Jesus and Judgment Day (by John Frye)

Judgment Day

By the emphases presented by pastors and teachers to the folks in the pews and desks about evangelical Christianity, people are led to believe that the final judgment will be all about right doctrines and the faithful discovery and use of spiritual gifts. Many will be shocked that as they stand before Jesus that not one question will be asked about the Trinity or penal substitutionary atonement or even inerrancy. In the text that Scot McKnight tackles in his SGBC: Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:15-23, all of us, especially pastors, teachers and leaders, find ourselves in the cross-hairs of Jesus’ laser-targeted teaching. “Every judgment scene in the Bible is a judgment by works” (264). Do we really believe our final destiny will be determined by works? Scot makes it very plain: “No one is saved by works, of course; but everyone is judged by works because works are the inevitable life of the one who surrenders to, trusts in, and follows Jesus” (270). Scot suggests that by this specific teaching Jesus aims “to put the fear of God into us about our moral condition…” (265). Scot offers an insightful word about heresy and heretics on page 266, note 4.

Chapter 22 in SGBC: SoM is worth the price of the book. I posted on my FaceBook page that every pastor and teacher needs to read, reflect, and make appropriate, Spirit-prompted changes in the way we live. Scot is a New Testament scholar who urges pastor-teachers to take their calling seriously and to fulfill it faithfully. Many will be surprised by Scot’s counsel: it truly stings in a compassionate and healing way. Woe to the reader who deflects this teaching of Jesus by thinking that it is written to or about somebody else. For this post, the best thing, reader, to do is absorb the entire chapter. Selah.

Deceit is tricky business. Those who are deceived do not know it because…well, then it wouldn’t be deceit. Jesus warns against and describes the deceivers in 7:15-20. In 7:21-23 about the deceived, Jesus enters into “shadowboxing with enemies of the gospel in a hypothetical end-time judgment scene” (268). Scot, again, cites the study by Mark Allan Powell that concludes that pastors and teachers tend to identify with Jesus (or God) in the text while laypersons tend to not identify with Jesus or God. It is this tendency that can propel pastors and teachers into the danger zone of deep deceit. Here it is: “In other words, the false prophet is the gifted leader who does not do the will of God in the ordinary elements of life” (269, emphasis Scot’s). Or, “…it is designed to probe into the life of the charismatically gifted leader in order to get him or her to realize that gifts are not enough, that the fruit of love in life is what matters most” (270). Practice the Golden Rule. Practice the Jesus Creed. Dynamically gifted ministry in “the name of the LORD” is not adequate or sufficient to deliver us from eternal judgment.  Jesus declares, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.” Leaders are first to be followers of Jesus in the day to day ordinariness of life; love mercy, act mercifully, honor the marginalized, live lovingly in the home, stoop and serve. “[W]hat Jesus wants from us—[is] ordinary acts of love and not just glorious giftedness…” (271). Scot concludes, “At the judgment Jesus will not ask us about our gifts” (272). No doctrinal questions. No ministry questions. No using spiritual gifts questions. Probably widows and orphans and the poor will come up quite a bit.