This past week my pastor preached on Matthew 12: 22-37. This is a passage that talks about the "unforgivable sin" as well as how we need to watch the words that we say. Oddly enough, I did not have much of a reaction to what he had to say about the unforgivable sin. I know what I believe to be true, and I understand his perspective, even if it is different than my own. However, that was not what stood out the most to me. Instead, it was what he had to say about Christians and their "punishment" for the unclean words they say. This was what my pastor said verbatim:
"Our words and our actions on the judgment day will be rewarded. The good will be rewarded; the bad will be punished. But there is one little caveat to that and it's so beautiful. [Congregation member name], who is sick today, he asked me about it one day. He said "Pastor [name], where is it that the Christians get punished for the bad things that they do?" And I said "The Christians do get punished for the bad things that they do. We call it the crucifixion. There on the cross Jesus was crucified and there in his body he took the punishment for every sin that you and I have ever committed so that upon the judgment day our sin is found guilty. Yes. But we do not have to suffer for it because it has already been punished. Already punished in the form of Jesus Christ and his suffering on the cross. And then there is nothing left for us but to reward that which was done that was good." (1/29/25)
First, I was shocked that he called out a member of his congregation by name like that. I don't know if he asked that person or not before doing so, but I would hope that he did. Secondly, I would argue that the pastor did not answer the question that the congregation member originally asked. The member did not say "DO Christians face judgment?" but simply "WHERE". But more than both of those points, what bothered me the most was that everything I had heard from the past 20 years or so about the Bible was the opposite of what the pastor responded with.
So, I asked him about it after the service. As always, he had a "demonstration" to prove his point. He dropped a pen and said "what was the cause and what was the effect. Did the pen fall because I dropped it, or did I drop it because it fell?" His point, though I don't think the illustration really does much for it, was that because we are offered salvation by God, our reaction (the effect) SHOULD be that we follow His commands. We should love Him because of what He already did for us. I am not arguing with that at all. I do agree that all Christians understand that the natural reaction for the gift that they are offered in Christ, is to follow Him with their heart, soul, mind, and strength: to follow His word and seek to become more like Him.
What still bothered me, though, was that I always understood there to be two judgments in Revelation: The Bema Seat (aka the Judgement Seat of Christ) and the Great White Throne Judgement. The Great White Throne Judgment is clearly communicated in Revelation 20 that its purpose is to condemn those who rejected God's free gift of salvation. It was the "separation of lambs and rams" (Matthew 25:31-46). But the Judgment Seat of Christ is directed towards believers. This is where we are held accountable for our actions. Every good thing that we did for God's glory will be rewarded with a crown that we get to cast before our Maker (1 Peter 5:4, James 1:12). But our selfish, wrong, and bad choices will be burned up like hay in a fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
Romans 14:12 clearly states "So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God" (ESV). It does not say "for only the good things, because Jesus already covered your sins". Just like any other time reading the Bible, understanding the context is vital. The verses preceding this passage are talking about how we should not pass judgment on our brothers and sisters in Christ (v. 1-11). We are all humans created in God's image. God is the ultimate judge; we do not have a say in those final judgment moments. We are only held accountable for what we did and didn't do on earth.
Another aspect that is important in this picture is the difference between forgiveness and consequences. Just because we are forgiven from our sins does not mean that our sins stop hurting others. Oftentimes we are even hurting ourselves. So, the consequences of those sins still exist. For example, if a woman was to get pregnant out of wedlock, she can still be forgiven of this sin, but it does not mean that the baby will go away. Or, if a child throws a tantrum and breaks a toy, they may be forgiven for their outburst, but the toy is still broken. This being said, I see where my pastor was going when it came to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, but I would argue that Jesus paid for our sins, but we still face the consequences of our sins. In the moment, that means that we will potentially lose friends, lose trust, and many other earthly things because of our choices. This also means that we will have less crowns to cast before our Maker because the wrong choices we made will burn up- we will be left with nothing profitable from those choices.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says "Fo we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." As my professor in college always said "all means all". When the Bible says "all" it means there are not exceptions. Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned..." meaning ALL. There is not a human (bar Jesus who was also 100% God) who has not sinned. We were born with a sin nature! So, ALL will face judgment.
Comments
Post a Comment