Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
Worship

      • Luke 4:16–21ANGLNIV2011

  • It’s just not right

    On the 14th December last year news started filtering in during the evening that a massacre was taking place at Bondi. It was a targetted attack of Jewish people who were celebrating Hanukkah.
    We shook our heads - it’s just not right! How can something like this happen.
    In just this last week, we woke to the news on Tuesday morning, that the previous night, a 47-year old man in Campletown murdered his wife and two sons.
    Again we cry - it’s just not right! How can something like this happen.
    The truth is, domestic violence is everywhere. Story after story can be told, including stories within this very congregation.
    It’s just not right.
    This week I had contact with a man living on the streets. Now there might be a variety of reasons why someone ends up in a situation like this, and it could be easy to judge. I actually never learnt the specifics of this particular person, but generally speaking, I’ve found that when people have become homeless, they’ve usually been dealt a bunch of really rotten hands throughout life. They’re living the consequences of a really messed up world.
    It’s just not right.
    Every time we open the newspaper, we’re drawn to say - It’s just not right.
    It’s the refrain that seems to describe so much of what happens around us - it’s just not right.
    So the big question today: how do we respond to this reality around us?
    We are still in the middle of the “What’s love look like?” series, and so as we go through the question for today - that is, thinking about our response to the world that is just not rright - I want to be thinking about the way in which God’s love helps us navigate this response.

    Different responses

    Okay, well, there are a variety of ways in which we can respond to what is happening around us.
    We could completely freak out. This is where we go around telling anyone that will listen that it’s all too much and you’re so worried about where things are headed.
    Or if freak out is not your style, it could just be a deep grief. A tear falls when you read the next news article.
    Some might respond with a call to action. The struggle with this, is that the problem is not one small area. Giving meaningful attention to every area is just not practical for any individual. But even when you do, the problem is just too big. Take the problem of domestic violence as an example… as much as I’ll continue to cheer on those who are trying to combat this problem, and I’m thankful for the difference they can and do make, but the problem will never fully be eradicated.
    Another response might be to ignore it. I hear some people say these days - I don’t watch the news anymore because it’s too depressing. I get the sentiment, but ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It just makes it all the more confronting when a situation hits you personally.
    Some of these responses might have some merit, for example there is a time to just respond with tears, and there is a time to take action.
    But it’s worth asking - when Jesus came to earth, how did he respond?

    Response of Jesus

    Well, it’s worth noting, that while Jesus was in a very different time and place to us and so the problems he faced are very different in terms of the specifics… but there would have been just as much reason to exclaim - it’s just not right.
    That would have been the exclamation when the tax man extorted and cheated them, not just taking money for Rome, but unfairly lining their own pockets.
    When the rich exploited the poor and treated them terribly.
    When the blind and disabled were stripped of all dignity and forced to a life of begging.
    The first century Jew would have looked around, and just as much as we’d say today, would exlaim: it’s just not right.
    So what did Jesus do?
    Well, in Luke’s gospel, we’re told of a time early in the ministry of Jesus where he enters a synagogue in his home town of Nazareth. He’d already been preaching and teaching in various syngogues, but this is the first one in Luke’s gospel that we get any details about.
    Just imagine Jesus in this synagogue. Here in his home town, people would have known him. They would all remember him as a boy growing up. They would have interacted with him.… gone to weddings with him… travelled to Jerusalem with him… laughed and cried with him...
    But there is something different this time. You see him sit down, but there is a new purpose about him. People want to know what he has to say now.
    So it’s the Sabbath, and the gathering is just beginning. They get to the part where they read the scriptures. Jesus is given the opporunity to do that. So he stands up, and presumably someone who’s in charge of proceedings, hands Jesus a scroll, which just so happens to be the scroll of Isaiah.

    Reading the scroll

    He unrolls the scroll and it would seem he knows exactly where he wants to go.
    He finds what we call Isaiah 61. It’s perhaps worth noting that the chapters and verse numbering that we are familiar with didn’t exist back then, so he wouldn’t have referred to it as Isaiah 61.
    But nevertheless he finds the part he was looking for and then reads:
    “The Spirit of the Lord is one me, because he has anointed me to procalim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freddom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”.
    After reading this, he rolls it back up, hands it back to the attendant and thenn sits down.
    In this culture, you would stand to read, but the preaching would be done seated.
    He then proceeds to give what is perhaps the world’s shortest sermon, but perhaps one of the most profound.
    The sermon is this: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.

    The Kingdom of God

    What Jesus is essentially doing here, is announcing the start of his kingdom and letting people know what it’s going to be on about.
    In God’s Kingdom, the wrong is made right.
    But what we’ll learn is that the Kingdom of God is going to be of a different nature to every other kingdom of this wworld.
    This is actually where the Jews got things wrong. They assumed that the promises that they read in the Old Testament - that is to say, what they would have referred to simply as the scriptures… those promises pointed to a heavenly kingdom.
    It was a kingdom that was without boundaries.
    Every other kingdom has a boundary - when you cross over it, you are in a different kingdom. But in this kingdom, Jesus reign is over the whole earth.

