We All Need Grace

And here we are at the end of Moments of Grace. Over the past seven weeks we have seen how Grace has been experienced and expressed throughout the Bible and we’ve looked at Grace displayed in an unlikely person, in an unlikely place, at an unlikely time and two weeks ago we saw how Jesus displayed grace at the table when he invited his 12 closest friends to celebrate with him at the last supper even knowing that those who were there would betray him, deny him and doubt him. 

And then we looked at Grace in an Awkward Situation, when even after Peter had denied him three times Jesus didn’t give him what he deserved, he didn’t deny Peter, instead he embraced him and forgave him. 

And last week we watched as the thief on the cross stepped over the line of salvation with his dying breath.   And all he had to do was the same thing each one of us has to do, accept the gift of grace, a gift that was summed up in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.  And that is the Scandal of Grace

And through all of Paul’s preaching on Grace he seems to anticipate the response from some folks in the church because he asks the question in Romans 6:1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

This seemed to be an ongoing discussion in the church at Rome because Paul had addressed it earlier in Romans 3:7-8 “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?” And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.

It is a twisted logic that leads us to the rationale that our sinful behaviour actually becomes a public service by introducing more of God’s grace into the world.  And so Paul asks the question: Romans 6:1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?  And then he answers it in the very next verse by stating Romans 6:2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

This type of argument and debate was common in the era that Paul was writing and was referred in Latin as: Reductio ad Absurdum  And the definition of that term is: The process of refuting an argument on the grounds that absurd – and patently untenable consequences would ensue from accepting the item at issue. In other words reducing it to the absurd. 

For example, sometimes someone will say something that just doesn’t make sense or is unlikely to happen.  “If I won the lottery, all my money problems would be over.”  And I will respond one of two ways, both of which fall into the class of Reductio ad Absurdum.  So I will either say “And if wishes were horses beggars would ride.” Or I will respond “And if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a wagon.”

So taking it to the extreme, if we do continue to sin it is an opportunity for God to demonstrate his grace over and over again, however we are told that God hates sin and the ultimate consequence of sin is spiritual death and so while it provides the opportunity for grace it ultimately leads to our destruction. 

But what is this grace of which Paul speaks and which others would use as a licence to continue in their sinful behaviour?   Well we have defined it before as God’s unmerited love.  That is love that we don’t deserve and that we can’t earn.  It is spelled out in Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

  

You’ve heard me define it time and time again by saying Justice is getting what we deserve, Mercy is getting less than we deserve and Grace is getting something that we don’t deserve.

For example, if a certain cleric was stopped by the local constabulary for speeding, remember this is just an example, justice would be getting a speeding ticket for doing 73 in a 50.  However if the office said that instead of issuing him a speeding ticket he would simply issue him a ticket for failing to obey a traffic sign which would mean the fine would be over a hundred dollars less and there would be no loss of points and the imaginary cleric would not lose his licence for a week, that would be mercy. 

However if the officer had of said, “Hey don’t worry about it and I’m on my way to Tim Horton’s, follow me and I’ll buy you a coffee.”  That would have been Grace.   In the story the fictional cleric would have been shown mercy.

For those who like numbers in the New Living Translation the word Grace is used 88 times in bible, only 5 times in the Old Testament and 83 times in the New Testament.  Of the 83 times the word grace is used in the New Testament 13 of those instances are in the book of Romans.  And the word Grace is not used in any of the four Gospels.   

It is easy to define grace but that doesn’t always bring us any closer to understanding it. So let’s look at Grace in action.

His Name was Joseph and he began his life with a silver spoon in his mouth.  His father was Jacob, Abraham’s Grandson, who had become a wealthy land owner and farmer and Joseph was his favourite son.  From the time he was just a child it was evident that he was favoured, and perhaps a little bit spoiled, or actually perhaps a lot bit spoiled, actually there was no perhaps about it, he was daddy’s favourite and Daddy wasn’t afraid to show him or his other children how he felt about Joseph. 

I don’t know what the final straw was, maybe it was the beautiful coat that his father bought him, or maybe it was when he had the dreams about his brothers bowing down to him and worshipping him.  Maybe it was when the rest of his brothers had to tend the sheep out in the field and Joseph stayed at home.  Or maybe it was just that opportunity presented itself.  Joseph had gone out to the fields to check up on his brothers for his father, and the brothers saw their opportunity.  They threw Joseph into a dried up well and then to add insult to injury they sold him into slavery.

From favourite son to slave and the story doesn’t end there.  Joseph was taken to Egypt and was sold to a man named Potiphar.  If we follow the story along we discover that Joseph was able to gain the trust of his master and eventually became manager of everything that Potiphar owned, but when he refused to give in to the advances of his master’s wife she framed him for rape and he ended up in prison.

