Judgement vs. Justice

Well, we are going to wrap up / / Lord Have Mercy today. This has been the follow up to Amazing Grace and we’ve been looking at what Grace & Mercy are, and how they are so valuable and important to our lives.

To do a quick recap this morning. / / Grace is being approved of, supported, loved, liked, looked after, accepted, receiving the most outrageously generous treatment, beyond reason, and it has nothing to do with anything I’ve done right or wrong, who my family is, where I come from, my financial status, my race or gender or any other thing.

And we’ve continued to repeat this week after week for the very simple reason that it is vitally important that we understand God’s grace. Because the bible says that it’s a free gift, and this free gift is the very ability for us to be saved because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It’s the basis of our redemption. It’s the center of Christianity. Without grace we are still responsible for cleaning up our own mess, which we’ve firmly established we are no good at doing...

/ / …everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Sin has consequence. The wage of it is death. And it will produce death in us until we come to a place of relying on God’s grace and following Jesus, believing in him and what he said.

Jesus said in John 8:12, / / “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

The word follow, means become a disciple. Do you know what the word disciple means? To be a disciple is to be a learner, indicating thought accompanied by endeavor! Learn it, Do it!

James 1:22 says / / But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Remember, there is being free, and there is living free. Was Israel free in the wilderness? Yes, but were they acting like captives, complaining and begging Moses to bring them back to slavery in Egypt? Also Yes....

We can be God’s people and live like we are still in bondage because our hearts, minds and actions have not changed. Doesn’t mean we aren’t saved. Just means we have some things to learn!

This is why understanding the grace of God is so absolutely paramount, because in it we find freedom and life. As Paul says, grace is not permission to keep on sinning, it’s the power to set us free from the bondage of sin because it confirms and reconfirms and reconfirms over and over again that God is for us. And this free gift of grace, the free gift of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ removes from us the wage of sin. Like Romans 3 says, / / He has freed us from the penalty for our sins through Jesus Christ...

So, grace is a free gift we accept and receive and apply to our lives to then follow after God with our whole hearts!

And then these last two weeks we’ve looked at mercy. First, God’s mercy toward us, that Jesus is our great High Priest, our advocate before the throne, constantly in relationship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit interceding, or praying for us. God sees us hurting and wants to do something about it. That’s mercy. A feeling of empathy and compassion that moves someone to action!

/ / Mercy is the deeply felt desire and moral obligation to show and express sympathy by acting upon the needs, suffering and misfortunes of others through a tender and heartfelt compassion, concern and kindness.

That is God’s heart toward us. And that is his desire for us to act toward others. Both in John 13:34 and John 15:12 Jesus says, / / This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.

And of course we read last week from Luke 6:36, / / Be merciful , even as your Father is merciful.

And that’s not a demand like, “You better be merciful because I have been merciful to you, so get it right or I’ll be super upset with you and take my mercy away...” No, because that would be contrary to grace, wouldn’t it? We receive God’s grace as a free gift, the mercy of his redemption and salvation, regardless of whether we get it right or not. That’s the very basis of grace and mercy, isn’t it? But, what this is, is that / / We have an invitation that in experiencing God’s mercy we are invited to be merciful in the same way.

Just like we said a few weeks ago, God’s faithfulness teaches us how to be faithful, God’s love shows us how to love, and His mercy shows us how to be merciful. So we are invited into experiencing His mercy and invited in to learning how to be merciful as He is merciful.

/ / Love your enemies! Do good to them… and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked… Luke 6:35

If God does it, he’s showing us how to do it.

This week we are going to look at part of what we read in Matthew 9, last week, but just kind of passed over. It’s the story of Jesus telling Matthew to become his disciple. If you remember, Matthew was a tax collector, and tax collectors were looked at in the same way as horrible sinners. They had betrayed their own people, and so when Jesus does this, he’s showing that anyone can be saved. Anyone can be redeemed.

