Imagine that! Friends with the Creator of all that is seen and unseen! Every being created is a servant of God. By nature we are servants who are hostile toward God and are worthy only of His present and eternal punishment. We all know this don’t we. This causes much fear in people that they either deny the existence of God or form one whom they can manipulate into loving them.
Jesus came in human flesh to accomplish what we cannot even dream of doing. He came to make us different by declaration. He calls us His friends:
John 15: 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ESV
In a recent conversation with some Christians it was mentioned that a few of them do not believe only in one Day of Judgment. Rather what is hoped is that Christians are taken out of this world in a special move of God prior to the last day. This view goes by the name of Premillennialism. The bothering part of the single Day of Judgment taught clearly by Jesus is each time the statement is made about being judged according to our works. This causes much fear in many Christians about the final judgement. This is one of the reasons for the wishful thinking about seperate days when Jesus takes the church home and judges the lost. When we are honest with ourselves we have to admit we fall short on a continual basis. So how can we survive this last Day of Judgment where works are going to be examined?
In a sermon a while back the following illustration was used by Pastor Wm Cwirla of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights California:
A person I know got an invitation from a friend of his, who happened to be the director of the San Francisco Bach Society, to come to a rehearsal of the San Francisco Orchestra. He got to tour backstage and see the side of the concert hall that usually only the musicians saw. One of the security guards saw him wandering around backstage and questioned him. “What are you doing here,” he asked. “I’m with him,” the man said, pointing to his friend. I imagine that’s what Judgment Day will be like, when the Law says, “What are you doing here?” and the only response will be to point to Jesus and say, “I’m with Him.” *
So we can lay aside our fears that the law generates in us about meeting Jesus on that day. He fulfilled the laws requirements for us. In addition Jesus paid for our transgressions of that law with His holy and innocent sufferings and death. As those who are baptized into the Name of the Holy Triune God can know we have this promised to us as well as in this life we are no longer hostile servants but truly His friends.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. †
Jesus came in human flesh to accomplish what we cannot even dream of doing. He came to make us different by declaration. He calls us His friends:
John 15: 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ESV
In a recent conversation with some Christians it was mentioned that a few of them do not believe only in one Day of Judgment. Rather what is hoped is that Christians are taken out of this world in a special move of God prior to the last day. This view goes by the name of Premillennialism. The bothering part of the single Day of Judgment taught clearly by Jesus is each time the statement is made about being judged according to our works. This causes much fear in many Christians about the final judgement. This is one of the reasons for the wishful thinking about seperate days when Jesus takes the church home and judges the lost. When we are honest with ourselves we have to admit we fall short on a continual basis. So how can we survive this last Day of Judgment where works are going to be examined?
In a sermon a while back the following illustration was used by Pastor Wm Cwirla of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights California:
A person I know got an invitation from a friend of his, who happened to be the director of the San Francisco Bach Society, to come to a rehearsal of the San Francisco Orchestra. He got to tour backstage and see the side of the concert hall that usually only the musicians saw. One of the security guards saw him wandering around backstage and questioned him. “What are you doing here,” he asked. “I’m with him,” the man said, pointing to his friend. I imagine that’s what Judgment Day will be like, when the Law says, “What are you doing here?” and the only response will be to point to Jesus and say, “I’m with Him.” *
So we can lay aside our fears that the law generates in us about meeting Jesus on that day. He fulfilled the laws requirements for us. In addition Jesus paid for our transgressions of that law with His holy and innocent sufferings and death. As those who are baptized into the Name of the Holy Triune God can know we have this promised to us as well as in this life we are no longer hostile servants but truly His friends.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. †
*Used by permission of Rev William Cwirla. His podcasted sermons are linked at the right of this blog.
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