Single Minded Worship & Radical Justice
Sermon Notes
On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
Exodus 19:1-8
Pentecost
Last weekend, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday as the birthday of the Church nearly 2,000 years ago, but that was not where Pentecost began. The celebration of Pentecost actually goes all the way back to the book of Exodus
God’s people had left Egypt and wandered for 40 days before they arrived at the base of Mount Sinai. There the text that I just read took place, which is a the initiation of a covenant ceremony between God and His people.
After the text that I just read, the ceremony began.
God descended to Mount Sinai amid fire and wind and thunder (in Hebrew qolot) which also means voices.
Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God, and according to tradition remained there for 10 days before descending again with the law written on stone tablets by the finger of God.
That law represented people’s side of the covenant, the expectations that God placed on any people who would bear His name, the heart of which is the text that we call the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.
To us, those commandments are fairly common-place, and we often fail to realize how revolutionary they would have been for God’s people.
Remember, this was a people only 50 days out of slavery to the gods of Egypt and to their human representative, Pharaoh.
These gods were many.
They were capricious, vindictive, and cruel.
And they created a system that reflected their character, a system under which the Israelites had been enslaved for 400 years.
Then, God took them out of Egypt and gave them a law that reflected His character and it could have not been more of a stark contrast.
Instead of many gods, there is one true God who deserves our full attention and affection.
And, this God was not capricious or cruel, did not murder, steal, lie, or covet. And, He expected that the same would be true of His people chosen and called by His name.
In other words, their side of the covenant, as summed up in the Ten Commandments was to be a people committed to:
Single-minded worship of the one true God and…
…radical justice that reflected His character
Why did all of this matter so much to Him? Why didn’t He just set them free and then leave them to figure it out for themselves?
Because He rescued them to be a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation:
He saved them not simply for their own sake but so that they could become a people among whom all nations could encounter Him (kingdom of priests)
He saved them so that they could be conspicuously different and compelling community (a holy nation)
As they took on His character, as they embodied single-minded worship and radical justice, they would become a shining city on a hill, an open invitation to anyone suffering under any oppressive regime to come and experience this God who’s throne is built upon the foundation of righteousness and justice, to immigrate to this Kingdom where justice rolls down on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.
The whole point of Sinai, of the wind and fire and voice, was for God to marry His people so that He could make them into a nation that embodied His radical justice, a nation where everyone was free. They were his plan to bring freedom to the world.
And, some 1,500 years after that Pentecost, a group of people gathered in a room to observe the Day of Pentecost, and again wind blew, fire fell, and the Voice spoke.
And, again, the point was the same: this revelation of God was given to create a people of single-minded worship and radical justice.
That is, after all, why Jesus said He came. In Luke 4, He said:
“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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
And, lest we be too quick to spiritualize this, to say that Jesus just meant the spiritually poor, blind, imprisoned, and oppressed, remember that there was no word in Ancient Hebrew or Aramaic for “spiritual,” no compartmentalization of life into body and spirit. We are whole people and the Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring is good news for the whole person.
He announced the year of the LORD’s favor, an era of jubilee, when all chains are broken and everyone dances together on level ground to the rhythm of God’s grace.
And, that Pentecost church 2,000 years ago, got it. When the Spirit fell—the wind, fire, and voice—that’s what they became; a community of single-minded worship and radical justice.
A people whose love of God overflows into a radical love of neighbor, whose songs sung in the walls of the church are lived out in the streets of our cities.
This is what’s supposed to happen when we receive the wind, fire, and voice.
This is what it means to be Pentecost people.
Today
And, the last couple of weeks have shown us how far we are from that picture, how wide the gap between who we have been saved to be and who we are on a daily basis.
Large swaths of the evangelical church are lagging woefully behind on this call to embody radical justice. I am lagging woefully behind on this call to embody radical justice. Please understand my heart here. I do not intend for this to be a tirade but a confession and a commitment to grow. I have several life experiences that have profoundly shaped my thinking around issues of race and justice, nevertheless, over the course of the past couple of months, I have become painfully aware of how ill-equipped I am to lead myself, let alone my family or our church in all of this. There is a gap between who I was made in Christ to be and who I am on a regular basis. And, it’s not supposed to be this way. Jesus saved me, saved us, to lead this conversation, to lead the way into new frontiers of radical justice. But, I’ve been lagging behind.
And, I’ve spoken to many Christians who feel the same, who are saying things like, “We’ve never really talked about this before, but we feel like we need to” or “I feel like I have so much to learn. What should I read? Who should I listen to?” or “There are so many great resources out there to help us learn about and talk about race and reconciliation, but do you know of any Christian resources? I’m having a hard time finding any.”
