An Inheritance of Compassion

Cody Hale

Matthew • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

Matthew 25:31–46

Last Day

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Introduction

Our national conscience has been shaped and seared to take refuge in the judgement of God. We have trained ourselves, and in fact deceived ourselves, into believing that there is relief to be found in the thought of God's judgement. "Only God can judge me" has become our rally cry as we seek to justify whatever corrupt desires and self-serving actions we want to justify. "Judge not, lest you be judged" has become our most quoted verse in replacement of . But, brothers and sisters, Jesus assures us that on that Day there will be no relief found at the thought of his awesome judgement. On that day, every motive, every attitude, every action, every reaction, every idle word, every justified sin, every second of indifference to God and his Kingdom will all be totally exposed in the blazing light of God's holiness. On that Day, there will be no comfort to be found in the face of God's relentless holiness, unless you are covered in his Son's righteousness.

He will separate us. He will declare finally all who have been with him on the narrow and difficult path and all who have continued along the wide and easy path. He will announce whether you are his family or his enemy, his disciple or his opposition. On that day, the only thing that will matter is that he says to you, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father." Turn with me this morning to the very end of and the end of the Olivet Discourse, where we will see Jesus explaining this judgement to his disciples.

Our national conscience has been shaped and seared so that it is trained to take refuge in the judgement of God. We have trained ourselves, and in fact deceived ourselves, into believing that there is relief to be found in the thought of God's judgement. "Only God can judge me" has become our rally cry as we seek to justify whatever corrupt desires and self-serving actions we want to justify. "Judge not, lest you be judged" has become our most quoted verse in replacement of . But, brothers and sisters, Jesus assures us that on that Day there will be no relief found at the thought of his awesome judgement. Proverb 17:15 says that it is an abomination to justify the wicked. And, on that day, every motive, every attitude, every action, every reaction, every idle word, every justified sin, every second of indifference to God and his Kingdom will all be totally exposed in the blazing light of God's holiness. On that Day, there will be no comfort to be found in the face of God's relentless holiness, unless you are covered in his Son's righteousness.

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The Vision Fulfilled…Finally

"When.....then...." It's going to feel like He's never coming, but He is. Jesus has went to great lengths to make clear that his return is going to take a long time. For the disciples, this meant that it would be a delay in their vindication and a delay in their ultimate triumph in Christ. It would be a long time before they would know the joy of sitting around Jesus' throne, watching the nations come under his rule. They would know martyrdom before they knew glory. They would know suffering before they knew triumph.

But, his day will come. It will come. This is Christ's assurance to his disciples. One day, his long delay will finally come to a close and when it does, Jesus in his blazing glory, Jesus in his lethal holiness, Jesus in his blinding purity, Jesus in his fearsome majesty will descend with legions of heaven's warriors coming to judge the earth. Every account in the Bible we have of a person seeing an angel leads that person to tremble in terror at their sight. And, on that day, the entire sky will fill with so many of them that they overwhelm the sun from one end of the earth to the other. And, then! Then, Jesus will take the throne that only He is glorious enough to sit upon. In fulfillment of God's promise, He will descend to the throne of David upon which He will reign forever over all peoples and all worlds and all dominions. And, the vision that the disciples have long had of Jesus reigning as King, the vision that they've had of him holding the key to military dominance, the vision that they've had of returning Israel to her glory will be finally and fully realized with far greater wonder and power than they could have ever realized. Jesus will not be returning the former Jerusalem and the former Israel to her former glory. Jesus will be coming as the true Israel himself through whom every nation will be blessed. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and reign from a new Jerusalem. Every promise will be fulfilled, and every assurance will be proven true.

“the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him” But, his day will come. It will come. This is Christ's assurance to his disciples. One day, his long delay will finally come to a close and when it does, Jesus in his blazing glory, Jesus in his lethal holiness, Jesus in his blinding purity, Jesus in his fearsome majesty will descend with legions of heaven's warriors coming to judge the earth. Every account in the Bible we have of a person seeing an angel leads that person to tremble in terror at their sight. And, on that day, the entire sky will fill with so many of them that they overwhelm the sun from one end of the earth to the other. And, then! Then, Jesus will take the throne that only He is glorious enough to sit upon. In fulfillment of God's promise, He will descend to the throne of David upon which He will reign forever over all peoples and all worlds and all dominions. And, the vision that the disciples have long had of Jesus reigning as King, the vision that they've had of him holding the key to military dominance, the vision that they've had of returning Israel to her glory will be finally and fully realized with far greater wonder and power than they could have ever realized. Jesus will not be returning the former Jerusalem and the former Israel to her former glory. Jesus will be coming as the true Israel himself through whom every nation will be blessed. He will create a new heaven and a new earth and reign from a new Jerusalem. Every promise will be fulfilled, and every assurance will be proven true.

