1 Peter 3:18
Sixth Sunday of Easter
27 April 2008
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Here is today’s question of the faith: “We know Jesus died to forgive our sins – yet we hear we will be held accountable for our sins – how does this actually “work” or do we know?”
That’s a great question!
At the very heart of that question are a couple of powerful Scripture passages:
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” [1 Peter 3:18].
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast” [Ephesians 2:8-9].
God’s Holy Word – from beginning to end – is very clear. God is righteous. God is holy. God is perfect. God demands the same from us. He has no time and no desire for the unrighteous, for the unholy, for the imperfect. And unrighteous, unholy and imperfect is exactly what we are.
Those two facts create a fundamental problem. It’s like oil and water. They just don’t mix. No matter how long you allow them to try to absorb each other, they just never will.
Imagine God’s position. His desire was to create a perfect creation, a creation that exactly mirrored His own image. But when Adam and Eve sinned and also inflicted all their offspring with sin, God knew deep down inside He could no longer have anything to do with His creation because they were no longer like Him. They were no longer righteous, holy and perfect. That broke God’s heart.
God created the “Gospel,” the “Good News.” Even young children know what’s called “The Gospel in a Nutshell:” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16]. That eternal life comes to us through faith as a complete gift. There is nothing we have – nothing we ever will have – that can buy eternal life. There is nothing we have that we could use as a bargaining tool to convince God that we are even worthy of His consideration. The fact that we can call ourselves the redeemed children of God is totally because of God’s grace and mercy, because Jesus suffered and died and rose again to forgive our sins, to erase the dark, imperfect blot in our lives that kept us from relationship with God, to give to us His own righteousness that enables us to stand in the presence of God.
While none of that seems to be in question in our question today, all of that is a good foundational review. What’s really in question, it seems, is if all that is true, why are there other Scripture passages that say things like this:
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account” [Hebrews 4:13].
“So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God” [Romans 14:12].
[The Words of Jesus]: “But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken, for by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned” [Matthew 12:37].
Those passages – and others like them – can certainly confuse people into believing that our lives here on earth play at least a small role in earning for us eternal life. But we know that if that were the case, if we stood any chance of even potentially putting anything on the bargaining table on the Last Day, there would have been no need for God to go to the elaborate means He did in sending Jesus to be the atonement – the “at-one-ment” for our sins.
But we know that’s not the purpose of that accounting. Think instead of that accounting as being a prepaid credit card. Let’s even be bold and call it an unlimited balance prepaid credit card that was given to us as a gift. It’s been completely paid for by someone else and we get to reap the benefits at no cost to ourselves. Every time we go to the grocery store, every bill we receive in the mail, everything we could ever desire is able to get charged to that card and we essentially get it for free. You can be sure, though, that even though the monthly bill is not coming to your mailbox, somewhere, somehow, there is an accounting for that unlimited balance prepaid credit card. If nothing else, the executives at the credit card company know what’s been charged on that card. They know that by that accounting, by getting a list of charges. Even if we’re not being held accountable for the charges on that card, someone somewhere needs to have an accounting.
I hope it’s not too much of a stretch to use that human illustration to demonstrate a Divine truth.
Permit me to share a couple more Scripture passages:
“For He [God] has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed” [Acts 17:31].
“And He [God] has given Him [Jesus] authority to judge because He is the Son of Man” [John 5:27].
Jesus spoke of a day [Matthew 25:31ff] when He will come in glory with all His angels and He will sit down on His Throne. All nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them like sheep and goats. To some, He will extend welcome into His Kingdom. To others, He will speak a word of judgment and condemnation. What’s most important in that parable are the words Jesus used in welcoming people into His Kingdom, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father. Take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” [Matthew 25:34].
You see, on that Last Day, there will have to be an accounting. We will stand before Jesus and tell Him all the hungry we fed, all the thirsty we watered, all the strangers we welcomed, all the naked we clothed, all the sick and imprisoned we visited [Matthew 25:35-36]. As admirable as may be our list of accomplishments, they will still fall short of perfection. They will not entitle us even to eat a crumb that falls from the Heavenly banquet table. Jesus will shake His head, again ask our name, check His books, then come back with Good News: “My Friend, all your good actions are like filthy rags in My sight, and your misdeeds, well, when I again checked your records, I find that you have a prepaid entrance into Heaven, compliments of My Father Who did not count your sins against you, but rather has credited you with My righteousness. Enter the Kingdom prepared for you.”
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” [1 Peter 3:18].
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena