Know Who Your Real Enemy Is

The following are quotes from the Greg Boyd sermon "God's heart for the Poor" - quotes that were so striking and challenging and yet calling to something deep in my spirit, quotes that I don't want to forget, that I want to seep into my mind until I see the world differently:

Greg Boyd asks the question - from a kingdom perspective, what keeps people in poverty? Here are some of his thoughts:

"In the broader culture, when it comes to thinking about poverty issues...we look at everything through the grid of our knowledge of good and evil. So we come at this through our judgements and that's why, invariably, people think...that if only we could blame the right people... accuse the right people, well then we will solve this problem."

"But, according to the Bible, the problem of poverty and most other social problems are much deeper than any political program's ever going to fix...deeper than any human ingenuity is going to fix."

"The Bible teaches that the problem of poverty and every other social problem is not, and here's the unique kingdom perspective, is not primarily, a problem with people. People make choices, and they're morally responsible...but the fundamental problem is not people. The problem, most fundamentally, is that this world is oppressed. We're under the influece of principalities and powers that we ourselves invited into this world back in the Adam and Eve days, and we are oppressed. Here's what Paul says, incredibly important verse. "For our struggle" - this would include the struggle about poverty and responsibility with wealth, "the struggle is not against flesh and bload but against the rulers, against the authoriries, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil the heavenly realms."


"The forces are using an unjust system to dehumanize everyone, rich and poor. The powers use an unjust system to dehumanize the poor by reducing them to a subhuman level of existence...by reducing them to a system that's beneath human dignity; that's not how humans were meant to live. But the powers also dehumanise, use an unjust system to dehumanize the affluect. And this is what we need to see. Reduce us to a subhuman level of existence by... reducing us to brainwashed mice who are perpetually on the consumeristic treadmill chasing the proverbial cheese of the American dream; that's not how humans were meant to live...Robbed of the joy of living a simple life, an extravagantly generous life. The powers are playing us. Dehumanizing one group because they have too little, dehumanizing another group because they have too much, inflicting us with judgements that keep us from working together to fight them and to fix the problem"

"It is time for God's people to tell the system to kiss off. It's time for God's people to wake up to what is going on. It looks like it's about us, but it's bigger than us, We've got to know who they real enemy is. It's time to wage war against the powers, and we do that by refusing to make other human beings the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 if it's go flesh and blood, it's not the enemy. If it's got flesh and blood, it's someone that Jesus died for, which means it's someone we're suppose to be fighting for, and against the powers."

"Rather, the way we do warfare against the real enemy is by refusing to make them (those different to us or those with whom we disagree) the enemy, collapsing our judgements and asking the question how can we together resist the system, fight the system, rage at the machine which is so polluted with the principalities and powers"

"What we need to understand is that the way we struggle against the principalities and powers is not just by changing our beliefs. That's a pre-requisite but changing beliefs in and of themself, that doesn't do anything. You fight the system and the powers behind the system by changing how you live."

"To fight the powers, the affluent and the poor need to agree together to collapse all of our judgements, to walk humbly with our God, and to live in ways and relate in ways that will alleviate injustice and demonstrate compassion.'

We have to do it together.

Micah 6 in the light of Ephesians 2

In our last Moms4Justice Gathering we listened to Greg Boyd's sermon "God's Heart for the Poor" which should actually have been titled "Know who your real enemy is".

He starts by referring back to comments that some had made about his previous sermon, where he looks at Micah 6 and the fact that the Lord requires of us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. Some were concerned that he was meaning that these works are required for salvation. He clarifies that he is not saying salvation by works, and refers to Ephesians 2 "for it is by grace that you've been saved through faith". He then uses a very helpful metaphor - you really should go listen to it as I am not going to do it justice by trying to explain it - to explain that Micah 6 is not teaching salvation by works, but it is rather pointing to salvation FOR works. Ephesions 2 goes on to say "for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

To quote Boyd: "The reason why we're saved by grace through faith so no one can boast is because we are God's handiwork, and we're created for good works. We're not saved by works, but we are saved for works. The reason why we're saved is to do the works that we were created to do."

"our job description was to receive His fulness of life and then to manifest that fullness of life back to God, to each other, to the animal kingdom and to the earth"

"the reason why Jesus Christ came down and saves us by grace through faith so that no one can boast is so that now we can recover that original design and begin to live out what it means to be God's handiwork made in the image of God, begin to live life the way God wanted us to live life. He saved us for these good works...acting justly...showing compassion and mercy... and walking humbly with our God."

I must admit that the more I understand God's heart for this world, I come to realise that issues of justice, poverty, compassion, and restoration are core to Jesus' gospel of salvation, not a nice-to-have addition. They are all included in the Good News that Jesus came to bring and live and die for!

Central to God's heart

There are over 400 distinct passages in the Bible that address issues of poverty and greed and wealth and responsibility. Over 3,000 particular verses address this topic. The Bible is saturated with this over and over and over again.

 

God calls his people to practice justice, to have a heart for the poor, to provide housing for the homeless and food for those who are hungry and to care for the widows and those that are under oppression. The Bible is saturated, just saturated with that theme.

 

In fact, greed is the second most frequently mentioned sin in the Bible. The first one is idolatry, and I would argue that greed,  actually,  is  simply  a  form  of  idolatry.  It's pervasive  in  the  Bible.  In  fact,  the  number  one  reason  why  God  judges  nations  in  the  old  testament  is  because  of  their  greed.  Greed  is, simply, a matter of  hoarding more than you  need when there are people who have less than they need, hoarding more food than you need when there are people who are hungry. That's called gluttony. Hoarding more resources than you need when there are people who don't have enough  resources, that is greed. And the number one reason why God judges nations in the old testament, including Israel, is because of their greed. This is a topic that is central to God's heart. I don't think you can get a topic that is more central to God's heart than this one.

 

The above is a quote by Greg Boyd from his sermon, Seeing What God Sees, 4th October 2009.

http://whchurch.org/sermons-media/sermon/seeing-what-god-sees

 

Micah 6 v 8

Micah chapter six, verse eight. A very famous passage that reads like this: "He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? This  is what's good. What does the Lord require of you? "To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

 

That's what the Lord requires of you. To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

 

What does the Lord require of thee? To act justly. That means to live with a view towards justice, to promote justice. It means to confront justice and to confront oppression. It means to live in a way where you strive to alleviate inequities. That's what it is to live justly.

To love mercy. Mercy has the connotation of, on the one hand, of forgiveness where you give someone not what they deserve but, rather, you express kindness towards them, but also has the general connotation of just being compassionate, to have mercy on someone who is less fortunate than you. It's to be compassionate. What does the Lord require of us? To act justly, to love compassion. Not just be compassionate but to love being compassionate and merciful.

 

And then, to walk humbly. To walk humbly means you just walk in a way that's free of arrogance, free of judgmentalism, and free of self righteousness. That's what the Lord requires of you. Act justly, be compassionate, and be humble.

 

The above is a quote by Greg Boyd from his sermon, Seeing What God Sees, 4th October 2009.

http://whchurch.org/sermons-media/sermon/seeing-what-god-sees