For All People: Where Justice and Mercy Meet | Part 2

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

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Well, happy Easter.

I'm so glad to have you join us today.

My name's Ryan.

And down through the centuries, there's been this call and response by the church, especially on Easter, where uh one person says he's risen and the other says he's risen indeed.

Now I know we're online and we can't really do that call and response, but I was thinking perhaps I could say he's risen and you could type in the chat, he's risen indeed.

And for sure, if you'd do this for me, would you just uh write where you're watching from and just be fun to be all together in this moment?

So he's risen and go ahead, type that down in the chat, and we'd love to know where you're viewing from.

Now, in our time together, I want us to wrestle just with one question.

And here it is.

What if God is really for you?

I mean, think about it.

What if the God of the universe is like fundamentally for you and wild about you?

What if he's actually not against you or down on you, waiting to somehow make sure, you know, if you did something wrong, he's gonna whack you?

What if he's not even apathetic or distant?

What if God is actually for you?

You know, the staggering good news of Easter is that in Christ, God is actually for all people.

He loves you with a relentless passion, he's pursuing you, he's your biggest advocate.

And no matter what you've done or who you are, he is for you.

He's for all people.

Now the problem.

Now the problem is internally, you do this and I do this.

There's just this something that happens that goes, yeah, but isn't there?

Even as if you're a follower of Jesus, you hear as God's for you.

Yeah, but ah, yeah, I know he's for me.

Does he love me?

Yeah, does he really like me?

Yeah, but and and here's the reason why, or at least in part, intuitively, uh, we sense that there's two almost irreconcilable ideas, two irreconcilable needs in our world, in our life, or realities.

They're two words, in fact.

Uh you may have never put uh word to it this way, but it's the idea of justice and the idea of mercy.

And and we go in this reality, we need both of them, but we're not exactly sure how to experience both at the same time.

You see, justice, um, justice has been used a lot lately, hasn't it?

And it's been defined in lots of different ways.

And I thought just for our time, let's use the most basic or elementary definition of justice.

Justice is simply getting what you deserve.

And in our world, we need justice, isn't it?

We we want justice for those uh those who enact hate or evil, those who go on a shooting rampage, right?

And we long that justice is served, that they get what they deserve.

You see, justice is just the consequences, both good or bad, of what we've done.

And we all want people to be treated equally, fairly, justly, especially quote, bad people.

Except, and here's the tension, except when it comes to ourselves.

Isn't it true?

When it comes to ourselves, we don't necessarily always want justice or to get what we deserve unless it's justice in the good sense, maybe perhaps a promotion that we were unjustly overlooked for.

And then, yes, we want justice, however, when it's not so good.

Maybe when it's bad, we actually uh well, we don't really want justice.

We want something entirely different, don't we?

Don't I?

See, we want mercy instead of justice.

See, mercy is not getting what you deserve.

See, mercy is turning that paper in late and and saying, I I still hope, I still wish I get full credit on that.

Mercy is when you've acted or spoken in a way that's completely broken trust and relationship, but you hope they'll overlook it.

You go, you know, I just would you give me a break?

It was a bad day.

I was stressed, I didn't mean it.

Mercy is when you when you run that red light or you speed and you get pulled over, and you go, would you just let me get off this one time?

See, justice, it's getting what we deserve.

And our world needs justice.

And mercy is getting what we do not deserve or not getting what we deserve, and we long for that.

See, when we look at the chaos and the brokenness of our world, we can't help but see we need justice, and then when we look inside into the chaos and the brokenness of our life, we can't help but say, we need mercy, and therein lies the tension.

Can God be just and merciful at the same time?

And when I approach him, how does he respond to me?

Is it justly?

Does he give me what I deserve?

Mercy, not getting what I deserve?

How does he respond to me?

And how do I really know that God is for me?

Well, Easter.

Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus, is actually the place where justice and mercy meet together.

And so during our time, I actually want to tell you a not so Easter-ish story to help unpack this incredibly profound Easter reality that justice and mercy met in this Easter moment.

And so we can say God is for us.

And so I want to tell you the story of the Apostle Paul and how he encountered the resurrected Jesus on his way to Damascus.

I want to tell you about an encounter he had with Jesus that forever changed his life.

Now, if you don't know the Apostle Paul, he wasn't always called the Apostle Paul.

He was actually called Saul of Tarsus, and he wasn't one of the original disciples of Jesus or first followers.

In fact, he was on the opposite side.

He was a Pharisee, he was an antagonist.

In fact, he hated followers of Jesus.

And as this movement sprang up in Jerusalem, he's he's looking for any way that he can stop this movement in their tracks.

In fact, he's going out of his way to imprison and even kill followers of Jesus.

And the Jewish high priests in Jerusalem, they're feeling threatened by this movement, and they've given Paul full authority and power to do this.

He took it as his personal mission and vendetta to stamp out Jesus' followers.

This is Saul of Tarsus, who would one day be called Paul the Apostle, who would one day write much of the New Testament.

But in this moment, in this moment, he had enacted such terror on Christian Jewish believers that they're fleeing from Jerusalem.

And well, I mean, they're running for their lives.

And Paul says, I got them on the run.

I want to go after them.

A lot of them ran to Damascus.

No, Damascus, about 140 miles from Jerusalem.

And they're hiding out there thinking, hey, maybe we'll be safe here.

Paul goes to the high priest and uh the Jewish leader and says, Would you give me papers to go to Damascus?

So if I find any believers, I can arrest them and bring them back here, whether men or women or whatever.

And they say, Go on your way.

And they actually sent him with some tough guys, some uh, some uh, you know, kind of like uh, what do you call it, officers that were gonna help him do these things.

And this is where we pick up the story where Paul had an encounter that forever changed his life.

In Acts chapter 9, it says, as he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

I can only imagine him going like, persecute you.

Well, I've put a lot of people in prison, but you're not one of them.

What do you mean, persecute you?

But he knew something was going on.

I love his response.

He's like, Who are you, Lord?

I don't know who you are, but here's what I do know.

Whoever you are, you're God, your Lord, you're in control, and I'm not.

And then the voice responds, the man responds, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

You can just imagine Saul in that moment.

Think about this.

He's knocked down, brilliant light, hearing this powerful voice, seeing Jesus, and he's going, Now I'm going to get what I deserve.

And I've been persecuting his followers and even killing and imprisoning them.

And now it's time.

The reckoning is here.

I'm knocked down on the ground and I'm never going to get up.

And Jesus goes on.

He says, Now get up and go into the city, and you'll be told what you must do.

Get up.

No, no, no.

This isn't the end of the story for you.

Well, Saul gets up from the light, he's blinded.

And I just think that's actually an incredible grace of Jesus.

The last image for Paul, think about this, was Jesus.

And for three days he's blinded, he's fasting and praying.

And the last thing he can't look at his circumstances, he can't look at himself, he can't look at all the only last image in his mind was Jesus.

And he's praying and he's being drawn to Jesus.

And so Jesus shows up to a man in Damascus named Ananias.

He was a follower of Jesus in a vision.

And he goes to Ananias and he says this.

He says, Go to the house of Judas on Strait Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul.

He's praying.

And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias and come to this place, uh, come and place hands on him to restore his side.

You can only imagine.

Ananias, everybody's heard about Saul of Tarsus coming.

Come on.

Here's the guy that unleashed a reign of terror in Jerusalem on followers of Jesus.

We fled to here, and now he's coming here to arrest us, imprison us, bring us back.

Are you kidding me?

You want me to go to who?

I don't think so.

You might have got the wrong address, Jesus.

Are you sure it was Judas on Straight Street?

I think it's another, you know, Straight Street, something like that.

It can't be Saul of Tarsus.

And Jesus responds, Go.

The man is my chosen instrument to proclaim to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

No, you don't get it, Ananias.

