395: Life Is Filled with Injustice! What Is the Christian's Hope? | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

Let's bow our heads before the Lord. Father, we thank you. Hard days, easy days, sad days, happy days. We can come into your presence and we can learn of you. And Father, it's so amazing that when we were just trying to pick out a sermon series, it's this day you appointed a study in Ecclesiastes to talk about randomness and injustice. And what does the Lord have to do with that? And the reality of that in our lives. So Lord, we pray that you will speak words of truth and words of healing and words of hope and what otherwise seems like a meaningless existence on this globe. And we thank you in Christ's name. Amen.

Alright. So, I know some of y'all are older than others. For those of you who remember JFK's assassination, raise your hand. Yeah. I remember—back in the days of 19-inch black-and-white TVs. My dog, Scruggs, as in Earl Scruggs, died the day before. It was like 11/21/1963, somewhere around there. And we were so sad, so sad. Dogs often love better than people. It's just the way it is.

Maybe some of you remember when Ronald Reagan was shot. I remember I was in Yakima, Washington training to be a paramedic. I was in the ICU and then we heard he was shot, and they turned on the TV and we just sat there stunned and watched it, not believing what we were seeing. Last night, and that night, we almost never watch news on Saturday night. We go for lighter fare, documentaries, whatever, but we were there and we watched it, and I had that same sick feeling. Something is deeply, deeply wrong.

The Personal Journey to Faith and the Reality of Injustice

You know guys, I did not become a Christian till I was 21 because I kind of had it figured out. The rope that I hung on was good looks, modest athletic ability, personality, influence, being a twin, being an Eagle Scout—you know, had all these little things. It's my identity. I'm good. I got it, God. I'm good. But I began to see that life is actually filled with meaninglessness.

I remember as a nine-year-old kid seeing my dad hurt my mom. I'm not here to bash him; I'm just telling you it was a reality. Our home was a war zone. I pray that none of you guys ever experienced that because there's no place to put it. I thought I had it all—going to UVA, and I was caught by the RA the first night of school peeing off the balcony. Then, about week five, I was cut from the lacrosse team, and I cried like a baby. And then two or three days later, just to put another screw in, I got cut or pulled from the fraternity that my buddy and I were trying to get into, and we really wanted to be in.

I remember just being so despondent, like it was even beyond sad. And none of the things I used to make myself happy were actually working. So, I came home and I worked as a medic. The very first call I went to was a triple homicide. The Briley Brothers—you can Google them—and I wasn't prepared for what I saw. Very first call, I go into this apartment. There are hundreds of people around. They're screaming. There's blood all over the walls. I was just an EMT, but the paramedics said, hey, go pick up that little boy. Five years old. I remembered. I had the vision right in my head. I see his red high tops. I see his socks. I see his body. And that started to unravel the rope. I began to say, Lord, like, what in the world?

Then, every day, there's a new call about somebody burned in a fire or killed in a car accident or children. To me, there's nothing more wicked under the sun than people who sexually or otherwise abuse children. It is wickedness and it exists. And so I kept seeing all these things. Most of you have heard the story—I had a prostitute die in my arms. She was about 16 or 17 years old. She'd been shot, and the bullet ricocheted around her body. She literally died looking at me in the eyes. She asked me to pray. I was a church person, but I didn't know how to pray. And so all of a sudden, when you have enough of these stack on top of each other, you just go like, what the... I can't say the word. What the... Like, I got to a point of incredible despair.

Let's see. Family doesn't work. Party doesn't work. Sports doesn't work. Life doesn't work. And so, rather than cursing the Lord—which would have been my natural tendency to say there's no God, let's just eat, drink, and be merry—it actually had the opposite effect on me. You always hear people say, I don't believe in God because God is love. How would he allow this to happen? Blah, blah, blah.

