Blind to Injustice
Blind Spots :: Micah/Zechariah
Pastor Drew Leaver
All of us, at one point in time, wanted to change the world. Each of us had this
instinctive and deep-seated desire at some point to make life fair for all mankind. Essentially, we
all wanted to be super. Think about it, who of us didn’t want to be a superhero? That’s what
kids dream of! On career day that was what we chose as our career because as kids each of us
had this desire deep within us to right wrongs and change the world. And because superhero’s
embodied this sentiment we all wanted to be one. Granted, the ability to fly or smash through
walls may have had something to do with it too.
My favorite superhero was a little unorthodox, he wasn’t a caped crusader per sé and he
definitely didn’t wear leotards because, let me tell you, there is nothing heroic about wearing
leotards. No, my superhero was much more ‘average;’ instead of wearing a cape he wore chains,
lots and lots of gold chains. My hero was Mr. T. Do you remember the A-Team? Awesome,
right?! Mr. T wore muscle shirts and had that rockin’ Mohawk and he never let anybody get
away with anything. What I loved about the A-Team was that this ‘team’ of renegades always
looked out for the little guy. They took on corruption and fought injustice and it was inspiring!
It was heroic! And as a little kid I knew that was noble. That was the right thing to do. And so
that’s what I wanted to do – I wanted to fight injustice in a pimped out van! But as I look back,
this is what I can’t figure out… when did I give up on that desire? When did I lose that
conviction for righting wrongs and doing justice? When did I stop caring about the little guy?
You see, at some point along the way we grew up, and in the process most of us lost that
passion to do justice. At some point along the way, maybe because there were so many
injustices, we grew numb. At some point along the way we grew blind to the very thing that
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once stirred our soul. We grew blind to injustice. Outside of 60-Minute or 20/20 news specials,
we don’t really think about injustice – and we certainly don’t spend a lot of time trying to tackle
it. And this was the problem in the book of Micah. They had grown blind to injustice. But
here’s the thing: even though our hearts have grown blind to injustice, God’s hasn’t.
Turn with me to the book of Micah. Micah is one of the last books of the Old Testament,
so find Ezekiel and go right until you hit Micah. Now, as you look for it let me just say that I
know what many of you are thinking; you’re thinking exactly what I grew up thinking every time
I heard someone start talking about justice. You’re thinking, “Great, who let the liberal in?” Or
maybe you’re thinking: “Justice is a social message and it doesn’t belong in the church because
the church should be preaching a spiritual message, not a social one.” I get that. But here’s the
thing, Scripture doesn’t view justice as a social issue, it views it as a spiritual one. To God the
presence of injustice is not a social problem it is a spiritual one and God cries out for His people
to act because to God injustice is a spiritual issue. So turn to Micah chapter 2 starting at verse 1:
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Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At
morning's light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. 2 They covet
fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his
home, a fellowman of his inheritance. 3 Therefore, the LORD says: "I am
planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
In chapter 1 Micah issues a judgment against His own people letting them know that this
book is about them; in chapter 2 he explains why. As he says in verse 1, there are those who
“plan iniquity” and “plot evil on their beds.” These people engineer ways to take advantage of
others, and Micah says that at first light they carry it out because “it is in their power to do it.”
Micah doesn’t waste any time. He dives right into the heart of the issue and as he does he
gives us the very definition of what biblical injustice is:
SLIDE: Biblical injustice is when those with power use it to abuse those without power.
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[Repeat] The Hebrew text literally says that these abusers do this because “power is in
their hands.” And I think this is why injustice is so detestable to God. We are called to serve
others, not enslave them. Those who are given power are called to use their power for the weak
instead of against the weak. But Micah says that they covet fields and seize them, they see
houses and take them and they defraud a man of his inheritance. They take for themselves what
God has rightfully given to someone else. And for this reason God says He will no longer let
them walk proudly. God will act justly.
Okay, so God hates injustice. I get that. There are unjust people in the world. I get that.
But I’m still not convinced that this is a spiritual issue. Well hold on because the real shocker
isn’t the fact that injustice was happening, the real shocker is who God holds responsible for it.
Pick it up at verse 6:
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"Do not prophesy," their prophets say. "Do not prophesy about these things;
disgrace will not overtake us." 7 Should it be said, O house of Jacob: "Is the Spirit
of the LORD angry? Does he do such things?" "Do not my words do good to him
whose ways are upright? 8 Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You
strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning
from battle. 9 You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You
take away my blessing from their children forever.
Don’t miss what is happening here. Biblically speaking the people of God were
supposed to be working with God to prevent such things, but according to Micah the people of
God were actually guilty of contributing to the problem. Look at this passage again. The people
of God were guilty of two distinct things. First, they were guilty of turning a blind eye to the
issue. Verse 6 tells us that they denied the truth saying, “Do not prophesy about these things.”
They actively ignored the issue and covered their ears when it came up. But secondly, they not
only ignored the issue but they also took part in it. Verse 8 says, “Lately my people have risen
up like an enemy.” My people strip people of their possessions. My people drive women from
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their homes and deny children God’s blessings. The very ones given power by God and a
command to do good were actually using their power to abuse those without power. They were
using their power against the weak instead of for the weak. And God said this was an injustice.
You have to understand the weight of what this means from God’s perspective. God
cares about justice not because justice is something God thinks is noble; God cares deeply about
justice because justice is a part of who God is. Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that,
“He [God] is the Rock, his works are perfect and all his ways are just. A
faithful god who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Justice is who God is. He is ‘just’ every bit as much as He is holy. This is who God is.
And as the people of God we are called to love God and love the things of God; meaning, if we
claim to love God then we must love justice because God Himself is just. The problem is, at
some point along the way justice ceased being central.
So the people of God had grown blind to injustice; they turned a blind eye to it and even
worse they participated in it for gain. But Micah goes on to present a second issue; not only
were the people of God guilty of abuse and injustice, they were guilty of doing nothing to stop it.
And this is the second part of what Micah defines as biblical injustice. Micah says that…
SLIDE: Biblical injustice is when those who can do good, don’t.
Read with me beginning at Micah 3:9,
Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel,
who despise justice and distort all that is right; 10 who build Zion with bloodshed,
and Jerusalem with wickedness. 11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach
for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the
LORD and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us."
The entirety of chapter 3 is an indictment against the leaders of the nation. In verse 1
Micah says that the leaders should know justice – meaning they should be intimately acquainted
with how God wants them to act – but instead Micah says that they “hate good and love evil.”
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Here in verse 8 he says that the leaders of the nation, those charged with the task of doing good,
don’t! Instead of doing good they despise justice. That word “despise” literally means loathe.
They considered it a bother, a burden. When the issue of justice came up they thought it was
liberal; something social instead of spiritual. They were supposed to do good but instead they
took bribes and turned a blind eye to the issue. Yet all the while these leaders claimed, “Is not
the Lord among us?” Micah says this with an air of sarcasm because Micah understands that if
you claim to love God you must love justice because God is just. But the people had turned from
God and consequently they became blind to injustice. They ceased to do what was right.
ILLUSTRATION -- N.Y. Subway story; stepping over distressed woman.
Biblical injustice is when those who can do good, don’t. This, Micah says, was the
problem for the people of God. And it still is. We are supposed to be the solution, but instead…
those who can do good, don’t. We consider it a social problem; we consider that the task is just
too big and we are just too few. And yet Micah doesn’t give us an excuse. Micah tells us
exactly what God would have us do. Micah 6:6-8 reads:
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With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted
God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will
the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of
my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.
After accusing the people with being blind to injustice Micah calls them not simply to
confess and repent but, “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” It
isn’t that God doesn’t want confession or repentance or sacrifice; these are important things. But
worshipping a God who is just without ever personally embracing justice is a contradiction. And
so Micah calls us “act justly.” And understand that this wasn’t the first time God had mentioned
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this – as Micah says in verse 8, “He has showed you.” He has said this before. In fact, God has
said this a lot. Consider Isaiah 1:16-17 which puts it this way:
Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Or consider Zechariah 7:9-10 who says it in much the same way:
"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy
and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the
alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
The truth of the matter is that Scripture calls us to do justice hundreds of times in
hundreds of passages throughout the Bible, and yet even though it is rampant in the pages of
Scripture we continue to treat it as a social issue instead of a spiritual one. But Micah makes it
clear, it is a spiritual issue. It is spiritual because God is just. And it is spiritual because God
looks to us as a spiritual community to “do justice.” This is God’s heart, and it should be ours as
well.
