Melinda Song at Calvary Assembly
Compared with Pastor Roland, I am very bad at networking. I have lost contact with all of my school friends but once, after many years, I attended a school reunion. As usual people have changed. Where I was concern most of my ex-school mates were amazed at my weight gain.
Believe it or not, I used to weigh only 45kg in school. If a wife is worth her weight in gold my husband’s investment in me has really appreciated over the years!
The other thing that surprised my old friends was my conversion because I used to be “anti-Christian” in school. I actually had an issue with God then. I looked around with my idealistic teenage eyes and was very upset to see all the bad things happening to good people. I became even more indignant when I looked at Christians because God was allowing those hypocrites into heaven.
One day I attended an evangelistic meeting prepared to resist Christ but God dealt with my wrong perception of His injustice when the evangelist mentioned Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” I realized that God was fair after all.
Looking back I am shocked at my audacity in accusing God of injustice. In my foolishness I didn’t realize that I needed mercy from God, not His justice.
Today I would like to share on with you my journey of faith and understanding of God’s justice and mercy.
As any parent would know, “Not fair!” is a common complaint from children, especially when they feel that someone else has gotten a better deal than they did. It is almost as if a sense of justice as fairness is woven right into our DNA.
As we look at what is happening around us, it would seem as if God is not "fair," as we measure fairness. But what we fail to realize is that God is just as He defines justice.
Justice is receiving exactly what you deserve, no more and no less. If a traffic police flags you down justice demands that you pay a fine for exceeding the speed limit, unless you ask for mercy, which the traffic police may or may not extend to you.
How often have we rejoiced when justice is served, such as when a bully gets bullied, or when a cheater gets cheated, because it is pay back time!
We believe in “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” which is a popular theme for all the sword-fighting and mafia movies. We fail to realize that this is actually God being merciful in setting limits to our vengeance because the tendency is for the avenger to end up slaughtering the whole family instead of just the perpetrator.
Similarly, we expect to receive the consequence for our actions when we do right. We want to enjoy remuneration that commensurate with our responsibilities and work done.
Believe it or not, I used to weigh only 45kg in school. If a wife is worth her weight in gold my husband’s investment in me has really appreciated over the years!
The other thing that surprised my old friends was my conversion because I used to be “anti-Christian” in school. I actually had an issue with God then. I looked around with my idealistic teenage eyes and was very upset to see all the bad things happening to good people. I became even more indignant when I looked at Christians because God was allowing those hypocrites into heaven.
One day I attended an evangelistic meeting prepared to resist Christ but God dealt with my wrong perception of His injustice when the evangelist mentioned Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” I realized that God was fair after all.
Looking back I am shocked at my audacity in accusing God of injustice. In my foolishness I didn’t realize that I needed mercy from God, not His justice.
Today I would like to share on with you my journey of faith and understanding of God’s justice and mercy.
As any parent would know, “Not fair!” is a common complaint from children, especially when they feel that someone else has gotten a better deal than they did. It is almost as if a sense of justice as fairness is woven right into our DNA.
As we look at what is happening around us, it would seem as if God is not "fair," as we measure fairness. But what we fail to realize is that God is just as He defines justice.
Justice is receiving exactly what you deserve, no more and no less. If a traffic police flags you down justice demands that you pay a fine for exceeding the speed limit, unless you ask for mercy, which the traffic police may or may not extend to you.
How often have we rejoiced when justice is served, such as when a bully gets bullied, or when a cheater gets cheated, because it is pay back time!
We believe in “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” which is a popular theme for all the sword-fighting and mafia movies. We fail to realize that this is actually God being merciful in setting limits to our vengeance because the tendency is for the avenger to end up slaughtering the whole family instead of just the perpetrator.
Similarly, we expect to receive the consequence for our actions when we do right. We want to enjoy remuneration that commensurate with our responsibilities and work done.
Justice compares our performance only against God's absolute standards of perfection, without any regard to what other people say, do, or receive. Fairness, on the other hand, measures what we receive as compared to what other people receive.
Fairness is having every person treated equally under the law, regardless of the differences in age, character, race, economic status, attitude, accomplishments, prior behavior or personal charm.
