Life, Death, And Judgment
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Reading
Series I, Cycle A
In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached a famous sermon with the title, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In great detail Edwards spoke of the wrath people rightly faced when they confronted the judgment of a God who was angry at the way the people had failed to do what they were called to do. While many people understand only this much about that famous sermon, and hold it up as an example of the worst sort of preaching meant to terrify those who hear what is said, the sermon itself is actually quite pastoral. Once Edwards established the implications of the human behavior of his followers, and the rather gruesome rewards this behavior had earned at the coming judgment before God, he turned his attention to what he described as the door of mercy which Christ opens wide so that all can come through. Rather than merely terrifying the listeners with a vision of the impending doom they faced, Edwards works hard to make the doom real so that he can also proclaim the real mercy that is ready for Christians.
Jonathan Edwards certainly has a notable place in American religious history. And as a result of his most famous sermon, as well as the hundreds of sermons he preached during his life, he is noted as a leading religious figure in early American history, including his central place in the Great Awakening. But his importance on this day is more a matter of his emphasis on the judgment of God. At least in his most famous sermon, Jonathan Edwards was particularly concerned with the judgment of God on sinful people.
Today that is a concept that is not often dealt with seriously. In fact, the concept of judgment and punishment for our sins is more often like a production of the opera Faustus. Toward the end of one evening's production of the opera in Dublin, Ireland, Mephistopheles was conducting the title character, Faust, to and through the trap door in the stage that represented the gates of hell. Mephistopheles made the descent quite handily, but Faust, who was rather obese, got stuck halfway through the opening. No amount of pushing or pulling would budge him. Suddenly an Irishman in the balcony shouted, "Thank God! Hell's full!"
The story is humorous, and it deserves at least a smile, but, unfortunately, the story is also a symptom of the problems involved in talking about God's judgment today.
The first problem is that when we speak of God's judgment, it is very easy to get judgmental and tell anyone listening how they are guilty and worthy of being punished for their terrible actions, particularly if we don't happen to like the actions of those other people. Not that such attitudes are anything new. From what he wrote, Paul encountered the same things back in his time. This is clearly the case when Paul writes: "Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them."
Clearly in what he writes Paul shows echoes of some of the arguments he must have encountered as a pastor over the years. It is easy to be judgmental when we are convinced that the way we do things is right and the way others are doing things is wrong. Of course, there are some things which are clearly wrong, but listen to Paul's example again. Some folks eat anything, others eat only vegetables. Those who eat anything shouldn't despise the vegetarians; and the vegetarians shouldn't despise those who eat anything. In many ways this controversy sounds very modern.
There are many people today who are vegetarians of various degrees, and some of them look at the rest of the world, or at least the non--vegetarian portions of it, as somehow inferior to themselves, or somehow morally deficient for eating meat, with some vegetable eaters somehow despising those who still eat meat. It might be a bit surprising to find a very similar argument dividing the church at the time of Paul. Or, then again, perhaps it shouldn't be much of a surprise at all. After all, people don't seem to have changed their ways all that much since the time of Paul.
In Paul's day the issue revolved around the fact that the meat in a butcher shop was usually the result of an animal that had been sacrificed to a pagan god, and in eating the meat a person was thought to be worshiping the god the animal had been sacrificed to. Christians generally denied the existence of other gods, and many found no obstacle to eating meat. Some Christians had trouble with this theological concept, so they ate only vegetables in order to be sure they were not inadvertently worshiping some pagan god.
The reasons for the selection of a vegetarian diet may have changed, but the basic dietary positions seem to be much the same now as they were twenty centuries ago in the time of Paul.
Another way we get into trouble with the idea of judgment is when we begin to think that God agrees with our ideas, our positions, and our understandings, and God must, therefore, disagree with anyone who has a different idea. This particular idea leads people to cause all sorts of problems, both in the church and in the world. An example of the mischief this attitude can cause is the history of the Crusades, when some Christians claimed that God must want various sites in the Holy Land freed from control by non--Christians. As the struggle to free locations proceeded, various actions, including attacks on Christian cities, massacres of prisoners, both Christians and non--Christians, and the destruction of many of the sites that were supposed to be freed, took place. In fact, there are some experts who say that the problems in the Middle East today are, in some ways, a result of the Crusades.
