They are words that all of us hear, far too often, and perhaps even use from time to time: "It’s good enough."

"Why bother?"
"That’ll do."
"Who cares?"
"So what?"
"No one will know."
"Not my job."

Like this situation that’s been so much in the news.
Firestone has been forced to recall all sorts of tires, losing millions of dollars in the process. Somewhere along the way, someone or something slipped up and a defective product rolled off the assembly line. Tires began flying apart on the highway and dozens of people have been killed.

"Good enough. Ah, who cares. Couldn’t be bothered for more."
Sometimes you get it in simple situations -
        like when you’re out for breakfast and the meat’s cold, toast burned, or eggs overdone. Cook was still half asleep, or distracted...... or just couldn’t be bothered. Waitress didn’t catch it. Distracted in flirting with the busboy.
        And you mutter under your breath, not wanting to get all publically steamed over a $3.35 meal, but also aware that this sort of haphazard inattention is a reflection to some degree of how these people perceive you — certainly not as an important customer who matters.
        Ahhhhh, that’ll do. Just serve it. Doesn’t matter.
                You wish they’d get it right.
                You’re not satisfied with being the recipient of cheap indifference and faulty workmanship.
        True?
                Be that with something as important as tires on your vehicle, or as simple as eggs and ham on rye.

It’s the very thing that’s all tied up in the tensions between teachers, government and parents.
Each eyeing the others and wondering:
        - do they care?
        - are they doing their best?
        - do they see the students as all-important?
If the perceived answer is "NO", people feel slighted, angry and react.
Ultimately, what all of this tells us is that when we’ve got a vested interest in something we want to be done right by, rather than given the short end of the deal.
We wanted to be treated with care, not indifference.
We want those serving us, those working with and for us to pay attention, to care.
        We want to see them.....
                .....whoever "them" is......
                        get it right, not just slap it together.

So, perhaps, if you can identify with this sentiment,
        perhaps, then, you can identify with the divine sentiment of God when He looks at this crazy world in which we live,
        this world in which He has such a vested interest,
                He looks at it, and desires that those living in it would work hard to get it right, not just slap things together;
                that they would care deeply, not just shrug their shoulders in cheap indifference or careless lethargy.

To say that assumes a couple of things.

        It assumes that we believe that God created this world in the first place. That He made it, and loves it with a hands-on love. Cares deeply about what happens to it, and to those living in it;
        to the ecosystems - rocks, soil, plants and animals
        to the people - nations, tribal groups, cities, rural routes, and individuals.
        to you - God made you, and loves you with a hands-on love.

        Second thing it assumes is that we believe in the truth of a divine mandate to humanity – that God, after putting the whole business of creation together, turned to people
                including us
and says, "I want you to be my property managers of this estate. Care for it. Develop it. Work with it. Bring out all the potential in it. Do that for me."
God made it.
God gives us the challenge and awesome privilege of living in it, enjoying it, and caring for it.
And -
        as a result -
                God has a very personal stake, a vested interest, a passionate concern for the outcome
                        for how we respond
                        for what we do with what we’ve been given.

He wants to see us get it right.
He wants us to show some spark and care for the result.
He wants us to sit up and take notice; to put some effort into things.

And, in a way that ultimately is no different than how you or I often respond when seeing people shrug with careless indifference while serving us, God takes our response very personally. It matters to Him.

We’ve been spending the last few weeks together considering some of the key themes of the Christian faith; central words that we can live by.
        Today’s word is "justice."

And, ultimately, justice talks about getting things right,
        the way they should be,
        in order.

Paying attention and getting it right -
        the root bible word that gets translated into the english word "justice" is the same word that we translate into the english "righteousness" -
                living right; right attitudes, right actions.

We say that God is a "righteous" God. He made things right and perfect. He thinks right. He acts right......... and wants us to do the same.
        To do the same not just in our private thoughts, not just in personal devotions, or in personal morals – but beyond that in broad ways.

