Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Are You Ready for the Final Exam?
OK. It may seem like overkill on this subject, but when you're preparing to preach on a difficult subject, a lot of things end up on the cutting room floor. By the way, one of the great challenges of modern preaching is to get great Truths to fit inside of that barely tolerable 45-minute window I call a sermon. I say "modern" preaching because there was a time (not that long ago) that preachers averaged over an hour to communicate God's Word. Anything less was quaintly termed "sermonettes." (If you're used to the 20-30 minute message, I'm probably not your preacher of choice. And yes, I know all about series and I usually preach within them. AND I know that the mind can only retain what the seat can endure - which explains why we have comfy padded seats in our sanctuary.) Anyways, back to my reason for writing this blog...
I've been thinking a lot about what the
Bible says comes next for us after death, and the Judgment Day is a major event
on God's itinerary for us. This had me thinking
about when I was in college. Every professor gave us a syllabus for his or her
course. The syllabus gave us an outline and summary of the course. It
told us what the professor expected of us as students – attendance, term paper
requirements, and the dates of mid-term and final exams.
God has given us a
syllabus. It is called the Bible. In it, we discover God’s plan,
all that He wants to teach us, and what is expected of us – attendance
requirements, the practicum (where we apply what we’ve learned), and the
certainty of pop quizzes, tests, and a very final exam.
In college, I was a
procrastinator. I put off thinking about tests or term papers until I
absolutely had to. (Which might explain my less than stellar grades.)
Look, being all preoccupied with tests would have spoiled all the fun I was
having in college! I was away from home. I was the captain of my ship and
I couldn’t be bothered by petty professors who tried to make my life miserable
with more lame school work! But no matter how much I attempted to put it
off, or ignore it, those exams still came with an alarming sense of urgency
and...well, panic.
I believe that
many Christians would rather not think about the final exam when we stand
before God. That just cramps our style, doesn’t it? It makes us
uncomfortable because any serious consideration of our personal judgment would
probably make us pause and evaluate our lives. We might have to take life
more seriously and be more conscious of wasting our time on things that really
don’t matter in light of eternity. But here's what the syllabus says:
10...For we will all stand
before the judgment seat of God.
11 For it is written, “As I
live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall give
praise to God.”
12 So then each one
of us will give an account of himself to God.
(Romans 14:10b-12,
NASB)
It is not wise to ignore the
inevitable or to put off facing the facts. (Apply this to almost any other area
of your life and isn't that an absolute understatement?!!?) In this
case, we will all be judged – both believer and unbeliever alike. The
Bible describes two separate judgments and according to scripture, they are a
serious certainty.
For we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done
in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV)
But the degree to which we are upset by
this topic is based on how ready we are for the final exam. Think about
it: When you waited till the last minute to get ready for your history test,
you were in full-blown panic mode. But when you had studied, and prepared
well in advance, there was some anxiety perhaps, but there was also a
confidence that you had prepared – you had done your part to get ready.
What’s amazing to me, as a
pastor, is how many people (both believers and nonbelievers) want me to talk
about end-time events, but don’t want to hear about the Judgment. Our
Final Exam IS a pretty significant end-time event. And we had better be
ready for it.
Labels: final exam, judgment, preaching
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