MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Mike Cunningham
April 27, 2014, edited 10/10/14

My Psalm Sunday story ended with Matt saying, “I plan on attending (the Easter Sunday service) also folks. I just got word (from Moe and Joe) that the pastor is going to tell a story about three little words. I wonder what they are.”

“Actually, I couldn’t care less, Matt. Seeing that Jesus is in the miracle business, I just want to hear Him tell me that, “I love you, Tom.”

No sooner were Tom’s words out of his mouth than there were a couple of knocks on the front door. He opened it, looked from the right to the left, but there was no one in sight. Next he spotted a package by his feet. Mr. UPS’s, the friendly United Parcel Service driver had delivered it. He picked it up and brought it over to Julie and Matt and then quickly opened it. Inside were three Bibles with a gift card that said, “Dear Julie and Tom. We hope that you will enjoy your gift. Love, Moe and Joe.

“I don’t know any Moe and Joe. Do you Julie?”

“I never heard of them, Tom.”

Matt silently chuckled to himself saying, “Thanks guys. These are just what I need,” as he picked up the three Bibles.

Needless to say, Matt had been hoping and praying that Tom would accept the gift of salvation at the Easter Sunday service. He knew that, according to Jesus, Hell is for real, and it’s awful. Matt didn’t want Tom to doom himself to suffering the eternal torment of Hell.

Matt picked up one of the new Bibles and thumbed through the pages until he came to the book of Matthew. He looked at the couple. “Folks, look at what Jesus had to say about the reality of Hell and its horrible everlasting consequences:”

Matthew 5:21-22 (TLB)
21 “Under the laws of Moses the rule was, ’If you murder, you must die.’
22 But I have added to that rule and tell you that if you are only angry, even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call your friend an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

Matt, who was sitting with the couple, looked up at Tom, who was clearly listening.“Jesus issued that warning, Tom.”

“I never knew that, Matt.”

“Most folks don’t because they never make the time to read and study the Bible.”

“Look at what Jesus told certain men a long time ago about the horrors of Hell:”

Matthew 5:27-30 (TLB)
27 “The laws of Moses said, ’You shall not commit adultery.’
28 But I say: Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 So if your eye—even if it is your best eye! —causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. Better for a part of you to be destroyed than for all of you to be cast into hell.
30 And if your hand—even your right hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better that than to find yourself in hell.

Matt looked at the couple. “Do you folks know Jesus was the greatest storyteller in the history of the world? For example, consider the following stories:”

Matthew 23:27-33 (TLB)
27 “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders! You are like beautiful mausoleums—full of dead men’s bones, and of foulness and corruption.
28 You try to look like saintly men, but underneath those pious robes of yours are hearts besmirched with every sort of hypocrisy and sin.
29 “Yes, woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! For you build monuments to the prophets killed by your fathers and lay flowers on the graves of the godly men they destroyed,
30 and say, ’We certainly would never have acted as our fathers did.’
31 “In saying that, you are accusing yourselves of being the sons of wicked men.
32 And you are following in their steps, filling up the full measure of their evil.
33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of hell?

Matthew 13:24-30 (MSG)
24 He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.
25 That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn.
26 When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
27 “The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’
28 “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’ “The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’
29 “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too.
30 Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’ ”

Look at the following verses, folks:

Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 13:40-50 (NIV)
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.He who has ears, let him hear.
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.
48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Here’s another one that will give each of you a lot of food for thought:”

Matthew 18:1-11 (TLB)
1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus to ask which of them would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven!
2 Jesus called a small child over to him and set the little fellow down among them,
3 and said, “Unless you turn to God from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Therefore anyone who humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5 And any of you who welcomes a little child like this because you are mine is welcoming me and caring for me.
6 But if any of you causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose his faith, it would be better for you to have a rock tied to your neck and be thrown into the sea.
7 “Woe upon the world for all its evils. Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but woe to the man who does the tempting.
8 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better to enter heaven crippled than to be in hell with both of your hands and feet.
9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. Better to enter heaven with one eye than to be in hell with two.
10 “Beware that you don’t look down upon a single one of these little children. For I tell you that in heaven their angels have constant access to my Father.
11 And I, the Messiah, came to save the lost.

Matt looked at the clock on the wall behind the couple and closed his Bible.

“That’s all the time that we have folks. We better leave now and walk to the old country church down the road. We don’t want be late for the Easter Sunday service or hear the pastor’s sermon about Three Little Words.”

As soon as the service was over, the three of them left the church. When they were on the sidewalk outside of the building, Julie asked Tom what he thought of the service.

“To tell you the truth Julie, I thought it was awesome! I can’t wait to go back again with you next week.”

“Oh my, that’s an answer to my prayers, Tom. I have wanted you to come to church with me ever since we got married.”

“I know that you did, Julie, and I’m sorry. I wish I that I had taken you up on your invite sooner-a whole lot sooner.”

“What was the high-point of the Easter Service, Tom?”

“That’s a no brainer, Matt. It was right at the end of the sermon. I heard Jesus whisper those three little words “I love you” right into my ear.”

“Then what happened, Tom?”

“I can’t explain it, Julie. All I can say is that it feels as though something is going on inside of me. It happened in a split second. I seem to be changing for the better. That’s all that I can say. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“I bet the pastor can help you to understand, Tom.”

“I’ve been thinking of asking him after next week’s service, Julie. I hope he doesn’t mind.”

“Why wait that long, Tom. Let’s invite him to pay us a visit.”

“The guy makes house calls?”

“Of course he does, Tom. That’s one of the things a pastor does,” said Matt.”

“Let’s invite him then.”

“I’ll phone him as soon as we get home, Tom.”

“Oh by the way, I have some questions for the pastor too, Matt.”

“Questions such as?”

“I would like to know for certain if Tom has been converted, Matt.”

“Don’t worry about it, Julie,” said Matt. It’s going to turn out fine. You’ll see. Trust me. You can be assured that Tom has been saved. I have to leave now, but I’ll be back with my childhood sweetheart.Wait until you see this woman. Her name is Jennifer.”

Matt wished that he could have told Julie about how he had seen the invisible angels Moe and Joe jumping up and down and running throughout the sanctuary of the old country church at the exact moment of Tom’s conversion. But he couldn’t because he was on a secret mission. The following passages of Scripture are what he was alluding to:

Luke 15:1-10 (MSG)
1 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently.
2 The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.”
3 Their grumbling triggered this story.
4 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it?
5 When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing,
6 and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’
7 Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
8 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it?
9 And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’
10 Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.

John 3:1-21 (TLB)
1 After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.”

John 3:3-21 (TLB)
3 Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.”
4 “Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
6 Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven;
7 so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again!
8 Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven.”
9 “What do you mean?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You, a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?
11 I am telling you what I know and have seen—and yet you won’t believe me.
12 But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about such things as these that happen here among men, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven?
13 For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again.
14 And as Moses in the wilderness lifted up the bronze image of a serpent on a pole, even so I must be lifted up upon a pole,
15 so that anyone who believes in me will have eternal life.
16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
18 “There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.
19 Their sentence is based on this fact: that the Light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 They hated the heavenly Light because they wanted to sin in the darkness. They stayed away from that Light for fear their sins would be exposed and they would be punished.
21 But those doing right come gladly to the Light to let everyone see that they are doing what God wants them to.”

Well folks, Matt has to return to heaven now. He wants to tell Jesus: “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”

THE END