Responding to Justice-Only Oriented People

Posted: May 1, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Jesus, Justice, Retribution, Sermons, sin, Suffering | Leave a comment

“The summer of 2007 was the wettest in Britain since records began, registering over twice the usual amount of rainfall between May and July. It led to extreme flooding, the most serious since 1947, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Thirteen people lost their lives— including a man swept away when crossing a road in Sheffield; another drowned when his foot got trapped in a storm drain in Hull; a teenager fell into the River Sheaf; and a father and son were found dead at Tewkesbury rugby club where they had been attempting to pump water out of the premises but had been overcome by fumes. Across the country 48,000 households and nearly 7,300 businesses were flooded, causing billions of pounds of damage. In Gloucestershire, 350,000 people were left without main water supply— the most significant loss of essential services since the Second World War. The floods brought with them many other problems, including infestations of rats, mosquitoes and flies, and health problems such as diarrhea and asthma. In farming communities 42,000 hectares of agricultural land was under water; a thousand sheep were killed in Staffordshire; and several thousand chickens drowned in Lincolnshire. To put these events in a global context, during 2007 there were over 200 major floods worldwide, affecting over 180 million people, and leading to 8,000 deaths. But even against that stark reality, in purely economic terms, the floods which devastated Britain were the most costly floods in the world in 2007. Why did it happen? The independent review conducted by Sir Michael Pitt naturally focused on questions of meteorology, infrastructure, and politics. The unusual amount of rainfall was explained as the result of ‘the position of the Polar Front Jet Stream and high North Atlantic sea surface temperatures’. The devastation caused by the water, Pitt concluded, was due to poor drainage, insufficient flood defences, and incompetent local authority planning. God is mentioned only once in the entire report, as an expletive, quoting a woman from Hull. Nevertheless, some observers, notably a handful of Anglican bishops, were willing to offer an alternative commentary on the floods, from a theological perspective. Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph as saying that the disaster was caused not just by humanity’s lack of respect for the planet, but was also a divine judgment on British society’s moral decadence: ‘This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way. We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused. . . We are in serious moral trouble because every type of lifestyle is now regarded as legitimate. . . Our government has been playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want. . . The Sexual Orientation Regulations [which came into force in April 2007] are part of a general scene of permissiveness. We are in a situation where we are liable for God’s judgment, which is intended to call us to repentance.’ Bishop Dow referred not just to sexual immorality, but to the sins of greed and oppression. He suggested that the West was being punished for the way in which it had exploited poorer nations in its pursuit of economic gain: ‘It has set up dominant economic structures that are built on greed and that keep other nations in a situation of dependence. The principle of God’s judgment on nations that have exploited other nations is all there in the Bible’. He acknowledged that those affected by the flooding were innocent victims, but explained that the problem with ‘environmental judgment is that it is indiscriminate’. Although God was not specifically ‘targeting’ the places affected, Dow urged that in the face of natural disaster it was wise to pray, ‘Lord, have mercy’.”[1]Maybe like Bishop Dow in 2007, some of us have had similar thoughts about the cause of the pandemic that has disrupted life so much these past two years? We are looking for a specific person or group of people, even country, to blame.

When you see somebody suffering, what is your usual response? Hopefully it is compassion, but in the back of your mind, do you wonder what did he or she do to deserve the suffering? If so, you belong to an ancient and long list of judges who didn’t go to law schools. I’ve sat in that judge’s bench as well! We think we know! Zophar was one of those judges. You may wonder who Zophar was? Zophar lived thousands of years ago. He was the first in a long list of justice-only oriented people. People who are overly focused that justice must be served. He bought into what is called the divine retribution principle. Can you say that? The divine retribution principle. Old Testament Professor Kim Nguyen (pronounced “new wan”) teaches, The divine retribution principle is the belief that “God rewards the righteous and afflicts the wicked.”[2]

Have you bought into the divine retribution principle? It is alive and well today. When things are going badly, we think we are being punished by God. When things go well, we think God is rewarding us for our good behaviour. Some of us actually like a good spiritual whipping through a hard-hitting sermon so we can do our own form of penitence or we like to go after the culture. Go get them pastor. Turn or burn! The Book of Job mashes up this type of thinking like potatoes at Thanksgiving. We can learn much from the Book of Job when we are suffering. The story is about a man named Job. At one time, Job was the richest and the most righteous man in the ancient near east. “He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys and very many servants.” (Job 1:3) Mike Mason in his book The Gospel According to Job writes, “Job was clean rich; not filthy rich.” Job used his wealth as a force for good! More importantly than being rich, Job had 10 children – 7 sons and 3 daughters. But then Satan came and wanted to attack God through Job. He asked God to cause Job to suffer so that Job would not trust in God, but curse Him. God allows Satan to cause Job’s suffering. So in one day, Job lost all his business, all his employees and all his children except for three servants who reported back this bad news. Then Satan infects Job with painful boils on his skin. And if that weren’t enough, Job’s “friends” show up and start interrogating him believing that Job was the cause of all his suffering because of his sin. I am going to only read Job’s response in Job 21:1-15 for the interest of time, but I would encourage you to read Job chapters 20-21 in your personal and small group study. Read Job 21:1-15. 

