Think of any place you were at today. Any place will do. Remember the faces you may have seen there. Granted, you don't know the life of the person if they are a complete stranger. Here's the reality of the situation. Even here in America, there are people who don't know who Jesus is and what He means for them.
This is a continuation of my last blog post. I went through a lot of things. This is another thing that I think we are all guilty of as a part of the church. As a people, we would much rather ignore the fact of hell. There are two eternities. One is heaven, where we will sing praises of the King forever and things will happen that I can't even comprehend. The point is this, we will be with God forever. The God who created us and shaped us to be with Him forever.
The other eternity is hell. It's not nearly as nice of a place though. For one, it means being separated from God forever. Then there is the eternal torment part too... Can't forget that. Honestly, as I write this I am shaking. I don't like the idea of hell... It scares me. In all reality though, hell is the reason why Christians can't go through life complacently. It is the reason why we cannot sit back and wait until we go to heaven. There are lives at stake here. If people don't accept Him as their Savior then they will go hell and face something that is worse then death.
"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved - and that by God." Philippians 1:27-28
There are two things that I want to bring up in this passage. This is not the first time that opposition is ever mentioned in the New Testament. Jesus himself gets into an altercation with some Pharisees, which really isn't anything new. Jesus and the Pharisees had words many times during His lifetime. The Pharisees were saying that Jesus drove out demons by the power of Beelzebub, who is the devil. Jesus goes into a long winded answer to this but I think one thing in this passage could pertain to the passage above.
"Whoever is not with is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Matthew 12:30
This sentence is very clear. It's fairly easy to see that there are two ways to go about life, without Jesus or with Him. Against is a synonym of oppose. They mean basically the same thing. So therefore, the believers that Paul was talking to were with Christ whereas there were some people who opposed them. These people were against Him or not with Him.
Later in the Philippians letter, Paul talks about how there are two different ways for believers and nonbelievers to go.
"For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body." Philippians 3:18-21
This passage clearly shows a divergence. Jesus spoke a lot when He was on earth of a place where "weeping and gnashing of teeth," occurred. It is so clear that hell exists. Jesus, God in the flesh, Creator among the created, spoke about it with purpose. He wanted us to know that it was there, that it is a threat. I do this too sometimes. I will ignore the fact that hell exists sometimes. Honestly, an existence without hell is very appealing. I don't make the rules though. God does. There is one way and that is through Jesus. He is "the Way the Truth and the Life." Jesus talks about two roads, one that is narrow and hard to travel. The other is wide and easy to travel. The first leads to heaven and an eternity with the One who created everything. The second leads to hell and to travel it, simply ignore Jesus. Do not travel this road. If you believe in Christ, do not let other people go down the wide road that leads to hell.
Let it be known, that I am not trying to scare anyone with this post. I am simply trying to remind everyone that may have forgotten. There are lives at stake during this life. There are people who need Jesus. Erasing hell in our minds won't help those people. Acknowledging the reality of it and continuing on with the fight to win people for His kingdom will help them though.
No comments:
Post a Comment