Communism is the theoretical epitome of fairness; everybody gets the same income regardless of what he or she actually contributes to the community. Fairness allows no favorites and rewards no excellence. It breeds mediocrity.
The reality is that the real world that we live in is a very unfair place. Things happen everyday to people that don't deserve it and other people get away with stuff that they shouldn't have.
So how do we reconcile the injustice we see around us with a just God?
I. GOD IS GOD
Isaiah 45:18 (NKJV) For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19. ... I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 21. ... there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.
Today we have lost the transcendence of God. This is a fact many of us overlook in our “I am a friend of God” culture. God as Creator of the heavens and the earth have a claim of ownership over the earth. He is sovereign and He exercises supreme power and authority over it.
The earth was created with a particular purpose. He “formed it to be inhabited”. We were part of a creation that is meant to fulfill the purpose of God.
In verse 19, God claims to speak righteousness, and to declare things that are right. As God He determines what is right and wrong. In the original polytheistic context, this passage was claiming that the true God was the only God and that…
II. GOD IS JUST
Justice flows from the very being of God.
Deu 32:4 (NKJV) 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.
Psalm 89:14 (NKJV) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
Abraham in Gen. 18:25 successfully appeals to God’s own character of righteousness when he says, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham was bold enough to make this appeal because he knows that …
1. God loves justice
Justice is God’s passion.
Isaiah 61:8 (NKJV) “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Justice is also God’s yardstick.
Isaiah 28:16-17 (NKJV) Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
God hates injustice and throughout Scripture God’s heart is bent toward those who are weak, oppressed, and in danger.
Isaiah 61:1-3 (NKJV)“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
We cannot comprehend God’s justice because…
2. God's justice is not like man’s justice
There are two problems with man’s justice.
a. We apply the principle of justice to everyone but ourselves.
We desire justice for others who do evil, but we never apply that same principle to ourselves. Rarely do we say to others, “If I hurt you, hurt me back the same way.” When people hurt us we cry out, "How could they - I want justice!" When we wound we plead, "Have mercy on me - I am only human!"
I have yet to hear a Christian pray, “Lord, when I sin against you, give me what I deserve for that sin.” No, we naturally ask for mercy.
b. Two people, regardless of how sincere, may not always agree on justice due to selfishness and the deceitfulness of the human heart.
For example, during the American Civil War the Southern states did not see anything wrong with slavery whereas the Northern states felt strongly that slavery was an injustice that must be rectified.
Unlike man, God dispenses perfect justice. God’s justice is really magnanimity, being more than fair to everybody because he is being true to himself. God makes the sun to shine on the evil and the good and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45).
This shows that besides being just…
III. GOD IS MERCIFUL
Mercy was and is key in his redemptive acts
Isaiah 63:9 (NKJV) In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
The wages of sin is death. Mercy is deliverance from the justice we deserve. We deserve His justice and His wrath against us in the eternal lake of fire because we have sinned against an infinitely holy God but the Bible says that God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) and saves us not because of anything we have done, but because of His mercy alone (Titus 3:5).
In Hebrews the throne of God is the place where mercy can be received.
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
From our perspective, it appears that God's justice and God's mercy are conflicting attributes, and that He must choose which He will ignore and which He will follow. In actual fact God does not show mercy at the expense of His justice. God has made a way that satisfies both His justice and His mercy.
Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV) But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Justice is either served through the shed blood of Christ, or justice is served through the punishment of unrepentant sinners in hell for eternity. Christ paid a debt He did not owe because we had a debt we could not pay. Because God’s wrath was satisfied and justice served, His mercy abounds for those He saves. That is justice and mercy working together.
As I look back, I realize how naïve I was when I accused God of injustice. It was so foolish of me to insist on justice when what I needed was God’s mercy.
SO WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US?
First of all, God want us to act justly and show mercy.
Micah 6:8 (NKJV) 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?
Isaiah 56:1 ((NIV) This is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Justice does not happen naturally. Without attention, “injustice” fills the void and God has called his people to be agents of justice and grace as we serve those in need.
