A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ on Sunday, February 26, 2012. Based on the book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived” (Harper Collins 2011)
INTRODUCTION TO THE THEME:
I first became aware of Rob Bell several years ago when I first started using his “Nooma” videos on campus as way to engage students in discussions about God and how we live our faith. The students love, love, love them! I have since subscribed to his podcasts and followed the work of ministry at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI. While I loved his work, I tended to think of him as rather firmly in the “evangelical camp” and perhaps even a toe in the “fundamentalist camp”.
Then in March of 2011 Rob releases his book entitled “Love Wins”; immediately, I started reading about how controversial it quickly became. After watching part of the Christian community turn on him and attach his work, I decided to download a copy of the book and I started reading! I love it! Here’s a little YouTube overview of Rob’s thoughts that led him to write…
YouTube: LOVE WINS – Rob Bell (2:58)
Rob Bell writes this …
“Some communities don’t permit open, honest inquiry about things that matter most … Lots of people have voiced a concern, expressed a doubt, or raised a question, only to be told by their family, church, friends, or tribe: “We don’t discuss those things here.”
I believe the discussion its is divine. Abraham does his best to bargain with God, most of the book of Job consists or arguments by Job and his friends about the deepest meaning of human suffering, God is practically on trial in the poems of Lamentations, and Jesus responds to almost every question with … a question. “What do you think? How do you read it? He asks again and again.
The ancient sages said the words of the sacred text were black letters on a white page – there’s all that white space, waiting to be filled with our responses and discussions and debates and opinions and longing and desires and wisdom and insights.” (Love Wins, p. 5)
This Lenten worship series invites all of us at Journey into a divine discussion as we listen to some of what Rob Bells writes and put it along side what some of us might have been taught or told at various points in our faith journey. Some of the ideas may be what you firmly believe; some of the ideas may be radically new to you. Our intent is not to tell you what you must believe; our intent is to get us thinking and talking. So let the divine discussion begin …
Week 1: “How Big is the Gate?”
READING FOR THE DAY:
The Bible is filled with great wisdom and amazing advice for a huge range of topics. However, from time to time, the Bible isn’t necessarily as clear-cut as we perhaps would like it to be; in fact, at times, it can be quite confusing as we encounter texts that seem to actually contradict each other. Take our two readings for today regarding “heaven and how we get there”– in Matthew, Jesus talks paints a picture of a narrow gate and a path that is difficult to find; yet, in Revelations there is a picture of “an enormous crowd”. Listen for the word of the Lord …
Matthew 7:7-23 (TEV)
"Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.
Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
"Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets. "Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find it.
"Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs. A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good fruit. And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do.
"Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God's message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!' Then I will say to them, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!'
Revelation 7:9-17 (TEV)
After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They called out in a loud voice: "Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb!" All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. Then they threw themselves face downward in front of the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!"
One of the elders asked me, "Who are these people dressed in white robes, and where do they come from?" "I don't know, sir. You do," I answered. He said to me, "These are the people who have come safely through the terrible persecution. They have washed their robes and made them white with the blood of the Lamb. That is why they stand before God's throne and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence. Never again will they hunger or thirst; neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them, because the Lamb, who is in the center of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
(Note: Much of this message includes direct quotes from “Love Wins”; direct quotes are in italics with page references provided)
Christians have a rather odd relationship with those Gates of Heaven. Most of hope that one day we’ll get to see them in person yet we spend a lot of time talking about why we won’t get there. Growing up as a child, we sang a song entitled “Oh You Can’t Get to Heaven on Roller Skates”. (Google it and you’ll find lots of verses). Certainly, we’ve all heard endless jokes on the topic including St. Peter guarding the gates and presenting would-be residents of heaven with some form of “entrance exam”. There are even a bunch of movies that seek to provide us with a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Consider this example from Bruce Almighty (YouTube: Bruce Almighty – Bruce Meets God).
We all want to get there, but somehow the message is clear – “its not easy” and we’re not sure exactly what it will be like.
So it’s interesting that for Rob Bell to begin his conversation in “Love Wins” with some questions about heaven like and how we get there…
He writes this…
“Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, will only a select number “make it to a better place” and every single other person suffer in torment and punishment forever? Is this acceptable to God? Has God created millions of people over tens of thousands of years who are going to spend eternity in anguish? Can God do this, or even allow this, and still claim to be a loving God?” (p. 7)
Raises more questions …
“If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom: the billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? How does a person end up being one of the few? (p. 7)
Chance?
Luck?
Random selection?
Being born in the right place, family or country?
Having a youth pastor who “relates better to the kids?”
God choosing you instead of others? (p. 7-8)
What kind of faith is that?
Or more important: What kind of God is that?” (p. 7-8)
“And whenever people claim that one group is in, saved, accepted by God, forgiven, enlightened, redeemed – and everybody else isn’t – why is it that those who make this claim are almost always part of the group that’s ‘in’? Have you ever heard people make claims about a select few being chosen and then claim they’re not part of that group?” (p.8)
So what are the criteria?
“Some believe it takes a specific prayer. Christians don’t always agree on what this prayer is, but for many the essential idea is that the only way to get to heaven is to pray at some point in your life, asking God to forgive you and telling God that you accept Jesus, you believe Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for your sins, and you don’t want to got o heaven when you die. Some call this “accepting Christ”, others call it the “sinner’s prayer” and still other call it “getting saved”, being “born again”, or being “converted. (p. 9)
So what does the Bible say?
