{"id":11430,"date":"2026-06-08T10:36:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:36:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11430"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:44:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T17:44:55","slug":"christian-mission-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=11430","title":{"rendered":"Christian mission today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the gospel text for today the twelve disciples are sent out into the world to announce the kingdom of heaven is at hand, to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about us? Twenty-first century disciples? What\u2019s our mission?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today there are church leaders who say something very different. For example, one prominent Christian leader recently said: \u201cEverybody will be saved in the end. Jesus isn\u2019t the only way. God is bigger than that. He can save through any means; it doesn\u2019t have to be through Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, you can find Bible verses that seem to say this. In Romans 5, a few verses beyond our text for today, it says: \u201cAs one man\u2019s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man\u2019s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.\u201d And in Romans 11:32: \u201cGod consigned all to disobedience that, that he may have mercy on all.\u201d These verses seem to say that everybody is saved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you can also find Bible verses that say the opposite. In Matthew 25:46, it says: \u201cSome will go into eternal punishment and others to eternal life.\u201d And: \u201cThe gate is wide and the way is easy which leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many\u201d (Matthew 7:13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now what do we say? One place the Bible says this. Another place it says that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes down to the question of hell. Is there a hell? And also, the question: How to use the Bible? We\u2019ll deal with that another time. Today we\u2019ll look at the question of Christan mission and hell. Is there a hell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We flinch. We\u2019re uncomfortable talking about hell. It seems old fashioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we wonder: What happened to Jesus between the time he was crucified and then arose from the dead a day and a half later. Did he go to hell? There\u2019s a legend, not true, from the 6th<\/sup> century AD about Jesus going to hell and fighting Satan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s Dante\u2019s Inferno, which pictures hell as nine concentric circles of torment, each circle more evil than the one before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we know of those Bible verses that talk about the weeping and gnashing of teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We think, too, of Jonathan Edwards\u2019 thunderous sermon: \u201cSinners in the hand of an angry God.\u201d Edwards preached about the terrifying reality of hell and of how our \u201cgood works\u201d really aren\u2019t as good as we imagine them to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a curious way a recent Gallop Poll suggests that people haven\u2019t changed much since Edwards\u2019 famous sermon in 1741. It notes that while 70% of those polled believe there may be a hell, only 16% think that they themselves could ever be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even conservative evangelicals today talk less about hell than they used to. It\u2019s considered a little too negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do we say? Mainly we don\u2019t think about it. Behind that we have the idea that we can handle anything. We think: Okay, whatever happens after I die, I\u2019ll handle that when I get there. I\u2019ll manage the next world when I get there. It doesn\u2019t bother me now, so I don\u2019t worry about it. I\u2019ll live one day at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a hell? Certainly, yes. Because of justice. Because otherwise there\u2019s no justice at all. When you think of the brutalities and horrors that some people inflict on others, there has to be some way this is worked out. I could make a list, but I won\u2019t. That would distract us from the main point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We think of the monsters like Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. But evil is far more widespread and destructive than even those monsters. We are all caught in the web of evil, sin, and death. There has to be a way in which that is worked out. It\u2019s called justice. God is not a God without justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, people try to make God less scary. They try to turn God into a sentimental Father who pats you on the head and says: \u201cOh well, it doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about all the victims? To understand all is not to forgive all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you ask: How could God allow a hell? The answer is: How could he not? If justice exists at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is hell about? Hell is about the fact that evil is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best way to understand what it\u2019s about is to look at it is in the words of Psalm 22:1, the words that Jesus says on the cross: \u201cMy God, my God. Why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d That\u2019s God against God. That\u2019s the depths of the reality of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cross tells us that evil is real. Evil is not a game. It\u2019s not trivial. Evil is real and deadly, and God has done something about it, and this is what he has done. It is that which he has taken care of in this fearsome way. As it says in Romans 5:8: \u201c. . . while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question we ask is: If there is a hell, who\u2019s going to go there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are four things to be said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, for those who are in Jesus Christ, the promise is that we have a living hope, a sure hope. There\u2019s nothing to worry about. And that\u2019s why we don\u2019t preach much about hell. Those who are in Christ has a sure hope, a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, what about those who aren\u2019t? We can\u2019t say who is and who isn\u2019t in Christ, although we have the promise that those who are baptized in him are his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, that means we have a job called mission. Our mission is to bring the Good News of the promise in Jesus Christ to everyone. There really is nothing more important in all of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, can anybody ever fall away? Well, there is the problem for each of us that we can look to ourselves and not to Jesus Christ. As it says in Hebrews 10:31: \u201cIt is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.\u201d It\u2019s serious business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, though, know that we have the promise, and so, we are not in the situation of worrying. We have the certainty that we are in him. Therefore, we may confidently look ahead, not in fear, but in hope, a sure, living hope, also then with the concern that we bring this great message of the certainty of salvation to others. Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8<\/p>\n

In the gospel text for today the twelve disciples are sent out into the world to announce the kingdom of heaven is at hand, to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.<\/p>\n

What about us? Twenty-first century disciples? What\u2019s our mission?<\/p>\n

Today there are church leaders who say something very different. For example, one prominent Christian leader recently said: \u201cEverybody will be saved in the end. Jesus isn\u2019t the only way. God is bigger than that. He can save through any means; it doesn\u2019t have to be through Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11430"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11439,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11430\/revisions\/11439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}