Christ’s Condemnation!

Why do people in the church and Christians in general spend so much time deciding who’s saved and who’s going to hell? (Personally, I thought that was God’s job.) I’ve seen footage of die-hard believers standing in front of “places of immorality” holding signs saying “Turn or burn!” and “Hell is Waiting!” I’ve read articles and listened to sermons condemning individuals, specific groups of people, and entire churches to hell. Is this the model Christ laid out for us to follow? Did Christ go around telling people they were going to hell?

In your efforts to be Christlike and attain what the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21 (To live is CHRIST), ask yourself this question, “Would Jesus tell someone they were going to hell?” Not meaning generically, as in the sense of an “unrepentant sinner” or “one who doesn’t do my Father’s will,” but, like we do today, would Jesus condemn a specific person or specific group of people to hell? According to scripture the answer is YES, but before you start feeling justified and pat yourself on the back, you might want to know who received Christ’s condemnation because only one group of people did. Search your New Testament; who was it and why did they deserve Christ’s condemnation?

Was it the prostitutes and tax collectors with which Jesus ate? No…he actually chose a tax collector, Matthew, as an apostle. (Matthew 9:9)

It should have been Peter after his triple denial! But it wasn’t. Christ used him to build the church. (Matt 16:18 )

Surely it was the men who nailed Jesus to the cross! Right? No…he forgave them. (Luke 23:34)

Well, then who was it?

It was the religious leaders of the day. That’s right. Those who were in charge of communicating and teaching the word of God were the ones to receive Christ’s condemnation. See for yourself:

Matthew 23:15, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

…and a few verses later…

Matthew 23:33-34, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.”

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know a lot about the Pharisees and teachers of the law. What matters is that they were the ones in charge of teaching God’s law to the people, much like today’s elders, ministers, and preachers, and they received Christ’s condemnation. I hope and pray that if Christ walked the earth today the outcome would be different. But are today’s church leaders doing the same things the Pharisees and teachers of the law did to provoke these words from Christ?

What led the Pharisees to receive Christ’s condemnation? What led Christ to call the Pharisees “sons of hell?” What were the Pharisees doing that would make a convert “twice as much a son of hell?”

Read Christ’s words to the Pharisees and teachers of the law in Matthew 23:

“They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

“Everything they do is done for men to see…”

“You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.”

“You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

“You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools!”

“You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.”

“You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

“You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

“You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”

“In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

It seems as if Christ is not only focusing on the sheer hypocrisy of the Pharisees, but also on their inability to understand and discern what is most important in the law, its meaning and purpose, and how to apply it to their lives. The Pharisees were focusing on all the wrong things. They were “straining out a gnat” by making sure they give exactly 10% of their spices but neglecting the “more important” aspects of “Justice, mercy and faithfulness.” Does this sound familiar? Are there rules you follow to the “n”th degree while failing to see the poor man standing right next to you?

The details were consuming their ministry to the point that they were forgetting the big picture. What would that look like today? … Preachers, elders, and ministers taking scriptures out of context, making them into commandments and laws, only to forget the abundantly clear verses that talk about love, grace, and forgiveness. … Making up rules for the worship service that are found nowhere in the scriptures and then allowing them to be raised into the focal point of the service instead of Christ. … Telling a congregation that their salvation depends on these “self-imposed” rules with no justification. … The mentality that Christ cares more about what a person wears to worship than what they were doing 12 hours earlier. … Thinking that it actually matters what translation of the Bible we use. … Does that look anything like you, your church, or the Christians you know?

Being a minister, this realization makes me take my position more seriously than ever before. But for those of you who aren’t ministers or church leaders, do you think you’re exempt from the plague that brought down the Pharisees? You’re not. While it may be easier for people in the leadership positions of the church to fall into these hypocritical lifestyles, that doesn’t mean everyone else is safe and sound. Regardless of who you are, what role you play in the church body, or how long you’ve been a Christian, you are just as susceptible to the downfall of the Pharisees and I am.

Our only hope of preventing Christ’s Condemnation is not allowing ourselves to acquire the detrimental legalistic self-righteous religious hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. If we succeed in keeping this plague out of our minds and hearts, we will succeed in keeping the other more important aspects of the law of Christ in our minds and hearts: love, grace, and forgiveness.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.