The Final Lesson
Joining Jesus on His Journey through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Hell, Reality of
Walter Hooper, who was C. S. Lewis’s personal secretary, laughed when he read the following grave inscription:
Here lies an atheist,
All dressed up with no place to go.
Lewis, however, did not completely share in his laughter. He responded soberly, “I’m sure he wishes now that were true.” Hell is a sobering reality for those who don’t believe.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
We have spent this year, whether you knew it or not, in a series: “Joining Jesus on His Journey through Matthew.” For six months we studied his life, and for six months, we studied His teaching. Today is the last lesson.
In most classes, the test comes after the final lesson. Life does not work that way. In life, we are tested during the lesson. John put this way:
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
How is it that we understand this statement? The world, and many who are in the Church, believe that if you do good things, that makes you a good person, so focus on doing good. Lutherans, in accordance with our Confession, believe that the judgment does not establish who you are, it confirms who you are. You identity is established when you are “born of water and of the Spirit.” As a result, Christ’s entrance into the world the first time establishes the terms of identification, while His return confirms that which is established.
The truth is, the roots establish the tree. Those who are rooted in Christ can grow into a fruitful branch in Him, "but apart from Me,” Jesus said, “you can do nothing.”
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 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. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
The judgment process does not begin at this point. It is already accomplished. Like Jesus illustrated in the two previous parables in Matt 25, when the Lord returns and inaugurates the age to come, we will be exposed for what we proved to be in this age.
One of the things that Lutheran pastors do best is preach funerals. In fact, everyone else does eulogies - good words about the deceased - while we do sermons. In that sense, a funeral is no different from any other Divine Service. The focus remains on Christ, even when the occasion is the death of an individual. As Paul wrote in Romans 14:8 (ESV), “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
Today, we acknowledge the end of this Church year. Among the things that we can celebrate, we had two of our children become confirmed in the Faith, Tristan Brown and Alexis Cloud, and three children currently in Confirmation Class, Madison and Jackson McGill for St. John’s and Marcus Nobles for Good Shepherd. We have seen Donna Renee Evans-Patikas, a former Holy Angels classmate of mine, become an active and engaged member of St. John’s. We have been blessed financially through the Technology grant from Eli Lilly, and we are blessing people through our preaching and teaching all around the country and even in other parts of the world.
Four years ago, on November 15, 2016, I was asked to accept the call to serve here in Gary, IN. We have seen some changes here in Gary, and I expect that more are coming. For some, the mere fact that we Lutherans are still here is a major accomplishment. As the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said in his Mountaintop Sermon, “Longevity has its place.”
You do understand, Beloved, that God has greater expectations of His church than survival. Being at the right place - in Church - at the right time - on the Lord’s Day - while it is appreciated by me and other members of this congregation, is what puts you in a position for God’s blessing. How you respond to God’s gifts of Word and Sacrament, how you interact with others who also name the name of Christ, how your trust in Christ’s promises showed in your love for God and your neighbor, these are the things that will manifest at Christ’s return that you are, in fact His sheep.
Christ’s Church is so intimately identified with Christ that it is called His Bride, because we are one. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 6:17 (ESV) “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”
Buildings, signs, and Church paraments are nice, but not essential to a church’s identity. The Church and its constituent congregations are known by the same things that identified it after Pentecost:
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
If you as a person or as a church are devoted to these things, it it is because you are united to Christ, and you can trust that Christ will acknowledge you at His return:
34 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. 35 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, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 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.’
This is not a “bucket list” that you can say “Ok, I did that and that, I guess I’m ok.” It isn’t your works that do that, it’s “Christ in you” that is “the hope of glory.” Jesus says here that His people show the reality of their relationship with Him in that they share His passion. The devil will seek to entice you to focus on your works instead of Christ, so that he can get you puffed up with pride, thinking that pride works just as good as does rebellion to get you to fall.
This is where focusing on your “good deeds” will get you in trouble:
41 “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. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 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.’ 44 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?’ 45 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.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
They knew that they had never seen Jesus in any of those situations. Most of those who will be standing before the Lord on that day were not even alive when He walked this earth. That’s why they were confused by Jesus’ words - they couldn’t be guilty of ignoring Jesus in need. But they forgot the connection between the Head and the Body. Paul, writing about the purpose of the office of the Public Ministry, said this:
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Jesus will tell His Apostles when He explains the nature of their relationship to the world:
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
The world loves its own. The world looks out for its own. The world hates the Church, because the world hates the Head of the Church. Jesus loves the world, and He loves the Church, but He loves the Father, so He submits the world to the righteous Judgment demanded by the Law of God. If you don’t want to suffer Satan’s fate, don’t follow in Satan’s path.
It isn’t complicated or deep. It doesn’t require profound interpretations or explanations.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
A church that is on God’s mission is a church that seeks for opportunities to do good to all, and especially to the household of faith. It wants to grow, not for the sake of big numbers, but for the sake of more opportunities. The pastor wants the church to grow, not so that he can have more followers, but so that he can develop more ministry. The Synod wants to grow, not so that it can have a bigger name, but because our stewardship of the mysteries of God compels us to see more souls brought into relationship with Christ.
It’s not about us; it’s about Jesus. It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus. It’s not about dodging hell, it’s about rejoicing in heaven with your King. We have run well so far, but if you love Jesus, you want more. I talked on the phone with Mother Hicks and visited with Mother Garland and Mother Jarrett, and they want more. I met with the boards of St. John’s and Good Shepherd and met with some of the elders at St. John, and they want more. So what’s in your heart?
What does 2021 look like for us in Gary; do we look for more opportunities for ministry, or do we rest on our history? Do we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him who called us, or do we bury our future in the soil of our history, thinking “that will be good enough?” I’m not dead yet, so I want to keep growing. We aren’t dead yet; Don’t we want to keep on growing? Can we keep on growing? God wants us to keep on growing! As long as He keeps feeding us and leading us, and blessing us, we have a reason to keep on growing! As long as the sun is shining, it isn’t over! Night is coming, Jesus said, when no one can work. When He splits the sky, and the sun, the moon and stars no longer give their light, as they bow before His glory, it will be too late to play catch up. “Today” is the day; let us work while it is day. Let us serve our neighbors in our vocations while it is day. Let us love one another while it is day. Let us worship Him, let us worship Christ, our Lord, while it is day.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.