back to index2020-6-7 No Justice, No Peace
00:00:00.000 |
If you can turn to Hebrews, and I know some of you guys who are on the Facebook, you saw 00:00:09.840 |
me changing the name of the title of the sermon this morning, "No Justice, No Peace." 00:00:15.480 |
And I know some of you probably saw that change and thought, "Finally, he's addressing what's 00:00:24.260 |
Okay, and some of you guys may have said that, and maybe some of you look at this symbol 00:00:28.540 |
of this fist, and that symbol alone kind of triggers bad thoughts. 00:00:36.920 |
Well, all over the country, maybe even all over the world, right now people are protesting 00:00:45.360 |
And that little phrase is something that's been around for many decades. 00:00:50.460 |
And I actually did a study to find out where it started, and no one knows for sure. 00:00:55.840 |
Some people think that it started maybe during the Civil Rights Movement in the '60s. 00:00:59.820 |
Some people think that it may have started sometime in the '70s after the Vietnam War 00:01:04.180 |
during the protest at "No Justice, No Peace." 00:01:07.600 |
We don't know exactly where it started, but what we do know is that the idea behind "No 00:01:18.400 |
In fact, the very foundations upon the gospel in which we celebrate and sing about is at 00:01:28.440 |
In fact, all throughout the Old Testament, God is establishing the necessity of justice. 00:01:34.680 |
And as the Jews were looking for the shalom, for peace, and they would greet each other 00:01:38.720 |
for peace, God was establishing that the only way that peace was going to come about is 00:01:48.000 |
So at the core of the gospel message is this message, "There is no justice, there is no 00:02:03.680 |
If we look from the black communities, and again, obviously black community are not the 00:02:11.480 |
You don't have to be a particular race to know what racism is. 00:02:15.140 |
You can be a Caucasian in America and experience racism. 00:02:19.360 |
But the black community in particular, and I think it's important for us to acknowledge 00:02:29.140 |
No other group of people, yes, there are Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, there are Native 00:02:36.380 |
Americans, and various other groups of people who have experienced tremendous racism. 00:02:42.880 |
But to African Americans, their history is slavery. 00:02:46.800 |
They were brought here by force hundreds of years ago with forced labor. 00:02:52.400 |
And so even though that was many, many generations ago, racism was blatant even up to the 1960s. 00:03:02.280 |
And so you have a community of people where there is deep-rooted bitterness and even hatred 00:03:08.480 |
that is underlying what they remember, what their history is. 00:03:11.740 |
So to simply say to get over it is not only too simplistic, but is highly insensitive. 00:03:22.780 |
They are more sensitive to what seems to be racism. 00:03:28.580 |
Even if objectively we may look at it and say, "How is that racism?" 00:03:31.880 |
They are more sensitive to racism, understandably. 00:03:35.320 |
Just like if somebody was abused, they are more sensitive to abuse. 00:03:40.240 |
If somebody has grown up in an abusive home, and what may seem like abuse, they are going 00:03:47.440 |
to, whenever that gets triggered, their emotions get triggered, all of their past experiences, 00:03:53.280 |
all their grandparents, and all their past history are all going to come into play in 00:04:01.120 |
In fact, I remember, you know, like I told you, you know, like I have personal experience 00:04:07.400 |
in racism, but I had a friend back in junior high school, and we went to school in the 00:04:16.480 |
He was so sensitive to racism because he didn't, I came to the United States when I was really 00:04:22.080 |
young, so my, you know, English was fine, but he came a little bit later. 00:04:25.800 |
He came almost at the end of elementary school, so he had a thick accent. 00:04:31.320 |
And so, you know, obviously people targeted him, "You dumb chink, dumb chink," but he 00:04:35.600 |
was not a small guy like me, he was a big guy. 00:04:39.900 |
I remember walking down the hall one time, and we heard something at the end of the hall, 00:04:44.960 |
and he went running, and then he started railing on some kid, and I had to pull him off, and 00:04:49.680 |
we were walking out of school, and I said, "What happened?" 00:04:52.200 |
He said, he said something about ching chong something, and he heard it at the end of the 00:04:56.000 |
hallway, and I don't even know if that's what actually happened. 00:04:58.920 |
