When Justice Becomes Worship - World Refugee Day | Zach Wylie

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Today and this week as

we look at World Refugee Day and week is an opportunity

for us to ask God, what are you saying to me?

And so the title of today is when justice becomes

worship because those things are intricately

combined. And the hope is that we would move

from people who are just proximate to something

that we see, and that we'd actually move into

participation with the community that's around

us. And so we'll look at Ezekiel chapter 3, Isaiah

Ezekiel 3 · chapter mention

58, and Matthew chapter 25. But first, good morning.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

It's been a long, long week. And to come into

this space on Sunday for some of us is potentially

one of the only safe places that we have to be

throughout the course of the week. And so welcome

to our refugee brothers and sisters. Welcome

to those who have faced uncertainty this week

at multiple different levels of life. And welcome

to you who might feel like, that's not me. You're

not on the outside, you're part of that. And

so this is a moment where the global church is

invited to stop, to pray, and then to act. And

I like that it starts with stop, leads to prayer,

and then into action. There are over 114 million

people displaced worldwide. And if you watched

the news in the last week, you know that that

number only continues to grow. And amidst that

number, over 35 million are refugees. And like

I said, that number is growing daily. And right

here in Bangkok, there are urban refugees that

are part of our city, part of our neighborhoods,

part of our schools, part of our church. You

pass them walking up the stairs. They're helping

mentor and disciple our students. They're playing

instruments on the stage. Some of them are your

neighbors. We are it. Some are awaiting resettlement,

some are appealing denied claims, others have

lived here for over a decade, and they're waiting

for private sponsorship after exhausting every

possible legal path they could. But let me say

this clearly to us today. This is not a message

for them, it's a message for all of us. This

isn't an us and them, this is a we, this is an

us thing. For those with much to give, this is

a message for you. For those who are already

going and serving, this is a message for you.

For those who are experiencing injustice, this

is a message for you. For those unsure or why

they should respond, this is a message for you.

We're all sinners. Let's start there. We are

all sinners saved by grace and we follow a savior.

A Savior who deserved justice, but received the

cross so that we, so that the world might live.

And so this is a message of invitation. It's

a message of conviction. It's a message of grace.

And so today we'll hear scripture. We'll reflect

on the suffering Christ. We've already seen a

short video from one of our sisters. And we'll

be invited to consider what our role in the work

of justice is. When you head out or maybe when

you came in this morning, you walked past a table

where they were selling samosas and they were

selling handbags and there's an opportunity to

scan a QR code to see if you wanted to be part

of a team that went and visited those who are

in the detention centers. So we're highlighting

our partner Life Raft as well, but we're also

inviting you to potentially consider joining

being part of a team that visits refugees and

those in detention. So Lord, We want to hear

you, we want to see you, and we want to respond

to you. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you lead

us to truth. And so as we jump into different

portions of Scripture, Holy Spirit, would you

help all of that make sense to each of the individuals

that are here? Those who would say, I don't even

know Jesus, but somebody invited me. Help your

word get into a part of their mind and heart.

that maybe they've never allowed your word to

go. Those of us who know you, who have heard

you, but have distanced ourselves from the idea

of justice and have let it be somebody else's,

Lord, would you lead us closer to responding

in a way that honors you, we pray. Amen. All

right. So there's this guy named Ezekiel. And

he's a priest that has turned into a prophet.

And he's writing during one of the darkest chapters

of Israel's history. It's about 597 BC, and he's

been taken into exile in Babylon, along with

about 10 ,000 other people, nobles, artisans,

leaders. And they've left behind a nation that

is in spiritual and political ruin. from a place

of privilege, but from a place of pain, from

a place of displacement. And he's living in a

refugee -type camp of sorts near to the Kibar

River in Babylon, and he's surrounded by disillusioned,

by traumatized people who had lost their land,

they'd lost their temple or their church, and

they had lost their hope. And Ezekiel here says,

and I sat where they sat for seven days overwhelmed.

And so God calls Ezekiel the prophet from not

a pulpit, but from the dirt of exile. And what's

his first assignment? His first assignment is

not to speak, not to act, but to sit. I sat where

they sat for seven days, overwhelmed. In Hebrew,

the word shemem is used and it's translated as

overwhelmed or astonished. Have you ever? Being

in an environment or in a place where you sit

and you are, it can also mean desolate, to feel

desolate, to be laid waste, to be stunned into

silence. Have you ever been in a moment where

you've seen, heard, or experienced something

that made you stunned into silence? It's not

a polite emotion. It's the wreckage of compassion.

