Opening Prayer
The text for our meditation this morning is taken from today’s Gospel reading:
“Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
…‘as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.’”
Today is the last Sunday of the church year. This Thursday is… …Thanksgiving. Anyone know what next Sunday is? The first Sunday in Advent. And we will start midweek Advent services the Wednesday after that. Anyone remember what Advent is for? We are waiting for Jesus! And anticipating the celebration of His birth on Christmas. But, before all of that…
Is anyone interested in what’s going to happen at the end of the world… at the end of time? I think everyone is… even Jesus’ disciples! As pastor has said, the Gospel readings from the past several Sundays are taken from Jesus’ time during Holy Week after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, right before He was to be tortured and then killed… for you and for me.
After the church leaders of the time had challenged Jesus and He spoke to them in all of those parables, He went up to the Mount of Olives with His disciples to be alone, as He so often did. He was actually staying there or near there all during Holy Week. The Mount of Olives is actually outside of the walls of Jerusalem, to the east of the temple. Its peak is 250 feet higher than the temple and had a great view of the temple and all of Jerusalem.
Jesus and the disciples were alone on the Mount of Olives and the Bible says that the disciples privately asked Jesus about the signs of His coming and the close of the age. And Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark 13 and Luke 21 outline Jesus’ response.
He talks about the signs of the end of the age: impersonators of Christ, wars and rumors of wars, nations and kingdoms rising against each other, famine, earthquakes, disease, suffering, torture and death. But He also said that the Gospel, the Good News, would be preached to the whole world… and then the end would come.
While all of this sounds so terrible, it is actually good news!
First, Jesus promised that we are not to be afraid or anxious about these times… He is with us to the end of this age… He will strengthen us and send others to help strengthen us. He has established His church here on earth. We are to keep watchful… wait… and watch… and serve the Lord until He returns.
In today’s Gospel reading, however, Jesus shows us the judgment on the last day. Let’s look at it again. Verse 31…
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.”
Jesus, within two days of celebrating His last Passover on earth and then, crucifixion, sets forth the glory of His final triumph. In glory… the glory of heaven… the glory of His Father… the glory which was His before the world began… before He entered into the weakness and lowliness of our human flesh… the humble Nazarene… in glory He will come, accompanied by all the angels… as His messengers and ministers and court. Through them, He will cause all the nations of the world, both Jews and Gentiles, to be assembled before Him. This day is inevitable. In Hebrews, it says:
…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…
I hate to break the news to you but, we will all die… you… me… everyone, eventually, will die. And we won’t just go into nothingness… it doesn’t just end in nothing. Like it or not, it’s the truth. There’s no way out of it. We will all stand in judgment.
Everyone… And I don’t just mean all of us… or all of Montgomery County… or all of Pennsylvania… or all of America… I mean everyone… every nation… every race… from every time… since creation!
Does anyone know how many people are on the earth right now? Close to 7 billion. That’s a lot of people.
How many people have you ever seen in one place? I have been to big football games that had 70 or 80,000 people and that was a lot of people. And they made a lot of noise! If we took 100,000 of those full football stadiums, that would add up to about 7 billion people.
How about the Million Man March. If a million people had shown up, you would need 7,000 of those marches to make 7 billion people. But that’s just today… that’s how many people are on earth today. Rough estimates say that there may have been as many as 100 billion people that have lived on earth since creation! 100 billion people! If you would try to count them, one every second, 24 hours per day without sleeping, it would take you 317 years to count them all.
100 billion people, standing before the throne of Christ…
All nations… all races… all people… ever. Can you imagine that sight? Can you imagine the awe and excitement for those in Jesus Christ? And the shear terror of those who are not.
Then the King will divide this incredible assembly into two groups… those who believe in Him… and those who do not. It’s that simple.
Notice that there will only be two divisions on the last day; no social distinctions… no preference by rank… or wealth… and no neutral people. In one of these two groups, every person who has ever lived will find themselves… inevitably… without escape in the one case… and with no desire for escape in the other. This is the first act of the Judgment, the separation… the fixing of an impassable gulf.
