Whatever

ENTRANCE

WELCOME AND MEMORIAL DAY PRAYER Rob

Bulletins

Remind them Memorial Day Honors those that paid the ultimate price for their country. Those that have served presently or have passed on after serving are remembered on Veteran’s Day. So if you have a family member who died in combat or while serving their country please place them in the comments box now.

Our holy and gracious God, help us to remember.

Help us to remember the sacrifices bravely made in which one has given life for another and for all.

Help us to remember those that stand in the breach where there is trouble and in which conflict threatens to undo your good creation.

Help us to remember that we look for the day when every sword will be replaced by a plow, that all may be fed and live in your peace.

Forgive us every sin that makes for division and for war, and bring us all into your kingdom on earth as in heaven.

This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Moment of silence.

GREETING Karen

L: May the Lord be with you!

P: And also, with you!

OPENING PRAYER Karen

Tender, comforting Shepherd, your steadfast love is present in this place and resides within each of us. But sometimes it is hard, so very hard, to open ourselves to your love. We feel like scattered sheep, frightened and alone. Help us know your loving presence as we live as your gathered community. Enlighten our hearts, that we may know the hope to which we have been called.

AMEN.

MUSIC: #133 Lean on The Everlasting Arms All Verses

PROCLAMATION AND PRAISE

PASTORAL PRAYER Karen

LORD’S PRAYER Karen

SCRIPTURE Karen

Matthew 25:31–46 NRSV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

MUSIC: #156 I Love To Tell The Story 1,2,4

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION Rob

SERMON

Introduction

This is the next to last sermon in this series. Next week I will be preaching from Revelation, then one Sunday in the lectionary and then a new series I was asked to preach on Revelation. Revelation: Not Your Daddy’s Buick.

This text is one that makes folks uncomfortable because it involves judgement. It comes from the section of Matthew’s gospel called the Olivet discourse. The Olivet discourse was not meant to scare, but to encourage Matthew’s audience that even though they may be struggling (being persecuted) now, God will set things right at the end. I think that is a good message for us as well as we got through these struggles of the pandemic.

This is the only scene in the New Testament that details a last judgement. In the Olivet discourse Jesus addresses 3 basic issues. First he gave an account of the events that would accompany his return. Secondly, through sayings and parables he taught lessons on watching, waiting, and being prepared for the second coming. What we are discussing today is the third part which is about promises of rewards and warnings of judgement.

What is surprising here, is that we are taught the we are saved from judgement through faith. Here, however, salvation comes through works. Or does it? Let’s take a closer look at what is going on here.

Exegesis

This is not so much a parable here as it is a narrative description as to what is to take place at the end of history. Jesus teaches that he will return with the angels and he will sit on a throne of judgement. The nations will come before him and will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep will go on the right, which is always a place of honor, the goats on the left which is not a place of honor. The shepherds would herd the sheep and the goats together, but separate them at night because sheep preferred to be in the open to sleep, but goats preferred cover. This would have been a scene Jesus’ audience would have been used to seeing. The interesting thing is they are being separated according to their service to others.

The Bible scholars differ about who these “others” really are. Are they just other believers? Are they missionaries? Or is it Jew and gentile alike? These are legitimate discussions, and frankly all are correct. However, this morning we will approach this from the interpretation that this concerns individuals from the nations of the world. In other words, everybody.

As I said, what can make you uncomfortable here, is that it appears were are judged by works instead of faith. One of the things the reformation was built around was sola fide, or faith alone. So what is going on here?

If we have faith and trust in Christ then we will have fruits, that is we will do the things Jesus has taught us to do. A lot of the olivet discourse teaches us not only signs to look for but also the proper behaviors, fruits, between the advents.

If we have faith, love, and trust in Jesus we will do these things out of a loving response to the love God has extended to us through Jesus Christ. It is a kind of spiritual respiration Wesley called it. Jesus breathes his love and grace on us, and we breathe it back in love and grace. And we do this because our nature has changed, that is why we don’t recognize Jesus when we do these things. Feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty something to drink, housing the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and incarcerated, doing these things become second nature because it becomes who we are. Let me give you an example by what I mean it was second nature for the sheep.

Second Nature

US Air Flight 1514 1/15/2009

3:26 Took off from LaGuardia bound for Charlotte, NC

3:28 Hit flock of Birds, turns toward Tetterboro, hit second flock, both engines had to be shut down, Sullenberger radioed they would ditch in the Hudson River

3:30 they crash landed in the Hudson River

In 120 seconds:

Other airports to far NJ Turnpike would be a disaster

Decides best action is to ditch in the Hudson River Execute the check list for shutting down the engines Disengage autopilot, fly plane by hand Configure the plane to glide, flaps, angle of attack, etc Had to put the plane in a left hand turn to head toward the river Activate the ditch system (make plane watertight) Had to keep nose down for lift and air speed (plane never got higher than 1400 feet!) Had to come out of the turn on line with river, going with current Had to raise the nose precisely, no stall. Precise landing on the river nose up.

