Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder, and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets, and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
we’ve all been to the circus and one of
the acts that you regularly see in the
circus is the high wire act this is
where a person is walking on a wire from
one place to another
they have a pole in their hand because
they know in order to walk straight
things have got to be balanced the wire
is so thin that if they lean too far to
one side or the other disaster awaits
because if they fall its cataclysmic and
so in their walking to try to make sure
that they they don’t tilt too far to the
left or the right they hold in their
hand this bar to pull them back to
balance when one side or the other in
their own movement is in jeopardy we’re
living in a world out of balance
people are tilting to one side or
another they’re tilting the cultural
sides they’re tilting to racial sides
they’re tilting to political sides
they’re tilting to gender sides they are
they’re tilting and we’re watching the
disaster of lack of balance so the
people are not able to live their lives
in a straight line because they’re being
pulled to one side or the other and
their equilibrium becomes challenged
Christian’s face this challenge of
balance as well on one side they’re
Christians who are so heavenly minded
that they’re no earthly good
they will talk about the glories of the
life to come while experiencing disaster
in the life that is on the other hand
there are those Christians who are so
earthly minded that they are no heavenly
good they become so secularized they’ve
become so culture eyes they become so
worldly that heaven has no use for them
when the balance perspective is to be so
heavenly minded that you bring good to
earth because you’re operating from
eternity translating it back into time
the question that I would like to speak
to you today is this issue of balance
because we’re all being pulled on all
kinds of levels with all kind of forces
trying to pull us and get us off of our
walk so that we we keep our balance in
life God caps Eliza’s this concept of
balance in one verse a very well known
verse in Scripture and in light of
what’s happening in our lives and what’s
happening in our society today I thought
it would be helpful for you and me to
understand how we are to have this life
of biblically based balance and I call
it the divine imperative in Micah
chapter six verse eight Micah 6:8 he has
told you oh man what is good and what
does the Lord require of you but to do
justice to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God let me
read it again and he has told you oh man
what is good and what does the Lord
require of you but to do justice to love
kindness and to walk humbly with your
God Micah is a book of complete in
theology we call it a covenant to
lawsuit where God makes his formal legal
complaint against his people his people
were playing Church and trying to bribe
God with religion that’s why he leads up
to these verses summarized in verse 6
and 7 with what should I come to the
Lord and by myself before for God on
high shall I come to him with burnt
offerings with yearly care yearling
calves does the Lord take the light in
thousands of rams and in ten thousand
rivers of oil shall I present my
firstborn for my rebellious acts the
fruit of my body for the sin of my soul
what shall I give god that’s gonna
satisfy them that’s when it comes with
verse eight this is what God is asking
for you ever have anybody in your life
who gives you what you don’t ask for you
you ever order something they bring
something else that’s not what I ordered
they can’t just say well at least you
get to eat because that’s not what you
ordered at least you don’t have to leave
hungry but that’s not what I asked for
they were giving God religion church
attendance even tithes they were giving
God they were giving God
religiosity without giving him what he
asked for
he says this is what the Lord requires
demands therefore it’s an imperative an
imperative is not a request an
imperative is the demand this is what I
want from you give me this and I can
accept your religion give me this and I
can receive your ties you give me this
and I can embrace your worship but do
all of that and don’t give me this that
I leave hungry because you didn’t give
me what I asked for
and he asked for three things and this
is a summary of the whole Bible in a
sense but these are the three things he
wants from you and me as a prerequisite
to worship he can receive and so I want
to go over these three things with you
today and if we can embrace them in our
lives our families our churches and in
our society then we can see God show up
we refuse them and you’ll just carry on
with religion as usual without seeing
the God that you had religion about show
up first of all he says I want you to do
justice first thing in this balance is I
want you to do justice please notice
just this is something you do it’s not
merely something you discuss it’s more
than having a commission it’s more than
having a workshop or a seminar it’s
something you do the question is what is
it and how does it work
the problem of justice a term that comes
up in our society quite a bit is a
question of fairness of what’s fair
what’s right but there’s a problem
because we don’t all view fairness the
same way what I believe is fair to me
you may not believe it’s fair to you
it’s like the it’s like though the
mother with four with four children she
has three pieces of chocolate she gives
one to the first one to the second one
to the third one but there is none for
the fourth one so the fourth one cries
out mama that’s not fair
because that’s not equal you you you
