An Interview From Hell!

Introduction:

 

     A.   You know, we talk a lot about the beautiful place that           God has prepared for his children.

 

           1.   I don’t talk a lot about the other place.

 

           2.   I prefer for people to serve God because of love and

not out of fear.

 

           3.   If you listen closely, you can hear that preference

                coming through even as we talk about the other place

today!

 

     B.   But we see in Matt. 25:31-46 that those on the left hand

will go to another place!  read 25:31-33,41-46

 

           1.   He refers to it here as eternal punishment.

 

           2.   In other places, we see it referred to as "HELL."

 

     Trans.

           Let’s look at this kind of Interview from Hell, and see

what we can learn about this place!

 

                                Prayer

 

                            Luke 16:19-31

 

I.   What can we learn about Hell from this passage?

 

     A.   He was in torment (v.23). "Pain" (Nelson footnote).

 

     B.   He could see what he had missed in Heaven (v.23).

 

           1.   I think this would be perhaps even harder to bear than the pain!

 

2.   Here he sees Lazarus, but I think seeing a place of love, joy, and peace when those things were absent from where he was would be among the hardest pain in hell!

 

3.   Being out of the presence of these things and Jesus would be hell to me!

    

     C.   The torment will be inflicted by a flame!

 

           1.   He begged for just a drop of water to cool his

                tongue!

 

           2.   We are told other places that this flame will be

                everlasting.

 

           3.   Some would say there is not actual hell with flames.

          

                a.   The scriptures here do describe such a place,

so I think we do have to realize the

possibilities!

 

                b.   Again, for me, the worst punishment of hell

whether there is an actual place or not will

be being out of the presence of a God of Love

and all that is good!

 

     D.   He still could remember the things that had happened in life: all the opportunities he had missed to accept Christ.

 

           1.   He had not shown mercy to Lazarus, and he remembered

that!

 

           2.   One of the characteristics of Luke is that Luke writes like it is impossible for the rich to go to heaven!

 

a.   We need to hear that because by most of the

world’s standards, we are rich!

 

                b.   It isn’t about the money, but it is about what

do we let it do to us.  Are we greedy?  Do we

ever have enough to be generous?  Do we do the

things with the riches that God would have us

to?

 

                c.   The rich man here had lived in luxury and had

let Lazarus suffer, literally eating the crumbs

from under his table!  This speaks to us as

individuals and as a country, especially at a

time when many programs for the poor are being

cut to provide tax breaks for the rich!

 

     E.   He would do things different if he could have another

           chance (v. 27-31). 

 

1.   I think we can assume this from these verses.

 

2.   He couldn’t go back and tell his loved ones, so he

asks Father Abraham to send someone to tell them of

this place!

 

3.   Abraham’s response was a no.  They would have to

listen to those who were there! 

 

II.  Realizing these facts about "Hell," we need to ask ourselves     two questions!

 

     A.   Am I listening to the folks who are here?  Am I listening

to the prophetic message that tells me of the Love of God

in Christ?  It's up to us to hear and prepare!

 

           1.   Today is the day that we can decide that.  When we               face the end of life, it will be too late! Today is

the day of Salvation!  Today is the day to accept what God has done for us in Christ!  God has made a way; we just need to accept!

 

           2.   Jesus is the only way that we can miss Hell!

 

                a.   We deserve Hell, but Jesus paid the price so that we don't have to go there!

 

                b.   If we will come to him and if we mean business                   about living for him, we can live with him                       forever in Heaven!  We can be a part of sharing

God’s love in the world today, and we can be

surrounded by God’s love throughout eternity in

a place we call heaven!

 

     B.   Am I doing what I can to help others miss this awful

           place?

 

           1.   Are you living and sharing the Love of God every day

and everywhere you go?

 

a.   I am more and more convinced that this is the

best way we can reach those we love!  I don’t

think we’ll reach them by scaring them to a

commitment by preaching hellfire and brimstone at

them!

 

                b.   People are skeptical of those who think they

have all the answers but really don’t live the

love of God!

