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THE SIXTH
SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY FEBRUARY 15, 2004 “Woe,
Woe, Woe” Fr. John Spencer This
is a “good news/bad news” sermon.
Today’s Gospel is one of those that preachers like to skip – at least,
they like to skip parts of it.
The Beatitudes (blessed) are fine, but then we get to the woes. Santa
says "Ho, Ho, Ho..." Jesus says "Woe, woe, woe. . ." This passage is unique to Luke – none
of the other gospel writers include the “woes.” Blessings and Woes (Luke 6:17-26) o Blessed are you who
are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. o Blessed are you who
hunger now, for you will be satisfied. o Blessed are you who
weep now, for you will laugh. o ”Rejoice in that day
and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how
their fathers treated the prophets. o "But woe to you
who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. o Woe to you who are
well fed now, for you will go hungry. o Woe to you who laugh
now, for you will mourn and weep. o Woe to you when all
men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false
prophets. I’m
going to burst a bubble. God’s
love is NOT unconditional, and the kingdom of God is NOT an inclusive place! “I love you just the way you are"
is NOT a quotation from Holy Scripture, but from Billy Joel 12:6: "Don't
go changin' ta try ta please me, I love you just the way you are." The message of Holy Scripture, the
message that God has given us is, “Change, because I love you.” Now,
in one limited sense, we might say that God's love is unconditional: that is,
God's love for us is full, complete, perfect. He can't love us any more. He can't love us any better. If we behave well and do good works,
God will not love us any more, since He already loves us as much as He can. Here’s
the danger: to say that God loves us completely and perfectly, to say that His
love for us is "unconditional" must NOT be twisted into meaning
"He loves us just the way we are, warts and all, and He doesn’t want us
to change.” If that were true, there was no need for the cross, NO NEED for
the atonement. God is a holy
God, and He cannot, by His nature, love that which is evil or that which is
wrong. God MUST hate sin and He
must punish it. Psalm 99:8 “O LORD our God, you answered them; were to Israel a forgiving
God, though you punished their misdeeds.” The fact that God has forgiven us
doesn’t mean that He will separate us from the consequences of our sin. (Note the death of David and
Bathsheba’s first-born son, II
Samuel 11). The
danger is that this interpretation of “unconditional love,” this idea that
God “loves us just the way we are” leads to Universalism, the belief that “all
will be saved" because “God loves everyone." It leads to the idea that a “loving
God” won’t allow anyone to miss His kingdom. Universalism,
like most heresies, has some truth in it. God IS a loving God.
God is “not willing that any should perish.” (II
Peter 3:9) God loves all and
offers salvation to all. The
verse in II Peter concludes, “but that all should come to repentance.” God’s love is patient – He is willing
to wait and give us an opportunity to come to repentance. However, God’s love is not
tolerant. God’s love cannot
tolerate evil or wickedness; God’s love cannot accept sin. God,
in His love, has already paid the price for our sin. The condition for God’s love –sinlessness
– has already been met in Jesus Christ.
God offers us Christ’s sinlessness in exchange for our sinfulness, IF… Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved.” “If”
is an important word in Scripture.
Beginning with the Old Testament, God has repeatedly told His people, “If
you do this, then I’ll do that.”
He told the children of Israel, “If you fully obey the Lord your God
and carefully follow all His commands, the Lord your God will set you high
above the nations on earth,” (Deut.
28:1) and the following verses outline God’s blessings in greater
detail. “However, if you do not
obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and
decrees, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:” (Deut.
28:15), and the following verses outline the curses in greater detail. John
8:24 “ (Jesus said,) ‘I
told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I
am God's
love requires punishment for evil. THE GOOD NEWS: The punishment has already
taken place: on the cross. Jesus willingly allowed himself to be punished for
our sins, so that we would not have to bear the entire and final punishment,
which NONE of us could bear. Here
are three ways in which God's loving relationship with us is not unconditional: 1. Forgiveness of OUR sins is conditional. When our Lord teaches His disciples to pray, He says, “Forgive
us our debts (sins, trespasses) as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Then
He adds, in Matt 6:14, 15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against
you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive
men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” 2. Redemption (salvation) is conditional. Salvation is offered to all, but not all will be
saved. Only those who fulfill
the conditions of salvation will be redeemed. Romans 10:9-11 “That if you confess with your mouth,
"Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and
are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As
the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to
shame. (Isaiah 28:16) " 3.
Entry into the Kingdom
of God is conditional. The
kingdom of God is not inclusive.
God will not force us to spend eternity with Him against our
will. Those who have denied the
Lordship of Christ in this life will not spend eternity as His subjects, in
His kingdom. Matthew 8:11-12, “I
say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take
their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Luke 13:23-28, “Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few
people going to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to
enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter
and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the
door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for
us.' "But he will answer,
'I don't know you or where you come from.' "Then you will say, 'We ate
and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' "But he will reply,
'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' "There
will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown
out.” Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly
glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the
people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He
will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. "Then the King will say to those
on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was
hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and
you came to visit me.' But why do they “go away to eternal punishment”? I said the
punishment had already been paid? But
here is the last condition: WE HAVE TO ACCEPT, AND RECEIVE, the blessing, if
we are to turn the curse into a blessing. John 1:12, “Yet to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Faith
leads to awareness of sin, awareness of sin enables us to repent, and
repentance brings us back to that place where God truly DOES love us
completely. God
require of us an active act of faith, an act of submission, an act of
obedience: o
Have you made that act of submission? o
Have you taken into your heart what he
did FOR YOU on the cross? o
If not, do it today. Into My Heart Come into my heart, blessed Jesus, Come into my heart, I pray; My soul is so troubled and weary, Come into my heart today. Come into my heart, blessed Jesus, I need Thee through life’s dreary way; The burden of sin is so heavy, Come into my heart to stay. Come into my heart, blessed Jesus, And take all my guilt away, Then spotless I’ll stand in Thy presence, When breaks Thine eternal day Come into my heart, blessed Jesus, O cleanse and illumine my soul; Fill me with Thy wonderful Spirit, Come in and take full control. Into my heart, into my heart, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, Come in today, come in to stay, Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
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