Matthew's Journal

This evening, I gave another micro-sermon (3 minutes/300 words). The lections were 2 Chronicles 28 and Romans 4 13-end.

My initial thought when looking at the readings for this evening was that Romans was the obvious text to speak about, since it has rather more appealing subject matter than the downfall of Ahaz because of his disobedience to God. My suspicion is that many of you would feel the same way. Many of us seem a little uncomfortable talking about God's judgement.

I think this is dangerous, both theologically, and from the point of view of evangelism. You've probably heard of the idea that AIDS is God's punishment on homosexuals, or that Katrina was God's judgement on New Orleans. These sorts of statements are offensive, presumptuous to the point of arrogance, bear little relation to orthodox Christianity, and yet are widely publicised. The Church needs to be more willing to speak against these distortions of the Gospel.

Conversely, the Gospels speak clearly of God's justice as well as his mercy, and so should we. That's not to say that we should turn God into a vengeful figure to frighten small children with when they misbehave, nor that we should bully people into church with a "you'll burn if you don't" approach.

But Heaven is a place of perfection. We all fall short of perfection, and so God justly determines that we are unworthy to enter Heaven. That's a pretty humbling thought, and should also warn us against readily condemning others; thinking of God's judgement reminds us that we're all in this together.

That's not the end of the story, though. Yes, we fall short of what we are called to be; through Christ, however, we are given the possibility to escape from our sin. God's grace not only helps us to turn away from sin and back towards Christ, but will at the last take away our imperfections and sanctify us for eternal life with God. So while Christian thought rightly begins by contemplating our sins and God's judgement, it concludes in hope and with a challenge. Hope that we can be saved through God's goodness rather than our own, and a challenge to us to respond to the mercy that God has shown us. If we remain mindful of the fact that we can only stand before God because of his mercy, that will help us resist the temptation to consider ourselves "good enough" for God. Thus we will find ourselves constantly challenged to change - to turn away from sin and to refocus our lives on God, and his will for us.