Eddie Byun: Justice Special, Part 1

There is a story of a farmer who had a dog and this dog was a faithful companion of his for many, many years. And this farm was very large and this dog was faithful to the point of not only greeting his master whenever he would come home, but also fetching his newspaper and various things like that.

And one day the farmer went into the city and the dog decided to explore some new terrain within their home. And as he was exploring throughout the fields, he came across a dead well, the well had dried up and it was pretty deep.

But suddenly, as the dog was sniffing further, he fell into this well. And it was very deep. And so there was no way for him to get out. And so he was crying, weeping, and to no avail.

The farmer came home and he thought it was very strange that his dog was not there to greet him. First time in many years that that happened. And so he was looking for his dog and he heard the whimpering sound of his dog.

And so as he saw him down in this well, the farmer was in a dilemma because he did not use the well for many years, there was no bucket and there was no way for him to reach down. Obviously, he could not go down, otherwise, he too would be stuck.

And so the farmer came across this great idea. You know, I’ll start throwing dirt in this hole and then the dog will keeping stepping over this dirt and eventually he will be out and safe. And so that’s what he started to do. He started to throw dirt down this hole.

And as the dog saw his master, he was happy that he finally there to save him. But then he saw the master throwing dirt on top of him. And the dog started getting angry. It’s like, What are you doing? After all my years of loyalty to you, you are trying to bury me alive? And so he was getting angry.

And so the master kept throwing dirt and the dog was like, I am smarter than you because I will keep moving away from the dirt and I will step on top of it. And so this kept happening and he was getting higher and higher. The master was so excited because the dog was getting closer. And the dog was getting more and more excited because, I am going to get my revenge on you.

And so finally, once the dog was able to be in reach, the master reached out and hugged him. And the dog, his heart melted too. And he was able to forgive.

Now, in many ways we are like that dog in the midst of life’s surprises, and uncertainties, in the midst of God’s sovereignty, of not really knowing what is happening and why things are happening. But we can be reassured that there is a master plan, even in the midst of some things within our lives that seem like utter despair.

There are a lot of things in this world that, when we look at it, it seems incredibly evil and even cruel. But still, within the evil, there is within our faith to understand that there is a sovereign plan of God that desires to work through and even orchestrate through these evils to bring about ultimate good.

Now, in our generation, there is an evil called “human trafficking” where human beings are bought, sold, traded as commodities for the selfish use and many times, even for the selfish destruction of other people.

And in the midst of myself and our church, growing aware of these evils, it became clear that, as we were praying about what we can do about this evil, that even in the midst of this darkness, that God had a plan that He desired to orchestrate through this evil to bring about good.

And I believe part of that plan, a big part of that plan, to counter the evil of human trafficking in our day is the Church of Jesus Christ. And when we first started engaging this evil and started pursuing justice, I was surprised because I got a lot of backlash from an unsuspecting group that I would have never dreamed being against what we were trying to do, and that was the Evangelical community.

Because when I first started pursuing justice for the trafficked victim, our church also started, in a similar time period, also pursuing justice for a lot of other people, such as the orphan, the North Korean refugee, the single moms, the homeless, and all of these other groups. We were starting to get a lot more active in being the hands and feet of Christ within our communities and in our streets.

And so I got this one email one day from another pastor saying, “Eddie, I’ve never heard you preach, but I heard a lot about what your church is doing. That you are helping all these people, that you are doing a lot of justice stuff and that’s great. But because of how much justice stuff you’re doing, it’s clear, though I have never heard you preach a sermon, it’s clear that you are a social gospel preacher. So it is my duty, I feel, as a brother in Christ, to tell you, Eddie, why don’t you repent and go back to living the true gospel.”

I was stunned and I was surprised. And these were the types of responses that I kept getting time and time again. And it was surprising for me, because when I first found out about these issues, I never had to debate, Do we need to do something? Does the Church have a role in this? It was clear for me that despite the evil that God clearly had a plan for the Church to be engaged in the fight and pursuit for freedom and justice.

