Charlottesville Justice

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

On August 13 of this year, there was a deadly incident that occurred after two days of protests, counter-protests and confrontations. It ended with a young woman being struck and killed by a white supremacist who purposefully drove his car into a crowd. No matter where you turn today, the battle for justice seems to be lost.

The same was true during Jesus’ lifetime. He was born into a world where the invading Romans ruthlessly ruled and the Jewish religious leaders imposed their legalistic interpretation of the law, which was used to control the masses. It was used to judge and condemn. There was no mercy or grace.

Into this world, Jesus made a point of healing those who others would never touch. He didn’t differentiate who he loved based on their nationality, ethnicity or religion. He didn’t care whether you lived in poverty or were wealthy and powerful. He showed

justice for all.

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”   Luke 4:18-19 NIV

 God has instructed us that it is more important to live justly than to be religious.

⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, 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.   Micah 6:8 NIV

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, that because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the battle for justice in our own life is already won! Now it is up to us, to share that Good News justice with the world; to show God’s love and forgiveness to those who He has brought into our lives.

  

⁵⁶ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.       NLT

⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted as it would be if there were no resurrection.   TLB

Tom Izzo is Mr. March

Revelation 20:1-15

 

 

If you don’t know it by now, I’m a huge Michigan State sports fan. Not surprisingly, I believe that Tom Izzo is one of the best college basketball coaches active today. What is his secret to success? Accountability.

 

At the beginning of every school year he has all of his players write down their goals – individual, team, academic and off court. He then collects those goals and during the year if he sees that a player isn’t working towards his goals, Izzo will pull him aside and talk to him about it.

 

Consider Revelation 20. God keeps us all accountable. First, the angel bound Satan for a thousand years. Then after being released for a little while, Satan is thrown into the lake of fire. Finally, anyone whose name isn’t found in the book of life is thrown into the lake of fire.

 

Some of the images in this chapter could come right out of a Stephen King novel. But let’s think about this, not in a literal sense, but as a piece of the big picture of the Bible. If we don’t get bogged down in the details of it, what can we learn about our Heavenly Father? I would suggest these three things.

 

First, He is just; and He is true to His character. His yes is yes and His no is no. What this means is that He must judge evil. He must judge the unrighteous. He must judge us. He must keep us accountable. I don’t particular care for this lesson, but it’s there, and it’s true. However, there is Good News to go with this.

 

Because He is just, our sins have to be paid for. He did this by using the sacrificial system as a metaphor to show the Israelites in a tangible way the need for a sacrifice; the need for atonement; the need for redemption. The only way to pay for our sins was with a pure lamb, a spotless lamb – His son Jesus.

 

Therefore, the second lesson from this chapter is that God loves us so much that he sacrificed His one and only son so that we might know Him; so that we might not be thrown into the lake of fire; so that we might spend eternity with Him.

 

The final lesson is that God wins! He wins over Satan; over evil; over death. He wins in the end! Why is that important for us? Consider what John wrote in his first letter: “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world”. Ultimately, there is victory for us. Jesus will return.

 

Tom Izzo is known as Mr. March because of his record during March Madness. He knows how to win when it counts. He builds his team on accountability to help them be better; to help them win when it counts. God does the same thing for us. He keeps us accountable and paid the price for our sins. Because He wins, we win too.

 

So, who’s keeping you accountable?

 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2020%3A1-15&version=NIV;TLB
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Rev.20.1-Rev.20.15