God wants us to seek justice but it is something that we should seek for others more than for ourselves. We are to deny ourselves, treat each other fairly and help out everybody that you can, while we let our heavenly father be the just judge that he is and let him deal with the wrongs that are made against us.
Yes, we live in a world of injustice and oppression. Maybe you have been a victim of some form of abuse or injustice but some of greatest movements have come from those who were victims of injustice.
I have a friend who was unjustly dismissed by his boss who was a fellow Christian. He released his anger and the resentment to God and eventually forgave the brother. In hindsight he saw the as part of God’s plan to push him out of his comfort zone so that he could answer the call of God to full-time ministry.
Likewise, Joni Tada Eareckson, who became a paraplegic at 17 after a diving accident, was able to rise above the injustice of her being robbed of the active lifestyle she had and spearhead a ministry ministering to many others who are in the same circumstances.
You can make a difference in at least one personʼs life. You can have a testimony, a ministry, an influence, and an impact. Will you allow the injustices of this world to move you to action?
Recently we have a modern day depiction of the Good Samaritan. On 10 July 2012, at least five people walked past an elderly snatch theft victim who fell unconsciousness in the attack, without lifting a finger to help There was plenty of outrage over the internet. There was also lot of talk in my office but the question we ought to ask ourselves is “WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE?”
I have known such mercy and I am personally indebted to an unknown Indian man who came to my aid more than 40 years when I fainted by the roadside on the way to my friend’s house.
Secondly, God want us to receive his mercy and the free gift of salvation.
In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as the last emperor of China lives a life of luxury with 1,000 servants at his command. “What happens when you do wrong?” his brother asks. “When I do wrong, someone else is punished,” the boy emperor replies.
To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of the servants is beaten. In Christianity, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished.
The most oppressed and unjustly persecuted person that has ever lived is Jesus Christ. Yet, through His death, He has provided for us eternal life. It is a free gift and it is yours for the taking.
Believe in Christ today as your only way to heaven. He was oppressed for you; He suffered unjustly for you. Do not let His death be in vain for you.
Fairness is having every person treated equally under the law, regardless of the differences in age, character, race, economic status, attitude, accomplishments, prior behavior or personal charm.
Communism is the theoretical epitome of fairness; everybody gets the same income regardless of what he or she actually contributes to the community. Fairness allows no favorites and rewards no excellence. It breeds mediocrity.
The reality is that the real world that we live in is a very unfair place. Things happen everyday to people that don't deserve it and other people get away with stuff that they shouldn't have.
So how do we reconcile the injustice we see around us with a just God?
I. GOD IS GOD
Isaiah 45:18 (NKJV) For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other. 19. ... I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 21. ... there is no other God besides Me, A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.
Today we have lost the transcendence of God. This is a fact many of us overlook in our “I am a friend of God” culture. God as Creator of the heavens and the earth have a claim of ownership over the earth. He is sovereign and He exercises supreme power and authority over it.
The earth was created with a particular purpose. He “formed it to be inhabited”. We were part of a creation that is meant to fulfill the purpose of God.
In verse 19, God claims to speak righteousness, and to declare things that are right. As God He determines what is right and wrong. In the original polytheistic context, this passage was claiming that the true God was the only God and that…
II. GOD IS JUST
Justice flows from the very being of God.
Deu 32:4 (NKJV) 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.
Psalm 89:14 (NKJV) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
Abraham in Gen. 18:25 successfully appeals to God’s own character of righteousness when he says, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham was bold enough to make this appeal because he knows that …
1. God loves justice
Justice is God’s passion.
Isaiah 61:8 (NKJV) “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Justice is also God’s yardstick.
Isaiah 28:16-17 (NKJV) Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
17 Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
God hates injustice and throughout Scripture God’s heart is bent toward those who are weak, oppressed, and in danger.
Isaiah 61:1-3 (NKJV)“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
We cannot comprehend God’s justice because…
2. God's justice is not like man’s justice
There are two problems with man’s justice.
a. We apply the principle of justice to everyone but ourselves.
We desire justice for others who do evil, but we never apply that same principle to ourselves. Rarely do we say to others, “If I hurt you, hurt me back the same way.” When people hurt us we cry out, "How could they - I want justice!" When we wound we plead, "Have mercy on me - I am only human!"
