“THREE ANXIOUS MOMENTS”
2 Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10 (NRSV)
June 21, 2009/First in a series, “Your Questions Please”
Focus: Jesus is our Savior, Lord, and Judge.
THE THREE FEARS OF ABBA ELIAS
There once was a man named Elias who was called by God to live in the desert alone. In the desert, Elias spent his days praying and thinking about God. He was one of a group of men and women who have come to be known as Desert Fathers and Mothers. These people lived a brutal, Spartan-like existence, often eating tiny amounts of bread with a little water. But they were wise from their lives of prayer, and many who were seeking God sought out these ones in the desert to gain from their wisdom. Abba Elias once said, “I fear three things: the first, the time just before my soul goes out from my body: the second, the time just before I meet God face to face: the third, the time just before he pronounces his sentence upon me.”
Abba Elias didn’t fear much. He wasn’t afraid of losing his wealth because he had given it away. He wasn’t afraid of the authorities because he had renounced any claim that society had on him. Elias did fear the day of his death and the day of his judgment.
Have you ever, like me, had a dream of sitting in a college classroom on the day of an exam when you realize that you haven’t attended a single class or read one book?
The Day of Judgment will be the ultimate Final Exam. If nothing else, everyone who has ever lived will be wonderfully focused at that moment. You won’t be talking about the Phillies or the weather because neither will matter any more. You won’t be thinking about what you’ll do with your friends on Friday night because there will be no more Friday nights. Will you, like Elias, be afraid on that day? You don’t have to be.
Our Scripture Lesson today is found in 2 Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10.
THE ULTIMATE QUESTION
Since early spring, I have asked you to submit a question you have been asking that you would like to hear a sermon on. Once again, I am impressed with the thoughtfulness of this congregation. You raised some really tough, interesting questions. It will be both challenging and fun trying to answer your questions.
When I called for your questions I asked you: What’s one question that you’ve been wrestling with that, if answered, would allow you to move into a deeper place of faith? If you don’t know you should know this about me: I take your questions very seriously. I encourage you to ask questions because I think to engage your question is one of the surest ways to grow in your faith. I would also add that asking questions is not a sin. God also welcomes your questions and treats them seriously.
Today’s sermon is based on these excellent questions: “Are we going to be judged? If so, by whom? If we are cleansed by Christ’s blood, [and our past is completed erased] does this mean that God will not judge us? Doesn’t the Bible indicate that Christ will judge us?” In the form I created, I left room for the writer to respond to a final question from me: Why has this question been a struggle for you? The writer answered, “This is one of the ultimate questions.” I guess so.
In your bulletin today, there is a shocking orange insert that lists all the questions that will be raised and answered this summer on one side and on the other, I have compiled some information about today’s questions that you might fine helpful in your own study.
TWO THRONES
Are we going to be judge? Yes, we are. The Bible speaks of two judgments that will take place. Before I describe them to you, let me answer a question that was not raised by the writer of these questions but may now be in your mind. The Day of Judgment sounds so harsh and terrifying. Don’t we believe that God is loving and kind? Why would God judge anyone when He loves the world?
God indeed does love the world, but He doesn’t love the terrible suffering that happens in every part of the world every day. If you believe that God made and rules the world, then how could it be that the Creator and Giver of life would not have a reckoning? What kind of loving God could witness the near extermination of the Jewish people in Europe by the Germans and not judge those actions? What kind of loving God would watch murder and abuse and simply do nothing? There is no justice without judgment; and our world needs both.
If you think that the idea of stewardship is something to tune out come October, you need to realize that you will be judged for how you used your gifts and resources. We’ve been given the clay of your life by the One who made the clay. What have you done with your clay the Giver of the clay will ask you.
The first throne that we will stand before is called the Great White Throne, and it is described in Revelation 20 in this way: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.”
Who is seated on the Great White Throne? Jesus is. We confess as much whenever we stand and recite the Apostles’ Creed: I believe that He will judge the quick and the dead. I find tremendous comfort in this knowledge. Jesus lived a human life. So He understands the pressures and challenges we face each day. Remember too that no one ever loved outcasts and sinners like Jesus did.
Revelation reads that we will be judged according to what we have done. That’s why the most important thing we ever do in life is humbly trust in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. On the cross, He not only bore our sin, but took the judgment that was truly ours. He died so that we might live.
Some people always ask. What about people of other religions? What about those who have never heard of Jesus. I don’t know all the answers but I would say this: We know the fullest expression of God’s grace was found in Jesus, but we certainly don’t know the limits of His grace.
