1. Omaha Presbyterian
School for Pastors
Hastings 2012
Session 5

2. Saving the
World

3. School for Pastors
Hear our prayer for the School for
Pastors, O Lord.

4. School for Pastors
We pray that you may grant, in accor-
dance with the riches of your glory, that
we may be strengthened in our inner
being with power through your Spirit.

5. School for Pastors
We pray that you will dwell in our
hearts by faith, as we are established
and grounded in your love.

6. School for Pastors
We pray that we may have the power to
comprehend, with all the saints, the
breadth and length and height and
depth of your love: to know this love
that surpasses knowledge.

7. School for Pastors
We pray that we may be filled with all
your fullness, O God.

8. School for Pastors
By the power at work within us you are
able to accomplish abundantly far more
than we can ask or imagine.

9. School for Pastors
To you be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus to all generations, forever
and ever. Amen.
– from Ephesians 3:16-21

10. Saving the World
Luke 9:51
When the days drew near for him to be
taken up, he set his face to go to
Jerusalem.

11. Saving the World
Luke 9:52
And he sent messengers ahead of him.
On their way they entered a village of
the Samaritans to make ready for him;

12. Saving the World
Luke 9:53
But they did not receive him, because
his face was set toward Jerusalem.

13. Saving the World
Luke 9:54
When his disciples James and John
saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us
to command fire to come down from
heaven and consume them?”

14. Saving the World
Luke 9:55-56
But he turned and rebuked them. Then
they went on to another village.

15. Saving the World
II Kings 1:9
Then the king sent to him a captain of
fifty with his fifty men.

16. Saving the World
II Kings 1:9
He went up to Elijah, who was sitting
on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O
man of God, the king says, ‘Come
down.’ ”

17. Saving the World
II Kings 1:10
But Elijah answered the captain of fifty,
“If I am a man of God, let fire come
down from heaven and consume you
and your fifty.”

18. Saving the World
II Kings 1:10
Then fire came down from heaven, and
consumed him and his fifty.

19. Saving the World
II Kings 1:11
Again the king sent to him another
captain of fifty with his fifty.

20. Saving the World
II Kings 1:11
He went up and said to him, “O man of
God, this is the king’s order: Come
down quickly!”

21. Saving the World
II Kings 1:12
But Elijah answered them, “If I am a
man of God, let fire come down from
heaven and consume you and your
fifty.”

22. Saving the World
II Kings 1:12
Then the fire of God came down from
heaven and consumed him and his
fifty.

23. Saving the World
Luke 9:54
When his disciples James and John
saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us
to command fire to come down from
heaven and consume them?”

24. Saving the World
Why did James and John want to ask a
question like this?

25. Saving the World
Perhaps because they were deeply
offended that this village did not show
proper respect to Jesus, and believed
everyone there deserved to die?

26. Saving the World
Perhaps they liked the idea that, if
Jesus gave them permission, they
could exercise the power of God in
spectacular judgment on these people?

27. Saving the World
Perhaps to show that they really had
the support of Jesus, to make it evident
that they deserved to have the places
of honor at his right and left hand?

28. Saving the World
Luke 9:55-56
But he turned and rebuked them. Then
they went on to another village.
p45, p75, ‫ ,א‬B, & many others

29. Saving the World
Luke 9:55
But he turned and rebuked them, and
said, “You do not know what spirit you
are of,

30. Saving the World
Luke 9:55
But he turned and rebuked them, and
said, “You do not know what spirit you
are of,
D, Chrysostom, Epiphanius

31. Saving the World
Luke 9:56
for the Son of Man has not come to
destroy the lives of human beings, but
to save them. Then they went on to
another village.