And so Ezekiel literally sits in their suffering

until it breaks him. And I think this has deep

relevance for us. So today, as we reflect on

refugees and injustice, some of us might feel

the impulse to just do something big or fix something

fast. But Ezekiel reminds us. Before you speak,

before we speak, before I speak to a hurting

world, you have to sit in it. Before you claim

to understand, you must first be willing to be

undone. And that is where justice begins. Not

from a distance, somebody else's responsibility.

but from sitting in somebody else's pain. And

so we continue reading Isaiah, which it wrote

about 100, 150 years prior to this. And Isaiah

writes, is not this the kind of fasting I have

chosen? to loose the chains of injustice, to

set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter?

And so Isaiah here is a prophet during a time

of spiritual showmanship and social injustice.

What? Spiritual... Showmanship and social injustice,

looking like everything's good on the outside,

but what's actually going behind scenes is not

okay. And so these people are religiously active,

but they're spiritually disconnected. Religiously

active, but spiritually disconnected. See, they

had returned from exile and the churches reopened

or the temple rituals had resumed. The fasting

had resumed. The prayers had resumed. And as

all of these good outward things are resuming,

oppression was on the rise. Neglect of the poor

was on the rise. And corruption in the workplace

and even within the temple was on the rise. And

so these people were outwardly faithful. Everything

looked good and polished out here, but they were

inwardly fractured. They sought God in worship,

but they ignored him in the street. And God calls

it out. Isaiah 58 reads a bit like a courtroom

scene. God comes and he brings an indictment

against his people, and he doesn't just say,

stop fasting. He says, you've misunderstood what

it's for. He said, is not this kind of fasting

I have chosen to loose the chains of injustice,

to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share? Is it not to share your food

with the hungry and to provide poor wanderer

with shelter? And so this idea of fasting in

this moment comes from this idea of abstaining

from food. But Isaiah is not using it here like

as a don't eat food. It's symbolic. It's a bit

of an abstract thought. Because what God is essentially

saying here is you think that you're getting

my attention by skipping a meal. But I don't

want you to skip a meal. I want you to skip apathy.

And so true worship, God says, must be integrated.

What happens in the temple, in the church, should

shape how we treat our neighbor. What happens

in the temple should shape how we treat our neighbor.

I want you to skip apathy. Tim Keller, an American

minister who writes extensively on this idea

of social justice, reflecting on what this might

look like in Isaiah's time, paraphrases Isaiah

as this. If you don't have a relationship, if

you don't have a relationship with the poor and

oppressed, then you don't have a relationship

with Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, World War II.

You may have read... His text, The Cost of Discipleship,

he's lamenting what's taking place in the church

at this time as Jews are being dragged off to

concentration camps and are being murdered. And

he says, only those who cry out for the oppressed

are permitted to sing. So why are people who

are singing these worship songs to God not equally...

praying out and calling out for God to release

the oppressed. And so what he's essentially saying

here is, if you're not crying out for the oppressed,

then you shouldn't be singing worship songs.

Which makes me think, would we have a quiet church?

And so, here's where it hits me today. Here's

where it hits us today. We're, I'll just say

me. because I don't want anyone to throw something.

I am prone. I am prone to lift my hands in worship,

but sometimes I pass, or I might even scroll

past suffering. I sing songs of injustice, but

sometimes I don't even make room for the stranger.

Sometimes I fast my screen, or I fast a meal,

but maybe what I need to be fasting is greed

or busyness. And for me, and for you, for we,

God's rebuke in this moment isn't to shame us.

It's actually an opportunity to recalibrate what's

happening in us. Because Isaiah 58 ends not in

condemnation, but with a promise. As they begin

to wake up to their apathy, he says, if you pour

out yourself for the hungry and satisfy, he continues,

then your light will rise in the darkness. The

Lord will guide you always, and you will be like

a well. watered garden, if you pour yourself

out. And so justice isn't about disobedience.

It's actually about how we get our soul back.

Justice isn't about our obedience. It's about

how we get our soul back. It's about alignment.

And so this is the kind of integrity that Jesus

will affirm and then he begins to confront in

Matthew chapter 25. And so let's read it together.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

So let's step into the scene for a moment. This

is coming at the end of Jesus' public ministry.

