17th Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 9:38-50
JESUS FORCEFULLY WARNS OF HELL AND FAITHFULLY SUFFERS IT IN OUR STEAD!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
To the church at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center; count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (adapted from James 1:1-4). Beloved in Christ:
Why in heaven’s name did Jesus speak so fearfully and forcefully about hell? Why in heaven’s name did Jesus speak so frequently about hell? More than anyone else in the New Testament, Jesus taught about and warned of eternal punishment! Such is His warning against being thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” He spoke these words about being thrown into hell on a journey that would finally end in Jerusalem.
Some years ago a tract was published entitled, “What you need to do to get into hell.” Those who opened it found that it was completely blank on the inside. It was meant to convey the thought that we sinners don’t have to do anything extraordinary to merit separation from God’s holiness and eternal punishment. It was meant to convey what the liturgy led us to confess just a few minutes ago, “that we justly deserved God’s temporal and eternal punishment (now and forever). “What do you need to do to get into hell?” Nothing! Nothing exceptional at all! Just live the normal life we sinners occupy in this dying world! Watch the news, read the paper, pay your bills, watch your savings grow, talk about politics, write papers for your professors, take your exams at the university, love your family most of all, go about your daily work and routine. Just do the best you can and the worst is sure to follow. For no one is justified by the law (Galatians 3). We all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3). If we fail keeping the law at one point, we are guilty of all of it (James 2).
“What do you need to do to get into hell?” We don’t need heightened perversion or enhanced corruption to merit the fire that never stops burning and the worm that never stops chewing. Such is our deserved future because of our fallen state. Hereditary sin has befouled us and left of bereft of God’s holiness. And without holiness, no one can see God (Hebrews 12:14).
Is this terrible teaching true? How are we to believe this? What I have just proclaimed to you doesn’t set well with my natural thoughts and preferences. What I have just said doesn’t set well with modern humanistic philosophy. But then, Jesus is not a philosopher! And Jesus is not a secular humanist! And Jesus does not proclaim nor provide my preferences or yours. Jesus is the God/Man who came into this world for one reason, to save us rebels from sin and death and hell.
When the danger is real, sounding a frequent and forceful warning is deeply caring and deeply loving. What would you think if the public hadn’t been warned about the terrorists planning to use liquid carry-on explosives to destroy airplanes flying from England? Such warnings can be upsetting and unsettling. They can complicate life. We don’t like to be at risk in war. We don’t like it that we have to be at war. But in the past dozen years of radical, religious terrorist attacks, what would you think if everything wasn’t done to identify the threat and sound the warning?
Please note that Jesus’ words here are firmly anchored in the treatment a person extends to Christians. 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 isn’t charity in general. This is concrete help given to a follower of Christ specifically because He belongs to Christ. Jesus’ point of warning about hell also involves the treatment of Christians. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
The Greek word for “little ones” can refer to someone small in stature like Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:3). But it also means that which is weak or humble in the sight of men, such as Jesus’ pupils and His prophets (Matt. 10:40-42). Wretched Moses was one of God’s “little ones” as the people complained to him and wept before him. He wanted out and He cried out, the burden is too heavy for me…. Jesus cares about His “little ones” like Moses and like you.
Jesus’ clear teaching is that sins meriting hell proceed from unbelief in Him, from hindering His little ones, His Church. It may be sins of omission such as withholding assistance and support for those who belong to Christ. It may be sins of commission, saying or doing that which pulls a little one away from Christ. An intellectual who uses his mind to mock apostolic teaching would be better off eternally with a lobotomy. An artist whose eyes and hands produce materials that seduce God’s “little ones” sexually or morally would be better off eternally without those eyes and hands. Parents, whose feet pursue otherwise good earthly priorities that pull their children away from the faith would be better off eternally without those feet. Our treatment of baptized children, of Christian pastors, of our brothers and sisters in this congregation, of mission opportunities has eternal consequences.
