Mission to Nuremberg

I have been reading 'Mission to Nuremberg' by Tim Townsend.  It is well-written, but I feel he goes on too many tangents and might have been better to write a shorter account.

At the Nuremberg Trials, twenty-two of the most notorious Nazis were tried for war crimes.  Two chaplains were assigned to minister to them, including the American Lutheran, Henry Gerecke.

I want to focus on Gereche's ministry to Hermann Goring, who was one of the leading architects of the Nazi's evil regime.   Goring was the Nazi prisoner that Gerecke dreaded meeting the most.  Goring had been responsible for the Nazi party's security apparatus, and had created the first concentration camps for Hitler's political opponents.  He later oversaw the Luftwaffe (German air force) and was Hitler's number two.

Jesus teaches that God sends the sun and the rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous,  The psalms teach that God is good to all he has made.  God blessed Goring with human love through his devoted wife, Emmy, and their young daughter, Edda.  Another blessing God gives all people is that he retrains our evil.  Despite such a cruel heart towards so many people, Goring was an animal lover, and even had tame lions at his home.

In the prison, Gerecke found Goring to be a natural listener who related to him with friendliness and charm.  Goring was a nominal Christian, with no personal relationship with Jesus.  At the Christmas carol service in the make-shift chapel, Goring sung 'Silent Night' louder than all the others. 

Gerecke described Goring's wife, Emmy, as a woman of 'considerable grace and charm.'  Her first visit occurred after she had been apart from her husband for seventeen months.  She wanted to kiss him, but rules would not permit. 

Edda Goring was eight years old when she visited her father for the last time at Nuremberg.  She recalls standing on a chair to get a better view of him through the screen, and seeing him surrounded by white-helmeted guards.  Emmy had urged her daughter to talk with the chaplain, and Gerecke asked her if she said her prayers.  She told him that she prayed every night.  When he asked what she prayed about, she replied, 'I kneel by my bed and look up to heaven and ask God to open daddy's heart and let Jesus in.'

Yet Goring's heart was closed to Jesus.

Goring was found guilty of war crimes and he was sentenced to death by hanging.

At Emmy's last visit, she told Goring that she would like to die with him, if it were not for their daughter.  After the visit Goring told Gerecke that it didn't matter what happened to him now, for he died when he left her for the last time.

Gerecke was not allowed reveal the timings of the prison's executions.  On the night of Goring's planned hanging he visited his cell with the desire to lead him to Christ.  Gerecke had written a devotional for Goring to read.  Goring promised to read it letter, but the chaplain was desperate.  He tried to steer the conversation towards faith.

Goring was annoyed that he was being hung, he felt that it would be more dignified for a senior commander to face the firing squad.  That's what he wanted to talk about.  Again, Gerecke tried to get the conversation onto faith.  But Goring ridiculed the creation accounts of the Old Testament, made fun of the idea of the Bible being divinely inspired and he would not accept the necessity of Jesus' death on the cross.

Gerecke protested, 'this Jesus is my saviour who suffered, bled and died that I may go to heaven one day.  He paid for my sins.'  Goring rubbished the idea of life after death or that God would care about the lives of individuals.  

Then, Goring asked Gerecke to serve him the Lord's Supper.  Gerecke could not with a clear conscience do this.  'This is the way it is: Only those who believe that Jesus is really their saviour, who believe him who instituted the supper, should be permitted to attend the Lord's Supper.  The others are not fit.'

Goring protested that no German pastor had refused him the Lord's Supper.  But Gerecke stood his ground.  Then he tried his last card: 'Herr Goring, your little girl says she wants to met you in heaven.'  

'Yes,' replied Goring.  'She believes in your saviour.  But I don't, I'll just take my chances, my own way.'

Feeling defeated, Gerecke left.

Later that evening commotion broke out when a guard realised that Goring was dying.  He has swallowed a cyanide that someone had smuggled to him.  Gerecke rushed to his cell and whispered in the dying man's ears, 'the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.'

Goring had written a number of suicide notes.  In one, to Gerecke, he claimed that he had prayed to God, and that he felt it was right to take his life rather than die by hanging ('for political reasons').  It is really unclear whether Goring had really turned to the Jesus of the Bible/ 

So, what do we learn from the story of Goring and Gerecke?

1.  We learn about God's common grace.  Common grace is the undeserved kindness to all people, even towards an evil man like Goring.  Goring was blessed with intelligence, charm and a family who loved him.  None of us deserve anything from God, but every good gift comes from above.

2.  We also learn of the God who seeks and saves those who are lost.  God sent that wonderful chaplain, Henry Gerecke, to those prisoners.  God extend them the offer of his forgiveness and life beyond the grave.  The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  The same grace Goring needed is the grace each of us need.  We remember that Christ Jesus came into the world to save not the self-righteous but those who know their sin.  He will never turn away anyone who comes sincerely to him.

