God is Love and Justice

1. If someone think God is only love we can point them to other

   
   

   passages in Scripture. God is spirit (Jn. 4:24) and God is light (1 Jn.

   
   

   1:5). It would be a mistake to think God is only spirit or He is only

   
   

   light. In the same way we cannot conclude God is only love. His love is

   
   

   an important aspect of who He is, but it is not all He is!

2. Because God is love and His love is VAST, everything God does is in

   
   

   love. Even painful things. This is hard for us to understand. If God

   
   

   loves me, why am I suffering? God’s vast love is also a refining love.

   
   

   Read Hebrews 12:7-11. What does this passage say about suffering?

   
   

   J. I. Packer says, “Even when we cannot see the why and the

   
   

   wherefore of God’s dealings, we know that there is love in and behind

   
   

   them, and so we can rejoice always, even when, humanly speaking,

   
   

   things are going wrong.”

3. God is just. In fact, God is a consuming fire! (see Heb. 12:28, 29).

   
   

   A. W. Tozer says: “God’s compassion flows out of His goodness, and

   
   

   goodness without justice is not goodness. God spares us because He is

   
   

   good, but He could not be good if he were not just…When God

   
   

   punishes the wicked it is just because it is consistent with their

   
   

   deserts; and when He spares the wicked it is just because it is

   
   

   compatible with His goodness; so God does what becomes Him as the

   
   

   supremely good God.”

   
   

   What is Tozer saying? Do you agree? Why or why not?

4. Author Joseph Fletcher says: “Justice is simply love distributed.”

   
   

   Situational Ethics

   
   

   What do you think he means by that?

5. God’s love and justice meet at the cross. A. W. Tozer says, “Christ

   
   

   in His atonement has removed the bar to the divine fellowship. Now in

   
   

   Christ all believing souls are objects of God’s delight.”

6. Millard Erickson says, “Love and justice are not two separate

   
   

   attributes competing with one another. God is both righteous and

   
   

   loving, and has himself given what he demands.” God does this through the cross! Take time to thank God for sending His son (Jn. 3:16) to die for your sins!

7. We are called to imitate God. God’s love and justice are communicable attributes (ways we can be like Him). How will you love others this week? One way to love others is to forgive. Read Eph. 4:29. What is the instruction? What is the instruction based on Another way to love others is to be generous. Read 1 Timothy 6:18. What is the command? How generous are you? What are some specific ways you can be generous this week?

8. How will you pursue justice this week? Read Micah 6:8. What has God told us to do? What does that look like:

   • At work – how I treat employees, integrity when clocking hours

   • At home – how I treat my kids, siblings, parents

   • At school – how I treat peers, teachers, students

Doing what is right, what is just, is what God has called His people to do. What does that look like in your life?