Weekly Sermon Overview

Message Date: August 24, 2014 Message Title: Heaven & Hell

OVERVIEW A significant question that we all need to face at one point or another (likely, at several points) in our lives with Jesus is this: are all of Jesus’ words “words of life”, words that lead to life, words that should affect the way in which I live? And, I think this is such an important question to ask because many people in the Church—myself included, more often than I care to admit—tend to characterize Jesus in ways that are in keeping with our own characteristics, interests, moral sensitivities, social concerns, and so on. In other words, to reappropriate Voltaire’s famous line: “God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.” But, the fact of the matter is, Jesus, the real Jesus, the Jesus that we meet in the Gospels, the Jesus alive and present in us through power of the Spirit, simply does not allow us that option. So, for me, the longer I live with Jesus and the deeper our relationship grows, the more significant this question becomes because, as I mature in my faith, I begin to hear Jesus saying things that don’t sound anything like what I would say, in fact, things I’d just as soon He didn’t say either. And, upon hearing them, these words that, to me, seem to run contrary to my “natural” inclinations, my worldview, to my philosophy of life, I, as someone who has, time and again, experienced the undeniable wisdom and authority and beauty of Jesus, have to ask myself: “What do I do with this?” Either I have to change Jesus or Jesus has to change me. This week, we’re going to take a look at some words of Jesus that are simultaneously glorious and dreadful, some of which are, to me, like water in the desert, and others that I wish He hadn’t said, but all of which will change my life if I take them seriously: Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is l ike a man who sowed good seed in his f ield. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir , didn’t you sow good seed in your f ield? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this, ’ he replied. The servants

asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pull ing the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together unti l the harvest . At that t ime I wil l tel l the harvesters: First collect the weeds and t ie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring i t into my barn.’” Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the f ield.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The f ield is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evi l one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil . The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the f ire, so i t wil l be at the end of the age. The Son of Man wil l send out his angels, and they wil l weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and al l who do evil . They wil l throw them into the blazing furnace, where there wil l be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous wil l shine l ike the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Matthew 13:24-30, 31-35) We briefly discussed this parable several weeks ago within the greater context of Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God, then, identifying as one of its major points the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is already present but is not yet fully realized. And, while this is a true and significant theme that has profound implications for the way in which we live our lives, there are twin truths right on the surface of this passage that we must not overlook, regardless of how uncomfortable they might make us. They are Jesus’ teaching on heaven and hell. Now, before we get too far into this conversation, a clarifying word is necessary. We cannot, from the parable of the weeds, construct a comprehensive theology of heaven and hell. You will have noticed in reading through the passage above that Jesus’ description of hell is terrifying but terse—“blazing furnace…weeping…gnashing of teeth”—while His depiction of heaven is sparser still. In fact, we cannot, from any

one of—or even any combination of—Jesus’ teachings on the subjects develop an all-inclusive, systematic theology of heaven and hell because the simply truth is, Jesus never taught specifically on heaven or hell as a central themes (and I think there’s a significant inference we can make in observing this fact: more to come). But, please don’t get me wrong: Jesus did talk about heaven and hell often—as a matter of fact, He talked about hell more than any other topic but one: money—but this was always in the context of a larger conversation. That being said, our goal this week will be two-fold: first, to survey Jesus’ teaching on the subjects and see if we can begin to understand His perspectives of and assumptions about heaven and hell, and second, to discover what His words should mean for our lives. And, we start with the parable of the weeds because it demonstrates one thing clearly: Jesus believed in heaven and hell. There has been a lot of talk in evangelical Christianity over the past several years, really over the past several decades, about the topic of eternal destiny, most of it recently revolving around the question of hell. For some reason, we generally don’t find the idea of eternal Paradise offensive; however, when it comes to hell, many mainline denominations as well as many prominent evangelical voices have begun to publicly question, even challenge, the doctrine of eternal damnation. The reason for this is most often a perceived moral or ethical dilemma, centered on the question, “How can a loving God send anyone to hell?” but the conversation often turns from philosophical considerations to biblical context as many proponents of Christian universalism claim that Jesus Himself didn’t believe in hell and that His many references to hell, fire, and suffering are, in fact, metaphorical in nature. Specifically under the microscope are passages where Jesus refers to hell by name—that is, “gehenna” (Matthew 5:22, 29, 30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33, Mark 9:43, 45, 47, and Luke 12:5)—all of which it has been claimed are references not to a place of eternal punishment but to a physical garbage dump located in the Valley of Hinnom (gey hinnom) just outside the city of Jerusalem. Proponents of this reading, then conclude that when Jesus talks about gehenna, He is not speaking specifically but metaphorically as if to say, “A life lived apart from God is a waste, complete garbage, take it out with the trash.”