Dude, I was the one in the trenches. I was the one who had blood on my hands. Until you see that level of wickedness, maybe you can hide behind it. But for me, it was no longer an option. I came to a crossroad. I said, I can't choose to live in a world this screwed up. So, there must be something better. There must be something else. I don't know. I sat in church for twenty years, but I didn't have a clue. God in his kindness showed me, yeah, the Earth is really broken. Really, really, really broken. And there's wickedness and there's evil and all the stuff that you're sensing. Yep, you're right. It is messed up. It's messed up.

I started with Eden, and I will end with my kingdom. But in the meantime, under the sun, there's meaninglessness. Tim did an amazing job. I wasn't even able to find the Book of Ecclesiastes before Tim showed me where it was in the Bible—that's not exactly true, but I really knew nothing about Ecclesiastes, almost nothing. First three sermons, I actually really enjoyed those, and I listened to them twenty-two times in total. So Tim, I've heard it more than you have. More than your mama. You know, I have heard these sermons.

But what Tim said—Ecclesiastes, instead of going line by line, there are all these things going on at multiple places in Ecclesiastes. But the number one thing is life is filled with meaninglessness. Remember the word, hevel—hevel—like meaninglessness. Life is filled with that. And then there are three main enemies. One is cyclical time. So I think like Hindu karma stuff—just keeps rolling and rolling along and nothing ever changes. And what the heck?

Then there's death. You know, everybody here is going to die. You're going to die. I've been to four hundred, five hundred funerals. One day, I'll go to my own. But I won't be the minister. Thankfully, Christ has reset time. Thankfully, Christ has defeated death. He really has. He's the resurrection of life.

And then the third enemy in Ecclesiastes is, right of the book—I didn't make it up—is randomness and injustice. Randomness and injustice. Now, you don't actually have to be that smarter person. You could be below average. And just look around, if you have eyes, if you have a brain, if you have ears, that a lot of wicked stuff happens. And we're left scratching our heads going, Lord, what in the world?

So we're going to look today at injustice in Ecclesiastes. We're not going to get to the strategies that are found later in Ecclesiastes. I think Sloop and Tim are going to hit those. How do people deal with this meaninglessness? Seek wisdom. Oh, get smart. That'll solve all your problems. How about pleasure? For guys, that's women. Okay? Pleasure. Or how about work? Put yourself in your work. That'll bring fulfillment to your life. That'll make sense of all the meaninglessness. Didn't work last night.

How about wealth? See, I have this lie in my head, and I'm embarrassed to tell you. The lie in my head is if God would put three million dollars in my bank account, everything would be awesome in life. I'm embarrassed to tell you that sometimes I actually believe that. But I know it's not true because I have friends who have inherited this many millions. And one guy drank himself to death. And so all these strategies are not working.

So I want us to go into Ecclesiastes. If you have your Bible, it's awesome. If you have an app, that's awesome. I want to look at just three places in Ecclesiastes where we see injustice, where we see the injustice that you actually see every day. And that was highlighted particularly last night.

Injustice in Ecclesiastes

Alright. So the first one is Ecclesiastes 3:16—

Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness. I can't understand this. I went to court one time, bought a couch, and it was all packaged up, and they brought it to my house, and they said, can we bring it in your house? Yes, we brought in my house. And then they opened it up, and there was the beautiful couch. I saved money by ordering it out of town, you know. And then when they took it off, I saw that the front of the couch was completely ripped by the nails. And I said, I don't need a lawyer. I'll just go to court and tell them my story. I was in the courtroom about eleven seconds. Nothing happened to the guy that shipped it. I just ate the loss. I'm thinking like, this is unjust.

One of the young lawyers from one of the big firms in Tenegrat, I said, what happened, man? He said, here's the thing, bud. It's an old boys club. You don't have a lawyer, you're probably not going to win. And so I experienced that just small level of injustice.

Then we go to the next verse, and we’re going to hone in on this: Ecclesiastes 7:15—

In my vain life. Now, we need to know what the word vain means. It doesn't mean that his life is worthless. That word actually means my life is like a vapor here today, gone tomorrow. Like the flowers of the field, like the grass of the field—here today, gone tomorrow. It's fleeting, like a vapor. And that life that's fleeting, I’ve seen everything. There’s a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness. And there’s a wicked man who prolongs his life in evil doing.

Maybe you could even think about Jesus himself and Barabbas. Think of Jesus:

There's a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness. And there's a wicked man who prolongs his life in evil doing.

So, see, the scriptures are there. They’re telling the truth.

And I have one more verse in Ecclesiastes looking for injustice. There are many more; you could find them. Chapter 8, verse 14—

Here's another enigma that occurs on the earth. Now, some of you English majors help me with the word enigma. Teachers, enigma—what is? It’s a puzzle. Anybody else? Conundrum. Okay. So, there's a puzzle, a conundrum, an enigma that occurs on earth: sometimes righteous people get what the wicked deserve. And sometimes wicked people get what the righteous deserve. I see this also as an enigma.

Let me give you some practical examples.

First, the Kwashis—Ben and Gloria Kwashi—they've raised over two hundred orphans. They've given their lives, literally their home, and yet their home was burned down. Mama was raped by wicked men and beaten blind with a butt of a rifle. Ben himself has had a gun put to his head, and only by God's miraculous intervention did he escape.

On and on. Let’s give some other examples. How many of you know George and Kay Bristol? Anybody? Their daughter married a guy named Carlos. He was a young life leader, a prototypical young life guy. He was the director, a young life director in Virginia Beach. They have an amazing son. They, I guess, have other children as well, but they had one son who was kind of the guy. You know, the kid? Like, he's good at everything. He's loving. He was the worship leader at their young life. He had a heart for Jesus. He did his Bible studies. He was just a good kid. Some of those kids, you just feel better after you meet him.

One day, he's driving home after graduation at Norfolk Christian. He's going back home. It's during the day. He hasn't been drinking, done nothing wrong. He's just a Jesus-loving kid. Some guy with an AK-47—no idea what his deal was—crazy, on drugs, something. He just started spraying bullets in Norfolk. And one of those bullets caught Mark Rodriguez in the head. His life was done. A just man whose life is cut short.

How about on the other side? How about Kim Jong Un? Do you know that name? If not, you should. North Korea's dictator. He's killed tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands. I don’t know the total, but I know he killed his own brother. And yet, he's got it all—money, power, prestige. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s hevel.

How about maybe one more? The Sackler family. Does that ring a bell? Oh, yeah. The Sackler family, have you read the book Dopesick? Yep. Some of us didn’t need to read it because we knew the kids. The Sackler family made OxyContin. And what doctors tell me and some nurses is that it’s a great drug if used properly. But they targeted Southwest Virginia because we're a bunch of dumb hillbillies. Southwest Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia. They wanted to go to the poor areas, the ones with no hope. They wanted to get them addicted because they knew once they started, they couldn't stop. Well, some did stop and went to heroin because it was cheaper. They've killed so many people. I know we buried at least four or five of those kids right here in the sanctuary.

And so I got to say, Lord, what's the deal here? These kids died at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old, but the Sackler family has thirteen and a half billion dollars. Where's the justice?

The hard reality is, there's not perfect justice in this world. There's not. It's not. Now, in light of the meaninglessness and injustice that's all around us, the question we should be asking is: Is there any hope? Because if not, let's just all get drunk, eat, drink, be merry in our misery, and die. Is there any hope?

The Hope in Ecclesiastes

Thankfully, Ecclesiastes has some great passages that give us hope. I'm kind of embarrassed. Tim and I were talking about this sermon, and I was thinking of verses that would be good. I said, you know that, you know that verse, Tim, you know that verse—the justice, the wheels of justice of God grind exceedingly slow. But also exceedingly fine. He said, quick—that's an awesome verse. It’s just not in the Bible. It’s from a second-century philosopher named Sextus. I don’t even know his full name. Anyway, so I can't use that one.

But I can use Ecclesiastes. So, let's look at a couple of verses, because time's a waste. Again, we're looking at the meaninglessness, but what we're trying to do is, in light of this injustice, death, and cyclical time, ask: Is there any hope?

