Blogpost #32

Chapter 15: The Justice of God

“Never pray for justice, because you might get some.”

Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

Wise words if you understand that Justice is not so much about doing right as it is about making right. We live in a moral universe, which is to say that everyone acknowledges that some things are right and some things are wrong. Most of us believe in the ideas of fairness and equity. The problem is that rarely does everyone agree on what is right and what is wrong, fair or unfair. Too often selfish self-interest rules these decisions, which usually perpetuates the wrong.

We've all heard and probably uttered the phrase, "He/she got what they deserved." How do we know that? Is it based on a feeling? What's the basis of this? This is not just an academic question...remember, one day you may get what you deserve! What will you get?

Like it or not, in our culture the foundation of justice is law. Law is the embodiment of what we believe as a society constitutes right and wrong. Fairness and equity are supposed to be maintained impartially for all. By default, what it recognizes is the innate tendency of some to want to take advantage of others, so it provides legal protections that warn the lawless that there will be consequences if they violate the law and attempt to perpetrate some injustice, some inequity, some wrong on another person.

Justice is the attempt to right those wrongs. The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote "In the state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the laws." ¹ What he is saying is that when we are born into this world, we come into a society filled with men with a bent towards selfishness, who will do what they must to achieve and maintain their success, their prosperity and their happiness, even if it's at the expense of yours...which will, at some point, almost certainly be true.

Whence cometh the Standard?

Though some would still try to promote the myth of the basic goodness of mankind, the universal testimony of history acknowledges that men are basically not just but unjust (and the evidence could easily be used to argue that man is basically evil). This has caused the wise among us to set up systems of laws, in almost all societies, to regulate our behavior towards one another. This is an adequate safeguard, most of the time. The potential flaw is that these laws are based on some standard.

Where does that standard come from? That's a crucial question. Who's making the rules? What qualifies them to make the rules?

The success of the whole system is based on two things: first, that right and wrong can be determined and that the standard is sufficiently righteous so that fairness and equity are assured to all, and second, that the standard can be upheld and not degraded at whim.

Let's answer the first question, How do you know what is right and what is wrong?

Right and Wrong

We could engage all kinds of philosophical speculations about what is right and wrong, what is moral and immoral, but the real-world answer is much simpler.

The One who rules will determine what is right and wrong. He will make the law.  That's the way it is and that's the way it's always been.

If this is true, then how do you establish a sufficiently righteous standard so that fairness and equity are assured to all. The simple fact is that we don't have to worry about this, God has already determined what right and wrong is. He Himself is the standard. It is His righteous character which is the measuring rod of all right and wrong.

How is this character able to be translated into action on earth?

Character has always been forged during the early years of our lives. The Jesuits used to say, "Give me a child for the first 7 years and he'll be mine for life." For the last 2000 years the bulk of that character training has been founded on the Judaeo-Christian ethic of right and wrong found in the Bible. It was a fundamental part of the education. The basic fundamentals of right and wrong were found in the Ten Commandments, and this was never seriously challenged, that is, until this generation. Belief in the existence of God (or gods) and therefore in the accountability of one's actions, was understood and respected by all until this generation.

That is simply not true today. A whole generation has been raised in the Western world which has been taught that science has determined that there is no god. Anyone who does not embrace evolution as the "truth" of the source of our existence is viewed as ignorant. This makes character training virtually impossible. Why? There is no inerrant basis for determining anything to be absolutely right or wrong.

Everything is now based on human opinion, often supported by "scientific" opinion. The irony is that "science," the basis for eliminating God as the divine determiner of right and wrong, is now used as the ultimate support for determining right and wrong!

The greater irony is that science has always denied that it has any moral component at all, it claims to be objective and, therefore, amoral.

"Shall not the Judge of all the Earth Do Right?"

Gen. 18:25

But science is not God, and though scientists declare He does not exist, that does not have any impact on the truth. It only shows their foolish ignorance and blindness, as Romans, chapter 1, clearly describes.

It was Abraham who had it right. When he interceded for the men of Sodom, it was on the basis that justice demanded that the righteous and the wicked would not be treated the same way. In other words, the righteous should not be judged or incur the same punishment as the wicked. Where did he get this idea?

It came from God. God is the Creator and Sustainer of the whole earth. The Scriptures declare, "The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it." ² If the Bible is truth, then it's an unequivocal fact that this earth and all the people who dwell on it are God's and accountable to Him. He makes the rules and there is no court of appeal. Righteousness is based on obedience to His law. Judgment is incurred when we disobey that law, period.

It is no accident that when Micah the prophet wanted to sum up what a righteous life looked like he began with "doing justice." He said, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God." In other words, walk humbly with your God, recognize that He is God and you are not, submit to His will, treat your neighbor with kindness and make it your goal in life to treat others with fairness and justice, leaving judgment with the Lord.

God is going to "do justice." The Lord says "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." Deut 32:35. He is going to judge the whole earth one day. No injustice, no wrong, no inequity will escape His justice. Everything will once again be set right.

27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels,

and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS."

Matt 16:27 NASU

"These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,

away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,

and to be marveled at among all who have believed —

for our testimony to you was believed." 2 Thess. 1:9-10 NASU

1. ^{(Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws, 1748)}
2. ^{(Ps 24:1 NASU)}

Blogpost #31

Chapter 15: The Goodness of God

"Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness." Billy Graham

Why would Dr. Graham make such a statement? Is it possible that he doesn't believe in the inherent goodness of mankind? Is it possible that he doesn't believe in the universal assumption that all men claim, namely, that "basically I'm a good person"?

In a word, that answer is NO! He doesn't believe it. How do we know? Because the most fundamental teaching of the Bible is that men are not good, they are evil, outlaws, and rebels against a holy God. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," that's why Christ had to die on the cross. Those sins have consequences.