Like I've chosen him.

You chose who?

Saul?

You chose Saul.

I mean, think about it like in elementary playground days.

Do you remember that when you had the lineup of people and you're picking your teams and you're choosing?

Like Saul's not even like the last kid picked.

Saul's not even in the lineup.

Saul's the bully, bullying all the kids lined up to pick, and he goes, I choose you.

And Aeneas is going, like, oh my gosh.

Okay, okay, Jesus, whatever you say.

And he shows up.

It's so powerful, so incredible.

He shows up and he puts his hands on Saul.

Saul had showed up to Damascus to put his hands on disciples and drag them to Jerusalem.

And Ananias puts his hands on Saul to heal him.

And he says this, this is powerful.

Brother Saul.

Not not enemy.

Not not reject.

Not how could you?

His first words were, Brother.

Welcome to the family of God.

He says, Brother Saul, notice what he says.

The Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me to you so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And immediately the text says that something like scales fell from Saul's eyes.

He has sight, he's seeing, and he says, Hey, I want to get baptized.

I am a part now of the family.

The Damascus Road, Paul had an encounter that changed his life.

And by the way, it's likely that no one was thinking Saul was a candidate to be saved when he departed for Damascus to persecute the disciples.

Never count God out and never count anyone out.

See, in this count, in this story, in the Damascus road, we actually see how God responds to every single one of us.

And how he calls us.

And the amazing mercy of Jesus and the God who's for us.

Let me tell you, this amazing mercy, think about this.

No matter where you're at, what you've done, who you are, what's going on in your life, mercy not getting what you deserve.

Listen to this.

There is no path you can go down where Jesus is not lovingly pursuing you.

There is no path that you can head down, that you can go down, that Jesus is not also at the same time saying, I'm pursuing you, I'm pursuing you, and I'm not pursuing you to put you in your place.

I'm not pursuing you to make sure, you know, you stop doing, I'm pursuing you because I love you.

I'm lovingly pursuing you.

Paul, think about this.

Paul on the road to Damascus is headed to persecute Jesus followers.

And Jesus says, I want to interrupt that because I love you.

On that road, on the Damascus road, I'll interrupt.

This year, this year's been a turbulent year in the past year, hasn't it?

And it has quite literally knocked so many of us down.

And for many, isn't it true?

We've maybe walked down some paths we never intended to walk down.

Headed in a direction you never thought you would head, made some decisions because life was hard, because life was stressful, because life was chaotic, all these becausees, but where whatever the because was led you to a place you're looking up and going, How did I get here?

Maybe you walked away from Jesus.

Maybe you feel distant from God.

Maybe you made some decisions that are undermining your relationships or your peace.

Maybe you stepped into an addiction.

And whatever that path is, there's this lie that says, No, you're too far gone, you're too far down the road.

I love that it says, just before he got to Damascus.

Like he was just there.

He was almost there.

He was almost there.

And then God says, I'm here.

You're still not too far away.

You know, over COVID, I was sitting and talking with a buddy, and he went down a really dark path.

Really painful, made some decisions that really threatened to undermine his entire life, his family, his career, his future, all these things.

And I remember, you know, it was maybe six months ago or so sitting with him, and this is just about as that path was being found out.

He said this to me.

Ryan, you don't know what I've done.

And if you knew what I've done, you wouldn't be around me and you wouldn't love me.

And right now, I don't even know if I believe in God.

And I remember in that moment, because I didn't know the depth there.

I said, I don't know what you've done, but I love you no matter what.

Here's what I know whether or not you believe in God right now, I know Jesus is pursuing you because he believes in you and he's coming for you.

There is no path you can go down where Jesus is not lovingly pursuing you.

And let me tell you what you'll experience when you turn to the one who is lovingly pursuing you.

And this is the reason most of us don't turn because we're afraid of what we'll experience.

Is God for you?

Is God for you?

I don't know.

I'm afraid of what I'll experience.

Let me tell you what you'll experience when you'll turn to the one who's lovingly pursuing you.

