Walk Humbly With Your God

From My Sermon At Trinity Church Kelowna

Many years ago, in another lifetime, I worked as a political consultant in the US political world. And you know, the year was 2017. The United States had just elected a new President. You know, they have the most peaceful elections in America so it’s not like you probably heard about that election in 2016. But in 2017, I was working as a Media Consultant for a guy running for Congress in what was then THE most expensive congressional race in the history of the United States. And I was asked to ghostwrite an Opinion article on behalf of my client basically opposing immigration. Now to be clear, it was opposing not illegal immigration but legal immigration.

And to be even more clear, I was asked to write an Opinion article basically opposing a specific type of legal immigration called the Diversity Visa Lottery program.

Now if you know anything about me, you’re probably laughing your head off. Because here’s the thing – I was a legal immigrant to the United States. Okay?

And not only was I a legal immigrant but take a wild guess on how my family got to move to America – the Diversity Visa Lottery program.

So naturally, what does 23 year old Joash do? Joash writes the opinion article opposing the Diversity Visa Lottery program. And then, Joash cashes the $2500 USD cheque – easiest $2500 I ever made.

And then, Joash went to bed at night and cried like a baby…

So the next day, I wake up thinking, “What have I done? Who have I become? I should be terrified of myself! I wrote an Opinion article for a politician basically saying that I should not be allowed to move to America. Lord have mercy.”

And I remember sharing this with a friend, this wise older Christian woman. And I remember telling her, “I don’t know what to do. I’m having an existential crisis here. I got into politics because of my passion for Jesus and because of my passion for justice. But here I am, selling my soul to the highest bidder. What do I do?”

And I’ll never forget – she looked me in the eye and said, “Joash, I think you know what you need to do. You know what you need to do.”

And I was like, “Yeah, I know what I need to do.”

The Scripture I’ve been asked to teach on this morning is the DREAM Scripture for any justice speaker or theologian. Pastor Scott could not have handed me an easier Scripture to preach on from a silver platter.

Let’s read Micah 6:6-8 –

“With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Let me pray for us…

So many of us after putting our faith in Jesus get all fired up. We want to do great things for God. We come before God with declarations like, “God, I want bring people to salvation.” As if we bring people to salvation.

Or with statements like - “God, I want to dedicate my life and career to you.” As if God needs our sacrifice.

“God, I want to give you 20% of my income. Forget 10%, here’s 20%.”

“God, I want to open a Christian business and put a Bible verse on my logo.”

And we find ourselves asking with the best intentions, “Will God be pleased with my sacrifice?”

But what does the Lord require of us?

He has told us, what is good – Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly With Your God

Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly With Your God.

You know, I don’t know if this is a North American thing but where I’m from, in India – when you give someone your number, it usually goes something like this:

“987-654-4321” or “123-456-6789”

We do the same thing with Bible verses in the west by the way – Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly With Your God.

DO JUSTICE, LOVE KINDNESS, walk humbly with your God.

And this has consequences on our theology in the west – we know we’re supposed to do justice (even though some of us have a hard time with this), we know we’re supposed to love kindness (even though some of us have trouble doing this for our enemies), but honestly – most of us have no idea what it’s like to walk humbly with God.

So what does it mean to walk humbly with God?

I want us to note something right off the bat – the text says, “Walk humbly WITH your God.”

Catch this – the text doesn’t say, “Walk humbly for your God”. The text doesn’t say, “Walk humbly behind your God”.

The text says, “Walk humbly WITH your God.”

The Hebrew word for “With” here quite literally means “in company with” or “together with” or “in partnership with”.

So what does it look like to walk humbly with our God?

Well the good news is that we don’t have to rack our brains too hard for this part. Because Jesus showed us what it’s like to walk humbly with God.

So here are three ways Jesus teaches us to walk humbly with God:

Number 1 - To walk humbly with God is to draw closer to people in oppression. To draw closer to people in oppression. Jesus shows us what it’s like to draw closer to people in oppression.

You see, Jesus drew closer to people in oppression by literally taking on the form of an oppressed human being. By literally making himself nothing – a colonized Jewish Palestinian man born to a refugee family fleeing violence – who lived in poverty for his entire life – as a homeless man for his entire ministry – who was unjustly executed by a corrupt government authority.

Pastor Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Evangelical Pastor. (SLIDE 5) And here’s the nativity scene at his church this past Christmas. I want you to take this in for a moment. He also went on to say this: “If Jesus were born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.”

Let that sink in: If Jesus were born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.

Now, I know that this can be deeply uncomfortable for some of our western sensibilities – because we’re not used to seeing Jesus like this. But here’s what I want us to understand – to people experiencing physical violence and oppression, this Jesus is good news.