Let's pray:

' Lord Jesus, I acknowledge your many good gifts to me.  I acknowledge the gift of your Son who died for the guilt of all who would put their trust in Him.  I thanks you that you transform our present and offer us the sure hope of eternal life.'  Amen.           

Be small

 

Last week before I preached on the virgin birth I struggled to think how to best apply this wonderful truth.  It was actually only just before the service that I realised that this is a call to ‘be small’.  The second person of the Trinity, who has enjoyed the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit for all eternity, and has been the subject of angels’ praise, becomes an embryo in a virgin’s womb.  What a picture of choosing to become small!

The creator of this universe enters his creation through a fallopian tube.  He becomes a baby born in a backwater of the Roman Empire, with no beauty that we should be drawn to him, belonging to a poor family, having his parenthood questioned, being misunderstood and despised, opposed and mocked, and having his naked body spat upon as he is crucified on a Roman cross—a death so humiliating that it could not be mentioned in polite company.

He did it to demonstrate the goodness of God.  He did it for us.  He did it in love. 

Now he calls us to follow this example and make ourselves small.

1.       The way of smallness is the way of grace

Jesus was one of those men who was good with children.  He was safe and pure.  He was welcoming and warm.  Children were drawn to him.  Parents brought their infants to him that he might bless them.  The disciples thought that this was wasting Jesus’ time.  You see, in those days people did not idolise children.  Children were considered insignificant people.  Jesus teaches that, ‘to such as these belongs the kingdom of God’ (Luke 18:16). 

What is it about the infants that teaches us about entering God’s kingdom?  Helplessness.  Helpless dependence (Kent Hughes).  ‘No child can survive its early years without the help of others.’  No child can boast of great achievements.  No child can offer to pay their way.  Every child needs the protection of someone.

The way of smallness is the way of grace.  It lives in helpless dependence.  It gladly sings, ‘nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.’  It trusts in the truth that God does not treat us as our sins deserve but according to his loving kindness.  We continue to acknowledge our failing as we pray ‘forgive us our trespasses every day’.  In fact, daily confessing our sins should fill us with both humility and gratitude as we acknowledge how we fall and rejoice in the fact that his mercy is renewed every day.

Some of you will know the name Billy Graham.  He was one of the greatest people of the twentieth century.  Billy Graham entered the kingdom of God not be because he had personally preached the gospel to more people than anyone in history; not be because he remained impeccable in his finances when so many have failed; not be because he remained a faithful husband; and not because he was humble and kind.  Billy Graham entered the kingdom because he came to Christ as a helpless child (adapted from Hughes).  He acknowledged the great evil that he saw in his heart and trusted the mercy of our gracious saviour.

I am reading a book on the Nuremburg trials.  This was the trial after World War Two of some of the leading Nazis.  These men were among the worst human beings that have ever walked this earth.  Yet a chaplain was commissioned to share the gospel with them.  That chaplain could speak of a mercy in God that is greater than the worst of human sin.  Some of those war criminals denied that they had done anything wrong.  They claimed that their consciences were clear before God.  Some of those war criminals admitted their guilt and came to Christ like children, admitting their helpless dependence, and they were welcomed into God’s kingdom.

The same grace that saved a sinful man like Billy Graham saves sinful war criminals.  None are so good that they are not in desperate need of grace, God’s grace is sufficient for those who see ourselves as the worst of sinners.  The grace that saved us is the grace that we depend on him every day as we bring him our daily sins and remember he ready mercy   

2.      The way of smallness is the way of gratitude

My friend Brenda is a lecturer in Maynooth University.  She did her doctorate on the mental health effects of gratitude. 

She told me that gratitude influences mental health through increasing the levels of happiness (positive emotions and life satisfaction), and reducing stress, depression and anxiety levels.  It has a protective effect, in the fact that it strengthens us to face future stressful events.  It improves our relationships with other people.  Consciously practicing gratitude changes your brain activity, and even improves your physical health.  By pausing to say thank you, you strengthen neural pathways and make it easier to see the good in life.  Over time it will become a healthy habit.  It even improves the quality and duration of your sleep.  She pointed out that in order to benefit most you must not only seek to feel thankful but express thankfulness.  When you feel thankful for someone, you should actually thank them.

It is a gracious command of God when we are told to ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His love endures for ever’ (Psalm 107:1).  Like all of his commands this is for his glory and our welfare. 

I would add another benefit to Brenda’s list of good things gratitude does for us.  Gratitude should keep us small.  We thank God as people who are helplessly dependent on God.  We thank him for his daily mercies remembering that we do not deserve them.  We thank God for his people remembering that though our Christian brothers and sisters he is fulfilling his promise to place the lonely in families.  We thank him for his love knowing that he loves us infinitely more than we love him.  We thank God for the cross where Jesus took the punishment our guilt deserves.  We thank him that he has been with us in past storms and will be with us as we pass through future fires.