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut if off.” “It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire…if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” While Jesus names external organs of the body, the real source of the problem is the heart, not the hand or the foot or the eye. Jesus does not want us to cut off our feet or we would have none to carry us to weekly worship. He does not want us to cut off our hands, or we would have none to help our neighbor in need or to give our gifts for the spread of the Gospel. He does not want us to pluck out our eyes or we would have none to set on Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith. He does want us to see the enormity of forsaking the faith. He does want us to see the terrible nature of causing others to fall into sin by what we say or don’t say or by what we do or fail to do. He does want us to get tough with sin in our own life and to cut it out! It is better to die in the faith today than lose the faith and live 100 years in health and wealth. As James wrote, “come now, you rich, weep and how for the miseries coming upon you. Your riches have rotted…your gold and silver have corroded.” It is better to be crippled now and face all manner of hardship than mislead even one “little one” who believes in Christ.
Dear Christian, you are such a “little one”. By God’s good giving you are not playing God and fabricating your own reality. By God’s good giving you do acknowledge your sinfulness and its rightful wages, even eternal wages. Such recognition is not your own personal genius. Such recognition may often go against your feelings. Such recognition is increasingly derided by Hindu-based new-age spirituality that worships nature and believes in reincarnation. Scripture reveals that it is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). To the contrary, post-modern mysticism teaches that the human spirit united with nature is the measure of all things. Of course that means that hell doesn’t measure up nor does the real Jesus who teaches so forcefully and frequently concerning hell. And that is eternally tragic.
For the real Jesus took on flesh and blood to deliver us from the power of the devil and the domain of hell. The real Jesus is God the Son, nature’s Creator; our Maker. While there is no reincarnation, the miracle of the ages was His marvelous incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. God became Man! He is our Brother! He fights for us! The truth is that there is hell to pay for your alienation from God and He came to pay it for you. God’s wrath against sin is real, but God is not wrath. God is love! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “”God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:8, 9).
The holy Son of God never once caused a “little one” to sin and yet the millstone of our sin was hung around His neck. He was thrown into the raging sea of our punishment. His feet and hands never once caused anyone to sin yet they were spiked to the tree of the cross. Fellow-Redeemed, with two feet and two hands and two eyes He was cast into hell as our substitute. His hands and feet were not cut off, but He, Himself, was cut off from the Father’s presence. The God-forsakenness He endured on Calvary was not pretend or partial. The payment He made for us on Good Friday was not fractional. It is the beautiful center of our faith that Jesus, the God/Man suffered the torments of the damned in hell in our stead. Of such infinite value was His sacrifice! Of such infinite beauty is the crucifix! Two feet, two hands, two eyes, of the body of this one Man in a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world! “It is finished!” The fire of God’s wrath is quenched. There is peace for us with God through the blood of His cross.
Do you see the treasure you received when you were baptized into His death? Your washing of rebirth was not a step in the right direction; it was a total transfer from death to life. It was the complete bestowal of the treasured status of being His “little one”. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I John 3:1). The risen Christ acted there with all the authority in heaven and earth to put His Name on you and to undo the threat of hell! He put His Spirit upon you and He has not backed away from His gift! There is such joy in heaven over the repentance He is giving you!
Do you see it? His death and resurrection is really one event defeating hell and opening heaven! After His infinite payment and before His glorious resurrection He descended into hell to announce His victory! It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him! Satan’s domain has been sacked! You are part of the loot He has carried away! The strong man, Satan, has been thrown down by the stronger Man, your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Do you see it? Risen from the grave He comes into your midst again today to give you that victory by giving you Himself. With heavenly food He unites Himself with you, His beloved Bride. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation! Therefore I would invite you to imagine another tract this time about heaven and not about hell. On the outside is the question, “In Christ, what do you have to do to get into heaven?” Upon opening this tract, it also would be found to be blank on the inside. This is so because in Christ you lack nothing! His righteousness covers you! If He kept a record of sins, who could stand, but there is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared.
So live the life He gives you today. Read the paper, pay your bills, write papers for your professors, love your family and your neighbor, with Jesus pray “Our Father who art in heaven”. Joyfully do the best you can, because it is not about your salvation! That is a gift of God’s love! In the Name of Jesus, AMEN.
