by Dave Wilkinson

Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Corinthians 4:1-10 
(pop-up Bible verse)

February 24, 2002

I had a lot of car trouble last October. But none of it was my fault.

On the morning of my birthday, my car was legally parked on the street when my neighbor misjudged the corner and hit my car with his boat trailer.

Eight days later I went to Thousand Oaks to pick up my beautifully repaired and polished car from the body shop. There was no sign that it had ever been mangled.

I went west on T.O. Boulevard and onto the 23 to return to Moorpark. The traffic, as it often is at 5:00, was stop and go. I stopped. I went. I stopped. I went. I stopped -- and the woman in the Ford Expedition behind me didn’t stop -- not even close. She took out my trunk, both side panels, and the rear window.

I had had my car out of the shop for eight minutes before it went back in for three weeks. Fortunately, Enterprise Rent-a-Car gave me a free upgrade because I was such a good repeat customer. But the hardest part was telling Lynda Rummelhoff who is my State Farm agent. I didn’t think they’re supposed to laugh at their client’s misfortunes. It was pretty funny.

Fortunately for me, our modern cars have a lot of safety devices. We have seat belts and shoulder harnesses. We have collapsible steering wheels. Many cars already have side air bags and anti-lock brakes. Cars are coming which can measure the distance between your car and the car in front and warn you if you are following too closely. With that kind of feature, who needs a spouse?

But the safety device which is still the most effective is also one of the oldest. This is the sight of a Highway Patrol car in the rear-view mirror. There’s nothing like flashing lights behind you to spell judgement.

Well, in Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that there is a big patrol car in the rear-view mirror of the world, and that unless the world watches how it drives, there will be a time of judgement. In Matthew 25, Jesus also tells us about the way He will judge.

What do most people think of the judgement if they think about it at all? They almost certainly think of it in good terms. They cannot imagine that God is a God of judgement – or that even if He is, that He would ever judge them.

We may be firm believers in judgement -- for certain other people. We ask why God doesn’t smite such and such a dictator or terrorist dead. But we don’t ask questions about ourselves.

As Dorothy Sayers observes in "The Triumph of Easter," "Why doesn’t God smite this dictator dead is a question a little remote for us. Why, madam, did he not strike you dumb and imbecile before you uttered that baseless, unkind slander the day before yesterday? Or me, before I behaved with such a cruel lack of consideration to that well-meaning friend? And why, sir, did he not cause your hand to rot off at the wrist before you signed your name to that dirty little piece of financial trickery? Your misdeeds and mine are nonetheless repellant because our opportunities for doing damage are less spectacular than those of some other people."

Seen in this light -- seen in the light of personal application -- we may not want to believe in a final judgement. A lot of modern people don’t. In fact, we are told that many modern people regard the final sifting of bad from good as just a fairy tale. But this means that many modern people consider themselves to be much better informed on ultimate issues than Jesus Christ

Himself.

Read Matthew 25:31-46

Matthew 25:31-46
(pop-up Bible verse)

It used to be that Protestants and Catholics argued over justification – how a person received eternal life from the hand of God. Protestants said that it was "sola fide" – by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Catholics said that it was "fide et operae" – faith plus works. But today that whole discussion is outmoded in the minds of most people. They believe that all one has to do to get to Heaven is die – a belief characterized by R.C. Sproul as "justification by death." The only thing you have to do to be okay with God is die. That is certainly the tenor of many funeral services.

But in this naive belief, our popular culture is just as irrational as it is in most other spiritual matters. This world has a lot of evil. All sins are not judged in this world nor are all good deeds rewarded. The righteous suffer. The guilty go free. Joseph Mengale – the butcher of Auschwitz lived undisturbed in South America. If this is a moral universe – created and ruled by a moral God – there must be a reckoning when the tables are balanced out. Good must prosper and evil must be punished. God is going to judge the world. The Bible makes that crystal clear. The only real question is not if but how,

Now Jesus talks about the final judgement right after Chapter 24 in which He spoke of His second coming. These words are spoken the day before He eats the Last Supper with His disciples. This teaching is part of Jesus’ "final instructions" before He is betrayed and arrested that next night.