Can we be boastful and thankful at the same time, I am not sure?  The way of smallness is the way of gratitude.      

3.      The way of smallness is the way of glory

Jesus repeatedly tells us not to draw attention to ourselves, and yet he also says that we are to not to hide our light under a bushel.  How do these two things fit together?  Maybe the answer is found in thinking about what shining for Jesus looks like.  Shining our light is about making ourselves small not big.

Shining our light involves genuine humility, a virtue that was not valued in the ancient world.  We rejoice in what Jesus has done for us for more than in anything we have done for him.  We acknowledge that he is changing us in ways that we were helpless to change ourselves.  He has enabled us to will and act for his good purposes.  We serve not in our own power but with the grace of God in us.  Maybe we could say that our light is to shine like a floodlight that casts it glow on the beauty and work of Christ.

In this life we may be looked down on for our faith in God.  In some countries Christians endure rejection and violent opposition.  But Christians focus on Jesus who endured the shame of the cross looking ahead to the glory that he would experience when he sat down at the right-hand side of God.  We look forward to when they will share Christ’s glory.  That glory will be rooted in our smallness. ‘God has poured out his love on us so that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:7).  For all eternity people will marvel at the fact that God has brought insignificant and failed people like us into his kingdom!

Conclusion

The creator of this world becoming an embryo in a virgin is such a picture of God embracing smallness.  But how are we at living small? 

What about when someone criticises us?  I remember listening to someone hotly criticise me, and while it was a little unfair and very unpleasant, I was also aware of the fact that I am a far more sinful person than even they were saying.  I took their criticism badly, but how much better I might have taken it is I was glad to be small.  No-one can knock you off your high horse if you are already bowed in the posture of humility.

How are we about asking for help?  Are you ready to admit your struggles?  Do you think it honours God when you pretend that your family has got it together?  Do you think that it is beneath you to open up and ask people to pray for you?  Only weak people would go to the prayer room after church, but only weak people understand the grace of God.

In a world of self-made men and independent women, where children are driven to pursue excellence and success, let your light shine as you follow one who entered our world as an embryo in a virgin’s womb, and who would set his face towards a shame-filled cross, where he would die in love for us and now is seated in glory.  Let us be small to the glory of God! 

2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5 ‘How to become a joyful giver’

 

Dane Ortland wrote, ‘better to offer too much praise with the possibility of stirring up pride than give too little with the risk of creating discouragement.’

On Monday morning when I started to work on this passage I was blown away by how positive the apostle Paul is.  Paul was no fool—he could see people’s failings as well as anyone else, but he is choosing to dwell on what God is doing in His imperfect people.  The Corinthian church had caused Paul all sorts of trouble, but he is not bitter, and it does not stop him being thankful for them.  He says that he has confidence in them.  He has even been boasting about them to the Macedonian Christians.  He also praises Titus, who will be visiting them, and two unnamed brothers who will be helping Titus in the work.

Paul’s praise surely reflects the heart of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Yes, God knows all our flaws and weaknesses, yet in His grace He delights in the imperfect ways that we seek to serve Him.  He is not like that parent, spouse or teacher who is impossible to please.  He is kind and gracious.  He is forgiving and even delights in us.

The apostle Paul is teaching about giving.  I am going to suggest that godly giving begins with the head—as we preach the gospel to ourselves, moves to the heart—as the gospel stirs our affections, and shows itself through our hands—as our faith demonstrates itself in actions.

We are thinking about how we can give in a way that honors God and gives us joy.

Ask the Lord to stir up holy affections in you (8:16-21)

‘Thanks be to God who put into Titus the same concern I have for you’ (8:16).  In Rooted, last Sunday night, we were thinking about how God changes people.  One of the verses we touched on (one of my favorite verses) reads, ‘God works in you to will and act according to his good purpose’ (Philippians 2:13).  As we preach the gospel to ourselves, the Holy Spirit stirs up holy affections that lead to holy actions.  ‘For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative’ (8:17).

Just a reminder of the background.  Paul had organized a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, who had suffered in a famine.  However, the Corinthians had fallen out with Paul and had stopped their giving.  Now they have repented and Paul has forgiven them.  He is now urging them to show their repentance is real by resuming their giving.

Along with Titus we are sending ‘the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel’ (8:19).  Isn’t it interesting, on one hand we see the willingness of the church to praise those who serve the gospel well, and yet on the other hand the Holy Spirit has chosen that his man’s name is not included in this scripture.  It does not really matter who he is!

This man has been chosen to carry the offering.  We see the wisdom of Paul here.  He is not going to deal with the money.  Sloppy dealings with money have ruined many a ministry.  He entrusting this task to someone else in case people think that he organized the collection for his own benefit.  As Christians we seek not only to do no evil, but also to avoid any appearance of doing evil.  ‘We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift.  For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of people’ (8:20-21).

