Current Issues: What Does God Think About #MeToo? Psalm 10 Rev. Min Chung (Large Group, February 2, 2018)

Transcription

1 Current Issues: What Does God Think About #MeToo? Psalm 10 Rev. Min Chung (Large Group, February 2, 2018) Psalm 10 1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, There is no God. 5 His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, I shall not be moved; throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity. 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket; he lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it. 12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, You will not call to account? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none. 16 The LORD is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.

2 17 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. Introduction Some of you may ask why I m talking about this topic or why I don t bring a woman to talk about it. The intention of talking about #MeToo is not just to learn about the topic, but to learn about it through the Bible. As your pastor, my obligation is to teach you this issue through the perspective of the Bible. Sometimes, not all people who go through the experience are qualified to talk about it. This sermon is not about #MeToo, but about the Bible, which is why it s titled What does God think about (blank)? I know some people will not like this, but I feel responsible for teaching about this. As I discuss this issue, I m using the Bible and want to love you through the Bible so you may understand and see through a Biblical perspective, so the Word will affect your life rather what the world says. Please have an open mind and heart even if you disagree with me; focus on what the Bible says rather than what I am saying. To give a historical background, #MeToo is a world-wide movement that has spread virally since October 2017, through the help of social media. It demonstrated the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the work place. It followed soon after the public revelation of sexual misconduct allegations against celebrities such as Harvey Weinstein. The phrase Me Too was coined by social activist Tarana Burke many years ago to help survivors realize they are not alone. It was then popularized by actresses, like Alyssa Milano, who encouraged women to tweet about their experiences to give attention to the magnitude of the problem. The hashtag has since been used more than 4.7 million times through Twitter and Facebook. A platform reported that 45% of users in the United States has a friend who has posted using the hashtag. The #TIMESUP movement, a movement against sexual harassment, was founded in January 2018 by Hollywood celebrities in response to the Weinstein Affect. Oprah even talked about it in her Golden Globes speech. Ever since then, we ve realized the #MeToo movement has affected government, finance, sports, churches, music industry, and military. There has been an international response to this. The hashtag has been trending in at least 85 countries. Larry Nassar, an American serial child-molester, was a US Gymnastics team doctor convicted of assaulting gymnasts. It sparked the US Gymnastics sexual scandal. He was accused to molesting close to 300 underage girls, dating back as far as He has been sentenced twice for his crimes, adding up to more than 200 years in prison. 1 in about 6 women and 1 in 33 men have been the victim of attempted or completed rape. These numbers don t include the number of people who experience different scales and forms of sexual harassment/violence.

3 This topic is very relevant, and many of you have experienced it. I ve counseled many of you regarding sexual abuse or harassment. However uncomfortable and difficult this message is for you, we need to interpret what s going on through the principles of the Scripture, otherwise we can be swayed by the thinking process of the world. I. We can celebrate that the voices of the powerless victims are heard powerfully God is for equality Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Consider Psalm 10: Verse 16 is about the sovereignty of God, and in verse 17, God is merciful and listening to the afflicted. God rejoices when the voices of victims are heard. In Genesis 1:27, it is written that God created both male and female in his own image. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all equal, males and females are also created equally, and that is to be celebrated. When any human being is abused, we should be sad, and pray and act for change. Equality is to be celebrated because we are all made in the image of God. Victims of these cases are mainly children and women, prompting a cry for equality. While the world tells us we re all equal simply because we re human beings, we re truly equal because every one of us has incredible potential to picture God. When we sin against others, this part of the image could be damaged. The only beings with this potential are humans. Christians are often accused of having a patriarchal culture. However, in 1 Peter 3:7, it states that in Christ, we are equal heirs, and husbands are to honor their wives. Likewise, in Galatians 3:28, is states all races, socioeconomic classes, genders, are all one in Christ Jesus. From these passages, we see God is against a misogynistic culture. In workplaces, we are to be paid according to ability rather than gender. God hates injustices through sexual harassment and assault. Christianity has always valued women. In the human society, women have been abused. Consider how Christianity transformed the Roman Empire. Life was expendable; abortion was rampant; and abandonment of babies, especially females, was commonplace. Women were considered inferior and relegated to a low status in society, where they received little schooling,

