Judgment is what we need

An excerpt from my sermon for this week:

The idea of judgment is not a popular one today.  So when we hear the words “day of judgment” (2 Peter 3:7), we tend to bristle and wish the Bible didn’t say that.  But the Bible says that one of God’s roles is that of judge and one day the whole world will stand before him to be judged. 

In the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, there is an excellent illustration of what life would be like if there were no judge.  As Alice and the group of animals are waiting to dry off, the dodo suggests that they run a caucus race.  The caucus race, we learn, is a race with no course to follow, no finish line, and no losers.  You can run wherever you want for the time allotted and at the end everyone gets a prize.  It’s pure madness.  There’s no point to the race.

Is this what we want life to be like?  Nothing is right or wrong, people can do whatever they want, and in the end, God says that everybody did a good job and gets a prize?  Do we really want a God who doesn’t make any difference between what is right and what is wrong?   Was there nothing wrong with the recent school shooting?  Is there nothing wrong when parents abuse their children?  Is there nothing wrong when a 15 year old kills his family?  Judgment means that God says “This is right, that is wrong,” and that he does something to get rid of the wrong and make everything right.  Isn’t this a good thing?  Isn’t this something that we actually want, and need?