A few years ago, rather a number of years ago now, actually it was back in 1978, there was a movie made called, “Scared Straight.” The idea behind the movie was to show how horrible prison is in order to scare people away from a life of crime which would lead to prison. I believe that is one of the ideas behind the death penalty, to scare people away from heinous crimes.
When Jesus was taken to the cross He was paraded around town. He was taken on the longest way to the place of the cross. He was paraded up and down the streets, made to carry His cross and with someone leading the way with a sign and telling everyone what this man had done which caused Him to be given the death penalty and this most cruel death. The idea was to scare the people so that no one else did or even attempted to do such a crime.
Maybe you have seen or read billboards which say something like, “Read the Bible, it will scare the hell out of you.” Maybe you have heard the term, “preaching hell fire and brimstone.” The idea is to make people so afraid, so scared of going to hell, that they would repent and change their ways. In the “Luther” movie we see a scene in which John Tetzel comes to town and in a great show of intimidation, even giving the illusion of burning his own hand, he frightens the people into buying an indulgence so that, according to church tradition, the soul of their loved one may not be damned to hell, nor stay in purgatory, but be freed to heaven. Today’s text appears somewhat like Jesus is preaching such a “hell fire and brimstone” sermon. Hell is described as a place where “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Hell ought to be a deterrent to sin! But it is not always such a deterrent. After all, do we actually stop in the middle of sharing a nice juicy tidbit of gossip and think, “Jesus knows what I am doing and it is wrong. I am sinning”? Probably not. Most of us go on sinning as if it were the natural thing to do, and it is the natural thing to do because we are by nature sinful. Interestingly enough, this is the argument of why such sins and perhaps even all our sins are considered not sin, because it comes natural. If this logic were followed to its ultimate conclusion, then nothing should be considered sin, because, again, sinning is what we naturally do. Very often we go on, as Luther says, and sin boldly. I hope you are getting the idea that temptation and sin are something we battle with each and every day.
We want to make sure we get our text in its proper context. To do that we go back to last week where, in our text, Jesus gave us a lesson in greatness. True greatness is not being served, but is serving others. True greatness is not being the first, but being the last and letting others be first. Have you ever chosen, on purpose, to get in the longest line at the grocery check-out? Probably not. Again, in our Gospel reading from last week Jesus reminds us of the fact that true greatness is not found in fortune, or fame, or power, but is in having faith as a child.
This week Jesus makes a distinction between those who are saved and those who are not saved, with the downside definitely being that those who are not saved are destined to go to hell. And for those of you who do not believe in hell or who think that this earth is hell, let me encourage you to think again. I may not believe in China because I have never been there, nor have I actually seen it, but I know it exists. I may believe that my life on this earth is difficult and so believe that this is hell, but that is not what God tells us. Hell is real, whether we believe it or not. And hell is a complete absences from God and His love. The best way I can describe hell is to think about the worst day of your life, the day in which you were the most down and depressed, so down and depressed that you hoped the world would end. Now, magnify that feeling a few million times and you will get a glimpse of the torment of hell. Hell is not so much a place of physical suffering as it is a place of emotional and spiritual suffering as well as physical suffering. You really do not want to go there.
Getting back to our text, let us look at those who are against God. Those who are against God, according to Jesus, include those who “cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin.” At first we might think we have never and would never cause anyone to sin, but have we really? We might ask ourselves, do we witness the fact that we are Christians? Do other people know that we are, or at least, profess to be a Christian? And if we do profess and people know that is our profession, then do we act like Christians, or does our verbal and nonverbal witness do damage to our credibility as a Christian? In other words, do others look at us and say, “if that is what a Christian is and does then I do not want any part in being a Christian.” That is causing one of the little ones to sin.
Those who are against God are those who allow their foot, or eye to cause them to sin. This is being lead into sin and unbelief, literally being lead by the eye seeing the way and the foot walking the way into sin. We can be lead through our mind and heart as the saying goes, “the eye is the window of our soul.” Sin begins, not in the actual physical act of sin, but in one’s heart and mind, in one’s eye.