From favourite son to slave, from trusted servant to prisoner, you really know the path to downward mobility don’t you Joseph?  And to be fair, Joseph’s problems began because he wasn’t very gracious.  Well it’s pretty obvious that if anyone needed God’s grace it would be Joseph.  But he’s not alone.  Some Need God’s Grace Because of Their Attitudes you know, the way we speak to people and treat people.

If Joseph started from the top and worked his way down Moses started from the bottom and worked his way up.  The people of Israel had become slaves to the people of Egypt and when the pharaoh began to feel threatened by the growing number of Israelites in his country the Bible says he decided to make their slavery even more bitter, kind of the old “I’ll give you something to cry about”.  When the harsh working conditions didn’t break their spirits he issued an order to the midwives to kill the baby boys of Israel as soon as they were born.  When the midwives refused the Pharaoh ordered all the newborn boys to be thrown into the Nile River.  And it was into this climate that Moses was born.

His mother hid him for three months and when it became apparent that she could hide him no more he was put into a floating basket and placed in the reeds at the edge of the Nile in hopes that someone would find him and take pity on him.

And don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?  Because that’s exactly what happened and the story gets better because he wasn’t found by just anyone he was found by the daughter of the Pharaoh.  Who promptly feel in love with this beautiful little baby boy. And the story gets better and better, Moses was adopted into the royal household and enjoyed all the perks and privileges of growing up the adopted son of the most powerful man in the country.

What an opportunity to help his people, to make a difference in his world, to impact society.  There was so much that he could do, but did he?  No.  As a matter of fact we find no indication that Moses even acknowledged his roots until he was forty years old and on that one occasion he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite and he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.  Nasty temper Moses, obviously you never read anything by James Barrie because he said “Temper is a weapon that we hold by the blade.”

Moses, what were you thinking, you had the power the prestige and the position to make a difference in your world and you blew it.  Obviously you weren’t thinking were you? You ever feel like Moses?  You had it all and then you blew it, and all because you couldn’t control your temper.  Some Need God’s Grace Because of Their Temper, we say and do things in the heat of the moment and hurt those around us.

Some called him King, others said he was a man after God’s own heart, she called him honey. David was Israel’s greatest King.  He had taken the Jews from being nothing more than a collection of Nomadic tribes to being one of the most powerful nations in the known world.  It was under David’s leadership and direction that Israel reached the high point of her history.  Economically, politically and spiritual Israel was at its peak. And David was riding high on the crest of popular opinion.

Now I don’t know if David got bored or if he was going through a midlife crisis thing or what happened but one day when his troops had all gone off to war, David stayed home.  And you know what they say, “Idle hands are the devil’s hands.”  Well David should have kept busy doing what he was supposed to be doing.

The bible tells us that one afternoon that David has just gotten up from taking a nap, a nap, must be nice to be king.  And as he’s strolling along the roof top of the palace he notices that one of his neighbours is taking a bath in the buff in the backyard. Well this lady was not hard to look at all and David sent someone to find out who she was.  The answer came back that she was Bathsheba and that she was the wife of one of David’s soldiers, a man named Uriah.  

David didn’t waste any time, he had Bathsheba brought to his home, I don’t know what he was thinking, perhaps he didn’t know what he was thinking, perhaps he wasn’t thinking.  Maybe it was all innocent and he wanted to compliment her on her beauty, or maybe warn her that when she bathed in the buff in the backyard that it wasn’t nearly as private as she thought it was.  Or maybe he knew all along where this would lead.  It was Scottish Writer Margaret Oliphant who so wisely pointed out “Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.” 

Well it may have started out innocent but it didn’t end innocent, I think David must have been a fan of Robert A. Heinlein who wrote “Always yield to temptation, you never know when it will pass your way again.” The bible says they slept together and if that is all they did there wouldn’t have been a problem, but the next time David sees Bathsheba she had some news for him, she said something like “Hi Daddy.”  David, David, David.  What have you done?  Well we know what he did, but why did he do it.

Well David begins to think, and scheme after all he didn’t get to be King for nothing.  And he sends for Uriah thinking that Bathsheba could seduce her husband, although he had been away from home for a while so there probably wouldn’t need to be a lot of seduction, and Uriah would think the child was his, he must not have been real good with math.

But that isn’t the way it happened.  Uriah refused to go home; he said his fellow soldiers were out defending the country it wouldn’t be right for him to be spending the night with his wife.  Oh drat, it’s on to plan “B” then so David invited Uriah to dinner, proceeded to get him drunk and then sent him home, but still Uriah refused.  Well if you can’t blame hubby then get rid of hubby, and that’s what David did, he had Uriah’s commander send him deep into enemy territory and Uriah was killed.

So let’s see, David, you slept with another man’s wife, and then you had her husband murdered.  Hope she was worth it.  David you were thinking with your hormones and not your head.  And if you were to get what you deserved under the law of your kingdom and your God you would be killed, you are in serious need of God’s grace. 