In some of our Bibles, the chapter heading for Job 21 reads “The wicked do prosper.” What an apt title for Job’s retort – “The wicked do prosper.” Do you feel that way? Well, hang on! You will be comforted by Zophar’s speech. If I was going to summarize Zophar’s speech in Job 20, it would echo the words of fallen pastor James MacDonald, 1) Choose to sin, choose to suffer[3] … Now is that true? If you or I sin, do we suffer? If a person lives a life full of anger and becomes prickly, don’t they lose most of their friends? If a spouse cheats, don’t they often lose their spouse, but also their family and reputation? If a person overeats, don’t they usually have weight and cholesterol that eventually lead to life-threatening health concerns? This was Zophar’s point in Job 20:4-19 – choose to sin, choose to suffer, “Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, 5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? 6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, 7 he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ 8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night. 9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,nor will his place any more behold him. 10 His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth. 11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. 12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, 13 though he is loath to let it go and holds it in his mouth, 14 yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him. 15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. 16 He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. 17 He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds.18 He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. 19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.” This is a true picture of the wicked and what is going on inside some of them. The wages of sin will eventually be death. Isn’t it true that “the joy of the godless is brief?”[4] Living hard will lead to hardly living when the money comes to an end, the drinking leaves an empty bottle, heart and home, the sex isn’t as good and becomes more deviant, and climbing the corporate ladder leads to a fall. Choose to sin, choose to suffer! We teach our kids this! “We tell our children that bad behaviour will have harmful consequences, but we tell our friends who are suffering for no apparent reason that there is no necessary connection between their deeds and their experiences of life.”[5] Or as Lisa Harper in her podcast entitled Ripped Hearts and Raised Hands says, “We cry out for justice for others and mercy for us.” This is why we need to add one more word to the phrase “choose to sin, choose to suffer … sometimes.” Or maybe even not immediately! And that is why we often continue in our sin, we think we are getting away with it. Zophar thought Job was suffering because Job committed sin and Job need to repent. Zophar thought Job was wearing blinders to his sin.

The problem though was that Zophar had blinders on him like a Kentucky derby racehorse this coming weekend. Zophar could only see justice ahead of him. “He had the scientific mind. Zophar thought you pour life into the test tube and it will always come out a certain way.”[6] Or I like what our own Keith Miles said at Men’s Prayer this Thursday morning, “Zophar and Job’s friends treat God more like a formula than a friend.” Zophar was a justice-only-no-mercy man! Are you and I justice-only-no-mercy-people? But this raises a question: Can’t we count on God being consistent in His justice? Does He let us get away with sin and should we even expect Him to? Our Muslim friends practicing Ramadan often think that this is what we are doing when we teach about God’s grace – we can do whatever we want and God overlooks our sin. However, I declare to a listening world that we Christians want justice. I want the person caught who keeps breaking into our church. I know my wife wants justice too. Lori prays “heavy conviction” on the hit-and-run driver who wasn’t caught and now we are on the hook for the deductible on our van repairs. Aren’t there people in your life that you hope either repent or pay for their sins? And God does afflict the wicked, just not always immediately.

The problem is when we look at the supposed consequences and reverse engineer thinking that a sufferer must always be a sinner. Listen carefully! Two Sundays ago, I quoted Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all sinners, but sometimes we suffer because we choose not to sin. This is the second truth we learn from Job 20-21. 2) … Sometimes we suffer because we choose not to sin. Job was blameless. In fact, he was suffering because He wouldn’t curse God and God put Job up as a target for Satan to try to knock down. And Job didn’t understand that. He thought God had done a 180 on His justice. That God turned His back on Job! Job would have thought the divine retribution principle was the opposite, “God rejects the righteous and rewards the unrighteous.” Maybe you feel that way today where there are people in your life that are hostile to God but seemingly life comfortable and care-free for them while you are going through hell (or the closest you will come to it).  Look at Job 21:4, “As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?” In other words, Job tells Zophar, “I wasn’t talking about you. My complaints were to God and you are just to be a silent observer.” And the way Job sees it, “God is like an absentee landlord of amoral universe where anything goes.”[7] This is what in effect Job says in Job 21:15, “What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we get if we pray to Him?” Job wasn’t buying into Zophar’s divine retribution theology. We see this in another example that Job gives us of suffering for not sinning in verse 19, “You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let them pay it to them, that they may know it.” Job knew that the consequences of the previous generation’s sins were visited on the next generation. We see this today with our parents’ lack of morals sexually, financially and racially. We are in financial and relational debt. But our response hasn’t been helpful. As Kevin DeYoung says we have overcompensated, “Our heroes are those hurt the most. We focus on sufferers and not conquerors of sin. We also are seeking forgiveness for our parents’ sin and not forgiveness for our sins.” We need to do both!  

