New City Churchs Summer 2012 Online Book Club

JI Packers Knowing God ~ Chapter 14, God the Judge Before reading: Thinking about God as Judge is one of the most difficult concepts for our culture to accept. Why is this the case? In what ways do you struggle with embracing this concept of the justice of God?

Purpose: To perceive the necessity of Gods judgmentand to be able to embrace it, and even rejoice in it.

Outline: I. II. 1. 2. 3. 4. III. IV. V. VI. God the Judge? Characteristics of the Judge The Judge is a person with authority The Judge is a person identified with what is good and right The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. The judge is a person of power, to execute sentence Retribution Jesus the Fathers Agent Index of the Heart No Need to Flee

Key Quotes: Do you believe in divine judgment? By which I mean, do you believe in a God who acts as our Judge. Many it seems, do not. Speak to them of God as a Father, a friend, a helper, one who loves us despite all our weakness and folly and sin, and their faces light up; you are on their wavelength at once. But speak to them of God as Judge, and they frown and shake their heads. Their minds recoil from such an idea. They find it repellent and unworthy. God has resolved to be every persons Judge, rewarding every person according to their works. Retribution is the inescapable moral law of creation; God will see that each man sooner or later receives what he deservesif not here, then hereafter. This is one of the basic fact of life. And being made in Gods image, we all know in our hearts that this is right. This is how it ought to be. The character of God is the guarantee that all wrongs will be righted some day; when the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God arrives, retribution will be exact, and no problems of cosmic unfairness will remain to haunt us. God is the Judge, so justice will be done. Would a God who did not care about the difference between right and wrong be a good and admirable Being? Would a God who put no distinction between the beasts of history, the Hitlers and Stalins, and His own saints, be morally praiseworthy and perfect? Moral indifference would be an imperfection in God, not a perfection. But not to judge the world would be to show moral indifference. The final proof that God is a perfect moral Being, not indifferent to questions of right and wrong, is the fact that He has committed Himself to judge the world. Gods own appointment has made Jesus Christ inescapable. He stands at the end of lifes road for everyone without exception. Prepare to meet thy God was Amos message to Israel; prepare to meet the risen Jesus is Gods message to the world today.

What then are we to do? The New Testament answer is: call on the coming Judge to be your present Saviour. As Judge, He is the law, but as Saviour He is the gospel. Run from Him now, and you will meet Him as the Judge then and without hope. Seek Him now, and you will find Him, and you will then discover that you are looking forward to the a future meeting with joy, knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Reflection Questions: 1. Review the four ideas the author lists that are involved in God being a Judge. How does God perfectly fulfill these roles? 2. Define retribution. Why is this the inescapable moral law of creation? 3. How doe the idea of God ensuring future justice actually comfort us and bring us relief in the world today? In other words, how does the idea that there will be a final accounting and retribution help us deal with the injustices we see around us today? 4. How does Jesus fit into the concept of the justice of God? 5. How have your grown in your appreciation for this difficult doctrine? Do you see why you cannot live without a God of justice? Do you see how the Saviour heightens your delight in the justice of God? 6. How should the thought that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) affect every day of your life? Learn to rehearse this promise every morning when you awake. Review these questions, and let them direct your thoughts, prayer, and praise.