God’s Love of Justice - 250106

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Kaysie Vokurka. Welcome to Let God Speak. Many today are cynical of justice through the court system. It seems justice depends on the particular world views of the judge or magistrate and whether or not you can afford expensive law firms to represent you in court. Yes, it seems justice depends on how much money and influence you have. But what about justice in our own lives? Do things happen to us that are unfair and go unresolved? Stay with us as we look into God's love of justice. On our panel today we have Rosemary Malkiewycz and Cassie Sollano. Welcome to the programme, ladies. SPEAKER B Thank you. SPEAKER A We're going to begin with a word of prayer and then we'll dive into the topic. Let's pray. Gracious Father in heaven, we invite your holy Spirit to be with us. Now as we look at this important topic of your love of justice, we pray that your holy Spirit will give us insight and understanding. And we thank you for this. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER A Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The American Baptist minister, political philosopher and prominent leader in the civil rights movement in the 1960s experienced many injustices against African American people. He said that justice is love, correcting that which revolts against love. He clearly linked justice to love. First, John 4:8 declares the essence of God's character. God is love. He is not just loving, he is love. It defines his character, his glory. Today we're going to look into three aspects of God's love and justice. The first, God's love and justice belong together. Second, loving justice requires constancy. And third, loving justice takes repentance into account. So let's get started with God's love and justice belonging together. And I have a question for you to begin with, Rosemarie. It says, if God is love, what then can we expect about justice? SPEAKER B Okay. Well, the definition to start with of justice is the quality of being fair, having the principle of moral rightness, decency. So that's what justice is about. Now if God is a God of love, we can expect that God will be perfectly just. And the Bible says that God loves righteousness and judgement. So we'll look at a couple of verses that talk to us about this. We've got Psalm 33, verse 5. It says he loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. And then the second verse that we're going to look at is in Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 24. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgement, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, says the Lord. So God alone is able to judge righteously because he delights in love, he delights in justice, he delights in kindness, so he can judge properly. SPEAKER A Mm. It's interesting how those attributes are all joined together and it seems like true justice can only be driven by love. From what you're sharing there. So Cassie, what happens if the balance between justice and love is actually wrong? SPEAKER C Well, it's so important to know that the Bible upholds this truth that justice and love have to be together. I'd like to read from Psalm 85, 10 which says mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed. So obviously there's lovely language there that these two things are connected. Because if we have love without justice, then it's just lenience, allowing evil to flourish. There must be some idea of correction. Like that quote we started with. If we have a child, then we let them do whatever they want. You know, they can develop whatever bad habit they can go in any direction without disciplining them and correcting them, then we are doing them harm. They need to develop with right behaviour for their own good and then the child can grow up with confidence that their parent really loves them. All along they have been doing what has been best for them and they can trust in that love. SPEAKER B And at the same time there's the other side of the coin where there's justice without love. And that is very, very dangerous because it can lead to cold formalism and there's no love in the equation. Using the parental example, if parents ruthlessly enforce their way and the rules that they have and they take no account of certain circumstances that may occur at any given time, then the legalism enforces the child to resentment and fear and in many cases rebellion against the parents authority and authority then of any other authority figures. So parents have to have the right balance between love and justice in the upbringing of their children. SPEAKER A Hmm, that's so interesting because obviously then if you don't get the balance right, you're going to go either one extreme or the other, aren't you? And so the balance of these two together is just as important as them being together. So that's very interesting. Now do we see justice reflected in our societies today here on earth? Rosemarie? SPEAKER B In some countries yes. And in many countries no. SPEAKER A Okay. SPEAKER B In some countries we see unjust persecution of minorities, especially if they're ethnically different, if they have different political or religious, religious views to others, especially to governments. We see the Legal systems then weaponised to put these people at disadvantage and even to persecute them. In other countries, vocal political minorities get what they want and then the majority are silenced. They're not allowed to speak. And despite man's best efforts, injustice. There are many examples