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