32. Saving the World
Luke 9:56
for the Son of Man has not come to
destroy the lives of human beings, but
to save them. Then they went on to
another village.
Marcion , Ambrose, Diatessaron

33. Saving the World
Late first / early second century
preacher writing a sermon note
drawing from:

34. Saving the World
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek out
and to save the lost.

35. Saving the World
John 3:17
God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved
through him.

36. Saving the World
Matthew 18:11
For the Son of Man came to seek and to
save the lost.
D K W X Diatessaron Hilary & others

37. Saving the World
When James and John expressed the
desire to bring the fire of God down on
judgment on this village, Jesus
rebuked them. Why did he do that?

38. Saving the World
Early twenty-first century preacher
would draw from
Luke 19:10; John 3:17

39. Saving the World
Do we believe that Jesus came to seek
and to save the lost?

40. Saving the World
Do we believe that God sent his son
into the world, not to condemn the
world, but to save the world through
him?

41. Saving the World
James and John stand as exemplars of
the human desire to be instruments of
God’s judgment on the unrighteous.

42. Saving the World
It was clear to the brothers that it was
right for this village to be blotted out by
the judgment of God,

43. Saving the World
and that they themselves should be the
ones to pray the prayer that would call
down the fire of God to do it.

44. Saving the World
But Jesus rebuked their desire to call
down judgment.

45. Saving the World
Do we believe that the desire to call
down judgment needs to be rebuked?

46. Saving the World
Matthew 7:1
Do not judge, so that you may not be
judged.

47. Saving the World
Matthew 7:2
For with the judgment you make you
will be judged, and the measure you
give will be the measure you get.

48. Saving the World
Matthew 7:3
Why do you see the speck in your
neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the
log in your own eye?

49. Saving the World
Matthew 7:4
Or how can you say to your neighbor,
“Let me take the speck out of your
eye,” while the log is in your eye?

50. Saving the World
Matthew 7:5
You hypocrite, first take the log out of
your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to take the speck out of your
neighbor’s eye.

51. Saving the World
Three part sequence

52. Saving the World
Three part sequence
Command: do not judge

53. Saving the World
Predeciding the answer, based on a
command:

54. Saving the World
Predeciding the answer, based on a
command:
Do not commit adultery

55. Saving the World
Predeciding the answer, based on a
command:
Do not covet

56. Saving the World
Predeciding the answer, based on a
command:
Do not judge

57. Saving the World
Three part sequence
Command: do not judge
Warning: you’ll be judged

58. Saving the World
What goes around comes around

59. Saving the World
It’s karma, baby

60. Saving the World
Galatians 6:7
You reap what you sow.

61. Saving the World
Three part sequence
Command: do not judge
Warning: you’ll be judged
Hyperbole: a log in your eye!

62. Saving the World
All sin is the same, separating us from
God, and from one another.

63. Saving the World
But Jesus does not say, “Your sin is
just as bad as your neighbor’s, so you
should think about that.”

64. Saving the World
Jesus proposes that my sin is huge,
compared to my neighbor’s, and totally
disqualifies me from judging.

65. Saving the World
Three part sequence
Command: do not judge
Warning: you’ll be judged
Hyperbole: a log in your eye!

66. Saving the World
Four part sequence!
Command: do not judge
Warning: you’ll be judged
Hyperbole: a log in your eye!
Sarcasm: pearls of wisdom

67. Saving the World
Matthew 7:6
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and
do not throw your pearls before swine,
or they will trample them under foot
and turn and maul you.

68. Saving the World
New section?
Matthew 7:1-5 on judging
Matthew 7:6 on profaning the holy

69. Saving the World
Odd juxtaposition

70. Saving the World
Odd juxtaposition
Matthew 7:1-5: do not judge x 3

71. Saving the World
Odd juxtaposition
Matthew 7:1-5: do not judge x 3
Matthew 7:6: well, some people are
dogs and pigs, judge ’em all you like