Your Future is Certain

APPLICATION: It feels like He isn't coming, doesn't it? Generation comes and generation goes, and we still don't see him. But, you know what? For thousands of years, God's people had awaited their Messiah. They had waited for the seed of Abraham that would bless the world. Generation would come and generation would go, and the Messiah didn't come. It felt like He would never be and that He would never come. They lived under terrible kings, experienced exile in godless countries, and were conquered by many foes. The people of God knew despair and famine and fear far before they knew their Messiah, but then the virgin had a Son. Then, God's promises were fulfilled and his assurances were proven true. Then, having followed him for 3.5 years, Jesus' disciples watched as He was betrayed by one of them. They were there in the Garden when Jesus was arrested by the soldiers and brought before the rioting crowd, demanding his slaughter. And from the cross, as Jesus declared that it was finished, it appeared that all hope of a Messianic reign had come to a close. It appeared the man that they believed they would follow to the throne would lead them instead to an early and bloody grave. But then, Sunday came. Sunday came, and the stone was rolled away. Jesus had promised that He would die and be in the belly of the earth, and on Sunday every promise was fulfilled and all of his assurances were proven true. And so, brothers and sisters, I know that you look at your circumstances and you look at your suffering and your look at your health and you look at your family, and you find your heart doubting and you find your mind wondering whether Christ will ever return. But, brothers and sisters, the Christ who was born and the Christ who was raised is the Christ you can trust to return! You're going to know suffering before you know triumph, and you're going to know pain before you know glory. But, you will know triumph, and you will know glory because Christ will return. Oh, but brothers and sisters, your future is certain! It is is assured! The Christ who was born and the Christ who was raised can be trusted when He says He'll return.

The Shepherd and his Flock

"before him will be gathered all nations" Around Jesus' glorious throne, He will be surrounded by his fearsome angels. And, before them, all people from all corners of the earth will be gathered together. For some, some it will be their greatest day as they stand before a Lord they've never seen but have long known. With eagerness and anticipation, they will await the first time that they will lock eyes with their King and to hear his kindness directly from his own lips. For others, it will be their worst day as they realize the full gravity of a true judgement of every action, attitude, and thought. You can imagine all of the cries and all of the concerns coming from every side in dialects and accents and languages you don't know.

"separate one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats" Jesus draws us a picture of a Shepherd standing before his flock for a separation. In the Middle East, sheep and goats are often kept together in the same pasture during the day. But, at night, because the goats do not have the wool coat, they will get too cold, and so the Shepherd will separate them, allowing the sheep to remain, and he will take the goats to a warmer place. And, the types of goats and sheep that they have there are almost indistinguishable to the untrained eye. They look like the same types of animals, unless you're the shepherd with a trained eye who knows his flock. And, this is the picture of what it will be on the Last Day. All the peoples of the earth will be gathered together before our returning King. To the naked eye, all men and women, boys and girls look the same, but our Shepherd knows his flock. And so, there will be a separation. There will be a division drawn among the people. Those unknown will be cast into utter darkness where they will remember their rejection of the shepherd forever, and those known will be brought to the King's table to enjoy his presence and his inheritance forever. There will be people of all types and all ages there that day. There will be teenagers who were on their to school or to practice, and there will be children who were watching Disney Junior. There will be teachers from America and farmers from China and pastors from Africa. There will be dads who were on their way to work and husbands who were headed toward their mistress. There will be moms that were changing diapers and wives who don't know if they'll make it another day. Some will be found at their retirement party and others at their graduations. Certainly, on that Day, everyone will remember that none of us are promised old age or a promising career or a long a retirement. None of us are even promised to make it to the grave. But, with all of the different people from different places of different ages, there will only be two types of people really there that day: sheep or goat, lost or saved, known or unknown, welcomed or condemned.

Sheep or Goats?

“And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left” And so, Jesus gives us a description of those who are sheep and those who are goats, those who are his children and those who are his enemies, those who are saved and those who are condemned. And, in both cases Jesus starts off by talking about who they are. He starts by talking about their identity.

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father” He describes the sheep first, and who does He say that they are? He says that they are those who have been blessed by the Father. These are words of grace! The people of God did not refer to God as Father in the OT. In fact, they didn’t even speak the covenant name of YHWH out loud due to awesome reverence for him. But, Jesus did, and now the church does! Why? In Christ, you have been adopted into the household of God. In Christ, you receive the inheritance of the King! How incredible is the word inherit here? An inheritance is what you receive because of who your Father is. An inheritance is what you receive because of who your family is. You don't earn an inheritance. You don't work for an inheritance. You don't choose an inheritance. You receive what is yours only because of who your Father is and who your family is. If you're hope is to come into the Kingdom of heaven because of what you've done or haven't done, if you're hope is to come into the Kingdom of heaven because what you're going to do, you don't yet understand the Kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of heaven is inherited. The King earned it. The King received it. And now, to those who are the children of his Father, He gives it freely.