Another assumption that causes problems is the way we sometimes feel like God's on our side and against the other side. Paul addresses this issue as well. He writes, "Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand." Paul's point here is that no one is able to be the judge of the actions of someone who is following the rightful orders of one's master. The key point is that we are all servants of Christ. Thus, it is very dangerous to question the actions of someone who is the servant of another, not subject to us.
In the military the idea is quite easy to understand. Everyone in the military is somewhere in something called the chain of command. This is the pattern that lawful orders normally follow. The person in charge gives an order, and the people who are under that person carry out the orders. There are some people who are not in this line. Special officers such as doctors and chaplains are normally outside this pattern. Thus, in many circumstances, these officers are not able to give lawful orders concerning things outside their own area of specialization. And, in fact, it is often dangerous for these officers to try to correct the actions of someone who is already following another officer's lawful orders.
In the rest of the world, we are not often in something as strict as a chain of command at all times. And, in fact, we sometimes think that we are in charge of our own lives. But, as Christians, we are each the servants of God, each with a unique relationship to God, and thus, each following our own instructions. It is, as Paul reminds us, not for us to judge the relationship of others to God.
A third problem with judgment is the natural tendency of all people to avoid the consequences of their actions. Consider the story of a college student whose father had high expectations, perhaps too high. When the student found out he had failed all his subjects, he sent his mother a quick e--mail: "Failed everything. Prepare Papa."
Later that day the mother sent an e--mail to her son: "Papa prepared. Prepare yourself."
This ominous message serves to remind us that we often try to avoid the responsibility for our actions. The college student almost certainly had the ability to avoid failure in at least some of the classes that dismal semester. But, when the word came of the results of a semester's inattention and inactivity, the student tried hard to avoid the parental response to the wasted semester.
We often live as if we expect that there will be no judgment, and we will have no responsibility for our actions. We sometimes live very much like a man who was terrified at the prospect of death, particularly a sudden death he had no opportunity to prepare for. Finally, this man made a deal with the Grim Reaper that the man would receive clear, repeated notices before the Reaper would come for him.
One day, unannounced and completely unexpected, the Grim Reaper appeared and demanded the man's life.
"How could you break your pledge?" the man complained bitterly. "I received no warnings from you."
A hideous grin spread across the skeletal features, and then came a response: "What about your failing eyesight, your dimmed sense of hearing, your grey and falling hair, your lost teeth, the wrinkles on your face, your bent body, your dwindling powers, your vanishing memory? Were these things not unmistakable signs and warnings of my impending arrival?"
We want so much to avoid the results of our actions, especially when they look like something we will dislike, some sort of punishment, what we deserve for our sinful lives, that we sometimes ignore even the clear signs that judgment is coming. Sometimes we even try to ignore things like Paul's clear warning at the end of this lesson. "For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God ... So then, each of us will be accountable to God."
And that, when we take it seriously, is a terrifying prospect. Consider the old couple named Si and Rose who prayed together every night. Every night they prayed, "Lord, when you're ready for us, take us. We're ready."
A playful group of boys heard their prayers and decided to have a little fun. They got on top of the house and spoke down the chimney in a deep voice ... "Si ... Si."
Rose asked, "What do you want?"
The voice answered, "I want Si."
"Who are you?"
"I'm from the Lord, and I've come for Si."
"Well, he ain't here; he's gone."
"Then, since Si isn't here, I'll just have to take you, Rose."
Rose spoke sharply, "Get out from under that bed, Si. You know he knows that you are here."
Even without a detailed inventory of our sins, we might all be seriously tempted to crawl under that bed with Si. We are all aware, when we are honest with ourselves, of the many times we have fallen short of what we are expected to do. All of us are saved from what we deserve, what we have earned, by the Christ who died and lived again.
The potential difficulties of judgment raining down on us are the result of the way we live our lives. But the story doesn't end there. As Paul put it, "We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's."
