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An Appalling Lack In Everyday Life
"Awake to righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of
God. I speak this to your shame."—1Co 15:34.
This exhortation is not addressed to
the world of sinners, but to Christians, as are all of the Apostolic writings.
If we were to translate the text a little differently, it might better give the
Apostle’s thought. For instance, "Awake to a proper appreciation of
justice. Do not sin against justice in your lives; for some have not a
knowledge of God respecting justice, the principles of righteousness.
And this is to your shame."
We who are in the School of Christ recognize that the Lord is teaching us and
is preparing us for a great work in the future. The work of the Church during
the incoming Age is, according to the Bible, to be kings, priests and judges,
to be God’s representatives in the Messianic Kingdom.
As kings, they will be sharers with our Lord Jesus in the ruling of the world.
As priests, they share in the work of healing, instructing and sympathizing
with the world. As judges, they will administer justice, will give stripes or
rewards to mankind, during the thousand years of Messiah’s Reign. Manifestly,
therefore, it is proper that whoever hopes to be of these kings, priests and
judges should now attain the qualifications of heart and mind which will make
him competent for the work; for we may be very sure that God will not appoint
any who are not properly qualified.
It is for this reason that God has been calling His Church out from the world
during the last nineteen hundred years, and has been giving us the glorious
instructions of our Lord Jesus and the Apostles and of the Law and the
Prophets. All these things have been for our
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upbuilding in those qualities of heart and mind which will fit us for the great
service to which God has called us.
But God is not testing His children according to their imperfect bodies; for He
knows that we cannot do the things which we would. He is dealing with our
spirits, our minds. Through the transforming influence of His Word, He is
giving us a new mind; and it is this new mind which He receives into His
family. This becomes the New Creature. (Ro 12:1,2; 2Co 5:17.) We accept a new
will, the will of God, instead of our own wills, and the Divine arrangements
instead of our own plans and purposes.
Thus God is dealing with us as His children, according to this new relationship
into which we have come by faith and obedience; and through Christ our Lord we
are reckoned perfect in God’s sight.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL
But how can we be perfect in will when our bodies are imperfect? We answer, as
did the Apostle, "To will is present with me, but how to perform I find
not." (Ro 7:18.) He did not always succeed in carrying out his will for
righteousness. So it is with every one who seeks to walk in the footsteps of
Jesus. We all know how to will right, but how to do right is the problem.
Gradually we learn that God will not judge us according to the imperfections of
our flesh; for so long as we remain faithful, these blemishes are covered with
the robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness. Therefore we do our best to show
our Heavenly Father that we are trying hard to do right in every act, word and
thought. And since He expects every member of His family to have a perfect
will, it becomes a personal question as to what is the will of God for us. So
we seek diligently to prove "what is the good and acceptable and perfect
will of God."—Ro 12:1,2.
To prove what is God’s will means to come to a knowledge of His will, to
demonstrate it for ourselves. If we are faithful, we are progressing in this
more and more as
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the days go by. At first we had a little knowledge, and this we put into
practise. As we grew in grace and in knowledge, we became better acquainted
with the will of God; and it was for us to put this increased knowledge into
practise also. This knowledge of the will of God we obtained, not in any
supernatural way, but through the study of the Bible.—2Ti 2:15.
Whoever has come into the family of God has given up his own will and accepted,
instead, God’s will. Whoever has not given up his own will to the Lord is not
His child.
As the Apostle declares, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of His." (Ro 8:9.) The spirit of Christ was the spirit of full
surrender to the Father’s will; and as we come to this same condition, we give
up our own wills and take instead the Divine will. This we do because it is the
proper course for all who desire to follow in our Redeemer’s steps, and because
our own wills have proved to be unsatisfactory to ourselves. Our minds and our
bodies are so imperfect that we have frequently gotten into difficulty through
doing our own will. Therefore we are glad to know and to do the will of God,
especially since we see that it is so gracious a will.
JUSTICE FIRST, THEN LOVE
During the present time it is the will of God that His children shall have
trials, difficulties and polishings, in order that these experiences may
develop in us a God-likeness of character, a crystallization of character, that
will render us fit to be used of God in the great work which He has appointed
to the Lord Jesus, that we might thus become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our
Lord in that Heavenly Kingdom which is designed of the Father for the blessing
of all the families of the earth.
Sometimes Christian people see the doctrine of love in the Bible, and forget
that there is a lesson which precedes love. This primary lesson is the one to
which we draw your attention today. It is the lesson of justice—righteousness.
Our text really signifies, "Awake to justice!"
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We must all learn to distinguish right from wrong and to practise what is just,
right. Justice is righteousness.
The Law of God was given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai to show what justice
means. They were not asked to do anything more than justice. "Thou shalt
not kill," said the Law; for to take another’s life is wrong, except when
God’s own Law demands it. "Thou shalt not steal."
To do so is wrong, unjust. "Thou shalt not bear false witness." To do
so would be an injustice.—Exod. 20:2-17.
Thus we see that the Law of God given to the children of Israel amounted to
this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and
strength; and thy neighbor as thyself." To do justice to your neighbor as
you wish that neighbor to do justice to you is the essence of the Law of God
given to the Jews for their treatment of others.—Mt 7:12.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF JUSTICE
Did God give this same Law to the Church? Yes, so far as the spirit of the Law
is concerned. God’s Law is over all of His creatures. But during the Law
Dispensation there was a special Law Covenant which God had made with Natural
Israel. No others have ever been under that Law Covenant. The Jew who could
keep that Law perfectly could live forever; and, having everlasting life at his
command, he might have the opportunity of becoming a part of that great
antitypical Spiritual Israel which was to bless all the families of the earth.