I have yet to hear a Christian pray, “Lord, when I sin against you, give me what I deserve for that sin.” No, we naturally ask for mercy.
b. Two people, regardless of how sincere, may not always agree on justice due to selfishness and the deceitfulness of the human heart.
For example, during the American Civil War the Southern states did not see anything wrong with slavery whereas the Northern states felt strongly that slavery was an injustice that must be rectified.
Unlike man, God dispenses perfect justice. God’s justice is really magnanimity, being more than fair to everybody because he is being true to himself. God makes the sun to shine on the evil and the good and the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45).
This shows that besides being just…
III. GOD IS MERCIFUL
Mercy was and is key in his redemptive acts
Isaiah 63:9 (NKJV) In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
The wages of sin is death. Mercy is deliverance from the justice we deserve. We deserve His justice and His wrath against us in the eternal lake of fire because we have sinned against an infinitely holy God but the Bible says that God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) and saves us not because of anything we have done, but because of His mercy alone (Titus 3:5).
In Hebrews the throne of God is the place where mercy can be received.
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
From our perspective, it appears that God's justice and God's mercy are conflicting attributes, and that He must choose which He will ignore and which He will follow. In actual fact God does not show mercy at the expense of His justice. God has made a way that satisfies both His justice and His mercy.
Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV) But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Justice is either served through the shed blood of Christ, or justice is served through the punishment of unrepentant sinners in hell for eternity. Christ paid a debt He did not owe because we had a debt we could not pay. Because God’s wrath was satisfied and justice served, His mercy abounds for those He saves. That is justice and mercy working together.
As I look back, I realize how naïve I was when I accused God of injustice. It was so foolish of me to insist on justice when what I needed was God’s mercy.
SO WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US?
First of all, God want us to act justly and show mercy.
Micah 6:8 (NKJV) 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?
Isaiah 56:1 ((NIV) This is what the Lord says:
“Maintain justice
and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Justice does not happen naturally. Without attention, “injustice” fills the void and God has called his people to be agents of justice and grace as we serve those in need.
God wants us to seek justice but it is something that we should seek for others more than for ourselves. We are to deny ourselves, treat each other fairly and help out everybody that you can, while we let our heavenly father be the just judge that he is and let him deal with the wrongs that are made against us.
Yes, we live in a world of injustice and oppression. Maybe you have been a victim of some form of abuse or injustice but some of greatest movements have come from those who were victims of injustice.
I have a friend who was unjustly dismissed by his boss who was a fellow Christian. He released his anger and the resentment to God and eventually forgave the brother. In hindsight he saw the as part of God’s plan to push him out of his comfort zone so that he could answer the call of God to full-time ministry.
Likewise, Joni Tada Eareckson, who became a paraplegic at 17 after a diving accident, was able to rise above the injustice of her being robbed of the active lifestyle she had and spearhead a ministry ministering to many others who are in the same circumstances.
You can make a difference in at least one personʼs life. You can have a testimony, a ministry, an influence, and an impact. Will you allow the injustices of this world to move you to action?
Recently we have a modern day depiction of the Good Samaritan. On 10 July 2012, at least five people walked past an elderly snatch theft victim who fell unconsciousness in the attack, without lifting a finger to help There was plenty of outrage over the internet. There was also lot of talk in my office but the question we ought to ask ourselves is “WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE?”
I have known such mercy and I am personally indebted to an unknown Indian man who came to my aid more than 40 years when I fainted by the roadside on the way to my friend’s house.
Secondly, God want us to receive his mercy and the free gift of salvation.
In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as the last emperor of China lives a life of luxury with 1,000 servants at his command. “What happens when you do wrong?” his brother asks. “When I do wrong, someone else is punished,” the boy emperor replies.
To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of the servants is beaten. In Christianity, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished.
The most oppressed and unjustly persecuted person that has ever lived is Jesus Christ. Yet, through His death, He has provided for us eternal life. It is a free gift and it is yours for the taking.
Believe in Christ today as your only way to heaven. He was oppressed for you; He suffered unjustly for you. Do not let His death be in vain for you.
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