Fire and Brimstone, with a Twist [part one] ...

Perception is tough in the eyes of the blind.  How do you know where you are, or what you need if your eyesight is impaired?  But to complicate it, what if you only choose to be blind, simply choose not to see.  Look at it another way.  How do you get help? - You ask for it.  But when you are certain you need no help, you are nearly certain not to ask.  And the perception of someone else, that you are in desperate need of help, is meaningless unless you share that same perception, recognize your need, and ask for the help that will resolve the matter.  This is the splinter that resides in the eyes of the sinner; that they have forgotten their need, or choose not to see it.  And this is the tree-trunk that resides in the eyes of the modern Christian; that they believe it is their job to convict of sin, when only the Holy Spirit can do that.  So how do we save both the sinner, and the modern Christian, who refuse to see their need?  Short answer is; we don’t, but Jesus does.

Perhaps one of the most famous “fire and brimstone” preachers in scripture was John the Baptist (at least if you only read Matthew’s account).  John preached “repentance”.  But is repentance condemnatory, or redemptive?  John calls sinners to repentance; he does not burst into their lives, pointing out their sins, and reminding them of how wrong each sin is from heaven’s accounting point of view.  Actually, he makes no accusation at all about “which” sin any of his listeners might be committing.  Instead John focuses only on the “need” to repent.  “Which” sins we have committed, the ones we know we should not have done, is a silent matter between us and God.  It is the Holy Spirit that calls those desires, actions and motives to mind.  It is the Holy Spirit who would see us freed from our bondage to them, not continually enslaved to them.  But there goes that funny thing of perception once again.

The Holy Spirit sees the sin in us for what it truly is; an addiction to self-love we are powerless to break.  Even if our hands can be held in check, our hearts cannot.  We still want to sin.  And very often we do what we want.  When we see we are unable to fix the cycle of sin, when we recognize our need, then FINALLY Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit is able to free us from those desires, motives and actions that otherwise enslave us.  But the perception of sin as enslaving is one the divine understands.  The human perception of sin is often not the same.  We see sin as some sort of fun-house, we don’t want to lose.  We see the lack of sin as boredom squared.  A life without any disobedience is the life of some goody-two-shoes we would simply not want.  So we cling to our sins, figuring we can always give them up in our future.  But that future never arrives.  Even though we do not seem to evolve, our sin does.  Sin does change over time in that it gets worse.  We hurt others more, we hurt ourselves more, and we hurt God more (because He loves us and hates seeing us do this to ourselves).

The trick for saving sinners then, is to simply expose them to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit takes over from there.  But here is where performing this work gets tricky.  Most modern Christians believe it is their job to preach the word; defining those terms as condemning and judging others who are clearly sinners for the sins they commit.  We believe our job is to enlighten these ignorant sinners about the sins they commit, as if they could not see them themselves.  We believe that only through our careful enlightenment and public exposure of their sins, will the sinner ever desire to leave those sins behind (I would guess through embarrassment of public ridicule as this plan has not been well thought out).  While we ourselves still cling to the pet-sins in our own lives, we are quick to condemn the same ones in the lives of others.  Our entire “gospel” then becomes pointing out sins in others.  No love.  No redemption.  No method of actually getting rid of those sins, but then, how could we offer something we have never experienced.  So when you boil it down; we offer, no hope.  At least, no hope for living differently in this world.  We bundle up forgiveness and sell the prospects of life in the next world.  In this one, only condemnation for the crap in your life.

So to save our modern Christian, we need to recognize our need of an entirely different gospel.  The new gospel does not depend on you or me.  The new gospel depends only on Jesus.  If work needs to get done, then Jesus must do it.  In us, for us, in spite of us.  We keep pointing at Jesus, and Jesus takes over from there.  Jesus deals with the sins, the desires to sin, and sometimes our continued failures in sin.  The best way to point to Jesus is to love, not to focus on sin.  Loving someone gives them a reason to change, not a reason to rebel.  Loving someone in spite of what they do, gives them an example of forgiveness, not an ethereal explanation of it.  But loving like this is hard.  Well at least, it is hard with an unchanged heart.  Time to go to Jesus again.  Time to seek an entirely different heart and subsequently different perspective.  Fear just does not do the job.  But love does.  So let’s examine the ministry of John the Baptist (from the perspective of Matthew) and see what kind of twist he puts in the reputation he carries for one of the loudest and most famous hellfire and brimstone preachers.