JESUS FORCEFULLY WARNS OF HELL AND FAITHFULLY SUFFERS IT IN OUR STEAD!
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
To the church at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center; count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (adapted from James 1:1-4). Beloved in Christ:
Why in heaven’s name did Jesus speak so fearfully and forcefully about hell? Why in heaven’s name did Jesus speak so frequently about hell? More than anyone else in the New Testament, Jesus taught about and warned of eternal punishment! Such is His warning against being thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” He spoke these words about being thrown into hell on a journey that would finally end in Jerusalem.
Some years ago a tract was published entitled, “What you need to do to get into hell.” Those who opened it found that it was completely blank on the inside. It was meant to convey the thought that we sinners don’t have to do anything extraordinary to merit separation from God’s holiness and eternal punishment. It was meant to convey what the liturgy led us to confess just a few minutes ago, “that we justly deserved God’s temporal and eternal punishment (now and forever). “What do you need to do to get into hell?” Nothing! Nothing exceptional at all! Just live the normal life we sinners occupy in this dying world! Watch the news, read the paper, pay your bills, watch your savings grow, talk about politics, write papers for your professors, take your exams at the university, love your family most of all, go about your daily work and routine. Just do the best you can and the worst is sure to follow. For no one is justified by the law (Galatians 3). We all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3). If we fail keeping the law at one point, we are guilty of all of it (James 2).
“What do you need to do to get into hell?” We don’t need heightened perversion or enhanced corruption to merit the fire that never stops burning and the worm that never stops chewing. Such is our deserved future because of our fallen state. Hereditary sin has befouled us and left of bereft of God’s holiness. And without holiness, no one can see God (Hebrews 12:14).
Is this terrible teaching true? How are we to believe this? What I have just proclaimed to you doesn’t set well with my natural thoughts and preferences. What I have just said doesn’t set well with modern humanistic philosophy. But then, Jesus is not a philosopher! And Jesus is not a secular humanist! And Jesus does not proclaim nor provide my preferences or yours. Jesus is the God/Man who came into this world for one reason, to save us rebels from sin and death and hell.
When the danger is real, sounding a frequent and forceful warning is deeply caring and deeply loving. What would you think if the public hadn’t been warned about the terrorists planning to use liquid carry-on explosives to destroy airplanes flying from England? Such warnings can be upsetting and unsettling. They can complicate life. We don’t like to be at risk in war. We don’t like it that we have to be at war. But in the past dozen years of radical, religious terrorist attacks, what would you think if everything wasn’t done to identify the threat and sound the warning?
Please note that Jesus’ words here are firmly anchored in the treatment a person extends to Christians. 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 isn’t charity in general. This is concrete help given to a follower of Christ specifically because He belongs to Christ. Jesus’ point of warning about hell also involves the treatment of Christians. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
The Greek word for “little ones” can refer to someone small in stature like Zacchaeus (Lk. 19:3). But it also means that which is weak or humble in the sight of men, such as Jesus’ pupils and His prophets (Matt. 10:40-42). Wretched Moses was one of God’s “little ones” as the people complained to him and wept before him. He wanted out and He cried out, the burden is too heavy for me…. Jesus cares about His “little ones” like Moses and like you.
Jesus’ clear teaching is that sins meriting hell proceed from unbelief in Him, from hindering His little ones, His Church. It may be sins of omission such as withholding assistance and support for those who belong to Christ. It may be sins of commission, saying or doing that which pulls a little one away from Christ. An intellectual who uses his mind to mock apostolic teaching would be better off eternally with a lobotomy. An artist whose eyes and hands produce materials that seduce God’s “little ones” sexually or morally would be better off eternally without those eyes and hands. Parents, whose feet pursue otherwise good earthly priorities that pull their children away from the faith would be better off eternally without those feet. Our treatment of baptized children, of Christian pastors, of our brothers and sisters in this congregation, of mission opportunities has eternal consequences.
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut if off.” “It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire…if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” While Jesus names external organs of the body, the real source of the problem is the heart, not the hand or the foot or the eye. Jesus does not want us to cut off our feet or we would have none to carry us to weekly worship. He does not want us to cut off our hands, or we would have none to help our neighbor in need or to give our gifts for the spread of the Gospel. He does not want us to pluck out our eyes or we would have none to set on Jesus, the author and perfecter of the faith. He does want us to see the enormity of forsaking the faith. He does want us to see the terrible nature of causing others to fall into sin by what we say or don’t say or by what we do or fail to do. He does want us to get tough with sin in our own life and to cut it out! It is better to die in the faith today than lose the faith and live 100 years in health and wealth. As James wrote, “come now, you rich, weep and how for the miseries coming upon you. Your riches have rotted…your gold and silver have corroded.” It is better to be crippled now and face all manner of hardship than mislead even one “little one” who believes in Christ.
Dear Christian, you are such a “little one”. By God’s good giving you are not playing God and fabricating your own reality. By God’s good giving you do acknowledge your sinfulness and its rightful wages, even eternal wages. Such recognition is not your own personal genius. Such recognition may often go against your feelings. Such recognition is increasingly derided by Hindu-based new-age spirituality that worships nature and believes in reincarnation. Scripture reveals that it is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). To the contrary, post-modern mysticism teaches that the human spirit united with nature is the measure of all things. Of course that means that hell doesn’t measure up nor does the real Jesus who teaches so forcefully and frequently concerning hell. And that is eternally tragic.
For the real Jesus took on flesh and blood to deliver us from the power of the devil and the domain of hell. The real Jesus is God the Son, nature’s Creator; our Maker. While there is no reincarnation, the miracle of the ages was His marvelous incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. God became Man! He is our Brother! He fights for us! The truth is that there is hell to pay for your alienation from God and He came to pay it for you. God’s wrath against sin is real, but God is not wrath. God is love! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “”God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:8, 9).
The holy Son of God never once caused a “little one” to sin and yet the millstone of our sin was hung around His neck. He was thrown into the raging sea of our punishment. His feet and hands never once caused anyone to sin yet they were spiked to the tree of the cross. Fellow-Redeemed, with two feet and two hands and two eyes He was cast into hell as our substitute. His hands and feet were not cut off, but He, Himself, was cut off from the Father’s presence. The God-forsakenness He endured on Calvary was not pretend or partial. The payment He made for us on Good Friday was not fractional. It is the beautiful center of our faith that Jesus, the God/Man suffered the torments of the damned in hell in our stead. Of such infinite value was His sacrifice! Of such infinite beauty is the crucifix! Two feet, two hands, two eyes, of the body of this one Man in a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world! “It is finished!” The fire of God’s wrath is quenched. There is peace for us with God through the blood of His cross.
Do you see the treasure you received when you were baptized into His death? Your washing of rebirth was not a step in the right direction; it was a total transfer from death to life. It was the complete bestowal of the treasured status of being His “little one”. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (I John 3:1). The risen Christ acted there with all the authority in heaven and earth to put His Name on you and to undo the threat of hell! He put His Spirit upon you and He has not backed away from His gift! There is such joy in heaven over the repentance He is giving you!
Do you see it? His death and resurrection is really one event defeating hell and opening heaven! After His infinite payment and before His glorious resurrection He descended into hell to announce His victory! It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him! Satan’s domain has been sacked! You are part of the loot He has carried away! The strong man, Satan, has been thrown down by the stronger Man, your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Do you see it? Risen from the grave He comes into your midst again today to give you that victory by giving you Himself. With heavenly food He unites Himself with you, His beloved Bride. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation! Therefore I would invite you to imagine another tract this time about heaven and not about hell. On the outside is the question, “In Christ, what do you have to do to get into heaven?” Upon opening this tract, it also would be found to be blank on the inside. This is so because in Christ you lack nothing! His righteousness covers you! If He kept a record of sins, who could stand, but there is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared.
So live the life He gives you today. Read the paper, pay your bills, write papers for your professors, love your family and your neighbor, with Jesus pray “Our Father who art in heaven”. Joyfully do the best you can, because it is not about your salvation! That is a gift of God’s love! In the Name of Jesus, AMEN.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
10/04/2006