And I find this very interesting - Matthew is writing this about himself. This is the book he wrote, and he says, starting in vs 10, / / Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”

Personally, I probably wouldn’t have written about myself like that, but Matthew is being pretty honest here, isn’t it?

/ / When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor - sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Now, we looked at that last week in how we respond to people, how we interact to people and how we show mercy just like God does when we have opportunity to be offended, or when we’ve been hurt by someone. But what I want to look at today is a commonly confused concept with this scripture.

So, first things first, Jesus is quoting an Old Testament prophet here. From the book of Hosea 6:6, it says, / / For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

/ / The Good News translation says, I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me.

See, / / love has to do with relationship, offerings have to do with judgement. Offerings were the way to remove the judgement of God for the sins the people had committed.

We read quite a bit from 1 John 4 last week, and vs 16-18 says, / / God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we are not afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not yet fully experienced his perfect love.

See, some people take issue with talking too much about grace & mercy because they think that it does away with the judgement of God, and the bible clearly talks about judgement, about a judgement day and about God being a judge.

2 Corinthians 5:10 says, / / For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 says, / / I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me - the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return.

And talking about Jesus, Paul says in Acts 17:31, / / For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.

Alright, it looks like we are all going to be called in front of the Righteous Judge, who is Jesus Christ, sitting on his judgement seat, which is his throne, and we’re gonna get judged! That sounds pretty heavy, doesn’t it? And there’s a day that’s already been set, Judgement Day. Paul talks about it in Acts 17, but even in Matthew 12:36 Jesus says / / …you must give an account on judgement day for every idle word you speak.

This is gonna happen. It’s going down.

But we’ve just spent 5 weeks talking about God’s incredible Grace & Mercy, that there’s nothing we could do to deserve it, that it’s a free gift, that he no longer judges us based on our actions, but through the actions of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:19 says in the Good News Translation, / / And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man [Adam], in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man [Jesus Christ].

And Romans 8:1 says, / / So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

That word condemnation means the verdict is no good, it’s a damning sentence, you’ve been found guilty and for that there will be punishment. So, there may be judgement, but, because of what Jesus Christ has done, the verdict for us is now righteousness because when we come before that judgement seat we are judged, not based on OUR actions, but on the actions of Jesus.

Here’s the thing: There still has to be judgement pronounced. Why? Because, God is a just God. We read it last week, Romans 3:24,26 says, / / …the redemption that is in Christ Jesus… was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

See, without judgement, without a sentencing, there truly is no freedom, the law would still exist. But Jesus said he came to complete, or fulfill the law. So even though we broke the law, even though we really do fall short of God’s glorious standard, it is the act of Jesus that we are judged against.

Now, here’s what I want to look at today. This little phrase / / “...that he might be just AND the justifier...”

Some would say, Because God is just, he must judge, and because he must judge, that judgement must be directed somewhere, and the obvious direction is us, because we must be judged for our actions. But the bible is very clear, when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ - from that point on we are judged against Christs actions, HE gives us HIS righteousness, when we believe.

But this does NOT change the fact that God is a JUST God, and that’s a really good thing. I don’t want to serve a God that isn’t just, do you? This is why Romans 3 says that not only is he just, but he also became the justifier, meaning, HE has justified those who have faith in Jesus.

So, today we’re going to take a few minutes here and look at the importance of this word / / Justice in a world where Judgement has already been handed over to Jesus instead of us. What does it mean for God to be JUST? And what does that look like for us? Are we to seek judgement or justice?

Ok, I think we have a pretty good understanding of / / judgement. To judge someone, or to be judged, is to make a decision and a declaration of guilt or innocence along with the punishment for that. I have judged you and found you guilty, or I have judged you and found you innocent. And along with that judgement we will either pronounce that you get to go free, or we will tell you what you owe us.

But here’s where that kind of falls against what Jesus taught. He says in Matthew 7:1-2, / / Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

So, if Jesus has clearly said we should NOT judge, and instead of judging someone we should also be merciful, right? Be merciful as your Father is merciful. Be kind to your enemies and all that stuff, then doesn’t that kind of feel completely unfair?

But Psalm 25:8 says, / / The Lord is good and does what is right; or the Message translation says, God is Fair and Just.

If he’s fair, but I’ve been hurt by someone else, and I have to let them off the hook, by not judging them, and go even further and be kind to them. Turn the other cheek. How is that Fair? And how is that Just? I feel like no justice has been done.

This is why we’re talking about this today, because we have all been hurt, and feeling like we have to let the person who hurt us off without them having to answer for it, is more than just a little difficult. PLUS, most of the time we are still left hurting.

What about the person who has been in an abusive relationship?

What about the one who has had their children taken away because a judge wrongfully favored their spouse?

What about those who have lost their jobs in the last 18 months due to a pandemic that has effected us all in some way, shape or form…?

What about the ones who have been forced to do something they didn’t want to do?

/ / How am I supposed to forgive injustice?

Have you ever noticed that it’s a whole lot easier to complain? Whether that’s about people or about the situation?

Have you noticed that a lot of conversations actually star that way… with what’s gone wrong?

It’s easier to see the errors and the problems and the issues.

Psychologically we actually connect on complaining. Weird huh? But it makes us feel heard and in some way makes us feel validated. But it often has the root of building ourselves up at the expense of tearing others down, “He did this wrong, I would have done it right.” “I can’t believe they did this, I would never have done it.” “They’re so stupid...” And in our heads we’re thinking, “But I’m not...”

It’s easy to place judgement and at the same time try to justify our own actions.

What about, “They better pay up.” or “I’d like to see them try that on me.” or maybe “They deserve what they had coming.”

We’ve pronounced judgement, this person did us wrong, and now we want justice, they should owe us for their actions. I mean, that’s the easier way, isn’t it. That’s the common response. That’s how a LOT of conversations go, isn’t it?

Not only is all of this steeped in negativity, which leads to nothing but pain, division and broken relationships, but it’s completely contrary to what God’s asked of us. And as usual, God has done this to protect us, not to make life more difficult.

So, the first thing I want to look at today in response to that is that we must remember, God IS Fair and Just, and if the word of God says it, then we are best to believe it.

/ / We’ve been doing Justice wrong...

See, the issue with justice, and having a just and fair God is that He is the same to all of us. Romans 2:11 says, / / …God does not show favortism.

And we read from Matthew 7 which says, / / The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

God IS fair and just, but we’ve been asking for the wrong thing.

In pain we want judgement, because we want punishment.

We want to see the other person hurt like we hurt.

If the Golden rule is: / / Treat others like I want to be treated. Then the platinum rule we mostly live by is: I’m gonna treat you like you’ve treated me.

And it becomes a reaction to your actions, instead of me defining how I will treat you regardless of your actions.

And we use science to back it up. We’ll take Newton’s third law, For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. You hit me, I hit you. It’s science buddy, sorry, it’s just the way it happens.

And we use things like Karma to justify our desire for judgement.

Cause & Effect. You deserve what you have coming. Karma will get them. Anyone said that? Even just under your breath, or maybe just in their minds or hearts?

But, Romans 12:17-19 says, / / Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.

And something in us goes, “YES” God is going to take revenge for us. See, God’s got our backs.

Except, what have we just spent the last 6 weeks talking about?

Regardless of our actions, God gives grace

Because of our need for a savior, God shows mercy.

I think Paul did this on purpose. I mean, I’ve been saying it for the last few weeks, Paul is writing a masterclass on grace here. He’s called the Apostle of Grace for a reason. So for him to throw this in the middle of it all, almost doesn’t make sense, does it? Unless he’s doing it to make a point.

/ / You can’t demand judgement against someone else while asking for mercy for yourself.

So, what can we do? If God IS truly Fair & Just, then what does that mean for us when we’ve been wronged. Letting everyone off the hook and us still hurting doesn’t seem like either of those things.