Matthew begins his account in chapter three of his gospel picking up in verse 1 saying … “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, [verse 2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew has skipped forward through the youthful years of Jesus and is now right at the public start of His ministry.  John the Baptist is actually the cousin of Jesus and just coincidentally follows the customs of the Nazarene’s with his own hair.  John is what we would call an ultra-conservative in appearance and manner.  Thus far, a perfect candidate for hellfire and brimstone preaching.  But the twist is in his message.  It is a simple one.  John calls for repentance.  John also offers a reason why repentance is so important at this time in earth’s history; because the kingdom of God is at hand.  God is about to be with us.  God will be in human form, and in point of fact, he has already been with us for nearly 30 years with only minimal notice.  So why is the message of John different?  Because John is declaring that God will be revealed to all of us very shortly.  Proximity with God.  The ability to see God, talk to God, and have the eyes of God look right through you.

Now imagine you are a typical Israelite in these days.  Chances are you are too poor to have the luxury of time to commit a wide variety of sins.  But poverty is no protection against the sins you are certain to have committed in spite of it.  You go to Temple.  You make sacrifice.  But you have never thought that God might be within talking distance.  You have never thought of having God be close enough to see you with human eyes, but divine insight.  If you are to greet God in person, you want to be ready to do it.  You want to be clean inside.  You want to be dipped into the waters, have your carnal nature symbolically die, and be resurrected a new creation.  A new creation unto your God, who has been so long desired.  None of this message has anything to do with toppling the Roman empire.  None of this message has anything to do with condemnation of you for what you do.  Instead it is an opportunity to make ready inside yourself for God.  It is open to everyone.  It is constant.  John is always preaching about it.  And when you are close, you feel the Holy Spirit convict your heart, and you long to make ready and be clean.

The message of repentance is not about judgment, it is about proximity with God on earth.  The message of repentance is not about punishment it is about reconciliation.  Your average sinner gets this.  Your average sinner has been exposed to the Holy Spirit through the ministry of John, without condemnation or judgment or public humiliation.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  Again Matthew ties together the Old Testament with the New in the life of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah foretold of the power of this message (referencing his book in chapter 40 and verse 3).  This proclamation would therefore be blessed by the Holy Spirit as the time for it was at hand.  Malachi (referencing chapter 4 and verse 5) would also foretell of it in the sending of Elijah before the end of time.  Jesus would later call reference to Malachi, in explaining the importance of the ministry of John, and how John’s ministry fulfills those words.

Matthew then goes on to describe John more fully and the results of his ministry among sinners picking up in verse 4 saying … “And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. [verse 5] Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, [verse 6] And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”  John wore simple homemade clothing from things he could put together.  John ate bugs (large ugly ones) and likely dipped them in honey to enhance the taste.  His diet was desert fair, food his God would provide to him.  Matthew describes these things not as the reason people came to see him.  But to insure his readers understand John was not wearing priestly clothing of fine raiment, and eating a priestly diet of sacrificial meats and vegetables a priest could afford.  John was dirt poor.  His clothing and his food were poorer than those who came to see him.  Even beggars did better financially than John.  But John was taken care of by God.  While John did not have much, he had what he needed from his God.

Then there was the results of the ministry of John.  Word of mouth, spread quickly about John.  Not because he was some nut in the desert near the river preaching nutball theories.  But John’s ministry held spiritual blessing, and the Holy Spirit was present to all who would come to hear.  John was not preaching to make income, or himself famous.  John was preaching for his listeners, with the ecstatic news that God would soon be among them.  His words were loud and clear, and pierced right to the heart of those who came to hear.  When they went home at night, they told everyone they knew about what had happened to them.  They had been baptized in the river Jordan without a second thought.  In spite of how embarrassing it might have been they publicly declared and confessed their sins during the baptism because they were so moved by the Holy Spirit.  They came to John burdened, they left unburdened and made free by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This message was not to be missed.

