coming wrath

Judgement Day is a day to be feared. I know that; I've learned that from when I was a small boy. I also know I need only fear if I haven't been obedient.

But what if I've been trying to the best of my ability to be obedient as I understand it? What if I just didn't really get what it was that God wants me to do?

You see, that's what the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day were doing. They had tried for centuries to conform their lives in the most exacting detail to the law of God. But look what happened when they went to see John the Baptist, the first prophet the people had seen in nearly 400 years.

You can read about it in Matthew 3:7-12: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.'"

While there were likely a few bad apples in the bunch, probably most of the ones John called vipers would have said their lives were full of good fruit. How could it be that they were the ones called spiteful snakes? How could God's prophet call on them for repentance? How could they be threatened with the metaphor of the ax and the fire?

You can read, of course, of all the things the Pharisees and Sadducees were doing wrong; they're recorded all through the Gospels. What gets me thinking this morning is that they had gotten this far off the track while trying so hard to do right.

I'm reminded of something I learned listening to a TED Talk recently: Being wrong feels exactly like being right, until you realize you're wrong. In other words, what I think and feel about my own rightness isn't a reliable guide to whether or not I'm actually right.

If that's true, then I could easily be as wrong about my own obedience as the Pharisees. It could be that the coming wrath will be a bad day for me, if I rely on my own judgment.

I need something more reliable than my own ideas, which is exactly why God sent us his Holy Spirit. That's the huge advantage I have over the Pharisees. I have God himself as my counselor, nudging me every day in the right directions. I have the Word of God to let me know what living out the Gospel looks like.

I have the most reliable guide to right and wrong there could possibly be. Doom on me if I choose not to listen.