IV. THE
UNLIFE: UN-RESPONSIVE
Matthew 25:31-46
Farmer Jones took his old hound dog Blue everywhere he went. When he stopped by the = Feed and Seed one morning, though, he noticed that ol’ Blue was laid out in the back of the truck. He wasn’t moving either. Something was wrong.
The farmer quickly got back in his pick-up and headed straight to the Vet. He caref= ully lifted the dog out of the truck, carried him in and put him on the examinat= ion table. The doctor took a quick look, checked for a pulse, watched for any sign of breathing, and finally s= aid, “I’m sorry, mister, this dog is dead.”
But Farmer Jones wasn’t ready to accept that.
“No, I want another opinion,” said Farmer Jones. So the Vet brought in = a cat this time. The cat jumped up = on the table and climbed right up on the side of old Blue—who, by the way, h= ad never been fond of felines. The cat pranced around on Blue, digging her cla= ws deeper with every step. Blue didn’t budge.
“Okay, okay, I’ve seen enough,” said farmer Jones. “I’= ve just got to accept the fact that he’s gone; but I’ll sure miss him. So, Doc, how much do I o= we you?”
“$550.00,” he said. “$550.00—to bring my d= og in here just for you to tell me he’s dead!?!” Farmer Jones was a little irritated.
“Now, hold on,” said the Vet, “the o= ffice visit was just $50.00, but once you add in the Lab work and the cat scan…”
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s alive a= nd what’s not—even, it seems, when it comes to faith and our relationship with the Lord. O= ur Scripture passage today, however, suggests that being UN-RESPONSIVE is a pr= etty good indicator of what I have chosen to call “the UNLIFE,” which misses out completely on the LIFE and the relationship with Him that = our Lord wants us to have.
In Matthew 24, Jesus says that a time will come when l= ife as we know it here will end and eternity will begin. He doesn’t know WHEN this wi= ll happen—only the Father knows WHEN—but this wrapping up of histo= ry WILL happen, and Jesus wants us to be ready when it does.
So He tells the story about the ten virgins, five of t= hem wise and five foolish, to warn us against being UN-PREPARED. Then He tells the story of the Tal= ents. Two of the Master’s servants = put the talents they were given to good use.&n= bsp; The third servant, however, buried his talent in the ground. When the Master came, he was judged harshly because his talent went UN-USED.
This brings us to the third and final story in Matthew 25. It’s called “= The Sheep and the Goats.” It points us to yet a third symptom of the UNLIFE,= when you and I are UN-RESPONSIVE to human need.= Listen now to Jesus’ third story:
(Note: dramatized by having persons eme=
rge
from the congregation carrying items that were presented to “Jesus=
221;
and a “needy person”: a loaf of bread, cup of water, chains,
etc.—each of these were placed on the Communion Table as they were
brought forward)
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, = and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All= the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one fr= om another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creat= ion of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invite= d me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after = me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed y= ou, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, = 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers= of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into= the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and = you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I= was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a strange= r or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"= He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the l= east of these, you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matt. 25:31-4= 6)
Well, once again we are confronted with the choice bet= ween LIFE, abundant and eternal, and UNLIFE, meaning= less and hopeless. We need to real= ize that knowing Jesus Christ and living the life to which He calls us matters-= -for now, and for eternity!
In today’s story, Jesus clearly teaches that we = are called to follow Him by responding to the needs of others. We experience LIFE as we show comp= assion toward our brothers and sisters who are beset by some misfortune.
Allow me to confess something here: although I have re= ferred to this parable on many occasions, I have never preached a sermon on this t= ext by itself. While I resonate w= ith its message, I also must admit to finding it disturbing. Some of you are also troubled by t= he questions it raises—I know this because you’ve told me. So I will begin by stating a perso= nal conviction that admittedly is not directly supported by this passage of Scripture:
I. LIFE Is Found through Faith in Chr= ist. Let’s nail this down. Abundant life, eternal life is fou= nd only by God’s grace through a relationship of faith in the Savior, Je= sus Christ.
We learned in the first parable in Matthew 25 of our n= eed to be PREPARED for Christ’s return.&nbs= p; We prepare by placing our faith in Him and living for Him daily.
In the second story, we are told to put to good USE the talents our Master gives us. = Then we’ll be ready when the Lord comes for us—our lamps will be ful= l of oil, and our talents will be multiplied.
But then we come to this third story of Jesus which SE= EMS to say that if we simply give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, if we house the stranger and clothe the naked, and if we visit and care for those= who are sick or in prison, we will be blessed with eternal life in the Kingdom! Correction—it = DOES say that. That’s exactl= y what it says, and very clearly!