Our failings are not the end. As Jonathan Edwards traced things in his famous sermon, our failings, our sins convict us when we stand before God. But "we are the Lord's," we are saved because Jesus came and took on a human body and died for us. Because of that, we will not be held responsible for what we have done. Because of that, the prospect of God's judgment holds no terror for us, because "we live to the Lord." Amen.
Jonathan Edwards certainly has a notable place in American religious history. And as a result of his most famous sermon, as well as the hundreds of sermons he preached during his life, he is noted as a leading religious figure in early American history, including his central place in the Great Awakening. But his importance on this day is more a matter of his emphasis on the judgment of God. At least in his most famous sermon, Jonathan Edwards was particularly concerned with the judgment of God on sinful people.
Today that is a concept that is not often dealt with seriously. In fact, the concept of judgment and punishment for our sins is more often like a production of the opera Faustus. Toward the end of one evening's production of the opera in Dublin, Ireland, Mephistopheles was conducting the title character, Faust, to and through the trap door in the stage that represented the gates of hell. Mephistopheles made the descent quite handily, but Faust, who was rather obese, got stuck halfway through the opening. No amount of pushing or pulling would budge him. Suddenly an Irishman in the balcony shouted, "Thank God! Hell's full!"
The story is humorous, and it deserves at least a smile, but, unfortunately, the story is also a symptom of the problems involved in talking about God's judgment today.
The first problem is that when we speak of God's judgment, it is very easy to get judgmental and tell anyone listening how they are guilty and worthy of being punished for their terrible actions, particularly if we don't happen to like the actions of those other people. Not that such attitudes are anything new. From what he wrote, Paul encountered the same things back in his time. This is clearly the case when Paul writes: "Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them."
Clearly in what he writes Paul shows echoes of some of the arguments he must have encountered as a pastor over the years. It is easy to be judgmental when we are convinced that the way we do things is right and the way others are doing things is wrong. Of course, there are some things which are clearly wrong, but listen to Paul's example again. Some folks eat anything, others eat only vegetables. Those who eat anything shouldn't despise the vegetarians; and the vegetarians shouldn't despise those who eat anything. In many ways this controversy sounds very modern.
There are many people today who are vegetarians of various degrees, and some of them look at the rest of the world, or at least the non--vegetarian portions of it, as somehow inferior to themselves, or somehow morally deficient for eating meat, with some vegetable eaters somehow despising those who still eat meat. It might be a bit surprising to find a very similar argument dividing the church at the time of Paul. Or, then again, perhaps it shouldn't be much of a surprise at all. After all, people don't seem to have changed their ways all that much since the time of Paul.
In Paul's day the issue revolved around the fact that the meat in a butcher shop was usually the result of an animal that had been sacrificed to a pagan god, and in eating the meat a person was thought to be worshiping the god the animal had been sacrificed to. Christians generally denied the existence of other gods, and many found no obstacle to eating meat. Some Christians had trouble with this theological concept, so they ate only vegetables in order to be sure they were not inadvertently worshiping some pagan god.
The reasons for the selection of a vegetarian diet may have changed, but the basic dietary positions seem to be much the same now as they were twenty centuries ago in the time of Paul.
Another way we get into trouble with the idea of judgment is when we begin to think that God agrees with our ideas, our positions, and our understandings, and God must, therefore, disagree with anyone who has a different idea. This particular idea leads people to cause all sorts of problems, both in the church and in the world. An example of the mischief this attitude can cause is the history of the Crusades, when some Christians claimed that God must want various sites in the Holy Land freed from control by non--Christians. As the struggle to free locations proceeded, various actions, including attacks on Christian cities, massacres of prisoners, both Christians and non--Christians, and the destruction of many of the sites that were supposed to be freed, took place. In fact, there are some experts who say that the problems in the Middle East today are, in some ways, a result of the Crusades.