Let these holy affections prompt you to action (8:22-24)

Now there is mention of another unnamed brother.  ‘In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you’ (8:22).  Paul calls the Corinthians to show these men ‘proof of your love’ (8:24).  Holy affections show themselves in generous actions.  We are to work from the head—where we preach the good news about Jesus to ourselves, to the heart—where the Holy Spirit gives us affections of love, to the hands—where we prove God’s love is at work within us as we share with God’s people in need.

We are not put right with God through anything that we do.  We are saved by grace, and not works, so that no person can boast.  But faith demonstrates its reality in a changed life.  Being swallowed in the love of Christ transforms us.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes, ‘what good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save them?  Suppose a brother of sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by actions, is dead’ (James 2:14-17).

Let holy affections bring joy to our giving (9:1-5)

Paul had used the Macedonian Christians as an example to the Corinthians.  The Macedonians gladly gave out of their poverty.  But he has also told the Macedonians of the Corinthians church’s eagerness to give.  This encouraged them.  Paul wants to ensure that his confidence in them was well placed.

Last week we said that it is not just the act of giving that matters, it is the attitude of giving.  It is not like the TV license add that says, ‘You don’t have to like it.  It’s the law.’  Similarly, the tax collector doesn’t care if you want to pay your taxes or not.  Next week we will see that God loves a generous giver.  Here Paul urges the Corinthians to give generously and not to give their offering, ‘as one grudgingly given’ (9:5).

But how could giving give us joy?  It won’t give us joy by bringing us acclaim, because Jesus has taught us to give in a way that don’t draw attention to ourselves.  It’s won’t give us joy by making us rich—I hate the prosperity gospel that fosters the love of money by promising that if you give you are bound to receive increased wealth.  It will at times feel hard and costly to give.  But we can give knowing that joyful giving pleases our heavenly Father; trusting that he will use our time, money and hospitality to bring help to people he has caused us to love; and knowing that God can use all this to show the world His glory though the beauty of His church.  Giving enlarges our faith.

One of the beautiful things about the giving of the churches in Macedonia and Corinth giving to the poverty struck Christians in Jerusalem was that it demonstrated the reality that God had united former Gentiles and former Jews together in Christ.

Conclusion—head, heart and hand

How do we become joyful givers?  It comes down to head, heart and hands.

Head.  Preach the gospel to yourself.  ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich’ (8:9).

Heart.  Let the Holy Spirit take this truth and put into our hearts a concern for His people and His honor.

Hands.  Then let us enjoy giving.  Knowing that this pleases God, helps people and shows the beauty of the gospel. 

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 - ‘The grace of giving’

Do you know the ad for the TV licence?  It goes something like this: ‘I love the way you remind me ever year.  I love the way you send me a letter on our anniversary.’  Then it says, ‘You don’t have to love it, but you do have to pay it.  It’s the law.’  It is a bit like your taxes.  You don’t have to like paying your taxes, but you have to pay them.

Now listen to me carefully!  Christian giving is totally different than that.  Christian giving is not about law, it’s about the heart.  You can give in a way that is of no spiritual benefit.  In this morning’s reading the apostle Paul is teaching the Corinthians about joyful giving.  How can we give in a way that pleases God?

Joyful giving is an evidence of God’s favour in our lives (1-5)

The Corinthians had been told that their Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem were struggling with poverty—in part due to famine.  They had agreed to give, and started to give, but their enthusiasm had worn off and they had stopped giving.  Indeed, they may have stopped giving at a time when they weren’t getting on with the apostle.  Now they have repented of their hostility towards the apostle, and they need to repent of having held back their giving.

Paul points them to the example of the churches in Macedonia—which included those in Philippi and Thessalonica.  Those churches much poorer than the Corinthians—in fact they were extremely poor and their circumstances were difficult—but they delighted to give.  They actually gave beyond what was reasonable.  And they didn’t just give their money to the collection for the Christians in Jerusalem, they gave themselves to serve the apostle and his companions.

The key to the Macedonians’ giving is the Greek word ‘charis’, which we regularly translate ‘grace’.  It is found twice in these opening verses.  ‘… we want you to know the grace God has given the Macedonian churches’ (1).  ‘They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege [lit. ‘the grace’] of sharing in the service of the saints’ (4).

Do we plead for the privilege to give?  Do we realise that when we want to give it is an evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in our heart?   Giving ourselves, our hospitality, our time and our money is not just a way of earning God’s favour, it is a sign that we have been favoured by God.  We want to ask God to work in us in such a way that we might get joy and satisfaction in being allowed serve others in this way!  Even when that serving is difficult and costly!