And so what I want to guide us through today is in response to a lot of opposition that I got, even from other churches, is I want to give us a proper biblical mandate and proper biblical foundation of understanding why not only the Church needs to be involved, why we need to lead this fight for freedom and justice in our day.

And so the first reason that I see in Scripture, the first thing that I will guide us through today as to why we need to be engaged in this, is that this fight for freedom and justice, that this is the mission of God. So can we all repeat? The mission of God.

All right. So this is the mission of God. In this fight against human trafficking, which I see as one of the greatest evils of any generation, this is my firm conviction that we must not only be involved, but we must lead the way.

And why do I say, “We must lead the way in this fight for freedom”? Because true freedom and justice can only come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the mission of Jesus was to set captives free. Romans 6 tells us that, “Thanks be to God, that though you who were once slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, you have now become slaves of righteousness.”

So what we see here is that we were all enslaved, in bondage, to sin and Jesus Christ saw this, knew this, that this bondage would lead to ultimate destruction and hell forever, and so He came in order to set us free from the bondage of sin.

And so Christ came to be our atoning sacrifice, not only setting us free in this physical world, but to set us free for all of eternity. To be able to obey from the heart as we see Romans 6 tell us.

And Jesus also reveals His mission before the start of His public ministry in quoting Isaiah, in Luke 4:18 and 19 when He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

So Jesus Christ came to set people free from the bondage of sin. And now this has become our mission and our message to declare to the world as well. Because what are the real issues when we think about human trafficking, when we think about modern day slavery, and sex trafficking today? What are the real issues that we are up against?

It is a spiritual issue, it is a moral issue, it is a heart issue that must be engaged also in the spiritual realm. Because what is really driving this industry? It is the lust of the Johns, the customers who are bound to the lust of the flesh. It is the greed of the traffickers and the pimps. They are bound to the lust and the love of money.

There is also the issues of the self-hatred and the shame of the victims that keep them bound, emotionally and mentally. The hopelessness of the imprisoned, the suffering of all who are still on the road to recovery. Everyone is in bondage in this issue. And only Christ can set them free.

You see? You can put every single customer, pimp, and trafficker in jail today and that will not eliminate the core essence of what is driving this industry. Because it is a heart issue, it is a spiritual issue.

So even though we can put them all in jail today, they will still be bound by the ultimate prison of these spiritual sins. And the Church alone has the only message that can truly set them free, not only physically, but spiritually and for all of eternity.

You see, what the Church is called to do on our mission is to declare the gospel, yes, but also we are called to demonstrate the gospel. You see, the gospel must be verbal but it must also be visible.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It is clear that the utmost primary and important part of the gospel is to verbally declare the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That there is no other name in heaven and earth through which people can be saved, except through faith in Christ and Christ alone. So that is a non-negotiable.

But what we also see throughout Scripture and throughout the life of Jesus, that faith without works is dead. That there must be a demonstration, as well as a declaration, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the mission that Christ has given to us to do as well.

And what we learn in Psalm 89:14 also is that it declares that, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne.” That His kingdom is built upon the pillar foundations of justice and righteousness. That is the foundational mission of God’s kingdom and God’s people.

There is a mission of one fire station in the United States that declares that their mission is to save lives, property, and resources. And what we learned also during 9/11 is that when the towers were falling and it was a dangerous situation, everyone fled the towers, even though surrounding, the blocks, they fled the towers except the firefighters. Why? Because their mission was to save lives.

And being in that role meant sometimes you need to head into dangerous places. You need to head into some dark places because that is part of the mission of who you are as firefighters.

And part of fulfilling the mission that Jesus has given to us will also mean sometimes God will call some of us to go to some dangerous places, to go to some dark places.

Because if we are really going to finish the mission that Christ has given us to do, then that means that some of us need to go to some dark and ugly places, because those are the places that are in desperate need of the gospel. The dark places are where the light is meant to shine.

