Giving Justly

August 12, 2018 Background Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8, 9 Lesson Passage: 2 Corinthians 8:7 – 15 The psalmist asked a pertinent question: What should a child of God give? More specifically, the question was: What shall I render unto God for all of His benefits towards me? Put another way, how do I know when I am giving justly. When we are left to our own devices, many will give the bare minimum that is required while others will give above and beyond that which is reasonable. And there are people all along the spectrum between these two extremes of people who purposely give. To be clear, our lesson today is about giving financially to support others who are struggling. Often those who don’t like to give financially like to muddy the waters by throwing in all of their time and physical help as evidence of their stewardship. But today, the lesson is about giving financially. I believe we can learn a lot about giving from the church at Corinth as we consider today’s lesson. The Corinthian church had received so much from God that the Apostle Paul could boast on how they were made to abound in everything—except in their giving. We know from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church that they were richly blessed with all of the spiritual gifts. Much of the first letter was devoted to instructing the Corinthians about the proper use of their manifold spiritual gifts that God had bestowed on them. Whereas today it is rare to recognize or see very many spiritual gifts in any congregation, the Corinthian church teemed with spiritual gifts such that they had to be taught the proper way to use them. What a blessing for any church to have such a distinction! Now, let’s get back to the matter of giving financially. It is clear from the lesson text that the church had pledged to give to support the relief of the Jerusalem church just as other local congregations had already done. As we know all too well, there can be a world of difference between pledging to do something and following through to give as pledged. As one elderly deacon so properly put it: “The time is over for making pledges. It is time to start writing checks!” A year had passed since the Corinthians had pledged to give but no apparent effort had been made to fulfill the pledge. Paul reminded them in a gentle way so that their response by giving would lead to their being further blessed. Paul could have demanded that they comply, but that would not have accrued to their benefit to give as a result of such apostolic demand. They needed to give willingly and cheerfully as an act of faith rather than responding to a demand. Paul previously cited the giving of the impoverished churches of Macedonia as an example for the Corinthians to consider. If others who had little could give out of their poverty, surely the Corinthians could give out of their wealth. Paul went on to cite the example of Jesus. Jesus was eternally wealthy, but he became poor to provide spiritually impoverished mankind the opportunity to become spiritually rich. Paul used the act of giving as an application of the spiritual principle that the strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. The Corinthians were strong at that point, but it may be that the time would come when others would have to come to their rescue. In their strength, they were requested to give justly. Robert C. Hudson July 5, 2018

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