Here we hear the full extend of the law that sin brings hell, eternal death. Sin is so serious, even what we perceive as little sins, that we should be willing to go through life maimed for the sake of eternal life. Yet, how often would we do anything to hurt ourselves to keep from sinning? What is wrong, we think, with trusting in ourselves or our own judgement, our own finances, instead of trusting, completely trusting, in God? After all, we can, we do, trust in Him too. What is wrong with a slip of the tongue now and then? God understands. What is wrong with sleeping in on Sunday, with missing a worship service or two now and then, after all, once a month can be defined as regular worship attendance. What is wrong with going past the speed limit, with speaking my mind, with exercising my freedom of speech when it concerns those over me in my work? What is wrong with sassing my parents, after all, I am now an adult? What is wrong with a little civil disobedience? After all, we all need to exercise our freedom and God did give us minds to think. What is wrong with calling others names, with belittling others, even hating someone? We are only retaliating for what they have done to us. Do we not have the right to defend ourselves? Certainly God understands that. What is wrong with a little window shopping, checking out the opposite sex? I am not dead? I am not looking for an affair, I am just checking it out. God has done such a good job I want only to appreciate what He has created. What is wrong with working slow? After all I am not being paid as I should. What is wrong with speaking the truth, and speaking the truth in love, or at least according my definition of speaking the truth in love, after all, I did not know it would be hurtful. Every week the pastor gets to hurt our feelings, talking about our sin and all. What is wrong with wanting a better job, higher pay, more benefits, the best for my family? I really do not mean to step on or over others, I just want what is coming to me, what I deserve, my fair share. At the heart of the matter is, where is your heart and where is my heart? Indeed, I must confess, I am right there with you in such thoughts, questions and excuses.
Thanks be to God that there is good news. Jesus says, “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” This is not work righteousness. Please keep these words in the context of our text and in the context of all that Jesus tells us. Jesus came to our earth, born as one of us in order to live His life for us. He suffered all the temptations we suffer and even more. Remember, immediately after His baptism by John in the Jordan River He went out into the desert to be tempted by the devil himself for forty days. And He did not sin. He resisted all the devils temptations. And what is more, He is with us and will help us to resist the devils temptations.
But there is more. Jesus also kept all the commandments perfectly. All those things we are unable to do: not have other gods, not take His name in vain, not despise the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, disobeying our parents and others in authority, murdering, committing adultery, stealing, gossiping, and coveting, He resisted all those temptations and lived perfectly for us, in our place. By faith in Jesus, faith which He gives us through His Word and at our Baptism, His life, His perfect life becomes ours. God looks at us and sees Jesus’ perfection and says, “welcome into heaven.”
Earlier we were talking about “hell fire and brimstone preaching” and about hearing the Word of God which might “scare the hell out of you.” My hope, and I believe God’s will, is not that we cling to Him and believe in Him just so we do not go to hell, because that is a negative reason for believing in Jesus. Rather, my hope is that it is the good news of being a part of Jesus’ family, it is the good news of all the great many gifts and blessings that are ours because of our faith which make us want to believe in Jesus and go to heaven.
If our only reason for being a Christian is to not go to hell, life becomes just a time to get by. But if our reason for being a Christian is because of all the opportunities and gifts and blessings which are ours, then life becomes a time of joy and true living. Instead of life being a time not to cause someone else to sin, life becomes a time to encourage each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Life becomes an opportunity to share Jesus’ love with others, to share the good news of heaven with others. Life becomes a time to look for as many ways and opportunities as possible to be about the business of being in the family business, God’s family business of sharing His good gifts and blessings with others.
Just think of all the possibilities which lay before us as God’s people if we, with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit, give ourselves, completely, back to the Lord in service to Him in His kingdom. We could reach out and share the gospel message to those right here in our neighborhood and in the new neighborhoods that are being built. We could reach all the unchurched families with the good news of Jesus. We could make all these people a part of our church family. God has blessed us so much, are we going to use these blessings in service to Him in His kingdom, showing that we are for Him, or are we going to squander them so that He will take them and give them to someone else. What a privilege and what a responsibility God has given to us because to those whom He has given much, and I believe He has given us a tremendous amount, much is required. But He does not tell us we have to go it alone, we have His promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” May the Lord continue to bless us as we continue to be His people in this place sharing the good news with others so that they too might be a part of His Kingdom and our family. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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