So many modern preachers believe it is their duty, their responsibility, to reach the hearts of their listeners.  But it is not.  They offer only words.  It is the Holy Spirit that turns those simple words in the ears of the listener into life altering musings from the very throne of God Himself.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the listener is willing to give up his sins, begin his life over, and lay everything at the altar of our God.  They come burdened but leave free.  They come burdened but leave with a sense of hope.  No modern preacher accomplishes this feat, but the Holy Spirit cannot be denied in doing it. 

The difference between the results from one sermon to another is not the skill of the preacher, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the listeners.  The preacher already knows the truth.  The listeners are revealed the Truth in a deeper way ONLY by the Holy Spirit, or not at all.  The preacher’s blessing is to offer the testimony of what Jesus has done for him.  The preacher is honored to participate.  But it is the Holy Spirit who drives ALL the results, not just some of them.  How often has the Holy Spirit been stifled, because the minister believes he can do it himself, with his great oratory skills, with his great PowerPoint overheads, and because he has achieved a level of fame in himself.  It is our taking the credit the stifles the flow of He who alone can accomplish what our feeble attempts never will.

Matthew has concluded his recollections of John’s ministry for the common sinners among us.  He has recited a brilliant ministry with stunning national results in changing the life of the common believer.  Israel had not seen this kind of ministry since the age of the prophets, and even they were not often focused on the common man.  This was unprecedented.  This could serve well the effort of a modern ministry or Christian as an example of public outreach.  John was steeped in humility.  John shunned all wealth, he took no offerings to support his ministry.  John was homeless.  John lived off the land and the mercy of God.  John’s ministry was blessed by the Holy Spirit.  John offered a way to become clean again.  John never called out any particular sinner’s sin, or publicly humiliated anyone.  John offered a way to be free, and many took him up on it.  John had twisted the rules of a fire and brimstone preacher quite a bit.  But this was for the common man, the common sinner, the common believer.

The message of John for the leadership of the church was something else entirely …

 

To Know the Will of God ...

What are we supposed to do?  Very often we reach decision points in our lives where the path forward seems very uncertain.  Do I go left or right?  Do I vote my heart or my head?  Do we proceed with this mission work even though we do not have the funds?  The answers to our quandaries are also not readily available in scripture.  We try to apply Biblical principles to our decisions, when so often in our modern world we lack a one-for-one scriptural answer.  We pray about our questions and ask to know what the will of God is for what we face.  Prayer is the most awesome tool in our arsenal.  But for most of us, prayer is a one-way street.  That is, we, do all the talking, God seems silent to us.  The prayers give us a sense of hope that our question will be answered somehow.  But this leaves us searching for an answer in the clues of the divine, not hearing an audible response from God directly on how to proceed.

So what to do?  Our God is the same God, from eternities ago, till infinities ahead.  He is a constant.  He is unchanging.  For how could love ever change and still call itself love?  The expression of His love may seem to grow in our eyes.  Our perspective on His love grows.  But His love was always there, it is us that is growing, not Him.  But for humanity, as times change, so do priorities, and methods.  Jesus did not speak to us directly, or prophetically, about our taste in our music.  He gave no dissertations about the use of an internet ministry, or an addiction to it.  He did not directly say whether we should engage full steam ahead in a TV ministry whether by broadcast, or satellite, or podcast.  Jesus never directly spoke about the “issues” the modern church faces in ministry to the world.  Jesus gave no direction about when a fetus becomes a baby.  There are scattered scriptures that touch on this, but no direct sermon from Jesus Himself while He was here.  Nor did Jesus speak directly about homosexuality whether in or out of the church.  These issues that so perplex the mind of the modern Christian seemed to occupy no time at all in His.

So when we face dilemmas in ministry we look to the remainder of the Bible to find direction on what to do.  We apply Biblical principles and come up with Biblical doctrines based upon our interpretation of how to proceed, and what is acceptable or not.  But then, like in our personal lives, our questions seem to take up all the talking in the room.  Listening to God, hearing Him directly, is a long-lost art.  Those who claim to have heard His voice directly, are immediately ridiculed by those who claim His name, because often the messages they report appear self-serving, and reflect a lack of love that Jesus gave no example of here on earth.  Most of those who claim to know the will of God, have a message of condemnation for the remainder of us.  Is this the God we serve?  Has love that was meant to provide an escape from our sins, and our desire to sin, now become a judgment of hatred from God Himself for our sins?  Seems unlikely.  So what is the will of God.  What are we supposed to do?

