It's not about you!

Jacob Ebbett

Until He comes • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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The problem with caring

Have you ever noticed that in humanity it is almost hard wired in us to help others? It doesn’t even have to be people we know. This is the reason I can tell you there is a family who’s identity would like to remain anonymous but they have fallen on difficult times. The father is sick and can’t work, and the mother is trying to care for a newborn baby. Their house isn’t that great. There is no siding and only two of the four perimeter walls have any insolation at all. Usually they burn wood to keep warm but since he has been sick the father has been unable to get any wood. Right now all they have for food comes from the food bank, but as temperatures drop they are having a hard time making that last.

Now for most of you, probably all of you, your mind probably went to what can I do to help. Some of you have already decided what you will give if we took up an offering. Some have thought about how you could deliver some wood. Others have put into plan already how you could fix up their house. Depending on your giftedness others have planed a food drive and maybe even a meal schedule where you would take turns taking the family meals.

And most of you have done all this knowing that this is probably just an illustration and this particular family is made up, but in the off chance that they are not, you were more than ready to help if you could. Let me assure you I did make up this story. Unfortunately however we all know that situations like this do exist and we want to help.

It is like it is hard wired inside us. Which for me I choose to see as yet another in a many long line of evidences that we are created by an intelligent designer. Because this type of behaviour flies in the face of anything remotely resembling natural selection. In many cases it will actually override our tendencies for self preservation.

This is why police officers will run toward the shooter, or firefighters into a burning building, or even soldiers into war. Putting ones life on the line to protect and defend strangers shows that in our DNA or in our general psyche there has been placed an override where the brain will dump the right mixture of chemicals that drives us to act and endure horrendous conditions and most certain death as illustrated in these next 2 videos.

Insert video’s

The reason I bring this up is two fold. 1 tonight I want to remember our fallen. Those who gave their life trying to help others, strangers even. 2. This is our final week in a series called

Until He comes

In this series we have been talking about what God expects of us while we wait for His return. The first week we learned He expects us to

Manage His household

which simply means taking care of His church which are believers.

Last week we learned He expects us to

Keep our lights Shining

This is all about not giving up and being in it for the long haul. It is about allowing our Faith in God to shine through and in many ways help define who we are.

This week as we wrap up this series I want to read

Matthew 25:31–46 NLT

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “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 creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

The question is...

What should we be doing till Christ returns?

It should not surprise us that if when God created us He hard wired in us the compulsion to help others that one of the things He expects from us as we wait for His return is to...

Care for others

Me: No one better exemplifies this, as those who enlisted to march into the face of impending death to serve not themselves, nor just their families but to serve a nation of people both present and future. The majority of which they would never meet, at least not on this side of eternity.

We: As followers of Christ, we are expected to follow Him not just to Heaven but to follow His example in how He cared for those around Him.

God: When you read through the gospels you will see time and time again Jesus going out of His way to help those around Him. He fed the hungry with food and knowledge, as He taught on the hills and multiplied small amounts of food to feed thousands. He did this on multiple occasions. He quenched both literal and spiritual thirst. At the wedding party changing water to wine and at the well with the Samaritan women. It is with Open arms that Christ welcomes us not just into His home but into His family if we would just believe in Him and submit our lives to His. When He died on the Cross He made possible for us to be clothed in His righteousness. He often healed the sick, His greatest healing of course where those of the soul. And though we were all imprisoned by sin God sent His son to die for us, to pay the price for our freedom, that we might be set free. This is the example of the one we are meant to follow. No wonder God expects us to feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the imprisoned. Not just in the literal, but in the spiritual since as well.

You: If you are here today and you don’t have a relationship with God you need to know nothing satisfies your soul like starting that eternal relationship with the one who died for you. No clothing feels as warm, as being wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus, Nothing gives your life more purpose than no longer being a stranger to God. There is no greater healing than to be healed of the cancer of sin that eats away at your soul and promises eternal death. If you are here today and you are still a prisoner of sin and death, I am here to tell you like the solidiers who gave their life that you might be free, Jesus gave His life that you might be free for all eternity.

We: And for those of us who are here and are already apart of His family. The question what do we do while we wait? We care for others just like Jesus did. That is what separates the sheep from the goats, so to speak.

Next Step: So where from here. If you are ready to Come to Jesus and be forgiven, and given purpose, and adopted into His family for you the next step is as easy as ABC.