“Depart from me, you cursed” But, the goats are described differently, aren’t they? Where the sheep are called blessed, the goats are called cursed. For the sheep the Kingdom has been prepared for them, but for the goats, for the condemned, they will find themselves in the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, remember that the goats and the sheep look very similar. They are hard to tell a part. But, one has an inheritance and one doesn’t. One is received and the other is rejected. One is blessed and the other is cursed. One inherits life and the other inherits death.

How Can They Be Separated?

“I was hungry and you gave me (no) food” So, the question arises as to how the two can be separated. How can they be distinguished one from the other? This is where Jesus moves from describing who they are to describing what they do. Jesus tells us that when He returns it will be clear who his flock is because of what they will be found doing. And, what’s interesting here is how He chooses to explain it. He says that those who are his sheep will be found ministering to those who are in his church. Did you catch that? He says that those who are sheep are found meeting the needs of the least of the ‘brothers.’ The least of those who are in his church. That is, the difference between the saved and the lost, the blessed and the cursed, the adopted and condemned will be made clear by how they care for Christ’s church. And, this is a radical message for 21st century Christianity that says you can have Jesus and avoid the church; you can have salvation and avoid service; you can have redemption from your mess without having to show redemption to others in their mess. We are more prone to excuse ourselves from God’s church than we are to love them sacrificially, and Jesus explains this as being the key marker as to whether a man or woman, a teenager, or a professing child is saved or not.

Jesus tells us that when He returns it will be clear who his flock is because of what they will be found doing.

How is this not works salvation? How is it not works for Jesus to say that those found in the judgement caring for the downtrodden and the outcast and the unfortunate will be welcomed into the Kingdom and those who are found ignoring them and neglecting them will be condemned forever? How is it not works salvation for Jesus to say that those who are found doing the good works of the Kingdom? It's because what you do reveals who you are. You do what you do because you are who you are. This has been the teaching of Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. If you'll remember back all the way to and the sermon on the mount, you find almost the exact same formula that Jesus gives here, only expanded. In , Jesus begins with the Beatitudes and a word of blessing. He has all of these blessing statements of "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the pure in heart..." And, what does He say about them? He says that they will inherit the Kingdom. That is, those who are blessed by God will be blessed by him because of who they are. They will be blessed by him because of the condition of their spirit and their heart, the immaterial parts of them. And, what will be their end? They will inherit God's Kingdom. Is that not exactly what He's saying here? He starts by saying that those who are sheep have been blessed by his Father and adopted into his family. They've had an identity change. And, what's the result? They inherit the Kingdom. Then, in , Jesus talks about the way a disciple of his must view sin and their enemies and their money and their anxiety and their prayers to the Father. That is, He talks with them about what they are to do. Disciples must do! They must hate their sin and love their enemies and give generously and live graciously. They must! He says that if you allow one member of your body to cause you to sin it will send you to hell! Again, that's what we see here, isn't it? If you're found doing all of these things when Jesus returns, you will be separated as one of his sheep to inherit his Kingdom forever. If you're found neglecting all of these things, then you will be separated as a goat and condemned. Jesus says at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that those who hear his words and do them will stand forever, but those who hear them and ignore them will be destroyed. How is this not works salvation? How is this not being saved by the things that you do? Your works reveal who you are; they don't change who you are. Cheetahs don't run 55 MPH so that they can be called a cheetah. They run 55 MPH because they are cheetahs. Jesus isn't saying you will be saved by your works on the Last Day. He is saying that only his true disciples, the Father's true children will be blessed, and the Father's true sons and true daughters will look like his Son, Jesus. Their identity is verified because they already look like him.

