This past Sunday in worship, God's people and I focused on the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. You can read all about it in Genesis 18 and Genesis 19. Also, if you check the blog entries, you can even find a link to the youtube recording of the message.
I did want to follow up on the message with one very important point. We can look at events such as what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as all the different events that we see in life, where it seems as though God's justice and judgment come to visit us in this world. You also don't have to look very hard to find preachers who find it pretty easy to declare, "such and such is God's judgment upon those people", especially when bad things happen to them.
It really calls for us to consider a question that is rather important, though. What is God's inclination when it comes to dealing with the people of this world? Really, when we think about it, there are two realities that will occur as people leave this world to go to their eternal destination. They will either be with God in joy, or they will be separated from God forever in agony. So the question we are really asking is this: Does God want people to be with Him, or does He want people to be separated from Him?
If we declare that God visits justice and judgment on our lives in this world, we are essentially saying that God wants to condemn. But is that the way that God wants to deal with the people of this world? If God simply wanted to condemn the world, would He have sent His Son to die, taking the sins of the world upon Himself? That hardly seems to be the prevailing attitude of God, if He would do such a thing.
One of the prime teachings that Lutheran Christians especially focus on is that God's overwhelming desire is to save, rescue, and redeem the people of the world. God doesn't want people separated from Him. God wants people to be with Him forever, regardless of what they have done, regardless of the direction their lives took in this world. He wants to forgive. He wants to show compassion to them. No, He doesn't overlook how they have gone contrary to His will, design, and Law, but in the grand scheme of things, God wants to restore them to Himself.
I think that this thought frames how we do everything we do as God's people. Yes, it's easy to point out sins and faults. It's far more difficult to show people that God wants them drawn to Himself, and that He forgives them, since so often, it causes us to face our fears and uncertainties. Truth be told, sometimes we want "those people" to receive God's justice rather than God's compassion and forgiveness. We don't want to face that ugliness in ourselves, and so we may come across as though God wants to condemn.
However, this vitally important teaching reminds us that, as God's people, we have a God who wants to rescue people, not visit His divine justice and vengeance upon them. And as His messengers, that means that we give a great deal of thought to how we come across to others. After all, if the image of Christ is being restored within us, that's what we want others to see, and not our desires to see them pay the price.
I did want to follow up on the message with one very important point. We can look at events such as what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as all the different events that we see in life, where it seems as though God's justice and judgment come to visit us in this world. You also don't have to look very hard to find preachers who find it pretty easy to declare, "such and such is God's judgment upon those people", especially when bad things happen to them.
It really calls for us to consider a question that is rather important, though. What is God's inclination when it comes to dealing with the people of this world? Really, when we think about it, there are two realities that will occur as people leave this world to go to their eternal destination. They will either be with God in joy, or they will be separated from God forever in agony. So the question we are really asking is this: Does God want people to be with Him, or does He want people to be separated from Him?
If we declare that God visits justice and judgment on our lives in this world, we are essentially saying that God wants to condemn. But is that the way that God wants to deal with the people of this world? If God simply wanted to condemn the world, would He have sent His Son to die, taking the sins of the world upon Himself? That hardly seems to be the prevailing attitude of God, if He would do such a thing.
One of the prime teachings that Lutheran Christians especially focus on is that God's overwhelming desire is to save, rescue, and redeem the people of the world. God doesn't want people separated from Him. God wants people to be with Him forever, regardless of what they have done, regardless of the direction their lives took in this world. He wants to forgive. He wants to show compassion to them. No, He doesn't overlook how they have gone contrary to His will, design, and Law, but in the grand scheme of things, God wants to restore them to Himself.
I think that this thought frames how we do everything we do as God's people. Yes, it's easy to point out sins and faults. It's far more difficult to show people that God wants them drawn to Himself, and that He forgives them, since so often, it causes us to face our fears and uncertainties. Truth be told, sometimes we want "those people" to receive God's justice rather than God's compassion and forgiveness. We don't want to face that ugliness in ourselves, and so we may come across as though God wants to condemn.
However, this vitally important teaching reminds us that, as God's people, we have a God who wants to rescue people, not visit His divine justice and vengeance upon them. And as His messengers, that means that we give a great deal of thought to how we come across to others. After all, if the image of Christ is being restored within us, that's what we want others to see, and not our desires to see them pay the price.
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