As much as I wish this were what He was saying, I can think of at least three reasons why we shouldn’t abandon the traditional reading of gehenna as hell. First, extensive excavation has been done of all of the areas surrounding Jerusalem, including gey hinnom, and as of yet, archaeologists have failed to find any evidence that this particular site was a 1st Century garbage dump. As a matter of fact, the earliest attestation to gehenna as a dump site comes from an 12 Century rabbi, living in Western Europe, named David Kimhi. And, even if we were to take Kimhi’s statement as a reliable commentary on the 1st Century world—which, I don’t think he intended us to do—we would have to recognize that Kimhi saw gehenna as a metaphor for eternal punishment not eternal punishment as a metaphor for gehenna. In other words, Kimhi, very much in keeping with Jewish theology, believed in a literal, eternal hell, just like Jesus did. The second reason I say this is inferential. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus talks about hell often, both by name (gehenna/hades) and by description (eternal fire, wailing, gnashing of teeth), and in none of these places does He stop to clarify what He was saying. Now, when it comes to a doctrine as important as this one, you would think that Jesus would have taken every opportunity to explain exactly what He meant unless everyone He was talking to already knew what He meant. In other words, it seems that Jesus didn’t feel the need to flesh out His own or correct anyone else’s theology of hell because He believed the same things that they did: hell is real, terrible, and is the eternal destiny of anyone separated from God. Finally, the third reason I say Jesus believed in hell is philosophical. Jesus believed in hell because, as Jesus affirmed throughout His life and continues to affirm on a daily basis, He believes in free will. And, if there is no eternal hell, there is no eternal free will. As a friend of mine so brilliantly put it: “If God allows us to say no to him, then there must be a place/state where we go to say no and stay away from him. God respects the dignity he gave us, the power of free will that he gave us, so much that he created hell (first for the devil and his angels, Mt. 25:41) for those like them who reject relationship with him.” Let’s be clear: I don’t want to believe in hell, but a survey of Jesus’ teachings on the subject (which we have not actually done here. For more, see: Matthew 5:21-30,

Matthew 8: 11-12, Matthew 10:28, Matthew 18:8, Matthew 25:31-46, Mark 9:42-50, Luke 12:5, Luke 16:14-31, among others) leave me with three inescapable conclusions: hell is real, hell is terrible, hell is the eternal destiny of anyone separated from God. But, there’s one thing that we need to be clear on, here. While hell is all of these things, one thing is certain. Hell is not the Gospel. What I mean by that is, while we shouldn’t shy away from the conversation—because Jesus clearly didn’t—we also shouldn’t make hell the focal point of our theology, ecclesiology, or soteriology. You see, Jesus didn’t just believe in hell; He believed in heaven too. As many Christians, myself included (see above), often point out, hell was Jesus second “favorite” topic behind money, and that is technically true but naïve at the same time. The full truth is, Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, more than either both directly and indirectly. As a matter of fact, we could argue—and have argued throughout this series—that everything Jesus said, including His teachings on hell, are framed within the context of Kingdom theology. In other words, when we say that Jesus came to show us the Father (John 1:14, 18), what we are, in fact, saying is that Jesus came to show us what life is like where His Father is, in the Kingdom of the Heavens. And, from that perspective Jesus’ entire life is one massive, beautiful lesson on heaven. And, this is the Gospel: heaven is real, it is glorious, and it is the eternal destiny of everyone who, through Him, has been brought near to God. (For a more thorough survey of Jesus’ specific teachings on heaven, see Matthew 6, Matthew 25, Luke 16, Luke 20, and John 14, among others.) All of that being said, the question still remains, how are these “words of life”? What should we do with this? And, while I think potential answers to this question are numerous and vary from person to person, for every follower of Jesus, these twin truths should produce these twin responses. We should not fear hell for ourselves—if we are in Christ, no one can condemn us (Romans 8:1)—but the reality of hell as eternal separation from God, the antithesis to the joy and satisfaction that comes in His presence, which we have experienced in Him, must compel us, in love, outward on mission. On the other hand, if we are in Christ, heaven should have very personal impact; it is the hope of that day that most motivates us to live now in a

manner worthy of the calling we have received (see just about everything Paul wrote, especially 1 Corinthians 15). As C.S. Lewis wrote: If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Author: Josh Harrison REFLECTION QUESTION

1. Do you feel like you are living a life with Heaven in mind? Are you one to shy away from thinking about the after-life or do you think critically about what it means for your life today?

2. How would you articulate this concept of heaven and hell to someone who isn’t a believer? What does it look like to engage people in conversation about the after-life without being judgmental or defeatist – but continually remaining honest?

NEXT STEP RESOURCES (Check out these resources for additional reading on this topic.)

1. Who Is This Man: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus by John Ortberg

2. The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey