Justice Smiles

Let us wonder, grace and justice
Join and point to mercy's store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more.

--John Newton, 'Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder'

Hat Tip: Dane Ortlund

It's In His Hands

It's in His Hands.

Presuming on Grace: A Story By R.C. Sproul

I first heard this story over 20 years ago on Dr.R.C.Sproul's video teaching series The Holiness of God (based on the fantastic book by the same name). It hit me hard then, and still does. Therefore, I was glad to see this written version of the tale on Dane Ortlunds' blog - Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology - so that I can share it with you. Here's Dr. Sproul:

One of my favorite illustrations about the dilemma that we face with respect to understanding God's mercy goes back to the early days of my career as a teacher in college and seminary. One of my first teaching assignments was to teach 250 freshmen a required course on "Introduction to the Old Testament." Here I had 250 students assembled in a large lecture hall, very uncomfortable, trying to communicate with so many students at one time. I had to print up in advance the requirements for the course because I'd already learned, very quickly, that college students are all budding Philadelphia lawyers. You have to "dot your i's and cross your t's" to make sure that the assignments are clearly set forth. I gave them a published syllabus and told them what their requirements would be. I said, "We have three very small papers, book report type things, that are required during this semester. The first one is due at noon on September 30, the on second October 30, and the third on November 30. Now here's the way it goes: I want these finished, on my desk at 12:00 noon on the appointed times unless you are physically confined to the hospital or the infirmary or there is a death in the immediate family." We had to spell out all this sort of thing for the college students. I said, "Does everybody understand the assignment?" They said, "Oh, yes indeed."

So, September 30 came around and 225 of my students brought their papers in and presented them dutifully at the proper time. 25 of these poor souls had failed to complete their assignments and they were scared to death. These were freshmen, just making the transition from high school and they were in a posture of abject humility. They said, "Oh Professor Sproul, please don't give us an 'F' for this grade." I had told them that if they didn't get their paper in on time they would get an "F" for that assignment. They said, "Please give us some more time, give us one more chance." They were begging me for grace, for mercy. They wanted an extension. I said, "Okay, I'll give you an extension. But don't let it happen again. Remember the next assignment is October 30. I want those papers on time." They said, "Absolutely. They will be there."

October 30 came around. 200 of my students came and put their term papers on my desk. 50 of them were now assembled outside in terror because they hadn't planned their time properly, and were not prepared. So once again these students came to me pleading. They said, "Oh Professor, we didn't budget our time properly. It's mid-term, we have so many assignments all coming in at the same time, so many pressures, it's Homecoming. Please give us just one more chance." They begged me with earnest faces and I was a soft-hearted guy and I said, "Okay, okay. I'll give you one more chance, but don't let it happen again." You know what they did? They began to sing spontaneously, "We love you Prof. Sproul, oh yes we do." So I was the most popular professor in the school for 30 days.

But 30 days later the third paper came due. This time 150 students came into the classroom with their papers prepared and the other 100 came in as casual, as cavalier, as you can imagine. They didn't have their papers, they weren't worried in the slightest, and I said to them, "Where are you term papers?" They said, "Hey Prof, don't worry about it. We'll have it for you in a couple of days, no sweat." I stopped them right there in their tracks and I took out that dreadful little black book and I took out my pen and I said, "Johnson, where's your term paper?" He said, "I don't have it Professor." So I wrote an "F" in the book. "Greenwood, where's your paper?" "I don't have it, sir." I put "F" in the book. What do you think was the response of those students? Unmitigated fury. In one voice they called out, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

I said, "What was that? Johnson, did I just hear you say that's not fair?" He said, "Yes, that's not fair." He was furious. I said, "Okay. I don't ever want to be thought of as being unfair or unjust. Johnson, it's justice that you want?" He said, "Yes!" I said, "Okay, if I recall, you were late the last time, weren't you?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Okay. I'll go back and change that grade to an 'F'." So I erased his passing grade and gave him an "F." I said, "Is there anybody else that wants justice?" Nobody wanted justice. Do you see what has happened here? The first time they were pleading with me in utter, pathetic humility, and I said sure. The second time they begged. By the third time, not only did they begin to assume mercy, but they began to demand it. They assumed now that I was obligated to be gracious to them.

Friends, that's what we do with God.

Anybody out there still want God to be fair with them?

Revolutionary Book

"There's nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible. If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible."

        - Archbishop Tutu, September 2008.

Hat Tip: Tall Skinny Kiwi:

Dr. King and God's Justice

Here's an exellant quote from J. D. Greaar on What We Have to Learn from Martin Luther King, Jr., specifically on Dr. King's grounding of his cause in Natural Law and God's Justice.

"Martin Luther King called for an end to racial injustice not by appealing to current laws or even to the will of the majority (both of those, at the time, were against him!), but to a Higher Law.

Rev. King said in his Letters from a Birmingham Jail: "An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law." And so he appealed beyond the existing laws of the books to an eternal law. He said that God had created of one blood all races and thus all men of all races were all brothers.

There are many today who want to divorce laws from any foundation in God’s universe, but when you do so you are left with a vacuum of authority. Laws have to be based on something. Something will be ultimate. For the Nazi regimes it was race and blood and power. For Communist regimes it was the will of the state. For Dr. King, what was ultimate, what he appealed to in the face of political opposition, and even a majority that opposed Him, was the justice of God.

So, Reverend King’s life teaches us that the roots of a just society are in God. He knew that if laws don’t gain their legitimacy from the Higher Law of the omnipotent, benevolent God, then we end up being subject to the tyranny of the majority and the whims of the powerful. As the late Richard John Neuhaus famously said, "Take government out from under God and government will become the God." "

Good stuff to remember as the nation celebrates Dr. King's memory today.