Joyful giving shows we understand the gospel (6-11)

The Corinthian Christians excelled in many in many things—in faith, in knowledge, in all earnestness, but their lack of generosity was leaving them spiritually stunted.   How can we get a generous heart?  Our hearts become generous when we when we contemplate the generous heart of Christ!  ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty we might become rich’ (9). 

Look at what Jesus has done for us!  Think of who He was and is!  He was exalted in heaven.  Surrounded by angels.  Perfectly enjoying the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  He had not felt want or endured temptation.  He did not know what it was like to thirst or hunger.  Then the creator stepped into His creation.  He was born to a poor carpenter.  Was misunderstood by His own family.  He surrounded Himself with the most imperfect of friends.  He was opposed.  He went homeless.  He was hated.  He was pinned to a Roman cross, where in agony of soul He cried out, ‘my God, my God why have you forsaken me?’  He did this in love.  He did this for the joy that was set before Him.  He did this for you! 

Think of who we were!  The New Testament uses terms like lost, enslaved, condemned, hopeless, dead and enemies of God to describe people without Jesus.  That once was us!  That’s you if you have not let Him swallow you up in His love.  Jesus became poor that we can become rich.  He has taken the punishment on Himself that our guilt deserves.  He has freed us from slavery and adopted us into His family.  He has brought us out of prison and to His banqueting table.  He has given us hope, joy and a future.  Through His poverty we have become rich!

If we love Jesus, then we will want to become like Him.  If Jesus treated us not as our sins deserved but according to His kindness then we will not demand that people have to earn our kindness.  If we are allowing Him shape our hearts then we will be those who are becoming joyfully generous.    

Joyful giving remembers that every good gift is from above (12-15)       

A single mother became a Christian.  She had five children and took the bus to and from church each week.  She struggled to pay bills.  But then someone gave her a car.  Others did house repairs.  Women in the church went to her town and took her for coffee.  They gladly gave out of their riches.  Christians seek to meet each other’s needs.

‘For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have’ (12).  The gift of the rich person might be greater in quantity than the gift of the poor, but the gift of the poor might be greater in God’s eyes.  Remember Jesus words of the widow who gave out of her poverty.  ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on’ (Luke 21:1-4).

‘At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.  The goal is equality, as it is written: the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little’ (14-15).  ‘By this we know what love is, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth’ (1 John 3:16-18).

Like the manna in the wilderness we must remember that every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17).  King David acknowledged ‘… all things come from you, and of your own we have given to you’ (1 Chronicles 29:14).  The ability to make money can be a gift from God.  The opportunity to earn a living can be a gift from God.  The family from which you inherit is a gift from God.  So, we only give out of what has been given to us!

Conclusion

In one of the first churches I worked with, a list was published every year of people’s giving.  This list had names beside the amount they gave.  I suggested to someone that this was wrong.  It would be much better to keep our giving secret.  I was told that if we kept the giving anonymous, people would give less.  That simply revealed that their hearts were not in their gifts.  It actually suggested that keeping the church going was more important than honouring Christ.

God doesn’t need your gifts.  He is well capable of growing His church and looking after His people without us.  If you don’t yet know Christ, it might be better not to give Him money to the church.  He doesn’t need it, and you might actually end up thinking He owes you something.  If you are a Christian ask Him to work in your heart in such a way that giving is a source of joy more than an act of duty. 

Remember too that we care for each other not just with money, but with time and listening, opening our homes and welcoming each other.

How can you give to God’s people in need?  How can we see giving as a joyous privilege?  Preach the gospel to yourself.  ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he become poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich’ (2 Corinthians 8:9).

‘Joy unending’ (Isaiah 65:17-25)

 

I was talking to the Youth Group and I asked them about their favourite holidays.  I think I can say that there were three features to their replies.

1.      Abundance:  I think two of them mentioned all-you-can-eat buffets.

2.      Refreshing activities:  I prompted this one.  The point I wanted them to realise that the best holidays don’t just involve sleeping in, but doing things we enjoy.

3.      Great relationships:  more than one of the young people said how they loved spending time with grandparents and cousins.

The book of Revelation tells us that when Jesus returns at the end of time He will establish a New Heaven and a New Earth.  In Isaiah we get a description of what this glorious recreation will be like.

An abundance of Joy

One of the things that can spoil our joy is regret.  We look back over our past and we might feel ashamed of certain things.  However, in the New heaven and the New Earth it will be impossible to feel regret.  For behold, I create new heavens and new earth, and the formed things shall not be remembered or come to mind (17).  Never again will anything from your past haunt you.  God will not allow anything to spoil your joy.

In this New Heaven and New Earth, we will have resurrected bodies.  These bodies will have an increased capacity for joy.  In particular we will experience an increased capacity for rejoicing in Jesus.  No longer will we get bored when we worship.  No longer will we be tempted to look to those things that do not satisfy to find the satisfaction that is to be found in God alone.