So the question is, “How?” What does it mean to act justly? Well, I think God makes
that fairly clear. I think He actually wants us to do what He said in these passages – to care for
the widow and the orphan, the poor and the oppressed. I think that ‘act justly’ means exactly that
– that we are to live our lives with a constant awareness of justice and with every ‘action’
consider what does it look like to do justly here? Now? What does it look like to be fair in this
situation? Are my actions mirroring the heart of God by serving the interests of others, or do my
actions ignore the interests of others? The reality is that even the smallest actions can have a big
impact. Consider one action you take everyday, drinking coffee. One of our ministry partners,
Bright Hope World, is seeking to do justice in a very dark part of the world: Thailand. Thailand
is one of the leading nations in human trafficking and sexual slavery. Conditions are so bleak and
corruption so widespread that countless families sell their children to pimps just for the money.
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And it is so commonplace that few people care. Let me show you what injustice looks like…
take a look at the screens.
VIDEO CLIP [3:30]
Those are God’s children, and I think God’s heart aches at this injustice. And so Bright
Hope World entered Thailand and established a coffee trade because Thai farmers can earn more
money producing coffee than most anything else. So Bright Hope World helps train them and
get them started but they also pay Fair Trade prices to those farmers for their coffee so that the
farmers are guaranteed a just price for their labor ensuring that they don’t have to sell their
children off. This coffee is called La Mai coffee and, just to put it in perspective, one bag of this
coffee costs the equivalent of 2 young Thai girls for one hour. The proceeds of selling this
coffee and paying the farmers fair trade prices helps free girls from sexual slavery and it also
funds a ministry to help get them out, educate them, care for their diseases and heal the damage
to their souls. Coffee can do all that! Chase Oaks Church so believes in what they are doing that
we have committed to selling this coffee because we want to impact this injustice and free the
oppressed in Thailand. We get nothing for doing this – we simply believe it is the right thing to
do because it helps break the cycle of human trafficking and sexual slavery. So small actions do
matter and simply changing your coffee can make a difference. I’m going to invite you to
consider doing that – in fact, we ordered extra this weekend just in case you choose to. And by
the way, one cool thing about La Mai is that they just switched to a new roaster who happens to
attend our very own church so the coffee tastes better than ever and our own people are helping
with the cause. Small actions do matter.
But of course the problem isn’t just overseas. There are over 90 known brothels in the
city of Houston alone that are engaged in human trafficking for sex. Injustice is here. There are
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local ministries that you can get involved with to be a voice for those trapped in that industry.
But injustice isn’t just human trafficking; injustice is abuse. Injustice is when women or children
are beaten or abused. That matters to God. So we partner with a local women’s shelter and with
the Children’s Advocacy Center. Both of those places need volunteers. There are kids that need
foster parents. There are people needing refuge. You can do something about injustice.
Injustice happens when unfair lending practices take advantage of the poor or the elderly.
That was an issue in several of the Minor Prophet books we’ve studied and it is still an issue
today. When widows are taken advantage of God notices. When the poor are neglected God
cares. You can do something about injustice. You can adopt an orphan through Compassion or
World Vision. You can partner with us to feed the widows and orphans in Ethiopia. You can
help by partnering with God’s Food Pantry here to care for the poor. Give food, get involved! If
you own a business, lend with compassion. Give extra care to the needy. Do one pro-bono job
for a widow or someone in need a month. Why? Because you can and because it matters.
Injustice happens when those who can do good, don’t. I don’t want that to be us. I want
Chase Oaks to be a church that responds to the heart of God. You know, we may never be
superhero’s and I know that I, for one, don’t have super powers. But we can make a difference.
And God calls us to. My prayer is that we – as the church – would truly be God’s voice in the
world and that our voice would not be silent.
Let’s pray.
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Blind to Injustice
Blind Spots :: July 17/19, 2009
The Book of Micah
Biblical injustice is when those with power use it to abuse those without power.
Micah 2:1-3
Micah 2:6-9
Deut. 32:4
Biblical injustice is when those who can do good, don’t.
Micah 3:1-2
Micah 3:9-11
Micah 6:6-8
Isaiah 1:16-17
Zech. 7:9-10