He may have dropped something, he may have made it sound like ching chong or something, 00:05:04.780 |
Something that sounded like racism, he ran over there, because he was like constantly 00:05:12.200 |
So to a certain extent, it's understandable that there is hypersensitivity, and I think 00:05:17.280 |
it is insensitive and not right for us to not to acknowledge that, that there is that. 00:05:23.640 |
And the anger toward the politicians in particular, and to the police, because they represent 00:05:28.800 |
the power structure, and that's where they've experienced racism. 00:05:34.240 |
Even if it's not personal, at least historically. 00:05:37.220 |
So for us to completely nullify that, again, it's beyond insensitive, and I think that's 00:05:43.340 |
something that Christians should be sensitive about and pay attention to. 00:05:48.660 |
But we also need to acknowledge from the other point of view. 00:05:54.100 |
Our police officers, right now there's a movement to defund the police, the police are evil. 00:05:58.820 |
Even if you're a police officer, and you have taken an oath to serve and to protect, and 00:06:07.360 |
your job is to go out there and risk your health and your life to help other people, 00:06:13.260 |
and because of a few acts of certain police officers, a small percentage of them, have 00:06:19.640 |
abused their power, that the hatred going toward the police also seems very racist. 00:06:27.240 |
A broad stroke toward every officer that has been trying to do their job. 00:06:37.240 |
Not that many years ago, after 9/11, the two planes hit the Twin Towers, while thousands 00:06:45.360 |
of people were running away from that building because of danger, police officers and firemen 00:06:51.860 |
ran toward those buildings, and hundreds of them, in the context of trying to save these 00:06:59.100 |
lives, lost their lives when those buildings crumbled. 00:07:01.820 |
Some of you guys may not remember, you might have been too young, but for several years 00:07:07.960 |
after that, people would buy NYPD and NYF, right, fire department, uniforms and hats 00:07:17.500 |
to celebrate the bravery of our police officers, first responders. 00:07:22.540 |
They were the heroes of our society not that many years ago, because they literally, their 00:07:27.260 |
job is a calling to risk their lives, give their lives for the safety of other people. 00:07:33.260 |
So to be in that situation, and then just a few years later, to be demonized, saying 00:07:39.340 |
that they are all racist, you can understand why it is very difficult for them to handle. 00:07:44.060 |
And you have the police officers and the people who are deeply hurt by the history of this 00:07:50.100 |
country standing side by side, pushing each other, and why there is animosity in these 00:08:00.660 |
Even the protesting of the flag, you can see how the black community are taking the knee 00:08:11.660 |
And you can see the response from that, in particular from veterans who went out to war, 00:08:20.820 |
They lost their friends, people that they loved, that they walked with, that they are 00:08:25.780 |
going to remember for the rest of their lives. 00:08:28.020 |
So to them, disrespecting the flag is disrespecting their friend. 00:08:33.180 |
So you can imagine why there is an extreme response from kneeling from that community. 00:08:39.180 |
And we can also understand the heart behind why they are maybe protesting. 00:08:43.700 |
Again, whether you agree or don't agree, we can understand the heart behind that. 00:08:51.220 |
That slogan, "No justice, no peace," it is rooted in the Bible. 00:09:02.220 |
Because what is justice to one community may be injustice to another community. 00:09:09.380 |
What may seem like justice to one group can easily be interpreted as injustice in another 00:09:16.940 |
So is justice in community simply based upon who has the power? 00:09:21.140 |
So if the police and the government has power, they can do whatever they want and whatever 00:09:24.580 |
they think is justice and treat people any way they want because they have the power 00:09:30.380 |
If we have enough rioting and enough force and get enough people to get behind these 00:09:35.340 |
protests and they can strong-arm people and even get rid of the police station, is that 00:09:48.000 |
If it is at the root of the gospel that you and I profess and sing and believe in, how 00:09:53.180 |
do we practice something that is so difficult to practice? 00:09:59.620 |
It just happened that the topic of the sermon, the text that we're looking at today, tells 00:10:04.780 |
us that Jesus Christ is the King of righteousness and King of peace. 00:10:09.580 |
You know, what's interesting is the word for righteousness, dikaios, in other parts of 00:10:18.380 |
So in other words, this text tells us that Jesus is the King of justice and Jesus is 00:10:28.420 |
It just happened in God's sovereignty we landed on this text. 00:10:35.700 |
By the translation of His name, King of righteousness, Melchizedek, Melchi means the King, Zedek, 00:10:44.500 |
His name means King of justice and then also King of Salem. 00:10:48.380 |
Salem is the Hebrew version of that is Shalom. 00:10:53.380 |
Many people think that Salem is the old ancient name of Jerusalem, Jerusalem meaning city, 00:11:00.900 |
So He's the King of righteousness and the King of peace. 00:11:04.580 |
But if you notice here, the author, if you don't pay attention, there's a subtle but 00:11:12.940 |
By the translation of His name, King of righteousness and then also King of Salem, King of peace. 00:11:20.780 |
In other words, that's no different than saying no justice, no peace because peace 00:11:31.420 |
If we don't establish righteousness, there can be no peace because peace without righteousness 00:11:41.540 |
Whoever has the power does whatever they want. 00:11:45.620 |
The whole purpose of why we study the Bible, what the gospel is, why Jesus came and died 00:11:51.860 |
and was resurrected and established His new kingdom is so that by establishing righteousness, 00:11:58.300 |
by establishing justice, that He was going to bring peace. 00:12:02.900 |
In Psalm 85, 9 through 10, it says, "Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, 00:12:08.360 |
that glory may dwell in our land, loving kindness and truth met together, righteousness and 00:12:16.580 |
In description of the kingdom that Christ was going to bring, He says that righteousness 00:12:26.060 |
See, at the root of who Jesus is, King of justice, King of righteousness. 00:12:34.860 |
See, it is very, very difficult for us to practice justice because for four reasons. 00:12:44.660 |
One, the way we see justice, we see it from our point of view. 00:12:49.380 |
And there's no human being that is not biased that way. 00:12:54.920 |
The longer that I live, the more I become biased because of my past experience. 00:13:03.560 |
Certain things that I've experienced, certain things that I've read, it causes me to be 00:13:06.920 |
biased because when I run into somebody or I get into a certain situation, I remember 00:13:18.520 |
And every single human being is biased to a certain degree. 00:13:21.520 |
You know, when you're a child, if you've raised children or every single one of us were children 00:13:25.440 |
at one point, and I think you all know what I'm talking about. 00:13:34.880 |
Usually, what we consider fair really starts with us. 00:13:39.280 |
I remember when our kids were young, you know, in order to take them to Disneyland, and again, 00:13:45.780 |
you guys know how much I love being at Disneyland. 00:13:49.840 |
Spent all day sacrificing, literally carrying our cross for the kids. 00:13:54.340 |
And at the end of the day, we're going home thinking, oh, let's get some Jamba juice, 00:13:58.720 |
you know, and we stop over, get some Jamba juice. 00:14:02.120 |
But then they didn't get quite the flavor that they wanted, or we had to split the cup 00:14:05.580 |
in half, and the other kid got a little bit more than the other. 00:14:09.800 |
And the rest of the ride from Jamba juice home was, it's not fair. 00:14:14.360 |
Now, as a parent, I want to pull over and get everybody to leave and walk home, okay? 00:14:19.960 |
I've literally, you know, spent all day in the hot sun, paying money I didn't want to 00:14:35.360 |
And because you didn't get what you wanted, it's not fair. 00:14:46.440 |
When we don't get what we want, God doesn't answer our prayers, or when people say certain 00:14:54.080 |
I've heard a lot of people say, "I didn't get a stimulus check." 00:15:04.720 |
But I've heard a lot of people say, "It's not fair." 00:15:06.800 |
You know, Jesus has a parable about that in the Bible, in Matthew chapter 20, 1 through 00:15:11.600 |
16, the parable of the laborers, where he promised a certain amount of money, but certain 00:15:16.840 |
people went in at different parts of the day, and then a guy got it at the very last hour, 00:15:22.740 |
And the rest of the workers who worked all day say, "What? 00:15:30.820 |
Because God promised them, and they're getting what they were promised, but the other people 00:15:36.480 |
See, our idea of justice usually starts with us. 00:15:45.960 |
And so because it starts with us, it's always from our perspective, it's very difficult 00:15:50.440 |
for us to really come down with what we think is just. 00:15:54.720 |
Because what we think is just is unjust from another person's perspective. 00:16:02.280 |
In Judges chapter 21, verse 25, during the period of Judges, if you've read that text, 00:16:08.820 |
he said that the reason why they kept on falling into sin cycle over and over again, he says, 00:16:13.520 |
"In those days, there were no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own 00:16:20.040 |
Notice here, they didn't say everyone did what was wrong in their own eyes, everyone 00:16:24.240 |
did what they thought was right in their own eyes. 00:16:27.620 |
What they thought was righteous, what they thought was just. 00:16:30.920 |
And that's what kept on causing this problem, this cycle, because there was no king. 00:16:36.400 |
Well the Bible tells us that Christ comes in the order of Melchizedek, and there's only 00:16:45.380 |
And until he is established as king, we have a tendency, all of us, to do what is right 00:16:53.080 |
And what we think is right in our own eyes would be unrighteous in someone else's eyes, 00:16:59.280 |
and eventually you're going to meet each other. 00:17:02.600 |
In your pursuit of justice from your perspective, you're going to meet somebody else in pursuit 00:17:07.220 |
of justice in their perspective, and you're going to clash, and the result is going to 00:17:11.720 |
be whoever has the biggest gun is going to win. 00:17:20.480 |
Two countries seeking justice in their own eyes, and whoever has the biggest guns ends 00:17:29.360 |
The second reason why it is difficult for us, and only Christ can be the king of righteousness, 00:17:33.960 |
king of justice, our idea of justice keeps changing. 00:17:40.080 |
What was just 30 years ago is no longer just today. 00:17:43.640 |
What was just 100 years ago is no longer just today. 00:17:47.000 |
I remember right after 9/11, the whole country was outraged, Republicans and Democrats. 00:17:54.600 |
And for the first time, I saw the Republicans and Democrats standing side by side with their 00:17:59.600 |
arms linked saying, "We're going to go to war. 00:18:04.540 |
We cannot let them attack our family and children in our land." 00:18:10.240 |
And so they all universally, not just President Bush, the Democrats, Republicans said, "We 00:18:21.840 |
Since then, years have passed, and many anti-war movements have come in, and now these same 00:18:27.760 |
politicians who at that time, in order to get elected and stay elected, voted for the 00:18:34.800 |
war, now they're backtracking saying that was a mistake, because what was right then 00:18:42.200 |
Even in the church, if we're not careful, if our righteousness is not grounded in Christ 00:18:47.200 |
and His word, what was acceptable 30 years ago is no longer acceptable today. 00:18:51.400 |
What wasn't acceptable 30 years ago is no longer acceptable today. 00:19:05.440 |
In order for justice to be true justice, it has to be justice in every generation. 00:19:10.360 |
It can't be just to you and then unjust to that person, because in the context of practicing 00:19:15.760 |
justice, you're going to practice injustice with somebody else. 00:19:29.600 |
You cannot know anything unless you have truth. 00:19:34.400 |
The Bible uses the term cubit to describe a size of something, 10 cubit, 15 cubit. 00:19:40.960 |
If you've never heard that term or somebody never explained to you the size of what a 00:19:54.620 |
The only way that we know what a cubit is, is we compare it with something that we know 00:20:01.680 |
A cubit usually is a measure between someone's arm and his hands, his palms. 00:20:10.040 |
So in the average, it's about 12 inches, about a foot. 00:20:14.240 |
So when the Bible says it's a cubit of something, it's about a foot of something. 00:20:17.920 |
20 cubits would be 20 foot, something, right? 00:20:22.160 |
But we know what it is because we're able to compare with something that is consistent. 00:20:26.740 |
If a cubit is something to you and it's something to you and it's different to him and it's 00:20:30.780 |
different today and different tomorrow, you can never know what a cubit is. 00:20:35.980 |
You can't practice justice if what justice looks like is different today and is different 00:20:41.940 |
It's different to this person, but it's different to that person. 00:20:48.940 |
So you and I are not able to practice perfect justice because it is constantly changing 00:20:58.420 |
The Isaiah 40 verse 8, it says, "The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of 00:21:03.540 |
There's only one thing that stands consistent, generation after generation. 00:21:10.280 |
Whether you are white, black, Asian, Hispanic, it doesn't matter. 00:21:15.780 |
And so he says, "The king of righteousness is Christ." 00:21:21.100 |
And if Christ is not king, there is no justice because justice cannot be relative. 00:21:28.420 |
Thirdly, it's hard for us to practice justice because we lack knowledge. 00:21:34.580 |
Right now, you have to be very, very careful how you consume information. 00:21:40.100 |
And it is not only true today, it is true all the time. 00:21:42.780 |
I remember one of the best things that I learned while I was in seminary or while I was taking 00:21:48.260 |
Bible class, we were learning Western civilization. 00:21:51.280 |
And our professor gave us an assignment and he said, "All your resources has to be first-hand 00:21:57.520 |
For those of you who don't know what first-hand resources is, you have to go to the original 00:22:02.840 |
And so I said, "Well, how do I even do that?" 00:22:04.780 |
So he said, he told us where these resources are and we have to go to certain seminaries 00:22:10.300 |
and we have to go to Cal State, we have to go to UC. 00:22:12.820 |
And if you go to the dungeon, usually people don't read this stuff because a lot of times 00:22:17.380 |
Or if it is translated, it's very difficult to read and it's volumes and volumes. 00:22:23.140 |
It's just original writing of whoever wrote it. 00:22:25.220 |
So we were learning about Western civilization. 00:22:27.100 |
So I had to go dig up books in the dungeon that they probably haven't been touched for 00:22:32.140 |
And only people like us who are learning how to do research would ever even go look for 00:22:37.540 |
And I remember doing research about certain particular period of history. 00:22:43.700 |
And the point that he was trying to make is how much of the history books are their interpretation 00:22:51.920 |
So you can have one person write about George Washington as the godliest man on earth and 00:22:55.780 |
you can have another person writing about George Washington and he was a reprobate. 00:23:03.140 |
So he was teaching us how to go to the original source. 00:23:05.900 |
So all information, not just media, all information come through people who have sinful agendas 00:23:15.100 |
because they are looking at things from their purpose. 00:23:17.940 |
Whether they are doing it deliberately, whether they are doing it because they are blind, 00:23:25.460 |
We especially now, because of how fast the information spreads, we've all seen videos 00:23:38.260 |
And then we see the larger context of somebody trying to swing a bat at him or a molotov 00:23:47.260 |
They only show you that part where he pushed and they said, "Oh my gosh, they didn't 00:23:53.020 |
You can see a police officer arresting that person and they say, "Hey, this guy was 00:23:56.940 |
resisting arrest and he was doing all this stuff." 00:23:58.900 |
When you see the larger context, that wasn't the case. 00:24:05.740 |
So we have to be very careful how we consume information because we need to have perfect 00:24:12.060 |
But the problem is, even if we knew all the context, you and I are not omniscient. 00:24:18.820 |
Job, if you remember, what humanly speaking has experienced tremendous injustice because 00:24:30.620 |
He loses his health, his children, his wealth, even his friends come there accusing him, 00:24:35.160 |
all this happened because you did something wrong. 00:24:37.460 |
There's three cycles of this in the book of Job. 00:24:42.640 |
He was standing strong until the end and he cracks and he says, "God, why are you allowing 00:24:50.040 |
And he begins to complain and then God shows up to speak to him in Job chapter 38, 2-5. 00:24:55.520 |
Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 00:24:58.600 |
In other words, Job, you have no idea what's going on. 00:25:03.860 |
Now gird up your loins like a man and I will ask you and you instruct me since you are 00:25:14.580 |
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 00:25:17.860 |
Who set its measurements since you know or who stretched the line on it? 00:25:28.200 |
In Job chapter 40, verse 1 and 2, after three chapters of God putting him in his place that 00:25:34.340 |
you don't have the knowledge to be able to know what is right and what is wrong. 00:25:39.820 |
And then he says, chapter 40, verse 1 and 2, "Then the Lord said to Job, 'Will the faultfinder 00:25:57.300 |
Not only does He know all the information in Psalm 139, 2-4, 'You know when I sit down 00:26:02.100 |
and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar. 00:26:05.460 |
You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 00:26:11.300 |
Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all.' 00:26:15.360 |
Not only does He know all information because He's the creator, He says He already knows 00:26:23.060 |
If there really is racism or not, He already knows what's crooked. 00:26:27.940 |
He already knows our intention even before we actually even do it. 00:26:48.460 |
Some of you guys may remember because I saw it all over your Facebook. 00:26:57.740 |
Okay, this picture, I don't know if this represents that properly, but this was a big 00:27:03.020 |
thing on the internet because it's actually, I guess for most people, they see it blue 00:27:07.420 |
and gold and a lot of people saw it as white. 00:27:09.940 |
No, blue and black, a lot of people saw it as white and gold and they were fighting each 00:27:21.180 |
Yeah, so they're looking at this and they were, because absolutely adamant. 00:27:29.460 |
If enough people say it's black and blue, does it become black and blue? 00:27:37.900 |
You and I don't have the ability to make that final judgment. 00:27:45.820 |
Not only does God know the truth, only God knows our heart. 00:27:50.120 |
But fourth and most importantly, this is what you and I need to remember. 00:28:05.620 |
In Romans 3, 10 through 12, it says, "There is none righteous, not even one. 00:28:20.600 |
Now some people may look at that and say, "That's a hyperbole. 00:28:41.240 |
Either he is just overblowing the state of mankind or if he is actually telling the truth, 00:28:49.800 |
there's not a single person who is exempt from this. 00:28:55.020 |
And because Satan and sin has tainted not only our heart but our sight and our mind, 00:29:04.560 |
our ability to even reason has been tainted by sin. 00:29:09.500 |
And that is the starting point of salvation when we recognize that we have sinned and 00:29:19.420 |
So repentance isn't just, "I repent because I did this act. 00:29:24.660 |
Repentance is recognizing that I don't have the ability to know what is right and wrong. 00:29:38.220 |
It's our sin that causes us to see things in certain perspective. 00:29:42.380 |
And until we humble ourselves before the throne, when we say, "No justice, no peace," if we're 00:29:48.820 |
not careful, you can do more damage than good. 00:29:54.500 |
Hurt people have a tendency to hurt other people. 00:30:01.220 |
Hurt people have a tendency to hurt other people. 00:30:11.820 |
I can tell you in 30 plus years that I've been in ministry and counseling people, I 00:30:17.500 |
haven't met a single person, not one, who doesn't have deep pain. 00:30:25.340 |
Whether it was somebody did something to them or something happened in their life or coming 00:30:28.820 |
from their families or even just from their own sins, there's not a single person that 00:30:39.180 |
And so our natural tendency for those who are hurt is to hurt other people. 00:30:46.940 |
You know, the most dangerous people are not the people who are doing wrong and they know 00:30:52.540 |
Those most dangerous people are people who think they're right. 00:30:58.420 |
They're unrighteous in carrying out what they think is justice. 00:31:06.100 |
Because they feel it's right, because we feel it's right, that even the way we do it, even 00:31:12.420 |
if it's wrong, because we're on the right, it justifies it. 00:31:17.540 |
Our sinfulness causes us to make it difficult for us to carry out justice. 00:31:32.860 |
Jesus Christ comes in the office of Melchizedek. 00:31:40.500 |
And only when justice is carried out by the king, we can have true peace. 00:31:46.820 |
Remember, if you look at the Jewish community, nobody suffered more than the Jewish people, 00:31:54.980 |
If you look at their history, they started out in slavery. 00:31:58.020 |
For hundreds of years, they were oppressed by the Egyptians. 00:32:01.100 |
And the reason why they started was because God heard their oppression and crying out, 00:32:05.540 |
and he answered their prayer and he delivered them. 00:32:08.620 |
And then they wandered down the desert, they had to fight and scrap just to get into the 00:32:13.540 |
But a few years later, the Assyrians come in and brutalizes them, forced them into labor, 00:32:20.660 |
take all the precious things and all the precious people, and they take them into bondage and 00:32:26.100 |
And after that, the Babylonians come and they enslave them. 00:32:29.180 |
After that, the Persians come and they're a little bit more gracious, but for the most 00:32:35.180 |
After the Persians come, it came the Greeks and Greeks dominated them. 00:32:39.100 |