So which is it—LIFE through faith in Christ̷= 0;or LIFE through feeding and providing for and visiting with those in need? Well, I’ve already told you = what I believe: that LIFE comes through faith in Christ. I base this belief on the Bible, v= erses like:
“For God so lov=
ed the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.=
” (John 3:16) And this:
=
220;For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not =
from
yourselves, it is the gift of God—not
by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
So the Biblical witne=
ss is
strong that salvation comes through believing in God’s Son, through
placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
We can’t be good enough nor do enough good deeds to earn
salvation. It is God’s =
gift
of grace to all who believe.
So how do we respond =
when
someone points to this passage and says, “But Jesus tells us that at =
the
last judgment He will say to all those who fed the hungry and visited the
prisoners and did everything else in between, ‘Come, take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world?&=
#8217;”
That sure sounds like
salvation, but there’s not a word here about faith, grace, forgivenes=
s,
or being baptized. It’s=
all
about doing good works, serving the “least of these.” It would be much simpler if Jesus =
had
said “Put your faith in me and serve the poor”—but He
doesn’t. He just tells =
us to
“serve.”
Now, in other places,=
Jesus
does speak of repentance and faith, but not here. I think this means we must take in=
to
account the fuller witness of Scripture and not depend on this one teaching=
to
tell us everything we need to know about being right with God.
This is not an
“either/or” proposition.
It’s “both/and.”&=
nbsp;
The Christian life consists of both faith and works. It occurs to me that there is even=
an
implied relationship with Jesus in these simple acts of kindness. Did you hear what He said?
When “the least=
of
these” are served, Jesus said we are actually serving Him, whether we
realize it or not. Now, does =
Jesus
mean that these acts of serving Him by serving others qualify as some kind =
of
saving relationship with Him? Well,
it’s a fascinating question, and one we have to ask when considering =
this
text; but we must leave the answer to God.=
In the meantime, we a=
ct
upon what we know, pointing people to Jesus Christ, the Savior, inviting th=
em
to place their faith in Him and experience the salvation that comes by
God’s grace. We canR=
17;t
just leave it there, however, because there’s also this matter of what
Jesus said about the sheep and the goats--which leads to this second
conviction:
II. LIFE Is Lived through = Acts of Compassion. The Christ= ian life, that is, the life to which Christ calls us, the life that pleases Him= , is one that takes care of the needs of others. If we’re not doing this, the= n it doesn’t matter what we claim to believe, we’re really just an o= ld goat in sheep’s clothing!
Jesus wants us to know that BEING good in His Book inv=
olves
DOING good.&nbs=
p;
Many of us have been taught that being good is just NOT being BAD.
Life in Christ involves following His lead and serving others in His Name. So is the= re anything about my life and yours that says we believe this—or any cle= ar evidence that we’re doing it?
‘By grace are we saved through faith’—YES!—but the Gospel doesn’t end there. That powerful passage from Ephesia= ns mentioned earlier is followed by this verse: “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (v. 1= 0)
We also looked at John 3:16. Notice that this definitive stateme= nt of God’s love did not end with the idea of God loving us. ‘God so loved the world He G= AVE His one and only Son…!’
When we stand before this loving, giving, sacrificing = God at the final judgment, He will search our lives for deeds of kindness befitting the life of faith. Jesus is s= urely warning here that if these acts of mercy are missing from our lives, itR= 17;s a clear signal that faith is missing as well.
The Apostle James calls faith without works “dead faith,” which goes right along with THE UNLIFE. Faith is not primarily a matter of= what we SAY. We can say anything.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Real faith is seen in what we DO w= hen God places a needy brother in our path.
I like the way Frank Stagg puts it: “Place a mou= se before a cat and one sees what a cat is; place a person in need before a ch= ild of God and one sees what a child of God is.” (Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 227)
Yes, I know we need to be careful and have a discerning spirit when we try to help the needy. It’s not helpful to give money for food which then gets spent = on drink or drugs or some other vice. We should not in any way enable people to live irresponsibly, which would only harm them further.
That said, a child of God wants to do what is genuinely helpful; and when that person in need is placed before us, we look for appropriate ways to respond. = And, friends, please notice that what Jesus talks about here are basic ministrie= s of compassion that almost anyone can do.
Giving a hungry person a meal, welcoming a stranger, clothing and visiting, along with hundreds of other simple kindnesses Jesus might also have mentioned, are easily doable. None of these actions will get pic= ked up by the press, of course. They won’t get our names on a building or even a plaque, but they could ve= ry well mean the world to those whose lives we touch. They might even find Jesus is us, = and we might find Jesus in them.
Christian compassion is not something to be analyzed or measured to see if we’ve cared enough to appease God or perhaps our o= wn consciences. We simply allow = our lives to become a conduit so the love of Jesus can flow through us on its w= ay to others. And as we grow in = Christ, this becomes so natural, we hardly even notice i= t when it happens. Listen:
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something = to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes a= nd clothe you? When did we see y= ou sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I= tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of m= ine, you did for me.'
That’s LIFE, friends: knowing and serving Christ= by simply, compassionately responding to the needs of others. It’s LIFE now. And some day when the Lord comes f= or us, it will be LIFE forever!