Everyday we wake up in a world that is full of pain, that sees so much suffering. And in our culture we can choose to ignore it if we want to, or we can choose to open ourselves to it. I read the scriptures and I hear them calling me to be a part of bringing justice into the world. To bring justice to the suffering and oppressed by meeting their needs and at the same time separating ourselves from the systems of oppression that cause injustice.
In the book of Revelation, John gives this system a name. Babylon.
The prophets used to denounce the literal Babylon so often and so vigorously that it became a byword for human pride and injustice. Every age has its 'Babylon', the personification of greed and luxury and pleasure which draw us away from God, and in John's day it was the Roman Empire. They conquered many nations, crucified all who did not pledge allegiance, and in the process became very very wealthy. This allowed lavish lifestyles for some, while many of the people in their empire lived in persecution and poverty to make the lifestyles of those in power possible. Babylon depends on people to survive (Rev 17:6), and it is up to us whether we contribute to that system or we abstain from it. John describes Babylon as a great prostitute " with whom all of the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." The market is at the center of it, feeding the system. He tells how the merchants of the earth profit from her (Rev 18:11-13), how they will mourn when she falls, and lists all of their cargo and goods: gold, silver, jewels, pearls, spices, wine, animals, food, perfumes, clothes, chariots of war and horses and more. And at the end of the list he writes "slaves and human souls." Because this empire of consumption could only stand on the back of the weak. Today corporations, nations, and markets take advantage of the weak, and we, the consumer are the ones who pay their salaries. Nothing has changed. The cargo is the same, and its hard to find anything that doesn't have blood on its hands. The food in our grocery stores is grown, harvested, or slaughtered by immigrants who get treated like slaves because they have no rights in this country. People can't take care of themselves by what they eat because they have to choose between paying bills or eating healthy, and now 1 in 4 Americans have diabetes, and among minorities its about 1 in 2. Its not that they don't want to eat healthy, they simply can't. The clothes we wear have been sewn by women and children who make a pair of jeans that sell for $150 here, and get paid 15 cents a day while working in hellish conditions and trying to support an entire family. The gas we put in our cars fuels wars and nuclear tension. We consume so much, and produce so much waste that we are destroying our planet, God's creation that he called good. The diamonds and gold we adorn ourselves with, have the blood of Africans washed off them before they make it to us. So many movies and shows we watch are responsible for the apathy that kids have toward violence, and the advertisements tell us to indulge, consume, and become something that we are not, and we pay the cable bill and buy the products that keep the system alive. All of these things cost more than whatever we paid for them, they cost lives, they cost human souls.
Its time for an Exodus.
John writes, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." When he says "Come out of her", he is painting a picture of what is going on, and its a pretty explicit picture. Babylon is the great prostitute that has seduced humanity into adultery, and God is telling us to come out of her, as in to stop in the middle of intercourse, because that is what we are doing, we are in bed with her. We enjoy the system, it feels good, its so easy, so convenient, but we have to open our eyes to the suffering it causes. Its a system that keeps a handful of people very powerful, it keeps the middle class pacified, and all at the cost of people's lives, people's souls.
I hear the scriptures calling me to a life of justice.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
Matthew 5:7
"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."
Hebrews 13:3
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9
"Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
Matthew 25:40
"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly." Romans 12:16
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
Luke 6:20
"Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?"
James 2:5-7
"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you."
James 5:1-6
"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."1 Timothy 6:17-19
We can live another way.
"Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
Acts 4:32-35
"For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness."
2 Corinthians 8:13-14
"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34
The kingdom of God is a way of life in which the only law is love, to love God and neighbor, and where justice is brought through grace. None of us can do it alone, but together we can bring healing to the nations.
Let's use our imagination, lets dream of new ways to live. Lets take care of the earth, not only because we love the earth, but because we love people. Its projected that by 2020 most wars in the world will be over clean water. Its already bad enough that thousands of people are dying today simply because of their water, but when wars start over this even more will die. We can change this. This is why we want to take care of the earth, this is why we want to grow our own food, this is why we want alternative fuel, this is why we live simply, because we are called to love and to save. We have been given an amazing honor; to be the body of Christ. Lets be part of the solution, and not the cause of the problem.