of these unfair things happening around the world. SPEAKER A Yeah, that's certainly true. And what about if we go back in time to the Bible periods? Did God speak through his prophets about justice in the land in those days? SPEAKER C Yes, he had to. Like today, the kings of Israel and Judah disobeyed God and they were corrupt, like we see in a lot of the countries that we were just discussing. And it was the common citizen that suffered from injustice. And God speaking through his prophets, consistently decried all kinds of this injustice, unjust laws, false scales, oppression of the poor and widows, or anyone that's vulnerable. God spoke very clearly. So I'd like to turn to Jeremiah 22, verse 2 and 3, which describe this. These say and say, hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. Thus says the Lord, execute judgement and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. SPEAKER A Very interesting. So it seems like both societies today, as well as in biblical times, struggled to demonstrate justice in those settings. It's very interesting when we consider what God's stand is on justice and righteousness. And there's an interesting verse here in Psalm 89, 14 which says, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Mercy and truth go before your face. So, yeah, it's very much God holds these values very strongly. So, Rosemary, if God is just, what does he expect of us? SPEAKER B God's made it very clear in the Bible what he expects of us. And I'm going to look at one verse in the book of Micah, a little book, but a very important one, and I love these verses. It's. Well, this verse in particular, Micah 6, 8, he has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? So this is what God is requiring from us. This, this justice, this good justice that we are meant to be doing, really reflect God's character of love and mercy, his equity, and be his witnesses to other people. And when we show justice and mercy to others, it helps others to then want to know the God that we know. It helps others to understand his character of love. And that's because it's unnatural in this world to see people like that. So when people do, they want to know what it is that is different. SPEAKER A Yeah, they see the difference. Can you add to it a little bit, Cassie, too? SPEAKER C I can. Jesus was clear about the expectation for us that people are very quick to judge others. So he doesn't call us to do that. He doesn't say, oh yes, well, do it on a surface level. In fact, it's the opposite. I'd like to read from John 7:24 says, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgement. Which of course is connected to God's love. SPEAKER A Absolutely. That's a, that's a beautiful statement that Jesus made, isn't it? Yeah. All right, well, we've really explored that aspect of God's love and justice being together. Let's turn our attention now to the second point which we're going to explore today, which is the importance of consistency with justice. And to begin that discussion, I want to look at Deuteronomy, chapter 32 and verse 4, which says, he is the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways. Are justice a God of truth and without injustice, righteous and upright is he. And so I noticed there, you know, it says in all his ways a justice. And so as we see, you know, governments that are elected come and go. Each one has its own agenda. Do we see a consistent application of justice within each new government here in the countries around the world, Cassie? SPEAKER C Sadly, we don't. It would be great if we did that if a new government could build on the last one and, or be more consistent in the justice. But because of that agenda that you spoke of, governments will be biassed towards one group of people and they will put in laws that benefit some and disadvantage others or even persecute others. We even see different emphasis on the enforcement of laws. Maybe those in power can get away with whatever they want or those with more money and it doesn't apply to them. And this can really undermine our confidence in the idea of fairness and justice at all. It just doesn't seem possible. But we can learn of God's perfect and consistent justice, which is a beautiful thing. SPEAKER A Seems like it's, it's a rare virtue that we need so much more of on this planet. What about in Bible times, Rosemary? How consistent was their application of justice? SPEAKER B Well, although God wrote down the Ten Commandments for Moses and the people and he gave them his civil laws to run their society, especially look after the poor, the widows, the fatherless. These people were very important to God. Justice became variable. We can see it very, very easily in the time of the Judges. In Judges, chapter 17, verse 6, and in other places in the Book of Judges it says, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So that's not a place for justice. Then we have the example also of Samuel himself. Samuel was the prophet of God. He was the judge of Israel in those days, just before the kings. And his sons were not like their father. They were very evil, very wicked men. In 1st Samuel 8:1:3, it says now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Bathsheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes and perverted justice. So we can see here that there is no justice. It's variable depending on who's paying the money or who it is that they're dealing with. And so even during the time of the kings, most of the kings were evil and justice was perverted. Regardless of what God had given them, regardless of the