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Today Im continuing a sermon series called the 1 Question. At Christmas Eve I asked everyone
present to ask a question about which they would like to hear a sermon. Twenty-four questions
were submitted. I chose four. So far weve looked at two questionslast week we looked at
what does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit; two weeks ago we looked at can we be forgiven
for all that weve done even if weve broken the 10 commandments. This series has been so
popular that I might add an additional question on February 5. That is a Super Day, so why not
have a super question.
I shared that I was going to write a blog about all the questions that werent chosen for this
sermon. And I confess that my blog writing has been slow. But I havent given up on it. I am
hopeful to write at least a blog a day this week.
Todays question is excellent. Can a child or someone who hasnt heard the Word go to
heaven? This questions connects all sorts of beliefs about Godsalvation, heaven, eternal life.
I could share months of sermons just on this question.
To help out I wrote a Bible Study on salvation. I encourage you to get it out. Its in this
brochure in the bulletin. Salvation happens all throughout the BibleOld and New Testament.
Put this devotion in your Bible and use it this week. In the middle is a place to take notes. Im
going to give you some teaching materials that you might want to write in this space. On the
back is the place for our congregations prayer requests.
Next week the question is Does God really have a plan? Why does God allow bad things to
happen to good people?

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I attended seminary in New York City. While there I worked as the Youth Director at the
First Presbyterian Church in Babylon. My duties often went beyond working with the youth.
One day I received a phone call from a woman who wanted to see me soon. She was new to the
church, and I had no idea what she wanted to talk about, but Im always willing to talk. Sure Ill
talk.
She came to the offices. A friend of hers had recently passed away. Her friend was
Jewish. The woman wanted to know from mewould her friend go to heaven. This was a very
important question to her and one over which she had been brooding since the funeral. Would
her friend go to heaven? What do you think, Paul?
As I listened to her question the thought that I remember going through my mind was,
couldnt you ask the senior pastor this question? Im just the Youth Director. This question is
way above my pay grade. Actually its above everyones pay grade.
Im guessing this question has passed through our mind before. Someone passes away,
and we wonder. What was the persons eternal destination?
Theres a lot at stake in how we respond to this question. Our response reveals our
identity. It lets others know who we are as followers of Jesus Christ. It lets the world know what
type of disciples we intend to be. Theres a lot at stake in the way we answer it, and Im so glad
this question was asked at Christmas Eve.
Im going to provide an answer to this question, but what is just as important is the way
we get to our answer.
This question is the linchpin to many other questions.
What is salvation?
What is heaven?
Where is heaven?
How do I get to heaven?

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Who decides if Ill go?

Will I recognize people in heaven?
What is eternal life?
When does it start?
Is there really a Hell?
And how about someone who has done awful thingsAdolph Hitler, Osama bin Ladenare
they going to heaven.
And how about my Jewish friend or Muslim friend down the streetwould they go to
heaven?
What happens to a child who has never heard the Word?
These questions tie together our beliefs about salvation, heaven, and eternal life. When I
hear these types of questions the same thought goes through my mind as it did when I was the
Youth Director at the Presbyterian Church in Babylon, New York.
These questions are above my pay grade. And I get paid a lot more now than I did as a
Youth Director. Even though these questions are hard, we need to have a response because these
are the questions people ask.
What is salvation and who gives it. Youll read more about this in the devotion I wrote
for you. The English word salvation comes from the Greek word, Sozo. The word Sozo can
be translated as saved or healed or made well.
Salvation is a gift and God is the gift-giver. To use an example from language, God is the
noun, giving is the verb and salvation is what is given. You and I as humans are the recipients of
the gift. We humans dont save ourselves; salvation comes from God.
John 3:16 is one of the best Bible verses of salvation. Many of us might have it
memorized.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish
but have eternal life. God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him

