Sermon for Trinity 26

2 Thessalonians 1:3-10  +  Matthew 25:31-46

The Bible clearly tells us that this earth and this universe won’t last forever. A “last day” is coming, and in last week’s Epistle from 1 Thessalonians, St. Paul told us about something important that will happen on that day. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. In those verses, Paul focused just on the resurrection of those who believed in Christ and on the joyful reunion believers will have on that day as we gather together forever around the Lord Jesus. But those who died in unbelief will be raised, too, and in today’s Epistle from 2 Thessalonians, Paul describes another aspect of the Last Day, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of punishment with everlasting destruction for unbelievers, even as the Lord will be glorified among His saints and admired among all those who believe. It’s this picture of judgment on the Last Day that we want to focus on today, since it’s also the focus of Jesus’ parable in the Gospel, the parable of the sheep and the goats.

Judgment is one aspect of judgment day, but we need to understand that correctly. There will be no hearing, no investigation, no trial. Because by the time the Judge finally comes, He will have already made all His decisions. Jesus says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. See? No trial, no hearing, no giving anyone a chance to defend himself and sway the Judge one way or the other. The judgment is made before the Last Day, here and now.

In fact, Jesus doesn’t even talk about the basis of the judgment in this text. He does talk about it elsewhere, like in John 3: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Or again in John 5: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

So the judgment is made here and now. All people have earned God’s condemnation, according to His holy Law, because all are sinners. No one has given away enough food to anyone to earn an innocent verdict and a place in heaven. No one has been kind enough to a stranger, or made enough visits to the sick or to the imprisoned to purchase a place at the Judge’s right hand. No, God sent His Son into the world to save sinners, to call us by His Gospel to repent of our sins and to believe in Him who bore our sins on the cross and was raised to life again, to be brought into His salvation through faith and through Holy Baptism. As St. Paul says in the book of Romans, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Faith in Jesus Christ is what makes someone a sheep of the Good Shepherd. Faith in Jesus Christ is what reserves a place for us at the Judge’s right hand.

It’s to these whom the Judge will speak first on Judgment Day: Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed ones of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” It will be a day of joy and celebration for believers, a day when we get to hear only words of peace and blessing from Jesus. What we have to look forward to is an “inheritance” in God’s kingdom, the inheritance He has been preparing for the chosen children of God since before the world was created. Remember, an inheritance isn’t given on the basis of good works. An inheritance is given on the basis of a person’s relationship to someone, which makes perfect sense, because, as Paul writes to the Galatians, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

But good works are evidence of faith and fruits of faith, and Jesus wants us to understand that He is paying attention to those fruits. He focuses in this parable on just one kind of good work: the small works of kindness that believers do for other believers in Christ. I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. Now, only a handful of people in history had the chance to do any of those things for Jesus directly. Mary and Joseph, Mary and Martha, and a few others. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me. The small works of kindness toward Jesus’ brothers, our fellow Christians—whether done for a little baby or a little child, for an elderly Christian in a nursing home, or for anyone in between—Jesus is counting them up, every one, not as reasons to let a person into heaven, but as evidence that this person was indeed righteous by faith and a child and heir of heaven, because that’s how the heirs of heaven behave toward their fellow heirs of heaven. As Jesus said to His disciples, By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

On the other hand, there are the unbelievers, the unrighteous, the goats—those who ended their lives in impenitence, still clinging to their sins, not trusting in the Lord Jesus for forgiveness. To them Jesus, the King, will say, Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. These people spent their earthly lives and will now spend eternity under God’s curse. That’s how all people begin this life, under the curse of sin and death and eternal separation from God. Those who are persuaded by the Gospel to look to Christ for forgiveness have their curse removed. As Paul writes to the Galatians, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations in Christ Jesus. God held out this curse-lifting Gospel to the nations, but all those among the nations who didn’t believe in Christ Jesus remain under the curse.