Instead of being rejected, you find that you're chosen.

Notice what God said.

Jesus said to Ananias, Go.

He's my chosen instrument.

Saul.

Saul was my chosen instrument.

Instead of being rejected, instead of being put out, instead of being told, no way, you can have no part, God says, You're chosen.

I choose you.

I want you.

Like when you turn to him, it's not like somehow he's going, like, finally.

Oh my gosh, I chose you.

Instead of rejection, you're gonna experience and find out that you were chosen all alone.

Instead of carrying shame, you're given a new name.

And so many of us are carrying things that Jesus never wants us to carry.

Christians who who carry their past with them, who carry shame and the sense of feeling worthless or alone.

This feeling of like unworthy of love, unworthy of belonging, unworthy of acceptance.

You're screwed up.

You're a failure.

Instead of carrying shame, he says, no, no, no.

Jesus said, You're gonna carry, he told this to Ananias, go, he's my chosen instrument to carry my name.

Like that's your new identity in Christ, your new creation, the old is God.

Put the past behind you.

Stop carrying that.

You know, when we talk about, I want to go back just real quick to being rejected and chosen.

One of the great gifts of life is the ability to choose.

But I think there's an even greater gift.

And that's the gift of being chosen.

And God says, I chose you to carry my name.

Yeah, you.

You have a new identity, a new reality, and shame has no say in you.

Instead, of an enemy you're embraced as God's family.

Ananias goes, lays his hands on him.

Brother, so welcome to the family of God.

It's all that more powerful when we read Paul's statement in Colossians as he's writing to that church, as we understand his backstory and who he was.

And he says, Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds, why?

Because of your evil behavior, because things you've done, you deserve to be alienated.

Justice.

But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight without blemish and free from accusation.

There is no path you can go down where Jesus is not also lovingly pursuing you.

And when you turn, when you turn to him, you'll find that you're chosen and given a new name.

And in fact, Saul, as we talked about earlier, he changed his name, or his name was changed to Paul the Apostle, no longer Saul of Tarsus, but Paul the Apostle.

And you're invited and welcomed in and adopted into the family of God.

Is God for you?

Answers absolutely.

Now the question is then, what about justice?

Does God then just kind of give a week and a nod to justice?

Of like, yeah, you know, we don't really deal with that.

We kind of shove that away.

And absolutely not.

God is a God of justice.

In fact, scriptures filled that He's He's on the side of the oppressed and the exploited, a father to the fatherless.

And he's a God of justice.

And so, what does that mean for us?

And how does God's justice and mercy meet?

Listen to how the Apostle Paul says it to the church in Rome, and you can just see his experience being laid out.

He writes this you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, when there was nothing we could do to change the circumstances we find ourselves in, when the just consequences were coming against us, we were getting what we deserve, and we could do nothing about it.

He says, in that place, in that moment, when you and I could do nothing to change the world around us and what was happening, says Christ died for the ungodly.

I love that.

Because Paul knew who he was in that moment encounter on the Damascus Road, I was ungodly.

I was broken, I was far from him.

In fact, I was anti-God.

And if you're anti-God, Christ died for you too.

Not just good people, not just special people.

See, the justice of God, he says, there is a consequence to our actions.

There is a debt that is owed that needs to be paid.

And Jesus said, I will take that upon me.

And for you to experience mercy, to not get what you deserve, that means that in me, I am going to take that on the full just payment of all that we've ever done, and the shame is going to be poured onto me, onto the cross, so that justice is fulfilled and mercy can then be expressed.

He goes on.

Though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

While we're still sinners, Christ died for us.

He's Christ, it's God for you.

Yeah, he's pursuing you.

He came for you.

He died for you.

He is so for you.

You know, uh, when my youngest son Miles was smaller, uh, many, many years ago, I think he's about four.

He's just turned 11 now.

Uh, my wife was dropping off the older two kids from um to school, and he wasn't yet quite in school at that point.

