God's Wrath

    During the summer while I was teaching a class on the basics of Christianity, I talked a bit about the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.  For those of you who may not be familiar with this part of biblical history, let me give you a quick refresher.

    The Israelites had been enslaved by the Egyptians and through the mighty, miraculous acts of God, they had been freed.  A man named Moses, who was called by God, led the people out of Egypt and toward the freedom of the Promised Land.  They traveled to a mountain called Sinai, and while there, God made a covenant with the people.  God would look after the people and bless them, and the people would worship God alone and follow His commands.  All parties agreed to this arrangement. 

    After this agreement, God called Moses to come up on the mountain.  Moses was gone an extended period of time, and the people became concerned.  In their anxiety, they turned their backs on the covenant they had agreed to and forged an idol out of gold.  Of course, it was a calf.  They worshiped and held a celebration to this god who led them out of Egypt.  As you can imagine, God’s anger was kindled mightily against those who were worshiping this false god.  Moses came down off the mountain and exposed the people to God’s wrath–many were consumed by that wrath as God literally opened up the earth and swallowed them.

    In our day and age, some might scratch their heads in bewilderment at God’s actions here.  I mean, why kill thousands of people for simply worshiping another god?  What were they hurting?  They were just following their hearts and beliefs.  They weren’t killing anyone or stealing or anything.  Why would God get so angry and upset over something which is rather trivial–at least according to modern standards?  Why didn’t God simply forgive them instead of consuming them?  Here’s what I told my class.

    A God who does not become incensed at sin is not a God worth worshiping.  Let me say that again: a God who does not become incensed and wrathful at sin is not a God worth worshiping. 

    That might give some of you pause, especially given what many folks believe about the Christian God.  I mean, we in the church proclaim over and over and over that God is love.  And this is most certainly true!!!  One of my favorite passages of scripture to quote is 1 John 4: 7-8.  “7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  There’s actually a camp song I learned as a child which goes along with this passage, and perhaps because I learned that song, this passage is burned into my brain.  And that is a good thing.  It is important to know and understand and realize God is love. 

    But don’t confuse the fact that God is love with the fact that God is also a God of justice.  God is not simply one to walk around with a flower lei around His neck; putting flowers into firearms; and saying, “Let’s just love one another.  Everyone will come into my love eventually anyway.  Peace, man.”  God’s anger burns brightly at sin.  In fact, I’m not sure I can adequately convey to you this morning just how angry God gets when He sees us falling away from His ways.  Hell fire and brimstone doesn’t even begin to cover it. 

    I mean, I’ve known pastors and preachers who yell and scream about hell and damnation.  I know they do so to scare the living daylights out of people and get them to repent.  This is not my method of preaching.  “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” the saying goes.  And this is true.  But, if you think God is simply honey, then you don’t get the fullness of what God is about; and you certainly will not understand the Gospel.

    I mean, as I read through Scripture, as I read about how God hates sin, I can’t yell.  It’s as if I am sitting in a horror movie, and the fear is so great, I cannot even scream.  God’s wrath is that terrible.  It’s that menacing.  And we just don’t seem to get that anymore.  We don’t seem to understand how God looks at our imperfections–our unwillingness to follow His commands–our inability to live out His teachings–and His wrath is kindled.  God is angry!  Tell me you don’t see the same thing in our Gospel lesson this morning from the 22nd chapter of the book of Matthew.

    Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to...”  Think about this.  “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who threw a wedding banquet for His son.”  Those first invited turn him down.  He gives them another chance, and this time the king’s messengers plead with those invited.  The best of the best is prepared for the banquet.  “Come to the wedding!!!”  The invitation is sincere.  It is heart-felt.  The king wants to honor his son and have the guests celebrate, but they refuse again.  This time, they get nasty.  They move onto things they consider more important.  They refuse to listen to the slaves, and some become violent with the king’s messengers.  They beat, torture, and kill the slaves.  And what does the king do next?  Sometimes we gloss over this passage because we know Jesus is making a comparison with God.  We don’t like hearing what God does next to those who flat out refuse to come to the feast.

    He sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.

    Does this sound like a God of love to you?

    Does this sound like a king full of compassion and charity to you?

    Wrathful.  Vengeful.  Angry.  These are the words that come to mind.

    But who now will come to the wedding?  Who now will honor the king’s son?

    “Go out into the highways and crossroads and invite anyone and everyone to the feast,” are the instructions.  “Those who were first invited were not worthy.  Throw open the doors.  Let everyone else in.  The party must go on.”