And after the Greeks came, the Romans came and then the Romans dominated them. 00:32:43.140 |
And I don't have to tell you about the modern history. 00:32:45.700 |
We know about the Holocaust, but there's almost 2000 years in between of suffering. 00:32:51.220 |
In fact, you can take a whole class if you go to the university of just the suffering 00:32:57.900 |
But at the time of Christ, when Jesus was telling his people, "When you get slapped 00:33:02.300 |
on one cheek, turn the other cheek," do you know why Jesus said that? 00:33:09.540 |
Jesus said to the Jewish people, "If they tell you to walk a mile, walk a second mile." 00:33:15.740 |
There was actually a Roman law that said, even if you're a pregnant woman, if you were 00:33:21.860 |
a Jew, a Roman soldier carrying all of his equipment got tired and he said, "I need 00:33:33.700 |
So you can imagine the animosity and the hatred that they had that was built up from generation 00:33:39.920 |
If any group of people that was oppressed, it was the Jewish people. 00:33:44.460 |
So you can understand why they wanted a militant Messiah. 00:33:52.260 |
They wanted the Messiah to come and finally overthrow their enemies. 00:34:05.500 |
But remember when Jesus is going into Jerusalem, he wept. 00:34:13.460 |
He wept because he said, "Only if you knew today what would bring true peace. 00:34:19.980 |
But because you did not recognize the King of Justice, you will not see this peace." 00:34:30.660 |
And it was finally time for him to go to the cross when he was offered up with Barabbas. 00:34:38.700 |
And it was not by accident that Barabbas was a zealot who was a militant Jew who wanted 00:34:50.900 |
And so they wanted Jesus to join the revolution. 00:34:54.220 |
And when he would not and he gave up his life and he surrendered, what did they say? 00:35:04.740 |
We want somebody who's going to bring justice the way we want justice. 00:35:19.400 |
Because the peace that he was going to bring did not look anything like they were expecting. 00:35:25.500 |
In Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1 and 4, it says, "Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen 00:35:37.700 |
If we stop right there, you would think that they were right to wait for the Messiah, the 00:35:45.980 |
Because if any group of people would have been shouting in their souls, "No justice, 00:35:56.980 |
And we want a Messiah that's going to come and bring justice. 00:36:03.340 |
But this messianic promise doesn't end in verse 1. 00:36:06.860 |
It says, "He will not cry out or raise his voice." 00:36:12.660 |
He's talking about how he's going to bring his justice. 00:36:15.060 |
"He will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street. 00:36:22.060 |
A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. 00:36:31.100 |
See, that part in verse 2 and 3 doesn't fit what we think justice is. 00:36:46.580 |
The only just human being, the only righteous being that has ever lived on this earth, the 00:36:53.220 |
only one who had the right to say, "No justice, no peace." 00:36:59.020 |
Any person who walked this earth who could justly say, "No justice, no peace," absorbed 00:37:10.160 |
And as it says in 1 Peter 3, 18, "For Christ also died for sins once for all, to adjust 00:37:15.620 |
for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having put forth to death in the flesh, 00:37:28.120 |
The greatest injustice on earth was experienced by Christ, the only just. 00:37:41.500 |
You know, people are saying, "Why don't we march?" 00:37:52.720 |
If something is wrong, we should not stay silent. 00:37:57.340 |
What I've heard people say is, "All we're going to do, preach the gospel." 00:38:05.020 |
And I hear some people say that, even from pastors, I hear people saying that. 00:38:10.980 |
Do you not realize that that's why we preach the gospel in the first place? 00:38:18.180 |
Social justice and the gospel are not two separate things. 00:38:23.700 |
We preach the gospel because the gospel is the only answer to racism. 00:38:35.700 |
And the reason why they want signs and they want wisdom is because that's what they think 00:38:44.540 |
Foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, the power of 00:38:55.900 |
Especially now, as the world is chanting, because they think they know the answer. 00:39:04.100 |
As Christians, whose eyes have been opened to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 00:39:11.660 |
justice can only be found when Christ is established as King. 00:39:16.620 |
And true peace, true shalom, will only come to us by the grace, by the blood and the body