Judgement
A person may think their own ways are right,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
Proverbs 21:2
But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.
Matthew 12:36
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:18
STORY
Billy Sunday was a professional baseball player from 1883 to 1891 for teams in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. He was converted through the street preaching of Harry Monroe of the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. He left a $5,000 a year salary as a baseball player for a $75 yearly salary as a YMCA evangelist. He was an evangelist from 1893 to 1935. It is estimated that several hundred-thousand people walked the “sawdust trail” to attend one of his services. His sermons, as with so many other evangelists of his day, focused on the degenerate state of man. In his sermon, “The Devil’s Boomerangs,” often referred to as “Hot Cakes Off the Griddle,” opened with this oration: “You can always get the truth out of the Bible. Of course you can always find truth elsewhere, but never from so clear a source. Nothing was ever printed more true than ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.’ God will not coerce and attempt to force any man to be a Christian. When he dies, however, he will be judged for his sins. He must face the day of judgment. Do as you please. Lie, steal, booze, fight, prostitute. God won’t stop you. Do as you please until the undertaker comes and puts you in a coffin and then the Lord will have His say. Lives of pleasure shall have an end, the wicked shall not live half their days.”
DEVOTION
We need to take seriously Billy Sunday’s condemnation of sin and perhaps be a bit more receptive to his descriptive language of judgment. To his list we could add a litany against every carnal sin known to humanity. The message should include the real destructive forces of sin practiced by most of us: gossip, indifference, anger, haughtiness, selfishness, callousness.
Paul had a summation of what it means to be “worldly,” that is a sinner, when he spoke of jealousy and quarreling. Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth wrote, “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” Our best understanding of sin is Paul’s list of what it means to live by the flesh, absent of being guided by the Spirit when he wrote in Galatians, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Let us bring the meaning of sin back into the pews where we sit and be less concerned about prostitution and insider trading, and more concerned about gossip, self-centeredness, anger, bullishness, the demeaning of others, being exclusive in our activities, hording, selfishness, and all those common unsavory personality traits that we all harbor. It is time to surrender the childishness of being worldly and start acting like mature adults.
In the 1970s, Karl Menninger wrote a book that was widely read, studied, and discussed in churches. Menninger is a Harvard educated psychiatrist who established the Menninger Sanitarium in Topeka, Kansas. As a psychiatrist he believed that mental health is dependent upon physical, social, cultural, moral, and spiritual health. A significant aspect of spiritual health is to be unencumbered by the ramifications of sin. Therefore, his book, that was published in October 1973, was titled Whatever Became of Sin? The following paragraph is the one that is most often quoted:
The very word “sin,” which seems to have disappeared, was a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. It described a central point in every civilized human being’s life plan and life style. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared – the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin?
Points to Ponder
> What scripture verse of God’s judgment speaks most to you?
o For me: It is Matthew 12:36 which says that I will be judged “for every empty word I have spoken.” I will be judged for both my words and my actions. I like to think that I am a god person, and for the most part I am, though I must admit that I have done many selfish and incentivize things. I have publicly offended others and privately, known but to God, I have violated the teachings of the scriptures.
> Is the word “sin” still a part of your vocabulary?
o For me: The word sin is a part of my vocabulary, though I apply it more to others than myself. I, like most people, am self-righteous. I overly justify that I am a good person, rather that judging myself by the scriptures which would make me very aware of my faults. I often think that so many Christians say that they are sinners, when they really don’t think of themselves as such. I feel they just use the word because the church has taught them such, as well as it is publicly expected, though I question how convinced they really are of their sinful nature.
> What personal sins would you add to the list presented by the Apostle Paul?
o For me: I don’t think that I could improve on Paul’s list of the sinful nature of living by the flesh rather than living by the Spirit. If I had to choose a word from Paul’s list, the word would be idolatry, which is the sin of every Christian. Every Christian, including myself, has something in their life that we put before God in our daily living. Let me also be clear, that self-justification allows this estrangement from God.
> What will be your encounter before the judgment seat of God be like?
o For me: I do not know what it will be like to stand before God’s judgement. I am aware of many paintings and written descriptions of this encounter, but they are only an individual’s imagination of the event and not a first-hand experience. I do not think that coming before the judgment seat of God will be a quick and easy encounter. I also do not think I will be told that since I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that I will get an automatic entrance into heaven. Though I will be eventually accepted, my time before the judgment seat will be a lengthy time of self-reflection.
Please share other Points to Ponder so I can update my list
Please share your thoughts with me – if you desire I will publish them for others to read anonymously or first name only or your entire name as you choose