How is this not works salvation? How is it not works for Jesus to say that those found in the judgement caring for the downtrodden and the outcast and the unfortunate will be welcomed into the Kingdom and those who are found ignoring them and neglecting them will be condemned forever? How is it not works salvation for Jesus to say that those who are found doing the good works of the Kingdom? It's because what you do reveals who you are. You do what you do because you are who you are. This has been the teaching of Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. If you'll remember back all the way to and the sermon on the mount, you find almost the exact same formula that Jesus gives here, only expanded. In , Jesus begins with the Beatitudes and a word of blessing. He has all of these blessing statements of "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the pure in heart..." And, what does He say about them? He says that they will inherit the Kingdom. That is, those who are blessed by God will be blessed by him because of who they are. They will be blessed by him because of the condition of their spirit and their heart, the immaterial parts of them. And, what will be their end? They will inherit God's Kingdom. Is that not exactly what He's saying here? He starts by saying that those who are sheep have been blessed by his Father and adopted into his family. They've had an identity change. And, what's the result? They inherit the Kingdom. Then, in , Jesus talks about the way a disciple of his must view sin and their enemies and their money and their anxiety and their prayers to the Father. That is, He talks with them about what they are to do. Disciples must do! They must hate their sin and love their enemies and give generously and live graciously. They must! He says that if you allow one member of your body to cause you to sin it will send you to hell! Again, that's what we see here, isn't it? If you're found doing all of these things when Jesus returns, you will be separated as one of his sheep to inherit his Kingdom forever. If you're found neglecting all of these things, then you will be separated as a goat and condemned. Jesus says at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that those who hear his words and do them will stand forever, but those who hear them and ignore them will be destroyed. How is this not works salvation? How is this not being saved by the things that you do? Your works reveal who you are; they don't change who you are. You do what you do because you are who you are. Apple trees don't produce apples so that they can become an apple tree. They produce apples because they are apple trees. Cheetahs don't run 55 MPH so that they can be called a cheetah. They run 55 MPH because they are cheetahs. Jesus isn't saying you will be saved by your works on the Last Day. He is saying that only his true disciples, the Father's true children will be blessed, and the Father's true sons and true daughters will look like his Son, Jesus. As Jesus taught in , those who 'do' the will of his Father are his mother and brothers and sisters. Their identity is verified because they already look like him.Application: What does your life and your works and your attitudes say about who you are? As we await Jesus' return, are you spending your life serving Christ's Kingdom and advancing Christ's glory, or are you spending your life serving yourself and advancing your family's Name? Does your life mark you as a sheep or as a goat?

The Two Commandments Harmonized

"as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me." There's a connection that Jesus makes here that is as important as life and death for us to understand. There's a connection that Jesus makes that is the difference between counterfeit cultural Christianity and the real thing. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, the saved from the lost based upon how He finds them caring for the least in the church. But, it's the connection that Jesus makes that everyone finds so shocking on the Last Day and that should shock us this morning. Jesus starts by saying, "I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was in need, and you had compassion." And then, hearing their confusion (it’s apparent they weren’t trying to earn salvation!) because they'd never laid eyes on him, He says, "When you cared for those in the orphanages, when you cared for those needing to be adopted, when you fostered the children, when you fed the homeless man, when you comforted the broken-hearted mother, you were loving me, too."

"as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me." There's a connection that Jesus makes here that is as important as life and death for us to understand. There's a connection that Jesus makes that is the difference between counterfeit cultural Christianity and the real thing. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, the saved from the lost based upon how He finds them caring for the least in the church. But, it's the connection that Jesus makes that everyone finds so shocking on the Last Day and that should shock us this morning. Jesus starts by saying, "I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was in need, and you had compassion." And then, hearing their confusion because they'd never laid eyes on him, He says, "When you cared for those in the orphanages, when you cared for those needing to be adopted, when you fostered the children, when you fed the homeless man, when you comforted the broken-hearted mother, you were loving me, too."

Do you see the connection? Jesus connects the two greatest commandments so directly that you cannot have the one without the other. Jesus connects loving God and loving your neighbor so closely that it is impossible to say that you love God if you are not tangibly and compassionately loving your neighbor as yourself. The love that Jesus' disciples have for Jesus can only be considered authentic when it is loving others the same way that Jesus did. Jesus didn't pass by the children; He called them over to him. Jesus didn't ignore the woman at the well or allow the woman with the issue of blood to fade anonymously into the crowd; He sought them out and met their needs, physically and spiritually. Jesus didn't find himself too preoccupied to care for the lepers or the lame. They were not inconveniences or interruptions to him. They were opportunities for him to demonstrate his love for the Father by pouring out his Father's love on others. Jesus came because God so loved the world, and brothers and sisters, for the same reason that Jesus was sent, the church is left. "God so loved the world that He gave his only Church that they might lead the world to eternal life." Jesus has left his church in the midst of this brokenness awaiting his return because God loves the world, and He desires more of the world to be saved and more of the world to know his love and more of the world to know his redemption. And, how will the world know who we are and whose we are and what we're about? By how we love one another. So, you cannot separate your love of God from your compassion and care for others. They are locked together.

APPLICATION: Here's the gut-check question that Jesus is presenting to us this morning: Do you want to know whether or not you love God? How well do you love your brothers and sisters in the church? Older or younger, different countries and colors, richer or poorer, wife/husband/kids, pastors, broken-hearted

APPLICATION: Here's the gut-check question that Jesus is presenting to us this morning: Do you want to know whether or not you love God? How well do you love your brothers and sisters in the church?

Brothers and sisters, this is the difference between life and death. This is the difference between authentic, Spirit-filled Christianity and a powerless, self-deceiving counterfeit. Do you want to know whether or not you love God? How well do you love those who are easiest to forget?

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