4 could not speak in public, and were viewed as property of their husbands. When Christianity became widespread, Biblical truths began to have a profound impact. Pagan practices were confronted with Biblical principles concerning the status of women, and the importance of family. Loving your wives as Christ loved the Church was a revolutionary concept. Sue Bollin, in her article Christianity: The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Women, wrote, As a result of Jesus Christ and His teachings, women in much of the world today, especially in the West, enjoy more privileges and rights than at any other time in history. It takes only a cursory trip to an Arab nation or to a Third World country to see how little freedom women have in countries where Christianity has had little or no presence. We celebrate the voices of the powerless victims that are heard powerfully. II. We can celebrate that the abuse of the powerful on the powerless are exposed with consequences for their actions God is just Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Psalm 10:18 is about the justice of God who is omniscient and knows both the victims and victimizers. He sees the intentions and thought processes of the victimizers. He also hears the victims cries. It is good that many victimizers are called out and receive consequences for their actions. Many powerful people are at least fired if not sentenced, as in the case of Nassar. God shows justice through human and civil authority. Even though they re flawed, God still uses them to root out sin. In Romans 13:1, we see God ordains civil authorities to exercise power to restrain sin, despite their own sinful actions. When justice is served to the victimizers, God is pleased. God may be using the voices of the civil authorities and victims to exercise justice. Consider this video that shows a father of three girls who were abused by Nassar, who asks for 1 minute in a locked room with Nassar. When he is refused, he attempts to attack Nassar in the courtroom anyways, and must be physically restrained by authorities. Though we understand the father s actions, we know he shouldn t have attacked Nassar in his own pursuit of justice. From this video, we can conclude that if justice was left to human beings, we would be in serious trouble. We must leave justice to authorities or God. (Video can be found at the link provided - Warning: contains profanity and violence.) There are two kinds of justice: temporary and eternal. A. Temporary justice not full, temporary, and reversible There s temporary justice for victims. God saves them from abuse at certain times, but this doesn t mean they re saved for a lifetime. Abuse can still come over the course of life. There s also temporary justice for victimizers, which gives a glimpse of the full justice to come. Many times, God shows only temporary justice whether it manifests itself through the losing of

5 their jobs or being thrown in prison. While some of us are satisfied with this temporary justice, He is not satisfied with this temporary justice. What we experience on this earth is temporary, and He has an eternal justice coming. God is all for equality, so when he sees abuse, he shows temporary justice to warn of the eternal justice to come. B. Eternal justice full, eternal, and irreversible. Mark 9: And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Isaiah 66:24 And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Luke 16:24 And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. Luke 16:28 for I have five brothers so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. The passage from Mark states the pain of tearing out your own eye is nothing compared to the eternal justice to come. The warning of the worm that does not die comes from the passage in Isaiah. Isaiah warns of the punishment of hell: worms that will eat your body that don t die because they always have food to eat, because your body will not decay. It also talks about the pain of fire, even though you re not consumed. The fire that is passing judgment lasts forever, as Revelation 14 states. The worshippers of the beast, the anti-christ, will receive much pain. Luke 16:24 is about the pain in hell. A rich man is in hell, and begs out for Abraham to simply give him a drop of water on his tongue. There are physical desires in hell hunger, thirst, and addictions but no satisfaction. There is also relational pain. Luke 16:28 shows you will have memories of this world. The pain will only increase in hell, and relationally, you will have pain because there is no physical or

6 spiritual satisfaction. Don t worry about the justice you desire for abusers, because God will deliver His eternal justice. One minute in a locked room with the father in the video is nothing compared to eternal hell. Rachel Denhollander is one of Nassar s victims who spoke out against the abuse. In response to the question How much is a little girl worth?, she said: From a Christian s worldview, she s made in the image of God. She has eternal, immeasurable value, which is why justice here on earth will be incomplete, because there is no way to bring full justice here on earth. That being said, God has instituted the civil government for the purpose of reflecting His judgment, the best justice, to the best of our ability here on earth. I think we saw that in the courtroom here this week. Whatever justice we see on earth is nothing compared to eternal justice that will be exercised on sinners. Leave it up to God. III. We must remember that God extends forgiving grace for both victims and victimizers God is merciful Romans 3: the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 1 Corinthians 6: Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 2 Peter 3:9 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Psalm 10:16-17 shows that God is merciful to the afflicted. But elsewhere in the Bible, there are others that He is merciful to. In Romans 3:22-23, we see His righteousness is granted through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for us all, for all who believe. He has mercy on anyone and everyone. Since we have all sinned and fallen short of God s glory, in some sense, one degree to another, we are all abusers. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, we see that any sin, no matter how small, is worthy of judgment from God. But we can also all receive His mercy. We all can be sanctified through Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 3:9, we learn God is patient towards us, the Church, who is continually sinning even though we believe. He has mercy towards believers and unbelievers. All should perish, but anyone can repent. A. Believers