    The nature of the kingdom

    But I just want to look at the nature of the kingdom for a moment.
    We get a sense of it when Jesus reads from Isaiah.
    Good news is proclaimed to the poor.
    You see, the poor are right in the middle of the: it’s just not right.
    Jesus is saying - in this kingdom there is something to look forward to. Things are going to change.
    There is freedom for the prisoner.
    Now, that’s not to say that there will be no justice. In fact, there is going to be perfect justice. But in this kingdom there is a new kind of freedom. People will no longer be held captive.
    There is going to be a recovery of the sight for the blind.
    Actually, when you look at all these things that Jesus is reading out, we’re going to see that it operates on both a literal and a figurative sense. We’ll see that blind people literal get their sight back in miraculous circumstances, but also there is a spiritual sight that is given as well.
    And we also see that the oppressed are set free.
    It’s going to be a change in the power balance. But unlike what we see in various worldly regimes, this is not about a bad regime being changed by an equally power hungry regime. When Jesus is in charge, it is a perfect system.
    When Jesus says: “Today this scripture is fullfilled in your hearing” - he is announcing that this new kingdom has begun.

    Now but not yet

    Now this is all fantastic and it should get you excited by a kingdom that changes everything.
    But you’d be forgiven if you’re sitting there thinking - but wait, if Jesus has established this kingdom and it’s all so wonderful, why are we still here making the same exclamation of: it’s just not right!?
    Was the kingdom not effective?
    Well, we have a little phrase which helps explain what’s going on.
    “Now, but not yet.”
    God’s kingdom is here now, but it is yet to be fully realised.
    It’s a tension that we have to hold together. It’s a tension that we see as we read through the New Testament. You see, when you’re reading through the gospel and see what Jesus has to say, you’ll see that he’ll often talk about the fact that the Kingdom of God is now here… that it has already come upon them. But then, you’ll also see Jesus talking about the kingdom in a future sense. The kingdom is coming.

    the kingdom yet to come

    We get the greatest picture of the kingdom yet to come in Revelation 21-22.
    If you haven’t read through these two chapters, I’d recommend taking the time to reading through them.
    In it we read the words: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”.
    We finally get a picture of where the wrong has been made right. A time when we will no longer say “it’s just not right”, because everything is made new.
    In Revelation 21:5 it says: “He who was seated on the throne [that is, Jesus] said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.””
    This final culmination of God’s kingdom will be fully realised when Jesus comes again.
    So we are living in this period we describe as the “now but not yet”.
    And in this period, we effectively become dual citizens. We are citizens of this earth, but also citizens of heaven at the same time.

    Seeing the world through a kingdom lens

    So let’s bring this back to the question I’ve been exploring.
    I’ve been trying to explore this idea of how we respond to this world that is just not right.
    As citizens of heaven, we tasted thee delights of the kingdom already. We’ve experienced the shalom, that is, the way things should be. We’ve experienced the freedom and the hope.
    But we also constantly experience the ills of this world.
    But this gives us a unique perspective. Because we see the difference the kingdom makes while still not being ignorant of the fact that things will not be as they should be before the return of Christ.
    A “now but not yet” perspective, helps us hold two realities in tension.

    being an inbetweener

    And I want to now introduce a new term.
    As people living in this tension of this ‘now but not yet’, we can be described as inbetweeners.
    Inbetweeners are people that are part of the kingdom, and as such are part of the positive change that is happening in this world.
    Inbetweeners work towards kingdom goals.
    While inbetweeners might become involved in activist sort of roles, it is much bigger than this - and that is because it recognises that the growth of the kingdom is not up to them, but rather through the work of the Holy Spirit.
    But an inbetweener says, I want to partner with the Spirit to see amazing things happen.
    An inbetweener recognises that Jesus was the one that initiated this new kingdom and he is the one that will bring about it’s culmination.
    This is why being an inbetweener gives us a new approach to how we should respond to a world that is just not right.

    Application

    But what does this mean in practical terms.
    Well, there can be a lot of applications. When we see things that are not right, we enter into it with an eager expectation. We enter knowing that Jesus makes real changes.
    We look for practical help that we can give. That might mean making someone a meal who is going through a hard time. It might mean sitting with someone going through grief. It might mean helping a domestic violence survivor moves house.
    But knowing that it is Jesus that makes the real change we show people the hope of Jesus. We pray with them and for them. We let them know that they are loved.

    Prayer walk

    One thing that you can try is a prayer walk.
    As you walk around your neighbourhood, pray specifically for the people in each of the houses. Pray that they may find hope in a hopeless world.
    Take time to observe what is happening in your community. Where do you see signs of brokeness? Pray for them.
    Pray for openings. For conversations to happen so that you can be a change agent in their life.
    As you go around, also ask the Spirit - where is the kingdom breaking in? Where is God being active.
    Where God is being active - join in.
    These sort of prayer walks are one way we can be an inbetweener.

    Hospitality

    But let me make another suggestion...
    Open up your table to the community around you.
    Invite your neighbours for a coffee or for a meal.
    There is something very special when we sit around a table together.
    Now, I know some of you will have a gift of hospitality and this will come naturally to you. If this is not something that comes as naturally, it doesn’t mean you can’t invite someone over.
    When we invite people over, not only do we have an opportunity to share the hope that we have, but we also start pushing against isolation and division.
    We break the barriers, and in the process, start to reflect the kingdom values.

    Conclusion

    There are many ways that we can practically see ourselves as inbetweeners.
    So looking at this now from the bigger perspective of our series of “What’s Love Looks Like?”, we see that Jesus establishing his kingdom here on earth is an expression of his love.
    And so when we act as inbetweeners as I’ve described it, this too is a way that we show love to others.
    In the process of acting as inbetweeners, we also are reminded that there is more to come.
    A day is coming when Jesus will return, and on that day, you will no longer hear anyone say: it’s just not right… because all things will be made new.
    While we long for that day, we continue to be people who partner with the Spirit in seeing God’s kingdom here on earth.
    This should shape the way that we do mission.
    Let me pray...
Tanilba Bay Baptist Church
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