And so he's just hanging out.

And as she's leaving, she ends up talking with some uh people in the parking lot.

And so Miles does what any, you know, four-year-old does.

He's looking around and what's around, he finds a rock, a big rock.

And he looks at this rock and he just gets something in his mind, and he takes this rock and he hurls it as high as he could into the sky.

Now, I remember later asking him, like, Miles, why did you throw the rock in the sky?

What were you trying to do?

And I remember him saying, Dad, I was trying to hit the sun.

Makes sense.

Unfortunately, he missed, and he hit a brand new Audi.

This rock fell with a thud right down on the hood of that Audi and bounced and lodged itself in between the dash and the hood.

And there was this big dent in the middle.

My wife's amazing.

I would certainly hope that I would do the same thing, but she's godly and amazing.

And she takes a note, writes down, hey, I'm so sorry about the dent.

Uh my son threw a rock.

Please give us a call.

We'll take care of the cost.

Like, we can take care of an Audi cost.

Well, the guy calls me later that day, and uh and he's going, like, you know, I'm so sorry.

If it was my old car, we wouldn't even have this conversation.

I wouldn't be doing or saying anything.

But I literally got this car this last week.

I mean, it's brand new.

It's amazing, it's immaculate.

And so I said, No, I totally get it.

I'm, you know, just take it to the body shop and we'll cover it.

Well, he hands me the bill, and it's something like$722.46.

I don't remember exactly, but I think I might remember exactly how much it was because I'm like, gulp, that's a lot of money.

Now imagine.

Imagine if Miles came to me.

He said, Dad, I feel so sorry about that dent.

I want to pay for the Audi.

I said, Okay, son, why don't you pay for the Audi?

Well, how are you gonna do that?

Well, I'm gonna clean my room every single day.

I'm gonna do my homework on time.

You know, in fact, Dad, I'm gonna wash your car.

Those are all really, really good things.

But unfortunately, at four years of age, it's actually impossible for Miles to pay for the Audi at that stage in his life.

He can't earn or make money, and the sum is far too great than what he could ever earn in that moment.

He cannot pay for the Audi, but justice demands that somebody pays for the Audi.

And so, as his dad, I got out my checkbook and then gulped and wrote a check to this man for$722.46 and handed it to him.

See, this is the reality of where justice and mercy meets.

Miles in his condition can do something that he cannot undo, that he cannot pay for, but needs to be paid for, and he's in a debt, and the consequence requires that it's paid for.

And as his dad, as his dad, I say, I'll cover that.

I'll cover that.

I'll pay for that.

And that is where we are with Christ and what happened at the cross is we stand in a place where we cannot pay back the pain and the heartache and the consequence, and Jesus says, I'll cover that.

I died for you, so that you can experience mercy in your time of need, and experience the God who is for you and for me.

And for some, this is the very first time that you're hearing about the God who's for you, or that you realize that he actually is fully just and fully merciful, and he's extending it to you and longs to welcome you into his family.

And I just want to invite you in this moment, would you just simply cry out to him?

Would you simply pray along with me this prayer?

Heavenly Father, today I want to experience you.

I know you're lovingly pursuing me on my path.

And I believe that you came for me, that you died for me, that you rose again to new life, that I might have brand new life to cover all the things that I've done that I might, that I might experience your chosen new name family.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And the scripture says anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved because it is in the finished work of Jesus.

It's in the finished work where justice is fully expressed and mercy is fully found.

God's choosing you.

Maybe you have grape juice, maybe you have wine, maybe you have orange juice or whatever.

These symbols represent the God who said, My justice is gonna not be poured out onto you, but onto Jesus so that you will not get what you deserve, but you'll enter into the family of God.

And as you partake in those elements, would you remind yourself of his grace?

Remind yourself his love, remind yourself maybe you have wandered on a path.

And today's the day where you go, Jesus, uh, I'm I'm calling on you, I'm coming back to you.

Would you come and meet me here?

And let's partake communion together as a church.

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