To children in Ukraine and Gaza under the rubble right now, this Jesus is good news. To victims of terrorism in Israel, this Jesus is good news.

To my friend Ruby, who I just got to speak with at a Vancouver church just a few months ago, who cried out in captivity, “God if you’re real, get me out of here” and was rescued by our team the very next morning – this Jesus is good news.

Because this Jesus knows what it’s like to be a victim of violence. This Jesus knows what it’s like to be racially discriminated against. Because Jesus knows what it’s like to be a refugee fleeing violence.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be wrongly convicted. Jesus knows what it’s like to be innocently executed by corrupt government authorities.

He knows what it’s like to walk humbly with God. And he knows what it’s like to walk humbly AS God.

Here’s the second way that Jesus shows us how to walk humbly with God:

To walk humbly with God is to have the eyes to see God among people in oppression. The eyes to see God among people in oppression.

This is why when Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor”, he didn’t just mean that people who are poor will be blessed. He also meant that people who are poor are already blessed. Because God is already on their side – seated right next to them putting his arm around them.

You see, we don’t believe that we take Jesus with us to the world. Jesus is already in the world. This is why 99 percent of our staff are local nationals.

We don’t believe that we take Jesus to the margins. He’s already on the margins.

This why we call ourselves a community of spiritual formation. Because we actually believe that as we seek to transform the world by cultivating justice, God also transforms us on the inside.

Because when we set out to rescue and restore and protect people from violence and oppression, we run into God who is already at work on the margins. IF we have the eyes to see him there.

The question isn’t whether or not Jesus is on the margins. The question is whether or not we have the eyes to see Jesus on the margins.

So a few months ago, I got to lead a team of Canadian pastors and denominational leaders on a Vision Trip to one of our offices in the Philippines. And towards the end our trip in the Philippines, we had the chance to meet with a group of survivor leaders. And as soon as we walked in, they started leading us in worship.

And they started singing this song, Jesus Strong and Kind where they sang the words – “Jesus said, if I am lost he will come to me.”

These survivors then went on to share their stories with us – how they were once lost to the darkness of the Online Sexual Exploitation of Children. This horrific crime where children are forced in front of cameras and abused online by western perpetrators for as little as $50 an hour in ways that I’m not even going to begin to describe in church this morning.

This crime so dark that the youngest child we’ve ever helped rescue was 2 months old. This crime so evil that Canada ranks in the top 4 countries in the world fueling the demand for this crime. In fact, my team was just in Ottawa this week at a press conference on Parliament Hill with Members of Parliament, Senators, the RCMP, FINTRAC, Global Affairs Canada and the Philippines Embassy to Canada saying we need to do more about this as Canadians! And this crime so prevalent that recent studies show us that half a million Filipino children, that’s 1 in 100 Filipino children are lost to this crime.

But then they went on to share about how Jesus found them – through our team of lawyers and social workers and investigators working hard with Philippines law enforcement to find them – backed by Freedom Partners here in Canada literally funding the resources needed to go rescue them. All of this was mind-blowing.

But when it was our group’s turn to ask a question, we found ourselves saying, “Wait a second – can we talk about your faith a little bit? Because we’re a bunch of pastors and church leaders and I think you can actually teach us something about Jesus from your experience in oppression. So please teach us!” And they did. And it was beautiful.

Trinity Church - Do we have the eyes to see God at work on the margins? Do we have eyes to learn about Jesus from people on the margins? And do we have the feet to walk with people on the margins?

Here’s my third point about what it means to walk humbly with God:

To walk humbly with God is to lay down our lives to cultivate life.

We just celebrated Easter – this event where Jesus literally laid down his life to cultivate life - two weeks ago but according to the liturgical calendar, we’re still in Easter. In fact, today is the third Sunday of Easter. And this is the Sunday where the Church typically remembers Jesus walking on the Road to Emmaus.

We find that event recorded in Luke chapter 24 verses 13 to 35. It starts by saying:

“Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.”

Catch this – they were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The wrong direction.

But even though they were headed in the wrong direction, we see Jesus joining them in verse 15. It says:

“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”

So Jesus proceeds to ask them – “Hey what are you guys talking about?” And they say, “You know we’re talking about this dude named Jesus.”

This is like an episode of Undercover Boss. A boss sees two employees headed in the wrong direction. So what does he do? He joins them even though they’re going in the wrong direction – undercover!

So Jesus is like, “Tell me more about this dude named Jesus.”

But they say in verse 21 – “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

You can almost sense their disappointment in that sentence – “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel but instead, he was crucified.”

Many of you here resonate with that.

“We had hoped that moving to Kelowna would be different, but instead life is tougher than ever before..”

