Longing for Righteousness to Reign
Village family:
Last year seems like forever ago, but some of you may remember that we ended 2019 with the sermon series He Is / We Are, talking about the communicable attributes of God - things that are true about God that can also be true (at least in part!) about us. In November, we preached on the justice of God (God Most Just). We got to see how tightly justice and righteousness are related (“doing right by someone”), and the extent to which God cares about that quality expressed in our lives and in our communities. (The gas station illustration may ring a bell for some of you!)
As the sermon title implies, God is the most just. Not only that, he is the only one who is always just. When he is worshiped as God, justice will flow forth. More broadly than that, it’s because his perfect law is written on every imperfect heart (Romans 2:12-16) that not only is God stirred up to anger and grief at human injustice, but so are we. These are righteous responses when the world fails to do right by others according to God’s standard. And this is where many of us find ourselves this week.
In a fallen world, there is no shortage of idolatry that leads to injustice: everything from abortion to payday lending to a gas station purposefully calibrating the pumps ever-so-slightly in favor of profits over people. In recent days, the varied stories of Ahmaud Arbery, Christian Cooper, and George Floyd have particularly stirred some of us up to anger and grief - and rightly so. While these individual incidents are significant in and of themselves, they’re not isolated incidents in history (recent or distant). History never actually repeats itself, but it can too often rhyme - sometimes with eerie similarity to voices now silent.
Just as in every other form of injustice, none of us stand as the final judge and jury over these circumstances or the lives of the men and women involved. Nor will any of us know all there is to know. And nobody here has the playbook (let alone the power) to make right every wrong we perceive. But we don’t have to be wearing the robes of the final arbiter or have drawn-up the perfect five-point plan in order to justify our very real lament - or the lament of our neighbors.
All that to say that if you or someone you know finds themselves in a place of frustration or grief right now, that’s okay. We're not alone. And we don’t have to process it alone. Lament was meant to be expressed in communion with the Lord and with one another. Not only is Jesus “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), but so are we. Don’t be afraid to talk to each other about hard things, pray together when you don't have all the words, and let the Lord meet us where we are and lead us into a righteous response to injustice - a response that can only come from the comfort that God alone is righteous and the good news that Christ alone now is King.
Jesus is the final arbiter, he sees what’s done in secret, and he has both the plan and the power to set all things right, just as he has promised he will one day. Both vengeance and salvation belong to him, and his kingdom alone will ever satisfy hearts that long for righteousness to reign. And it is coming. He is coming!
It’s true that in the meantime, we don’t have to grieve as others who don’t have hope. And yet, we still grieve. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you want or need to talk, vent, process, etc. Or if all of this is confusing or if you have questions, feel free to send us a message, as well.
Grace and peace.