So this is pre -Easter, just before he's arrested.

And he's hanging out with his disciples, speaking

privately to them. And he launches into this

discourse days before the cross, where he begins

to teach about the end times. He begins to teach

about judgment. and what kind of life matters

in the kingdom of God. And then he tells them

this stunning parable. So a parable is like a

teaching that helps reveal a deeper spiritual

reality. So he has this final teaching moment

to begin to describe how God will judge the nations.

And what's shocking is it's not based on religious

status. His judgment is not based on doctrinal

correctedness. It's not even on miracles or achievements.

The criteria is, did you feed me when I was hungry?

Did you give me something to drink? Did you welcome

me when I was a stranger? Did you visit me when

I was in prison? And here's the surprise. Both

groups, the righteous and those who had turned

away, are like confused. And Jesus answers, whatever

you did for one of the least of these brothers

and sisters of mine, you did for me. And if we

pause on that phrase, the least of these, It

might rise a question in our hearts. See, this

idea of least of these in Greek means the smallest,

the lowliest, the overlooked. This isn't just

economically poor, but the socially invisible.

The ones that culture often passes over for any

number of reasons. And notice that Jesus doesn't

say, they reminded me of me. He says, that was

me. And so Jesus fully identifies with the vulnerable.

He places himself in their place. And I think

this should reshape how we see the world. Because

it means that the people we're most likely to

ignore are often the places that Jesus is most

powerfully present. The places that we most likely

ignore are often the places that Jesus is most

powerfully present. And so when we watch the

video of our refugee sister today, who spent

months in an immigration center in... we're not

just hearing about her story. We're actually

encountering Christ in her story. We're not just

hearing about her story. We're actually encountering

Christ in her story. And if we tune that out,

not just emotionally, but spiritually, Jesus'

warning is really clear. And so this passage

is not just about humanitarian action. It's actually

about spiritual perception. Spiritual perception

moves us to humanitarian action, but this passage

is not about humanitarian action. It's about

spiritual perception to perceive how you see

something. It's about whether or not that we've

actually really allowed grace to truly rewire

how we see others and ultimately how we let grace

rewire how we see him. So Jesus didn't only identify

with the poor and the vulnerable. The God of

the universe became one. It's different, right?

I can identify with. He didn't just identify

with the poor. He became one. And that's where

we go next. Jesus didn't just die for us. He

died with us. And so, again, just pause for a

moment and take a look at Jesus, not just as

Savior, but as the suffering servant. So sometimes,

if you're like me, We talk about Jesus or we

think about Jesus as though he arrived on earth

in a clean white robe and he never got his hands

dirty. When I was growing up, I saw pictures

of Swedish Jesus, blonde hair, blue eyes, robe

kind of flowing. And then when he talks in movies,

it was in a way that nobody ever talked, but

it was Jesus. So that must have been how he would

talk. But the incarnation, meaning Jesus, God

in flesh, incarnation, is far messier and far

more profound than Swedish Jesus. Think about

it. Jesus was born in poverty, not in a palace,

but in a feeding trough. He became a refugee

in Egypt. He was fleeing state violence under

King Herod. He was homeless during his public

ministry. And he said the son of man has no place

to lay his head. He was betrayed. He was unjustly

accused. He was tortured by the state. And he

was executed alongside criminals. And all of

this, all of this was done. Not because he lacked

power, but because he refused to save himself

in order to save us. The king of glory emptied

himself not just to serve, but to suffer. And

so God doesn't just care about the poor. He became

poor. And this is the scandal, the upside down

nature, the like, what? That really can happen?

That God didn't just say from above, this cosmic

genie staying out of the mess, and oh, look at

those people just messing things up, and maybe

I'll sprinkle a little bit of this there, do

something. No, no, no, no. He stepped under the

weight of human pain. And so to follow Jesus

is not only to worship the risen Christ, it's

actually to walk the road of the crucified one.

It means that we don't just acknowledge suffering

from afar and abdicate responsibility to somebody

else or just say, I've given my money and that's

enough. It means that we choose, in love, to

get close. So it means something incredibly personal.

