PROPER 29, A – November 23, 2008

SCRIPTURES – Ps. 39; Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24; 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Matt. 25:31-46

   
I’ve done lots of funerals over the years, and I’ve been to many a funeral home for wakes. It’s interesting listening to what people say about the deceased. But, you know something? It really doesn’t matter what anyone will say about you after you die. It does not matter if monuments are built in your honor. Only one person’s opinion matters when it comes to what happens to you after you die. What will Jesus say about you?

 “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Christ is the giver of life. When He comes again from heaven, shining in all of His glory, all the dead will be raised. You will be whole again, conscious and aware, a living person with a living body. And then, you, along with everyone who has ever lived, will be brought to stand before the almighty and holy Son of God. He will speak about you and how you lived your life, and what He says will determine how and where you will live your life from that point on and forever. “I was hungry and you… I was thirsty and you… I was a stranger and you… I was naked and you… I was sick and you… I was in prison and you…” What? Which way will Christ end these sentences when He speaks to you? What will He say concerning how you lived your life on this earth? What He says will determine whether you enter into eternal life in heaven, or are sent away from Him into eternal punishment in the fire of hell with the devil and his angels.

Are you surprised that Christ’s judgment of you will be based on what you did or did not do in this life, on how you lived your life? Why? Does not what we do reveal who we are? Perhaps you’re thinking, “But I thought we are saved by faith alone. This is what the Lutheran Church teaches!” Yes; but faith is never alone. Does not what you fervently believe shape and direct what you do? Does not love for others – your spouse, or children, or parents – lead you to gladly do things which will help and please them? If it does not, then you don’t truly love them. No, you love yourself and serve yourself.

Do you love God? Do you love Jesus as the true God and your Savior? Do you believe in Him with all your heart? Do you believe that you will stand before Him one day to receive His judgment on how you lived your life? If so, then you had better be living for Him now. You had better be honoring Him with what you do and say. Strive to learn God’s commandments, for they are good and holy, a reflection of who God is, and reveal to us how to live good and holy lives. If you don’t really care to do so, if God and His Word concern you only on Sunday mornings, then you might as well go out and have as much fun as you can in this life. For, after you die, you will have awaiting you nothing but eternal punishment in hell, in the company of the devil and his angels and every foul thing that exists. You will never again have any happiness or peace. Only suffering and heartache await you, for you don’t really love God.

But, if you want to be happy and filled with joy forever, if you love your God and want more than anything else to please Him and live with Him in heaven, then live for Him now. Honor Christ with your life now, that your life might be your honor when you stand before Him.

This means, above all, look unto the One who lived for you and gave His life for you to take away your sins. Live in His love and joy and forgiveness now. For, Jesus, His life and His sacrificial death, are the focus of the final judgment.

“I was hungry and you… I was thirsty and you… I was a stranger and you… I was naked and you… I was sick and you… I was in prison and you…” Jesus is the focal point of the judgment. This is because He is the center, the focal point, of life here on this earth.

Jesus is not up in heaven and away from us, you see. He is here, among us in the weak and lowly and despised of this world. “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” Before He comes again in power and glory Jesus comes to you in lowliness and humility in your Christian brother or sister. If you want to touch Jesus, touch them! If they want to touch Jesus, they can touch you. How closely our Lord identifies Himself with us! We need to see this and believe this, lest we overestimate or underestimate our lives and what we do. We overestimate ourselves if we think that we serve so well and so completely that we deserve God’s eternal blessing because of our good efforts. Consider carefully the sheep, the people on His right that Jesus praises in the judgment. What credit did they take for what they did? “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?” They weren’t even aware of the good things they were doing! Let Christ direct what you do in this life and then honor you. Don’t ever trust in man’s honor, including your own good feelings about yourself. What we call great God despises, and what we despise as nothing He calls great. But, at the same time, don’t ever under-estimate yourself and what you do as a Christian. You may think that what you are and do are of little importance. Who cares? Who is affected by little old you? At the end the value of your life will be truly revealed. Jesus will honor you and your works by saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”

How amazing and wonderful that Jesus gives us the opportunity to serve Him! You show your love for Him and your likeness to Him as you humbly serve by:

q   Giving of your food and clothing to help those who are in need. This includes, by the way, your children, for are they not in need?

q   Caring for the sick and visiting them, especially bringing them the comfort of God’s Word and prayer;

q   Visiting those in prison in the way that you can, with your cards and letters;

You serve Christ in many such ways. We help and serve, not in order to gain anything, but simply because this is what our Lord did. This is what our Lord does, for it is He who is at work in you and through you. Don’t we say of a child who acts like his parents, “He’s a chip off the old block!” We are like Christ as we humbly serve, for He humbly served us all. Christ will acknowledge your service, for it is His work in you.

That is why, by the way, the sheep on Jesus’ right have only good works that He praises. Did you notice this? “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Nothing bad is said about His sheep. They have no failures, no incomplete or poorly done or sinful works, for they lived in Christ and Christ lived in them. He took away all of their sins and filled them with His goodness. All they did, then, was good; there was no sin, no evil. This is how it will be in the judgment for Christ’s believers. The forgiveness we receive here makes us completely holy before God, yet we do not see this. We can only believe Him when He tells us that He keeps no record of the sin He has forgiven. You may remember it and be troubled by it, but Jesus does not. When He returns and raises us up new, that which only He saw in our lives will then be made evident to all. There will be no sin to condemn, but only utter goodness and holiness to praise.

For those who do not live in Jesus, however, there is nothing good. Since they spurned His forgiveness in this life, His forgiveness does not cover their sins in the judgment. All that He sees in them is corrupted, stained by their sinful flesh.

Live in Jesus, then. Live in His Word and forgiveness. Live in the works He lays out for you to do in His good commandments. Live in them, and when He returns to judge both the living and the dead you will stand in the judgment and live with Him in joy forever in heaven!