So that is why we need to be engaged in this dark evil of our generation. Because this is the mission of God. But not only that, another reason why we need to be leading this fight for freedom and justice is because this is the voice of God. So can we all repeat? This is the voice of God.

I often hear people saying in this justice movement that we need to be a voice for the voiceless. And I totally understand what they mean. That’s biblical, that’s from Proverbs 2, that there is a voice of the oppressed that is being silenced or people cannot hear their cries for help. And so we need to echo their voices so that their voice can be heard.

But, as believers, I believe that more than being a voice to the voiceless, or of the voiceless, that we, as people of God, are called to be the voice of God to this nation and to our generation.

You see, we are in this battle, not just to answer the cry of the victim, we are in this battle to answer the cry of God’s heart who desires to see, “Justice rolled down like mighty rivers,” Amos 5:24.

Our voice must represent the voice of God to our world. And this is God’s voice that declares Isaiah 1:17, “Learn to do good.” Now notice he says, “Learn to do this,” because a lot of times, we don’t know what to do initially. We don’t know how to do good, we don’t know how to demonstrate the gospel.

And so he tells us, “Learn it. Learn to do good.” Seek justice, correct oppression. When you see wrong and oppression, correct it. Bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. That is the voice of God to the Church.

So when we declare that the child growing in the womb is sacred life, that must be protected and honored, we are declaring God’s voice for the unborn, God’s voice that honors life, from the womb to the tomb, all of life is sacred. Amen?

And when we declare that adoption is a beautiful thing, that we honor the orphan, that we honor adoption because we have all been adopted. And adoption is a beautiful thing because God has created it to be the means through which we become children of God. That is God’s voice we are declaring into this world when we honor adoption.

And so more than it being our hearts or our desire or our voice, we need to declare God’s voice to our world.

Psalm 82:3 and 4 tells us, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. This is God’s voice that must be heard.”

And one of the roles of the Church is to declare God’s voice and God’s heart for the oppressed and for those who are being harmed in this way.  And in Korea where I currently serve, this issue has been ignored and left silent for far too long. But I find it strange that the Church is absent of these issues, because if you are unaware, in South Korea, South Korean women are the number one trafficked group into Australia and Japan and five years ago, South Korean women were the number one trafficked group into the United States.

That you will find, not only in every major big city, but even in these smaller cities throughout the U.S. you will find victims all around the world and unfortunately even in our American high schools they are seeing sex trafficking on the rise where even older teens are now pimping out and trafficking younger girls within our high schools.

This is an issue that can’t be ignored. Also in South Korea there are one million women and children, mostly girls, unfortunately, one million women and girls who are in sex slavery in this country that I serve in. Ten million customers per year who visit, not just the red-light districts, but these other forms where sex slavery happens, like massage parlors, karaoke bars, VIP room parlors, nail salons, barber shops. One million victims within our country.

Ten million customers, eighty percent married men. And who are these victims? We are currently making a sex trafficking documentary on South Korea, which should be finished by fall of this year.

We did a lot of interviews and what we found out is so many of these women and girls who are victimized, their background? Most come from broken homes and in one of the largest red-light districts in South Korea and you need to keep in mind that prostitution is technically illegal in this country, but there are red-light districts all over the place. One of the largest red-light districts in all of Korea where more than five hundred women and girls are forced to work, eighty percent of them are orphans.

Almost one hundred percent of them, they were violated by a family member before the age of ten. And so how is the Church not involved in these issues? Most of these girls, they ended up being sex trafficked because of the abuse and violation that happened when they were young and led them, forced them out of the homes onto the streets by the time they were twelve or thirteen years old.

And while they are on the streets, they get picked up by traffickers. And so these girls, they are not there by choice. No one chooses prostitution as a profession by choice. No little girl in any country in this world, when they are five, six, seven, eight years old says, “Mommy, Daddy, when I grow up, I want to be a prostitute.” No one does that.

There are circumstances and there is great pain that has forced them to choose that lifestyle in a way that most of them, if they had an opportunity, would have never gone down that road.