Why do we have a sense of justice?

We now live in a society where the general opinion about whether things are right or wrong can at times be vague.

I believe that, in the Bible, God has given us clear information about what is right and what is wrong. There is a reality about things being just or unjust.

Here are some things to consider:

·      Why do children cry “that’s not fair” or “it’s not right”!

·      Is there is an inbuilt awareness of fairness in a child!

·      Why is it common for people to have a really well developed feeling for what is right and what is        wrong?

The Bible gives us the explanation. It teaches that God “has written His law in our hearts”. God gave us this inbuilt awareness of right and wrong. Holy scripture (the Bible) teaches that we have a conscience. It teaches that we have an inbuilt knowledge within ourselves and a knowledge about ourselves. We automatically can clarify the reality of the rightness or wrongness of the things that we say, feel and do.

For example, most of us feel impulsively that to tell blatant lies is wrong. We instinctively know that to remove property that belongs to someone else is wrong. The Bible teaches these principles but somehow we know them to be true! Is that significant or co-incidental?

The ‘ten commandments’ teach that you shouldn’t steal, you shouldn’t lie, and that you shouldn’t take somebody else’s wife and so on. The list defines prohibitions as well as teaching positive things that we should do. Things like loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind (and Jesus summarized the rest by saying “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” – Matthew 22:39).

You may say to yourself, “I’m not really sure why we all know those things?” Let me come back to what the Bible says - God has planted within us an awareness of right and wrong. Just look across society for a moment. People are very interested in equal rights and equal opportunities. We are very concerned that disabled people are cared for, that ethnic minorities aren’t disadvantaged, that there is religious freedom, freedom of thought and freedom of belief. We campaign for the rights of the unborn child plus we debate people’s rights for free speech. Public behavior is monitored ensuring that people do not overreach themselves and inflict damage on other people or their property. In all of this we try to balance the rights of a society to be free and yet free of criminal activities.

These things are right. I believe we are like this in society because God has implanted in us an awareness of things that are very important to Him - a consciousness of right and wrong and of the realities of living in a way that is fair and equitable. God describes Himself as a just, as well as righteous, doing right. He is a God of light; God is love, a God who is eternal and a God who is all-knowing!

We wouldn’t know these things if God hadn’t revealed them to us in the Bible. This is why the Bible is such a key book for us to read. In fact it is God’s message to humanity and it’s an amazing thing that we have it so freely available despite some societies today that still restrict access to the Word of God.

Let me leave you with a statement from the Bible, the Bible says this, “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”, 1 Peter 3:18. This verse is saying that if God was being just, if God was being fair He would punish is for our sin, He would penalize us, He would judge us for breaking His law because we are guilty. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world and suffered for sins to bring us to God. He personally suffered the penalty for sin by dying for us. Three days later He was brought up back to life. His resurrection is sufficient evidence that the price for sin was fully paid. His resurrection establishes that you can take advantage of salvation. You do this by confessing your sin (to God, not a religious representative) and asking God to forgive you. You are effectively asking for God’s blessing upon your life.

I wonder if you would take advantage of a God’s offer of salvation today. Will you come to Him for forgiveness and rest upon Him for salvation? You can know what it is to be forgiven and saved.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – the Bible, Acts 16:31

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God's plan for public services

God’s plan for public services

Short Reading – Mark 10:35-45 

Longer Reading – Mark 10:28-52

Key Verse – Mark 10:45

The Lord Jesus really shook people up, and in particular his disciples, with the teaching that he gave. I can only imagine the shocked looks on their faces when he announced that for anyone to be great in his Government they would need to serve everybody, v44.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are?

Now in its 10^th series to air on the BBC, the genealogy documentary series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ regularly attracts an audience of more than 6 million viewers.

While we dig into the ancestry of famous celebrities, there is a lot of controversy about the origin of the most famous person in history – Jesus Christ.  Christians believe that Jesus is God’s Son.  In the New Testament, Jesus frequently referred to God as his “Father” (see John 5:17).  Significantly we read in the next verse that the Jews sought to kill him, because they understood that he was claiming to be “equal with God”.  In John 10:30, Jesus describes himself and his Father as being one in essence, that is, divine, and as a result we read in verse 33 that the Jews once again try to stone him.

However, many do not believe that the Bible is authored by God, but just another piece of ancient literature and it has become fashionable for sceptics to hold that these supposed quotations of Jesus were simply made up by the early church and added to the gospels.  So our question is: ‘Who did Jesus think he was?’  Let’s look at two more occasions where Jesus claimed to be divine; two quotations that are accepted by mainstream critical scholars as historically authentic as actually said by Jesus.  The early church is an unlikely source for them!

1. During Jesus’ trial by the Sanhedrin as recorded in Mark 14, the high priest asks him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus replies (v62), "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  The high priest tore his garment, and the verdict of blasphemy with the death sentence was delivered by the Sanhedrin.  They knew that Jesus was identifying himself as the Old Testament ‘Son of Man’ figure who appeared to Daniel in a vision (Daniel 7:13-14).  Daniel’s ‘Son of Man’ is described as eternal, glorious and sovereign ruler of an everlasting kingdom.  The Sanhedrin’s verdict of blasphemy demonstrates that they knew that Jesus was claiming to be God.  Now, while ‘Son of Man’ was often used by Jesus to refer to himself in the gospels, it is very unlikely that this title was inserted as an invention of the Church, because the title only occurs three other times in the New Testament (Acts 7:56; Revelation 1:13; 14:14) and only three times in all other Christian literature during the Church's first 120 years.  Since neither Jesus' opponents nor his supporters are likely sources for this title, Jesus himself is its most probable.

2. In Mark 13:32, talking about the end of the world, Jesus says, "no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  This text suggests that there is something that he, the Son of God, does not know.  If the disciples were forming a fictional account, these are words they would never put in Jesus’ mouth.  Again, Jesus himself is the most likely source of this statement.

The Bible says that our forgiveness from sin and eternal wellbeing in Heaven depends on the worth of his person as the unique Son of God.  It is his divine nature that gives value to his death as a sacrifice for us.  Each of us needs to personally answer Jesus’ own question: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ (Mark 8:29).

Written by Guest Blogger