Not only will we rejoice in the love of God, but in love God will rejoice over us.  But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.  I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard the sound of weeping and the cry of distress (18-19).  We will sing about Him, and He will sing over us.

One of the saddest things in this life is when a life is cut short.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth such tragedy will never grieve us again.  No more in it shall there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed (20).  I believe that there is poetic licence here, for we know from Revelation that there is no death in the New Heaven and the New Earth.  Never again will the life of one of God’s people be cut short!

Refreshing activities 

Before Adam and Eve fell into sin they had work to do.  It was satisfying work.  After they rebelled against their loving creator work become backbreaking and frustrating.  In the New Heaven and the New Earth there will be work with purpose.  We all love the occasional sleep in.  But a really good holiday includes doing refreshing activities.  The work we do in heaven will bring great satisfaction.

They will build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.  They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people be, and my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands.  They shall not labour in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them (21-23).  There will be no more exploitation.  No more taking advantage of the work of others.  No one steeling what you have done.  Two things that I fear more than almost anything else is boredom and loneliness.  The work will be enjoyable and rewarding, never pointless and dull.  As we will see there will be no chance of loneliness.

Great relationships

I realized that I had a reservation about heaven.  You see we have pictures of great multitude worshiping Jesus.  But that looks a little impersonal.  Will we just be one of a vast nameless crowd.  I think that is the danger of forming your understanding of the afterlife with just one image.  We will rejoice together in Jesus but we will also know Him personally. 

God uses relationship language when He promises, before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear (24).  Speaking of Jesus’ return, the apostle Paul writes, ‘for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12).  On the night before the crucifixion Jesus promised His disciples, ‘I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am’ (John 14:3).  He wants us to be where He is.

Once a dying patient told the Bible teacher, Jack Miller, that she wasn’t interested in going to heaven because it would be boring.  Jack asked her, ‘What was the most happy moment in your life?’  She said, ‘the best and happiest times of my life came when I was with someone I really loved.’  Jack replied, ‘That is what makes heaven so very special.  Jesus is my very best friend.  And the greatest thing about heaven is being there for ever with your greatest and truest friend.’

Finally, we read of great peace in this New Heaven and New Earth.  Nature will be at harmony and there will be no threat.  The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food.  They shall not hurt or destroy in my holy mountain (25).

Conclusion

I have to point out that in contrast to the joy of the New Heaven and the New Earth this great chapter in Isaiah begins with a warning to those who refuse to seek their joy in God.  I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, “Here I am, here I am.”  I spread out my hands to a rebellious people …’ (1-2a).  But they were not willing to be swallowed up in His love. 

Jesus died that we might be forgiven.  He came that we could become beloved children of God.  He invites us to know His friendship.  He wants to give us life with purpose.  He desires that we would have hope.  But if we refuse His life transforming grace we will get what we have asked for.  Instead of knowing His forgiveness we will experience His righteous condemnation.  Instead of the New Heaven and New Earth eternity will be spent apart from Him.  When He returns He will not come as your Saviour but only as your judge.

To end on a positive note, I want to point out for those who are living in Jesus there are aspects of the New Heaven and the New Earth that we enjoy already.

Although our joy is not what it will be then, we have joy now.  Although God does not promise that life for His people will be easy we are ‘sorrowful yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10).  We know that we are forgiven.  We know that we are loved by God.  We know that He is with us.  Indeed, He rejoices over us, even now in our imperfect state (Zephaniah 3:17).  The Lord takes delight in His people (Psalm 149:7).

Even though work can be stressful in this life, it is still a gift.  Our boss might not appreciate what we do but we serve wholeheartedly knowing that we serve not just people but the Lord (Ephesians 6:7).  One of my favourite verses tells us that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).  Even serving a cup of water for His sake does not go unnoticed or unrewarded (Matthew 10:42).

While there are many things that are greater in the New Heaven and the New Earth than under this heaven and in this earth, one thing that won’t be greater then is the strength of God’s love for those who are trusting in Jesus.  We will experience Jesus with more intimacy, we will see Him face to face a fully know Him, but He loves us now as much as He will love we then.  So we pray, ‘I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit you would show me more of the length and breadth and height of God’s love for those who are in Christ Jesus, so that I might know more of the New Heaven and New Earth even as I wait the day of Christ’s returning.’  Amen. 

Jesus teaches about hell (Luke 16:19-31)

 

 Jesus teaches about hell

‘We must remember that the very person who revealed most stunningly God’s love, our Lord Jesus Christ, is also the one who spoke most frequently and in most frightening words of the tragedy of the lost.  It is a dangerous thing to be more generous than God has revealed himself to be!’ (Roger Nicole).

In his book, ‘Why I am not a Christian’, the philosopher, Bertrand Russell, writes, ‘There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.  I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.'