“I had hoped that this relationship would be different. But instead, it disappointed me like every other relationship.”

“I had hoped that this job or this career or business opportunity would be different. But instead, it was the worst decision of my life”

“I had hoped that the doctor’s diagnosis would be different. But instead, we just have more bad news.”

Or maybe, like these disciples, you had hoped for something from God. And instead you find yourself disappointed in God – and walking in the wrong direction because of your disappointment.

Here’s the good news – the God who walks humbly among us, the God who invites us to walk humbly with him, joins us when we’re humbled and makes it easy for us to walk humbly with him – even if we’re headed in the wrong direction. Especially if we’re headed in the wrong direction.

Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about where you once had hopes and dreams. And you watched those hopes and dreams crash and burn. And you find yourself disappointed in God.

Here’s the beautiful thing – the God who commands us to walk humbly with him then comes down to earth to join us and teach us how to walk humbly with him.

By the end of this journey on the road to Emmaus, we see the disciples breaking bread with Jesus. And it’s in breaking bread with Jesus, they recognize Jesus and then Jesus is gone. He’s gone.

Because he’s done his job. He’s walked with them. Until they’ve recognized him.

And once they recognize him, it says in verse 33, “That same hour. That same hour! They got up and returned to Jerusalem.”

They got up and they start walking humbly with God in the right direction. And they go and join God and join God’s people in creating a new reality to usher in the kingdom of God. On earth as it is in heaven.

Many of you resonate with this story because you once had hopes and dreams too. And just like the disciples, as soon as life got tough, you made choices to walk in the wrong direction. Maybe it’s with personal decisions.

Or maybe it’s with business decisions or financial decisions where you decided to build your own empire. Where you decided to only take care of yourself and your family. Where you decided to only look out for yourself instead of being generous.

If that’s you – Jesus is inviting you to walk humbly with God this. And he’ll keep walking with you – even if you’re walking in the wrong direction – until you see him and until you turn around and walk in the right direction with him. The direction of doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with your God.

In a western world that is obsessed with fighting for, “MY rights, MY comforts, MY privileges”, we’re supposed to be the voice crying out in the wilderness shouting, “Take my rights, take my comforts, take my privileges for the healing of this world.”

You know, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the disciples encounter Jesus at the Table. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the disciples turn around and go back to Jerusalem after Jesus breaks the bread and says, “The body of Christ broken for you.”

Because WE are meant to be the body of Christ broken for the healing of this world.

Are we living our lives in such a way that costs us something but is healing to the world?

If I were to ask the question, “Who here cares about Justice?” I know every single hand would go up. So I’m not to ask that. Instead, I’m going to ask you this:

Is doing justice actually costing you something? Does loving kindness actually cost your family something? Do you love your neighbour enough to hate the comforts and luxuries of your own life? Or, do you love your neighbour just enough that you’ll do justice and you’ll love kindness for them as long it doesn’t actually cost you a thing.

Trinity Church – I know you already know this but let me say this again – I’ve seen so many western Christians say they care about justice – as long as it doesn’t cost them anything. So many western Christians say we care about justice – as long as we don’t have to give anything up.

Many years ago, Jesus met me on the road to Emmaus. Or in my case, the road to Washington DC. And he turned me around and put me on another path. A path not towards more power but a path away from power towards people on the margins.

When I quit a Presidential campaign to go and work as an unpaid intern with us in South Asia, people I worked with in politics told me I was crazy for trying to walk humbly with God. But I knew it was the right thing to do.

Two years later, when I quit a lucrative political consulting practice in Atlanta to take a 50% pay cut and come work for us in the US, people told me I was crazy for trying to walk humbly with God.

Three years ago, when I moved up north to cold Canada – people in the US told me I was crazy for leaving the comforts of America and moving to an expensive city like Toronto. But I knew that this is walking humbly with God required of me.

I’m not a saint – I’m a selfish coward who was walking in the wrong direction and had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. And Jesus invited me to turn around and do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with him.

And guess what? I’ve never regretted it. Over the past 9 years, I’ve gotten to walk humbly with God and us in three different countries. And I have seen some crazy things.

In one city in the Philippines that I got to visit last year, we have seen child sex trafficking reduce by 86%. 86%! And it only took 500 rescue operations. And one rescue operation costs $10,000. We can do this!

Two years ago, we closed our office in the Dominican Republic after reducing child sex trafficking by 78%!

And just last year, we closed an office in the city in South Asia that I’m from after reducing child sex trafficking by 80%!

The things that God does in and through us when we walk humbly with him is mind-blowing!

May the God who walks humbly with us and who wants us to walk humbly with him, meet you wherever you are in your journey with Jesus and may he show you what it looks like for you and your family to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.

Thank you!