The Bombing in Boston and God's Justice

Proverbs 20:26 (NKJV)

26 A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them.

Deuteronomy 19:11–13 (NKJV)

11 “But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to [a city of refuge], 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

This past week national attention has been focused upon the tragic bombing in Boston during the marathon. Three killed and hundreds wounded. Two men sought in a city wide manhunt – one killed in a shoot out with the police and the other apprehended later. At such times it is fitting to consider what the Word of God has to say about justice and the punishment of crime.

Shortly after the second bomber was arrested the Boston police tweeted, "CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody." This was indeed good news – and worthy of celebration. But the police department should have known better than to call their arrest the triumph of justice. For as we all are often reminded, the mere arrest of a suspect is far from the accomplishment of justice.

In ancient Israel accused criminals would flee to cities of refuge – the equivalent of our jails – in order to await a fair trial and avoid the blood lust common in such tense times. But confinement to the city of refuge was not justice.  In order for justice to be served the individual must not only be arrested but tried swiftly and, if found guilty, punished in accordance with the severity of his crime. And it is this execution of justice that God declared would “put away the guilt of innocent blood in Israel that it may go well with you.” God’s blessing follows societies that practice justice.

But it is this that proves so difficult in our current legal system. As anyone who has found himself embroiled in our current legal system knows, justice is rarely served. Our legal system is in many respects broken and victims frequently suffer much while criminals escape justice. This is a blight on our national character and a sin for which the Lord on High will hold us accountable as a people.

It is the frustration of dealing with our defunct legal system that has led Senator Lindsey Graham to suggest that the Boston bomber be tried by a special court. Graham knows how frequently justice is foiled in our legal system and so has suggested some alternative. But is this not to confess that the whole system is broken and that we must, as a people, repent of the injustice of our legal system and begin to hold criminals accountable for their actions?

Solomon reminds us today, A wise king sifts out the wicked, And brings the threshing wheel over them. The reason that we are witnessing increasing crime in our streets is because of the failure of our legal system to administer justice. Justice administered quickly deters crime. But our judges have failed us – and, here’s the critical part, they have failed us because we ouselves have failed. We have sought to avoid justice; we have sought and are seeking to avoid accountability for our transgressions.

How often do we and our countrymen complain about God’s justice? We dispute the righteousness of His law; we grumble at his judgments; we take him to task for the judgment of hell; we demand why bad things happen to good people; we fancy ourselves upright and just and that God is the one who must answer for the problems in the world. In all these ways we adjudge ourselves unworthy to receive just decrees from our courts. We don’t want justice and so God has handed us over to unjust courts. And this reminds us that as a people we need to confess our sin to the Lord and seek His forgiveness in Christ petitioning him to restore justice to the land.

The Call to Worship

Psalm 95:1–3 (NKJV)

1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods.

Each week as we begin the Lord’s Service, I summon us to stand and worship the Lord. This section of our weekly liturgy is called the Call to Worship. Why begin each week this way?

The Call to Worship reminds us of two things. First, it reminds us that we are part of one body. Listen to the words of the psalmist: Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. As one body, we all are joining our voices together. And even as a body has many members and yet is one body – so also is the Church. We are each integral parts of the body, given to one another to join our various voices together as one voice.

So why do we join our voices together? To worship. We are here to praise and honor and exalt God Most High. Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. We are here to sing joyfully, to utter thanks, and to shout joyfully to Him with the psalms. Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the Lord was seeking out men and women and children to worshiop Him. Every week the call to worship summons us to fulfill this calling.

So why are we here to worship? Because God is worthy of our praise. The psalmist reminds us, after calling us to join him in worship, For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. To worship God is to acribe worth to God – it is not to add something to God that he lacks but to praise Him because He does not lack anything. God is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

So how ought we to worship? Remember the words of the psalmist – we ought to shout joyfully, we ought to enter into his presence with thanksgiving, we ought to shout joyfully with psalms. So where is your heart today? Are you prepared to worship with joy and thanksgiving? Or are you filled to the full with other things, with other worries and concerns? As we enter worship this day, let us confess our sin to the Lord and beseech him to empower us to worship with joy and thanksgiving. Let us kneel together as we do so.

Responding Rightly to the Word of God

Hebrews 13:22
And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.

Whenever the Word of God is preached and applied, we have the opportunity to respond to it rightly or wrongly. If we respond rightly, then we will, in the words of our text, “bear with the word of exhortation.” When the word comes our way we will receive it, consider it, and respond to it in a way that testifies to the world – “This is the word of God. This is the word of my master. He has commanded and I am obeying. Why? Because this is life itself.” As we respond to the word of exhortation in this way we will bear abundant fruit – thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. The word of God will utterly transform us.

Yet often we do not respond to the word of exhortation rightly but wrongly. Rather than “bearing with” the word of exhortation, we can hardly bear it at all! We harden our hearts and refuse to listen. Paul warns us earlier in Hebrews, “Today if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts….” So what are some ways that we can identify that we are being hard of heart and are refusing to listen to God?

Consider the soils that Jesus identifies in the parable of the Sower. Some soil was so hard that the seed did not even penetrate the ground but was instead taken away by the birds. Does this picture describe you? When you find your sins being poked and prodded, do you soften under the pounding of God’s word? Or do you instead close your ears? Do you rail against the commands of God? Or perhaps more subtly, do you start critiquing the speaker instead? “I can’t believe he is speaking this way – as though he is immune from sin himself.” “He thinks I didn’t notice the way he spoke to his son before worship.” As long as we point the finger away from our own sins and refuse to bow the knee before our heavenly Father, we are hardening our hearts. And so some, rather than bearing with the word, repudiate it and replace it with their own opinions.

But some soil is not quite so hardened; some soil is very fruitful, for a time. The plant springs up quickly giving quite a show of health and vibrancy – but when the sun arises it quickly withers and returns to dust. The initial joy and enthusiasm is replaced with disinterest as the novelty of the faith fades. Listening to the Word of God becomes hum-drum. And so, rather than bear with the Word of exhortation, we find ourselves disinterested – just waiting to get out of church and head to the beach.

Still other soil produces fruit and yet as the seed grows it becomes choked and entangled by weeds; the cares and concerns of the world choke it out. This soil recognizes that the Word is important theoretically but it’s just not relevant. It has very little to contribute to the every day realities of life. Indeed, Sunday morning worship and Lord’s Day rest are actually hindrances to the realities of living and supporting a family. “How am I going to fix that problem at work anyhow? Perhaps I can get Fred to cover Mary’s spot and then I’ll be able to get all that work done.” Soon we are inattentive to the preaching of the Word – for, after all, we reason, there are many things of much greater importance than the Word. And so, rather than bearing with the Word of exhortation, we become inattentive, consumed with our own cares and worries.

The Word of exhortation comes to you this morning: how are you responding? Have you hardened your heart? Have you repudiated the word? Are you disinterested? Are you inattentive? Then give heed and let us kneel together and confess our sin to the Lord.