The Twenty-sixth Sunday After Trinity - 11-16-08

The Church Season of Trinity
The Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (November 16, 2008)

“SENTENCED TO LIFE”

Readings:
Psalm 50:1-15
Daniel 7:9-14
2 Peter 3:3-14
Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon Form Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 25th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses:

Matthew 25:31-46 (NIV)

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “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.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Over the years we all have probably watched on T.V. or read in the paper about various court trials. Depending on the seriousness of the case the trial may be stretched out over days, weeks, months, or even years. Sometimes the accused are found guilty and sometimes they’re found not guilty. Sometimes there is a hung jury and the case must be re-tired and if that should happen the whole long drawn out process begins again. Usually we see one person tried only one at a time, sometimes people are tried before a judge, sometimes before a jury. And, should the trial end in a manner which either may be flawed or otherwise legally improper, then an appeal to a higher court may be heard. That is they way it works here in this world, here in our country. But in our lesson today, a very different trial is described, and this one is quite different, for when the gavel falls in this judgment only some will be,

SENTENCED TO LIFE
(I – Christ comes again in glory)

While we may or may not make the connection, we do ponder this coming judgment by Christ. We do because every week we gather together in worship to return thanks for all that God has done for us. And as we return thanks, we confess together the words of the Creeds, wherein we acknowledge that a great judgment will one day occur. In fact, we say at the end of the second article of the Nicene Creed, “And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.”

To judge both the living and the dead. Remember, Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.(v. 31,32) If you think about those verses from scripture it represents a very great multitude of people. It includes every single heavenly angel. This gathering for judgment includes every single human being whether living or dead. All of these will be gathered before Christ. And as was noted before, among us sinful mortals, here in this world, the determination of justice and judgment involves a trial, which is sometimes lengthy, laborious and does not always come to and end with any degree of certainty. But the omniscient God-man, Jesus Christ needs no attorneys. Christ needs no jury, nor will His judgment be arbitrary, nor can it be appealed. When He comes to judge both the living and the dead, Christ who is seated at the right hand of God the Father will separate the sheep from the goats, meaning the righteous from the unrighteous. But unlike the courts in this world, both the unjust and the just receive an eternal judgment. Unlike the courts of this world which may separate evil doers for terms counted in years or maybe even a life sentence of separation, the judgment of Christ is quite different. For the judgment in everlasting life will separate the sheep from the goats, and this separation will be forever and for all time. The Sheep and goats of which Jesus speaks represent the redeemed and the damned. Christ will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

So the obvious questions are; ‘How do we know on which side of Christ we will land?’ Will we be on the left or the right? Will we be a sheep or a goat? And finally, the next question which really reflects our human nature is the one where we ask slyly, “What can I do to improve my odds of coming out on the right side of this coming judgment?”

Well that is the same question that was on the mind of those who Jesus mentioned in our text. And the answer? Jesus said that the righteous ones were the ones who gave Him something to eat, the ones who gave Him something to drink, the ones who knew Him only as a stranger and yet they still invited Him in.

Our natural response is to think that those kind of answers might have helped the people way back when, who were standing around Jesus but they don’t seem to help me right here and right now. Jesus is not here right now, is He? How in the world will I ever get a chance to do any of those things for Christ?

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”(v. 40) So what He is saying then is, if I help enough people, if I am kind to enough people, if I’m kind to strangers, if I feed the hungry, if I give money to the poor....then, then I will be on the right side of Christ, won’t I?

We hear His words yet we still do not understand. For we take those very words of Christ and turn them into Law, we make them something that we must do, and that is not what He said, nor is it what He meant. We are still trying to win the judgment of our case before God by appealing to our good nature, to our good work, or by trying to find the best loophole in this whole discussion.

But what Jesus was really saying is that all these things; the feeding, the generous giving, the comfort to strangers, all that was evidence already offered in our case. Because truth be told we could never feed enough people, we could never give enough money, we could never entertain enough strangers to influence the judge in this case. So then that means that we must be lost, there is no hope, there is no way out, we can’t do anything or if there were something to do we can’t do enough. It would seem that this case would be all too easily closed and that we can do no other than to be convicted.

And that is the right answer. We are convicted by our sin. We are convicted by the evil that we do. We are convicted by the way we treat others, we are convicted by the way we fail to treat others., we have not even loved our neighbors with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Repent. For if it were up to us we would remain the way in which we have been born and we would remain in the way that we live our lives, and that is sinful.

(II – Christ’s death sentences believers to eternal life)

But fear not, for the case against us was not closed until Christ Himself made it so. For there is one who would still represent us before God Himself. One day we will indeed be all gathered together for the final judgment, both sheep and goat, righteous and unrighteous. And those who believe and have been baptized will saved, but that is not a work from us, but rather it is the work of Christ. For it is He who went to the cross naked so that we may be clothed with the robe of righteousness. It is Christ who feeds the least in His kingdom with His true body and His true blood so that we may be forgiven. It is Christ who came from heaven to earth so that we may leave earth to be with Him in heaven. And from all that Christ has done for us we are called to do good to others, but it does not merit our salvation, rather the good that we do for others reflects the light of faith which Christ first freely placed in us.

In the eternal court in which Christ will be the presiding judge, all who stand before Him will indeed receive a sentence. For all those who did not believe in Christ, He has said, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment,”(v. 46) for that is what they deserve. But before we puff out our chest in self righteousness, that sentence of eternal punishment is what we deserve too. But because Christ died for you, because He has placed His Name upon you in your baptism, because He has given you forgiveness of sins by His body and blood...Because of Christ’s righteousness, one day He will look at you, and He will see all that we have done and He will judge us all. And on that day the gavel will fall and we will get everything we did not earn or deserve. For we will be found, not guilty for the sake of Jesus Christ, and for all who believe, both the living and the dead they will all be given the sentence of eternal life and will join Him “whose kingdom will have no end.” Amen.

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