A mother. A daughter. A bed. A cooking pot.
IL – visit to Kabira slums - January 2011 –
Rispa (mother) and Deborah (daughter). Rispa had contracted HIV, and her husband kicked her out of the house. Deborah had been abused.
- It was an awkward moment. I felt guilty almost like I was gawking at the misfortune of another.
- It was a holy moment as we prayed for God’s intervention.
- It was a moment of revelation - sitting at ground zero of one of the broken places of the world – injustice.
Week 2 of Hope month as we investigate the 6 broken places of the world and explore how we can join God in bringing hope!
What is injustice?
• When things are just wrong.
• When human rights are violated.
• When human beings face undeserved outcomes.
What is injustice?
conditions that create vulnerable people
conditions that exploit vulnerable people
conditions that destroy vulnerable people
conditions that make vulnerable people’s lives miserable.
Here are just some of those conditions: Famine, poverty, homelessness, abortion, human trafficking, gun violence, genocide, ethnic cleansing, denied access to health care, denied access to education, discrimination, child abuse, elder abuse, domestic abuse, misogyny, racism…
Injustice affects the lives of billions of people. (8 billion people currently)
Injustice transcends nations, races and generations.
Injustice surrounds us and for many defines us.
There’s injustice floating in the water we drink. There’s injustice saturating the air we breath. There’s injustice crammed into the media we consume. There’s injustice woven into the clothes we wear.
And God hates it. (though you won’t find that phrase in the Bible) God hates those conditions… For instance…maybe you’ve heard this poetic prophecy…
"Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:24
• that verse played a major role in the Civil Rights mvmt. Martin Luther King
• It sounds positive and motivating…a “let’s go!”
But it doesn’t indicate how worked up God is about injustice…to see that you have to go back a few verses…
Context: “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:21-24
God: I want justice! I want you to spend more time among the vulnerable than doing religious things!
Over and over God inspired the biblical writers to state in no uncertain terms his concern for the victims of injustice…the vulnerable:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. Isaiah 58:6-8
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:2-4
Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3
God defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:18-19
That’s just a small sampling! Then of course we come to Jesus…
The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come. Luke 4:18-19
I came for the vulnerable!
Clearly God is exceedingly agitated that injustice be wiped out of the human experience…forever! Here’s how he inspired John to stress this agitation:
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Rev 21:3
God hates injustice and is working to eliminate the conditions that make the lives of vulnerable people miserable!
There’s the hope for hope month!
No more injustice.
No more homelessness in NYC.
No more human trafficking in SE Asia.
No more ethnic cleansing in Sudan.
No more gun violence in the USA
No more crushing poverty in Kenya
No more famine in Gaza.
No more injustice…
…there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
That’s what will happen when the kingdom of God is fully realized in our world.
Now…what’s your part in it?
What will be your role in wiping tears from the eyes of Rispa and Deborah and the countless vulnerable people of our world?
This is the nub of this whole series…of Hope month. Once we understand the essence of each of these broken places we then must determine how we will join God in healing them.
It’s not enough to be outraged.
It’s not enough to be broken hearted.
It’s certainly not enough to be complacent.
So, again…what will be your role in bringing healing to the broken place of injustice? (or for that matter, the other 5 broken places?)
I’ve devoted the better part of my life…even when I was a pastor of Grace Church…to helping people answer that question. Since I stepped away from my role here in 2020 this has been my laser focus…best expressed in this quote by the late Dallas Willard:
You were built to count as water is made to run downhill. You were placed in a context account in ways that no one else does. That is your destiny.
Dallas Willard, the Divine Conspiracy
I believe that deeply about you!
You are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works that God prepared in advanced for you to do. Ephesians 2: 10
The most ancient thing about you is your calling. And it is one of the most eternal things about you…as you leave a legacy!
Could it be that your calling (destiny, purpose, why) lies in healing injustice? Isolation? Pain? Decay of the planet? Hatred? The lostness of people?
And if, for example, your calling lies in healing injustice…how, exactly, should you go about it? What should you, literally, do? Where should you invest your energy and time?
I’m guessing that many of you don’t really have a clue. Which is understandable. How do you figure out what works God prepared in advance for you to do?
I’ve got two gifts for you to help you figure it out.
The first gift is a book. It’s called A Why to Live For: Where Your Destiny Meets the Broken Places of the World. I wrote it. It came out in 2019 the year before I stepped away from leading at Grace.
• In the book you’ll consider which broken place you feel called to and how you can engage that broken place with your unique style and personality.
• Maybe you are an activist, a healer, a nurturer, an ambassador, a steward or a champion.
• The book is free to you! It’ll be in the lobby.
The second gift is a workshop that I’ll be leading on Saturday, October 4th.
• Like the book it will be my gift to you. Just cost $5 for the workbook.
Here’s a little preview…
1. Your calling can be found at the intersection of two massive truths – one awesome and the other awful
2. Awesome = you are a masterpiece / Awful = the world is broken
3. There are 4 factors of your life that make you one of a kind …. When you stop and explore each…threads and themes point to a calling!
In the workshop together I will help you explore those 4 factors and begin to understand the purpose you were created for.
And when you discover your unique contribution to humanity and begin to operate in it you will feel alive! And you will leave a legacy! And the world will be healed just a bit more because of you!
Injustice is a giant menace causing trillions of of tears and countless waves of mourning. But you are more powerful than you know to bring healing and justice…
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. Jesus in John 14:12
Yes, injustice is a formidable foe. But if the people of God would awaken to our destiny and operate in our calling our success is guaranteed. We will crush it!
He will wipe every tear from the eyes of the vulnerable, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain for all those things will be gone forever!