Ezekiel 7:10-15, 23b-27
Hebrews 6:13-20
Luke 10:1-17
Evening: Psalm 66:1-20
Jesus' words in Luke do not reconcile with the contemporary view of Jesus - who taught peace, love and kindness. Healed everyone. Gentle and compassionate. Most Christians have not read the Bible to learn all Jesus said - they do remember the good stories though. Yes, he did, call all unto him. But as he send the 70 disciples out, he spoke of judgment for those who do not heed the truth they brought:
10But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' 12I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
13'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16'Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.'"
It is not fashionable today to speak of the wrath of God, of the judgment awaiting us all, and the damnation for those who do not accept Jesus, who ushered in the Kingdom of God and has drawn near to save us and set us straight. We want to love everyone into feeling OK about what they believe, what they do, how they treat others, even if it doesn't include Jesus. Hebrews refers to Jesus as the only hope we have to be saved. The word hope used by Luke in Acts 26 means "a cord, a connection" - Jesus is the cord to God. Without the cord, we are doomed.
I believe that, because Jesus said so. Not because I'm a bigot or hate atheists or am a fundie whacko. I find it difficult to preach to a congregation that needs to hear "a good word" not fire and brimstone. But it's true; it is part of the truth of the gospel. The flip side. Even as Jesus cured and loved and showed kindness to all, as he died for everyone, even those who rejected him - it did not take the sentence of hell away for those who did not believe. Personally, it breaks my heart to have to preach that - to friends and family, who are outraged by a judging Jesus, a harsh exclusive religion.
But I wonder, what are people afraid of if they believed in the only One who could save them? What if Jesus was right?
1 comment:
I grew up in a "fire and brimstone" kind of church without the message of God's love for us. I do not desire to be in a church like that again. But, nor do I want to be in a church that does not address the coming of the day of judgment. You cannot have one without the other. That is God's nature.
Hebrews 10:26-29
26 Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received a full knowledge of the truth, there is no other sacrifice that will cover these sins.
27 There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.
28 Anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant as if it were common and unholy. Such people have insulted and enraged the Holy Spirit who brings God's mercy to his people.
1 Peter 4:17-18
17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin first among God's own children. And if even we Christians must be judged, what terrible fate awaits those who have never believed God's Good News?
18 And "If the righteous are barely saved, what chance will the godless and sinners have?"
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