Luxury, Poverty and the Kingdom of God
2.  Starving Jesus
Matthew 25:31-46  4.22.07 - Dennis Mullen 

Video - God's Economy, talk #1 - start at beginning, stop at 3:21, as it fades out after showing the word "love".

            That video comes from Shane Claiborne’s teaching video called Another World is Possible, pt. 2 – Poverty.  It shows us the tremendous extremes in wealth and poverty that our world knows, and the voices of American young adults talking about how much they struggle financially laid on top of the video of REAL poverty is arresting.

It’s a fitting introduction to today’s message based on the extremely well-known and extremely well-ignored passage found in Matthew 25:31-46.  Your Bible probably calls it “The Sheep and the Goats”.  I’m calling the message “Starving Jesus”, a title suggested by a book I haven’t read and the accompanying film I haven’t seen.  But if you know the content of Matthew 25:31-46, you understand the title.

As I did last week with Luke 16 and the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, I want to approach Matthew 25 by backing up a bit and looking at it in context, seeing the things Jesus was saying as he led up to “The Sheep and the Goats” and to see the things the Holy Spirit was inspiring Matthew to include in his Gospel as he arranged the material in a way that would influence God’s people for nearly 2,000 years and counting.

I grew up in the 70s and for various reasons there was more talk then in church (or at least in my church) about the last days, about the Second Coming of Christ, even though we are 30 years closer to those things today.  And so Matthew 24 was a popular chapter for discussion because it’s about (according to the headings in my Bible) “signs of the end of the age” and “the day and the hour unknown”.  If his disciples expected some glory and power for themselves in the coming kingdom, Jesus lets them know in chapter 24 that there are some hard times ahead, some terrible distress, a great falling away from the faith, even something he calls “the abomination that causes desolation” – before his triumphant return and his reign as King of Kings.  It’s scary stuff, and that chapter ends with a call to be ready, where he compares our situation to a servant in charge of a household waiting for his master to return.  He says that some will choose to stay at their duty and serve him faithfully as they wait; and others will take advantage of the master’s slow return and go on a power trip, beating the servants and drinking up the wine.  Jesus says:  50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

            That is the transition into chapter 25.  In 24, the theme was his return and the last days. Chapter 25 speaks of judgment and (more directly) on the need to be ready.

            Again, like last week, I have to point out that this is Jesus speaking about judgment and separation from God and hell.  It isn't pleasant.  It isn't what we want to think of Jesus saying.  It isn't, truthfully, the CORE of his message.  But it is part of the truth he came to teach us.  He would be unloving if he withheld from us the truth about our choices.

            Chapter 25 begins with the story of ten bridesmaids who, in the tradition of the day, are sitting around outside the house waiting for the wedding party to arrive.  Five of them are wise enough to bring along extra oil for their lamps and five are foolish and do not plan ahead.  The groom is delayed, the lamps burn out, and while the five foolish ones are off buying oil, they miss the groom's arrival and get locked out of the wedding banquet. 

            Back when Mike Tyson was in his prime, I heard about a guy who paid $50 to go to Knoxville and watch Tyson fight on pay-per-view.  After the under card fights, this guy went to use the restroom and when he came back and found that he had missed the fight, that Tyson had knocked his opponent out in 90 seconds.  It reminds me of this parable! 

            The five foolish bridesmaids represent those of us who want to put off God and salvation and discipleship till tomorrow, giving no thought about the fact that the bridegroom could return tonight or that the oil of this life might run out sooner than we expect.  That's why Jesus wraps up the parable by saying:  "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The parable of the talents is certainly among the five best-known in Scripture.  A master goes off on business, leaving 3 servants in charge of his money.  To one he gives five talents (a unit of measure, though of course the word makes us think of our abilities that we're supposed to manage for God), to another two, and to another 1 talent.  Two of those servants take a risk with their master's money and it pays off and they manage to double it.  But the foolish servant is the one who has been entrusted with the smallest amount of money .  He simply buries it, and when the master returns, he says:  “I was fearful of you, so  I hid your talent.  No one stole it, but I didn't use it either.  Here it is. 

And the master replies with this surprisingly harsh statement of judgment:  26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.  28 " 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'”

            Note that JESUS (who has a reputation as soft and non-judgmental) spoke these things.  And note that our actions or in-actions are what gets called out.  I realize that it is our heart that matters, and that we are saved by faith and not works, but we kid ourselves if we think our actions don't reveal our hearts, and tell of our faith. 

            Maybe these two parables raise lots of questions in your mind (and that's good, if they lead you to read and study more), but I use them today simply to give the context for the last section of Matthew 25 – vs. 31-46, the sheep and goats.  We sometimes call it a parable but it isn't a parable at all - the sheep and goats illustrate, but this isn't even a story - rather, a straightforward account of judgment.

            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."

            I said a moment ago that our actions and inaction reveal the state of our hearts and say something about who or what we believe in.  This account is a case in point. 

            Since last Sunday was April 15, I put a little comic in your bulletin showing the young man who donated the five loaves and two fish asking the disciples for a receipt for tax purposes.  When we talked about poverty and giving on Sunday night, Mark Laprise said that we should give and not ask for a receipt.  When I was studying for this sermon this week, I ran across a sermon outline of this passage (by Steve May) with three points:  Don't overlook small chances to do good.  Don't exclude anyone.  AND:  Don't ask for a receipt. 

            Steve May said (and I will hasten to say) that there isn't anything wrong with asking for a receipt, that he was speaking figuratively.  I just filled out my taxes last weekend, and I'm grateful for the receipts I had.  If you're loaded up with kids, you probably take the standard deduction and don't need a receipt, but if don't have many dependents then it is nice to itemize and save a few bucks, and unless you're among the super-wealthy you know that a tax deduction is only a consolation prize, not a motive for giving, and if you give a hundred dollars to World Vision or MHCC and get $5 off your taxes, well, you're heart better be in it.

            That said, I like that image of giving:  Don't ask for a receipt.  Don't ask:  “What's in this for me?”

            The goats (and of course it is unfair to goats and those who raise them that Jesus picks on them here :) ) were delighted to give if they thought it would benefit them.  “Hey, Lord, come on!  If we had known it was you...!  We saw some beggars and some prisoners and some strangers and some sick people.  We thought they were nobodies.  But you...you matter!  For you, we would have stopped the car or sent the check or donated the food or done the work.”

            In The Godfather, Don Corleone meets with a guy and agrees to do a favor for him, but on these terms:  "Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do me a service in return. Until that day, consider this just a gift..."   The goats want the same deal with Jesus when they serve him.  Do you? 

            But the sheep have a different attitude, and it's odd because they have a similar blindness as the goats.  “Lord, when DID we see you...when DID we help you?  We saw some beggars and some prisoners and some strangers and some sick people.  We didn't know them but because you're in us, shaping us, we helped them.  We couldn't do otherwise.”  But you all know the punchline, the point, the connection between Jesus and these folks who were starving...

            "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.'  Or:  Whatever you failed to do...

            This isn't hard to understand.  It's hard to remember.  Even when you are walking with Jesus, it just so happens that in this place and time, you are also immersed in a sea of luxury and indulgence and it is SO easy to forget that when you buy that new toy that will not satisfy, or you expand the amount of your income that goes to paying off a mortgage or paying taxes, making car payments...you are making a choice that limits the help you can give Jesus as he appears around this world in the distressing disguise of poverty or AIDS.

            I tell myself that, it's OK.  While it would be nice if I managed my money better so as to be more generous, the fact is that it's OK because I gave my heart to Jesus. 

            But that is exactly the question that is at issue here.  Did I?  And did I take it back?

            And notice that Jesus was just as severe in this section as he was in the previous parables.

            "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...Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

            But that isn't where is heart is for me or you.  That fire wasn't prepared for me by some God who can barely stand me but who will relent if I give some money to the poor; it was prepared for the devil and his angels, for those who choose in the end to wage war against God.  That isn't me.  It isn't you.  Here is his word for you...

            "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. 

            Since the creation of the world?  THIS is my rightful destiny, and yours.  THIS is our Father's will for us.  Why would I choose anything else?  Why would you? 

Morrison Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E. Race St.
Kingston, TN  37763   (865) 376-5205