laws he had given to them, moral and civil justice didn't exist. SPEAKER A Hmm, that's interesting, isn't it? Because God did so much to try to encourage them to practise it, didn't he? Yes, and to see the failures over and over is, I guess, a bit discouraging, but it hasn't really changed much. So, Cassie, let's talk a bit more about what the Bible says about God and justice and his consistency of justice. Are there some more things to share there? SPEAKER C There are, absolutely. While people are inconsistent, God is not. So I'd like to turn to Psalm 9 and I'll read verses 7 to 9 which say, but the Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgement. He shall judge the world in righteousness and he shall administer judgement for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. And the Bible has more to say if we look again in Psalms. I'll go to Psalm 92. 15 says to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. God himself is totally righteous and that will never change. And it was all along. That was his character. SPEAKER A That's really powerful. And I noticed it mentioned there about him judging the whole world. So he's going to with righteousness. So everyone is going to be treated with justice and fairness under God's, God's judgement system. So that's very encouraging that we have that to turn to. So some people might say that the God of the Old Testament is different to the God of the New Testament. And I'm wondering what the Bible says about God's character in this respect and what the implications that might have for this topic. Rosemary? SPEAKER B Okay, there's a lot of people who are totally, they don't have a compass on this point, if I can put it that way. And they think that God in the Old Testament is vengeful, whereas the God in the New Testament is Jesus, who is loving and kind. But Jesus is God and, and Jesus said over and over again that he came to reveal the Father and that is because Satan had perverted the character of God in man's minds. And they saw God as unjust and as vengeful when God really isn't that way at all. And Jesus had to come to show, as part of his mission, to show us what God is really like. And I want to look up Malachi 36 for one of them. For I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. So God says he doesn't change. He's the same in the Old and the New Testament. And the other verse is chapter one of James in the New Testament and verse 17, which is one I really like. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning. So once again, God does not change, but he is the giver of all good gifts. He is the one who does all good things. He says Jesus says elsewhere, the Bible says that God sends the rain on the just and on the unjust. He gives harvest to the just and to the unjust. And so God doesn't change, but his. His moral character doesn't change, but his relationship can change with us. If we turn away from faithfulness and go to wickedness, that changes our standing with God. It doesn't change him, it changes our relationship. SPEAKER A That's a good way of putting it. Definitely. Okay, so another question that's interesting is truth. Truth is a very vital component to justice. You know, that's why we look for all the evidence before making a judgement on something. What does the Bible say about God and truth? SPEAKER C It has a lot to say. So I'll go to John 17:17 which says sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Yes. Which is powerful. And if I turn to another scene, Scripture, just to get a bit of a different perspective, we have Titus 1:2, which says in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. And I'm sure everyone knows that people lie plenty. Even in our courts, when we're meant to accumulate our evidence, there's plenty of lies. And based on perspective, the truth itself can be muddied. But God's word is truth. And we can have total confidence in God's ultimate justice, even though we can't in earthly systems. The truth will prevail because that is God. SPEAKER A Yeah, that gives us a huge amount of confidence in his justice, doesn't it? That he. He holds onto truth. He's not going to lie when he says he cannot lie. It's like that, that firm, that definite. So that really does help us in having ability to trust God's justice, doesn't it? SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER A Very, very interesting. Thank you for sharing. So consistency is obviously a vital component in having confidence in justice. We've just been talking about that. And so now we're going to have a look at the third and final aspect of God's love and justice, and that is that loving justice takes repentance into account. So we're going to have a little look at Exodus, Exodus chapter 32 and verse 14. And it says something very interesting in this passage. It says, so the Lord relented, and some translations say repented from the harm which he said he would do to his people. And I'm wondering if you could explain this a bit more, Rosemary. You know, what does it mean that God repents? Did God make a mistake here? What's going on? SPEAKER B Well, actually that's, that's where in some versions it says repent, God repented. And many different times it says that. And this here just says God relented. And that's more what the understanding is, because God can never make a mistake. Because if he could make his mistake, he wouldn't be holy, righteous, all perfect, and he wouldn't be all knowing. And so he can't make a mistake. When we think of repentance, it only involves in our minds recognition of having done something