gave my siblings each a piece of
chocolate you didn’t give me a piece of
chocolate I’m left out that’s not fair
mother then goes to the freezer part of
the refrigerator and pulls out some ice
cream mother dips ice cream out to
number four number one two and three say
that’s not fair that’s not fair because
all you gave us was chocolate but you
gave sibling number four ice cream so
they’re arguing preferred treatment you
preferred for because you gave for
something you didn’t give one two and
three so that’s not fair mother gets
frustrated because everybody has a
complaint about fairness so she makes
them all go outside y’all just go
outside getting on my nerves go outside
and play all for saying that’s not faith
because that’s coerced treatment so you
got unequal treatment the first one
didn’t get the chocolate you got
preferred treatment because you gave
them ice cream and you didn’t give us
ice cream you just gave us chocolate you
got you got coerce treatment cuz you
made us do something we didn’t want to
do so everybody’s got a complaint it
ain’t fair and the reason why we have
all this calamity in our society today
is because people are not always
agreeing on what’s fair based on their
history their background their
experiences based on their perspective
how they were raised and that all
affects our view of fairness but yet God
says over and over and over and over and
over in the scripture justice so what is
justice given all of these variables in
our lives and in our history and in our
economy and in our society what is fair
because you know for children
all they did was grow up and when they
grew up they brought that same question
about fairness its fairness $15 an hour
is fairness $12 an hour its fairness $25
an hour what’s fair so everybody’s
fighting over fairness let me give you
the biblical definition the Greek word
for justice means that which is right it
means the prescribed the right way
biblical justice is the equitable and
impartial application of the rule of
God’s moral law in society biblical
justice is the equitable and impartial
application of God’s more
law in society justice always starts
with what God declares a matter to be
please don’t lose sight of James chapter
4 verse 12 which says there is only one
law giver and that one law Giver by
which right and wrong is to be
determined is God only one lawgiver the
Bible says so any other rules anybody
makes in order for it to be just must be
consistent with the one law giver who
gives all the rules once folk make their
own rules and become their own lawgiver
unrooted in the one lawgiver who exists
you will have chaos and a whole bunch of
people saying not fair because they’re
not sent they’re not starting with a
central base for the law the moment in
your home everybody makes their own laws
you’re gonna have chaos in your home
because they’re gonna make a law that is
always in their best interest when you
when you make rules for you you’re
looking out for you because people make
laws based on their interest
that’s why justice has to be impartial
it can’t be tied to to my own interest
it has to be tied to something that is
bigger than just me God wants to be the
one Lord give it for your life he wants
to be one Lord give it for your family
he wants to be the one law giver for
your church and he wants to be the one
lawgiver even for government which is
why Romans 13 says
that government officials are to be
ministers of God based on what God says
is good or evil right and wrong so even
government officials God says I’m the
one Lord given for government so the
moment they start making laws that is
not consistent with my laws then you
gonna have chaos in society because folk
or make up their own laws that’s
inconsistent what the king is kingdom
and how he’s made history to work but he
says to his people I want you to do
justice I want you to be equitable and
impartial in the application of my laws
in history
that’s why justice is normally coupled
in the Bible with righteousness you’ll
find the two twins side-by-side they are
twins psalm 89 14 from his throne comes
justice and righteousness jeremiah
chapter 18 verse 19 to follow the lord
in righteousness and justice deuteronomy
32 verses 3 and 4 righteousness and
justice together why because you can’t
be just if you don’t know what’s right
you can never be just if there is not a
right standard by which you’re measuring
the decision so the two must always go
together and god is always right
perfectly right never wrong about any
subject matter injustice is the refusal
to equitably and impartially apply god’s
moral law in society we’re living in a
day of pluralism
pluralism winds up saying the only
absolute is that there are no absolutes
there are no superintending rules I make
my own rules pluralism in our world
today is there can be no common beliefs
it says any idea is as valid as every
idea because you know it’s it’s
pluralism it’s it’s everybody gets to to
do their own thing based on their own
rules so you got this social group
making up their rules in this social
group making up their rule this social
group making up their rules and these
rules class because there is no
superintending overriding governing
guideline to which they all must submit
and so that can come in a whole lot of
things not only in your personal life
but but in your family because if you
got teenagers you got folk making their
own rules
you got teenagers you got folks making
animal rules and when they start making
their own rules and you the chief law
giver clash what happens when the people
do that with God as a society as a race
you got racists making their whole rules
so this happens all over the place and
folk make their own rules and wonder why
there is no peace wonder why there is no
order wonder why there is no harmony
because everybody making their own rules
he says with you I need more than your
church attendance I need more than your
religion let need you to do justice
because brothers and sisters justice is
the cornerstone to freedom
you cannot have legitimate freedom as it
was meant to be without just boundaries
we want fairness and economics we don’t
want people to cheat us we want fairness
and relationships we want fairness we
want fairness we want fairness we want
fairness and God says then you want my
standard if you want fairness and within
that standard I give you flexibility but
you can’t just make up your own rules
and expect order he says I want you to
do justice justice is what you do
injustice which he condemns he says when
you are unjust over and over again
because you illegitimately oppressed
people limiting their potential and
robbing them of their freedom because of
injustice you’re not applying equitably
the rules and that’s evil he says there
would be the job as I said last time of
the church to be the thermostat for
society and society as the thermometer
reading the influence of the church so
if the society is thermometer is reading
chaos is cuz that’s the thermostat set
by the church
we are the influencers we are supposed
to bring God’s point of view the
conscience of the culture our job is not
to parrot the society
we’re not parakeets just the world
telling us what to say we mouthing it
our job is to deliver to the society
what the one lawgiver has to say about
any subject there is no subject that
sits out of divine jurisdiction none no
subject no category because there’s only
one lawgiver but when you don’t believe
there’s only one Lord given you go to a
whole lot of different folks for
different laws these guns are you going
you going all into it you go to the
culture you go to what your mom and say
you go to what your daddy said you go to
what your friends say you go to what the
television say you go to all these
different directions for folk to tell
you what to do whether they agree or
disagree with the one lawgiver the
equitable an impartial application of
God’s moral law in society based on his
word that is the criteria
he says you do justice but secondly I
want you to love kindness cuz as you’re
walking see as you’re walking on this
tightrope if you’re only concerned about
justice you can develop a hard heart you
can develop a coldness about you see if
you’re only concerned about justice then
you easy to talk about law and order you
wanna make sure keep the law keep the
law keep the law keep the law and you
broke the law
you broke the law you broke the law
because you want you wanna make sure
that the rule is being kept the off
balance it’s all it’s all you got is if
all you got is justice
so you leave him to one side you’re
gonna fall over so you got a balance
that pole on the tightrope of your walk
he says I want you to love kindness the
Hebrew word for kindness has said has to
do with the compassion of God Bible says
his loving-kindness and doers forever
God’s got see God got two sides to him I
think he’s not a one sided guy you know
he doesn’t just lean the justice he
balances it with mercy a parent who’s
just this oriented says what did I tell
you to do when did I tell you to do it
why are you not obeying me no because I
said so
I gave you the role justice you obey the
rule that’s legitimate as long as it’s
not all balanced he says I want you to
balance justice with loving-kindness
I want the folk you’re applying the rule
to to also know you care about I want
the folk that you are applying the
standard to yes
apply the standard but I also want them
to know that you have compassion not if
you want to have a balance to walk on
the tightrope of life loving kindness
has to do with compassion shown in one
of two ways first of all God’s kindness
is to be shown to those whom life has
not been good to and Zakaria just a few
pages over chapter 7 Zachariah says in
verse 8 then the word of the Lord came
to Zechariah saying thus has the Lord of
hosts said dispense true justice and
practice kindness and compassion each to
his brother do not oppress the widow or
the orphan the stranger or the poor and
do not devise evil in your heart against
one another don’t do that
he says remove injustice against those
who are oppressed Psalm 82 one to four
but he says is those who are of the
downtrodden the poor the oppressed the
he says surely mercy know about that
child whose whose father abandon him and
the mother has to work two jobs I’m
talking about something that that they
have absolutely no control over he says
though don’t just say to that person you
ought to get up and tie up your own
bootstraps because that’s the right
thing to do when they don’t have boots
he says reach out with compassion
in the name of God without compromising
a standard that if you’re healthy you
get a job so mercy is given on one hand
to those people who life has hurt and
who are not rebelling they just that’s
just the reality of the atmosphere of
evil that has affected them
but there’s another need for compassion
and not justice when you’re guilty when
you sinned when you disobeyed when
you’ve rebelled and you don’t want the
full weight of justice you don’t want
what the law requires when the criminals
in court and he’s found guilty you will
regularly hear him throw himself on the
mercy of the court
you know what he’s asking she’s asking
for don’t give me what the law demands I
have I’m asking you that’s why you will
often hear the judge refer to whether
the person showed remorse at night
whether he seemed repentant for the
crime repentance for wrong done that
requires a just response opens up the
possibility for mercy where there is no
