Doctrine Talk: Judgement of Believers and Non-believers

Matthew 22:15-23:39

In our scripture this week Jesus delivers 7 woes, or warnings to the Pharisees with a pronouncement of coming judgement

Following the woe’s Jesus says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem......how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…and you were not willing..."

this visual of a hen gathering her chicks was the same visual Moses used to describe God’s rescue of his people out of the hands of the Egyptians...it was a picture of love, tender care, and a willingness to die to protect others.

Jesus here is grieved because he knows he is about to die for them…he was willing to die and yet “they were not willing” to live- to set their pride aside…to yield to His authority over their lives.

Jesus is addressing all of Jerusalem here, not just the scribes and Pharisees—>this warning of judgement was for everyone

The same is true for us today.

Our doctrine this week is judgement of believers and unbelievers

Judgement is coming. Jesus is coming back and on that day every knee will bow to him.

Most people live thinking that they are “good enough,” they don’t think about being accountable to God, they simply compare themselves to others around them and as long as they can find someone they are “better” than, then they are good.

The truth of coming judgement is an incredibly unpopular topic in our culture. In fact, some would consider it unloving to even suggest that their is a God who would condemn them to punishment in a conscious state forever.

So, in pride, people continue in their sin- failing to see the holiness of God, His authority over them and failing to see their desperate need for Him- they continue to believe that they are good enough, that they are righteous all on their own.

But God, in his love and mercy is patient and warns people over and over of the coming judgement.

This is seen throughout scripture and it happens to be some of the last words Jesus will say to the religious leaders while he is on earth.

Jesus uses harsh words in the passage to get their attention.

Remember, the Pharisees were leading people AWAY from Jesus to eternal punishment. This got Jesus fired up because he knew what was coming- Jesus is saying- STOP. WAKE UP. TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

On judgement day, Jesus will be the judge of both believers and unbelievers.

For believers the blood of Christ will cover all the sins of those who believe. Believers will not face eternal judgment for their sin because Jesus took their punishment for them. Paul says in Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...

As believers, we don’t live in fear of judgement day- it will be a day of celebration and rejoicing…Knowing Jesus is coming back should motivate us to live in humble submission to Christ, serving him out of our love for Him and what he did for us on the cross…but, like Jesus, we should also compassionately warn others of the coming judgement.

For unbelievers- every word, action, thought, and deed will be judged. the punishment is eternal. They will be held accountable for their sins and their rejection of Jesus as Lord and King.

I recently was with a person who had every intention of taking his own life. He did not know Jesus and made it clear to me he did not want to hear about Him…

It’s interesting that one of the reasons he wanted to take his life was because he didn’t think he was good enough.

It felt sort of counterintuitive to agree with him.. But that is exactly what I found myself doing. I told him he was right, he wasn’t good enough- and if I had left him there- I would have left him without hope, with no reason to live.....

But instead, I left him with the hope of Jesus- with the promise of life and freedom through him, but I also left him with the warning of coming judgement.

While he did not think that what I did was loving- I know that there was nothing more unloving than not compassionately sharing the hope of life offered through Jesus.

Jesus’ desire is that no one would perish, not even one. W/ great compassion, He died for all.

Even as Jesus was pronouncing judgement on Israel, He longed to rescue them- he left them with a promise that he was coming back...

As you think about the coming judgement, do you feel the compassion of Jesus rising in you? Or are you walking in prideful condemnation of others who have chosen the ways of this world over Jesus- thinking that you are better because you chose Jesus.

May that prideful thinking be killed in all of our hearts- and let the humility and compassion of Jesus grow in us as we share the good news of the gospel with a broken and hurting world.

No one is escaping the coming judgement, who do you need to tell today?

EXTRA LECTURE NOTES:

self-pity is not humility

in fact at the root of self pity- is pride....I’m better- because i’m worse than you

oh this suffering I have been given- Jesus must think I’m better than you because I can handle it- that’s pride.

as if we can handle anything without him anyways.

there is an episode in a popular tv show where one of the characters challenges the another character to do something selfless that is not prideful and does not result in you feeling puffed up about yourself. There is nothing Christian about this show but at the end they basically agree that there is no selfless motive.

one of the characters lets a bee sting her as her selfless act- pointing out that she did it for the bee, only to be called a murdered by her friend for killing a bee. Her one selfless deed backfired.

it’s this back and forth

They were literally arguing and placing a huge emphasis over extremely minute details. The point of the temple was the presence of God! The gifts were to be brought to God- to worship him. But the Pharisees had made it more about the gift than the one the gift was about.

in 20-22 he says the details don’t matter as much as the person these things are pointing to. By focusing on the details, they missed God and they were leading others to also miss God b/c they were too busy focusing on the details.

Jesus is making is that it’s not about the gift- it’s about the one you are worshipping-the one the gift is for- it’s about God.

The Pharisees had placed emphasis on the gift-this was meant to be an act of worship- by focusing on the gift they had taken the glory and worship away from God- again- leading people not towards God, but away from Him.

Are you pridefully focusing on traditions or religious practices- seeing yourself as better than those that don’t- all while losing focus on why you should do them in the first place?

Spiritual disciplines and religious traditions are good things- you should read your Bible. You should pray. You should go to church and be apart of a church body- but the point of those things is to lead you into a closer and deeper relationship with God.

When we start to see ourselves as better than others for engaging in spiritual things we take the focus off of God and in turn place it back on ourselves. Elevating ourselves instead of elevating God.

We in turn start to worship ourselves and how good we think we are. But worship of ourselves is dangerous and leads to destruction and it brings others around us down with us. This is the warning of the 1st 3 woes.

Where is your pride blinding you from the truth.

Humility is not something that we bring to God- it’s not some thing we conjure up on our own- it’s this idea of setting aside self and seeing God as everything.

On the coin would be a picture of Caesar Tiberius along with an inscription that says “Caesar Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus”

Tiberius was not so popular but his Father, Caesar Augustus was viewed by the gentiles as divine…so to keep up his image. Tiberius kept using his dads name- cuz well, he was a “god”