Mercy & Justice
God is perfectly just (He cannot ignore sin) and perfectly merciful: He does not want to destroy the sinner. The cross is the one place those two meet without either being compromised. Because we have received that mercy, we are called to carry the same tension toward others: holding people accountable without condemning them, and extending mercy without enabling sin. This 5-session study teaches the hardest skill in Christian community: truth and love at the same time. Companion to The Road Back.
What you'll learn
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Session 1: Two Attributes, One God
Feel the tension in God Himself before resolving it: perfectly just and perfectly merciful, at once.
~45 min - 2
Session 2: The Place Where They Meet
The cross is the resolution: in God first, before it is ever asked of us. God is "just and the justifier."
~45 min - 3
Session 3: The Mirror - How We Distort It
Honest self-diagnosis: we collapse the tension into one of two ditches. Name yours.
~45 min - 4
Session 4: Accountability Without Condemnation
The heart of the course. The skill no one teaches: truth and love at the same time.
~45 min - 5
Session 5: The Ministry of Restoration
The whole point of accountability is to bring someone home, and the hand-off to The Road Back.
~45 min
Sample lesson
Session 1: Two Attributes, One God
Two Attributes, One God
Before we can ever talk about how to treat people who fail, we have to look at God Himself, because the tension we find so hard to hold is a tension that lives, perfectly resolved, in His own character. God is perfectly just: He cannot simply ignore sin. And God is perfectly merciful: He does not want to destroy the sinner. Both are fully true at once, all the time.
A God who is only just is a tyrant. A God who is only merciful is a pushover. Most of us quietly worship one half and lose the other.
The Name God Gave Himself
When Moses asked to see God's glory, God answered by proclaiming His own name: His character. Read it slowly, and notice that it holds two things together that we are tempted to pull apart.
5The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”Exodus 34:5-7 · ESV
In one breath God is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love", and in the next, the One who "will by no means clear the guilty." This is not a contradiction God is embarrassed about. It is the glory He chose to reveal. He is not mercy at the expense of justice, or justice at the expense of mercy. He is both, without compromise.
Where They Kiss
The Psalms put the same truth in a stunning picture. The attributes we hold in tension are pictured meeting like old friends, even embracing.
8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. 12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.Psalm 85:8-13 · ESV
"Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other" (v.10). God does not split the difference between love and truth. In Him they meet and embrace. The whole rest of this course is learning to live in the world He made, where mercy and justice are not enemies.
Most of us have a favorite half of God. The half we forget is usually the half we most need, and the half the people around us most need from us.
Reflection
Which half of God do you find easier to believe in: His justice or His mercy? What does that reveal about how you picture Him, and how you treat people who fail?
That's a free sample lesson. Sign up to complete the interactive workbook and continue the rest of the course.
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