The Wild-Eyed Preacher

A character that movie producers love to use as either a foil against the protagonists, or comic relief, is the wild-eyed, hell-fire and damnation preacher. Typically he is unkempt, wears a clerical collar and long, black suit coat, wields his oversize Bible like a club, and spits Old Testament curses with sinister fluency. If you’re a typical movie-goer, he’s the character you love to hate, along with his message of judgment and despair.
      Today’s church world reacts to that stereotype by making the New Testament God as different as possible from that Old Testament God of judgment and wrath. To hear them tell it, God has either grown up, or he’s been through anger management therapy until he’s all niceness and light. Grace is the twenty-first century rule, as he is now loath to offend anyone. And of course, our God of love and grace would never condemn nice folks to That Other Place. Why, even if we were sinners, we’d be okay because Jesus came to save that which was lost.
      Today’s gospel says, “Relax. Just do what seems right, be a nice guy or gal and don’t hurt anybody too badly, and our loving God will personally welcome us into eternal bliss.” The Old Testament seems to confirm all this New Testament wonderfulness in first part of Deuteronomy 28:

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 ESV

(1) "And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

(2) And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.

(3) Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.

(4) Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.

(5) Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

(6) Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

(7) "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

(8) The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

(9) The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.

(10) And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.

(11) And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

(12) The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

(13) And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,

(14) and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

      Admittedly, that’s a lot of closely spaced reading, but at least it’s not Elizabethan English, and it’s all pretty nice stuff. The rest of the chapter, however, is a bit—no, I’d have to say, a lot—harder to read, as it has to do with some really nasty curses and judgments. If you’re a sensitive sort, or if you're going cross-eyed from all the Scripture, you might want to just briefly scan the following:

Deuteronomy 28:15-68 ESV

(15) "But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

(16) Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.

(17) Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

(18) Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.

(19) Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

(20) "The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.

(21) The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

(22) The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.

(23) And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.

(24) The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

(25) "The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

(26) And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.

(27) The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.

(28) The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind,

(29) and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.

(30) You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.

(31) Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.

(32) Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.

(33) A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,

(34) so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

(35) The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

(36) "The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.

(37) And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

(38) You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.

(39) You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.

(40) You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.

(41) You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.

(42) The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.

(43) The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.

(44) He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

(45) "All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

(46) They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.

(47) Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

(48) therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.

(49) The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,

(50) a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.

(51) It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

(52) "They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you.

(53) And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.

(54) The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,

(55) so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.

(56) The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter,

(57) her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.

(58) "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,

(59) then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

(60) And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.

(61) Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.

(62) Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

(63) And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

(64) "And the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

(65) And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the LORD will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.

(66) Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.

(67) In the morning you shall say, 'If only it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'If only it were morning!' because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

(68) And the LORD will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

      Now that’s more like the wild-eyed, movie preacher’s spiel, and all that gruesomeness pivots on one deceptively short word in verse 15: If
      The good news is, the New Testament law, the “Perfect Law of Liberty,” (James 1:25) is a whole lot simpler than the Old Testament law. Jesus first stated his New Testament law in Matthew’s gospel:

Matthew 19:16-21 ESV

(16) And behold, a man came up to him, saying, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?"

(17) And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments."

(18) He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness,

(19) Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

(20) The young man said to him, "All these I have kept. What do I still lack?"
(21) Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

      That poor guy wasn’t poor at all. In fact, he was quite well off. “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matthew 19:22 ESV)
Admittedly, Jesus was making a point that must be understood if we are to follow him, but that makes it no less binding. Jesus’ apostle Paul rephrased it into a pithy statement: For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14 ESV) The quality of love the apostle specified is the same as in his first letter to the Corinthian church:

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 ESV

(1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

(2) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

(3) If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

(4) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

(5) or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

(6) it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

(7) Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

      That should be easy enough, right? Exhibiting such traits as listed in verses four through seven should be no problem at all, especially with ones spouse, or kids, or parents, or neighbors, or coworkers, right? That’s all Jesus is asking of his followers. Why, it’s just a piece of cake, compared to the Old Testament law.
      For a little perspective on who’s who in God’s church, take another quick look at verses one through three. Are you well-spoken? Without love, you’re just a noise-maker. Are you a prophet, and have nearly infinite understanding and knowledge? Without love, you’re nothing, regardless of your position in the church, community or business.
      Answering the inevitable question of whether a person who fails the love test can still be saved, let’s listen to Jesus’ best friend, the apostle John:

1 John 2:4-6 ESV

(4) Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,

(5) but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:

(6) whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 3:10 ESV
(10) By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

1 John 3:17 ESV
(17) But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

1 John 4:7-8 ESV
(7) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
(8) Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:19-21 ESV
(19) We love because he first loved us.
(20) If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
(21) And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 5:2-3 ESV

(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

      Some might say, “Enough with the Scripture passages already. I get it.”
      To that I would have to answer, “If you get it, show your love by your life.” I’m no rocket scientist, but even I can tell by someones actions whether they are living in love, or not. And if you can’t fool me, you certainly can’t fool God.
      Unlike the wild-eyed gospel preacher, I’ll leave the fire and brimstone between the lines, with the understanding that we have two choices for our eternal destination … ’nuff said?