God is one who is all about getting things right; about taking that which is messed up and fixing it; that which is out of place and moving it to where it belongs; that which is missing and restoring it; that which is faded and polishing it up.
That’s the whole point of this central symbol of our faith, which towers up behind me here this morning.
        The cross.
        The ultimate symbol that what happens here on earth, what happens to you and me — what happens matters to Him. And He wants it to go right.He wants justice to be done; justice in a way that will bring and support vibrant, joyful, wholesome living.

The cross – ‘cause things weren’t going right for us. We were caught in dead-end, hell-bound living, on a fast train to eternal horror, separated from God, out of His family.
        The cross – where Jesus took our curse, died our death, suffered our fate, endured holy rejection, carried our burden.
        did it so that justice could be done and we could be brought back in to the family of God; be adopted as holy children of a heavenly Father; be taken off the destruction road and put on a train to glory; heaven-bound living; the forever presence of the Holy Spirit with us.

The cross is right here this morning my friends to remind us that Jesus is, even today, about the process of taking the messed-up, mixed-up, dark and painful parts of our lives and, bit by bit, working on putting them back together.
        Putting things right.
        Making them count.
        Getting them the way they should be.

That’s His deep desire for each of us.
        For you!

I know that for some of you it’s easier to see and believe than for others.
        But it’s true. Please believe that.
        And, also please take a moment to believe what follows from that.

That as much as the Lord wants it be going right, to get set right, to be.......
        JUST.......
                as it should be
                        ......justice.......
        RIGHT.......
                like the original plan says
                        ......righteous.....

As much as He wants that for each of us personally,
        so much He wants that for every other person sitting here.
        so much He wants that:
                for the person stuck with minimum wage work unable to cope with sky rocketing rental rates in Ottawa-Carleton
                for the aboriginal stuck in squalid living conditions in a northern reserve.
                for the child captured and forced into military service under some African war lord.
                for the worker in some overseas textile firm with feudal-like employee standards giving huge dividends to North American shareholders.

So much He wants that for the globe itself.
        the streams and rivers;
        ozone layer and wind currents;
        rain forests and fish stocks.

It’s Labour Day weekend.
Stop to think about your work. What you do with your energy, your money, your time, your interest. And I’m thinking here beyond that which brings a pay cheque at the end of the week.
Think about the passionate Christ-care, Christ-life given from heaven for you.
        Believe me when I tell you that the Lord is looking at your life as a real time barometer of how you value Jesus.
                Of what He means to you.

God’s at work getting things right for you.
Are we at work getting things right in this world – doing that as our response?

The Bible tells us that when we shrug our shoulders in indifference at messed up situations around us -
        - when we don’t care about welfare traps that drive women to abortion clinics
        - when we say, "not my problem" in response to government policy that condones corporate involvement in third-world blood-soaked regimes
        - when we say, "ah, good enough" to even simple environment responses like recycling or reducing over consumption of precious resources
        - when we think, "but nobody will notice" when we don’t bother to respond to calls for policy input by our elected MP’s

Well, it’s not much different than the inner stirring we feel after being stung by some slippery salesman, or put on hold for an hour while trying to get a service problem resolved, or left holding a defective product which we were assured with a smile was the best thing in the world for us.
        We’ve been had.
        We’ve been slighted.
        We’ve been as much as slapped in the face.
                Devalued.

It becomes a personal thing.

Justice is a very personal thing to the Lord.
        And He wants it be a personal thing to those who are His children.
        He wants it to be a key word for them to live by.

Justice -
        - more than a simple conservative response of punishing wrong-doers.
        - more than a broadly liberal assertion of giving everyone a fair share of the social pie

Biblical justice, righteousness, means wading right into messy situations and working to set things right.

It affects the work place, the criminal justice system, social welfare, housing, circles of friendship, the environment, family activities, inner personal moral standards.

It flows out of God’s great justice act for us.
It flows into a world that is so thirsty, an arid desert for right-ness.
And, ultimately, it flows back to the throne of God.

But, then, don’t simply take my word for it.

Hear the Son of God speak.
These are His words to live by – for us: