PENTECOST 23, A, 2011

SCRIPTURES – Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24; 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Matt. 25:31-46

 

 had a dream last night that I had been called to a church in NJ. I was there, checking out the church and talking with the people, making judgments and deciding whether or not to take the call. And, while meeting with them, they were also making judgments about me. 

Now, I don’t have a call to another church, nor am I seeking one. It was just a dream. It was probably prompted by today’s Gospel reading, in which Jesus describes Judgment Day as a courtroom scene. He is the judge, awesome in His power and glory. Testimony is presented – by Him, and the verdict is pronounced: heaven, “the king-dom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” or hell, “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Central to Christ’s verdict is how we live our lives, what we do or don’t do. Our works are the testimony that will be proclaimed on Judgment Day. What we do is of eternal importance – Jesus makes this very clear. 

Pay close attention to Christ’s words this day! For, you will stand before Him.

 

JESUS WILL JUDGE YOU ON THE BASIS OF YOUR WORKS

 

Does this surprise you?  Then listen closely, and take this to heart. What you do, how you live your life, is of eternal importance. God will not overlook our deeds, but will proclaim them in the Judgment. Let us therefore seek to please God in all we do! And, as Jesus says that those who go to hell are sentenced there because of the good they did not do, let us not tire of serving God. Where do we begin? With learning, and then following, His Commandments. Luther points out that the Ten Commandments are

“a summary of divine teaching on what we are to do to make our whole life pleasing to God. They are the true fountain from which all good works must spring, the true channel through which all good works must flow. Apart from these Ten Commandments no deed, no conduct can be good or pleasing to God, no matter how great or precious it may be in the eyes of the world.”  (Large Catechism)

Rejoice in these Commandments; do not refuse to do what God says is right and good; be afraid to break them, lest you merit hell.

 

And yet, is your committing yourself this day to following God’s Commandments more fully going to result in overcoming sinful works and doing only good works? If only it were this easy. In his book, The Hammer of God, Bishop Bo Giertz tells the story of a young pastor who is called to the deathbed of Franz, one of his parishioners. Franz was known by all to be a godly man. He always spoke quietly and with mature under-standing about spiritual matters. When the pastor arrived, Franz was unconscious. Even so, he suddenly, he began crying out: swearing; threatening revenge for past wrongs; recalling drunken parties from his youth; judging the faith of others and calling them less sincere than himself. The pastor was shocked and thought to himself:

“As long as Franz is conscious he still has faith. This seems quite evident. But beneath the thin shell of his conscious faith this evil still dwells within his heart.”

Was Franz truly a believer? Had he truly served God? The pastor wondered. How could Franz be righteous, if all this was still in his heart?

 

Oh, what sins dwell within our heart!

Ø  Memories of past sins, youthful indiscretions. Do they still bring you pleasure when you remember them?

Ø  Judgments of others. We all do this: “Just look at him. Can you believe how heavy he is?”

God sees our hearts. Unless your heart is good, no works of yours will be good. They will only be a veneer, shielding from the eyes of others – and even yourself – what cannot be hidden from God. Will you be saved by your works? No, for our hearts condemn us. How, then, can we be judged on the basis of our works and ever hope to be judged as worthy of eternal life in heaven?

 

Look again at this description of Judgment Day that Jesus gives us. Notice that He is the center of this courtroom scene. He is not only the Judge, the One who pronounces the sentence. He is also the central figure in the works that are judged. The works of the sheep, the righteous, were done unto Christ. The goats, the unrighteous, have no works to praise because they ignored Christ. For this reason they are condemned to hell. In the Judgment, as in all things, Christ, not you, is at the center. This is our hope and our salvation.

 

“Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath,” says 1 Thessalonians 1:10. How does He rescue us? He rescues us in three ways.

 

First, Jesus came to take your sinful works from you and make them His own. “All we, like sheep, have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” the Bible says. Just as a father is responsible for the things his child breaks in a store, so Jesus took responsibility for your sinful works – all of them. He was then put to death that they might be put to death. Now, the dead don’t speak, do they? Their mouths are silent. Even so, the sins of those who trust in Christ’s death for them are silent. God no longer hears the voice of their sins. Ps. 130 says, “If You, Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness.” In other words, God keeps no record of our sins. Their voice will be silent at the Judgment, as we see in our Gospel lesson. Do the sheep have any sinful works? There are none. Jesus bore them all and rescued His sheep from them.

 

Secondly, Jesus rescues us by His own life of good works. Notice that the good works that Jesus mentions are things that He Himself did:

Ø  “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” – did not Jesus miraculously feed the 5,000? He proclaims Himself to be the true Bread that comes down from heaven to feed us all.

Ø  “I was a stranger and you invited me in” – did not Jesus welcome all to Him, even the Gentiles, whom the religious Jews avoided?

Ø  “I was sick and you looked after me” – we could all recite stories of the many healings that Jesus performed.

I could go on and on. The point to remember and rejoice in is that, as 1 Corinthians 15 says, Jesus is the firstfruits. He is the seed from which all other plants grow. His works are yours and bring forth your works; through faith we receive His righteousness. Jesus rescues us with His life of good works.

 

Finally, Christ rescues us from the coming wrath by coming to us in humility now and exalting our works with His own presence.

Ø  “you gave me something to eat;

Ø  I was a stranger and you invited me in;

Ø  you clothed me;

Ø  I was sick and you looked after me.”

“Lord, when did we do this?” we rightly ask. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Think of it: the whole world is full of Christ! He is not up in heaven, waiting for the alarm to go off and announce that it is time for Him to return. He is among you, being served in those you serve, and being served in such simple ways. Do not think that in order to do works that are great enough to please God you have to do something extraordinary. Are not the hungry in your own house? As you faithfully prepare a meal, you are doing the work which Christ has given you to do. You are serving Christ Himself. Too often, when we think of good works, we think of great and heroic deeds of faith, such as fasting and spending hours in prayer. The good works God gives you to do are in your own house and in your daily work. Your whole life is holy to God, and everything you do in faith pleases Him and serves Christ Himself.

 

This will all be seen when Christ comes again and brings us into the Judgment. Yes, it is true: Jesus will judge you on the basis of your works. But, do not fear! Trust in Christ, and claim His works as your own. They will be the works that will be remembered and celebrated at the Judgment.