God’s Justice

August 5, 2018 Background Scripture: Romans 2:1 – 16 Lesson Passage: Romans 2:1 – 12 As much as we love to talk about the mercies of God, the inescapable truth is that God’s justice is still going to be rendered. There have been so many times when we saw the hand of God showering us with mercy when we could have easily and justly been destroyed because of our disobedience. We can describe God’s mercy in vivid detail because of our experience with receiving it in so many facets and at different times. We don’t say much about His justice because we have not encountered it. We have heard about God’s justice, but we have not experienced it. In the text of our lesson today, the Apostle Paul describes various aspects of God’s justice. Earlier in the letter to the church at Rome, prior to the text of our lesson, Paul argued that no one is excused or exempt from God’s justice. All people have issues worthy of the judgment of God against us. There is no need to seek a rationale for a person to be judged by God. Our lives provide ample evidence that we live contrary to the revealed truth in God’s word. God’s mercy is custom tailored according to individual needs. But, God’s justice is not custom tailored to our behavior but according to the revealed truth in His word. The revealed truth that establishes the righteousness of God is the same for all people at all times. Likewise, His justice is administered universally. It is the same for all people and at all times. God has made it known that He does not want anyone to endure His wrath as a result of His justice. Therefore, He has shown us His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering. These elements of God’s riches are made available to allow us space to repent and avoid His justice. God is ever a loving parent who is self-governed by principles. Because of those unwavering principles of holiness, God’s justice is always according to righteousness. The righteousness of God’s judgment will be revealed in the end at the day of wrath. God applies universal judgment, but He does it according to individual works. No one is exempt as a matter of pedigree. God is impartial in administering His justice. Whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, God’s judgment will be based on the individual’s merit. Put another way, a person’s race, in and of itself, will not exempt the person from facing the wrath of God brought about because of His righteous judgment. The Law God gave Israel through Moses cannot and will not spare those who trust solely in the Law from the wrath of God. The Law was not given as a preventive measure to stave off the wrath of God. The Law was given to show man his state of hopelessness when he depends on himself for salvation or exemption from eternal punishment. Those who have the Law are made aware of their sinfulness by the Law, but the Law does nothing to change their state. By depending on the Law, people who have come to know of their sinfulness because of the Law will be judged by that Law and condemned to everlasting punishment by the same Law. People who do not have the Law will be judged based on God’s righteous standard which is encoded in the Law. So, God’s justice is impartial whether one has the Law or not. Those with the Law will be judged by the Law and those without the Law will be judged without the Law. We thank God that as we look beyond this lesson we see that God has given us a mediator who is able to help us. Our mediator fulfilled the righteousness demanded by the Law and took the punishment demanded by God’s justice. God’s justice will be enforced. Either we will face God’s justice or we will accept the mediator who faced it in our stead. Robert C. Hudson July 5, 2018

Parable of the Great Dinner

July 29, 2018 Background Scripture: Luke 14:15 – 24 Lesson Passage: Luke 14:15 – 24 God has a way of handling indifferent people. If God does not matter to those who are indifferent, then they do not matter to His kingdom. The occasion of the parable in today’s lesson is a very unlikely one. Jesus was a guest in the home of a Pharisee on a Sabbath. Every moment was a teaching moment for Jesus. On the surface, it really seems as though Jesus was a rude unappreciative guest. But beneath the surface, he was helping the host and the other guests. He rebuked his host for not being flexible when it comes to helping strangers on the Sabbath when they would help their family or livestock, if needed. Then he criticized the other invited guests for choosing the best seats at the dining table. Finally, before giving the parable, he criticized the dinner host because of the guest list they used for the invitations. He admonished the host to not be guilty of inviting people that could return the favor rather than those who could not. It was this last criticism that seems to have prompted one of the other invited guests to comment about the blessing of being on the invitation list to dine in the kingdom of God. Jesus responded with the parable of the Great Supper. Invitations were sent ahead of time and when the meal was ready, the guests were summoned. Many of the invited guests offered various excuses for not coming even though they apparently had previously accepted the invitation. The excuses seemed to lack validity which indicates that the guests were indifferent about going to the meal. In his anger, the head of the household sent his servant to retrieve people from the streets and lanes of the city who were poor and needy. When this task was completed, the servant reported it to the householder who then sent the servant beyond the city to compel others to come to his dinner. The head of household made it clear that he wanted his house to be filled with guests by whatever means of invitation that was required to accomplish it. Furthermore, he did not want the original invitees to be a part of the dinner because of their indifference. Jesus’ parables had immediate application for that environment and specifically the people who heard them. Likewise, the parable contained kingdom principles that are relevant throughout the Church Age. Perhaps the immediate application was prompted by some empty seats at the table in the Pharisee’s house. This could have been indicative of the indifference of some of the original guests who gave excuses when they were summoned to the meal. On the other hand, Jesus knew that he encountered many hungry people on his journey who would have been glad to be at the table eating. The Pharisee’s house could have been filled with guests if he did not have such a restrictive list of invitees. For those of us living in the Church Age, the parable is instructive. In it, we see that God’s invitation goes out to “whosoever will”. God’s invitation is not for a special elite group nor is it restricted to those who are already close to Him. God’s invitation extends into the streets and lanes as well as into the highways and hedges. Whosoever will, let them come. Robert C. Hudson July 2, 2018

The Widow and the Unjust Judge

July 15, 2018 Background Scripture: Luke 18:1 – 8 Lesson Passage: Luke 18:1 – 8 Sometimes, a parable of Jesus will just fly right over my head. The parable may seem logical and I know it should have a moral in it that makes spiritual sense. But I don’t always reach the “Aha!” moment and that can be very troubling to me. I’m reminded of Jesus’ question to his disciples: If you don’t understand this parable, how can you understand all parables? In other words, how can I assist others when I don’t understand the parable myself? In those cases, I follow the example of the disciples and seek Jesus for the answer. He often leads me to extract as much as I can from the parable, and then see how to summarize it. The parable in today’s lesson is very short and Jesus stated up front what the principle is that should be learned from the parable. The principle is that prayer should be a continuous part of a Christian’s life. The parable only had two active characters: a widow and a godless judge. The widow went to the judge seeking vengeance because of her adversary. The judge refused to take up her case because he simply didn’t want to. The judge was not afraid of God or man so there were no consequences for ignoring the widow’s request. However, the widow was persistent in her request and sought justice both day and night from the judge. The widow’s persistence was overbearing to the judge, so he relented and decided to avenge her of her adversary. Jesus’ summary of the parable is that God, who is the only “Just Judge”, will likewise avenge His elect because they cry out to Him day and night. In attempting to come to the same conclusion that Jesus did, I recognize at least five concepts from the parable that together might amount to the same thing. First, if an unjust judge can avenge a person to prevent that person from worrying him, then a righteous God will certainly avenge His elect who seek Him for vengeance against their enemy. Second, the unjust judge avenges to prevent the widow from troubling him, but God avenges to keep His elect from being troubled by their adversary. Third, if an unjust judge can do that which is good and against his nature, then certainly a just God who is good will always do that which is His essence. Fourth, if we can convince an unjust judge to do that which is good, then we should readily seek the only truly just Judge, God, to do that which is good. Finally, if we can go to unjust people over and over attempting to win their favor, then we should consider it a small matter to continuously seek God’s face considering the grace He has extended to us. Although this parable is brief, there is much more that can be said about it. Back to the principle that Jesus gave us about this parable: Prayer should be a continuous part of a person’s life. If constantly seeking can get results from unjust people, then that’s enough to encourage us to constantly seek our loving Father in prayer. Prayer is a matter of faith. If the just are to live by faith, then prayer is always in order for the just. Robert C. Hudson May 31, 2018