Things changed after the cross.  Not the questions in our lives of how to move forward.  But the priorities and the methods of His church.  Peter recalls to John Mark in his gospel in chapter sixteen picking up in verse 15 saying … “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”  These were the words of Jesus Christ Himself, after the cross, after the resurrection.  He commands His church to “Go”.  But in our age we are content to stay put.  We prefer routine over adventure.  We prefer safety over the risk of movement into the unfamiliar.  We seek the rut of our lives, the routine of it.  Disruption of our routine becomes a fearful thing.  And Satan uses our fear to move, our fear to go, to keep the ministry locked up in the minds and hearts of those who already know it, at least in theory.  It is as the church was when only three women knew the gospel and would not speak it for fear.

If we are to make contact, we must be in proximity with others.  The gospel is not an ethereal concept.  It is a story of love, love that transforms, love that builds passion in the listener for those who have not heard it yet.  If we only crowd the pews we have ever crowded, we restrict the gospel to within the walls of the church, and demonstrate no passion for anyone other than ourselves.  The disciples already loved each other.  They had no need to fellowship together every week, once a week, and demonstrate what all of them already knew.  They had need to separate and spread the message of love to anyone and everyone who had not heard it yet.  Jesus does not even use the word men or women defining His target audience, He uses the word “creature”.  There is no-one beyond the love of Jesus.  He intends for ALL to hear, even the birds, dogs, cats, and nearby bugs if needs be, when spreading the good news of the gospel.  No matter what we think about the person we are destined to spread love to, we are to go to them, and share it.

The expectation is not for the hurting, dying, and erring ones to magically decide to come to church to hear the good news.  It is a command from Jesus that we “Go” to them.  That we take the love of Jesus directly to the person who needs it.  The gospel is a story of the love of God.  It is the story of Jesus Christ.  The life of Jesus Christ is unencumbered by the doctrines of the Pharisees, or the traditions of the Jewish faith in His day.  It is a more pure story, a living one.  It is the story of Jesus Christ, that causes us to re-look at scripture through His lens, not through the filters of our own preconceived ideas.  The story of Jesus Christ is not encumbered by the doctrinal beliefs of our day of our denominations.  Jesus was not a Catholic, or a Baptist, or a Mormon, or and Adventist.  Jesus is God.  Jesus was and is love incarnate.  Jesus carries no denominational affiliation.  He is Jew by birth, but God by religion. 

The story of Jesus, is the story of the gospel.  And what will happen when we Go?  John Mark continues in verse 16 saying … “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  Those who hear must believe first.  God the author of our faith so longs to spark it in one who has never heard the gospel message, or seen love demonstrated by a follower of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit, so longs to bless the ministry of love to one hearing and in need.  To create belief when none existed before.  When we demonstrate a passion of love for the listener, really care about them as Jesus cares about them, we create a lure of love that our God uses to fan the flames of belief in a heart where none existed before.  But this effort by our God is so horribly dampened, when our message and our example is distant, cold, unfeeling or apathetic.  When we truly do not care for our listener, we represent our God of passion, as a God who could care less.  So far from His truth.  When we seek to meet our own needs before we dare to inspect the needs of another, it is we who need the message of truth.

But a real demonstration of love from a follower of Jesus to one in need, positions the Holy Spirit to fan flames of belief and reception.  When there is no hate in us, and no hate in our words, or our message, our God can work miracles as never before.  This is not a message of judgment and consequences for sin.  This is a message of love, reconciliation, and transformation that Jesus brings to any who believe.  Those flames of belief grow from a small fire to a forest fire in the heart of the new convert.  Until love for God is so strong, the new convert wishes for a public recognition of it through the tradition and ministry of baptism.  John the Baptist held his ministry in the Jordan river.  Jesus baptized there as well.  And now as we Go into the world, we must find places we can dip the new converts into the water submersing their old lives of sin, and bring them forth new creatures and new creations unto God.  The symbolism deepens faith in the one who is baptized and the ones who witness it.  It deepens belief.  It is why Jesus requests it of us.

For the curse of our lives is unbelief.  A refusal to believe will be our undoing.  A resistance against the Holy Spirit who aches to fan flames of belief within us.  Hearing the fantastic story of Jesus Christ calls for faith to believe; it calls for the suspension of human logic, and the embrace of divine logic.  Few accept these stories without a demonstration of what it has done in the life of one who does believe.  If the life of the disciple or follower of Jesus is not one bit better than the life of the unconverted, why should they believe.  Transformation is real.  Transformation brings with it witness.  Our own testimony is what God has done for us, not what we have done for ourselves.  Our own testimony is unique to us.  It is a statement of what the gospel has done for us in practical terms and why we love another so much.  It is what drives us to go, and what drives us to care.  That fire is something tangible that others can see.  It is a difference that is discernable.

The story of Jesus is the story of the Son of God coming to reconcile man to God because of love.  It precludes all other methods of finding God the Father.  There is no method of meditation or self-sacrifice or enlightenment that leads one back to God the Father.  Buddha will not get the job done.  None of the Hindu Gods will do it either.  Attempting to worship God the Father without recognizing His Son as our Jewish and Muslim brothers attempt to do, will inevitably result in failure.  The transformation of the heart to lose the desire to sin, can only happen if you believe Jesus can and will do it for you.  A lack of belief in Jesus cuts off the only source that can relieve you from your desire to sin at all.  Without the embrace of Jesus as the Son of God, there is no mechanism to do it that works.  Those who believe they can be “good people” without embracing any religion, will find their subjective goodness is just not enough.  The embrace of the gospel is about more than just forgiveness, it is about transformation into something else, something better.  And Jesus is the singular mechanism for seeing it done.

John Mark continues in verse 17 saying … “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; [verse 18] They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  These signs, these miracles, these tools to aid in meeting the needs of others, and deepening belief in those who have never heard.  All these signs follow “them that believe”.  Think about that for a moment.  Jesus does not restrict this to pastors, preachers, bishops, members of one faith or another.  Jesus does not restrict this to men only, He includes women, the aged, the youth, every race, from every culture.  The only prerequisite is belief in the gospel story.  In the name of Jesus is the key that unlocks these signs.  Not in the name of a generic God.  Not in the name of God the Father even, but in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.  This is a reaffirming of belief once again.

What is done through these signs is casting out the bondage to sin in the form of possession.  This is a recognition that our enemy is real, unrelenting, and no less active in our day than he was then.  Speaking in new languages facilitates communication of the gospel message to those you would otherwise not understand.  Serpents and deadly drinks were common ways in which people were poisoned in those days.  Jesus here offers protection against the assassin’s chief weapon.  And finally, healing others, healing the non-believers in the name of Jesus.  As with the ministry of Jesus, no conversion was required first.  Meeting the needs was done first.  A demonstration of the love of Jesus Christ was done first.  Only then was the heart more open to belief in what seems like the impossible.  There was no time constraint put on these signs and tools.  There was no restriction of who could utilize them, only that we utilize them in His ministry.

John Mark records the post script to this commission in verse 19 saying … “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. [verse 20] And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”  Jesus ascends not long after this commission.  And this time, the church did as the Lord had instructed.  The gospel was spread in that day.  But what about in ours?  Are we asking the right questions?  Given that these instructions are no less relevant than in those days; are our questions we ask of God for His will reflective of this fact.  Do we go left or right?  Does this include the directive by Jesus to Go and to spread the gospel.  Would that fact influence which way we think follows the will of God?  When it comes to questions of ministry, are we designing methods and systems to follow up our electronic outreach with personal outreach behind it?  Are we still going, or now only sitting?

Have we constrained our message of outreach to the pure gospel of the story of Jesus, or have we indoctrinated it with the tenets of our own denomination?  If our testimony is not unique, but reflective of others, then what have we to say personally.  What Jesus did for my mom or dad, or wife, is a good story, but what has He done for me personally is more impactful.  The gospel is an infecting virus that creates a passion to love others.  If it is not creating that passion in me, I have likely lost sight of what the real gospel is.  And this commission was given to ALL who believe.  The signs and tools of the ministry were granted to ALL who believe.  No age limits.  No racial implications.  To both men and women.  Perhaps it is time for our church to refocus on the pure message of the gospel; to Go, to reach out, and find ones that still need a tangible demonstration of what the love of God can do for them through you.