 

                c.   Be different!  Really tap into the love of God,

live it, and they will ask you questions!

 

1.   When they do, you will be able to share the

love of God in Christ and tell them what

difference Christ means to you!  You don’t

have to have all the answers!  Just point

 them to the one who does!

 

                     2.   You will have the opportunity to invite

them to church!

                    

                     3.   John Wesley charged us to “Offer them

Christ!”  That offer doesn’t just come

from the pastor, but it comes from all of

us! “Offer them Christ!”  Not, Cram Christ

down their throat!

 

                     4.   If you get them here, they can hear the

                           message!

 

           2.   Folks, there is an urgency; we don't know how many   

                more opportunities we will have to tell them of

                Christ this side of eternity!

 

a.  How we do it matters!

 

b.  Let God use your life to be a witness to the Love of God!

 

Conclusion:

 

     A.   We are going to live on forever and forever one place or         the other.  Which one will it be? 

 

1.   If you have never accepted what God has done for you

in Christ, you can do it as we encounter Christ at

the table today!

 

           2.   If you do, let me know so I can help you with your

new life in Christ!

 

     B.   Our loved ones are going to spend eternity somewhere!            What are we doing to make sure it is in Heaven?

 

           1.   As we encounter Christ at the table, Christ can

forgive us for past failures!

 

2.   We can be filled with the Love of God to be more

effective in the future! 

 

           3.   Ask God to give you opportunities and to help you take those opportunities in the future!  Ask Christ to help you to know what to say and when!

 

 

           Read Rev. 20:11 - 21:4

 

                         Prayer of Confession

                         Service of Communion

 

  

The Beautiful Tongue: Sermon 10. "A Beautiful Tongue is a Simple Tongue!"

 Introduction:

A.   What is Simple?

Webster's def: 1. uncomplicated  2. easy to do or understand   3. without additions   4.                          plain  5. without guile or deceit  6.  natural   7. common.

 

Not Simple as in dumb or stupid!

 

B.   Christ was a simple man; he was easy to understand by

the common person; he didn't add things or exaggerate

things.  Christ didn't own much by this worlds

standards; we would consider him to be a common person.  He was without deceit.

 

C.   Paul felt he was sent by Christ to proclaim a simple gospel!  (I Cor. 1:17)

 

Trans.

We should too as we see that , "A Beautiful Tongue is

a Simple Tongue!"

                            Prayer

 

I.   A Simple Tongue uses a simple yes or no.  (Matt. 5: 34-37)

 

A.   This is talking about expressions like:

1.   "I swear by God!"

2.   "I swear on a stack of Bibles that this is true!"

3.   "Cross my heart and hope to die!"

 

B.   He is saying here that we shouldn't have to do this.

 

C.   We should live such a life that a simple yes or no is sufficient!

 

II.  A Simple Tongue avoids superficial flattery!

 

A.   This is flattery that isn't really heart felt, and it

is exaggerated greatly!

 

B.   Examples:

1.   Your house is just "divine!"

2.   Your dress is "absolutely marvelous!"

3.   or in some way exaggerating it more than we really feel!

 

C.   This isn't to say we shouldn't pay someone an honest, sincere complement.  Just don't color our speech up so much that they won't know whether to believe us or  not!

 

III. A Simple Tongue avoids Exaggeration!

 

A.   Tells it just like it is with no additions!

 

B.   If we catch a fish that is 12" long, don't tell that it was \   /  that long!

 

C.   If we are in a certain financial bracket, we don't need to try to give the impression that we are in a higher one!

 

D.   We are to be without deceit in all things!

 

IV.  A Simple Tongue uses simple language with God!

 

A.   When we pray, our speech doesn't need to be fancied up for God!  We don't need to try to use big words to please others either!

 

B.   Jesus had some instructions on prayer:  (Matt. 6:7

NRSV)

 

"When you are praying, do not heap up empty

phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that

they will be heard because of their many words."