72. Saving the World
John Calvin on Matthew 7:6

73. Saving the World

74. Saving the World
John Calvin on Matthew 7:6

75. Saving the World
Two objections to this view

76. Saving the World
1. If proclaiming the gospel to the
unreceptive counts as casting pearls
before swine,

77. Saving the World
Jesus does not propose that we should
try our best to make it work until we
come to the point of realizing that we
will not succeed;

78. Saving the World
instead, he gives us no permission to
do it even once.

79. Saving the World
2. The text warns us about a danger we
face, in casting pearls before swine;

80. Saving the World
but that danger is not that we will
become frustrated because after all our
effort we have nothing to show for it;

81. Saving the World
instead, the risk is that these people
will trample and bite or claw us.

82. Saving the World
What tone of voice might Jesus have
been using?

83. Saving the World
What tone of voice might Jesus have
been using?
Suppose his tone was sarcastic?

84. Saving the World
How does sarcasm work?

85. Saving the World
Matthew 7:6
Do not give what you think of as holy to
those you think are dogs, nor cast what
you think are pearls before those you
think are swine.

86. Saving the World
What are these things I think of as holy,
as pearls?

87. Saving the World
What are these things I think of as holy,
as pearls?
The context of Matthew 7:1-5 would
suggest: they are my judgments

88. Saving the World
By comparison with yourself you think
your neighbors are like dogs or pigs,

89. Saving the World
and then you imagine that they’re going
to be so grateful when you offer them
your holy judgments, your precious
pearls?

90. Saving the World
Nope. They’re going to trample your
“pearls,” and then they’re going to
trample you.

91. Saving the World

92. Saving the World
Romans 14:10
Why do you pass judgment on your
brother or sister? Or you, why do you
despise your brother or sister? For we
will all stand before the judgment seat
of God.

93. Saving the World
Romans 14:11
For it is written, “As I live, says the
Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and
every tongue shall give praise to God.”

94. Saving the World
Romans 14:12
So then, each of us will be accountable
to God.

95. Saving the World
Romans 14:13
Let us therefore no longer pass
judgment on one another, but resolve
instead never to put a stumbling block
or hindrance in the way of another.

96. Saving the World
Romans 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on
servants of another? It is before their
own lord that they stand or fall.

97. Saving the World
Romans 14:4
And they will be upheld, for the Lord is
able to make them stand.

98. Saving the World
Judgment belongs to God.
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.

99. Saving the World
Matthew 25:31
When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, then
he will sit on the throne of his glory.

100. Saving the World
Matthew 25:32
All the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate people from
one another as a shepherd separates
the sheep and the goats,

101. Saving the World
Matthew 25:33
and he will put the sheep at his right
hand and the goats at the left.

102. Saving the World
Acts 10:34
Then Peter began to speak
[to Cornelius and his family] …

103. Saving the World
Acts 10:38
… how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power;
how he went about doing good and
healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with him.

104. Saving the World
Acts 10:39
We are witnesses to all that he did both
in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put
him to death by hanging him on a tree;

105. Saving the World
Acts 10:40
but God raised him on the third day and
allowed him to appear,

106. Saving the World
Acts 10:41
not to all the people but to us who were
chosen by God as witnesses, and who
ate and drank with him after he rose
from the dead.

107. Saving the World
Acts 10:42
He commanded us to preach to the
people and to testify that he is the one
ordained by God as judge of the living
and the dead.

108. Saving the World
Acts 10:43
All the prophets testify about him that
everyone who believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name.

109. Saving the World
Basic information Cornelius needs to
know about Jesus:
God has ordained Jesus as judge of the
living and the dead

110. Saving the World
Matthew and Acts provide this basic
affirmation, without making the
application as to what it means.

111. Saving the World
II Timothy 4:1
In the presence of God and of Christ
Jesus, who is to judge the living and
the dead, and in view of his appearing
and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:

112. Saving the World
II Timothy 4:2
proclaim the message; be persistent
whether the time is favorable or
unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and
encourage, with the utmost patience in
teaching.