If you're hurting, if you've forgotten, if you

feel rejected, or if you feel treated unjustly,

know this. Jesus has been there. He stands with

you, and he bears it with you. And he invites

all of us. whether we're on the mountaintop or

whether in the valley of life, to meet him in

the margins. So what does this mean for our worship,

which is how we give ourselves to God? We turn

back to Isaiah 58. If you spend yourself on behalf

of the hungry. We earlier heard about God's rebuke.

of this performative faith looks good on the

outside, but what's really going on. But what's

neat is that chapter doesn't end in confrontation.

If you read it, it's kind of cool. It turns into

this most hope -filled vision of worship and

justice in all of scripture. God says, if you

spend yourself on behalf of the hungry and satisfy

the needs of the oppressed, you will become.

And this idea of becoming, it means to give something,

but to give your breath, to give your soul, to

give yourself, to satisfy the needs. If you spend

yourself, if you give your breath, your soul,

yourself, not just something. Because he's not

asking for shallow gestures. He's calling us

to a life of, get this, integrated worship, where

what happens in our hearts flows out into the

streets, the spaces that go beyond this. Where

worship isn't just what happens in a church building,

it's how we respond to the image of God in the

streets, to my neighbor, to the person behind

me, to the person in front of me, to the person

beside me. And here's what's radical about it.

Justice isn't when you worship. Justice isn't

a detour from discipleship. It's actually a sign

that you're on the right road. Or in other words,

justice is not the alternative to worship. It's

actually the fruit of worship. Justice is not

the alternative to worship. It's the fruit. So

we're not called to balance worship and justice.

We're called to embody both because they're inseparable

in the kingdom of God. So Isaiah continues and

God promises, then your light will rise in the

darkness. The Lord will guide you always. You

will be like a well -watered garden. And this

isn't a punishment. This is an invitation. God

is saying, come and experience my presence, not

just in song, but in sacrifice, not just in silence,

but in solidarity. And so hear me. We don't do

justice to earn salvation. We do justice because

salvation has already transformed us. And it's

the outflow of this, the outflow of salvation,

acknowledging Christ our risen Savior has died

for my sin, for your sin. The outflow of this

is worship. And the outflow of worship is justice

because they're inseparable in the kingdom of

God. And so we go back to Ezekiel. where we left

him off sitting and feeling overwhelmed by what

was going on. And we discover there's a bit of

a unique pattern for us here to move from proximity

to participation. And I remember a number of

years ago, I was watching a sermon that was online

on YouTube when it first came, and there was

this guy named Rich Villotis who began teaching

about this, and I thought, that's fantastic.

And so as I was preparing for today, I remembered,

like, oh, this is great. So I went back to it.

So this isn't mine. I stole it from somebody,

or I'm borrowing it, okay? And you should go

online. and watch the message about it because

it's way better than what I'm going to give you

in the next five minutes, okay? So remember,

before Ezekiel even speaks a word, he's led by

the Spirit to sit among the exiles for seven

days, overwhelmed. So what's our pathway to move

from proximity to participation? Number one.

We're spirit -led. This thing that we're going

to talk about, it's a bit more than a detail.

There's a unique pattern here. And you might

want to refer to it as your justice formation

journey. So how do you move towards justice,

this journey? So here's five movements that we

can take from Ezekiel's experience and Jesus'

life as we try to move from awareness to action.

So number one, he's spirit -led. In Ezekiel 3

.14, we read, the Spirit lifted me up and it

took me away. For those of you who don't know

Jesus, or this is your first time here, you might

be thinking, the Spirit lifted somebody up and

took them away? You should start getting into

this stuff. There's even crazier things that

happen in there. But what's unique is that God's

Holy Spirit can inspire thought within us. He

can lead us. There's something we feel compelled

in. I need to go this direction. I don't know

why, but I feel compelled. Paul talks about,

I felt compelled by the Holy Spirit. And sometimes

there's people in this room who feel compelled

to do something because the Holy Spirit leading

them towards something. And so Ezekiel's movement

towards justice starts with the Spirit. He doesn't

just volunteer or create some strategy, but he's

actually carried by God, inspired by God. And

likewise, Jesus says, the Spirit of the Lord

is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim

the good news to the poor. So Jesus didn't just

show up and do something because he thought this

would be good. He was also inspired by the Spirit.

And so we don't act out of guilt. We act because

we are led. And so here's a series of questions

that are attached to each of these questions.

Pathways or movements. Number one, when we think

about being spirit -led, what would it look like

for you to ask God, where are you already moving

and how can I join you there? God, where are

you already moving and how can I join you there?

