2nd
Last Sunday of the Church Year, Nov 17th, A + D 2013
St.
John and Trinity Lutheran Churches, Fairview and Sidney, Montana
The
Cause of Generosity, in the End
Matthew
25:31-46, 2 Peter 3:1-14, Daniel 7:9-14
Why might I send money to help the victims
of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines?
One of the headlines I saw concerning
Typhoon Haiyan was a quote from a survivor who said: “I thought the world was coming to an
end.” This suffering woman’s interpretation
is not far off from the truth, since Jesus promised that natural disasters
would come before the End, the beginning of the birth pangs, He called them,
the beginnings of the End, but not the End itself. But if the victim’s of Typhoon Haiyan, or if
we, watching the devastation from afar, turn our thoughts for a moment to that
Day when God the Father will blow the final whistle and send Jesus to end this
age, well that’s good. That’s the same
thing our readings do every year, in these last couple weeks of the Church
Year. On this second to the last Sunday
in the Church Year, Jesus in our Gospel describes the Last Day, and the Final
Judgment, in terms of blessed sheep on His right, and cursed goats on His left. Our Lord then focuses specifically on the
question of serving the poor, the hurting, and the downtrodden. So, in light of what Jesus says this morning,
why might I send money to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan?
Lord willing, I won’t be taken in by one
of the devil’s most common twisting of Scripture, a twisting often built on a hasty reading of the Sheep and the
Goats. You and I should not fall into
thinking that if we love our neighbor, then, because of our good deeds, God
will love us, giving us an inheritance in heaven. The devil wants me to think this, so he can
suck me down into his whirlpool of doubt.
So, if I love others, feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, visiting
the sick and imprisoned, then the Father in heaven will bless
me? Great, but have I loved enough? What about when I still sin? What’s the exchange rate between my sins and
my good deeds? Do I always need to do
more and more? And did I love well
enough? How can I be sure I’ve earned
the Father’s love?
I can’t.
I could never know for sure if I’ve earned the Father’s love with my
good deeds, because I don’t and can’t live the perfect life that He commands,
that totally selfless life, the life of love toward God and love toward the
neighbor that Scripture teaches. I don’t
love that way, and I can’t begin to make up for all my sins with the puny good
works I might produce, since even my best works are still tinged with sin,
coming, as they do, from this sinner. If
I believe the devil’s lie, I will be tormented by doubt.
It would be a tragedy if I fell down
satan’s hole of doubt, because this is not what Jesus teaches us today. The good deeds Jesus describes are
evidence of being in the Father’s favor, just as a failure to do good is
evidence of standing outside God’s favor, in danger of
eternal fire. But please note that Jesus
does not say the blessed will be blessed with eternal life
because they do their good works. No,
indeed, Jesus first says they are
blessed, they are inheriting the kingdom prepared for them, from before the
foundation of the world. Their
blessedness has its cause in the action of God, a choice made long before God
ever created the world, long before any man, woman or child ever did a good
work.
Good works are commanded by God, and when
they are absent in my life I should take that as a warning that I’m drifting
away from the Lord. When I fail to do
good works, I need to repent, confess this sin of omission, and ask the Lord to
change me. But this passage does not
make good works a cause of salvation, and the rest of Scripture makes it clear
that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, not by works, so that none of us
can boast. We are saved apart from
works, saved by God, through the life
and work of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Salvation has to work this way, because God
demands perfect holiness, and try as I might, I cannot produce it. I must receive holiness from somewhere else,
from outside myself, from someOne else.
The man Jesus is the only Holy One, the only Sinless One, the only One
who could ever earn the Father’s love.
And good news, because the man Jesus is also God, He can, and does,
share His Holiness with His people.
That’s how we become His people.
We love, as John the Apostle writes,
because Christ first loved us, giving His life on the Cross so that our sins
not be held against us, and by giving us His Cross in our Baptism and in the
Supper, so that day by day we know, Jesus has saved us, by forgiving us all our
sins. Knowing this, we love, because He
first loved us. Our good works are
really His love flowing through us to others, nothing more, nothing less. So why might I help the Typhoon victims? Because the One who has helped me, the One
who has loved me unto death, and unto new life, is concerned for all hurting
people, and by my union with Him, His concerns are my concerns. Indeed, Christ offers us the privilege of
serving them, not to earn heaven, but because we know we have already inherited
heaven.
Yes indeed. Why might I send money to help the victims of
Typhoon Haiyan? Because I know the end
of the Story, and that sets me free.
Daniel saw the Son of Man in his vision, five centuries before Christ
was born in Bethlehem. I know that this
Son of Man approaching the Ancient of Days to be given dominion over a great,
countless multitude in the everlasting Kingdom of God, is none other than the
Son of Mary, who has died, and risen from the dead, thus setting His people
free from the bondage of sin. I know the
Son of Man whom Daniel saw was a prophetic vision of the Ascension into heaven
of the Risen Jesus, ascending to take His seat at the right hand of the eternal
throne of His Father, the Ancient of Days.
This plan of salvation, complete in the
will of God even before He created the heavens and the earth, is
guaranteed. The place of mankind in
God’s eternal presence is guaranteed, because the Man Jesus, who is also truly
and fully God, has gone ahead to prepare a place for all who trust in Him.
And so, knowing the end of the Story, you
and I need not fear going out on a limb to help someone in need. We need not fear helping a seemingly helpless
cause, because the very Son of God became helpless, dying on a Roman cross, so
that He could share His eternal power with His people. We need not fear that our giving will cause
us to suffer want and need, because the King of Heaven gave up His rightful
place in glory, and became needy, thirsting and wanting and lacking good things
throughout His earthly life, as He
worked to prepare endless heavenly treasures for all nations. The Creator of every good thing became poor,
so that I can be eternally rich. That’s
enough to make me generous.
The end of the Church Year readings, along
with disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, will cause us to consider the End. That’s good, because it’s important. In the last week before going to His Cross,
Jesus taught mostly about the End Times.
So what does all this End Time teaching mean, for your life? It means you need not fear, even though
surely the Bible’s description of the End is frightful, roaring fires burning
up all the created universe. Peter
speaks of how the Lord will end this world with fire, a frightening warning to
sinners everywhere not to just sit, satisfied in your sins. Repent, turn away from your sins, before the
End comes upon you like a thief in the night.
Repent, and remember this Good News:
Just as God created the world out of water, and through water, by His
Word, and just as God used water in the Flood to destroy evil, so also, the
baptized need not fear the fire of the end.
For through the Water and the Word of our Baptisms, God has already made
us part of the new creation, heirs by faith of the new heavens and new earth,
that Jesus will bring us into, when He returns.
End times talk should never make us think
we must get busy doing good, or else.
This type of End Times teaching is false, no matter where you hear it
from. The End will be fearful, but
nevertheless, Jesus teaches His people to rejoice, to lift up your heads and
pray, “Come Lord Jesus, come,” because the End is good news for all who abide
in Christ.
This abiding, this trusting and resting in
Jesus, is a gift He gives to you and me by the forgiveness of all our
sins. As you consider the End, focus on
Jesus, who has conquered your sin and death.
Fix your eyes on Jesus, and He will give you a confident joy in God’s
limitless blessings, joy that will overflow to your neighbor freely, causing
you love the needy, from the love you have received in Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus, and you will receive
a confident knowledge. You will be made
ready to give the reason for your hope, ready to give the good answer to anyone
who might ask why the End does not frighten you. You can tell them because you know your
future, stored up in heaven for you, by Jesus, your Savior, and theirs.
Come
Lord Jesus, come, Amen.
Thank You for this encouraging message.
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