Sermon
for 2nd Last Sunday of the Church year, November 17, 2019
The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom. All who do his
precepts have good understanding. Amen.
Matthew 25:31–46 31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered
in his presence, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. 33He
will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the King will say to those
on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you
gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and
you gave me something to drink. I was a
stranger and you welcomed me. 36I
was lacking clothes and you clothed me.
I was sick and you took care of me.
I was in prison and you visited me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38When did we see you a stranger
and welcome you, or lacking clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in
prison and visit you?’ 40“The
King will answer them, ‘Amen I tell you: Just as you did it for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’ 41“Then he will say to those on
his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is
prepared for the Devil and his angels. 42For
I was hungry and you did not give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you did not give me
anything to drink. 43I was a
stranger and you did not welcome me, lacking clothes and you did not clothe me,
sick and in prison and you did not take care of me.’ 44“Then they will also answer,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or lacking clothes
or sick or in prison and did not serve you?’
45“At that time he will answer them, ‘Amen I tell you: Just
as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for
me.’ 46And they will go away
to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (EHV)
Stand before the Lord
in His glory.
The people are gathered
as far as the eye can see, and every one of them will hear the verdict of the
Man who gave His life so that all might live.
And, they all ask the same question, “Lord, when did we see You?” One part of the crowd says those words in
humility, the other in defiance—the former by faith, the latter in
accusation. The latter group stands
there terrified of Christ’s judgment, while the former raises their eyes in
expectation, for they Stand
before the Lord in His glory.
Dear fellow redeemed,
Jesus was explaining
Judgment Day to those following Him. Around
Him was a mini gathering resembling the final picture He described. Gathered around Jesus were disciples, old
friends, new believers, as well as skeptics, defiant teachers, and synagogue
leaders who thought they had earned the right to stand in God’s presence. We could almost consider it an ordinary event
in the Christian church.
Today, too, people are gathered around the word of
the Lord. Yet, still today, many of
those who would consider themselves believers are in reality in denial. Some don’t want to be bothered with meeting
Jesus at all. Some refuse to believe He
is the Son of God and Man as well.
Others simply don’t want to be bothered with the details. And far too many are thinking that
Christianity is a self-help group and if we just do it right all our problems
and the problems of the world will disappear.
So, what should we take from Jesus’ description of
Judgment Day? Will we be welcomed into
heaven because of how well we served? So
often we have heard that salvation is a gift; is that not really true? You have been told that we can’t earn
salvation, yet here, it sure sounds like we do, so what should we take from
Jesus’ words?
As always, we let the Bible interpret itself. The Bible declares that “It is by grace
you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) Therefore, we can in no way, shape, or form
pretend that we earn the declaration of welcome Jesus gives to His
followers. In fact, Jesus shows us why any
are saved; He said, “Come, you who are blessed
by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.”
Salvation is God’s gift to us. We couldn’t achieve a place in God’s
heaven. Like everyone since Adam and
Eve, we were born sinners and enemies of God.
Still, before time began, God had worked out a plan to save us. What a joyful and marvelous thing this
is. By God’s grace, you and I who had
nothing to offer are dressed in a righteousness not our own.
Before creating this world, God had a plan to save
us, and not just a generic people, but you and me personally were known to God
and elected into His kingdom. At the
first sin, God announced His plan, a son of the woman would win our
rescue. The message was passed down from
generation to generation. Then, the Lord
gradually, prophetically expanded the details of His saving message until
finally all is recorded in Scriptures written over 1500 years’ time by men who
were handpicked for the task by the Holy Spirit who breathed into them the
words of life. Through faith in those
words, faith implanted by the Holy Spirit Himself through the pipeline of those
words, God filled His kingdom with saints who believe in His Son, Jesus, as
Redeemer, Savior, and King.
Having been made members of Christ’s kingdom by
faith, believers lived to serve their neighbor as Christ Himself, even though
they didn’t recognize that they were doing anything special. With Christ living in His people, they helped
others without even a thought for reward or personal glory. Furthermore, it was the holiness of Christ
put over and around them that counts before the Judge of the world.
Now, what about those on the left, and how are we to
live in consideration of this explanation?
First of all, we understand that as we live here on earth, God uses us
as His hands to serve those in need. We
certainly should give every consideration to helping any we see who are hungry,
thirsty, naked, sick, a stranger, or in prison.
And, walking in faith, Christians do those things more than any other
group on earth. Yet, we do it knowing
that the things we do don’t save us, but that Christ who is our Head has won
for us forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life, because “God made him, who
did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
And those other folks placed on the left? Those are the souls who didn’t have time for
God, or who thought they didn’t need His help to be holy, or who didn’t think
Jesus is the God-Man sent to give us life and hope. Throughout their earthly lives, they refused
to see Jesus as the true Son of God holding out His hands pleading for them to
come to Him for forgiveness and peace.
They refused to believe that Jesus lived for them, died for them, and
gave His holy life in exchange for their sins.
Thus, they also refused to see that God is served as He says here, by
serving those around us who have a need.
And on that great day when Jesus returns in glory, those who refused to
see His glory, here, will be looking for a place to hide from it when the
angels gather them together for His verdict, for the Bible declares that “without
faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Dear friends, this text wasn’t given to us to teach
us how to get ahead on Judgment Day.
Rather, it confirms what the Bible teaches elsewhere, that our God-given
faith will be seen in our works. The
warning is that we should live our faith in everything we do. At the same time, the Bible clearly teaches
that our faith, our forgiveness, our salvation, and yes, our sanctification
too, are gifts of God, gifts not to be wasted in selfishness but gladly shared
with those around us, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.”
(Ephesians 2:10)
Today, there are many people in our world who
think you have to do something grand and special for it to count as a good
work, but good works are primarily found in the ordinary things we do by faith:
things like a parent changing a baby’s diaper and giving sustenance and
instruction to the child, a farmer working his fields to feed the nation, a
teacher sharing knowledge, laborers, office workers and public servants willingly
serving their neighbors in humble ways, and especially, whenever we work
together to share the good news of salvation in whatever small way we can.
If you read the words of our text and wonder,
“Have I done enough?” you are asking the wrong question. The right question is “Have I listened to the
voice of my Savior?” Jesus said, “My
sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they
follow me. I give them eternal life, and
they will never perish. No one will
snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:27)
When we come to worship our Lord, we rightly confess
that we haven’t served our King and our neighbor as we should. At the same time, we come trusting that in
Christ, we have the holiness of God applied to us, for God’s own dear Son lived
for us the perfection of service God’s holiness demands. Furthermore, that dear Savior also carried
our shortcomings to the cross where He suffered the full penalty for all our
guilt, and for His sake, God has promised, “I will be merciful in regard to
their unrighteousness, and I will not remember their sins any longer.”
(Hebrews 8:12)
This is the message our Savior and Judge has
provided in the Bible to give us life. In
baptism, hearts that were stone dead to God were replaced with hearts of living
faith. A sinful nature that infected and
corrupted us completely was drowned in that tide of salvation and our souls
were raised up to live and serve. “Or
do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were
therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also
walk in a new life. For if we have been
united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united
with him in the likeness of his resurrection.” (Romans 6:3-5)
Our confidence and hope, as we await our Lord’s
return in glory, is that we will come before Him not in the filth of our sins,
but in the glorious righteousness He has provided to us by faith. By faith, you will Stand
before the Lord in His glory, because “you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11) Stand before the Lord
in His glory. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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