That means that they’ll have to answer for all their sins. They’ll be held accountable by God for every unclean thought, word, and deed. Every act of adultery and sexual immorality, every lustful desire. Every drunken party, every sinful worry, every act of disobedience, every prayer offered to idols. But those aren’t even the sins Jesus mentions in today’s parable. I was hungry, and you did not give Me food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, etc…Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. The things Jesus mentions here seem so small, so harmless compared to the great deeds of wickedness that men engage in. But that’s just the thing with God’s holy Law. It doesn’t only demand that you avoid leading a grossly immoral life. It demands the little deeds of love, too. And Jesus shows here that He is especially offended when people who have the opportunity to help a little Christian in need fail to offer the needed help. He takes it personally. He takes it as a sin committed directly against Him, against the Judge of all mankind. Of course, even those sins He was willing to forgive during this life, if a person should repent and believe in Him. But not anymore, once the Last Day arrives. Then there will be no opportunity given for repentance. Then Christ will no longer offer to wash away anyone’s sins in Holy Baptism. Then, for the unrighteous, there will be only judgment.

And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

So, what does Jesus’ description of Judgment Day do for you? How does it help you? If you remain outside of Christ, where you have to answer for every one of your misdeeds, it should frighten you more than your worst nightmare, because you eventually wake up from a nightmare, but there is no end to eternal punishment. If you’re frightened because of your sins, then this description should encourage you to seek a pardon from the Judge before Judgment Day comes, to be baptized, to come into Christ’s holy Church, where you will be safe on the Day of Judgment. If you’re already a believing member of Christ’s holy Church, then this description of Judgment Day should compel you to remain a living member of Christ’s Church, to be diligent about hearing the Word of God and receiving the body and blood of the Judge in His perpetual meal of forgiveness, and to be diligent about investigating and tending to the needs of your fellow Christians, great and small, because in serving them you are also serving the Lord Jesus Himself, and He will not forget those little deeds of kindness. Finally, if you’re a member of Christ’s Church and doing all these things, then Jesus’ description of Judgment Day should fill you will joy and peace and hope, because He will come in vengeance on those who make life miserable for you in this life, and He’ll settle all the scores, while you have eternal life and goodness and love to look forward to. What greater incentive could there be to eagerly and joyfully await that day? And so we say with St. Peter, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Trinity 26

2 Peter 3:3-14  +  Matthew 25:31-46

We’ve heard a lot about the Last Day in our journey through the book of Revelation on Wednesday evenings, where God teaches us about it in several different pictures. To summarize the events of that day: it will come suddenly, when people aren’t expecting it—though Christians should always be expecting it, knowing, at least in the back of our minds, that it could come at any time. All those who have died will be raised from the dead with new, immortal bodies. Those who are alive, who haven’t died, will be changed and will be given immortal bodies. Those who believed in the Lord Jesus in this life will be gathered to Him in one place. And the rest of mankind will also be gathered together in one place. The final judgment will be pronounced. The heavens and the earth will be destroyed with fire. A new heaven and a new earth will be created. The wicked will go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. That’s a summary of the Bible teaching about the Last Day. And it’s something God warns His people to be ready for, as the main future event we’re preparing for.

Jesus tells His disciples about one little piece of the Last Day in today’s Gospel, painting a picture of the judgment part of the Last Day. It doesn’t describe every detail of the judgment that will be pronounced or everything that led up to that judgment. Instead, it focuses on just one aspect of human behavior that God is keeping record of and that God will reveal on that day. Jesus is keeping track of how people treat His little brothers.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Jesus spoke these words just days before He was crucified. In a few days’ time His disciples would see him hanging from a cross in shame and apparent defeat. But the shame would be short-lived. And on the Last Day, when He finally returns to the earth, it won’t be in shame or defeat of any kind. It will be as the glorious King of this universe. And instead of standing before a judge, as He stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate on Good Friday, Jesus will return as the Judge of all mankind.

Now, if you have a New King James Bible with section headings, this is one of the places you have to watch out for. The heading that the editors chose to place over these verses is, “The Judgment of the Gentiles.” What, do they think there will be a separate judgment of the Jews? Nowhere does Scripture say that. No, the word “Gentiles” is the same word in the Greek as “nations.” All nations will be gathered before Jesus and immediately separated by Him into two groups. Those whom He places on His right are the favored ones, and those whom He places on His left are the disfavored ones.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed ones of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

King Jesus will invite those on His right to inherit a kingdom, the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. There’s a lot here. Notice, first, He says, “Inherit!” That affects everything that follows. He doesn’t say, “the kingdom is your reward for all the good things you’ve done, which I’m about to list.” It’s an inheritance. The ones on His right did not earn a place in heaven by their good works. They simply showed themselves, by their works, to be children of God. Now, the only way in Scripture to become a child of God is through faith in Christ Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, who gave His life on the cross to make atonement for our sins, and who received us into His Father’s family through Baptism and faith.