Jesus says to His disciples: "Right now, here on this hill above Jerusalem, you see me as a wandering preacher with no place to lay my head. That’s how you’ve known me. But you will not always see me in this role. You will see the Son of Man in His glory, and all the angels with Him, and He will sit on His glorious throne."

This throne is the throne of judgement.

Jesus says that one day all of the nations of the world will be brought before Him and He will separate them – not according to the nations, which would be a neuter pronoun, but according to "them" – according to the individuals within the nations. He will separate them as the shepherd separates sheep from goats – a familiar practice in the villages of Palestine.

To the one group, the people on His right, you people over here, Jesus speaks of a great reward. They are blessed. Then He tells them the reason for their great reward – that they were good to Him when He was hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned and far from home.

These blessed ones express surprise. They aren’t sorry to inherit the Kingdom, but they are surprised that anything they had ever done should merit such an extravagant response. They say, "We think you have the wrong group. We never did those things for you."

Jesus explains, "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me."

Then there is the other group – the group on Jesus’ left -- you people over here. They are told: "Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels." Why? Because they had failed to respond to Jesus as the righteous had responded. They had failed to respond to Jesus as He had shown Himself as one of His brothers in need of food, comfort, help, clothing and healing.

Now if you have heard previous sermons on this rather popular text, then you know that it is especially popular with pastors who want to motivate their congregations to become involved in some social cause. You may have even heard the beautiful medieval story based on Jesus’ words here in Matthew 25.

The story concerns Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a Christian. One cold winter day entering a city, he was stopped by a beggar asking for alms. Having no money, Martin took off his coat, cut it in two, and gave half to the beggar. That night he had a dream of Heaven, and Jesus was wearing half a Roman soldier’s coat. An angel asked Him: "Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak?" And Jesus answered, "My servant Martin gave it to me."

That’s a beautiful story.

But we do need to go deeper. For there is a problematic side to the message implied by the "judgement on the basis of works" interpretation of Matthew 25 that this story often accompanies.

Matthew 25 is often interpreted and preached as a warning to Christians to demonstrate their faith in Jesus by the way they treat the poor, the homeless, the imprisoned and the hungry. "If you aren’t engaged in jail ministry and hunger programs, then your faith is a sham and you are going to end up on the short end of the stick come judgement day." Now it’s not usually stated so bluntly, but that’s the bottom line. The message is not that "the just shall live by faith" but "the just will live by justice."

The sometimes-unstated implication of this is that salvation finally depends on what you have done. All the cross does is to give you a level playing field to forgive you from past sins and allow you now to work your way into Heaven. But your salvation – and securing your salvation is finally up to you. And you can make sure of Heaven by signing up for this program."

But, of course, the impact of this "judgement on the basis of works" interpretation is that the Apostle Paul is wrong when he writes in Romans that we are saved by faith alone – and that he is also wrong when he writes in Ephesians that we are "saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves -- it is a gift of God. If the common interpretation of Matthew 24 is correct, Paul is wrong and we are really saved by Jesus plus something else – the something else varying according to who is making the rules.

Now if Jesus is teaching us in Matthew 25 that salvation is on the basis of works rather than on the basis of our faith, then we need to change our theology and rip about half of the New Testament out of our Bibles. Or if Jesus is teaching that our faith will be judged and discounted if we haven’t spent time in jails or in soup kitchens, we’d better reckon with that.

But before we change our theology and rip up our Bibles, we’d better be sure we know what Jesus is actually saying -- and not just what some churches say Jesus is saying.

Well the best way to interpret Scripture is by reading the Scripture itself. Who is Jesus actually talking to and what is He saying? There are some key words in the text that provide vital insights.

First of all, note that it is not the church that is brought before the throne but the "nations." And the basis of judgement is the response of people to Jesus’ "brothers."

Brothers is the key word.

Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus identify the poor and needy without distinction as His brothers -- simply because they are poor and needy. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus identify the poor and needy without distinction as His brothers. It is instead His disciples whom Jesus calls His brothers in Matthew 10, Matthew 23, and Matthew 28.