 Some Need God’s Grace Because of Their Actions.  How many of us have done what we knew we shouldn’t be doing?  Because we going to enjoy it for the here and now regardless of how it might affect our future or the future of those we love.

It was a great gig, and if he played his cards right someday he would take the place of his boss.  But then it was over.

His name was John Mark and the first part of his career is summed up in eight verses in the book of Acts.  The story begins in Acts 13:5  There, in the town of Salamis, they went to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them as their assistant.   And pretty much finishes in Acts 13:13  Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.

John Mark just quit and walked away, and we don’t know why, although there has been all kinds of speculation through the years.  What we do know is that it caused a huge rift not only in the relationship between John Mark and Paul but eventually between Paul and Barnabas. 

If we pick up the story in Acts 15:36-40  After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.”  Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark.  But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work.  Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.  Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.

Wow.  I wonder how John Mark felt? He was young and he blew it, and now it was coming back to bite him.  He was rejected by his mentor and basically declared untrustworthy and unreliable.

Some Need God’s Grace Because of Their Quitting.  One day they are on board and the next day and they quite and just walk away.  

Have you ever felt like you had blown it in your Christian walk?  Have there been times that your behaviour has been less then admirable?  Perhaps like Joseph you just can’t seem to get it right, and you know that God must be angry at you or you wouldn’t have such rotten luck.  But the story hasn’t been finished yet.  Joseph eventually became the second most powerful man in Egypt and because of his position he was able to save his entire family during a famine that affected entire Eastern Mediterranean.  He summed up his life in a conversation that he had with his brothers in Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

Maybe like Moses you have a temper that needs to be brought under control, and let there be no doubt about it, if you have a problem with your temper it will need to be brought under control.  But Moses story didn’t end with him on the lamb, instead God brought him back to Egypt to deliver the people of Israel from slavery to freedom.  That was where the original Passover celebration came from.    When the writer of the book of Hebrews was listing all the heroes of faith in the bible he gives Moses five verses, more space than anyone else on the list.  This is only part of it Hebrews 11:27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

Have you struggled with moral failure like David?  Figure that you’ve blown it and there is no hope for you?  Don’t know if you can fall much further than David fell, and yet in Psalm 51 we read David’s prayer of repentance Psalm 51:1-2 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

And?  Well in 2 Samuel 12:13 David is talking to Nathan the Preacher who confronted him with his sin, and this is a part of that conversation:  2 Samuel 12:13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the LORD has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin.

The story wasn’t over.  In the New Testament Jesus is referred to as the Son of David on at least 15 occasions.

Do you ever feel like Mark?  But that wasn’t the end of John Mark’s story.  God hadn’t given up on him and neither had Paul apparently.   Eventually his name would be shortened to just plain old Mark and we read in Paul’s second letter to Timothy 2 Timothy 4:11  Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.   And then Paul writes in Colossians 4:10  Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way.

Grace has such a wonderful way of giving second chances.  Do you ever feel like Mark?  In your life, or your behaviour or your words have you quit when you know you should have gone on?  And you can’t believe that you will be trusted with anything ever again. 

And then you are given a brand new future and yes, this is the same Mark who wrote the second gospel words  that have been read by billions of people over thousands of years. 

And maybe you have nothing in common with Joseph, Moses, David or Mark but here is the reality:  We All Need God’s Grace Because We Are People

Each of us is far from God, and according to his word justice for us would be to be separated for eternity from God and goodness, and light and love, and compassion.  In our tradition that is called hell.  Mercy for us would be annihilation, to simply cease to exist at death.  But instead God offers Grace, the thing we don’t deserve, eternal life in his presence. 

Why did Jesus come?  It was the tax collector Matthew who recalled a prophecy from the Old Testament that speaks of the coming messiah, the one we call Jesus Matthew 12:20-21 He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

It was that great American Philosopher Yogi Berra who said “The game isn't over until it's over.”  If you feel like you’ve failed in your Christian walk Jesus isn’t going to crush you or put out your flame, even if that is what you deserve, he is there to pick you up.  

Which is why Bob Goff, Author of “Love Does” wrote this great definition of Grace  “Grace is a painting God's still completing over our torn canvases.”

Listen to the promise of the Bible, this is for you this morning, I don’t know where you are on your spiritual journey but this promise is for you. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

What the Hell?

Long before I knew about God’s grace I knew about Gods’ wrath.  Long before I had encountered a loving God I knew about the fires of hell.

Some of those images came from culture and some came from art.  All in all I think I prefer Larson to Michelangelo, but I’m that kind of guy.

Some of the images that I had of hell were from Jack Chick tracts, anybody remember the chick tracks with their images of hell fire and demons laughing at those sentenced to an eternity of torment. 