7 God was patient and merciful until our salvation. We weren t cast into hell before Christ came again. He s remains patient until eternity because of Jesus. B. Unbelievers God is so holy that even the smallest sin offends Him infinitely. Still, for unbelievers He is patient, waiting for just one more person to come towards repentance. That s why Nassar and Weinstein are not in hell right now. He s patient with them just like He is with us or any other unbeliever you know. If we define victimizers as someone who has sinned against others and victims as someone who has been sinned against, we have all been both victims and victimizers at some point. There was only ever one true victim: Jesus Christ. On the cross, He became both the victim and victimizer because He took on all our sins. When we put our faith in Him, our sins are forgiven. When we are victimized, He gives us strength to overcome, overflow, and show Christ to the world. When we victimize others, He gives us mercy so we can repent and receive forgiveness. As hard as it sounds, He is merciful to all the people we hate. Through the eyes of the cross, we are not much better than them. If these victimizers do not truly repent, God will not forgive them. We must also pray for forgiveness for them because if you want God to be glorified, forgiveness for these victimizers would show His power. It shows how Christ and God the Father would be exalted, someone who would give His Son to die for sinners like us, Nassar, and Weinstein. If we pray for anything less than forgiveness, we are seeking not the glory of God but our own vengeance, and we devalue who God truly is. God is so merciful to the sinners while they are sinning that it s confusing. On Judgment Day, we can t help but praise Him for his justice and mercy. Because we have received mercy, we must desire for all to receive mercy, and even the worst of sinners would repent. The justice we desire in this world is never full justice, but enough to instill fear in victimizers hearts so they would repent of their sin. If we truly seek the glory of God, we would desire for them to repent. Our desire for justice should not be out of vengeance, but to show God s final justice that is coming, and He would be glorified. IV. We must distinguish the value of women and the roles of women as separate issues God wants to tell the Gospel God wants all sinners to receive grace, and one way to do that is to distinguish men s and women s roles. There is a distinction in the marriage and church contexts. God wants to tell the gospel through the role differences. This world is in confusion about the gender distinction/roles. A. To picture the equality of Persons Genesis 1:26

8 Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. In this passage, it is written we are different but equal. B. To picture the distinction of Persons Consider how God is distinguished: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are different but equal. Likewise, God created male and female equal but differently beautiful, with different intellect, emotion, will. This leads to different gifts and personalities. C. To picture the relationships of the Persons Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. This is especially prevalent in relationship and marriage. In Genesis 1:28, God commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. The context of marriage is to picture the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit s relationship and how they purposefully work together. Adam and Eve were to beautifully love in different roles to picture the love of the Trinity. D. To picture the distinction of the roles of the Persons Ephesians 5:32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. Ephesians 5:24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

9 Married couples perform different functions. Consider again God as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: The Father orchestrates salvation, the Son listens to the Father and accomplishes salvation, and the Holy Spirit is sent by the Son, submitting to him, and applies the work of salvation in us to strengthen and empower us. These different roles are to be pictured through our gender differences. In Ephesians 5:32, it says there is so much mystery in this world: how is God going to save the evil in world? But answers are given through the relationship between Christ and the church, which marriages must mirror. In Ephesians 5:25, husbands are commanded to serve, sacrifice, and die for his wife, just as Christ did for the church. In verses 22 and 24, wives are commanded to submit to their husbands as the Church submitted to Christ. In their love relationship, they are to serve one another. He dies for her, and she lives for him. There are two schools of thoughts about women s roles: Egalitarian (no distinction of roles), and Complementarian (though they are equal, there is a difference of roles. This is CFC s view). Both these views also believe in equality of beings. If we don t believe in Complementarian, then there is no reason God would create two genders. Males and females are used to picture the Gospel. This role distinction extends to the institution of Church. In 1 Timothy 2:12, it is often misunderstood that women are degraded in the Church because they are not permitted to teach. However, in 1 Timothy 5:17, it is written elders and pastors, who are meant to be men, have responsibility in ruling, and preaching and teaching. Aside from this, women can hold all types of leadership within the church. In CFC, pastoral leadership is exercised by men, but women are also able to lead. I believe women are well respected and honored in CFC, and they have freedom to exercise their gifts. Women can do just about anything and everything within CFC. Role distinctions within the church are not related to equality. It s related to picturing the beauty of the Gospel, so please distinguish the two. V. Pastoral Comments A. Victimizers Fight against any seed of injustice in your heart. We all have potential to be victimizers. We use and abuse others one degree to another. Whenever you see sin in your heart, repent. Some of you may feel guilty for committing sin your past. To the victimizers in the past: find counsel in older members, or please make appointments with area pastors who would love to counsel you through these issues. As a word of caution, these days, there is unnecessary prevalence of absolute public confession. When the Bible was written, it was a time where social media did not exist and churches were small, where sin was known throughout the congregation. For us, a confession should only be as wide as sin is known. If others know about your sin, make a public confession. I don t believe public confession to anyone and everybody in the world is encouraged in the Bible. It s like giving sex education to kids: there s a time and occasion for it. If you have questions about this, ask your pastors.