Does that mean that no person ever does anything good? Not at all. We all know bad people who have done something good. Why do they do it? Often, it's because they want to feel better about themselves. In other words, they feel the guilt from their sins, so they want to do something they think will atone for them; this way they feel better about themselves. It only works for a while. In their hearts, they know the truth. They feel guilty because they are guilty. So are we.

But, we desperately want to believe we are good. Coming to grips with the reality that we are not is very, very difficult. In fact, it may be impossible without God opening our eyes to the truth that this is His testimony of us, "there is none righteous, not one." Once we accept this difficult reality, then we have to reckon with another difficult, “this-does- not-compute” truth. What is that? "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly." In other words, knowing all about our rebellion, our pride, our arrogance and ungratefulness, God still sent His Son, His only Son, to die for those sins. Why would He do that? Why would such an act not be considered totally irresponsible, if not truly insane? There is only one thing which makes this right. The Goodness of God.

God is the Source of All Goodness

It is not an accident that in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, the constant refrain from God's efforts in creation is "God saw that it was good"... and when it was all done, He said it was "very good." Why? Because He did it. What difference does that make? God is good, absolutely good and whatever He does is good. It's the only thing He is capable of. He is the source of all goodness.

Why is that so hard to believe? For many people it is hard to believe. Why? Because there is so much evil in the world. The logic goes like this: How can a good God allow evil? If He is who He says He is, why doesn't He rid the world of evil?

Actually, there's a simple answer to that. To rid the world of evil, He would have to eliminate mankind! Man is the source of most of the evil in the world (the devil may have started it, but we embraced it wholeheartedly and continue his work with gusto!). For most people, that idea may be even more surprising! Why? Because there seems to be some sort of primal need in mankind to believe that we are "basically" good, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary. As we'll see, we are willing to go to great lengths protect that delusion.

What is 'Goodness'?

Goodness is that desire or motivation to want to do good to others. It's that inner compelling that makes a person want to show mercy to someone who might not deserve it, to show kindness and mercy to someone who is helpless and in need. It's the desire to meet the needs of the needy, to be gracious with those who deserve judgment.

It's the fulfilling of Paul's exhortation in Romans 12, to not take revenge, even when you have been wronged. It's the ability to feed your enemy when he's hungry or give him a drink when he's thirsty. Paul says we will "pour burning coals on their heads" if we do this. Why is this true? It's totally unnatural. Your enemy would not do it for you. He wouldn't expect you to do it for him. In this way, you are overcoming evil with good.

In the same way, Jesus told His disciples to "love one another." Why? Because "by this all men will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." How would loving one another be such a testimony to "all men"? It was unknown. The world had never seen the sacrificial, selfless love which Jesus revealed in His life as He "went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed..." If the disciples "loved one another" and "went about doing good" as He had, eventually all men would see this love and realize it existed nowhere else but in the followers of Christ. This would be a powerful testimony.

There is only one problem. Goodness can only come from goodness and as Jesus told the rich, young ruler, "only God is good." And we are not God. How can we change this so that we can become good like God?

"But, the fruit of the Spirit is...goodness"

What we are saying is that it is only the regenerate person, the one who is "born again" of the Spirit of God who is able to live a life which manifests the Spirit of goodness. It is unnatural, it is abnormal, it is divine. It can only happen as a result of being made "one with Him" by the Holy Spirit; it's the life of Christ lived "in the Spirit" of Christ.

Any random act of goodness that an unregenerate person performs is simply a remnant, a dying ember of the image of God in which we were first created. And we will be able to distinguish these acts by their motive. How?

Acts of goodness which are the fruit of the flesh will be tainted by selfish motives and done for the glory of the person, not for God or His glory. Acts which are truly the fruit of the Spirit will be motivated by a desire to glorify God. Ideally, they will be selfless acts of sacrificial love, but the reality is that they will likely be increasingly selfless; the more we become like Christ, the more selfless these acts will become.

One of the primary goals of our being "conformed to the image of His Son" is to be like God in His goodness. But, like kindness and faithfulness, it will mature over time. We have to remember, it is a fruit of the Spirit. Fruit takes time to ripen and mature before the sweetness emerges. We have to be careful not to be impatient with the fruit. With the proper nourishment, there is no way the tree cannot bear fruit.

Dr. Graham is absolutely correct, our great spiritual need is not only for forgiveness, but also for goodness. To meet our need, God has graciously caused us to be born-again; by His divine power He has "granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2 Peter 1:-4 NASU)

David's Encouragement

King David faced all sorts of trials which could have easily (and sometimes did) turn him aside from believing in the goodness of God, but he always came back. Why? He learned to put things into perspective...God's perspective. And he didn't just look at what happened in the short-term. He learned to look at all the things, all the good things, God had done in his life and he chose to make them his anchor. He left us many of those encouragements in the book of Psalms. Why is this so important?

Mark it down, you cannot live by faith in God and not believe that God is good. It just won't work. You can only entrust yourself to someone you believe will be good to you.

The enemy of our souls knows that if he can plant the seed of doubt in our minds that maybe God is not good...or, maybe He is good to others, but He won't be good to you... IF he can plant that seed, it won't be long before we will be living lives of fear and doubt. Once we are there, he has us where he wants us. Believing we can only trust ourselves. That is a Rx for disaster and failure. David knew differently. 
 

David was not an ivory tower saint, he had real struggles and real failures. But, he had a heart passion for God that delighted God. He wrote it down for us how he encouraged himself...and it has comforted many others for a long, long time. Anchor your faith in it as well. God is faithful and He has promised that He will not fail us or ever forsake us...

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; 

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, 

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." 

  Ps 23:4-6 NASU