The End is Near

Seen on a church sign recently: “The Day of Non-Judgment is Near.” Do we see the irony here? The closer we get to Judgment Day, the more we feel the worldly pressure to stop worrying about judgment—and perhaps more so, to stop judging everyone else. And maybe, just maybe, there is a small part of us that is tempted to give in to that way of thinking: If I don’t bother anyone else, if I don’t confront or condemn anyone else, then I won’t have to worry about them doing the same to me.

Could it be that the standards have changed? Could it be that some parts of the Bible don’t apply in the same way they used to? Can so many Americans all be wrong? Do we need to be so strict in our teachings? Wouldn’t we draw more people into our church if we backed off a little?

God’s Word in Joel chapter 3 gives us the opposite message of that church sign. God will sit and judge the nations on every side; he will judge all mankind. He will confront and condemn humanity for its great wickedness according to his holy standards, the ones revealed to us throughout the pages of Holy Scripture.

When it comes to the Day of Judgment, it’s not a question of “if,” but “when.” On the one hand, Joel’s message isn’t meant to make us comfortable; we will stand before God for judgment, too, and we must be aware that on our own, we don’t stand a chance of appearing innocent. We are called to repent for our own wickedness and despair of our own futile efforts to win God’s favor.


Instead, in Joel 3:16 it says, “The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” In this verse, we are called to find our refuge in the stronghold of God’s grace, the grace we own through Jesus Christ, our Savior. We don’t have to hide from judgment; no, we hide ourselves in Jesus and the righteousness that is ours through faith in him. God has not changed his standards, but Jesus has fulfilled them for us, in our place. Judgment is coming for all, but all who are found in Christ will be justified before God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Max Lucado - False Doctrine

I love the way author Max Lucado writes. He is a great storyteller and a fantastic wordsmith. I have a number of Lucado's books on my shelves and receive his daily paragraph devotions. However, as popular as he is, as many books as he has sold, as many lives as he has touched with the Gospel, he still proclaims false doctrine. I still remember being told at the Seminary that you can generally tell a pastor's theology based on the kind of books he has on his shelves. Though our WELS pastors may have a few books by Lucado, Covey or even some fiction by Peretti, they had better have the majority of their books be sound, Lutheran, biblical doctrine. Martin Luther, The People's Bible commentaries, The Book of Concord, People's Bible Teachings, C.F.W. Walther, Francis Pieper, Werner Franzmann, etc. I mention this because of the devotion I received via email from Max Lucado on Friday, June 12 entitled "Saved by Faith." In the devotion he calls communion and bapti
Read more

Jesus has prepared a place for you - A funeral sermon for Jim Hermann

Image
John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  2  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  4  You know the way to the place where I am going.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Did you catch the difference between what I read just now and what I read in the Gospel lesson? The Gospel lesson was from the NIV. The second verse I read was from the King James Version. If you’re older than 50, that’s the version of the Bible that you heard in church and learned in catechism class. But, even if you’re older younger than 50, you know about the mansions. “The mansions of heaven” is a term Christians use pretty often. Preachers say it, poets write it, people
Read more

Water into blood and water into wine

Image
Here are some thoughts that didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon. The Old Testament lesson for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany is the account of Moses turning the water of the Nile River into blood. The first of the ten plagues God used to get the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 7:14-24 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not
Read more