SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE 19th August, 2001.

Possible lines for a wayside pulpit poster:
Give God what's right--, not what's left!
"Pray" is a four letter word that you can say anywhere.
A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
He who kneels before God can stand before anyone!
To be almost saved is to be totally lost.
In the sentence of life the devil may be a comma,
but do not let him be the FULL STOP
Are you wrinkled with burdens?
Come on into Church for a faith lift!
Prayer - Don't give God instructions -just report for duty!
God doesn't want shares of your life, He wants controlling interest!
Don't wait for 6 strong men to take you to church.
A family altar can alter a family.
We don't change the message, the message changes us.
This Church is "Prayer Conditioned"!
Exposure to the Son may prevent burning!
Plan ahead, it wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
Most people want to serve God - but only in an advisory capacity
Having truth decay? Brush up on your Bible!
Exercise daily - walk with the Lord!
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
If God is your Co-pilot ---- Swap seats

What one liner would you use for the good news?
What would you put on a poster outside the church building?
Would you choose Jonah's one liner?
"Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." (3.4)
Doesn't sound very positive or inviting, does it?
A bit too much doom and gloom?
Of course that may not have been all that he said.
He may have amplified and explained the message
in the great city of Nineveh
but that was certainly his bottom line
"Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."
And it was successful. People repented.
The message touched a chord, a raw nerve
and people turned to God.
It makes me wonder if we could learn something from that
in the way we present the good news of Jesus.
Trust in Jesus, we say, he'll give meaning to your life,
he'll bring peace, a new way of living
a new relationship with God and with others.
All that is true but is there something missing?
Something we soft pedal?
That something is the reality of judgement.
I went though the sermons in the book of Acts
and found that the word does not always occur in every sermon
but it is implied in the message of repentance and forgiveness
and it sounds out clearly in Acts 10.42
when Peter speaks to the devout Roman officer Cornelius
'He commanded us to preach to the people
and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed
as judge of the living and the dead.'

Or in Acts 17.31 when Paul addresses the sceptical Athenians:
'God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice
by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to all people by raising him from the dead.'
Now there's an aspect of the Easter story which we don't usually highlight.
The resurrection of Jesus means not only new life for believers
but it also confirms the reality that this risen one will judge everyone.
Then there are Paul's discussions in Acts 24. 25 with Felix the Roman governor
who was interested in Christianity but only a bit:
'As Pal discoursed on righteousness, self control and the judgement to come
Felix was afraid and said: 'That's enough for now! You may leave...'

Acts leaves it open as to whether Felix ever did repent
and go beyond having a nice discussion to come to terms with those big issues.
It does not look as if he copied the people of Nineveh
whom Jesus commended in Matthew 12.41
'the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgement with this generation
and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah
and now one greater than Jonah is here.'

What will be said of our generation?
We've had much more information about Jesus
and how to avoid God's judgement than did the people of Nineveh
but what have we done with that information?
Has the good news been watered down in our time as a theologian put it:
'a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgement
through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross'
But surely Jesus did not die on the cross to no purpose?
Surely sin and judgement are realities
and God is justified in his anger against us
except that he has provided a way of satisfying justice
and reconciling us to himself through the death of his son for us?

What's wrong with us and our society
that a message of God's judgement is responded to
either by indifference, it is not heard or taken in
or with censorship - 'you can't say that, people will be offended'
They weren't offended in Nineveh.
They were glad that someone had taken the trouble to come and tell them
about what was in store for them.
One night in a S American country people heard strange disturbing noises
a long dormant volcano was about to erupt.
When they contacted the authorities they were told to say nothing;
we don't want people to get frightened' they were told.
23,000 people died in the eruption:
how many might have escaped if they had been warned?

Two final points about judgement

NONE OF US IS THE JUDGE
That is why Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount
'Judge not that you be not judged'
he did not mean we should never express any moral values,
he was not forbidding us to say that some things are good and other things bad
but he was warning us not to be self righteous 'judgmental' people
acting in the place of God, writing people off
pronouncing loftily that they are all wrong and you are all right.
None of us is fit to judge,
there is too much in our own lives for which we must answer
for us to hand out pronouncements on others.
But Jesus may judge , may he not?
In our law courts we require that a judge is impartial and not crooked
not involved in the crimes that come before him
and we also hope that the judge is in touch
not like the English judge who is said to have asked in a case
'And who are the 'Rolling Stones'?'
But Jesus is clear of sin and he is in touch; he's real, he knows what life is like.
We may not presume to judge, but we should warn people that Jesus will.

JUDGEMENT IS NOT THE SAME AS CONDEMNATION
There are two outcomes of a trial, when you stand before a judge:
you may be found guilty or you may be acquitted
When we speak of judgement from God as we present the good news of Jesus
we must present the two options, acquitted or guilty, justified or condemned
Doesn't it come through in the Jonah story
when people repent there is mercy from God:
he could condemn for wickedness but he chooses not to.
So it's not so much a case of 'doom and gloom'
but of 'doom or room'
the doom of a life lived proudly and self sufficiently before a holy God
or the room of grace and forgiveness given to a life humbled and contrite
where we admit our sin, where we offer no excuses, no blaming of others
no false promises to do better in future
but simply and wonderfully find that there is room
room to do better, room to be free before God,
room to enjoy his love and forgiveness
what Eugene Peterson beautifully describes
as the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory
We find that God is not frowning oppressively at the failure of our lives
but is smiling with welcome because we have faith in his Son
and the name of Jesus is a strong name.
Jesus has died in our place to bear our punishment
and he is alive to plead for the people identified with him
broken, humbled, repentant people

The people of Nineveh did not get offended when Jonah brought his warning
nor did they condemn themselves and say there is no hope.
They humbled themselves, they repented
they were sorry for what they had done
and they looked to God to have mercy
they did not demand mercy as if it were their right,
that God must forgive
they humbly asked for his compassion and received it.
God will do nothing for the complacent and the self confident
who think they are good enough, that they have done enough
but for those who despair of themselves
who wear the sackcloth, who sit in the dust
God will show compassion

May your Holy Spirit bring us a proper sense of the reality of your judgement
and bring us out of condemnation to conviction of our sin
and assurance that Jesus did die to take away our sin
and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Like the people of Nineveh, may we heed the warning
and come to an end of our self sufficiency
and face up to where our lives are leading us

Ad give us dear Father if feel we have made this commitment long ago,
then give us a new sense of the doom waiting others
and a new desire that they may be with us in the room of grace and forgiveness.

Risen Lord Jesus
Roll away the stone of our doubts-,
let us trust you.
Roll away the stone of heavy hearts
Let us rejoice in you
Roll away the stone of our fear.'
let our confidence always be in you
Roll away the stone of our reserve and indifference
that we may speak of judgement and a saviour.