Jesus certainly believed in hell.  In fact, He taught about hell more than anyone else in the Bible.  He was not embarrassed or shocked about it, but He grieved at the thought that people would reject His offer of salvation and receive the consequences of that choice.  Jesus warned people about hell because He loved them.

I want to look at one of Jesus’ best-known parables on this topic—the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Don’t let stuff keep you out of heaven

Jesus has just warned his religious opponents that it is impossible to serve both God and money (Lk. 16:13).  Now he tells them a parable of a man who lived for money and ended up in hell (Lk. 16:19-31).  Jesus calls us to put Him before everything else.  Stuff will keep us out of heaven, when stuff stops us following Jesus.  It is a terrible choice to live for what cannot satisfy and lose out on eternal joy.

This rich man had everything that money could buy.  He was a self-indulgent person who cared for no-one but himself.  He dressed in purple, which was extremely expensive, and could only be afforded by the wealthy.  He wanted people to see how rich he was!  He also wore fine linen.  He feasted every day.

At the gates of the rich man’s house lay a beggar.  He was laid there because he was too sick to walk.  He was covered in sores and longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.  The man in town who was best equipped to meet his medical needs didn’t even give him his scraps.  Kenneth Bailey points out that in Middle Eastern villages things were compact, so Lazarus could hear what was going on at the rich man’s banquets. In fact, the guests could not ignore Lazarus as they entered the rich man’s gate.  However, the rich man’s guard dogs showed him kindness as they licked his wounds.

Lazarus had one thing that the rich man did not have—Jesus gives him a name.  In fact, Lazarus is the only person named in any of Jesus’ parables, so his name must be significant.  The name Lazarus means, ‘the one who God helps.’  This is significant, Lazarus knows God and knows that God is for him.  What a contrast this passage is to those prosperity preachers on the television who tell you that it is always God’s will for His people to be healthy and wealthy.  Lazarus was living his best life now, and yet that life included a lot of pain.

Who would you prefer to be?

So, who would you prefer to be?  Would you prefer to live in luxury and not know Jesus, or could you enjoy Jesus even though your life involved sickness and suffering?  Where is your hope?  Is your hope in retail therapy and status or is your hope in the God who cares for you in life and who promises to bring you to His heavenly home?  

Lazarus dies, and he is taken by the angels to Abraham’s side.  In life he was carried to the rich man’s gates by his friends.  In death, it is the angels who carry him to his heavenly home.  It is not that rich men can’t go to heaven.  Abraham was a rich man who did not put his riches before God.  Abraham is also seen as the father of all who put their faith in God.  Lazarus had been rejected in life, but he is eternally accepted.

While Lazarus was probably thrown anonymously into the community pauper’s grave, the rich man subsequently dies and is buried.  No doubt it was a large funeral with many people saying kind things about him.  However, the rich man goes straight to hell.

In hell there is no repentance

It is important to notice that the rich man continues to be self-absorbed in hell. 

He looks up and sees Abraham, with Lazarus at his side.  He addresses Abraham as his father.  He had not cared to obey the Bible’s teaching on care for those in need, but he thinks that he should be in heaven because of his Jewish heritage.  Abraham may have been his genetic father, but sadly Abraham was not his spiritual father.  Jesus is very clear in teaching us that it is not religious rituals or cultural background that puts people right with God. Like Abraham we are put right with God by simply trusting in the life-transforming promises of God (Genesis 15:6). 

The rich man asks Abraham to have mercy on him, and to send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ‘cool my tongue for me, for I am in anguish in the flame’ (24).  It is noteworthy that the rich man recognises Lazarus and knows his name.  He had not been unaware of the person who had sat at his gate.  Yet he had never done anything to help Lazarus.   Now he demands that Lazarus serves him!  There is no change of attitude in hell.

We might have hoped that the rich man would have looked at Lazarus and apologised to him, but he doesn’t even speak to Lazarus.  He doesn’t talk to people like beggars.  He simply asks that Lazarus be sent to him as a servant.  Hell is a place of regret, but not a place of repentance.  People continue in hell as they have lived—with themselves at the centre of their concerns.  If you haven’t centred your life on the person of Jesus, you might not like hell, but heaven will actually not be that appealing.

Abraham tells the rich man that a great chasm has been fixed between heaven and hell.  There is no crossing over.  We might understand why someone would want to leave hell, but why would Abraham have to mention that you cannot cross from heaven to hell?  Perhaps, because Lazarus is at Abraham’s side saying, ‘I’ll go and serve him!’

It is the hardness of our hearts that result in people going to hell

Having asked for Lazarus to be his servant he now asks Abraham to send him as an errand boy.  Send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers (28).  The rich man is only concerned about his own people.  Even tyrants can be concerned about their family.  Abraham tells him that if they have ignored God’s word (referred to here as ‘Moses and the Prophets’) then someone coming back from the dead won’t cause them to repent. 

