"Does God Condemn People to Hell?" - Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 21:1-8
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
From Sunday, April 3, 2022
Texts: Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 21:1-8
“Does God Condemn People to Hell?”
Could you guess how many times the word “hell” is mentioned in the Bible? Is it 15 times? 50? 100? Or 150? Or more?
“Hell” - or some form of that word - a place separate from God, a lake of fire, a Pit, or abyss - is mentioned 167 times in the Bible. Through the ages, “hell” has gotten quite a bit of attention - in literature, in art, and in our theology.
So, does God really condemn people to hell, . . . forever?
When we had our staff meeting this week, and I reminded them that this was the question for my sermon in this series, the energy picked up, the conversation got louder: “well yeah! . . . . Of course! . . . . We know the answer.” And then there was more laughter as we shared how everyone can name certain people that we hope God might condemn to hell - maybe a few for real, the nasty evildoers through history, and then others who we might just be teasing about.
What does it say about us that we might want some people to be banished forever to hell? That is quite a condemnation.
I am pretty sure we like the idea of a “hell” because we also want, depend on, a sense of justice. We might even admit to finding delight in the idea that God perhaps establishes such a dreadful place for certain dreadful people.
But, . . . we should also be careful about this concept of “hell.” We probably should hope and pray that no one is banished forever to hell, because . . what makes us so sure we will not be there also? And we should be even more careful about what we assume God is certain to do. When it comes to God - mystery is the better word, not certitude. Too many people express certitude about certain things. Certitude, when it comes to God, and especially combined with the word “hell,” is always dangerous.
Let’s consider the first lesson today - from Matthew 25. We love this passage. We seek to be a Matthew 25 church - doing what Jesus does - caring for the most needy, feeding the hungry, visiting the prisoner, loving kindness, walking humbly with God.
What we don’t usually talk about when we talk about Matthew 25, and being a church serving as Jesus served, is that last line: Jesus says, “. . . just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
That is one of the mentions of “hell,” the reference to eternal punishment. It seems to be a dreadful place reserved for certain people. Which people? Take note here. It is not just mean and evil people - like those who perpetuate war, or abuse children, . . . . or aggravate us. Jesus is speaking about people who claim to know and follow him, but who do not serve alongside him. Eternal punishment, “hell” is reserved for those people who piously claim God, but prove that their claim is a lie by not caring for fellow human beings in need.
Matthew’s Jesus does this more than a few times. Matthew’s Jesus wanted to motivate believers to not only believe, but to love and serve. Don’t say you love Jesus and then refuse to love others. Don’t say you believe in God and then act with certitude that hell is for other people. No, the Jesus we meet in Matthew wants followers to show they are Christians by their love.
Will they know we are Christians, by our love, by our love? We hope so.
Does Jesus speaking about hell - and eternal punishment - help us live with more love? That is the ongoing question.
You might recall the story of the rich man and Lazarus. That story is found only in Luke’s gospel. The rich man lived lavishly, feasted sumptuously everyday. Lazarus hung out at the rich man’s gate, covered with sores, hoping for something to eat from the rich man’s leftovers. Both men died. The rich man went to Hades, (another of the many references to Hell) where he was being tormented. Lazarus was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. Again, Jesus’ point - it matters how we live. Do we share? Do we love? Do we care? Or is it about selfish gain and attainment? These images of heaven and hell - and eternity - intend to shape our priorities now - how we live. This is what Jesus cares most about.
We have lots of folk who like faith and literature here in this church. The references to “hell,” the talk of eternal punishment, Hades, may be more literary devices to help us understand the truth and promises of Scripture. They are images employed to direct our living, our loving, our faith, our life.
- God loves you, love God and strive to love what God loves.
- You belong to God, so learn to care about what God cares about - the less fortunate, the needy, the hurting, the sad and lost. When you do, your life will have more depth and meaning. When you do not, your life will be darker, bleaker, less enjoyable.
- You have been saved by God’s amazing grace. Therefore, be about God’s work in the world. Be a blessing. That will bring you life and life in abundance.
So what is “hell?” Do we believe there is a hell? Do we take it seriously?