What do we do with our pain? What do we do with our hurt? What do we do with the damage that’s been done to us?

If God is Fair and Just, what’s he going to do about all of this?

This is where we have to learn to / / stop seeking Judgement against those who have hurt us, and start seeking Justice on our behalf.

Did you know:

/ / God can make your situation right without penalizing the one who caused it...

God can heal you without punishing the one who hurt you.

God can repay you without penalizing the one who robbed from you.

God can set you free without putting in bondage the one who wronged you.

Not only are you allowed to ask for Justice on your behalf, but you SHOULD.

Psalm 105:7-8 says / / The LORD is our God bringing justice everywhere on earth. He will never forget his agreement or his promises, not in thousands of years.

Remember, we read from Hebrews 4 that we can boldly approach God’s throne of Grace to receive His Mercy… And we’ve ready scripture that the throne is also the judgement seat. I don’t think God has multiple thrones. He’s like, Just a second, I need to go back over to my other throne for this conversation. The Mercy Seat is the Judgement Seat is the Throne of the King!

So, if the Bible says God is faithful, pray that he would show his faithfulness in your life.

Where the bible says God is our healer, pray that He would heal you.

Where Jesus told us not to worry because our Father knows what we need, then pray for the provision of God to sustain you.

Ask God to provide. Ask God to heal. Ask God to set you free. But learn to do it without demanding the one who hurt you be punished for it. Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the judgement that I SHOULD get based on all the actions I’ve done in my life. I am very grateful for the Mercy of God.

AND, / / God can repay WAY BETTER than the person who hurt you. Do you want their payment, or do you want the abundance that God has to offer?

As a church we went through over a year of a lawsuit with a former tenant in the building here that’s used as a school. It was a long, painful, trying and financially pressing time. In the middle of this whole thing I had to make a decision about how far I was willing to go to get what we deserved. How much did I want to fight for judgement against them?

And in the moment I knew what God was asking of me. I just knew it. I felt God speak to me and just knew that He would look after us, and we didn’t have to try and look after ourselves by demanding judgement.

Now, we have an incredibly amazing lawyer, who is Godly man and I appreciate him so much, he understands the laws of the land, and he understands that as such we need to walk by those laws, and sometimes that means court, and sometimes that means strong letters of reprimand and he talked me through the process. I’m so grateful.

And so in the process we just kept praying. I think it made me pray more. God, I don’t know how YOU will make this right, but would you give us justice. Would you make right what has been done wrong. Not by punishing those who have hurt us, but by your blessing, your favor, your provision.

I made some decisions that even our lawyer would say, “You’re being too kind.” the Mediator in our final settlement meeting made comments on the decisions I was willing to make. And I just knew that in the process God would look after us.

The result was not a lump sum of cash to make it all better. The result wasn’t me ‘winning’ and feeling justified. The result was God removing from us the burden of a legal battle, it was God removing from us the stress of an uncooperative tenant, and it was God bringing someone to our door that would treat the property, the building and the relationship far better than the previous. It works better financially, it works better emotionally, it works better relationally.

Did I get to see judgement by the punishment of my enemies? no

Did I get justice by the hand of God to make right what was wrong? Absolutely.

/ / We have to stop asking for judgement on those who oppose us, and start asking for justice ON our behalf from a just and fair God who has promises to look after us.

/ / One Step Further...

The second thing I want to look at this morning, and what I really felt we needed to end this series on is taking this all one step further.

It is wonderful to experience God’s Grace and Mercy. For that I am so grateful. But I believe that God calls us to go further than just receiving something for ourselves.

Love like Jesus has loved.

Be merciful like your Father is merciful.

So, what about Justice?

Remember in Matthew 9, Jesus tells the Pharisees to go learn what this means, / / I want you to SHOW mercy, not offer sacrifices.

Well, as I said, he was quoting from Micah 6:6 which says, What can we bring to the Lord? Should we bring him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: Do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

We often read from the NLT which uses easier language to understand, but the ESV says it this way:

/ / Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly with your God.