repentance you’re blocking the
possibility for mercy but where there
has been an infraction and justice
demands it God is the one who decides
the consequence but you open yourself up
for mercy if there’s repentance but let
me tell you how else you open up
yourself for mercy if God looks at your
record and show
seize that you’ve shown mercy Luke 636
says God will be merciful to the one
who’s shown mercy so if you are just
this person everything’s about justice
and it gets to your turn
and trust me in life it will get to your
turn
and it gets to your turn and you cry out
for mercy and God looks at the record
and he says you just been a
law-and-order person you’ve just been a
justice person you have shown no mercy
you close the door on your own request
don’t get me wrong
don’t give up justice there is a
standard but don’t give up mercy because
God has a heart and so is people we
don’t have to choose between the two
there’s a responsible way to have both
mercy can be easily misused and I will
confess I have on occasion done so for
example I was pulled over for speeding
the policeman pulled me over for going
too fast in this speed zone and I
politely confessed my sins I concurred
yes officer I was I was speeding he said
do you know how fast you were going
yeah I do and I know it was too fast and
I am guilty I would appreciate any mercy
you could show me it’s one thing I know
and that’s how to talk to police
I appreciate any mercy something he says
well you know what I can see that you
really really sorry for going faster
here’s what I’m gonna do I’m just gonna
give you a warning and I gave him thanks
for his undeserved mercy cuz I was
guilty he drives off
I hit my accelerator
[Applause]
I hit my accelerator 60 seconds late I
get pulled over by another police car
I’m talking about a minute maybe two
minutes later I am pulled over by
another police person but I know how to
ask for mercy so policeman number two
gets out of his car comes over to me sir
do you know how fast you were going
yeah I do it I’m so sorry I’m so
regretful you know I would appreciate
any mercy you could show me looks like
I’m in a good place with him except for
the fact that the first policeman drives
up
[Applause]
he pulls up beside the second policeman
looks at me and just shakes is because I
had abused mercy I know why some of
y’all are laughing mercy and justice
have to be balanced to like in Matthew
18 23 to 35 a man was given mercy by the
king but he refused the show mercy and
he said now you locked that man up
because he wasn’t willing to give to
somebody else what he was asking from me
without compromising justice in Luke 10
the story of the Good Samaritan and a
lawyer comes and says well what’s what’s
the first good great law love your Lord
love your neighbor he said but who’s my
neighbor he gives him the story of the
Good Samaritan that your neighbors a
person whose needs you see whose
compassion you feel and whose need
you’re able to address at some level and
then he says well now you go out and do
likewise you go do it you show mercy
holding on to justice
we must understand both the content and
the scope of the gospel the Gospels
content is faith in the finished work of
the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as a substitute for our sins God
took out his justice on Christ so he
could show mercy to us so God couldn’t
compromise his justice BAM he had to
deal with sin but in dealing with the
sin it opened up the door so he could
show the mercy the content of the gospel
is the good news of Christ but the scope
of the gospel he says is that the poor
would hear good news
he said oppressed people would be set
free is that the good news of the gospel
is that people’s lives become improved
when they embrace the gloriousness of
the content of Jesus Christ and see God
had worked through his people lions
become better people become freer they
become more responsible all because the
good news affects more than heaven it’s
designed to change history so we’re not
doing a good job of giving how good the
news really is so he says I want you to
show mercy and then finally he says I
want you to walk humbly with your God
okay I remember now we on this wire we
own this we on this wire we own this
illness wire says you got justice and
mercy working but why are you working
justice and mercy you also walk in they
could you you walk in and I want you to
walk humbly with your God
to walk with is a term of intimacy and
relationship God doesn’t want a religion
that doesn’t have a relationship tied to
it because then it’s an event God is
after an intimate relationship you can
have a legal relationship without having
an intimate one just ask the person
you’re married to there can be a legal
relationship on paper and you don’t want
to be in the same room because you’re
not walking with okay so let’s let’s
work with this little bit what does it
mean to walk humbly with your God first
of all notice the order of the sentence
it’s walk humbly with your God not ask
God to walk with you you are walking
with him which means you gotta know
where he’s going
you can’t walk with Him and you go on
someplace that he’s not going
Amos 3:3 says can two walk together
unless they be agreed I mean we got to
be in the same we got to be head in the
same way and a lot of folks aren’t
hitting with God’s head and wonder why
God not with him cuz you’re not going
where he going
even walk with God the Bible says Adam
and Eve walk with God in the cool of a
garden they were hanging out in his
direction
some of you walk and you have walking
partners why do you have a walking
partner you don’t need somebody with you
to walk you walk all by yourself the
reason you have a walking partner is
your fellowshipping in movement see