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One way to think of salvation is deliverance. We are delivered from a situation because
of what God has done. This deliverance happens not only when we die, but it happens here on
earth.
A story. Part of the story is in this weeks devotion. Its a story about a man named
Moses. We have a group who is reading through the Bible. This week we will be reading about
Moses in a book of the Bible called Exodus. The story Im sharing is later in Exodus.
Many of us might have learned about Moses in Sunday School or by watching Charleton
Heston in the movie, the 10 Commandments. Some context.
Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. He was one of the most powerful men in the world. The
Hebrews or Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of
Egypt. After plenty of encouragement (including 10 plagues) Pharaoh decided to let the people
go. The Israelites left Egypt.
Then Pharaoh changed his mind. Pharaoh got in a chariot and he had 600 other chariots
loaded with people. They were going to find the Israelites and bring them back to Egypt.
Eventually the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his chariots. They discovered that they were trapped.
Straight ahead was the Red Sea; behind them were Pharaoh and his chariots. The Israelites had
no where to go.
The people were afraid. And they were furious with Moses. You brought us out here to
die, Moses, they said.
It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the
wilderness. Exodus 14:12
The people were at the end of their rope. They had nowhere to go. They had no options.
Have you ever been there? You are at the end of your rope, you have nowhere to go; you have
no options. If youve ever been there then this is you story.

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Moses shared a powerful response to the people. Its a response worth knowing and
perhaps even memorizing. His response was this.
Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you
today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for
you, and you have only to keep still. Exodus 14:13-14
This is one of my favorite verses of the Bible. Read this with me.
Do you know what Moses was offering the Israelites at this moment in their life. Deliverance.
Or another way to say it they were being offered salvation. The Israelites were going to be
delivered or saved by God from the Egyptians.
You remember what happened? Moses raised his hands. The Red Sea was parted. The
Israelites went through. The Egyptians and all their chariots started going through. The wheels
of their chariots got bogged down. Moses lowered his hands and the waters came upon the
chariots and the Egyptians died.
The people were saved in a way they could not have imagined. God saved them.
Believing God can deliver us or save us is called hope. As followers of Jesus Christ we never
give up on hope. Even in a hopeless situation where we have no options we still have God.
I know that many people in our country are very discouraged and are not hopeful because
of the change of government in the United States. Its not for me to decide or judge whether you
should feel that way or not. Whatever your views about politics those are your views. I respect
that.
Its amazing to me that millions of people took to the streets yesterday to march. The two
women who live with me were on the streets. I would have been out there myself, but I was at a
Presbytery meeting.

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I know that at Chain of Lakes we have people who voted for Trump and people who were
marching in the streets yesterday. As a pastor Im glad that we have different views about
politics. We have a Core Value called Healthy Disagreement. Its worth lifting up in the midst of
our different views about politics.

When we disagree we will encourage discussion while valuing all opinions. We will speak truth
in love, treat others respectfully with dignity, and seek to remain in community.
No matter what our views about Trump we can agree that God always gives us hope.
God can deliver useven our countryin ways that we cant even imagine. The deliverance is
salvation. Our belief in that deliverance is hope.
Because of God you and I experience salvation when we die. We recognize that nothing
can separate us from the love of God.
The Apostle Paul wrote about this:
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord
Its as if God looks at each one of us and says, this is my gift to you.
I need to talk about our role in salvation. This is very important.
A story. When I graduated from high school I was given a devotional book from the
father of a close friend of mine. He was the pastor of the Missouri Synod Church in town. He
was a great guy. Beautiful gift
At the time I realized that I needed to start getting serious about my faith. I had
graduated from high school and was going to go to college. It was time for me to get serious.
For some reason I started to wonder about going to heaven. And I convinced myself that maybe

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if I read my devotional book every night that God would be pleased with this and maybe that
would help me get into heaven.
For some reason I came to believe that if I was good, then I would be rewarded.
Have you ever thought that way? Im guessing you have. Its the thought or the belief
that somehow when we are done with our life God will look over our life and say either, yes,
you have been good. Or he will say, no you havent been good. The criteria for our salvation
is our goodness.
The idea makes sense on many levels. Of course we want to be good.
However tying our salvation to our own goodness puts us in a rabbit hole.
We find ourselves in this rabbit hole because eventually were going to wonder, how
good do I have to be? How much goodness is enough?
I found myself in this rabbit hole when I graduated from high school. Im guessing you
might think that what I am going to say might seem a bit weird, but I think you might relate.
How many times do I need to read a devotional (being good) in order to be rewarded by God.
What if I miss a night and then die in a car accident. Would I godown there?
If I read a devotion oncethats good. But maybe Ill truly be good if I read it five
times. But what if I read two devotions today can I skip tomorrow. Maybe what I should do is
really be good nowcreate like this bank of good willso if I ever mess up in the future I can
rely on this bank of goodness. What happens when I want to go have some fun. Ill be good
now so I can have fun later.
This way of thinking is very twisted. We can twist ourselves up into knots if we come to
believe that our salvation depends on our goodness.