It just dawned on me the other day, who was leaving those tracks at our place?  They weren’t something that my parents would have been bringing home, so my only conclusion was that well intentioned relatives were leaving them behind in the hopes of scaring the hell out of the Guptill kids. 

The year I graduated from High School there were a couple of different things that happened that had a profound influence on me and my eventual decision to become a Christ follower.  The first of course was my best friend’s decision to follow Christ and his commitment to sharing that decision with me.  But I often tell people the other two things were watching live performances of Jesus Christ Super Star and Godspell.  Whatever your feelings might be about the Rock Opera and Musical they presented the story of Jesus a way that a nineteen-year-old could relate.  And it was in a live production of Godspell that I first heard the story of Lazarus and the rich man.  (Show clip from Godspell).  And it made sense to me, the good guy went to the good place and the bad guy went to the bad place. 

By the way, it was the love that my best friend had for me that brought me to the decision to accept the forgiveness and grace of God and not the fear of hell.  I was loved into heaven, not scared out of hell.

But how many of us have every been asked, or have ever asked: What kind of God could or would send people to hell. 

And some, because they can’t accept the concept of eternal punishment simply reject it.  If in their minds a loving god would be incapable of sending people to hell, then he doesn’t.  And this belief that everyone will be saved is called Universalism, and it was first promoted about 200 years after the death of Christ by an early church leader by the name of Origen, whose beliefs and teachings were later declared as heretical.  And for the next 1600 years very few major theologians argued that everyone would be saved, but that began to change in the 1800’s with the New Thought movement, which eventually spawned the Universalist Church and movement.

And we have seen it in the past number of years with preachers like Rob Bell, who wrote “Love Wins”,  who have stayed clear of the term universalism but lean very strongly toward the belief that eventually everybody, either in this life or the next will come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

So their belief is that there is a hell, and it is a place of torment but it’s not forever, you only stay there until you accept the grace of God that continues to be extended to you.  Almost spiritual waterboarding.  They are almost suggesting that eventually God will be able to either nag or torture you into heaven.  But how do we reconcile that with our belief in free will?

Preacher A.W. Tozer wrote “The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.”

But the reality is, very few people who believe in the hereafter actually believe that everybody should go to heaven and nobody should go to hell, but they want to be the one who picks. 

And not many folks would try to argue Hitler or Stalin or litterbugs out of hell, but what about the really nice family down the street that do a lot of volunteer work and keep their lawn up and recycle their trash but just don’t have time for God or church?  Or the nice Jewish or Hindu teacher that was so special to you in grade 7, or the billions of people through the years who never had a chance to hear the gospel?

How could God send people like that to hell, especially if hell is everything that we understand it to be?

And so we end up being like Mark Twain who said “I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell - you see, I have friends in both places.”

This is week 4 of our “Skeletons in God’s Closet” series. 

The term “A Skeleton in your Closet”, means that there is something in your life that you have hidden away that could damage your reputation.  And it could be something immoral or illegal or maybe just something that you did in your misspent youth that you would find embarrassing if it came out today.

And that isn’t always fair, as anyone who has ever experienced something coming back to haunt them could testify to.  I am certainly not the person now that I was in when I was a teenager.  And there are certainly things I said and did back then that I wouldn’t necessarily want made public today.   In retrospect I’m not even sure that my brain was functioning in any meaningful way during those years, so I’m not sure that to judge the today Denn based on the behaviour of the 1977 Denn would be fair or accurate.

But I would suspect that I’m alone in that respect and that none of you have any bones in your closest and that each of your pasts is spotless and honourable.

And so as we root around in God’s closet for some of the more troublesome stories in the bible there are those who think we should just leave the door to the closet closed.  But we really can’t do that because just because we don’t open it doesn’t mean it won’t get opened.

And so in week one I spoke about why we need to open the closet door.  And we need to do it so we can better understand the story.  Unless you read all the story, you can’t understand all the story.  We can’t just choose our favourite parts of the bible and declare that we are people of the book.  Doesn’t work that way, because when we do that we end up with our story not Gods.

And it’s only when we truly know God’s story that we can truly know God.  And until we know God we won’t know who and what we are supposed to be as people. 

And so we left that message embracing the words of  George Bernard Shaw who said. “If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance.”

In week 2 Rob McDowell did a wonderful job tackling a difficult subject.  He looked at the Israelite conquest of Canaan, and what some folks would consider a genocide, and you can find that message along with all of our messages on our website.   

Last week I dug into the New Testament and spent some time with the story of Ananias and Sapphira who were a couple in the early church.   The highlights of their story was that they had sold a piece of property and then gave the money to the church.  And that is all well and good, the problem was they said they were giving it all when in reality they only gave a portion.  When confronted with the fact that they had lied to God they dropped dead.  Bizarre, so we played around in that particular closet last week.

Today we are going to crack a closet door that opens in both the Old and New Testament, and that is the doctrine of hell.  

In our tradition, as in many other traditions when we talk about the alternative to heaven we call it hell.  Which is one of several different names used in the Bible to describe the final destination of the unrighteous.  The term Sheol in the Old Testament or Hades in the New Testament are used interchangeably and literally mean the place of Departed Souls. 

In some instances, the term is used to simply mean the grave or death, and in other instances it refers to an actual place, what we call hell.

In the New Testament there is a word that is used by Jesus almost exclusively for hell and that is the Greek word Gehenna which is a form of the Hebrew phrase that means “The Valley of Hinnom” which was a valley Southwest of Jerusalem.  Now I know that’s not very nice to refer to a specific area as Hell, but sometimes that is the reality.

Earlier this year Eric and Lisa Slauenwhite and their family visited hell, and posted pictures on Facebook.  Here is the sign welcoming them to hell, here is a warning sign about what not to do while in hell and here is a photo of their youngest child in hell.

Of course in this case Hell was in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean and bears no actual resemblance to the hell that we are talking about today.

But you have to understand the history of Gehenna.  It was in this valley that the Canaanites worshiped Baal and the god Molech, they did this by sacrificing their children in a fire that burned continuously.  In the book of 2 Kings 23:10 we discover that King Josiah put an end to this worship and “defiled” the valley so it would be unfit for even pagan worship.

There are some who would tell us that by the time of Jesus this area was used as the garbage dump for Jerusalem, into it was thrown all of the filth and garbage of the city, including the dead bodies of animals and executed criminals. To consume all of this, fires burned constantly.  Everybody knew what it was like and when the wind blew from that direction, everybody in the city understood its awfulness.  To the people Jesus spoke to there could be no worse fate then spending eternity in Gehenna.  And so Jesus said “do you want to know what hell is like?  All you have to do is look at Gehenna. The garbage, dead bodies the fire and the smell, now multiply that by eternity and that’s what the unrighteous have to look forward to” And so hell could be described as God’s “Cosmic garbage dump.”  Everything that is unfit for heaven is thrown there. 

Sometimes because of the symbolic nature of the description of hell people question whether it will consist of actual fire. 

But the bible remains consistent with it descriptions of hell, speaking of darkness while at the same time using fire as a description.  Even Jesus referred to hell as a place of torment we read in Matthew 13:49-50  Jesus said “That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous,  throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  And that is only one of the numerous instances where Jesus warns people of the dangers of hell. 

Don’t deceive yourself, the reality will be worse then any description that a person could conjure up, and it will last forever, and ever and ever.  It’s worse then can be described and longer then can be imagined.

And sometimes it’s easy to just say “Ok, I believe in hell” but not actually understand the why of hell.  As Aristotle said “Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.”

So this morning we are not going to try and prove the existence of hell, the bible speaks for itself on that issue, and nobody who accepts the bible can deny that it warns of a place of eternal damnation for those who reject God.  So we aren’t looking for the facts as much as the reason for the fact.

And so we have this story that Jesus told of Lazarus and the Rich Man, which some would claim is a parable while others would say was the story of actual people.  And to be truthful no other parable actually uses a person’s name.  And in it we see two destinations.  One apparently for the righteous and one for the unrighteous. 

Often we think of Hell as a punishment for a life misspent.  You do bad things and you go to hell, you do good things you go to heaven.  But we know that you can’t earn your way into heaven.  The bible is very clear on that point, Ephesians 2:8-9  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 

So if heaven isn’t a reward for the good things we’ve done, how can hell be a punishment for the bad things we’ve done?  After all it would appear that we are all destined for hell and the only thing that stands in our way is the grace of God. 

And while the scriptures do speak of hell in terms of punishment it really isn’t a punishment the sense of “You did this and as a result you will go to hell”.  It is more in the sense that you behaved that way because of a choice you made and as a result of that choice you won’t be with God when you die, instead you will go to hell.

When Jesus was beginning his ministry John the Baptist introduced him with this words John 3:34-36  For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.  And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

The thing we need to get our head around it the fact that Hell Is Not a Punishment For Our Actions it is a Consequence Of Our Choice

When we choose to not to make room in our life for God we are saying “I don’t want to be counted as one of God’s children.”  And God simply honours that request in the next life as well as this life. 

You can be a nice person, a good person, a moral person and still choose to not align yourself with God and not accept the grace that he offers.  We all know people like that, they either have no time for God or feel that they have no need for God.  But they can still be nice people, they have just chosen for whatever reason to have nothing to do with God.

Hell in it’s simplest definition is a place without God, and being without God is being without light or love or goodness. 

If we see hell only as a punishment, then we view salvation simply as an escape from punishment a fire escape from hell so to speak.  Anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote “It is an open question whether any behavior based on fear of eternal punishment can be regarded as ethical or should be regarded as merely cowardly.”

Jesus tell us in Matthew 6:24  “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.  But the statement isn’t only about money, it is about our priorities in life and when we choice to serve other things before God we are making a decision that will echo for eternity.    

Which leads us to the next point, the question that people ask is “How can a loving God send people to hell?”  But we have to realize that  Hell Is Not A Place You Are Sent It Is A Place You Choose To Go

When we choose to not accept the grace that is extended by Christ then we have chosen to reject Christ and his righteousness. 

Presbyterian preacher J Vernon McGee wrote “Don't say that a loving God sends people to hell. Say that there is a holy God, and when you do not meet His standard you cannot go into His heaven where He is.”   The bible is very clear about two things 1) we will never be good enough to get to heaven on our own.  2) All we have to do is ask, that is the grace that we talked about back in the fall, the unmerited favour of God.  But you have to choose to accept it.

Some folks feel like they have no choice, author Heywood Broun writes, “Hell is paved with great granite blocks hewn from the hearts of those who said, ‘I can do no other.’”

But the reality is that there is always a choice.  In dealing with temptation we are promised in 1 Corinthians 10:13  The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

God isn’t up there rubbing his hands with glee over the fact that people are going to hell, instead he is heart broken.  Peter reminds us in 2 Peter 3:9  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.  God’s desire is that everyone will make the right choice, but that doesn’t mean they will.  My desire is for each of you to make the right choice, that doesn’t mean you will. 

The big question that is asked about Hell is What About the People Who Have Never Heard the Gospel?  I truly believe that no one will go to hell without the opportunity to not go to hell.

But I find it inconceivable, and the word does mean what I think it means, that the same God who would willing sacrifice his Son for the world, remember John 3:16  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  Would allow that same world to go to hell simply based on geography.

It doesn’t say for God loved the tiny strip of the Middle East where Jesus was born so much, and it doesn’t say for God loved the area where the gospel was spread so much, or God loved Europe and the America’s so much, but only after they were evangelized. 

And no I don’t know how that works, out, I don’t know how the grace of Christ is presented even to those who have never heard, but I have to believe it is. 

We often hear of the God shaped void in each of us, that is yearning to be filled, and stories of missionaries who meet obscure tribes that all ready have an innate understanding of the gospel, of Muslim who testify of dreaming of Jesus. 

Let’s go back to the scripture from Peter’s letter again, but let’s pick it up in verse 8 2 Peter 3:8-9  But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.  The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Have you ever had to wait for something?  Maybe news about a job, or a report from the Doctor, or a tea kettle to boil?  And it seems to take forever?  Sometimes when we are looking at verse eight we focus on the second part, how a thousand years is like a day.  But I wonder if we need to see God’s heart as he waits for people to accept his grace and realize that while he waits every day seems like a thousand years. 

Einstein is said to have summed up his theory of relativity by saying “Sitting with a pretty girl for an hour seems but a minute; sitting on a hot stove for a minute seems an hour.”

How God whispers into the soul of those who have never heard we may never know, but knowing the love that God has for all the world we have to assume that he’s not going to allow people to go to hell without giving them an opportunity, somehow to experience his grace.

And that is no way relieves us of our responsibility to evangelize.  Because evangelism is about our obedience.  We have been commanded to go into all the world, and we believe that Jesus doesn’t just provides an escape from hell tomorrow but also makes this world a better place today.    

Penn Jillette is a comedian, a magician and an atheist.  Penn is in no way a friend of God.  A few years ago after a show a fan presented Penn with a New Testament and this was the reaction of the atheist to hearing the good news.  (Video Clip)

Dying to Give

It’s one of those bizarre stories in the Bible that make you scratch your head and say:  Huhh?  And it’s one of those stories that people sometimes ask me about, it really seems more fitting in the Old Testament than as one of the first stories about the early church in the New Testament. 

This is week three of our Skeletons in God’s Closet series.  We are looking at some of the stories in the bible that sometimes cause people to question the character of God.  In week one I looked at the reasons we need to open closet door.  For some they would just as soon not have to explain or look deeper than they have to, perhaps afraid of what they might see, or afraid that it might challenge how they view God.

So that first week we looked the fact that we need to open the closet door in order to better understand the story, in order to better understand God and to better understand ourselves.   Too often we cherry pick from the bible picking the stories we like and ignoring the ones we don’t like or don’t understand, and that leads us to developing a caricature of God instead of seeing his true Character.  And until we understand God we can never understand what he wants us to be as we follow him.  And perhaps we need to heed George Bernard Shaw’s advice because he said. “If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you'd best teach it to dance.”

Last week Rob McDowell looked at one of the most problematic stories in the bible and it involves when the Israelites entered into and conquered the promised land after their Exodus from Egypt.  And Rob told us that we Need to Understand the Backstory, God is seeking Justice not Genocide, Realize that God punishes sin and offers grace to sinners, The Solution to War is The Cross.  If you missed the service last week you should check out the message on our website.  It was excellent.

And now we are going to jump into the New Testament and a story from the early church that sometimes confuses people. 

The church is seeing astronomical growth, thousands of people are coming to the faith and with that come practical problems and practical solutions.  The apostles are working full time to administer and teach this growing group of people, which means they are no longer fishing, farming and doing whatever else it was they did for a living prior to this.  And so there is now a need for providing for the leaders monetarily so they could provide for the needs of their families. 

There were also needs of those within the community of faith.  The widows, orphans and others had needs that had to be met.  And the church responded.  We read in Acts 4:32 All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had.   And then if we skip down a little further it says Acts 4:34-35 There was no poverty among them, because people who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money to the apostles to give to others in need.  Now we don’t know if the Apostles had preached on giving or money, don’t know if they passed the plate or had an offering box.  We don’t know anything other then the people were generous and the needs were met.  And then was even an example given, Acts 4:36-37 For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas . . . He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles for those in need.

Cool.  And if that was all she wrote we would marvel at the generosity and unselfish nature of the early church and that’s how many people view the early church.  But the story continues and gets a little confusing.

There was a couple in the early church by the name of Ananias and Sapphira and they were obviously impressed with what Barnabas did and so they attempted to replicate his actions.  They sold some property they had and brought a portion of the money to the apostles for the church.  So far so good.  But that wasn’t all the story, we don’t know how much they sold their property for, let’s say it was one of the lots behind us in Kingswood North, in which case they sold their land for $100,000.00. 

I’m sure they were looking at the money and thinking, “This is a lot of money, the church probably doesn’t need it all”.  And so Ananias brought part of the proceeds to the church, let’s say it was half, or $50,000.00  A pretty good chunk of change.  And I’m sure it could have been used for a lot of good.  The problem came because when Ananias came to the disciples he said, “Hey guys, I sold my property down on Gatehouse Run and got fifty grand for it, and here it is, aren’t I a great guy?”

Whoa, fifty grand is pretty awesome gift, there was no problem with that aspect of what he did. 

But listen to what happened, the story was read earlier.   Acts 5:3-4 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God.”

 I don’t know how Peter figured this out, maybe he had seen the MLS listing and knew what Ananias was asking for the property, maybe he knew the guy who bought it or maybe, God told him.  We don’t know, but we read what happened.  Acts 5:5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified.  I guess.  And they bundled him up and took him out and buried him. 

Guess that shows how tight they were in the early church, what is it they say “Your friends will help you move, your best friend will help you move bodies.”

Three hours later his wife arrived, and Peter asked her if what they had given was what the property had sold for and she confirmed that it was and he told her what had happened to her husband and she dropped dead and they buried her as well.  And I love the power of understatement because the entire story is summed up in Acts 5:11 Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened.

And so it’s easy to see this as a skeleton in God’s closet.  After all here was this church couple who sold their property and when they only give a half of it to the church instead of all of it, then it appears that an angry and greedy god strikes them dead.  And when someone brings it up then we shrug and say “I don’t know” or if we are real spiritual we say “God works in mysterious ways.” 

But perhaps instead of pushing the door shut and ignoring the bones maybe it’s time we dusted this one off and taught it to dance.

Now a couple of thoughts here, don’t you love how the word of God doesn’t cover up the tough situations?  If I was writing the Bible, I think I’d skip that part.  Think about it, it showed that the early church wasn’t nearly as perfect as we sometimes think it was and the entire thing about them dying, like who wants people to know about that?  That’s not the best PR, “Hey come to our church and drop dead.” 

It is said that Oliver Cromwell the British politician from the 1700’s was disfigured by facial warts and at one point was commissioning a portrait of himself and told the artist, “I desire you would use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me ... warts and everything.”

And the word of God paints the picture of the early church with warts and everything. 

The other thing is, do I think God struck these people dead?  No, William Barclay summed it up when he wrote, “This story shows two things about the early church, the expectancy of men’s minds and the extraordinary respect in which the apostles were held.  It was in that atmosphere that the rebuke of Peter acted as it did.”  In other words, Barclay is suggesting that both Ananias and Sapphira died of guilty consciences and the fear of God.  The mere suggestion that they had in fact lied to the Holy Spirit literally scared them to death.

It all began when they started talking about money in church isn’t that always the way?  And the story may be about a lot of things but the truth is that is isn’t about money, at least not much.  And this morning we aren’t going to talk about money, at least not much.  If you are new at Cornerstone I really only preach about giving in April during our stewardship emphasis time, so if you were hoping I’d be speaking about giving today you are out of luck and you’ll have to come back in a couple of months.

