When I was around sixteen years old I was out with some of my buddies from high school getting hammered, as was our custom. Well, this one night we were out and one of the youth leaders from the Pentecostal church my family attended saw me. He and I caught each other’s eyes, and he could tell we were up to no good. His name was Joe. Joe was a self-righteous Church Cop. My father and I dubbed a few men in the church as “Church Cops” and Joe was one of them. They would make their moral busybody rounds from pew to pew checking up on people (aka policing behavior).
The next Sunday at church, Joe came up to me and told me that he saw me and that if I didn’t cut it out then I was going to go to hell. When church was over, I got in the car with my family to go home and told my parents Joe told me I was going to hell. My dad pulled up in front of the church, went right back in the church to confront Joe, and came back out a few minutes later. This is exactly what I find Jesus doing in the Gospels with his interactions with the Pharisees and their persistent accusations. Confronting them with the truth that our behavior has nothing to do with how God feels about us. Joe never told me I was going to hell again.
The Jesus message is not the same as the message of hell and condemnation. Jesus presents a clear contrast in the Gospels through his actions and teaching. However, Jesus does warn us about the church cops of the world and the damage they can inflict.
In the beginning of Luke 12, a massive crowd gathers around Jesus. A crowd so big it would be impossible to count. The crowd is so large that the people are coming in close physical contact with each other. It’s like they are walking on top of each other. Picturing this, I imagine it being like a crowded subway platform in Manhattan at rush hour. Then something interesting happens. Jesus begins addressing his disciples “first of all.” Somewhere in this monstrosity, Jesus begins teaching a dozen or so people. He has a special message for them. And it’s some juicy material.
Jesus says, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Why is he warning his disciples against this group? Jesus is pointing out right at the beginning a dichotomy between what the stranger’s voice is like and what God’s voice is like. The sheep are learning the shepherd’s voice and how to discriminate his voice from the wolves in sheep’s clothing. What is the leaven and message of hypocrisy? The message is condemnation from elite fanaticism. The condemnation is one of eternal separation from God and eternal punishment. And this message typically comes with a few options for you on how to expiate a vengeful, punitive, angry God: conformity to a prescribed uniform standard of behavior that comes from elite leaders and their extreme traditions, and works righteousness. This acts as a way to scapegoat, to cleanse (assuage the guilty conscience of the professional religious class), and to keep the religious institution and its special leadership class in business. If we are forgiven and reconciled, then the message of eternal condemnation and the religious expiation is pointless (and sinful).
Jesus tells the disciples that what they’ve hidden (the leaven, hypocrisy) is going to be revealed. Jesus starts to pull the mask off and reveal it for what it is.
And I say to you, my friends, Do not be afraid of them that kill the body, and after that can do no more. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him who, after he has killed has the power to cast into hell; Yes, I say to thee, Fear him. (Lk 12:4–5)
Throughout the Bible there are numerous assurances that we do not need to fear. However, Jesus is clear there is something or someone to be afraid of. After this sentence on fear, condemnation, and hell, Jesus changes his tune and says in verse seven to “fear not therefore.” It’s strange the way he talks sometimes. From “fear” to “fear not” in a few sentences. Even still, it sounds serious for Jesus to give such a strong warning (beware, forewarn, fear, hell) to a group of his closest friends.
Who could Jesus be talking about in this passage? Specifically, who is he telling us to be afraid of? Is it God we should be afraid of? Is he saying God is the one that has the power to cast into hell and therefore should be feared? If it’s not God he’s talking about, who is this person that has the power to condemn us to hell? Further, this person has the power to kill you and send you to hell as opposed to the person that can kill the body and just leave you rotting there.
Have you ever heard the message of condemnation? Where could you go and find a message like this in America today? Whoever’s voice it is, that voice is to be feared.
I’ve heard this message an innumerable amount of times from the pulpit, Church Cops, and nosy neighbors monitoring my recycling bin, and you likely have too. It can come from a group, ideology, or person that has a prescription for you on how you should live your own life in order to be righteous. This is true of churches, country clubs, activist groups, and local WhatsApp threads. You find this condemning message where there is an emphasis on avoiding condemnation through your obedience, moralism, conformity, and religious observances (meeting the prescriptions). You find it where organizations or individual evil and sinful behaviors are projected on other groups or individuals (“those people”). This message is designed to make you feel that you are always one false step away from finding yourself on the outside looking in. It is anything that says the godly are the ones that are justified, rather than the justification of the ungodly (Rom 4:5), where the final word over your life is judgment and where guilt is used to manipulate.
Messages like these do have the power to send you to hell. It is practically unavoidable, but with time, hopefully we can recognize it a lot sooner. If it takes root, condemnation coming from any source does psychological torture and damage that is hell itself. Jesus is telling us to fear anyone who talks like this. To fear the voice of condemnation because it is not his voice. Run from it. Any condemning voice in your life can and will make your life a living hell.
Against this backdrop, Jesus proposes a different message. The message of hell and the message of Jesus are not the same. The real antidote to condemnation is not expiation, but an encounter with another word that frees you from bondage. He continues:
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows. (Lk 12:6–7)
Do you see the contrast between the voice of condemnation and what Jesus is saying God is actually like?
These are really inexpensive birds. Anybody can have a pet bird in this economy. In the sparrow racket, God has not and will not forget a single one. From the first sparrow to the last, he knows each one. God has an internal database where each sparrow is recorded. He probably spends his quality time thinking about each of them. God is nuts about sparrows, but the crazy thing is that he’s more nuts about us. He’s so in love with us he will sit and number each individual solitary hair. Jesus is saying God has a value system, and we’re out of sight with him: fully reconciled and beloved. No Church Cops necessary.