The sheep are those that followed the great Shepherd, Jesus, willingly… that heard His voice… the believers.
The goats are those who were disobedient to the Gospel… the unbelievers… the hypocrites among the Christians… the entire godless world.
That is the separation… now the sentence…
“Then 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. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you since the foundation of the world!
It is a kingdom that we will inherit, for we will have been made kings and priests unto God! And the reason for this wonderful gift? All of these deeds that we have done? NO! It is by grace that we have been saved, through faith, and not by works so that no one can boast! It is by the grace of God, through the saving life, death and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ that we are saved… that we have this inheritance. It is the reward for our faith, as shown in the ordinary, everyday deeds of kindness to our brothers and sisters here on earth… feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, showing hospitality to the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned… the outward expressions of our love for each other, flowing from the love of Jesus Christ… these are the evidence, the fruit of our faith.
That is the sentence on the righteous… now the sentence on the unrighteous…
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
A fearful arraignment for those on the left hand of the King… Instead of the “Blessed” which they expected, they hear “Cursed”… instead of the “Come”, they hear “Depart from Me”. Notice the King does not say, “Cursed of My Father”, for they have brought the curse upon themselves. The everlasting fire was not prepared for them… for human beings… for people… but only for the devil and his angels. Those people who reject Jesus, the wicked, cannot remain with those that are righteous, through Jesus Christ. And this fire was not prepared from the beginning of the world. God does not wish the damnation of any man.
He desires that all people be saved and to come to the saving knowledge of the truth that is Jesus Christ.
These accursed people will have no one to blame but themselves; this just sentence is imposed on them by no one’s fault but their own. The lack of good works is not the problem… it’s a symptom… of the lack of faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. They have not spent their life in good works flowing from the love of Christ.
They may have done deeds which were accounted great in the sight of men… those that received headlines in the daily papers. But in the specific works of true charity… in the little deeds of service from day to day… in that life of kindness that is the natural outflow of a heart filled with faith and love toward Christ, they have been altogether deficient. Therefore all their works, even those upon which they pride themselves, are evil, because they are not of faith.
So, for the unrighteous, their doom is sealed… everlasting punishment… while the righteous, those justified through their faith in Jesus Christ, will go into everlasting life. The unrighteous, by their own will and fault, have forfeited the happiness of Christ’s love and glory for eternity… the righteous, through the grace, love and mercy of Jesus that is theirs by faith, will inherit the joys of blessing for eternity. It is just that simple… eternal life or eternal punishment. There’s not a third choice.
Those in Christ can look forward to His return, not in fear, but in excitement! We wait, not anxious about the things going on around us but in service to Christ.
Last Sunday, we talked about “talents”. Then, we were speaking of the Biblical talents as a measure of gold or silver… a talent of gold… a talent of silver… about 75 pounds. This Sunday, we are still talking about talents, but this time as the gifts given to us by God that we can share with others.
Look at the pictures on the front of the bulletin… How many prisoners do you see? The prison picture is obvious. He can’t get out and is probably there for a reason… his own fault. The homeless guy… probably an alcoholic! Serves him right… if he would just stop drinking and get a job… The little boy…
How many prisoners do you see? All are prisoners… all are victims… victims of this sinful world, death and the devil
Alcoholics, drug addicts, sex addicts, those with addiction to money… to power… violence… gangs… war…
Prisoners, surrounded by other prisoners in the same shape… whether in prison, poor, hungry, needing clothing… or surrounded by those who don’t care… Know any of these?
What about those living in the prison of darkness, out of the Light of Christ? Know any of those?
We will be held responsible for the amount of light in which we walk… Remember the parable last week? We will be held responsible for the gifts given to us…
But you know what? For those in Christ, it’s really easy…
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Open your eyes… ask the Holy Spirit to show you opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ to others… You’ll be surprised the doors that will open to you!
Are you psyched for Thanksgiving this Thursday? Remember to thank God for the most incredible blessing! Remember to thank God for your faith! In Jesus blessed name, AMEN.
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