Judgment Day

[1]

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing.  I was sick, and you cared for me.  I was in prison, and you visited me.’  “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality?  Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’   Matthew 25:31-40

Whatever do you do with an elephant in the room.  It’s rather difficult to ignore a beast that’s 13 feet high, weighs-in at 7 tons and eats 300lbs of veggies out of your fridge every day![2]  But that’s a theological reality for many people when the topic turns toward judgment day.  So many categorically deny a final judgment, where unbelievers are consigned to everlasting punishment, or Hell.  Rob Lowe, a “Christian” preacher, at the outset of his rise to rock star status in evangelical circles, at least seemed orthodox; then came Love Wins, his book unveiling his Universalism view, that, ultimately there is no judgment…God unconditionally forgives and loves everybody forever, believers and unbelievers alike.

The question, then, is whatever became of sin, punishment, and accountability?  It’s the new elephant in the room when it comes to passages like Matthew 25 (and about 1259 other chapters in Scripture).

So, if Scripture is wrong, and Rob Lowe is right, along with all the other Universalists, atheists, agnostics, (and whatever other terms you can dredge-up for those who snicker at the thought of an actual judgment day), that must mean that I can live my life the way I want, take whatever I want, ignore whomever is in need, build my empire, exploit the weak, and generally just have a fine time being the master of my fate, the captain of my life’s ship, and get heaven in the bargain?  I can be Joel Osteen, Donald Trump, and Genghis Khan all rolled in one, and God’s gonna break into a huge, welcoming smile when I hit the pearly gates?

Is that it?

Or is the truth found in Christian orthodoxy, the faith handed down from Jesus through the apostles, recorded and taught for two-thousand years…not to mention the unquestioned teaching of the Old Testament’s four-thousand-year history of accountability and judgment for sin. 

So, is it orthodox truth, or the hare-brained neo-orthodoxy of the late 20^th century that says just go with my Burger King theology…have it your way!  If the hare-brains are right, we are all going to have to take a scissors to our Bibles…and cut out the last part of Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew’s Gospel.  He said:

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’  “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”  Matthew 25:44-46

For You Today

With so much emphasis these days on unity with total acceptance of everybody’s thoughts or lifestyle, and the vilification of any kind of separation, or differences, from life roles to unmarked bathrooms, the idea that one person might go to heaven while another winds up in hell, is as intolerant an idea for this generation as can be.  It is put in the waste-bin of rejected out-of-hand nonsense, and totally unsuitable for rational culture. 

Oh my…that sounds like something of a judgment, doesn’t it?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com        Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] Wonder of the Day #1930 How Much Does an Elephant Weigh?

Creator Savior Judge

[1]

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed me.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.  I was naked, and you gave me clothing.  I was sick, and you cared for me.  I was in prison, and you visited me.’  “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?  Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality?  Or naked and give you clothing?  When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’  “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.  For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me.  I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink.  I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home.       I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing.  I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’  “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’  “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’  “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”  Matthew 25:31-46(NLT)

Any time there is a knee-jerk reaction, something gets pulled out of joint!  Growing up in the 60’s I was part of that “hippie” generation that dropped-out, got high, and generally distrusted and rejected everything anyone over 30 had to say.  That certainly included Grandma’s church and the God who was a stern Judgment Day buzz-kill.  We knee-jerked all the way to the Jesus-freak syndrome, where it’s all about love (just ask John Lennon, he’ll tell you all you need is love).  And God, if he or she did really exist, could never be unloving enough to send anybody to hell. 

Pulling-back from the hypocrisy of a materialistic-minded generation wasn’t all bad, but laying around smoking dope, popping pills, or swilling as much alcohol as you could before you dropped off to that blessed stupor, and waking up to the early afternoon hangover, while you tried to figure out where the next party was going to happen…well, that is hardly a sustainable lifestyle.  Knee-jerks are rarely long-term solutions; sooner or later there comes to each life the clash of mortality and eternity.  We begin to come to terms with how quickly this life passes, and the prescient reality of judgment coming.  It’s like the early morning sun on hung-over eyeballs, it hurts to face the music our behavior has harvested, but the sun rises nonetheless! 

And so, this passage of Jesus’ sermon about the final judgment begins to make its way into the concern with which every human must face:  Creator – Savior – Judge. 

Most people have little problem with God as Creator; many even embrace the idea of a Savior who gets us out of jail-free.  But knee-jerks start to happen when judge comes into focus.  In an era of excuses, where getting dropped on our head as a baby caused my chocolate genetic disposition to steal the drugs that caused me to want to rob that bank and shoot three tellers is an acceptable (and often successful) defense at the trial…well, nobody is guilty, we all get a do-over, no questions asked.

Except, that’s not what the Scriptures say, or what common sense understands.  There is, in each of us, an innate understanding (DNA hard-wiring, if you will) that behavior and consequence are how this universe operates.  And if you subscribe at all to the premise that God exists, and is our Creator, came to be our Savior, then the God who created a cause and effect universe operates that way too.  That means the loving God who created us, and came to be our Savior, is also the One who judges us when we reject him!  It’s who He is!

And the greatest certainty about God’s brand of cause and effect is forgiveness.  As Savior, Jesus opened that reality to us – that our repentance, genuine turning of heart, mind, and soul, are causative to His forgiveness, and cancelling the debt of our sin.

For You Today

Hippie, Yuppie, or whatever knee-jerk you’ve ever wandered into, Jesus is Savior for all.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.   

                                                                                                                   

Go to VIDEO 

---

[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com and Pixabay.com