113. Saving the World
If Jesus is judge of the living and the
dead, if he is to appear in his kingdom,
what does this mean for Timothy’s
ministry?

114. Saving the World
Bold in his proclamation, when people
want to listen and when they don’t

115. Saving the World
“Jesus is judge” does not preclude
strong rebukes from Timothy

116. Saving the World
“Jesus is judge” does not preclude
strong rebukes from Timothy
– but he would need to practice the
utmost patience in his teaching

117. Saving the World
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.

118. Saving the World
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.
There is no indication that he needs us
to take over this project for him.

119. Saving the World
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.
He has in fact given us an explicit
command, forbidding us to join in.

120. Saving the World
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.
We may well need to teach the
unlearned, or rebuke the stubborn.

121. Saving the World
Jesus Christ is the judge of the living
and the dead.
But with great patience, and with the
conviction that we may not judge.

122. Saving the World
Galatians 6:1
My friends, if anyone is detected in a
transgression, you who have received
the Spirit should restore such a one in
a spirit of gentleness. Take care that
you yourselves are not tempted.

123. Saving the World
I John 2:1
My little children, I am writing these
things to you so that you may not sin.

124. Saving the World
I John 2:1
But if anyone does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous;

125. Saving the World
I John 2:2
and he is the atoning sacrifice for our
sins, and not for ours only but also for
the sins of the whole world.

126. Saving the World
Do we believe that Jesus has offered
the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the
whole world?

127. Saving the World
II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow about his promise,
as some think of slowness, but is
patient with you, not wanting any to
perish, but all to come to repentance.

128. Saving the World
Do we believe that God wants none to
perish, but all to come to repentance?

129. Saving the World
Do we want that, too? Do we, like God,
want none to perish, but all to come to
repentance?

130. Saving the World
Excursus: Funny About Love (1990)
Gene Wilder, Mary Stuart Masterson
“You gotta know what you want.”

131. Saving the World

132. Saving the World
Do we want to be part of God's plan for
the redemption of the world?

133. Saving the World
What about all the warnings about hell?

134. Saving the World
Luke 10:13
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you,
Bethsaida!

135. Saving the World
Luke 10:13
For if the deeds of power done in you
had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago, sitting
in sackcloth and ashes.

136. Saving the World
Luke 10:14
But at the judgment it will be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for
you.

137. Saving the World
Luke 10:15
And you, Capernaum, will you be
exalted to heaven? No, you will be
brought down to Hades.

138. Saving the World
Do we believe that, as a plain statement
of fact, the people of Capernaum are
not going to heaven, they’re going to
hell?

139. Saving the World
Do we believe that Jesus is offering a
declaratory judgment, so that the
people of Capernaum can know, in
advance, that they’re going to hell?

140. Saving the World
Do we believe that, as a plain statement
of fact, Tyre and Sidon might do OK on
judgment day, but Chorazin and
Bethsaida will stand condemned?

141. Saving the World
Do we believe that Jesus is offering a
declaratory judgment, so that the
people of Bethsaida and Chorazin can
know, in advance, that they’re going to
hell?

142. Saving the World
Or do we believe that Jesus was giving
a warning: a statement of what might
be, rather than what must be?

143. Saving the World
Prophecy as telling about the future:
 declarative prophecy
 self-fulfilling prophecy
 intentional counterfactual prophecy

144. Saving the World
The nature of warnings:
intentional counterfactual prophecy

145. Saving the World
What happens if Capernaum heeds the
warning, and instead of being lost and
destroyed, they turn back to God, and
turn out to be redeemed?

146. Saving the World
(What happens if Nineveh heeds the
warning, and instead of being lost and
destroyed, they turn back to God, and
turn out to be redeemed?)

147. Saving the World
Would Jesus be happy about the
redemption of Capernaum, or would he
be disappointed that what he stated as
their destiny turned out not to be true?

148. Saving the World
Is Jesus like Jonah, proclaiming the
destruction of Capernaum because he
longs for their destruction; he’d be so
disappointed if they were pardoned?