Another assumption that causes problems is the way we sometimes feel like God's on our side and against the other side. Paul addresses this issue as well. He writes, "Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand." Paul's point here is that no one is able to be the judge of the actions of someone who is following the rightful orders of one's master. The key point is that we are all servants of Christ. Thus, it is very dangerous to question the actions of someone who is the servant of another, not subject to us.
In the military the idea is quite easy to understand. Everyone in the military is somewhere in something called the chain of command. This is the pattern that lawful orders normally follow. The person in charge gives an order, and the people who are under that person carry out the orders. There are some people who are not in this line. Special officers such as doctors and chaplains are normally outside this pattern. Thus, in many circumstances, these officers are not able to give lawful orders concerning things outside their own area of specialization. And, in fact, it is often dangerous for these officers to try to correct the actions of someone who is already following another officer's lawful orders.
In the rest of the world, we are not often in something as strict as a chain of command at all times. And, in fact, we sometimes think that we are in charge of our own lives. But, as Christians, we are each the servants of God, each with a unique relationship to God, and thus, each following our own instructions. It is, as Paul reminds us, not for us to judge the relationship of others to God.
A third problem with judgment is the natural tendency of all people to avoid the consequences of their actions. Consider the story of a college student whose father had high expectations, perhaps too high. When the student found out he had failed all his subjects, he sent his mother a quick e--mail: "Failed everything. Prepare Papa."
Later that day the mother sent an e--mail to her son: "Papa prepared. Prepare yourself."
This ominous message serves to remind us that we often try to avoid the responsibility for our actions. The college student almost certainly had the ability to avoid failure in at least some of the classes that dismal semester. But, when the word came of the results of a semester's inattention and inactivity, the student tried hard to avoid the parental response to the wasted semester.
We often live as if we expect that there will be no judgment, and we will have no responsibility for our actions. We sometimes live very much like a man who was terrified at the prospect of death, particularly a sudden death he had no opportunity to prepare for. Finally, this man made a deal with the Grim Reaper that the man would receive clear, repeated notices before the Reaper would come for him.
One day, unannounced and completely unexpected, the Grim Reaper appeared and demanded the man's life.
"How could you break your pledge?" the man complained bitterly. "I received no warnings from you."
A hideous grin spread across the skeletal features, and then came a response: "What about your failing eyesight, your dimmed sense of hearing, your grey and falling hair, your lost teeth, the wrinkles on your face, your bent body, your dwindling powers, your vanishing memory? Were these things not unmistakable signs and warnings of my impending arrival?"
We want so much to avoid the results of our actions, especially when they look like something we will dislike, some sort of punishment, what we deserve for our sinful lives, that we sometimes ignore even the clear signs that judgment is coming. Sometimes we even try to ignore things like Paul's clear warning at the end of this lesson. "For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God ... So then, each of us will be accountable to God."
And that, when we take it seriously, is a terrifying prospect. Consider the old couple named Si and Rose who prayed together every night. Every night they prayed, "Lord, when you're ready for us, take us. We're ready."
A playful group of boys heard their prayers and decided to have a little fun. They got on top of the house and spoke down the chimney in a deep voice ... "Si ... Si."
Rose asked, "What do you want?"
The voice answered, "I want Si."
"Who are you?"
"I'm from the Lord, and I've come for Si."
"Well, he ain't here; he's gone."
"Then, since Si isn't here, I'll just have to take you, Rose."
Rose spoke sharply, "Get out from under that bed, Si. You know he knows that you are here."
Even without a detailed inventory of our sins, we might all be seriously tempted to crawl under that bed with Si. We are all aware, when we are honest with ourselves, of the many times we have fallen short of what we are expected to do. All of us are saved from what we deserve, what we have earned, by the Christ who died and lived again.
The potential difficulties of judgment raining down on us are the result of the way we live our lives. But the story doesn't end there. As Paul put it, "We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's."
Our failings are not the end. As Jonathan Edwards traced things in his famous sermon, our failings, our sins convict us when we stand before God. But "we are the Lord's," we are saved because Jesus came and took on a human body and died for us. Because of that, we will not be held responsible for what we have done. Because of that, the prospect of God's judgment holds no terror for us, because "we live to the Lord." Amen.