So if the story here isn’t about money what is it about?  Well first of all 1) It’s About Pride.  There are all kinds of reasons for serving God and for giving to God and most are honourable but some aren’t.   But there is never a right reason for doing the wrong thing.

If we go back to the end of chapter four we see the example had been set by another guy who sold a field that he had and gave the money to the church.   We are told that his name was Joseph but the apostles had given him a nick name and that was Barnabas.  When we think of the name Barnabas we think Barnabas or maybe Barney, but in the original language Barnabas meant “Son of Encouragement.” 

And Barnabas keeps showing up in the story of the early church and he keeps living up to his nickname, he is always coming along side of people, whether it be Paul, or Timothy or John Mark with just the right word at just the right time.  Whenever someone seemed a little blue or a little discouraged, the encourager shows up.  It was Henry Ford who said. “The ability to encourage others is one of life’s finest assets.”    

And so it was Barnabas who saw a need in the church and sold a field he had and gave them the money.  Probably didn’t make a big deal out of it, didn’t expect any accolades, just doing what he had always done, encouraged people.  In this case he happened to use money.  And I’m sure people started to talk about what a great guy Barnabas was.  And it was at that point that Ananias got thinking, “Boy it would sure be nice if people talked about me that way, maybe if I sold my property and gave the church the money people would talk about what a great guy I am and how much I do for God.”  Maybe he was like Louis XIV who once stated “Has God forgotten all I have done for Him.” 

Two gifts, one given for the right reason and one given for the wrong reason.  And at this point Ananias was still safe, pride might not be a great characteristic but it is part of being human.  T.S. Eliot said “Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.”  And I guess in a way Ananias got his way, he wanted people to know about him and talk about him, and they have been for the last two thousand years.  My Dad used to tell me, “Everyone is good for something even if it’s being a bad example.”

But it wasn’t just about pride Acts 5:2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, . . .  2) It’s About Greed  I don’t know what happened at this point.  Maybe he didn’t know how much the property would bring, or maybe when he had the money in his hand he got thinking about the new chariot he saw in the showroom window earlier, or the Mediterranean cruise that Sapphira had been wanting to go on. 

Whatever it was somewhere between the thought “If I sold some property and gave the money to the church” and actually selling the property and giving the money to the church something changed.  And instead of it being “giving the money to the church” it became “giving some of the money to the church and keeping the rest for myself.” 

Often we hear people quote Jesus in saying “Money is the root of all evil”  but it wasn’t Jesus who said that it was Paul and what he said was 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.  So I guess in a way it’s about money, but there are all types of greed.

We can be greedy for stuff, we can be greedy for recognition and we can be greedy for acceptance.  Psychologist and author Erich Fromm said “Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.”

But you know he was probably still safe, when he brought the gift to the church Peter commented Acts 5:4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away.

But let’s go back to the story Acts 5:2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.  3) It’s About Honesty  So Ananias struggled with pride?  I have and if you were honest you probably have to.  And he was a little greedy.  You ever suffer from a little greed? I mean maybe just once. Want a bigger paycheque, a larger house, a nicer car, better clothes? Maybe just once.  It happens, am I right?  “Well yeah sure, but Pastor that’s not greed, that’s just ambition.”  Fine we’ll leave it at that.

Let’s go back to the story, he sells his property decides to keep some of the money, so far so good.  And he brings the money to the church and says, “Hey guys I sold my property just like Barnabas and here’s all the money.  Aren’t I great?”

And then listen to Peter’s response, we heard part of it earlier.  Acts 5:4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

― They say that honesty pays but obviously not enough to suit Ananias.  I wonder if Ananias had even stopped to think about the fact that he was lying to God?  I’m sure that he had already worked through the process of the apostles never knowing how much he had gotten and how much he had given.  But had he stopped to work through the fact that God knew?  I’m sure that he had at least read Numbers 32:23 But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.

This goes back to the premise that we have gone over again and again through the years.  You ready, you might want to write this down because it’s deep.  Here we go “You will get caught.”

Understand that you cannot lie to God.  You can’t lie to Him about your giving, you can’t lie to him about your behaviour and you can’t lie to him about your motivation. 

You think it’s a secret, because your spouse doesn’t know the truth and your friends don’t know the truth and Denn doesn’t know the truth.  But the reality was spelled out almost three thousand years ago when David wrote in Psalm 44:21 God would surely have known it, for he knows the secrets of every heart.  God knows the truth.

If you lie to God than chances are you probably won’t drop dead, but what will it do to your spirit, to your conscience and to your relationship with God?   

It was Friedrich Nietzsche who said, “I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”

Jesus promised in John 8:31-32 “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

So here are the questions:  Do you know the truth? Are you living the truth?  Has the truth set you free? 

It can if you want it to and if you are honest, honest with your self and honest with God.