Grace & Mercy are not just something we receive, as always, it’s an invitation to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this earth. God is always wanting to show us something so that we can show it to someone else. His desire is that we learn something, so we can teach something. His purpose for us is that we receive something, so we can give something.

And his justice is no different. And the reason I’m including this in our series on Mercy is because as we’ve seen, the definition of Mercy isn’t just feeling bad for someone, it isn’t just feeling, but there is a response as well, there is an action that follows the feeling.

In Matthew 14:14 it says, / / Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them [moved with compassion] and healed their sick.

In one of the parables he taught on forgiveness in Matthew 18:17, / / Then his master was filled with pity for him [moved with compassion], and he released him and forgave his debt.

Mark 6:34, / / Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them [moved with compassion] because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Mercy, this compassion, compelled Jesus to act, in healing, in forgiveness, in teaching.

See, for many Religion is about our interaction with God, but consistently, time and time again, God turns it around and says, no, to follow me is to act a certain way toward people. Why? I mean, if we think about it, it makes sense.

How do we act? If we saw someone mistreating our children, would we step in? Of course we would.

Do we stand up for our friends? Yes.

Do we protect those we love? Obviously

God so loved the world. it’s not use vs them. It’s not christians vs non-christians. Believers vs non-believers. It is, those whom God loves. And the only benefit we have is that we have found that love expressed to us in a way that has caused us to believe and be brought into something, and that something is to follow after him, and that following after him makes us realize that if we love God, we must also love those he loves, and those he loves has no exclusions.

So, to receive justice is to do justice. to receive mercy, is to show mercy, to be loved is to love.

/ / Christianity is not merely about receiving, but about giving also!

/ / What does Justice look like?

Justice is making right what was wrong. Look around you, what’s wrong with the world? What can you do to make it right?

This doesn’t mean we all become Mother Teresa, give up everything and go look after orphans in the poorest parts of the world. But it does mean we can no longer be ignorant of what is happening around us.

This isn’t picking a cause for the sake of picking a cause.

This isn’t virtue signaling to get mad tik-tok props.

This is the very heart of God expressed to those who need to feel and experience it.

When I’m out there directing traffic on Food Distribution days, and people roll down their window and say, “Thank you so much for doing this..” I can’t help but think, “iI’s just the heart of your heavenly Father...”

When I see y’all putting boxes of food into people’s trunks. I see the hands of Jesus at work in our city.

A couple verses we read this week in our Daily Bible Reading:

Proverbs 29:7, / / The godly care about the rights of the poor...

Isaiah 58 starts off with the people saying to God, “But we gave you sacrifice, we fasted before you...” And God’s response in vs 6 is, / / This is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

So that’s a start. And listen to God’s promise when his people do this, and then he continues talking more about what this looks like.

vs 8, / / Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.” Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

It’s obvious one of our desires as Christians and one of our mandates as a church is to shine the light of Jesus Christ. Well, here it is. Do Justice. Make right the things that are wrong in peoples lives and your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Jesus actually says in Matthew 5:16, / / …let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

There is a direct connection between doing good to those around us, and them seeing God.

One of the biggest problems the church has in the world today is that a lot of people don’t think the church looks very much like the God they preach about.

I was at a digital seminar this week and they showed a video from South Florida where they walked around asking people if they were in need, where would they go? Most said, family, maybe friends. When they asked would they go to the church, one girl just laughed hysterically. Another said, “No, the church doesn’t have resources to help.” Others just said no, they wouldn’t even think to go to the church. Very few said yes, that they would go to the church in their time of need.

It’s sad that people feel that way. It’s even more sad that it’s mostly true. Most churches don’t have the resources to help. Some don’t even have the desire to help.