 

After saying this, Jesus followed it up with a model prayer of directness and simplicity without fancy speech!

                      "The Lord's Prayer"

 

          That we will pray during our communion service!

 

C.   Two things wrong with a fancy prayer:

 

1.   It probably isn't sincere and heart felt.

 

2.   It doesn't encourage others to lead in public prayer!

V.   A Simple Tongue uses simple language when referring to God!

 

A.   We need to be careful not to use big words when talking about God without defining them, assuming everyone knows what we are talking about.

 

B.      We need to be careful about using Churchy language

     that only people in the church will understand without

     explaining it: salvation, sanctification,

     justification, trinity, and etc.

 

     1.   This goes for other things in the church as well.

 

     2.   That is why I explain that “catholic” in the

Apostle’s Creed means universal church so often!

 

          3.   That is why I explain what we are doing when we

light the candles and carry the flame out at the

end of the service so often!

 

          4.   Again, we don’t need to use churchy language that

outsiders don’t understand without explaining it!

 

C.      We need to be careful about using inside acronyms that only people on the inside understand without explaining them: VIM, UMCOR, PPR, etc.

 

     D.   This is the reason I like to do communion like I do, giving an explanation what open communion means, explaining what it means to remember Christ’s Body, explain what it means to remember Christ’s blood, explaining what it means to encounter Christ at the table etc. We can’t assume people just know why we do what we do!

 

Conclusion:

A.   Life is getting so complicated.  Let's be careful and

not make the Gospel complicated!

 

B.   As we encounter Christ at the table today, let's

commit today to let our tongues be simple   

tongues, and to present the gospel in such a way that all can understand!

 

Prayer of Confession

Service of Communion

The Beautiful Tongue Series: Sermon 8. "A Beautiful Tongue is a Truthful Tongue!"

 Introduction:

A.   Who can we trust today?  Truthfulness is really

suffering today!  There are very few people whom we

really feel that we can trust what they say!

 

B.   Why?  Because in our world today truthfulness has a different meaning than it once had.  Today it means:  telling the honest facts at all cost "except" when it stands a chance of having negative consequences for someone, especially the one speaking.

 

C.   So today we not only have untruth & truth, but we also have various degrees of truth in the middle!  We hear some statements that are so close to truth that it is really hard to tell if someone is telling us the truth or not!

 

Trans.

Today, let's look at "The Truthful Tongue" and some

of these various degrees of truth in the middle and

see what we can learn to help us be better Christians.

 

                            Prayer

 

I.      First, let's look at our new definition a little.

II.     

A.   "Telling the honest facts at all cost "except" when it stands a chance of having negative consequences for someone, especially the one speaking."

 

B.   That one little word "except" has really made room for

a lot of degrees of truth.  Each person now has the

choice of when it is alright to tell the truth or not!

 

1.   If I tell her that I don't like her dress, it will probably hurt her feelings, so it will be alright to tell her I like it when I do not.

 

2.   If I tell them the real reason that I can't come over today, they will think it isn't very important to me to come over, so I'll just tell them I'm not feeling well.  I do not want to hurt them.

3.   If I tell the honest truth of what I think of this product, I won't be able to sell any of them.  If I don't sell any, I will be hurting my family who depends on me to make a good living, so in this case, surely it will be alright to bend the truth a little.

 

2.      If I tell the truth about what I really think and plan to do, I won't get elected. If I don’t lie a

little about the other party, they might get elected! Surely, the end   justifies the means!

 

C.   If I told you one of these pardonable untruths, and you caught me in it: the truth of what I really thought got back to you.  What would you think of my word next time?

(Pause)        Our word should mean something!

 

II.  Now, let's look at some of these degrees of truth in the    middle.

 

A.      The Half-truth and the Part-truth.

B.       

1.   Half-truth.

This is telling someone truth mixed with

Something that may or may not be true, leaving the impression that they are both true to the hearer.

 

Example - They haven't been to church for several weeks (truth); they must be mad at someone! (don't really know this; it is opinion; may be false)

 

2.   Part-truth.

Not telling the whole story thus making it appear  different than it is.