Babylon is falling, and I just hope we can come out of her before we're caught beneath the rubble.
In the book of Revelation, John gives this system a name. Babylon.
The prophets used to denounce the literal Babylon so often and so vigorously that it became a byword for human pride and injustice. Every age has its 'Babylon', the personification of greed and luxury and pleasure which draw us away from God, and in John's day it was the Roman Empire. They conquered many nations, crucified all who did not pledge allegiance, and in the process became very very wealthy. This allowed lavish lifestyles for some, while many of the people in their empire lived in persecution and poverty to make the lifestyles of those in power possible. Babylon depends on people to survive (Rev 17:6), and it is up to us whether we contribute to that system or we abstain from it. John describes Babylon as a great prostitute " with whom all of the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." The market is at the center of it, feeding the system. He tells how the merchants of the earth profit from her (Rev 18:11-13), how they will mourn when she falls, and lists all of their cargo and goods: gold, silver, jewels, pearls, spices, wine, animals, food, perfumes, clothes, chariots of war and horses and more. And at the end of the list he writes "slaves and human souls." Because this empire of consumption could only stand on the back of the weak. Today corporations, nations, and markets take advantage of the weak, and we, the consumer are the ones who pay their salaries. Nothing has changed. The cargo is the same, and its hard to find anything that doesn't have blood on its hands. The food in our grocery stores is grown, harvested, or slaughtered by immigrants who get treated like slaves because they have no rights in this country. People can't take care of themselves by what they eat because they have to choose between paying bills or eating healthy, and now 1 in 4 Americans have diabetes, and among minorities its about 1 in 2. Its not that they don't want to eat healthy, they simply can't. The clothes we wear have been sewn by women and children who make a pair of jeans that sell for $150 here, and get paid 15 cents a day while working in hellish conditions and trying to support an entire family. The gas we put in our cars fuels wars and nuclear tension. We consume so much, and produce so much waste that we are destroying our planet, God's creation that he called good. The diamonds and gold we adorn ourselves with, have the blood of Africans washed off them before they make it to us. So many movies and shows we watch are responsible for the apathy that kids have toward violence, and the advertisements tell us to indulge, consume, and become something that we are not, and we pay the cable bill and buy the products that keep the system alive. All of these things cost more than whatever we paid for them, they cost lives, they cost human souls.
Its time for an Exodus.
John writes, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." When he says "Come out of her", he is painting a picture of what is going on, and its a pretty explicit picture. Babylon is the great prostitute that has seduced humanity into adultery, and God is telling us to come out of her, as in to stop in the middle of intercourse, because that is what we are doing, we are in bed with her. We enjoy the system, it feels good, its so easy, so convenient, but we have to open our eyes to the suffering it causes. Its a system that keeps a handful of people very powerful, it keeps the middle class pacified, and all at the cost of people's lives, people's souls.
I hear the scriptures calling me to a life of justice.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
Matthew 5:7
"Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."
Hebrews 13:3
"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9
"Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
Matthew 25:40
"Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly." Romans 12:16
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
Luke 6:20
"Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?"
James 2:5-7
"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you."
James 5:1-6
"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life."1 Timothy 6:17-19
We can live another way.
"Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
Acts 4:32-35
"For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness."
2 Corinthians 8:13-14
"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34
The kingdom of God is a way of life in which the only law is love, to love God and neighbor, and where justice is brought through grace. None of us can do it alone, but together we can bring healing to the nations.
Let's use our imagination, lets dream of new ways to live. Lets take care of the earth, not only because we love the earth, but because we love people. Its projected that by 2020 most wars in the world will be over clean water. Its already bad enough that thousands of people are dying today simply because of their water, but when wars start over this even more will die. We can change this. This is why we want to take care of the earth, this is why we want to grow our own food, this is why we want alternative fuel, this is why we live simply, because we are called to love and to save. We have been given an amazing honor; to be the body of Christ. Lets be part of the solution, and not the cause of the problem.
Babylon is falling, and I just hope we can come out of her before we're caught beneath the rubble.
