Do the Right Thing

This is the message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, April 25, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Joel 2:1-32.

            God is big.  God is really big.  We really cannot imagine just how big God is.  I mean, you could take the biggest thing you can think of, multiply it by ten, and then double it, and you’d still be nowhere near how big God is.  God is bigger than the universe.  God is bigger than everything.

            Most of us know this, but I bring it up because sometimes, as Christians, we forget it.  Or maybe the better way to put it is that we don’t think about it.  We tend to make God too small.  We tend to try to bring God down to our level.

            Now, to some extent, this is probably inevitable.  Because God is bigger than anything we can imagine, we have to shrink God down just so we can think about Him at all.  And that’s not necessarily wrong.  But what can happen is that we just focus on the aspects of God that we like, and ignore the aspects of God that we don’t like.

            And so we say things like “God is love”.  “God is forgiving.”  “God is merciful.”  And of course, those statements are all true.  God is love, and God is forgiving, and God is merciful.  And we should all thank God every day that God is all of those things.  But those things are not all God is.  There’s a lot more to God than that.  And we need to recognize those things if we’re going to live as God wants us to.

            In our reading from Joel, Joel tells the people that the day of the Lord is coming.  And while we might think that would be good news, for them it’s not.  The people of Israel have sinned against God.  They have turned away from God.  And now, they are facing one of the aspects of God that we don’t like to talk about so much:  God’s judgment.  God has judged the people of Israel, and the judgment is not a favorable one.  

            Israel is facing a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.  They are facing what Joel calls “a large and mighty army...such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.”  And he goes into detail about what that army is going to do.  You heard it, and there’s no need for me to repeat it.  But it’s going to be really bad.  Basically, everything is going to be wiped out.  There’s going to be nothing left.  This is the Lord’s army, with the Lord Himself at the head of it.  No one is going to be able to endure the judgment that God is going to give.

            God is love, and God is forgiving, and God is merciful.  But God does not allow us to take advantage of that.  God does not allow us to just take those things for granted.  God’s love, and God’s forgiveness, and God’s mercy, do not allow us to ignore God and just do anything we want, trusting that God will always forgive us.  God’s love will not prevent God from issuing God’s judgment.  God’s forgiveness will not prevent God from making us take the consequences for our actions.  God’s judgment is real, and it is not something we want to be on the wrong side of.

            But judgment is not all there is to God, either, and it’s not all there is to the book of Joel.  After saying all these things about the day of the Lord, Joel says this:  “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’”  

            Joel says, in effect, it’s not too late.  God’s judgment is real, but God has not given up on us.  There’s still time for us to turn this around.  There’s still time to return to God.  

            How do we do that?  Joel says, “Rend your heart”.  Now, there’s a churchy word if I’ve ever heard one.  “Rend your heart.”  When do we ever say we should “rend” something, other than in this context?   I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “rend” in my life, outside of church.  I don’t know why it’s used here.  What it means is to tear something.  Tear your heart open before God.  Let everything out--all the selfishness, all the arrogance, all the pride, all the envy, all the things that take us away from God.  Let it all out.  Get rid of it.  Humble ourselves before God.  Ask for forgiveness, yes, but do more than that.  Acknowledge that we have no right to expect God to forgive us.  We really don’t even have the right to ask God for forgiveness.  In fact, we don’t have the right to be in God’s presence at all.  We need to give up any pretense that we have any goodness whatsoever.  Rip our hearts open before God, begging God to forgive us and give us another chance.

            Joel reminds the people that God is gracious and compassionate.  God is slow to anger and abounding in love.  But even so, Joel says, don’t take these things for granted.  Don’t think God is just automatically going to forgive you.  God does not owe it to you to give you another chance.  God is not obligated to do anything.

            And I love the way Joel puts it.  He says that if the people do this, if they do come to God humbly, asking forgiveness, “Who knows?  He may turn and relent and leave a blessing.”

            “Who knows?”  If we tear open our hearts, if we return to God, if we acknowledge God as the Lord, if we treat God the way God deserves to be treated, God just might forgive us and give us another chance.  He might not--again, God is not required to do this--but He might.  So let’s do it.

            Now, notice, this is not said as an attempt to manipulate God.  This is not, well, we’ll act in a certain way to make God do something for us.  This is, “We’ll do the right thing, and then we’ll see how God responds.”  We’ll hope that, in this instance, God’s desire to forgive and to be merciful are stronger than God’s judgment.  But we have no guarantee of that.  But if we do the right thing, then maybe--maybe--God will exercise forgiveness and have mercy on us.

            And you know, when you think about it, that phrase contains a lot of what we’re supposed to do as Christians.  Do the right thing.  Not because we expect God to reward us.  Not because we think it will benefit us on earth.  Not even because we think it’ll help us go to heaven.  Do the right thing because it’s what God wants us to do.  Do the right thing because it’s the right thing.

            Now, when I say “the right thing”, I’m talking about what’s right in God’s eyes.  Jesus told us a bunch of those things.  Love God.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love your enemies.  Seek God’s kingdom.  Treat others as you would like to be treated.  Forgive.  Repent of your sins.  If we follow the words of Jesus, we will do the right thing in God’s eyes.  

            The people of Israel did the right thing.  They tore open their hearts.  They turned away from evil.  They repented of their sins.  They acknowledged the greatness of God.  They acknowledged that God was their Lord, and they approached God that way.

            They approached God humbly.  They did not ask God to give them back everything they’d had.  They did not ask God to make them great and powerful.  They did not ask God to treat them like they were anything special.  They just asked God to spare them and give them another chance.  They knew they did not deserved it.  They knew God did not owe it to them.  But they asked anyway.  They asked because they knew God was their only chance and their only hope.

            And their hope was justified.  From the rest of the chapter, you know that God did hear their prayer, God did forgive them, and God did give them another chance.  In fact, God did more than that.  God promised to give them prosperity, and promised that anyone who called on His name would be saved.  God’s desire to forgive and to be merciful were stronger than God’s judgment. 

            God is, of course, the unchanging, eternal God.  That means all those aspects of God that existed in Joel’s time still exist today.  God is still love, and God is still forgiving, and God is still merciful.  But God still gives judgment, too.  And it’s still a bad thing to be on the wrong end of God’s judgment.

            So, when you think about God, remember that God is more than love and forgiveness and mercy.  God is all those things, but God is also judgment.  And we don’t want to be on the wrong end of it.  So, let’s tear open our hearts.  Let’s do the right thing--the right thing in God’s eyes.  Follow the words of Jesus.  Obey God’s commandments.  Not because we expect God to reward us, but just because it’s the right thing to do.  And who knows?  Maybe God will not give us the punishment we deserve.  Maybe God will forgive and be merciful.  God forgave the people of Joel’s time.  He just might forgive us, too.