 

Example - Oh, on the way home, this gray hot rod crashed into me at the intersection of Park and Elm.  He really tore up my car!

 

This is all true; I've just

conveniently forgotten to tell you that

I ran a red light! That makes things

look much different!

(Still degrees of truth in the middle!)

 

B.   Silence at the wrong time.

1.   Sometimes we can lie by simply being silent!

 

2.   We may know for a fact that what is being said

about someone is untrue, but by our being silent,

we show that we agree that it is true!

 

C.   Failure to distinguish between fact and opinion.

Let's look at our example again we used above:

 

They haven't been to church for several weeks (fact); they must be mad at someone (opinion).

 

Failure to distinguish between the two makes them both  look like fact!

 

C.      Using "absolute statements" too loosely.  These aren’t “always” true!  We are using absolute statements too loosely!

 

D.       

Examples:

1.   You never talk to me anymore.

2.   You're just like your mother.

3.   We never go out anymore.

4.   I don't have anything to wear.

5.   This car always starts right. no matter how cold it is!

6.   These statements being untrue as stated mar our reputation for being truthful.

 

E.      Failure to be "truthful about ourselves."

 

1.   By justifying our prejudices, by excusing our mistakes, by trying to explain and justify why we have failed, and by using half-truth, part-truth, and all the above to do it, we make ourselves

look good.  We just can't accept that we have failed, and it comes out in the fact that we aren't truthful about ourselves.

 

2.   We can also fail to be truthful about ourselves

by denying the God-given talents that God has given us!

 

III. I think a discussion about being truthful must also include

the acknowledgement there are folks like Corrie Ten Boom,

where maybe beint untruthful is justified.

 

A.   Corrie Ten Boom felt it was the Christian thing to do

to lie to protect the Jews of her day.

 

B.   She is thought of as a hero by many.

 

C.   So perhaps there are times when there are ethical gray

areas, but what can we say about Corrie’s situation?

What is the difference?

 

a. She wasn’t doing it to protect herself!

 

b. She wasn’t doing it for personal gain!

 

c. There was a real justice issue at stake in her situation.  This was a life and death situation!

 

D.   We need to be careful not to use the fact that there

are gray areas (such as with Corrie Ten Boom) to give us the license to be untruthful in lesser issues!

 

IV.  Now, let's look at what the Bible says about being truthful:

 

Psalm 51:6     "You desire truth in the inward being;  therefore teach me wisdom in my secret

heart."

 

Prov. 12:22    "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,

 but those who act faithfully are his

 delight."

 

Exo. 20:16     "You shall not bear false witness against

 your neighbor."

 

Eph. 4:15      "But speaking the truth in love, we must

grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,"

 

John 8:44      "You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning and does not

stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

 

Rev. 21:8      "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the lluted, the murderers, the fornicators,

the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars,

their place will be in the lake that burns

with fire and sulfur, which is the second

death."  What a group to be named among!

 

Does it sound like God sees different degrees of truth?  Can we agree that we get too slack with the truth today?  If Christians are too slack with the truth, who can we trust?

 

 

Conclusion:

A.      Again, there is a lot at stake here.

 

1.      Our witness!  If someone catches us in a lie, they won’t think much of the God we serve!

 

2.      Our reputation!

 

          3.   What people think of our church!

 

     B.   Let’s call upon the power of the Holy Spirit to help

          us with this one!

 

B.      As we encounter Christ at the table today, let's

examine ourselves to see if we have been guilty of any

of the different middle degrees of truth of which we have talked about today.  Let's ask also, have we been

outright untruthful?

 

D.   Let's ask God to help us to be truthful at all times

and to bring it to our attention when we are about to

tell an untruth so that we can correct it.  Let’s also ask God to help us to discern those rare occasions when an un-truth is justified!

 

E.   If we will, we will be known as people of truth and

will be able to make a positive difference for God.

 

Prayer of Confession

 

Service of Communion