being treated the way that someone of a different ethnicity, nationality or socio-economic group is being treated, then Biblical mercy demands that you make effort to alleviate their suffering. 

This is the image of justice.  

So what are we to do?

We are to walk the hard road to justice. 

The Hard Road to Justice

“Racism is not getting worse, it is getting filmed.”

-Will Smith

So what are practical, Biblical ways to combat racism, faction and divisions in our time?

Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

On the issues of the day, your silence can be deafening. 

“I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.”

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

You need to understand why your voice matters - whether you are a minority or in the majority. 

Comprehending the importance of our voice starts with God himself as his spoken word was what he used create the universe we now see. 

Proverbs 18:21 

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Life and death is in the power of the tongue - no matter the source.  

You may feel like your heartfelt expression of love will be perceived as forced, yet know this - when there is a funeral, you may not know what to say, but people will remember your absence far more than your having the ability to say the right thing.

Express love and support anyway, even if you feel like your motivation will be misinterpreted. 

God knows your heart and people will learn to trust you through your faithfulness.  

Be present and available.  

Now when you’re speaking,

Volume Matters: 

both in how loud you get (stay civil) 

and 

in the amount of voices it takes to change an environment/atmosphere.  

This gives a proper interpretation to the protests:

“Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.“

- The Quest for Peace and Justice Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Lecture -- December 11, 1964

So what are we to do?

First, we need to ask God to search our hearts by his Word and through prayer to see if there is any offensive way in us.

Psalm 139:23-24 

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

We need to understand that there is no replacing you having relationships with people in your life who can help educate you about these issues. 

Watching the news is not enough. 

If all of your closest friends look, act, speak and think like you, you will be at a Kingdom disadvantage (I Corinthians 9:19-23). 

You will he sheltered within your paradigm. 

When you only interact with those from similar socio-economic settings and backgrounds, it is going to be hard to truly empathize with those who have had different experiences than you.  

Second, we are to have the tough conversations on repeat. 

In doing so, no one needs to repent of their ethnicity, only sin. 

God made you who you are in the skin that you are for a reason. 

Within that skin you can be a loving servant of Christ. 

Stop apologizing for what God made you and determine to be what he‘ll still make you - like Christ. 

There are two sides of the coin. 

1. What you can do is listen, empathize and stand with the afflicted. 

James 1:19-20 

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

If you clothe yourself in humility, love and the word of God, you don’t have to walk on eggshells.  

Misunderstandings will come but you learn from them and continue on. 

Don’t get derailed by one conversation you didn’t feel like didn’t go the way you wanted.

2. You can help change the conversation and mentality within privileged class. 

You can silence deprecating comments. 

You can reject racist jokes and stereotypes that you hear flying around the office, at the dinner table or while hanging out with family and friends. 

You can refuse to poke fun at cultures you do not understand. 

You can condemn any insinuation that an entire ethnic group is less intelligent, capable, violent, a threat, or lazy. 

All of these things imply an inferiority of those who are different and perpetuate injustice. 

Don’t allow this on your social feed. 

Don’t allow this in your home.  

Don’t allow these things to be done in secret. 

We are to expose these actions as sin. 

Ephesians 5:11-17

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

What can we positively do?  

Instead, you can proactively speak about the value, attributes and worth of the cultures different than your own.

Most importantly, you can lead those to whom you’re both listening and speaking to the cross. 

Why is this so important?

God has an end game. 

God’s End Game 

You would have thought that after the great strides of the civil rights movement of the twentieth century, we would have been running our collective victory lap. 

Yet no matter how many rallies, programs or strides we make, the state of the world can progress, yet remain imperfect.

It is because as long as the world is in rebellion to God, classism, racism, bigotry and injustice will rear their head.

It is like a beach ball pushed under the water which springs back when not actively subdued. 

It is because the problem of our injustices lie not just in our policies, but in the hearts of men. 

You will find yourself in a depressed state if your hope lies solely anchored in this world.

Ephesians 2:12

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

So what is God’s endgame while we wait?

The world is fallen, separated from God because of the evils to which we’ve clung. 

However, God’s ultimate end game is reconciliation. 

The God of Israel is one of justice and reconciliation. 

The miracle is that both of these character attributes are found in the same person. 

As humanity, we tend to tip to one side or the other. 

Yet God in his nature perfectly satisfies one without neglecting the other. 

God is concerned about reconciliation with God and man. 

He is also concerned with reconciliation between man and man. 

Just as the day of Pentecost reverses the curse of the Tower of Babel, so the cross of Jesus Christ reverses the curse of Cain set against Abel.  

Ephesians 2:13-14

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...

The justice of God and the mercy of God are not mutually exclusive. 

They are both part of the character of God and work hand at the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Romans 3:26 

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

You need both for true reconciliation. 

“Human cruelty is nothing new.  It’s why the slave ships and gas chambers of history existed. And it’s why senseless killing persists in our time.  Man apart from God acts like an animal and treats others like animals.  This is why we need a Savior - to save us from ourselves.“

-Dr. Rice Broocks 5/28/20 Twitter post

Let’s all repent today of our sins that we might find true reconciliation with God and one another. 

Let’s turn to a perfect Savior full of both divine justice and mercy to cleanse our hearts and then our world from the destructive path on which it finds itself.  

Study

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Second City Church - Justice - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020