And, while I am so grateful to see large portions of the Church rise up and say, “We need to catch up,” I do mourn the fact that we need to catch up when I believe we were called to lead the way, when we exist to embody a radical justice that makes us a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom for all nations.
I don’t say that to condemn, but to challenge.
God’s people routinely fall short of the call that God has placed on our lives.
The people of Israel certainly did in the wilderness and the Church certainly has since.
And, rather than breaking His covenant and divorcing His people, God pours out more grace in order to pick us up, dust us off, and say, “Get back in the game.”
Church, it’s time for us to get back in the game, and this is going to involve committing ourselves to a journey not to a moment.
We have arrived in this moment late and unprepared, and it’s too late for us to change that. I acknowledge that as a leader: I have had the best of intentions around building a church on the foundation of radical justice for years now, but I have arrived late to this moment and now have very little meaningful to contribute to the moment.
I have no idea what to say or do that will help right now, so I’ve decided to get out of the way and listen to and learn from those who are leading us through the crisis of this moment, to our black sisters and brothers in Christ who have not simply had life experiences but for whom this injustice has been their life, who are leading this conversation in courageous ways.
We will be releasing a list of resources…
And, we will continue to listen from them and learn from them well beyond this crisis, but we will not continue to lag behind our calling to embody radical justice.
We will not continue to show up unprepared to the moments because, dear friends, there will be more moments.
We live in a broken world and the crises are legion. This is a massive one that is shaking the foundations of the whole world, and we must pay attention to it and not miss this moment.
But, we also can’t lose sight of the fact that this is not the only injustice in the world that needs the people of God to lead the way into new frontiers of freedom.
And, if we want to become the kind of people who can do so, we need to commit ourselves to a journey, not simply to a moment.
So, what are the next steps to that journey? Well, it won’t sound particularly innovative. God’s been reminding me over and over again, that my job as a pastor is not to innovate but to remind His people of what is always true. So, here are my three not terribly innovative thoughts on our next steps toward becoming a people of radical justice beyond the crisis (not in any particular order)
Invest ourselves deeply in a Pentecost community, that is a church. Just because we have not been leading the way into new frontiers of freedom does not mean that we cannot reclaim our place. I hear so many people, lots of young people, but not exclusively young people talk about leaving the Church because we are lagging on these issues. And, if that’s you, I don’t blame you for feeling that way, but please know that is not the solution. The Church is still Jesus’ bride and His plan for saving the world. And, He has more grace for us. He is picking us up and dusting us off and telling us, “Get back in the game.” The solution to a lagging church is not no church; it is a swift kick in the butt by people who have been awakened to God’s heart for justice.
Commit ourselves to discipleship to Jesus (aka stay as close to Him as possible) No one does justice better than Jesus. For the Church, our primary investment in this season needs to be an investment in discipleship. There are legislative solutions to be discussed, and we ought to be praying for those discussing them. We ought to be voting. We ought to use the tools at our disposal to effect change, but this is not our primary objective. We are not the people of the vote. Our greatest power is not democracy. There are educational solutions, and we ought to be pursuing them. But we are not people of academia. There are economic solutions, and we ought to be considering these, but this is not where the power of the church lies. We are not people of the dollar. There church in Acts had none of these things, and yet they changed the world. Most often, when we rely solely on tools like these (even good tools), they become distractions for us and we neglect our real power. We are Christian. We are disciples of Jesus. Our primary investment needs to be in habits that make us more like Him.
Pray for fresh wind, fire, and voice. Our pursuit of justice must not be separated from our single-minded devotion to God. Remember, in Revelation, the river that flows down the streets of New Jerusalem and nourishes the tree of life, the leaves of which heal the nations, that river begins at and flows from the throne of God. He is the headwaters of justice and the only one who can bring about the healing of the nations. Our capacity to participate with Him in that work is dependent upon our nearness to Him. There are many amazing voices out there that are leading through this crisis in powerful ways, but one of the disturbing trends that I’ve noticed arising in all of this as much of the Church has lagged behind is the downplaying of the role of prayer. People are calling Christians and churches to stop praying and do something. Or to get off our knees and get in the game. I’m even hearing that from Christians, and while I understand what they’re trying to say, anyone who says that doesn’t really understand the nature of prayer. True Kingdom justice begins as God’s people fall to their knees and cry out for more of the Holy Spirit. Radically just Pentecost people are people of prayer.