And after we have repented, sometimes we suffer because we choose not to sin. When we stand up for injustice and are labelled woke when we cared about racial justice for years, we suffer because we choose not to sin. When we choose to pray and avoid the sin of prayerlessness by going to Prayer Encounter on Wednesday night and are mocked for it by our family, we suffer because we choose not to sin. When we choose to live purely and are mocked at school or at work, we suffer because we choose not to sin. It’s hard! Like Job, we may start to question God! As Lisa Harper asks, “Is God safe where I ache?” But the alternative is worse – a pain-free but fallen world. Jim Howard who lost his first wife asks, “Can you imagine if after the Fall, if God blessed us 100% without pain? Suffering and pain become a mercy that draws us to God. We need these times of suffering to know what we really believe and need.”[8] Yes, choose to sin, choose to suffer sometimes is true but we also suffer because we choose not to sin. And so what hope do we have? 

Well, here is the hope whether you have sinned or are just suffering. 3) Sinned or suffering, always choose Christ! Jesus Christ is where we find hope for those who have sinned and for those who are sinning. Jesus is where the divine retribution principle is sometimes true and not always true. You see, there are always consequences for sin. But sometimes those consequences are paid by somebody else. Jesus did this! He paid the consequences for our sin. The greatest consequence for sin is death. Jesus died! Justice was served. And the greatest suffering for not sinning is death. We call that martyrdom. Jesus accomplished both – punishment for our unrighteousness and pain for His righteousness. He chose to become sin for us. This was a declaration by God rather than any depravity of Christ’s character. Christ remained perfect. And this is why we find grace and mercy in our time of need. It is also why we can suffer when we choose not to sin. We can trust God with our deep ends – as Lisa Harpers says – when we can’t touch the bottom and feel like we are treading water. Christ “drank the wrath of the Almighty” as Job 21:20 points out to you and yet He was not sinful. Jesus knows and experienced your suffering and He will lift you up so won’t drown. I picture Him on the beach after you and I have been rescued. In fact, Jesus will do more! He will crash our pity parties and bring joy by throwing a party of praise. I admit today that I have been living under a cloud and it has been making some of you feel dark as well. I am choosing joy because I am choosing Jesus. How about you?

Jesus can be trusted.  We come to the conclusion that whether we need mercy or mending all we have is Christ! He will bring justice and mercy. When we choose to sin and are suffering for it remember Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When we choose not to sin and are suffering, God still gives us the gift of Jesus in our suffering. Jesus is the present because we have His presence. No matter what, choose Christ because all we have is Him.

In conclusion, I once saw a movie that described how a fictional African tribe, named the Ku, dealt with justice. The protagonist in the movie tells this profound insight, “Everyone who loses someone wants revenge on someone and God if they can’t find it. The only way to end grief is to save a life. This is why the Ku tribe enact a ritual called ‘the drowning man trial,’ whereby the murderer is taken to a river, bound and then rowed out to the middle of the river where he is dumped overboard. The family of the one who the murderer killed has an option to save the murderer or let him drown.  The Ku believe that if they let the murderer drown, they will have justice, but spend the rest of their life in mourning. But if they swim out and save him and admit life isn’t always just, that very act can take away their sorrow. Vengeance is the lazy form of grief.”[9] Here is the action point: That story is fiction but our response is not to our suffering and how we deal with justice. We have an opportunity to show mercy to others because we have been shown great mercy by God. You see, Jesus essentially swam and saved us who were drowning in the river of our sins. He ended up giving up His life so that we might be saved and then show mercy to others. Do you need to repent of your justice-only-no-mercy ways? This week be countercultural: Be a convoy of mercy because you have already been given mercy. Hallelujah! All I have is Christ! Hallelujah! Jesus is my life!

[1] Andrew Atherstone, “Divine Retribution: A Forgotten Doctrine,” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/divine-retribution-a-forgotten-doctrine/. Accessed April 28, 2022.

[2] Kim Nguyen, “Old Testament Literature and History Study Questions” Class notes, Cornerstone University, April 28, 2022.  

[3] This phrase was a favourite of James MacDonald.

[4] Francis I. Anderson, Job – An Introduction & Commentary (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1976), 195.

[5] David J.A. Clines, Job 1-20 – Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 524.

[6] J. Vernon McGee, Job – Through the Bible Commentary Series (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), 110.

[7] Clines, 425.

[8] Source: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ripped-hearts-and-raised-hands/id1603918454?i=1000557069224. Accessed April 28, 2022.

[9] “Silvia Broome” (played by Nicole Kidman) in the movie The Interpreter, Universal Films, 2005.