Sermon Cloud

I'll have just announced the sermon series... And today we talk about hell. Now, I've gotta tell you, I've been to hell. A couple summers ago, Erin and I went on a cruse and one of the stops was hell. Now, you'll be interested to know that hell is actually located on the island of Grand Cayman. I have the postcard and I have the pictures. 2 Pictures of Grand Cayman and Play MP3 clip at same time.
And we know who the goats are, right? For example...Picture of Anna Nicole Smith If we were to look at hell's most eligible list, it would be her, right? Stripper, playboy model, married a billionaire who was practically on his deathbed, no one knows who fathered her little girl, spent the last few years of her life so strung out on drugs she couldn't even talk. Hellbound behavior, right?
To be faithful to the entire scope of biblical revelation, the Apostle Paul and the book of Revelation have some serious warnings for people who abandon any attempt to follow God and become enslaved by their own selfish and sinful behaviors. We'll be looking at Revelations' images of final consequences, but today we're just looking at the words of Jesus. This is important to do because when we read the word "hell" in the gospels, we read so much into that word. I talked about it last week, we misinterpret scripture because we get in the way of the words. We read "hell" and we immediately start thinking of the images from Dante's Inferno and John Milton's Paradise Lost. But what did Jesus mean when he talked about hell and how would his original audience would've received his teachings?
Jesus' Jewish audience would've had a pretty shaky belief in any type of afterlife. There were two prominent religious groups in the day, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees. Pharisees believe in an afterlife, Sadducees didn't. The OT is silent about the afterlife, seriously.
Other than a few vague references to sheol which means the grave, the Hebrew scriptures (our OT) makes no reference to an afterlife. The people in the OT didn't have a belief in a heaven or a hell. They just didn't give it much thought. So the Sadducees were claiming biblical authority in saying "no, when you're dead, you're dead."
But during those few hundred years between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Jesus some Jews began to believe in a heaven. It became for them a moral necessity.
Several different empires rose up over the span of these several centuries, eventually leading up to the Roman empire, overtaking the nation of Israel. Many Jews who lived good, God honoring lives were being murdered during this time.
Imagine these foreign soldiers invading an Israelite city and taking a good, generous, God-honoring woman into the middle of the city; gouging out her eyes, cutting off her arms and then killing her and her children.
And for good reason, Jewish people couldn't see how that could be right? A woman lives a righteous life and that's how she gets rewarded. At that time, they were only concerned with their earthly life. A hope grew into a belief and many Jews began to say "that can't be the end of her story. God must have something better for her on the other side." A reward in the afterlife for those who follow God.
And there were other Jews dying for good causes, too. Jews who lead revolts against the Roman empire, seeking to overthrow their oppressor and bring about the new kingdom for the Messiah. But Rome was strong and all of these warriors were killed. Again, there had to be a reward for those who died doing God's will.
But there also had to be a reason that God's will wasn't taking place. A reason the Messiah hadn't come and Rome was still in control. The afterlife is nice, but what about God's kingdom now?
And this is where the Pharisees come in. The Pharisees knew why the Messiah hadn't yet come to overthrow the Roman Empire. The answer was obvious, it was all around them. It was because of the filth of the sinners all around them. Those people who were Jewish by birth, but sure weren't living right. The prostitutes, the drunkards, the tax collectors who had sold out their own people for some Roman money. Why would God send the Messiah when so many Jews were living lives that were sure to repulse God? The Pharisees began to teach about not only heaven for those like them who did right and kept every commandment, but a hell for the filthy scum that were screwing it up for the rest of us.
The future population of heaven and hell were clearly defined. We're doing right, we're going to heaven. You're screwing it all up, so you're going to hell. We're right, you're wrong; we're in, you're out. The Pharisees had defined the power structure? The Pharisees were swinging around hell like a big ol' stick.
In typical Jesus style, he turned their system upside down and turned that stick right back on them. Let's look at what he did by taking a survey how Jesus used the word "hell."
Two greek words Jesus used in the gospels that we translate into the English word "hell." Hades and Gehenna.
Hades is the greek translation of the Hebrew word Sheol. I mentioned this earlier, this is a very vague word; we could translate it as "the place of the dead, the grave, the place for those who have fallen asleep, depths." And other warm fuzzies Very ambiguous because the OT doesn't mention heaven or hell. This word is first used in Genesis 37:35, Jacob has just found out his other 11 sons thought they'd murdered their brother Joseph.
Jesus used this word twice and Matthew and Luke both record him using this word. Matthew 11:23 and Matthew 16:18.
But I want us to focus our attention on the word Jesus used the most for hell, 11 times in fact, the word Gehenna. It's recorded 11 times in the gospels but some are in the same passage or are parallel accounts, so he basically used the word on 5 separate occasions. Gehenna only appears one other time in the NT, in the book of James.
Gehenna was an actual, physical place. You can see some pictures on the screen. Images of Gehenna Ge means valley, henna is the greek translation of the Hebrew name hennom. Gehenna means "valley of hinnom." It was an actual, physical place. If you don't remember anything else I say, remember Gehenna was real! This valley was located right outside Jerusalem, southside of the city.
Bad crap used to go down in the valley of Hinnom. During the time of the Kings, the Hebrew people kept giving into the temptation to worship other false gods. One of these gods was Molech. To be a committed follower of Molech, you had to sacrifice your firstborn son. And the Hebrew people were doing it! Even their kings!
2 Chronicles 33:6 (just first sentence). Hinnom was the place for child sacrifice.
700 or so years later, during Jesus' time, people still remembered what had happened there, so no one wanted to live in the valley of Hinnom, it's too creepy. So by Jesus' time, it's become a trash dump. People would take their trash to the southern wall of Jerusalem and just pitch it over the wall where it would just fall down into the valley.
And it would've reeked to high heaven. So fires were started to burn up all this trash. As more of the valley floor was covered with more and more trash, eventually there were fires all over the place. Fires that, as Jesus said, never went out.
And wild dogs would scrounge through the valley. They would fight over scraps of food. And what do dogs do when they fight? They whine and whip at each other and they bite at each other. Just like Jesus said, the valley of Gehenna is full of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Possibly the sounds of those dogs fighting.
Gehenna represented the world gone bad. You could say the place was anti-God. From the sin of child sacrifice to human trash and refuse. Things that had once held worth were abandoned as trash in the valley. They valley was lit with a fire that never went out, a place where you'd constantly hear wailing and the gnashing of teeth. Jesus' followers knew exactly where he was talking about.
Let's look at where he used this word. Matthew 5:21-22 This is all about contempt. It's not just "I don't like what you did" it's "I don't like you." "I wish you didn't even exist." The word for "idiot" is "racca", the sound of hocking a loogue to spit on someone. When you punch someone, you're trying to hurt them. To spit on them is declare them something less than human. To take away their value. That is Gehenna.
Matthew 5:27-30 Jesus is obviously making a rhetorical point here, because a man with no hands and even a blind man with no eyes can still lust. But thankfully, Jesus is speaking to the small minority of men throughout history who have ever been tempted to lust, right?
Lust is turning another person into an object that exists for your own pleasure. Reducing them to something less than human, an object to be exploited for your own gain. And we can do that to people in more ways than just sexual. We exploit others in a lot of different ways. When we lust, we reduce the humanity of another person and in so doing, we're destroying our own humanity in the process. Lust is Gehenna.
Matthew 10:26-28 We know from verse 5 that Jesus is talking to his followers. He's giving them final instructions before going out and teaching and performing miracles in Jesus' name. The disciples are going to face persecution. And those first reading Matthew's gospel were facing persecution for being Christians. Jesus is addressing their fear. Don't fear the religious people that like to make your life difficult, the worse thing they can do is to kill your body. Fear, have respect for, the God who holds the power of life and death. But be fearless about everything else. Let God overcome your irrational fear and guide your life. Irrational fear is Gehenna.
Mark 9:38-48 Again, Jesus is speaking to his followers and to religious leaders. These "little ones" are the people experiencing Jesus' miracle of rebirth. Jesus is making their lives new. Everything is so new and refreshing, it's like becoming a little child.
But then the religious people get in the way. Harassing them, doing what religious people do, picking apart their experience, telling them what they're still doing wrong or how they're not going about it the same way. "You didn't cast out that demon the right way." Jesus is telling them it's better to cut off your foot and gouge out your eye than fall into hell than leading these little ones into sin. Your own rigid rules causing another to stumble, that's Gehenna. Taking something beautiful and worthwhile and turning it into worthless garbage.
