Condemnation

John 3:16-21 (ESV)  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

We’ve had a lot of darkness in our country lately.  On August 22^nd, a man stabbed a young Ukrainian woman to death on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.  On August 27^th, a shooter killed two young children and wounded 17 others (mostly children) during Mass at a Catholic school in Minneapolis.  On September 10^th, two high school students were shot near Denver, Colorado and at the same time, Christian speaker and political commentator, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed at a university in Orem, Utah.

These events and others like them have become much too common.  They make us angry, hungry for justice for the perpetrators.  We seek to condemn them, but Jesus said the condemnation has already been made.  What He wishes for these people, and for all people, is for them to come to know Him personally.

Jesus did not come to condemn, so how are we qualified to do so?  If Jesus came to save but not to condemn, shouldn’t we follow His example?  The Great Commission says to go and make disciples not to go and condemn others.  According to the passage quoted above, that has already taken place.

In the above passage, Jesus had divided all people into two categories: the lost and the saved.  The lost don’t believe in the name of the Son of God.  The saved do.  The lost do evil works, the saved to works pleasing to God.  So, what do you suppose that looks like, doing works that are pleasing to God?

On January 8, 1956 five missionaries were killed by the Huaorani (Auca) Indians of Ecuador.  The missionaries had guns and even fired them in the air to scare off their attackers but refused to shoot these natives because they felt it was better that they die themselves and join Jesus in heaven than to kill the non-believing tribal warriors intent on ending their lives. The warriors didn’t know Jesus and would be condemned to eternal punishment.

Three years after the massacre of the missionaries, others including the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the missionaries killed, brought the gospel to the Aucas, and their mission was explained.

“Thus, the Huaorani realized that the visitors were indeed their friends, willing to die for them if necessary. When in subsequent months they heard the message that the Son of God had come down from heaven to reconcile men with God, and to die in order to bring about that reconciliation, they recognized that the message of the missionaries was the basis of what they had seen enacted in the lives of the missionaries. They believed the Gospel preached because they had seen the Gospel lived.” (DAVID YONKE, Toledo Blade)

Why is this important?

Our job as Christians isn’t to condemn others.  They are already condemned if they don’t know Jesus.  Our job is to share the gospel with those who haven’t taken advantage of it whether it’s the kindly 84 year old lady who lives down the street, an angry man who has taken the life of a young Ukranian woman, or those who have celebrated the murder of a man who held differing views from theirs.  Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world.  He came to save the world, and these people are among those for whom Christ died.

Let’s pray for Decarlos Brown Jr. who stabbed 23 year old Iryna Zarutska to death, for Robin Westman who shot all those beautiful children at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis killing two, for 16 year old Desmond Holly who shot up Evergreen High School in Colorado wounding two, and for Tyler Robinson who ended the life of Charlie Kirk at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.  We need to pray for all of these people, and we even need to pray for those celebrating these terrible events.  No matter how differently we view the world, they are still people Christ died for.