The judgement of God

“Fire and brimstone preachers”. People often raise this image with me. Even though I doubt many people today have experienced it, I think it’s a way of saying that we’ve heard enough about judgement and we want to focus on the positive.

I think we need to discuss the judgement of God. It matters. Why?

1) Salvation makes no sense without it.

2) Without it there is no justice

3) Without the judgement of God there is no affirmation of what is good.

4) It shows how seriously God takes our choices and the position of honour He gave us

So how does God judge?

1) Death
In Genesis 3 we are told that the choice to rebel would lead to death. In God’s mercy this was not immediate, yet everyone born of Adam is spiritually dead (Eph 2:1-2) and will one day die physically. We were not created to die but to enjoy God’s rest. Death is part of God’s judgement.

2) Immediate consequence

There are times in the Bible when God responds to sin by an immediate judgement.

Two examples are Herod (Acts 12:21-23) and the Christians in Corinth (1 Cor 11:20-30). This is what we would expect but God in His mercy withholds.

3) Final judgement

God’s kindness, tolerance and patience (Rom 2:1-4) can only last so long. God has set a day when He will judge the whole earth (Acts 17:31). This day of judgement is called the “last day” (John 6:39) or “that day” (Is 10:20-23, Joel 1, Amos 5:18-20).

God will stop history and call everyone to give an account of their lives and conduct (Dan 12:1-13, Rev 20:11-15). No-one is exempt and every wrong is accounted for.

4) Christ takes our judgement

There is a cup of God’s anger that is ready to be poured out (Ps 75, Is 51:17-23, Jer 25:15-29). This is what we must drink on the last day.

But in the garden of Gethsemane we learn that Jesus is going to drink this cup for us (Mark 14:36). The righteous one will stand in the place of the unrighteous (Is 53:4-6, Rom 3:21-26, 2 Cor 5:21).

Jesus takes our judgement on the cross. This is seen with the darkness over the whole land (Mark 15:31).

5) Judgement of creation

To bring about a new creation involves a destruction of the old. This is described in 2 Peter 3:10, 12, Rev 21:1. Romans 8 sees creation groaning for the new to come and the restoration that the sons of God will bring (Rom 8:19-21).

6) Judgement of Christians

It’s interesting that Paul’s ministry is carried because he is aware of the judgement seat of God (2 Cor 5:10). Being saved does not make everything permissible. God is still a consuming fire (Heb 12:28) and we will still be held accountable for our actions even though our names are in the book of life.

This sounds really scary, BUT, this judgement has an upside. It means that Christians will be vindicated for choosing the path of righteousness. It means that we will stand before God and He will declare, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21). Our ministry will be shown for what it is (2 Cor 3:10-15) and we will experience the joy of seeing those we ministered to standing in the kingdom (1 Thess 2:19-20) as our reward.

We mustn’t doubt that God will judge. This shouldn’t lead to us judging others. Instead it should promote humility and gratitude that God has provided a way for us to avoid condemnation through Christ Jesus. Knowing that there is a judgement day helps us to do good even when we face suffering for this, because we will be vindicated on that day.

NCD on leadership

Leadership

As part of our evaluation we’ve identified two areas that we want to work on in the second half of the year: leadership and Sunday Services.

I’ve just finished a book on leadership from the Natural Church Development group. Here is a summary of the book.

Today leadership is defined as success. In fact, they are seen as synonymous. This is not true.

Leadership is about leadership and influence.

Now leadership is about moving people from A to B, but it matters how you do this. The quadrants below show the different methods you can use

Some people feel comfortable about working alongside people, others like to decide the direction.

Leadership is a good mix of both, because it not only shows the direction but empowers them to lead others there too.

Now in leadership we are taught to focus on the results. But we can confuse what the results are with the measures to achieve results. Let me show you what I mean

Measure Results

No. of attenders Mature follower of the Lord Jesus Christ

Amount of money collected

No of ministries run

The measures assist in promoting the result, but they are not the final goal.

So to summarise, we need direct and empower, knowing what result we desire and the means of measuring progress.

The rest of the book is dedicated to what he describes as the 6 wing traits. These are the traits that will produce results and develop other leaders.

The traits are

1) Vision

a) You need to cast a vision that helps people see beyond the task to what is achieved by their contribution.

b) You also need to release the vision of others.

2) Experimentation

a) You need to allow for mistakes. In fact you should expect them. It’s only through trial and error that you find the best path.

b) You also need to learn from mistakes instead of repeating them.

3) Capacity

a) Focus on your strengths

b) Assess your weaknesses

4) Strategy

a) Set goals which are qualitative and can be monitored

b) Analyse your present situation (what is essential, your strengths and what do you need to stop)

5) Training

a) Teach the principles

b) Model the principles

6) Progression

a) Advocate bold moves

b) Nurture steady progress

Promoting Spiritual Growth

Follow Me

Willow Creek Community church decided to survey it's members about how they were going in becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. The results staggered them.

So they extended the survey to 80,000 people from over 200 churches. Here is what they discovered through the process.

 

Firstly, there is a spiritual continuum:

Exploring Christ- “I believe in God but I’m not sure about Christ”

Growing in Christ- “I’m working on what it means to trust in Jesus”

Close to Christ- “I feel close to Christ and depend on Him daily for guidance”

Christ-centred- “This is the most important relationship in my life”

Spiritual attitudes and behaviours increase significantly in frequency and intensity as people move along the continuum.

Secondly there four categories of spiritual catalysts:

1) Spiritual beliefs and attitudes

2) Organised church activities

3) Personal spiritual practices

4) Spiritual activities with others.

These catalysts to help movement along the continuum. Below is a table of what is most influential for each movement  

	Exploring Christ		Growing in Christ		Close to Christ		Christ-Centred
Beliefs and attitudes		Salvation by grace The trinity Personal God Christ is first Authority of the Bible		Personal God Salvation by grace Authority of the Bible Christ is first Identity in Christ		Giving away my life Christ is first Identity in Christ Authority of the Bible Stewardship
Church Activities		Serve the church Weekend services Small groups		Serve those in need Serve the church Adult education classes Small groups		Serve those in need Additional teaching/worship service
Personal spiritual practices		Reflection on Scripture Bible Reading Prayer to seek guidance Prayer to confess sins		Reflection on Scripture Prayer to seek guidance Tithing Solitude Bible Reading		Reflection on Scripture Solitude Bible Reading Prayer to confess sins Tithing Prayer to seek guidance
Spiritual activities with others		Spiritual friendships		Evangelism Spiritual friendships Serving those in need Spiritual mentors		Evangelism Spiritual mentors Serving those in need

 This is a very simple and straightforward approach to spiritual growth. The only problem is that nearly every Christian surveyed indicated that they had stalled in their Christian life at some stage. In fact, 22% of those surveyed were currently stalled.

It's hard for an organisation to change this, because the solution is found in returning to spiritual practices, going through a personal crisis or being inspired. There is also the problem of people (17% of survey) being dissatisfied with their church). They suggest that the dissatisfied are addressed and their issues thought through rather than shrugged off.

The one thing they did want to emphasise is that the Bible is the most powerful catalyst for growth. Not only does it help movement, the Bible was significant in helping the stalled and dissatisfied

So how can these findings help us to promote spiritual growth?