    Now, this sounds more like it.  This sounds more like the God we know and love.  All inclusive.  All loving.  The good and the bad are let in.  Everyone is having a great time. 

    But here we go again.  The parable does not end there.  The king comes in to check on the guests.  He comes to see how things are getting along at the party, and the king stumbles upon a man who is not dressed appropriately!! 

    “How did you get in without a wedding robe?” the king asks.

    Now, before some of you who were raised to wear your Sunday best to church start looking disapprovingly of my blue jeans and boots, let me fill you in on something here.  Remember, first off, the king brought folks from the streets and intersections of the roads.  These folks were of all walks of life.  They were good and bad; rich and poor.  They all came to the feast, and not all of them had wedding robes to wear.  However, it was customary that if a person could not afford a wedding robe, a king would gladly provide one for them for free.  This is not a place to cry, “Wear your best clothes to church!!”  This is something much, much different.  This is about a guest who was provided with the clothes to wear, and he refused to put them on.  He refused to be clothed in the proper manner when all was given to him. 

    “Throw him out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  He’s not allowed to be at this party anymore.”

    For not wearing a robe?  Thrown out because of his attire?  The punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime. 

    If you don’t understand God’s wrath.

    If you don’t understand God’s justice.

    If you think God just lets us do whatever we want whenever we want with no consequences.

    But God is not that way.  The parable shows that irrefutably.  God’s anger burns hot against sin.  Even ones we consider inconsequential.  Why?  Because He abhors evil.  He abhors when violence and hatred arise.  He abhors it when we hurt one another and take advantage of one another.  And such pain must be paid for.  Such violence must have an answer.  Think about it, if you are taken advantage of, do you just rub it off?  If someone angers you or breaks your trust, do you continue to have the same sort of relationship with them as before?  If someone steals from you, do you just write it off and let bygones be bygones?  Do you rejoice when such things happen and just say, “Oh well, it doesn’t matter, I’ll just love them and they will be okay.”?  Does anyone actually do this?  No.  Deep down, we don’t.  We know crimes must have some sort of punishment.  Justice must be served; for without justice there is complete and utter chaos.  And if justice is not meted out in this world?  If God knows about such injustice and He just overlooks it?  What then?  Do you have a God worth worshiping if He overlooks such things?  Do you have a God worth worshiping who turns a blind eye to violence and hatred and pain?  Do you have a God worth worshiping if He simply says, “Oh well, this all happened, but I’m sure folks feel sorry for it.  They can come join me without consequence.”?  Is this the kind of God you worship?

    No.  Not at all.  God becomes extremely wrathful at sin.  Even small ones.  For those small sins lead to larger ones.  Think about the progression in how Sunday mornings were once reserved for worship and family.  Think about how they slowly progressed to the point where some select sports now schedule tournaments on Easter Sunday.  And we who let things slide early on can now just scratch our heads in bewilderment.  God doesn’t do that.  God’s wrath burns hot against small sins as well as large ones–whether you’ve rejected the invitation or failed to wear the robes provided for you.  God’s anger burns.

    This parable does not seem to have much good news in it.  Not if we are honest with ourselves.  For oftentimes we are much like those first invited to the wedding feast fo the Son.  We know we are supposed to follow the Son–to worship Him regularly and dine with Him and celebrate His goodness.  And yet, we find other things to do.  We get involved with other activities–sports, outdoors, sleeping, work.  We place all these things of value in front of our relationship with Jesus.

    And even though we know we’ve been invited to the party, most of the time we don’t wear the appropriate clothing.  “For as many of you who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourself with Christ.”  So said St. Paul in Galatians 3.  But how many of us during the course of the day really feel like we show forth Jesus?  How many of us believe we truly are wearing Him and being a good representation of Jesus?  Be brutally honest.  From what you know about Jesus, do you honestly think someone would mistake you for Him?  Not much of a chance of that, is there?

    And so, if we are honest with ourselves, we see that we are like those who refused to come; or we are like the one cast out because we failed to wear the clothes provided.  It would seem as though all hope were lost to us.

    But there is one who hasn’t really made an appearance in this parable.  Who was the wedding banquet thrown for?  The Son.  What if, the Son comes to His Father and says, “Dad, wait a minute.  Before you consume everyone because they are not worthy...before you cast those who are not wearing the robes out into the outer darkness...let me act on their behalf.  Let me take their punishment.  Don’t destroy them.  Yes, they deserve punishment.  Yes, they deserve your wrath, but let me take it.  Let me save them.  For I love them.”  And what if the king said, “Yes, Son, you may take their place.  My wrath will be satisfied because of what you do.”? 

    And what if the Son was stripped of His robes?  And beaten?  And tortured?  And crucified all for the sake of those who deserved God’s wrath?  And what if, the Father, the King were so distraught and so overwhelmed by what His Son did, that He raised His Son from the dead to show that death would not be the end?  That love and justice could meet in an absolutely beautiful event?  Where God’s wrath would be satisfied and His love could be extended?

    Would that be a story worth sharing?

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that all those who believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be save through Him.”  The wrath of God has been satisfied.  And you are welcome at the banquet because of it.  Amen.  

Your Own Personal Jesus

(Note: the podcast on Youtube is a little different from the written text following.)

    Our Gospel lesson today is so rich, it’s so deep that much could be said about it.  Much could be written about it, and it has.  Volumes have been written about taking up one’s cross and following Jesus.  There is not enough time this morning to do justice to this text and its implications for our lives, but never-the-less, we are called to wrestle with it this morning, and we shall.

    This snippet from the Gospel of Matthew follows another very important snippet, and I think we need to visit it for just a moment as well.  Let’s look at the verses directly preceding our appointed text for this morning.  From Matthew 16:

    13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

    Now, immediately after this episode–immediately after Peter’s declaration, Jesus begins telling the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, endure persecution, be killed, and be raised.  Peter is not happy with this.  Mind you, this is the same Peter who has just had loads of praise heaped upon him by Jesus just a few verses earlier.  I don’t exactly know what was going through Peter’s head.  I don’t’ know if Jesus’ praise earlier emboldened him or gave him the idea he could confront Jesus about what he was saying.  I’m not sure why he suddenly thinks that as the student he could correct the teacher.  But what I do know is that Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him.  Now, rebuke is the word used in English, but perhaps it doesn’t quite fit.  The Greek word is epitimao, which has as its basic meaning to properly assign value as fitting the situation.  I want you to think about this because Peter is doing exactly that to Jesus.  Remember, Peter had just said to Jesus, “You are the Messiah.”

    And what was the expectation of the Messiah?  You’ve probably heard me say this more than a few times in preaching here.  The Messiah, according to Jewish tradition, would be God’s representative on earth.  He would be an earthly king who would establish Jerusalem as the city of God.  The Messiah would establish Israel as the kingdom of God and wipe out Israel’s enemies–this particularly meant the Romans at the time.  The Messiah would then issue in a time of peace, prosperity, and justice for Israel.  All nations would look upon Israel as a place of power and prestige and honor.  This was what the Messiah was supposed to do, and yet, Jesus had just said, He would go to Jerusalem, be persecuted, die, and be raised.  This did not fit the Messianic narrative.  This was not what Jews expected of their Messiah, and Peter was taking it upon himself to “properly assign value as fitting the situation.”  Peter was letting Jesus know what He was supposed to do as the Messiah.  Peter wasn’t letting Jesus be Jesus; Peter was trying to make Jesus fit into a particular box.  Jesus isn’t too thrilled with Peter, but we will get to that in a moment.

    Because here we need to recognize something about ourselves.  Here we need to recognize our own desire to put Jesus in a box.  We need to recognize how we oftentimes construct our own, personal Jesus–with apologies to Depesche Mode.  We need to recognize that many times we construct and find a Jesus to suit our needs, our wants, and our desires.  We construct and find a Jesus who makes us feel good–who meets our expectations; who comforts us and makes us feel good about ourselves.  It is not Jesus who impacts and changes us–it is we who make Jesus in our own image to justify ourselves and our wants and expectations.

    As you can imagine, Jesus doesn’t exactly relish this thought.  Jesus doesn’t relish being turned into something to be used by others.  Jesus doesn’t like being told what He has to do and how He has to do it.  I mean, apparently, He doesn’t even let Peter get very far into the argument.  The text says, “Peter began–BEGAN, to rebuke Jesus, and Jesus turned his back on Peter and said, ‘Get behind me Satan.  For you are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  We will come back to this in just a moment because it is important.  But let’s continue for just a moment with Jesus’ teaching because He then turns to His disciples and says, “If anyone wants to be my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  25For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”