Ecclesiastes 3:17—

I said in my heart, God will judge. God will judge the righteous and the wicked.

See, there's a lie. It's like criminals think they'll never be caught. Under the sun, people think they can do whatever they want. They can poke people in the eye. They can steal from them. They can treat them horribly. But the scriptures are clear: God will hold everyone to account for their wicked deeds. Every single one.

And the injustice we see—it is terrible, and it's still here, and it’s still going to be here while we draw breath. But the Lord says that is not the end of the story. I will punish every wicked person. Everyone. Every wicked deed will be brought into the light of day.

Second, Ecclesiastes 12:14—

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or bad.

You know, I love this verse, especially when it has to do with Hitler or the guy that shot Trump or John F. Kennedy—whoever. But look what it actually says to us: God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or bad. It makes me realize I need a Savior. Because if I have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ in my own goodness, I am hopeless. I'm guilty.

And the last scripture—out of Ecclesiastes, then we move to Revelation. Do you know the book is called the Book of Revelation, not Revelations? Help our church be smarter than the average church. Never say in the Book of Revelations. No, it's the Book of Revelation. It was a revelation God gave to John—one revealing.

Revelation 20 says this:

Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. And from his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.

And listen to verse 12:

And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened. And then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

And so, while we're down here on planet earth—and the kingdom is breaking in, but it’s not fully here, and we all know it—we find comfort in this truth: God sees, He knows, and He is just. He is holy, just, and because He’s loving, He must exercise judgment. It would be unloving not to exercise judgment.

Conclusion

A couple of points to close. Jesus knew that under the sun, life would have some joy and goodness. You experience some joy in your life, some fun things, right? But at the same time, you also experience unthinkable injustice, meaninglessness, sin, strife, ugliness, and pain. And sometimes it's not just what everybody else does—it's what you do. So I can get really judgmental of others. When I hear sermons, if I'm sitting in the pew, I always think it's for the person behind me. It's so much easier to apply God's word to someone else. It’s hard to apply it to yourself.

Number two, God promises that He will bring all evildoers into a terrible judgment. But Christians may argue about the exact nature of that judgment—the length of it—but we know it will be terrible, final, holy, and just. God will not be mocked. He will not be mocked.

Third, in the meantime—while we're living in this broken and messed-up world, and the full coming of the kingdom—God promises to be with us. He said, "I will not leave you as an orphan. I will come to you." Last night, it didn’t matter if you like Trump or not. I don’t really care. I don't care. But you know, as a human, there's something fundamentally terrible about what happened. Terrible. And there are people crying today for their loved ones that were killed or maimed.

In the meantime, God promises to be Emmanuel—God with us—to help us and to use us to confront injustice. Isn’t that a novel idea? He will actually use believers to combat injustice, just like He used Wilberforce to fight slavery and many others.

And I think this is my last point, because I’m running out of time. If it isn't enough to settle your heart, remember, no one has ever chosen to face the cruel injustice and brutal death that Jesus did. He did it freely. He who never sinned and was perfect drank the raging river of injustice.

If you want a Bible study this week, go to Isaiah 53 and read it again and again. Our great High Priest suffered unimaginable injustice so that we could be made whole. The injustice He suffered—it's easy to point to guys like Hitler, Genghis Khan, Mussolini, Ted Bundy (that’s a sick dude), Jeffrey Dimer (another sick one), the Columbine killers, the 9/11 murderers, the Virginia Tech monster. When Christ came to bear the injustice and wickedness of mankind, He took that upon His shoulders—not only theirs but yours, too.

Your injustice. End of the day, the Lord’s never going to ask you about Ted Bundy or that guy who shot Trump or Genghis Khan. You need a sacrifice for sin. You need a God who’s taken the injustice of the world—including your own—and put it on His back and paid for it in full. And at the end of time, it’s not a scripture, but perhaps, God’s justice grinds exceedingly slow but also exceedingly fine. And for that, we praise Jesus. Amen.