1 Peter: Let Judgement Begin at the House of the Lord

Let me begin with a quote from C. S. Lewis that I’ve shared before, but it’s so good that it bears repeating. In his book Mere Christianity, Lewis writes, “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

In essence, Lewis is referring to the judgment of God upon us. We get “saved” and now judge ourselves to be “just fine.” By our own judgment we think everything is now in order, and we can go on with our lives. God’s judgment is different. As far as He is concerned the renovation is on-going and may take some significant cost and pain to conform us into the image of His Son.

I. GOD IS A RIGHTEOUS JUDGE – AND IT STARTS IN HIS PEOPLE

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; ... ?” (1 Peter 4:17, ESV)

1. bible scholars have debated over what Peter means here

a. in vs. 18 we know that he is paraphrasing Proverbs 11:31 — If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

2. rather than bore you with the half-dozen interpretations of 1 Peter 4:17 I’ll just say that the easiest interpretation is to take what Peter says at face value

a. Christ is coming in judgment, and He will begin with his own Church

b. in fact, the fiery trials that they are about to endure, just may be a form of Christ’s judgment on his Church

3. we have a God who is to served with reverent fear

a. even though He is our Father in Heaven Christians need to take the judgment of God seriously

1) the early Church did

ILLUS. In Rapheal’s painting The Death of Ananias the painter shows Ananias in the throws of being struck down by God for the sin of lying to God. The people around Ananias are all recoiling in horror as he dies.

b. the story is told in Acts 5 where the narrative tells of a married couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who saw the notoriety accorded Barnabas who had sold a piece of property and given the proceeds to the Church

1) they decide to do the same, but withhold part of the profits while allowing the Apostles to believe they’d given the entirety

2) they text does not say that God struck them down and killed them, but the Scriptures certainly leave that impression

“And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.” (Acts 5:11, ESV)

ILLUS. Well yeah ... I guess so!

c. this is certainly one of the most unnerving episodes in the whole of the New Testament

1) God’s reasons for bringing about the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira involve His abhorrence of sin, the hypocrisy of the couple, and the lesson for the rest of the church, both then and now

2) we should not gloss over it

4. we have a God who is to be worshiped sincerely and without hypocrisy

a. in 1 Corinthians 11 the Apostle Paul is dealing with a church with multiply issues, one of them being inappropriate worship practices

b. in particular Paul has to address issues with the Lord’s Supper

“For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:29–32, ESV)

c. liberal bible scholars look at these examples and tell us, “Oh, these are just stories. It’s the early church attempting to illustrate the importance of holiness with hyperbole. God really doesn’t act like this.”

5. there is a reason God calls us to be holy as He is holy — He expects us to be constantly striving toward holiness, and there is a price to pay when we ignore that charge

A. THIS JUDGMENT IS NOT CONDEMNATION

1. the Scriptures are absolutely clear, that our sin was condemned in Christ on the cross and confessing Christians are not under the condemnation of God

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, ESV)

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9, ESV)

a. our justification was completed in Christ alone, and our eternal redemption is forever secured in him

2. however, the New Testament is clear that God will call His people to account for the demands of the Gospel on our lives

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, ESV)

B. THIS JUDGMENT INVOLVES AFFLICTION AND DISTRESS GOD SENDS TO PURIFY HIS PEOPLE

1. in the Old Testament era, the Jews believed that if God was going to judge the world for something, He would begin with His own people

a. in Ezekiel 9:1-7 the prophet has a vision of God’s judgment for sin, and it begins in the Temple

b. in Jeremiah 25, when God talks about judging the nations with the cup of God’s wrath, and the first cup that Jeremiah delivers is to Jerusalem

1) in fact, God judges Judah with the Babylonians before he judges the Babylonians, and then he judges the Babylonians for enjoying their role in judgment too much

c. in Malachi 3, when God approaches the Temple, Malachi wonders if anyone will be left standing as God purifies the priests

ILLUS. The Jewish Talmud states "God never punishes the world but because of the wicked, but he always begins with the righteous first..." Jewish Rabbis believed and taught that if God is going to judge those who are not His people, expect Him to clean house first. He will deal with His own before He moves to others. It’s not a good show to hold the world accountable for something you overlook close to home. Those who have positioned themselves closest to God will be the first to be held accountable.

2. Christ’s judgment of his Church is not meant to be punitive, but it is meant to be purgative

a. his judgments are designed to purge the sin from our lives, and teach us obedience

“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:4–11, ESV)

1) the Scriptures are pretty blunt here ... if you do not occasionally feel the sting of God’s discipline in your life, you’re really not one of His children

b. Scripture does makes a distinction between God’s purifying discipline of the church and His ultimate condemnation of the wicked, and we must never forget that

“But if we took care to judge ourselves, then we wouldn’t have to worry about being judged by another. 12 In fact, the Lord’s hand of judgment is correcting us so that we don’t suffer the same fate as the rest of the rebellious world: condemnation.’” (1 Corinthians 11:31-32, NIV)

c. the judgment or condemnation of sinful actions in God’s people is always meant to bring about maturity, conviction, and repentance

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4, ESV)

C. THIS JUDGMENT INVOLVES SEPARATING TRUE BELIEVERS FROM FALSE

1. at the end of time a more thorough judgment of the Church will take place

2. there are several parables that Jesus tells that illustrates this (both in Matthew 13)

a. the first is the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

1) there are tares growing in the same field as the wheat, and the command of the owner of the field is to leave the tares alone to grow up with the wheat, and at the harvest the harvesters will know the difference

2) the wheat will be safely stored away, but the tares will be separated and throne out to be burned

b. the second is the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

1) similarly, in the sheepfold are both sheep and goats

2) the sheep are God’s true flock, and the goats are not

3. so, when Peter writes that Judgment begins in the house of God he means ...

a. discipline begins in the house of God

b. accountability begins in the house of God

c. weeding (holiness; separation) begins in the house of God

4. are believers to long for God’s righteous judgment to fall on the evildoers of our culture

a. yes ... and it will, but God’s righteous judgment will begin in the church, and it might be accomplished through the culture we want judged

1) God won't judge sexual sin in the culture until we have dealt with sexual sin in the church

ILLUS. The Catholic Church and even our own Southern Baptist Convention have become a source of ridicule due to sexual abuse scandals. And I guarantee you that it’s happening within other denominations as well. And if we don’t seek to purge it from our midst, God’s judgment might.

ILLUS. It is now estimated that a mere 12% of Christian young adults enter marriage as virgins

2) God won’t judge abortion in our culture until we have dealt with abortion in the church

ILLUS. The Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that 43% of aborting women identify themselves as Protestant, while 27% identify themselves as Catholic. That’s 70% of all abortions in the U.S. If we’re going to protest abortion, we may want to picket the Church.

3) God won’t judge materialism and greed in the culture until we have dealt with materialism and greed in the church

ILLUS. The average weekly giving amount per churchgoer is $17 per week or $884 a year per giver. Only 5% of American churchgoers tithe. One third of American pastors do not tithe.

4) God won’t judge the vulgarity and the coarseness of our culture until we have dealt with vulgarity and coarseness in the church

God’s judgment of His children is not meant to lead to crushing guilt. Godly sorrow is meant to bring repentance. God’s judgment/discipline/ winnowing/pruning of His church and his children is for our good and the good of his church: to refine us, to purify us, to mature us, to transform us into the salt and light the world so desperately needs.

Judgment begins in God’s house. But so does mercy, love and truth. God’s plan is for His church to be the city on the hill that cannot be hidden, shining light into darkness, bringing hope where there is despair. What begins in refining judgment ends in redeeming grace.

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