Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 2, 2002

Deuteronomy 11:18-28

Romans 3:21-28

Matthew 7:21-27

 

At the height of the Victorian period in England in the 1860's, it was very much the vogue in Evangelical circles of the Church of England to preach hell fire and damnation. Bibles were illustrated with graphic pictures of the unpleasant fate that awaited those who disobeyed God's commandments. The skill of preachers was judged by how well they instilled the fear of God into their hearers. One such preacher in London developed a reputation well outside his neighborhood. His sermons often lasted over an hour. One minute he would thump the pulpit and cry out in a loud voice. The next minute he would lower his voice almost to a whisper and plead with the people to mend their ways before it was too late. Grown men were reduced to tears. Women would swoon and have to be helped from the church. One Sunday, a stranger came to the church and seated himself discretely in the back pew. Despite a particularly blistering sermon on that occasion, the stranger remained unmoved. He smiled a little to himself and occasionally nodded.  At the conclusion of the sermon, his neighbor in the pew turned to him with astonishment.   "Did the preacher's words not move you at all?  Don't you fear the flames of Hell?  Have you no fear of God?"  Patiently, the stranger turned to him and said: "Well, you see, his words didn't apply to me.  I live in a different parish."

 

Though the days of this sort of sermon have long passed - at least in the mainstream churches - many of us were still bought up to believe that fear of God is a healthy thing. The Bible itself tells us that God is to be feared for two reasons. Firstly, God is the creator of all that there is. He is the author of the storm and tempest, his power makes the sun shine and the planets move. We are wise to fear a being with so much power. Secondly, the Bible tells us that we are to fear God because our ultimate fate is in his hands.  He not only has the power to make, he also has the power to destroy.  The Victorian preachers of Hell fire applied this power to the moral realm. Obey and be saved. Disobey and be damned - it is as easy as that. 

 

In his letter to the Romans, Paul has a different understanding of what it means to fear God. He does not divide the world into the obedient and the disobedient; into the sinners and the saved. The whole world is one big parish of sinners. There is no other sort of human being than a sinner. God is so great, so powerful and so loving that even Our best efforts will not earn us a place in heaven. Comparisons between the goodness of God and our feeble attempts at goodness are not possible. If we wish to be admitted into God's presence, then God himself must take the initiative to forgive and to accept us. Paul tells us that God has already accomplished that task in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.  (Romans 3:22-24)

 

We need have no unhealthy fear of a terrible and judgmental God who is thirsty for our damnation and ready to pounce upon our every misdeed.  God’s love has already been extended to us all.  He has already pronounced forgiveness of our sins, whether we committed them through ignorance, through weakness, or with premeditated deliberation.  It is simply up to us to accept that forgiveness with humility.

 

In what sense, then, should we fear God?  I am sure that all of us have had the experience of avoiding or hiding from the counsel of a good friend when we know that what they will tell us will be right.  They have our best interests at heart, but they also know that the changes that we need to make in our lives will be painful and difficult.  God is like that good friend.  He knows us best, and will call us to a fullness of life whose attainment may well be painful and hard.  We can fear those changes, but we also know that they are necessary and right.  This is the process of salvation, the cycle of forgiveness and rebirth.  Each of us is called to follow that path and to go where Christ has gone before.  Rest assured that, painful as it may be, it is all accomplished in the boundless and never-failing love of God. 

 

The Revd. Nigel Massey