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Youve probably heard of a man by the name of Martin Luther. Most people think of him
as the father of Protestantism. Protestantism is a branch of the church. There are three branches
to the Christian church. Catholic branch; the Protestant branch; and the Orthodox branch. We
Presbyterians are part of the Protestant branch.
Martin Luther was going to be a lawyer, but the death of a classmate and a narrow escape
from lighting led him to become a monk. Luther did well as a monk. He was eventually
ordained to the Catholic priesthood. But he had no peace. His own sense of his sin
overwhelmed him. And no matter how often he confessed or fasted or prayed or give alms he
did not have peace. He didnt have peace from his own goodness.
The church was saying just buy an indulgence and youll be forgiven; just say a few
Hail Marys and everything will be okay. That didnt work for him. Luther came to realize
that he could not be good enough to put himself into a relationship with God. No matter how
good he tried to be he couldnt be good enough. Perfection was not possible. He couldnt earn
his own salvation. Luther came to believe that he couldnt save himself. He needed a savior.
The good news is he had a savior. What he needed to do was receive the gift. And then
respond to the gift in faith.
The point is our goodness does not give us a ticket to heaven.
Two weeks agothe bandit on the crosshe was a bad personhe was a lestai.
He didnt read his devotionals at nighthe probably skipped a few days.
When he asked for deliverance at the end of his lifewhat did Jesus say,
Truly you will be with me in paradise.
The point is basic and profound to our spiritual health. WE can never be good enough.
This doesnt mean were bad people. What it does mean is we cant save ourselves.

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This point says a lot about God and gives us a basis to answer todays question. God
blesses us with salvation. God blesses us even when we dont deserve it.
You know its quite a God that we serve. God knows every part of us; God knows every
molecule in our body. God knows every thought before we think it. God knows how good we
are and God knows how much we fall short. Even when we fall short, God looks at us and says,
I love you. God loves us so much that he decided to give us his Son. Even though we killed
him, he delivered him from death so that you and I can live.
This is the God we serve; this is the image of God we carry with us. This is the God we
can trust. This is the God who offers us salvation.
We can trust this God to make our eternal decisions.
Thats what I told a woman at the First Presbyterian Church in Babylon who came to me
wondering if her Jewish friend was in heaven. We can trust this God this decision. That decision
can give us peace. I believe that everything is okay with your friend because I trust God Thats
how I would answer todays question. I trust God to make decisions about salvation for a baby
who hasnt heard the Word. I trust God to make decision about eternity for someone who grew
up Jewish or a follower of Mohammed.
Before anyone starts wondering if I am a Universalist, that is I believe if everyone goes to
heaven. Im not. I do not believe everyone goes to heaven. I believe in Hell, but the topic
doesnt interest me that much. What Im most interested in sharing is how much God loves you;
how much God cares for you. And what that can do for your life.
And I get that many people in the wider community and the church will profoundly
disagree with what I just said. Maybe you do too. Lets talk about it.

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I think God goes way beyond what we can comprehend about salvation. That doesnt
mean that we dont have views or beliefs, but what it does mean is we trust God to make these
decisions. That trust gives us peace.
A final story. At the church I previously served I got to know a woman by the name of
Rachel. She was quite a woman. She lived on a farm for most of her entire life. She didnt have
a lot of fear. She had open heart surgery at the age of 93. In the last year or so of her life she
lived in a home health care setting in town. I would visit her about once a month. One day I
asked her, Rachel, do you think about heaven much? Yes. What do you think about I asked
her? How can there be enough room for everyone. I smiled. God has it figured out. There is
enough room. Theres a lot of mansions in that house. I trust God to know who to let in.