    Lots to unpack here.  Lots.  First, let’s start with Jesus’ response to Peter.  “Get behind me Satan!”  This is a harsh word–a very harsh word.  “For you are a stumbling block to me.”  Why is this reaction so harsh?  Do any of you remember the story of when Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew chapter four?  Do you remember when the Devil took Jesus to a high mountain, showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world and said, “All these I will give to you if you would bow down and worship me.”?  Do you remember this episode?  You might not, but I am sure Jesus heard those echoes coming through Peter’s voice right here.  I am sure Jesus heard the exact same temptation He faced when the Devil came to Him in the middle of the desert.  Same temptation.  Different voice.  And Jesus responds appropriately.  “I told you once, Satan.  I tell you again.  No.  You are a stumbling block to me because you are setting your mind on earthly things and not on divine things.”  See how that ties together?

    And Jesus nails not only Satan, but He nails Peter–and all of us.  For you see, most of us like to use Jesus as a means to an end.  Most of us like to use Jesus as our ticket to the things we think will make us happy.  I am sure you have heard one or more preachers proclaim that if you believe in Jesus, you will have all that you desire.  You will have health, you will have wealth, you will have victory in your finances, in your life, your relationships will be perfect, and you will be completely happy.  You see, if you adhere to this kind of belief, you really don’t want Jesus.  You want health; you want wealth; you want happiness; you want the perfect family; you want all these things, and you want Jesus to give them to you.  You want your own personal, Jesus.  And Jesus says, “No.”  “Get behind me.”  “You are setting your mind on earthly things, not divine things.”

    Which begs the question, how do we set our mind on divine things?  Jesus says, “If anyone wants to follow me, let them take up their cross and follow me.  For if anyone wants to save their life, they must lose it; and if anyone loses their life for my sake, they will find it.” 

    Now, it is at this point where those of us who are pastors and preachers usually start talking about what it means to live a Christian life.  We start telling you that taking up your cross means doing all the things listed in our second lesson from the book of Romans.  I will not read this text in its entirety, but I will read a couple of verses, “9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”  That’s four verses.  There’s a lot more.  Let me ask you this: have you managed to do those things listed in those four verses very well?  Have you managed to let love be genuine?  Love one another with mutual affection?  Outdo each other in showing honor?  Probably not.  None of us do–at least to the extent we know we should.  In fact, if we focus on trying to do all of these things.  If we try to follow the Law in order to please God as if this will save our lives, we will actually lose them.  How, you might ask?  Aren’t we supposed to do these things?  Aren’t we supposed to love and honor and be generous?  Yes, we are, but if you place these things as the ultimate things in your life, it will lead to despair and death.  What do I mean by that?

    Just this: you are not trying to get Jesus–you are trying to save yourself.  You are trying to achieve perfection. And when you put anything other than Jesus as your ultimate goal, you will not have life.  You will find death.  And I am not simply talking about hell.  No.  I am talking about this life right here and right now.  You will spend your entire life in frustration becoming angry and bitter and upset and burned out and tired because you will be chasing a rabbit down an endless hole–never catching that rabbit; never feeling like you have accomplished enough.  If you believe in Jesus so that you can get wealth; you will never get enough wealth.  If you believe in Jesus so that you can get health; you will never find yourself healthy enough, and when you start declining, you will become bitter.  If you believe in Jesus so that you can get happiness; you will be miserable when bad things happen to you.  If you think Jesus makes you try to be perfect and do all the works of the Law, you will tire yourself out trying to follow them; you will never think you’ve done enough; and you will become resentful toward God and toward those who aren’t trying hard like you.  In all of these instances, and many more, divine things have been shoved out, and earthly things have consumed your mind.  And you’ve lost your life.  You aren’t really living.

    “If anyone wants to save their life, they will lose their life. And if anyone loses their life for my sake they will find it.”  How is this possible? 

    If we follow Jesus, where will it eventually lead?  If we follow Jesus where does He take us?  To the cross.  Not where we die, but where Jesus died.  Not where we earned our salvation, but where Jesus stretched out His arms and bought it for us.  Not because we lived the perfect life and did all the right things, but precisely the opposite–because we were constantly setting our mind on earthly things and neglecting the things of God. 

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son not to condemn the world but so that the world may be saved through Him.

    This was the divine mission of Jesus.  This is what He came into the world to do.  Anything else was a stumbling block.  He came to reconcile the world unto God–to die for you because He loves you.  Set your mind on this.  Let it be at the center of your heart.  It will change you.  You will die to yourself, and you will find abundant life.  Amen.