His actions saved the lives of 155 people!

How could he do all this thinking and physically preform all these duties simultaneously? He had a second officer which helped, but it was because he was so well trained, had worked at it so much it had become second nature. This is why the sheep did not realize what they had done, serving others had become who they were. Just as piloting an aircraft had become second nature for Sullenberger.

Application

So how do we apply this? Bottom line Jesus teaches us that he is in the ones overlooked and ignored, that he is one with those that are needy. We do these to and for Jesus. It is the Jesus in us serving the Jesus in others.

So the application for us is not much different than it was for Matthew’s audience. Just like Matthew’s audience we are confronted with the fact that what we do or not do for others is what we do or not do for Jesus! Jesus is telling us that between his ascension (by the way today is ascension Sunday) and return we better be taking care of the needy.

There is precedent for this in the Old Testament Prophets where God rejects Israel’s external display of piety as fake and declares that true righteousness is displayed in caring for the needy. Jesus makes the same point here.

It is very clear folks: when Jesus returns we are to be found to be serving others. Not having hip worship services, or buildings of architectural renown, or theological degrees. Notice, he doesn’t say: Sheep enter your inheritance of the Kingdom prepared by God from the beginning because:

You went to church every Sunday.

You had perfect attendance at Bible Study or Sunday School.

You tithed 10% or more!

You were on the leadership team or building committee.

You were 100% orthodox, that is you were doctrinally pure. (In fact Jesus left us no doctrine.)

You spent time in prayer daily, not missing a day.

No our call to action, from Jesus, is that we are to be serving others. It is not that these other things are not important. But the most important thing is if you truly love God you will truly love your neighbor. Th church is not to be in a building, but in the community serving others. The church never closes, nor does it need to be reopened because it never closed in the first place. To see it any other way is spiritually naive. When the time is right we will return to worshipping together. But worshipping together does not define us as a church.

The reason the sheep were oblivious to the fact that what they did for the needy was done for Jesus, is because they were not doing it to earn their way into the promised Kingdom. The didn’t have to do this to earn their way, their faith already had gained them entrance to the Kingdom. Their behavior was a response to the love God has shown them in Jesus Christ. Like I said earlier it is a kind of spiritual breathing. You don’t think about your breathing do you? You just do it.

Jesus is teaching us here that life is fragile, and we are all terminal and whether we meet Jesus after our own death or at his return we need to orient our lives with the urgency that Jesus is coming and coming soon and we need to be prepared: doing what Jesus tells us to do.

We must be responsible. What I mean is we need to practice responsible behavior. Our external practices are our testimonies to the presence of Jesus in our lives or changed thinking transforming our thoughts and behavior to that of the sheep!

We must be ready, that is spiritually prepared to meet Jesus. Much of that preperation is in service to others.

We must be productive, what are we doing with our gifts and graces? Are we answering God’s call to use those gifts and graces in his service to others?

Finally accountability, are we sheep or goats?

William Barclay tells this story of Martin of Tours.

“Martin was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus among them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him: ‘Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?’ And Jesus answered softly: ‘My servant Martin gave it to me.’ When we learn the generosity which without calculation helps others in the simplest things, we too will know the joy of helping Jesus Christ himself. “

Will you see Jesus in others this week? When you go to eat after church today will you see Jesus in your server? When you are in traffic and the impatient person behind blows their horn at you for no reason, will you see Jesus in them? When you serve at Good News at Noon or the food pantry and look into the eyes of a hungry and/or homeless person will you see Jesus? When you are in line at Walmart or Publix will you see Jesus at the cash register? When you see people on TV whose viewpoints are different then yours will you curse them for their opinions or will you see Jesus in them? (The same goes for social media.) Will you wear a face covering to protect Jesus from droplets that you may be unaware are carrying covid 19? Jesus will be wearing one to protect you. Do you realize by wearing a mask you are actually serving others? (British epidemiologist)

Where do you see Jesus ?

"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 creation of the world. 35 For 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 invited me in, 36 I 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 you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When 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.'

MUSIC: #507 Through It All Sing Twice

SENDING FORTH

BENEDICTION Karen

Come, you who are blessed! Inherit all that is prepared for you! We leave this sacred space to claim the riches and glorious inheritance that are ours through Christ. Go out into the world to share your blessings with all in need.

Go in God’s peace to Love Christ Love People and Help People Love Christ

AMEN.