wrong. And so you need to repent of it. And the story of, in Exodus 32 is about, where you read from is about the golden calf. And at that time, God saw the people turning away from him and going to the golden calf. But then when the person, people turned away from that wickedness, and there were many who did. God turned away from his planned judgments. So God repents or relents, depending on our behaviour and the choices that we make. If we are genuinely repentant, he will forgive us. It's like with Jonah and Nineveh. Jonah wanted to not go to Nineveh because he knew God was was merciful. But God sent him there and he was expecting God to destroy Nineveh, but when the people repented, God chose to not destroy it. God doesn't want to destroy. God wants to heal. And so he had mercy on those people even though they were terrible people before they repented. SPEAKER A Very interesting. And along the same lines, Cassie, can we have confidence in God's justice if he lets sinful nations off the hook with the judgement that's due for their sin? Like what Rosemary was sharing with the examples. SPEAKER C Well, we have to understand that this is rooted in God's compassion. When a human lets someone off the hook, it's often, oh, well, I'm too lazy to go after them or just, oh, well, you know, maybe that's not convenient or that's not my business. God is merciful and loving and that's what drives his actions, which can give us more confidence in his justice. Let's read from the Bible. I'll read numbers 23, verse 19. And this describes God and this idea of can he repent says that God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will he not do? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good? SPEAKER A Very interesting. And again continuing the same theme, Rosary. If God repents or relents, is he failing to carry out his promises? SPEAKER B God always keeps his promises. His promises of mercy if we repent, and his promises of judgement if we choose to do wickedly. So he keeps his promises. But we can change our mind and either become repentant and follow God or turn from that repentance and do wickedly. And we will get the promises according to our choice, according to what we do. God will change his course of action in response to our choices and what we choose to do when he shows us the wrong way. When he gives his promise and he's already, he's always ready to do it in accordance with his mercy and his goodness in Jeremiah 18, 7, 10. Let me quickly read that and we'll get an idea of what I'm talking about. The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up, to pull down and to destroy it. So That's a promise for destruction. If that nation against whom I have spoken spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. In other words, now he's going to give them the promise of goodness. And if the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent or repent, as it says in Psalm concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. So here we can see that it's our choice that makes the difference of what promises God fulfils in our lives, what he's able to do for us. It's our choice. SPEAKER A That's very interesting and that's a very important perspective to have in this context, so thank you for sharing that. And that account in Jeremiah 18 obviously was referring to two nations. Cassie, what about God's dealing with us as individuals? Do those principles still apply? SPEAKER C Absolutely, because he's given us Christ so that when we make that choice, we will have eternal life. Romans 6:23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We of course stand accountable before God, but He has given us Christ our Saviour. And his sinless life lets us be judged as righteous, beautiful and just. SPEAKER A To stick with you there a bit longer, Cassie, what does that teach us about how we should act towards one another? Does that. Does that have some relevance there too? SPEAKER C It does. Let's read a scripture. I'll read from James 1:22. And this tells us towards others we must be doers of the word and not hearers. Only deceiving yourselves. It's good to know all these things, but it must be applied. We have to follow Jesus and imitate his justness, his justice and his fairness, even to those who reject us. It's a powerful thing. But we get that gift of love that we can share with others and we ask to share it with others. SPEAKER B We've got to remember that Jesus said to love your enemies. And he loved us even when we were his enemies. The Bible says, yeah, when we hated him, he died for us. SPEAKER A What a tremendous example that is for us to follow in our own lives. We've looked at the scale of things with what God does. But in our own individual lives, to apply those principles is such a lofty ideal. So thank you so much, ladies, for sharing with us today. God is love and God is just. He never changes. His justice is consistent, and yet He. He will change his course, subject to human repentance. While we may experience injustice in this life, we can have absolute confidence that in the end, God Himself will bring about perfect justice. With this confidence, we are to love others, which includes being fair and just to all people. We're glad you've joined us today on Let God Speak. Tell your friends to tune in and watch the programmes. Remember, all our previous programmes plus teacher's notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. email us if you prefer on [email protected]. Join us again next time and God bless you. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.