I’m not saying this because it’s the churches responsibility, that would be passing it off on an entity that is not solely responsible. Micah and Jesus both were talking to the individual as much as the congregation of believers… This is our individual mission, our individual call. Yes, as a church we’re dedicated to looking for and providing ways that all of us can band together to see this happen, but the reality is, God is calling you and I to do justice in our own life on a daily basis.

Again, this isn’t selling it all and moving somewhere to start an orphanage, it is allowing God to direct us toward those we are meant to impact.

That could be a smile and a kind hello to someone who needs it.

That could be a battery jump or a tire change to someone broken down on the side of the road.

It could be helping out here at food distribution.

There’s no “you’re not doing enough” there is simply, “What good deeds has God brought to us?

We mentioned earlier from Proverbs 28 that the godly care about the rights of the poor, well this morning, if you were reading along with our daily bible reading you may have noticed Proverbs 31:20, which is speaking about the virtuous wife, it says, / / She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.

Proverbs 31 is kind of the “high mark” for a wife, that I don’t expect anyone to live up to, BUT, it shows the value of mercy and justice in the heart of God, that this is what he considers to be the standard we should reach for.

We are encouraged just a few verses before, Proverbs 31:8-9, before he starts writing specifically about a virtuous wife, so this of course applicable to us all, / / Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

Honestly, the bible is full of encouragement to pursue and to act upon the injustice of others. This is the heart of God. Not that we desire judgement against our enemies, but that we release them in mercy, that we ask HIM for justice on OUR behalf, and that we also ask him how we can be the hands and feet of justice for those in this world.

In Matthew 25, Jesus is talking about the final judgement, remember, that judgement day we all get to look forward to. But he says there will be a separation that happens with the people who are before him on that day and this is what the separation will be based on:

/ / Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?”

And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

God takes the matter of justice so seriously that when we ensure justice happens for those around us, he counts it like we did that very thing for Jesus himself.

The opposite is true, he turns to the other group and says the same thing except this time he says I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, thirsty and you didn’t give m a drink, I was a stranger and you didn’t invite me into your home, I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing, you didn’t visit me in prison or when I was sick. And they reply, “What are you talking about, we never saw you in that way, and if we had, we surely would have helped you.” And the King responds just as he had to those who showed mercy and justice, he says, / / “I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”

My guess is that if we knew it was Jesus sitting in front of us asking for help, we wouldn’t hesitate to jump in and get involved immediately, right? Yet, that’s basically what he’s saying here...

As I have been saying, this is not a call to give up everything and go change your entire life to build orphanages in third world countries, or start homeless ministries downtown, or start inviting every stranger you see over for dinner. This is about following the prompting of Holy Spirit, following the heart of God. The more we ask God to give us opportunity, the more we will be given opportunity.

These things are about having eyes that are willing to see, ears that are willing to hear. Jesus said in Matthew 25, “When you did it to one of the least of these...” He doesn’t say, “You did this every time...” But “When you did...” This isn’t about being perfect, or doing it 100% of the time. It’s about following the heart of God and allowing God to change your heart.

You know how I’ve been telling you that you’re allowed to mention to the person beside you that you’re a masterpiece? Well, that scripture, Ephesians 2:10, also gives the reason WHY you’re a masterpiece, it explains what God is building you into, and it says this, starting in vs 8, because this is a perfect way to wrap up this series on Grace & Mercy. / / God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God has done a work for us that we would never be able to do ourselves, and invites us to accept that free gift, receive his mercy, his compassion, his acceptance and love, and then invites us into a live of showing that grace, mercy and justice to those he leads us to!

We sang it this morning, / / Show me who You are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me...

Do we mean it? Do we have ears to hear and eyes to see where God is leading us to be his hands and feet on this earth? That’s what it means to fully grab a hold of His grace & mercy. It does such a work in us that we can’t help but be gracious and merciful to others and when we see injustice, the heart of the King that we now serve wells up inside of us to bring HIS justice to those in need.

Free from the need of Judgement, so we can be carriers of true mercy & Justice. Because judging and condemning someone never got anyone into the Kingdom of God, but serving them changes everything!