How God Feels About Humanity pt I (05-11-16)

One of the major reasons that people are skeptical about religion, put off by Christianity, is the judgment that God reportedly places on certain things. Judgment seems to get in the way of the love of God. How does God really feel about human beings? How do divine judgment and compassion relate?

There are three places judgment occurs in the Bible. They are (1) in or through the church, (2) at the cross, and (3) during the end time. Some Christians only ever focus on the end time. Some Christians only ever focus on the cross. And some people only ever focus on the church, specifically those inside it who see it as a fortress instead of an agency through which the Gospel is lived and preached. In this story (John 5:16-29) Jesus refers to them all. Open your Bible to John chapter 5, verses 16-30. This occurs right after He healed a guy who had been paralyzed for 38 years. That’s the context.

Let’s start with the concept that judgment occurs in and through the church. “Because Jesus was doing these things [healing people on the Sabbath], the Jewish leaders persecuted him.” (Verse 16) Jesus was Jewish. That was His religion while He lived on Earth. The pious did not understand why Jesus went out of His way to heal someone far from God on Sabbath. But neither the lack of clarity within the church nor the man’s distance from God prevented Jesus from healing the man. Jesus responded to the criticism, “Sorry, but I must keep pursuing my mission.” Look at verse 17: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”

We don’t realize how controversial these words were because we don’t know how rejected and lonely and far from God this guy was. People back then thought people who were paralyzed were paying for their sins; that they were far from God because they deserved to be. But that’s not how God looks at it. If it were, none of us would get near God either because Romans 3 says none of us deserve it. But when God sees people, especially broken, hurting, rejected people obviously far from God and the church, He keeps reaching. Knowing when He does so it will be controversial. Knowing it will not be understood by everyone in church. At least not right away. But Jesus heals him anyway.

This leads to major point number one: People far from God are precious to God.

If we really love mankind and want to follow the way of Jesus, we will never stop scheming and praying and planning to reach out to people far from God, especially the broken, hurting and rejected. Why? Because people far from God are precious to God. And what He wants is for them to come a little closer so we can love them. And you know you’re doing both right when how you do it messes with your church and the devoutly religious people.

Verse 18 says, “For this reason the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” Now, if you were to ask a random person on the street what they think of the church, any church, what do you think they would say? Do you think they would say it is a safe place that loves God and the people far from God? Do you think they would say it is a place where the Bible is studied and the presence of God is experienced? Do you think they would say it is a place where alcoholics and prostitutes and liars sit side by side with doctors and lawyers and teachers worshiping the same King of the Universe? Or do you think they would say church is a place of judgment?

I’m not answering the question, I’m just raising it. Because it seems to me, if we are honest with ourselves, that it is too often the case in many places. And if it makes you feel any better, it has been that way for quite a while. Listen to what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.” (1 Corinthians 11:17, NIV) Ouch! Who knew? Sometimes, the way we do church can do more harm than good. Why? Because whatever they were doing, it was not making it easier for people far from God to come a little closer. That paralytic guy in Christ’s day had been ignored by the church for 38 years! Who does the church ignore today? If we really believe that people far from God are precious to God, that reality should confront the church. If we are really followers of Jesus, it should haunt us at night. It should be what wakes us in the morning. It should break our hearts. Because according

to Jesus, it’s breaking God’s heart. Although not everyone who claims to be a Christian feels the same way, there are many followers of Jesus who’s hearts are breaking for the lost, the suffering, the dying and oppressed.

God is always at work, praying and planning and scheming for ways to bring those far from God a little closer. Those who are followers of Jesus do the same. Yes, churches can be places of judgment where feelings are hurt and motivations are misunderstood and people far from God come no closer. Churches can also be places where truth is spoken in love, where trust grows, where the suffering and oppressed are supported, and people far from God come closer and closer.