10 B. Victims Think back to the video of the father who was running after Nassar. You cannot exercise your own justice even the world doesn t think so. God is saying that vengeance is His, and He will take care of it. What does it mean to forgive? Denhollander said, [Forgiving Larry Nassar] means that I trust in God s justice and I release bitterness and anger and a desire for personal vengeance. It does not mean that I minimize or mitigate or excuse what he has done. It does not mean that I pursue justice on earth any less zealously. It simply means that I release personal vengeance against him, and I trust God s justice, whether he chooses to mete that out purely eternally, or both in heaven and on earth. Steps to forgiving mercy 1. Reason in your mind that God is the judge God is the judge whether He exercises temporary or eternal justice. 2. Repent for your pain and reaction in your sin nature Be careful of your sin nature reaction. Often your pain is from your sin nature. You may not have sinned while you were being abused, but you may be sinning after the fact because of what happened. This isn t victim-blaming, this is regarding victim reactions. It is not that you have done anything wrong, but your future actions may be sinful. 3. React in spirit s nature Let go of your personal vengeance, and love, forgive, or exercise justice with the intention of showing God s love, which we will talk about later. 4. Repeat We may be okay in the moment, but something can trigger us and you must repeatedly forgive. In due time, you will be healed and your wounds will become scars. Be careful of having a victim mentality and committing reactionary sins. You need to have closure in your heart from being a victim before seeking justice. Leave it to God to see if He will use you before exercising temporary justice. Steps to confronting justice Matthew 18: If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. In this passage, Jesus says to have a private conversation with your victimizer before you bring anything public. If he does not listen and you need help, bring one or two others along. If he again refuses to listen, then you take him to the church, and make it public. This is only a general principle and not absolute. If you ve been abused, how far would you go with these guidelines?

11 As counselors, we must respect what degree you are comfortable with taking this. You can prayerfully think through and decide whether you want to release and leave judgment up to God or leave judgment up to the law. If you re in danger, you don t have to meet face-to-face. If you know the perpetrator will continuously commit, you have more obligation and possible legal actions. However, I can t give clear advice in a public place because I don t know the details, but we are willing to help you. Prayerfully decide about these things. C. Ministry of justice To the people who have a heart for justice: if you seek justice, Biblically speaking, you must also seek mercy and repentance of each sinner. Our goal is not for the sake of justice, but to ultimately glorify God. If there s any chance of repentance, you need to seek it out. We need to seek justice in a regular, personal relationship. Always look to restrain sin, promote love, and discipline others so that they may love others and God. Always seek ordinary justice, and maximal glorification of God. Conclusion I will conclude with this part of the wonderful testimony from Denhollander, speaking to Nassar: You have become a man ruled by selfish and perverted desires, a man defined by his daily choices repeatedly to feed that selfishness and perversion. You chose to pursue your wickedness no matter what it cost others and the opposite of what you have done for me is to choose to love sacrificially, no matter what it costs me. In our early hearings, you brought your Bible into the courtroom and you have spoken of praying for forgiveness. And so it is on that basis that I appeal to you. If you have read the Bible you carry, you know the definition of sacrificial love portrayed is of God Himself loving so sacrificially He gave up everything to pay a penalty for the sin He did not commit. By His grace, I, too, choose to love this way. You spoke of praying for forgiveness. But Larry, if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance, which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done in all of its utter depravity and horror without mitigation, without excuse, without acting as if good deeds can erase what you have seen in this courtroom today. The Bible you carry says it is better for a stone to be thrown around your neck and you thrown into a lake, than for you to make even one child stumble, and you have damaged hundreds. The Bible you speak carries a final judgment where all of God s wrath and eternal terror is poured out on men like you. Should you ever reach a point truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Jesus Christ so sweet, because it extends the grace and hope and mercy where none should be found, and it will be there for you.

12 I pray you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt so one day you may experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me, though I extend that to you as well. This is a good summary of Biblical justice.