“I Believe – Judgment”

Scripture: John 12:44-50; Matthew 25:31-34

“He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.” (from the Nicene Creed)

The Lord Jesus had been in ministry for over 3 years, and while many had heard his message of hope and new life, few had believed any of what he had told them. The Jewish leaders, especially the priests and Pharisees, knew the scriptures regarding Messiah, and while some knew that Jesus was right in what he taught, the vast majority of them still refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Anointed One of God.

The Old Testament prophets were always proclaiming that those who wouldn’t believe in God would have their hearts hardened, and would be forever banned from knowing all that their great Jehovah was offering them (Isaiah 6:9-13). But today, we know that the Lord came to earth to change all of that – that he came to us, bringing hope and second chances for the sinners of earth, that no one would be excluded from his grace if they just believed that he is the eternal Truth.

Satan’s lies, it seems, are far more acceptable to us than the Godly truths of Jesus. We like the glitter and pleasures that we find in the world’s ways, but we seem to forget that they are all so temporary and futile! We want to fit in with this life, we want to have friends and do things with them, we want to be liked. John’s gospel tells us that “they love praise from men more than praise from God.” (John 12:43) And while these temptations will be with us throughout this life, the final Judgment will sort it all out in the light and truth of Almighty God.

Read John 12:44-46

Jesus isn’t offering us any new teachings – he is recapping all that he stands for and taught to the people. And these are his last words recorded in John’s gospel before he attends his last Passover feast – the one we know as the Last Supper.

Of all that Jesus wanted us to believe regarding his presence and purpose, I think that this is the one that is most important for our lives. He is reminding us that when we believe in him, we also believe in the entirety of God – not that we are to also believe in God, but that true faith in Christ brings an encompassing love for the completeness and fullness of all that our Triune God is. It can’t be a partial acceptance, it can’t be a hesitant acceptance – true faith in Christ leads us to completeness in God.
At the Last Supper, Philip would tell Jesus “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” (John 14:8-14) and Jesus would reply “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” There isn’t just a familial resemblance between Father and Son as we see in human families, it isn’t just a common identity that connects Jesus to God, they are even more than being identical Beings – they are one and the same. In John Wesley’s sermon “On the Trinity”, he said that if we don’t necessarily like the term “Trinity”, that’s OK, but by faith, we must accept the concept of Trinity. And for clarification of the thought, he offers the descriptive phrase “three and one”. While we experience God in three distinct Persons, acting in three unique ways, he is still only one God.

And in that “oneness”, the truth of God exists perfectly and identically within each one. There can be no difference, no conflict – only one Godly source of Truth! And that truth is far more powerful than anything we may know or ever have known. Godly truth stands far above all other thought, and as the prophet Isaiah put it, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) Godly truth exposes the ways and thoughts of earth as not only inaccurate, but as hopeless lies.

Gibson Corners just finished a week of Vacation Bible School, with a marvelous and record turnout of both children and adults. And our theme this year was “Recognizing Jesus”. As Jesus was telling Philip and the others, we recognize the Lord’s presence and activity in our lives through the study of his word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And when we see Jesus, we see the Father, and we see the Holy Spirit, and we know his truth. And from John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Read John 12:47-50

And now the bottom line comes regarding “knowing” Jesus. While Jesus will not be bringing any judgment against us in this life, there is a perfect and ultimate judgment that is coming. And what will the sole criteria of judgment be? It is whether we know Jesus as Lord and Savior, or not; whether we are his disciples, or not; whether we have been freed from sin by faith, or not. Period! The word of God that has been given to us through Jesus’ life and ministry, is our only source of truth during this life – it isn’t in some false spiritual revelation that disputes and contradicts God’s truth, it’s not in our own concept of right and wrong that differs from all that scripture teaches us, it’s not in the world’s desire and way that became the judgment against the Man Jesus.

It seems, then, that the life we lead is the cause of our own condemnation! We are all sinners, we are all unworthy of a life in Jesus, we are all guilty and deserving of eternal punishment! But our only hope of redemption is in giving our darkness over to the Light of God that comes to us by faith in Christ.

This passage affirms the fact that God - Father, Son and Spirit - are One, and that they bring one word for our lives. But you may be wondering, if Jesus is one in the Trinity, why would the Father have to “tell” Jesus what to say? Remember that Jesus was just as human as you and I are, and as such, his humanness allowed temptation into his life. (Matthew 4:1-11) And yet, by the power of Godly truth, he was able to withstand the onslaught of worldly darkness, and to stand firmly in Godly Light.

Read Matthew 25:31-34

Jesus tells us that we are currently living in a “divided kingdom”, but that one day, the two will be fully identified and separated – he refers to them as sheep and goats. The sheep are those who are of his way, while the goats are of the world’s way. At judgment, the sheep will be welcomed into the Godly kingdom, , while the goats will be sent into “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:45-46). The Judgment will be absolute and final, and the “sheep and goats” will have nothing to say about their individual fates.

Matthew 12:22-28 is even more definitive regarding the 2 ways, (the 2 kingdoms), and this passage doesn’t even begin to address the issue of final judgment – it’s about the consequences in this life! He says that a “kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every … household divided against itself will not stand” (v. 25)! We can understand this to mean that during this life, two diametrically opposed schools of thought can never exist together for very long without destroying each other.
This is exactly where we find the United Methodist Church today, and the very reason that the Commission on a Way Forward was created. Unfortunately, their efforts since being created and enabled in 2016 have only served to “kick the can” down the road for the Special General Conference to consider and debate next February! And the option that they seem to favor, as well as the option that the Council of Bishops is supporting, is the one that would keep us, seemingly, together as one divided church! And what does Jesus say about the “church” that is divided against itself? It will be our very existence that will judge us as broken, and we will become our own condemnation.

God’s judgment against evil will be held back until Christ’s return to this place, but until that time, we will be exercising our own judgment and condemnation. Evil and righteousness cannot continue to live in this life for very long without mutual destruction, and they will, ultimately, be separated in eternity.

And whether this brokenness exists in the world, or in the church, or in our human relationships, we have to take a stand on one side of the line or the other. Which side of judgment will we claim – the eternal, or the finite?