A quick review of Bible verses – all provided by Rob Bell in Chapter 1 – just makes things a more confusing. ( excerpts from pp. 13 – 15)
“In Luke 7 we read a story about a Roman centurion who sends a message to Jesus, telling him that all has to do is say the word and the centurion’s sick servant will be healed. Jesus is amazed at the man’s confidence in him, and turning to the crowd following him, he says, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel”.
Then in Luke 18 Jesus tells a story about two people who go to the temple to pray. The one prays about how glad he is to not be a sinner like the other person, while the other stands at a distance and says, “God have mercy on me a sinner.”
And then in Luke 23 the man hanging on the cross next to Jesus says to him, ‘Remember me when you come into your kingdom’ and Jesus assures him that they’ll be together in paradise.
So what it is that saves you?
Then in John 3 Jesus tells a man named Nicodemus that is he wants to see the “kingdom of God” he must be “born again”.
And in Luke 20, when Jesus is asked about the afterlife, he refers in his response to “those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come.”
So is it about being born again or being considered worthy?
Is it what you say or what you are that saves you?
Then in Matthew 6, Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray and he says that if they forgive others, then God will forgive them, and if they don’t forgive others, then God won’t forgive them.
Then in Matthew 7 Jesus explains, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord Lord” will enter the kingdom, but only those who do the will of my Father.
And then in Matthew 10 he teaches that “those who stand firm till the end will saved”
So do you have to forgive others, do the will of the Father, or “stand firm”
Then in Luke 19, a man named Zaccheus tells Jesus, “and I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Jesus responds, “Today salvation has come to this house
And in Mark 2, Jesus is teaching in a house and some men cut a hole in the roof and lower down their sick friend for Jesus to heal. When Jesus sees their faith, he says to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven” His sins are forgiven because of their faith.
And how about the first conversion story of the early church. We read in Acts 22 about a man named Saul (later Paul) who is traveling to the city of Damascus to persecute Christians when he hears a voice ask him ,”Why do you persecute me?’ He responds, “Who are you Lord?” Then he’s told get up and go to Damascus and wait for instructions. That’s his conversion experience. He is asked a question and he asks a question.
And then in Romans 11 Paul writes” And in this way all Israel will be saved” All of Israel?
Is it what you say,
Or who you are
Or what you do
Or what you say you’re going to do
Or is it who your friends are or what your friend do?
Or is it what questions you’re asked?
Or is it what questions you’re asked in return?
Or is it whether you do what you’re told and go into the city?
Or is it the tribe, or family or group you’re born into? (p. 9 -15)
We could to on, verse after verse, passage after passage, question after question, about heaven and hell and the afterlife and salvation and believing and judgment and who God is and what God is like and how Jesus fits into any of it. (p. 15)
And don’t get me wrong. I’m not demeaning any of these ideas. Lord knows, earlier in my life I said “the sinner’s prayer” at least twice; I make no attempt to deny that, erase that, nor am I embarrassed by it. I declared my faith in public “testimonies”; I’ve been baptized, confirmed, ordained and installed and each of those rituals were a meaningful part of my faith journey. But I don’t believe they can be molded into some kind of gate that allows me to enter and keeps others out because they have not had a similar experience.
I believe the good news is that we don’t really need to know all the “ins” and “outs”. It’s not about saying the right words in a prayer, or knowing the secret handshake, or performing the rituals…
…And the even better news is this: those gates that we imagine at the entrance to heaven can like other gates, be used in a variety of ways – to keep things in, to keep things out. We just adopted a new rescue dog yesterday. With the presence of a new dog in our family, it meant the one of the first things we needed to do was fix the fence. We want to keep Remmer in! But we know there are other gates too. When we lived in NYC, every single house in our neighborhood was surrounded by a huge cast-iron fence. Those fences were clearly designed to keep people out. I guess heaven’s gates can be used for both…
… or maybe they will are more like the gates described in the last chapters of Revelation.
Revelation 21:22-26 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has not need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by it’s light, and the kinds of the earth will bring their glory into it. It’s gates will never be shut by day – and there will be no night there.
“That’s a small detail and it’s important we don’t get too hung up on details and specific images because it’s possible to treat something so literally that it becomes less true in the process. But gates, gates are for keeping people and keeping people out. (p. 60)
If the gates are never shut, then people are free to come and go.
Could it be that God keeps the gates open? Open so that God can go out in search of us? Open so that anyone can enter at any time?
It seems to me that it more closely resembles the God we are told about elsewhere in the Bible. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells two parables about the ever-searching God. In Luke 7 God is a shepherd who leaves behind the 99 sheep in search of the one who is lost. The gate is open so the shepherd can go out; the gate is open so the shepherd can return lovingly carrying the sheep home. God is a woman who had ten silver coins but when she loses one, she will not stop searching until she finds it. She never stops. It’s all followed by the parable of the Prodigal Son in which the father’s gate always remains open in expectation of the return of his lost son.
God continues to search of each of us whether we are aware of it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we want to be found or not. The gate is always open.
And that’s reassuring because it gives us the freedom to come and go. We will not be held captive by the gate nor will we be shut out by it. There are times we come in and times we go out. We question, we doubt, we may move away; we trust, we accept, we may move closer. The open gate allows us to come and go.
Could it be, Bell suggests, that the gate will continue to be open for all eternity as God invites and encourages and welcomes all humanity into the kindom? Could it be that the size of the gate really doesn’t matter because it simply will never close? Could it be that in the end love really will win?
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