Introduction

Many times as christians we are faced with situations where we are defrauded, taken advantage of or we have to deal with bad people in the church. In such situations most christians struggle to know what to do. Does forgiving the perpetrator mean overlooking their injustice. Should we let the brother who is stealing from others continue to do so in the name of mercy? How do I exercise mercy, without overlooking justice?

In this teaching I start by looking at how God does it, then I look at how we should do it according to the scriptures. At the end of the teaching I go through practical life situations  and show what the scriptures say, on how to handle them. Let the Blessing of the Lord be upon you as you read.

JUSTICE AND MERCY AT GOD’S LEVEL

• God is just, meaning he punishes wickedness and rewards righteousness.
• God is merciful, meaning he will overlook iniquity.

When God gives mercy, he does not do it at the cost of justice. For example, the sin of Adam demanded that mankind die so Jesus was killed on behalf of mankind. In his death, mercy came to mankind and justice was fulfilled.

GOD’S MERCY

You will notice that God’s mercy is open to all but it comes at a condition. There must be repentance and faith. Those who do not repent and put their faith in Jesus will suffer the full wrath of God in Hell.

Matthew 9:13 (WEB)

But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Matthew 11:20-22 (WEB)

20 Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

So those who repent and accept the payment of Christ will have their sins considered paid for. Those who do not accept the sacrifice of Christ will  pay themselves.  Let’s go to the next stage.

JUSTICE AND MERCY AT HUMAN LEVEL

God calls on us to exercise both justice and mercy.

Jeremiah 22:3 (WEB) Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Luke 11:42 (WEB) But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

When God calls us to justice, it means he calls us to punish evil doing and to reward good. When he calls us to mercy, he means we are supposed to practice forgiveness and overlook sins against us. So how do we balance this? Just like with God, our mercy should not be exercised at the cost of justice. The bible gives us some practical solutions.

Authorities

God has set up the system of authority on the earth in order to establish and execute his justice. Paul says it all:

Romans 13:1-8 (WEB)

1 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authority withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, 4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. 5 Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are servants of God’s service, continually doing this very thing. 7 Therefore give everyone what you owe: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if customs, then customs; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

This in essence is saying that human authorities such as police, army, courts, etc were placed there by God to execute his justice and they are servants of God. Their authority to arrest, imprison, fine and punish comes from God and is part of God’s service. Of course, if you elect bad people into those positions they will abuse that authority.

So we are called to submit to these authorities. We are to pay taxes and obey the law. The only instance we can disobey the human authorities is when they ask us to go against our highest authority which is God.

 What this means practically is that God desires that rapists, thieves and corrupt people must be jailed and punished. As Christians we must hate evil and love good. We must report all acts of evil to the relevant authority and ensure that justice is followed.

FORGIVENESS AND JUSTICE

Jesus calls us to love one another and forgive one another. Forgiveness is not meant to undo God’s justice. Let’s look at how God balances this in David’s case. David Killed an innocent man and took his wife. David had broken four of the sacred ten commandments. He had coveted, committed adultery, murdered, and lied.

He deserved to die 4 times.

God forgave him, so David did not receive the due punishment for his actions, but he had to receive the consequences of his actions.

2 Samuel 12:11, 13-14 (NET)

11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight! 13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die. 14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”

HOW TO EXERCISE MERCY

The Pharisees had a misconception that in order to stay righteous they had to keep away and not associate with evil doers. They would not eat with sinners or talk to them. As Christians we are commissioned to preach God’s mercy to the world.  We are to preach salvation to all mankind.

We are not to refuse salvation to anyone because salvation is free for all by the mercy of God. A killer, a rapist, a thief, a liar, whoever they maybe must be offered Jesus Christ. We must not hold on to their sins in our hearts. When we exercise mercy, we visit those in prison and give them food and offer them Christ. We take care of orphans and widows.

Church Discipline

There is a way we treat a brother and a way we treat an unbeliever. Jesus explains.

Matthew 18:15-17 (NET)

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.

When he says gentile there, it simply means unbeliever.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

So in conclusion. Let me give some practical situations and how they can be handled.

1. Second Chances

Luke 6:29 (NET) To the person who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well, and from the person who takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either.

Jesus is teaching a principle of second chances. If someone fails you, cheats you, wrongs you and asks for a second chance, don’t withhold. If they failed to pay last time, don’t hold a grudge. Give people second chances.

2. Fraudulent Brother

We have a situation where you are in a partnership with your church decon. You get money from an investor, your partner then squanders that money and puts you into debt with the investor.

Or.

You allow a fellow church deacon to rent your house, but they are secretly not paying electricity bills. By the time they leave there is a $4000 debt that needs to be paid.

Its one thing to forgive the person but the money still needs to be paid. In the case you take the route prescribed by Jesus in Mathew 18. You talk to them, If they don’t listen, report the issue to your church, if they don’t listen to the church then take them to court.

If it so happens that your deacon is remorseful, wants to pay back but is genuinely unable to do so, you can allow yourself to lose. If you are in a position to pay the debt, you can clear it, and if you can chip in, you can do so.

1 Corinthians 6:1-9 (NET)

1 When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? 3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters! 4 So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians? 6 Instead, does a Christian sue a Christian, and do this before unbelievers? 7 The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 But you yourselves wrong and cheat, and you do this to your brothers and sisters! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,

3. Situation Outside your authority

There are issues which you have no authority to handle yourself.

For example.

You are an auditor hired by a company to find out who is stealing money. During the audit. You discover that your church decon is the culprit.

You can’t just say, I forgive him and then sweep the matter under the rug. You have to report the issue to the person in authority. If you cover up the issue then you are an accomplice to the crime.

If a girl comes to you and tells you that she is being raped by her uncle. You have to report the uncle to the police. After the uncle is arrested, you then ask the girl to forgive the uncle and to pray that he be saved.

To make the girl go back into that situation is gross injustice.

Some people are a menace to society and need to be locked away. Some people will only repent after they have been punished physically. Even Jesus at one point had to make a whip and over turn people’s tables, chasing them away from the temple. Some Christians have allowed gross injustice to prevail in the name of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not about condoning or promoting the works of evil. I forgive you for stealing from me, but i can’t trust you with my money.

I forgive you for beating me up everyday but i can’t leave with you anymore. I forgive you for the murder, that is why I will visit you with food in prison and teach you about Christ.

People who are harmful to society must be locked away into correctional facilities and we can help them with the word from there. If they reform, they deserve a second chance, and must be brought back.

We must exercise both justice and mercy.