So you would begin with being spirit -led. You

haven't even acted yet. No action. The only action

is God. Where are you? Already moving. And how

can I join you there? Number two, sit. Ezekiel

says, I came to the exiles and I sat where they

sat for seven days. So justice, I would suggest

to us, begins with presence, not pronouncements

or announcements. And so just like Jesus, God

and Jesus made his dwelling among us. We're invited

to enter into other people's worlds. And that

means we need to ask ourselves, whose pain am

I close enough to feel? Whose pain am I close

enough to feel? And then there's silence. Allow

for silence to begin to reshape you. Ezekiel

says, I sat there among them for seven days,

overwhelmed. Ezekiel says nothing for a week.

That would be a miracle of God in my life. Jesus,

too, responded with silence in the face of accusation

and then even in suffering. And some of us need

to hear this. Silence isn't in action. It's a

spiritual discipline of making space. Silence

isn't in action. It's a spiritual discipline

of making space. Why do I say that? Because some

of us are just good at making noise. So ask,

when was the last time I let somebody else's

story reshape me? What do you mean? Well, in

order to be silent and let somebody else's story

reshape you, you need to ask, what's your story?

What's your story? Sorrow. As Ezekiel sits, he's

led to sorrow. He's grieved. Scripture told us

he's overwhelmed. He feels so deeply. And in

the same way we read that Jesus wept, and in

Lamentations we hear how God had streams of tears

flow from his eyes because he was overwhelmed

at what he saw happening to his people. My people

are destroyed. Ezekiel was overwhelmed. Jesus

grieved at tombs. He grieved over cities. Jesus

grieved in the garden. And so justice for me

and for us isn't just about our courage. It's

actually about our compassion. So grief, if you've

ever experienced it, or if you are in it right

now, it shapes us to not act from anger, but

from love. And so maybe you need to ask the question,

have I let the weight of brokenness move me?

Have I let the weight of brokenness move me?

And so here we are at the end of his seven days,

and the word of the Lord comes to him, and he

says, Son of man, I have made you a watchman.

A watchman is to stand guard and warn. And so

only after being led, sitting, listening, and

grieving, does Ezekiel speak. Jesus, too, slow

to speak. but very clear and very courageous

when he did. And the older I get, and the less

I try to talk, the more I realize that my voice

only has weight when shaped by love and proximity.

Our voice has weight only when shaped by love

and proximity. And so perhaps you need to ask,

What is mine to say and what is mine to act?

Think the irony or the humor in it, and Rich

points this out in his sermon, is that we often

go in reverse. We speak, we say something, and

then we're like, oh, that was pretty bad. Probably

shouldn't have said that. I'm going to be quiet.

Probably shouldn't have said that. And then after

quiet, we think, man, I should probably sit down.

and ask God to speak to me and forgive me. But

what we're suggesting is instead of starting

with action and something, that you'd actually

start on the opposite. You'd be led by the Spirit.

What do I got to say? Nothing. Sit. Listen. Allow

for silence. Experience the emotion of the people

that are around you. It's called empathy. And

then speak only after being formed. and broken

open. Some closing thoughts then. We don't do

this. We don't do justice. We don't do worship

because we're saviors. It's like, we can do it

all. No. We do this because we're saved. We do

this because he sat where we sat. We do this

because he bore our pain. We do this because

he gave himself fully, not just for us, but with

us. And now he says, whatever you do for the

least of these, you do for me. In summary, then,

let's let our worship be more than words. Let

it be justice. Let it be love. Let it be Christ.

Because all of us have to ask ourselves the question,

what do I need to do to respond now that I've

been informed, now that I've been inspired to

look inside? There's an invitation to respond.

And so some of you might feel like I need to

give. I've never given. I had no idea that there

were people around me who needed me to give my

time, my energy, my resources. Some of you might

think, I need to grow in understanding what's

going on in this community. I've really had no

idea. I've just heard, but I need to grow in

knowledge and understanding. Some of you know,

but you're like, I've always wanted to visit,

but I really never knew how I could do that.

So let's be people who sit, who listen far before

we speak. And may the voice of God be louder

than the voice of the world and lead us to be

people who respond. Amen? Whether near or far,

if you are looking for community or are in need

of prayer, we welcome you to engage by sending

us an email to office at ecb .asia. If God is

calling you to support our ministries, you will

find giving options on our website. And remember

to join us next week. God bless you.