149. Saving the World
Or does he long for their redemption,
so that he would be delighted if Caper-
naum heeded his warning, and like
Nineveh turned out to be forgiven?

150. Saving the World
When Jesus predicts the upcoming
denials of Peter, does he long to see
Peter fall; he’d be so disappointed if
Peter stands firm in his loyalty?

151. Saving the World
Or does he long for Peter to remain
faithful, even though it will mean that
his “prediction” will turn out to be
mistaken?

152. Saving the World
Suppose all the warnings about hell are
indeed warnings: intentional counter-
factual prophecies, told in the hope that
they would come false?

153. Saving the World
Colossians 1:21
For in Jesus all the fullness of God was
pleased to dwell,

154. Saving the World
Colossians 1:22
and through him God was pleased to
reconcile to himself all things, whether
on earth or in heaven, by making peace
through the blood of his cross.

155. Saving the World
Isaiah 49:5
And now the Lord says, who formed me
in the womb to be his servant, to bring
Jacob back to him, and that Israel
might be gathered to him,

156. Saving the World
Isaiah 49:5
for I am honored in the sight of the
Lord, and my God has become my
strength –

157. Saving the World
Isaiah 49:6
he says, “It is too small a thing that you
should be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the
survivors of Israel;

158. Saving the World
Isaiah 49:6
“I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end
of the earth.”

159. Saving the World
Psalm 100:1
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the
earth,

160. Saving the World
Psalm 100:2
Worship the Lord with gladness, come
into his presence with singing.

161. Saving the World
Genesis 12:3
… and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.

162. Saving the World
Titus 2:11
For the grace of God has appeared to
all, bringing salvation

163. Saving the World
Titus 2:11
For the grace of God has appeared to
all, bringing salvation
For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all

164. Saving the World
Titus 2:11
Ἐπεφάνη γὰρ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ
σωτήριος πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις

165. Saving the World
Titus 2:11
Ἐπεφάνη γὰρ
ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ
σωτήριος
πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις

166. Saving the World
John 12:32
“And when I am lifted up from the
earth, I will draw all people to myself.”

167. Saving the World
John 12:33
He said this to indicate the kind of
death he was to die.

168. Saving the World
John 12:47
I do not judge anyone who hears my
words and does not keep them, for I
came not to judge the world, but to
save the world.

169. Saving the World
Do we get to believe that Jesus, the
Judge of the living and the dead, came
with the purpose not of judging the
world but of saving the world?

170. Saving the World
Does this mean everyone is saved?

171. Saving the World
Does this mean everyone is saved?
No.

172. Saving the World
Does this mean everyone is saved?
No.
But would that be such a bad thing?

173. Saving the World
The characters in the middle of the
story don’t know how the story is going
to come out.

174. Saving the World
In the end, will the will of God for the
redemption of all things be fulfilled, or
will it be frustrated?

175. Saving the World
In the end, will the will of God for the
redemption of all things be fulfilled, or
will it be frustrated?
I don’t get to know that yet.

176. Saving the World
As a character in the midst of the story,
I can decide it’s OK not to know what
Jesus says I don’t get to know:

177. Saving the World
But I do get to know that our Lord loves
and wants to save the world: God
doesn’t want anybody to be left out.

178. Saving the World
And I get to decide that I want the grace
of God to reach to all the world, too: I
don’t want anybody to be left out.

179. Saving the World
And I get to trust in God, to work out
how that all happens.

180. Saving the World
What do we learn, about God and about
ourselves, from the story of Jesus
rebuking James’ and John’s desire to
destroy the Samaritan village?

181. Saving the World
What do we learn, about God and about
ourselves, from the stories that tell us
Jesus is the judge of the living and the
dead?

182. Saving the World
What do we learn, about God and about
ourselves, from the story of God’s love
for and desire for the redemption of all
things?