A number of years ago someone gave me a copy of a talk by someone who claimed to have spent twenty minutes in hell.  I was somewhat sceptical.  I knew one church that played this talk in their service.  The problem is that Jesus is saying that such a talk will be of no use in bringing people to faith.  If we reject the teaching of God not even someone coming back from the dead will change our mind.

In John’s Gospel there was another Lazarus that Jesus did raise from the dead, yet there were many who saw that amazing miracle and still refused to turn to Christ.  The reason people don’t put their trust in Jesus is not because they don’t have enough evidence.  It has a lot more to do with the hardness of our hearts and our refusal to let go of all the other things we put before God.  What the rich man had put before God was money and luxury.  We run from the light for fear our evil deeds will be exposed.

Jesus died that we could be spared hell

It is important to notice where in Luke’s gospel this story has been told.  Luke has shown us that Jesus had set his face for Jerusalem where He was going to die for His people’s sins (Luke 9:51).  He would endure hell  so that we need not.  Jesus not only warns people about hell, He experienced hell in our place.

It is not only stuff that causes people to go to hell, it is anything that we put in the place of God.  Perhaps you don’t want to follow Jesus because you are scared of what people will think.  Maybe you don’t want to follow Jesus because you are scared of what He will ask you to do.  That would be a sad mistake to make.  Jesus loves you more than any friend can, He can satisfy you more than any purchase, and He will guide your life in ways that will be for your spiritual good.  Even if that means, like Lazarus, you have to endure sickness and poverty in this life.

Heaven and hell are where the story ends

Finally, notice how final this story is.

There are those who suggest that there will be a second chance to repent after we have died.  They base this opinion on a text that has been open to a wide variety of interpretations (1 Pet. 3:19-20 and 4:6[.  The problem is that their interpretation of this text seems to contradict the clear teaching of other texts that are more straight-forward.  It is not wise to base a questionable conclusion of a very debated understanding of a text that is open to a variety of interpretations, especially if the conclusion you are reaching seems at odds with the clear teaching of other more straight-forward passages of Scripture.  The author to the Hebrews seems to exclude the idea of post death conversion when he writes that it is appointed for people to die once and then face judgement (Heb, 9:27).  The other problem is that it does not seem that people are capable of repentance after they have died (Rev. 22:11).  As we have seen in this chapter, Jesus teaches us that in hell, people may experience regret, but they do not experience a softening of heart.

Another dead end is the doctrine of purgatory.  This doctrine has a long history in the Christian church, but it is a clear contradiction of the gospel.  It is actually a teaching that takes away from the glory and completeness of Jesus’ work on the cross. 

I was at the funeral of the mother of a friend of mine.  The priest actually claimed that it was not a Christian teaching to believe that people go straight to heaven when they die.  That is a clear contradiction of what we have seen of Lazarus in this passage.  The priest said that no one could go to heaven until they had been perfected and that we could help my friend’s mother on her way through our prayers, and even in the mass that was being offered.  The priest was actually reflecting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which reads, ‘all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death, they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.’

Yet when Jesus died, he cried ‘it is finished’ (John. 19:30).  Nothing further needed to be done to save people from their guilt.  No Christian is perfect (Phil. 3:12).  We deny the truth if we claim that we no longer sin (1 John. 1:8).  But a great exchange has taken place in the life of those who believe.  In Jesus, I am considered righteous, as His righteous life is gifted to me and as I realise that all my sin has been removed by His sacrificial death.  It is not our perfection that will get us into heaven, it is Jesus’ perfection that will take us there.  Because of Jesus the Christian no longer lives under condemnation (Rom. 8:1), and we can be assured that to depart from this life is to go and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23).    

Conclusion

So how do we answer Bertrand Russell’s objection to Jesus, that no humane person could believe in hell?  We can begin by pointing out that when we read the gospel there is no one who has compassion like Jesus.  Say what you like about Him, but you cannot deny that He is a man of love.  But love is not the only attribute of God: so is goodness.  A loving and good God cannot be indifferent to the evil that human beings do.  In fact, Jesus’ love is so strong for humanity that He gave His life for people (Gal. 2:20).  He experienced hell so that we would not need to.  Jesus speaks about hell, not to frighten people, but to lovingly warn them.  He teaches the reality of hell so that we might escape its terrors.  If we do not heed His loving warnings the fault will be entirely ours.  May God give us the courage to follow His loving example and warn people about the consequences of their choice about Jesus.

Let’s pray:

‘Lord Jesus, you were not ashamed to talk about hell.  Forgive me that at times I am embarrassed by what you taught so clearly.  Help me love people enough to bring this topic up with them.  Help me love people the way you love people.  Help people understand the gospel and have the opportunity to know your forgiveness.  Amen’.