Jesus, the Judge of the earth will do right. No one will say at the end of the Day of Judgment that they weren’t treated fairly.
When we ask for forgiveness, and do so with a sincere desire to not continuing do that wrong thing, we are promised forgiveness. And it works like this: A Catholic woman was having visions of Jesus. She began talking about these visions at her church and soon her priest heard the reports of her visions. So he decided to talk to the woman to make sure she wasn’t crazy or dangerous.
When she came to his office he asked her, “Is it true, ma’am that you have visions of Jesus?” Yes, she said, I have. “Well, the next time you have a vision, I want you to ask Jesus to tell you about a terrible sin I confessed to Him when I was in seminary. What I did years ago still haunts me. Ask Him what it was your priest did so many years ago.” The woman was stunned. “Did I hear you right, Father? You actually want me to ask Jesus to tell me the sins of your past?” The priest nodded and told her was completely serious.
A week later the woman called and told the priest that she had another vision. He drove to her home. Once there, the priest found the woman and her husband sitting quietly in their living room. The priest turned to the woman and said, “You just told me on the telephone that you actually had a vision of Jesus. Did you do what I asked?” The woman said she had. “Well,” the priest leaned forward, “What did Jesus say about my sins?”
The woman took him in the eye and said, “Father, these are his exact words: I can’t remember.”
Forgiveness, as given by Jesus, means that our sins are not only forgiven but forgotten, which means that when we stand before Him, He will look at you and smile and say, “You’re perfect! There’s not one sin that I can see.” Listen to this promise from the next-to-the-last book of the New Testament, Jude 24, “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy!”
If you are in Christ, if you have asked for Him to forgive you and now placed your full life into His hands then you have nothing to worry about when you stand before the Great White Throne. If you are not in Christ, then it will be a brutally sad moment for you; particularly if you have heard of His love for you and you never did a thing with that gift.
The second throne we stand before is called the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is described in 2 Corinthians 5, among other places, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
When we stand before Jesus this time, it’s not a time when our eternal destiny is in question because that issue is resolved the moment we believe. No, this is a time to review our lives with the help of Jesus. Ray Stedman was a great teacher of the Bible. Here’s his explanation: “This is not a judgment to settle destiny. This is a personal evaluation given to each individual by the Lord himself of what his life has really been like. It is as though you and the Lord walked together back through all the scenes of your life and he pointed out to you the real nature of what you did and what you said and what was behind it all. The primary characteristic of the "judgment seat" is that it is a time of disclosure to us of what has been hidden in the silent, inner reaches of our own hearts. In fact, the word that is used here is a very interesting one. It says, "we shall all appear." Literally it is, "we shall all be manifested," "we shall all be unveiled," in a sense, at the judgment seat of Christ, in the eyes of everyone. That is the point.”
LOVE GETS US READY
I have always loved a verse found in the book of 1 John when I think about judgment. Only a fool wouldn’t be nervous to stand before Jesus. That’s why I’ve always loved these verses from 1 John 4 “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world. Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that His love has not been perfected in us.”
Those people who grow in a life of love will be confident on that day. Perfect love tosses all fear. Those who are loved by Jesus and who in turn love others like Jesus; have a growing sense of peace. I’m alright because Jesus is alright. Eugene Peterson put it this way: “The practical effect of this belief is to charge each moment of the present with hope. For if the future is dominated by [the judgment of Jesus], there is little room left on the screen for projecting our anxieties and fantasies. It takes all the clutter out of our lives. We’re far more free to respond spontaneously to the freedom of God.”
Do you have to be afraid come Judgment Day? You can be frightened, but you don’t have to be. Jesus gets you ready and you can be sure that you’ll pass because of His love for you.
Amen.
“Your Questions Please”/Study Guide: June 21, 2009
Question: Who gets judged? By whom?
Key Biblical Passages:
- The Final Judgment or Great White Throne Judgment
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20: 11 – 15)
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25: 31 – 33)
- The Judgment Seat of Christ
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5: 10)
- Judgment and Love
“God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world. Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that his love has not been perfected in us.” (1 John 4: 16b – 18)
Further Insights
Q 52: How does Christ’s return ‘to judge the living and dead’ comfort you?
A: In all my distress and persecution I turn my eyes to the heavens and confidently await as judge the Very One who has already stood trial in my place before God and so has removed the whole curse from me. All his enemies and mine he will condemn to everlasting punishment: but me and all his chosen ones he will take along with him into the joy and glory of heaven.
The Heidelberg Catechism of Faith
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