Here is how theologian Shirley Guthrie puts it. Hell is “Not a fiery or dark place of eternal torment located somewhere underground between the United States and China. It is living apart from or in hostility toward God and other people, and therefore denying one’s own true humanity - forever.” He continues: Hell “is living forever in the loneliness that results from the inability or unwillingness to love and be loved. It is . . . living forever in the frantic, self-destroying attempt to be what one is not and never can be. Hell is not a kind of eternal life at all; it is a kind of eternal death.” (Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, p. 396)
Here is the main point to hold onto: God is mostly interested in you - your life, your faithfulness, your compassion and care. Some might emphasize that God condemns people to hell. That is not the main point. God is always about life and love, and calling us to lives of life and love. Not condemning us to hell. God is always about what we see in Jesus - “come and follow me.” It is an invitation to frame our lives, to love God and love others, to promote healing and peace, to share light and hope. Jesus says “come unto me all who are heavily burdened - I will give you rest.” Jesus wants to draw us away from frantic, self-destroying, self-involved lives, and turn us outward toward God and others, toward the world, to work with God in the healing of the world. “God is our help and strength - let us do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.” This is what God wants us to know most and do most - not condemn us to hell.
When we get to the end of the Bible - the long story of God’s pursuit of God’s people and God’s calling to us to live and serve as God’s people - we have these familiar words from Revelation 21. We often read these words at funerals.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.7Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, 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.”
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We might say this is another literary device to depict for us God’s beloved fulfillment of the world. God keeps working for a qualitative newness for all things. That has always been God’s plan and goal. In God’s good time, all that threatens will fall away. The sea - which in the Bible is an unpredictable and often scary place - will be no more. The holy city, new Jerusalem will emerge - as if to say poverty and racism, gun violence and despair will be no more. Death will be no more; crying and pain will be no more. There is a new gladness that God prepares. All these are images of God’s anticipated beauty and relief, joy and hope, God’s fullness and care: “I will be their God and they will be my children.”
And then, there it is again - that final verse - the part we do not read at funerals - “all the cowardly and faithless, the sorcerers and idolaters, all liars and murderers, . . . . their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The idea of hell here - it is less about a place - eternal punishment - and more about how to motivate people to live with faith and fortitude, with love and service - when there are so many temptations and challenges. We want to keep moving our lives toward that glorious consummation, which includes aligning our lives with God and God’s purposes, not living selfishly, aggressively, violently, destructively. God keeps wanting to motivate us toward life, not death. Our destiny is with God - and we want to stay focused on that.
This idea of hell - and people condemned by God to hell, forever - has gotten some helpful explication from two noted authors in recent years, two people whose lives were formerly wrapped up in certitude, and conservative evangelical Christian faith. One of these people is Rob Bell, the other is Rachel Held Evans.
Rob Bell has written many excellent books. His most controversial book is undoubtedly, Love Wins, a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who has ever lived. Basically, Bell dispels the idea that hell is a place that bad people go when they die. He even got in lots of trouble with the evangelical community because he questions the traditional understanding of hell. There are references to hell in Scripture - even 167 of them. But hell is not a final destination - God is always our destiny. God made us. God’s love covers us. Our life comes from God and proceeds to God. Hell is what we experience when we lead lives apart from God. The truth is, as Bell affirms, “the world is being redeemed, the tomb is empty, and a new creation is bursting forth right here in the midst of this one.” (p 160). God wants us to be part of the new world, living and loving. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were signs on us, he says, evidence of our Christian love, our Christian service, our living in God’s ways, like the green that gets on your shoes when you mow the grass - evidence that you were doing something for God in the world. Jesus’ talk of hell is to get our attention, get us busy doing something for God - not to condemn us forever.
Rachel Held Evans died way too early, at age 38. She too grew up in conservative evangelicalism. What she wanted more than anything was to be a good Christian girl, following Jesus, bringing others to Jesus. But then when her pastor sided with President Trump about separating migrant children from their families, and when she saw the Taliban beheading a woman for adultery on CNN, a woman whose geography simply prohibited the woman from knowing Jesus, she knew had to focus less on certitude and more on God’s mystery. Held Evans’ last book, Wholehearted Faith, pulled together by her friends from her writings after she died, shows an expansive, generous faith: God loves us all; we are off track when we focus on condemnation rather than the boundless love of God.
So while there are many references in the Bible to hell, and even some threats about eternal suffering, God wants our heart and lives and loving and serving in the world. That is what God most cares about - not condemning us to hell. We look for and pray for the boundless of God to prevail, over all suffering and sadness, death and despair. The God of the Bible loves us, and loves the world, loves life and wholeness, not death and destruction. We lean into these words: “See, the home of God is among mortals;” God seeks to dwell with us forever, not banish us forever. This is our hope. This is what focuses us for faith and living, all our days. May it be so. Amen.
Prayer of Commitment: Pour out your love and gracious Spirit upon us, O God. We seek to trust you and serve you, following Jesus. Amen
Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on April 3, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.