Notice, too, that this kingdom was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. In other words, these are the chosen people, the ones whom God chose or “elected” in eternity, before the world began, to be adopted as His children and to inherit His kingdom. As the rest of Scripture makes clear, God knew in eternity that mankind would turn away from Him toward sin. But He planned in eternity to send His Son to redeem all mankind. He planned to have the Gospel preached, and to work through the Gospel to bring sinners to faith, to justify believers and to sanctify them in love. It’s that sanctification in love that Jesus goes on to recount to these on His right.

I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. This comes as a surprise to those on the King’s right, because the vast majority of them lived on earth when Jesus wasn’t living on earth. Even those who were alive at the time of Jesus didn’t do all these things for Him directly. But He clears up their confusion. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.

One of the main things Jesus commanded His disciples to do was to “love one another.” And by “one another,” He meant your fellow Christians, your brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what Jesus and the apostles almost always meant when they used the word “brothers,” those who became brothers of Jesus through faith in Jesus. As Jesus said, For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother. And the will of God the Father is that, first and foremost, all men should repent and believe in Christ Jesus and so become His brothers in the Father’s family. After that, the will of God is the sanctification of Jesus’ brothers, and, again, our sanctification is practiced above all in loving our brothers and sisters in Christ—loving them, not just in our hearts, but in tangible ways, simple ways, like giving food to the Christian who is hungry, a drink of water to a Christian who is thirsty, and so on. And it doesn’t have to be for an “important” Christian, but for the least of Jesus’ brothers. As He said in another place, whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple (that is, because he is a believer in Jesus), truly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Those who believed in Christ Jesus and showed mercy and love toward their fellow Christians will be recognized by Jesus on the Last Day, because He keeps track of how people treat His little brothers. He calls them the blessed ones of His Father. He calls them “the righteous,” righteous first by faith, and then righteous in how they lived in this world, especially in how they treated their fellow Christians.

Then there are those who didn’t end their life as children of God, but as unbelievers, as those whom the judge counts as unrighteous. Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Notice, first, that these on the King’s left are cursed. As St. Paul says, all who have sinned are under God’s curse. Or, I should say, all who have not been brought out from under the curse through faith in Christ. We all started out life under the curse. But, as Paul writes, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations in Christ Jesus. But all those in “the nations” who didn’t believe in Christ Jesus remain under the curse.

Also notice, the everlasting fire of hell wasn’t prepared originally for men, but for the devil and his angels. Because God’s purpose in eternity wasn’t to condemn sinners, but that all should come to repentance and to faith in His Son. But, since most people don’t believe in His Son, they will have to answer for their sins. They will taste that everlasting fire together with the devil, for whom it was originally prepared.

Now, the sins committed in the world are beyond measure; they can scarcely be recounted. But here Jesus doesn’t even mention any of the terrible, violent deeds done by men. He only mentions the good deeds that unbelievers failed to do for His little brothers, for His beloved Christians. I was hungry, and you did not give Me food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, etc…Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Jesus takes it personally when unbelievers fail to help His little brothers. Imagine how personally He takes it when they abuse, harm, ridicule, and falsely accuse His brothers! He wants us to know that He will hold all people accountable for all the mistreatment that we have suffered, as well as for all the good treatment we didn’t receive because we remained faithful to our big Brother, Jesus.

And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Now, if all that is true, if as Peter says in today’s Epistle, all things here, all things in this universe are destined for destruction by fire, if Jesus is really coming again to pronounce judgment on all mankind, and if He’s keeping track of how people treat His little brothers, then, as Peter writes, What sort of people ought you to be? You ought to practice holy living and godliness, awaiting and yearning for the coming of the day of God…Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, make every effort to be found spotless and blameless before him in peace. Work on this, above all things! Work on being found spotless and blameless before God when He comes to judge the earth. Work on behaving in the world like children of light and not like everyone around you who still lives in darkness. Work on treating your fellow Christians with love and respect at all times, remembering at all times that the King is keeping track of how people treat His little brothers. But as you work on those things, don’t put your faith in how well you’ve treated anyone. Put your faith only in the Lord Jesus, and eagerly wait for His coming! Amen.

Source: Sermons