Hey, thank you for all the feedback on this week’s message. I think it really resonated with a lot of people, and that it was very helpful to draw the bigger picture of That Day, what it is all about, and what our role really is when our actions are judged.
I really do believe that understanding this bigger picture will revolutionize the way you see your life, your purpose. If you missed that message, I am including a link to it right here:
But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. 9 There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. 10 But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.
Romans 2:5-10 NLT
Okay, parents. Maybe this has happened to you…
When my daughter was very young, I remember her coming to me with a teary-eyed story about how some kids in her class had been really mean to her at school. Apparently, her teacher got involved, but sided with those other students and unjustly punished my sweet, innocent little girl!
I decided that I needed to head down to that school and let that teacher know what was up! There was no way she could treat my daughter so unfairly!
As you can imagine, my conversation with her teacher revealed that there was more to the story… MUCH more. I discovered that my girl was not, in fact, the victim of student-teacher bullying. In fact, it turns out that she had been the instigator all along! I left that day siding with her very nice teacher, and a renewed sense of what a childish, incomplete, self-centered view of the world my young daughter still had.
Have you ever been in a situation where you found out there was more to the story, and it changed your understanding? Maybe even your actions?
On Sunday, I tried to make the case that we usually tell the story of That Day in a pretty self-centered, childish way, and that there was much more to it than we usually think about.
Had you ever thought about the meta-narrative of the universe the way we talked about it this past weekend?
I said that Judgment Day will AFFECT you, but that it isn’t ABOUT you. What, in fact, is it all about?
“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5 ESV
I tried to make the case that this is the whole idea that caused war to break out in heaven… The question is: “Does God deserve to be God?”
Who asked this question originally?
How do we ask this question today? (you might need to think about this one for a minute.) In what ways do we think that we should be God?
What has God done in your life to prove that he DOES deserve to be God?
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14 NLT
Isn’t that enough? Does he NEED to do more to prove that he deserves to be God?
So, I also tried to make the case of how our actions will be judged, but not to vindicate us. What do I mean by that?
When you read the following verse, who does it seem is being vindicated by our lives, our actions?
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:10-11 NLT
On that day, I want my ledger to be FULL… Not empty. I want it to be full of PROOF that God does, in fact, deserve to be God.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7 NLT