y’all talking about all this stuff you
took my politics out my kids you got my
different stuff cuz what you’re doing is
sharing life in motion God wants us to
share life with he wants us to do life
with him
the reason why a lot of our prayers are
boring even to God
even the God we said we start praying
and God said well here’s what he gonna
say because it never changes and the
reason why it never changes is because
we’re not doing life with God because if
we were doing life with God he’d be
hearing about the good bad and ugly he’d
be hearing about the the struggles the
stresses the sins the circumstances the
problems with the kids the problem with
the me the problems on the job he’d be
here detail
we finished prayers in one minute
because it’s the same conversation it’s
not bringing all of our lives and
unveiling them it’s not exposure to him
walking with God as a matter of faith by
faith in it walk with God it is
believing and trusting that God hears me
expose myself to him good bad and ugly
and we are friends he’s my best thing is
you know okay for God to be your best
day the reason why we don’t hear God
talking to us he not our best you know
who who we you know you know we talking
to him why we drive and we talking to
him you know when I even if I’m in a
meeting and you got to sit down and you
got to pray in your mind and think God
sauce cuz he can read the prayers in the
mind cuz I’m bringing him to bear on all
the stuff and he’s included and
everything and I’m just enjoying his
presence if the only time you meet with
God on Sunday and those one minute
before grace prayers he not your best
day to walk with God that is a communion
term to be in communion and an agreement
without a leash never see the person
with a dog not
leash and the dog just walking by I can
tell you they have a great relationship
cuz they don’t need a leash don’t have
to be drugged to worship drugs of prey
drug the Bible stuff
why didn’t come today why didn’t come on
time why you leave early right it’ll
give right pull pull pull
cuz there’s no relationship where
there’s no relationship you need a leash
you’ll have to pull people who in a
relationship to please the God who then
walk in with but while he’s your best
thing he doesn’t want you to forget he’s
also your God see it’s okay to be
friends with your kids you ought to be
friends with your kids to a point not to
a fault
you see you’re to be Jesus says we are
our he is our friend we are his friends
jesus said and then he said if you do
what I say so you and your kids ought to
be besties y’all ought to be hanging out
together y’all be having fun together
y’all ought to be y’all to laugh
together but they need their know their
place you have anybody in your life who
don’t know that place who think just cuz
you their friend they can say anything
they do anything just cuz you their
friend cuz they don’t know that play God
says I want you to walk humbly I know
your place cuz I’m still God so we’re
gonna be besties but know your place to
be humble doesn’t mean them to denigrate
yourself to be humble means submitting
to divine authority
it means no matter what anybody else
says about you you better be small in
your own eyes no matter what what news
clippings you get you better be small in
your own eyes recognizing that you have
somebody over you you ain’t all that you
ain’t all that okay you worth about
$6.75 cuz when they bury you you going
back to dope a mannequin in the store
mannequin in the store a mannequin in
the store that’s a good-looking
mannequin it’s all dressed up it’s all
prissy and pretty and stuff but it only
got that way cuz the owner of the store
dressed it up as always only the store
made it look good so mannequin better
known as dummy dummy don’t don’t think
you are who you are where you are how
much you have how you dress up the job
you have the notoriety where you live
the car you drive look oh your best day
you are a blessed dummy cuz the only
reason you’re all what you are and you
have what you’re having you got what you
got is the goodness and grace of God so
walk hopefully with your God
[Applause]
two kids were arguing but their mother
who’s gonna get the first pancake she’s
making pancakes I was the first one I’m
gonna forget back and forth another
thing look kids Jesus if Jesus were here
he would say give your brother the
pancake one brother looked at the other
you be Jesus
walk humbly with you God in golf
the low score wins in football the
bigger you are the lower you go your
alignment so the more you’ve been
blessed the more humble you should be
you know the more you go up the more you
go down and that means the higher you go
up the more intentional you should be
about going down because the higher you
go up the more people will blow you up
more people will blow you up and try to
fill you here so you think you more than
a bag of chips you know it’s like the
kernels kernels on the telephone and the
chromosome telephone and he just got
promoted to be colonel and somebody
knocks on the door and he says yes he
says this is private Jones she says the
colonel said whoa just a minute private
and he colonel picks up the phone and
pretends he’s talking to the president
because he’s feeling good about his
position yes mr. president yes certainly
mr. president I’ll be right there to the
White House mr. president certainly
certainly oh yes mr. president thank you
click come in private private comes in
he says yes sir I’ve just I’ve just come
he says what can I do for you well I’ve
just come to hook up your phone your
phone is not
[Applause]
see we like we like to impress folk he
says walk humbly with your God don’t
think to lower yourself God has blessed
you you have to apologize for that but
don’t don’t get the big head