This our Lord Jesus did. Moreover, in His statement of the Divine Law to
Spiritual Israel, He "has magnified the Law and made it honorable," by
showing how far-reaching and comprehensive are its requirements.
No intelligent person will question the propriety of dealing justly with every
one in the world. This subject has many ramifications in all the affairs of our
daily life.
The principle of justice enters into every transaction, even the most trivial.
It applies not only to our dealings with the world at large, but with every
member of our
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own family. The principle of justice must be recognized with our own as well as
with others. If all might get this thought of the Golden Rule firmly fixed in
the mind, if each one could awake to righteousness, to justice, the whole world
would be revolutionized.
If this principle of justice were recognized and followed, men would not be
shooting one another today over in Europe. On the contrary, they would be doing
something better, something good one toward another, just as they would wish
others to do toward them. But men are not living up to this standard of
righteousness, of justice.
It is entirely ignored by governments and by individuals.
The general excuse for violating the Golden Rule is, "It would never do
for us to grant to others what we would expect for ourselves; for others would
take advantage of us; they would not do their part; they would not
reciprocate."
Say the British, "It would not do for us to practise the Golden Rule
toward the Germans; for we do not know what they would do to us." The
Germans advance the same kind of argument.
This course of conduct is not the fear of God, but the fear of man; it ignores
the fear of God. God says that if Christians are afraid of men and of nations
and of what these may do, we are carnal, are living according to the flesh, are
like the unbelieving world. How shall we who have come into relationship with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we who have given our lives to Him, do under
such circumstances? Shall we say that we fear to trust this principle of
justice in our lives, that we do not dare to carry it out in every word,
thought and act? Are we afraid to trust God and to obey Him?
God did not say that we were to observe the Golden Rule whenever others
observed it toward us, and to ignore it whenever others failed to observe it
toward us. On the contrary, we are to practise it on every occasion, regardless
of what others do. Then we shall know that all things shall work together for
good toward us, because we shall
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be in line with God and His arrangements. He has power to overrule in all of
life’s affairs. The very least that we must do is to give justice to one
another; and to do so will mean a great blessing to our own characters.
Whoever is violating the principle of Justice, the Golden Rule, in his home or
in the Church of Christ or in business or social relations should, if he is a
Christian, examine the matter earnestly and prayerfully, and "awake to
righteousness [justice], and sin not." Thus to do violence to justice is
sin; and so far as our knowledge goes, it is a sin that prevails everywhere. Many
have not a proper appreciation of this fact. They do not see that justice is
the very foundation of all character, of all right living. It is the foundation
of the Throne of God. (Ps 89:14.) In vain does any one practise love to his
fellow creatures or even toward God while he is at the same time violating the
principle of justice toward that one. Only after we have rendered justice are
we at liberty to practise love toward another. Then we may do as much as we are
able along the line of love. Justice first, love afterwards, should be the rule
governing all of our dealings with others.
RESPONSIBILITY OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Those who are children of God are expecting shortly to be made the judges of
the world. As the Apostle says, "Do ye not know that the saints shall
judge the world?"
(1Co 6:2,3.) Moreover,
God is seeking now to develop in our hearts and lives, in our characters, those
principles which He desires. Therefore, unless we are just in our very hearts,
unless we appreciate this principle of justice and rejoice to practise it, we
shall not be fit for the Kingdom. We should not be unjust even to an animal.
Every creature has its rights; and we should give each creature the rights which
belong to it. The results are with God. Thus doing, shall we not be preparing
our minds, our hearts, for the glorious condition which the Lord has in store
for His faithful children?
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We are not to think that the Kingdom of God is to be given on the basis of
mercy or favor. There will be neither mercy nor favor in connection with the
bestowal of the Heavenly reward. God shows mercy in connection with our sins
and the weaknesses against which we are striving; but He will not allow in that
Kingdom one individual whose character is not suitable. Those whom He approves
for joint-heirs and rulers with our Lord Jesus must represent the principles of
righteousness and must know how to apply those principles now. Whoever is not disposed
to justice to such an extent as to be willing to suffer loss rather than do an
injustice will not have a share in the Kingdom.
The Bible everywhere pictures God as the great Representative of Justice. If we
receive a place in the Kingdom, it will be apportioned us on the basis of
works, on the basis of our growth in grace, in knowledge, in character-likeness
to our Lord Jesus. If we have been justified by faith in Jesus’ blood, if we
then have made a covenant with God and have been begotten of His Holy Spirit,
He wishes to see us go on to perfection as New Creatures. We are not to think
that our Heavenly Father is uninterested in us, and that He will coldly and
indifferently judge us. On the contrary, we are to remember our Lord’s
assurance, "The Father Himself loveth you."
In conclusion, let us remember that
if we are true, loyal children of God, all our blemishes are covered by the
robe of Christ’s righteousness; and if we are doing with our might what our
hands find to do in this great matter of justice, dealing with all, along the
lines of the Golden Rule, we are showing the Father that we appreciate this
principle as the foundation of His Government. Upon this sure foundation we
shall build a superstructure of love. Thus shall we be made ready for the
Kingdom.
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