Justice for all
The last two Sundays we looked at some of the attributes of God’s character and nature. This past Sunday we focused on the one that is most often trumpeted by many, especially those outside the church and far from God: God is love.
It is imperative for us to remember that God defines love, not that our understanding or impression of love can be used to define God. This means that God’s love is incomprehensible outside of a relationship with Him. It also means the love of God is not a single rail on which we can understand God or attempt to define Him. As fallen mankind, we easily fall into the trap of only telling the best parts of the story, especially when we are at fault — even to the point at which many want to blame God for anything that upsets our understanding of how things should work, especially when bad and evil appears in our midst.
God is love is not the only rail of understanding God, but one facet of who He is and how he relates to all His creation. There are other “rails” or attributes we must also consider. God’s immutability and holiness must stop us in our tracks as we consider the condition of the world around us and the desires within us. When we fail to consider that God is eternal — therefore not needy of us — but instead creating us out of love and we are the needy ones of a relationship with Him, not Him with us, we must come face to face with our sinfulness as the problem. Our sinfulness makes us self-centered rather than as God designed and created us whose purpose is to glorify Him.
All mankind wants the holiness of God; we just don’t know or call it holiness. Instead, we want justice. We want there to be justice whenever evil intrudes into our conscience. And the more we see that our human justice system is flawed, broken, slanted and ineffectual at times, the more we crave for there to be justice. Justice is caught up in the attributes of holiness and righteousness. Being righteous means being right with God, which makes us face our sinfulness. Yes, there must even be justice for the sin, wrong and evil that comes from our thoughts and actions. Justice cannot be for some and not for others.
This is what disturbs our sense of justice currently. Know that in the eternal nature of God, there will always be justice. Not determined by you or me, but by the unchangeable God who is all-knowing, everywhere and all-powerful; fully able to know the thoughts and intents of the heart of man and more than capable of bringing justice for each and every wrong. For every wrong, every sin is committed first and foremost against our holy God. And the justice of God, yes we could say the wrath of God, will fall on every sin at judgement. If all there was in the character of God was righteousness and holiness resulting in judgment, He would be a fearful and feared God. But because He is also love, He reaches out towards us. Not out of a need for us, but for the need within us. A need to be redeemed, to be brought back to life from the death caused by our sin.
The love of God is demonstrated best in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) This is what those outside of Christ, far from God, who want to define the love of God for themselves cannot see or grasp. Their definition of love is so shallow, so far from reality because the God of love is far greater than their sin, their understanding. And as we conclude Sunday, this is why it is imperative that we fulfill the command, the mandate given to us by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8. I John 4-5 (as well as chapters 2-3) are clear that God is love, and that as His children we are to love as He loves.
The Second Person of the Trinity, Christ Jesus, came and took of flesh to reveal in the fullest way possible the love of God and the wrath of God. We see both of these on display at the cross: the love as Jesus died for us and the wrath poured out of Jesus for our sins. The question I would leave you with today is, as you stand before the cross (one hinge point of history, the other bring the resurrection to come three days later) which would you rather poured out in your life — the love and grace of God that brings life or the wrath of God that will condemn you for all eternity?
Pressing on…
Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor
