Matthew 25:31-46 * November 9, 2008 * Last
Judgment Sunday * Pastor Leyrer
Dear Friends in Christ,
You may not be familiar with the word “precognition,” but you know what it means because it’s the basis for many a book and movie and short story. A loose, literal translation would be “knowing before hand,” and it’s the literary device where a person in the present is able to see what could lie ahead of them in the future – which often results in that person then making some radical changes.
Think, for example, of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. He didn’t make any changes in his life until the Spirit of Christmas-Yet-to-Come showed him how his life would have ended up without any alterations. He didn’t like what he saw in the future, so he made changes in the present.
Today we are observing the second of the last four Sundays of the Church Year. We call it the season of End Times. Each of the four Sundays has a particular theme and emphasis. As mentioned a number of times already in this service, the emphasis for today is on the Last Judgment. Which makes today perhaps the most sobering, thought provoking and reflective Sunday of the Church Year.
Our text for this occasion is not a story or a literary device. But there are some elements of precognition here. Today Jesus takes us to the very throne room of God and allows us to get a glimpse of what will be. And what will be is both comforting and disturbing. Consequently, it is hard to leave this text without being impacted in one way or another.
Most of us have heard that the three R’s of a basic education are reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. This morning we’d like to talk about
THREE
R’S REGARDING THE LAST JUDGMENT
1. Realities 2.
Remembrances 3. Resolutions
The time: Tuesday
afternoon of Holy Week, the final week of Jesus earthly ministry. It’s been a heavy day of teaching in
The particular questions the disciples ask and Jesus responds to all revolve around the general subject of the end times. That’s why Bible scholars also refer to these words of Jesus as an “eschatological discourse.” “Eschatology” is a big Greek word for the teachings of Jesus on the end times; on that which is yet to come.
Today’s text is a part of what Jesus originally had to say to His disciples. You heard it read in its entirety from the lectern a few minutes ago. We’ll highlight certain portions again as we dissect it according to the three R’s we just mentioned…
"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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
After judgment has been dispensed, Jesus concludes: "Then they (those not aligned with Jesus) will go away to eternal punishment, but
the righteous to eternal life."
There are two striking realities within these words that are important for us to understand. The first is the reality that Jesus is going to come again. If we equate the world as we know it to a book, it has a final chapter. The world as we know it will not slowly slip away but will come to a decisive conclusion, Jesus says, “when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him.” When that day will come we don’t know. That this day will come, we do know.
The second reality drawn from Jesus’ words is that there is a heaven and there is a hell. Perhaps we should spend a minute or two talking about this.
Believing in heaven doesn’t cause too many problems; however the same can’t be said about hell. Ask any minister how many times the question has been put to him about how a loving God could possibly damn people to hell and he’ll tell you he quit counting a long time ago. Many people – including many Christians – find the idea of hell to be difficult to digest. They contend it is terribly inconsistent with the concept of a loving and caring God. As a result, in many popular and theological circles hell has been dismissed as a scare tactic the church devised in the dark ages to keep people in line.
(Sidebar: It is interesting to note that God rarely gets maligned or questioned for being overly good or gracious or kind or forgiving. The idea of a benevolent God who allows everyone to do what they want and showers them with blessings regardless of where they stand in relationship to Him is an equally “unjust” understanding of God but doesn’t seem to be nearly as offensive. It is the suggestion that God has some standards of justice and that creatures actually answer to their Creator that people find most bothersome.)
The simple fact confronting us in our text is this: hell is a reality. How do we know? Because we consider the speaker. 2000 years ago Jesus Christ rose from the dead. His resurrection validated that He was who He said He was – the divine, all powerful Son of God, who Himself is God. So we ought to listen to what He has to say. And there is no one in the New Testament who speaks more on the subject of Hell than Jesus.
And the reason why He addresses it is not because He takes any satisfaction in sending people there. The Bible tells us just the opposite. The reason why Jesus came was to rescue people from going there. That’s why He took on our flesh and blood. He became one of us in order to keep and uphold all of God’s standards and then suffer the punishment that disobedience to them rightfully deserves.
All this He did as the substitute for mankind. The result is that those who believe in Him as their God-sent Savior and Redeemer are now clothed in His perfection and righteousness before God. Practically speaking, hell isn’t in the picture anymore for the believer. Only heaven is.
Which leads us to the second R of the Last Judgment: Remembrance. Did you notice what Jesus says He will remember about those who trust in Him as their Savior when He comes on the Last Day? Before we consider that, let’s flip that around. Did you notice what Jesus forgets about His children as they appear before His throne on the Last Day?
There is no mention of our sins, because those have all been forgiven and forgotten. When Jesus comes again He’s not coming with a thick file or lengthy computer print out of all the bad things we’ve done. He will have no remembrance of them.
The only things He will remember about us is how out of love we lived our
lives to His glory and honor and what we as His Children did in His name – even
when we may not have remembered them ourselves!
That’s the gist of what’s He talking about in that back and forth
dialogue: "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. 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, 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.'
"Then the righteous will answer
him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you
something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to
visit you?'
"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.'
I don’t think we do, but let’s be sure we don’t misunderstand this. Jesus does not give heaven to us a reward for our works. Eternal life is a gift of God which is given to us through the work of Jesus Christ. Faith is the hand that grabs hold of this gift. We are saved through faith in Christ.
But when we understand the nature and depth of this gift, life takes on new meaning and purpose. Writing to the Philippians the Apostle Paul made this simple straightforward statement: “For me to live is Christ.” That is the sentiment and desire of every Christian.
Anything we do for Christ – such as the things enumerated by Jesus in our text – is simply the outward evidence of an inward faith. Living for our Lord is satisfying enough on its own. But here Jesus gives us this additional information: He will remember the things we did for Him.
This takes us to the final R of Last Judgment: Resolution. Think again of what we’ve just been talking about. Roll it around in your mind just a bit and this is the conclusion we come to: We can live our lives in a way that Jesus will actually find memorable.
How amazing is that? God forgets our sins but takes note of the lives of His children. And on the Day of Judgment He will honor us by mentioning the things we did to honor Him.
What impact does this have on us? Each of us has to consider this according to where we are in life and in what position the Lord has put us and in the context of our own unique situation. But generally speaking, does it not move us to resolution; to increasingly and gratefully order our lives around Paul’s motto: “For me to live is Christ”?
Let us consider one practical example. Within the next couple of weeks every
member of
Final thoughts: Have you ever assessed a present day situation you find yourself in and then thought to yourself (or say out loud to someone): “If I knew then what I know now I might have gone about things a little differently”? I would imagine we’ve all expressed that sentiment. It’s the desire to have a little “precognition.” If we knew the future, we could make adjustments in the present.
Today on this Last Judgment Sunday we are told the future. We know what’s coming. Answers have been given us. There is only question left, and it’s a personal one: what will I do with this information?
God grant each of us the grace and wisdom to answer it wisely. Amen.