Matthew 23:13-15 Jesus is up in the grille of some powerful, powerful people. Not only are they the big dogs in Jewish circles, but they're tight with the Roman authorities, too. I can imagine that as the crowds are listening to Jesus publicly call out the Pharisees, they're thinking "this guy's gonna get himself killed." Which is exactly what happens, these Pharisees are the ones who get Jesus crucified.
The Pharisees are the ones who are swinging around threats of hell like a big stick. The Messiah hasn't come because of you dirty sinners. You're screwing it all up. If you don't change and become like us, you're gonna burn in hell!
But Jesus takes that stick out of their hands and turns it back on them. Your hypocrisy has turned you into a child of Gehenna. You're supposed to be the spiritual leaders and you're actually getting in the way of people who are genuinely seeking God. You're supposed to be helping people find God but because the way they're finding God doesn't fit with your system and rules, you're actually preventing them from coming to know God. You're supposed to be spreading light, but instead you're turning people toward darkness! That is Gehenna!
And just for good measure, Jesus adds this vs. 33 Where is a serpent first mentioned in the Bible? These are biblical scholars, they would've known. In the Garden of Eden, tempting Eve to sin and turn away from God.
There are parallel accounts of these same events in the gospels, but these are all the times Jesus mentions Gehenna. Let's review the major themes:: Contempt Lust Fear Misleading Hypocrisy
And who is Jesus talking to in each passage? Those who are following him: his disciples and others and the religious leaders, those in places of spiritual authority. Jesus is not talking to unbelievers and those living in open sin. Repeat
Who would Jesus damn? Church people. Those who think it's their job to decide who's in and who's out. Those who have the responsibility of sharing the light and love of Jesus, but aren't doing it.
With that in mind, I want to make some conclusions regarding Jesus' teaching on hell.
1) Present Reality Other passages in the NT talk about the future, but Jesus is talking about a current reality. You could go to the town dump. And Jesus was speaking to a bunch of living "town dumps." Lust turns you and others in living trash heaps. The fear that's keeping you up all night is turning your life into a living hell. What's keeping you up at night? That fear is ruining your life.
Our hypocrisy is taking a life/ the Christian faith - that's supposed to be beautiful and good and turning it into something evil and trashy. Living this was has serious implications for the future, but first and foremost, Jesus is dealing with this life.
Hell on earth is poverty, depression, suicide, loneliness, Iraq, Sudan. Let's take hell literally, like Jesus meant for it to be taken literally. In the here and now.
2) It's About Us I know what you're thinking, "what about them? What about the evildoers." We want to worry about how others are going to get it some day, but let's forget about that. Instead, let's talk about your anger; what it's doing to you now and those around you. What about the racca you've been spewing at that other group, or maybe your own spouse. Can we admit the times we've brought hell to earth?
How can I be a light to the world when fear owns me? How can I be grace and compassion to the world when I'm consumed with lust? How can I love when I'm full of contempt and hypocrisy? What about the times we've shut the door to the Kingdom of God in someone's face because they didn't think exactly like us?
Hear me here, let's stop making hell about them/ then and realize Jesus made it about us/ now.
Those who claim the name of Jesus have the responsibility of sharing his light with others. We're to be the ones who live by the values of God's kingdom. Are we?
3) Bring Heaven to the here and now Jesus was all about living rightly so the world could be different now. What are we doing to make the Kingdom of God a reality now? Can you be set free from your fear so you can offer God's peace to others? Are you willing to be set free from your materialism so you can give your money to others? Can you let God heal that lust so you can love others?
So many Christians have reduced the message of Jesus to praying to get your sins forgiven so you can avoid hell and live in heaven. But Jesus wasn't about that. He offered new life and forgiveness of sins so his followers could get busy bringing heaven to earth. Our eternal destiny is the continual projection of the way we're living now. So let's worry about following Jesus now, sharing Jesus with others now and eternity will take care of itself.
But it isn't easy to live this way. Our world tells us one way to live but Jesus tells us there's another. It's easy to live like everyone else, it's impossible to live like Jesus. We can't do it on our own. Thankfully, Jesus offers us the spiritual nourishment of his grace.
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