We need to look at Matthew 10:42 at what Jesus said to His disciples when He sent them out in pairs to carry the news of the kingdom. Jesus said, "The one who hears you hears Me. The one who receives you receives Me, and the one who receives Me receives the One who sent Me." Jesus says that as people respond to Jesus’ disciples and brothers, and minister to them in their distresses and afflictions -- giving them a cup of cold water because they are Jesus’ disciples -- they are in fact aligning themselves with Jesus Christ. Matthew 25 is the same.

What Jesus is saying in Matthew 25 is not justification by justice for the church. It is instead a statement that the fate of the world’s people is going to be determined by how they respond to Jesus’ disciple’s who are about to bring the Gospel.

This isn’t just my oddball interpretation. It was also how both Luther and Calvin taught. Jesus says "People will be judged by how they respond to you when you represent Me." For "the one who receives you receives Me," Jesus says. "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it for Me."

Now as a side note, let me emphasize that the call to respond to human need is primary for the people of God. We talked about service last Sunday. I agree with James who writes that true faith will reveal itself in service. I am not discounting the imperative of missions and loving service. But justification by justice for the church is not what Jesus is teaching in this passage. We are still justified by faith -- with the things we do for God and people coming as a response to the love God has shown us.

What this text is about is you as you represent your Lord.

Jesus identifies Himself with us and makes compassion for us the same thing as compassion for Himself. This ought to be an encouragement to us as we go out in His name. When you go out, think of yourself as going out with Jesus. Throw your shoulders back, put pep in your walk and power in your speech. That was the power that caused the first disciples to be called the ones who "had turned the world upside down."

This is the last teaching Jesus gives His disciples before the cross. Matthew understands the cross as being the beginning of Jesus’ glorification. And yet Jesus knows that He will be represented in the world by the inglorious – this small group of fishermen and their descendants – including us.

Paul speaks of this in 2 Corinthians 4 when he speaks of the glory of Christ being concealed in you and me like a "treasure in earthen vessels" – cracked pots as it were. And Paul assures us that we can still do the job – even though we are imperfect, incomplete, unskilled and unversed. In fact, Paul writes that the Gospel itself is inglorious. He speaks of the foolishness of preaching and the foolishness of the message. And yet, he writes, our preaching and the message are both "the power of God for salvation."

The message of the Gospel seems foolish when stacked up next to the high-tech, glittery message of the world. The messengers of the Gospel may seem foolish when compared to the rich and famous climbing out of limousines. But for those whom God is preparing to be counted along with the sheep, it is the message of the loving Shepherd. And because you are His representatives, those who are being called by God will embrace you and welcome you.

Jesus knows that as we go into the world there will be people ready to receive and minister to us – who already know the Gospel in themselves and are seeking only the name to go with what they know. These people will find, as they have ministered to us as Jesus’ brothers and sisters, that they have ministered to us as Jesus Himself.

Others will come before the throne with surprise. They had seen nothing special in Jesus’ emissaries. They didn’t bear that much resemblance to the awesome King who is before them. They imagined that these disciples were only a group of weak and silly people who made too much noise about religion They just never imagined that the King of the Universe would be so put out by their attitude of disdain and lack of response. If they had known it was Jesus they were rejecting, they wouldn’t have done it. But they did do it.

Do you ever feel too ill equipped, too steeped in your own crisis, too biblically illiterate to go out as a disciple? Join the crowd. The seventy Jesus sent out felt the same way when Jesus sent them. But when they came back they were filled with wonderful stories of healings, liberation, and newborn faith.

Jesus sends us as His disciples into the world. He tells us these words here about the judgement as an encouragement that we are going in His name. We aren’t just representing ourselves. We have all of the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven behind us. Jesus promises to give us what we need – wisdom, courage, insight, love, and opportunity – whatever we need. Just ask Him.

In the word of a Catholic priest I heard on the radio: "Wherever we go, even if we are alone, we are traveling in a crowd. For the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are with us."