Matthew
25:40
When I was in seminary I had the opportunity to
serve as an interim Student Minister in Lawrenceburg. After the year of being an interim I spent another seven
years as an Associate, and greatly enjoyed my ministry there. During my interim year, I worked with
Dr. James Cox, who was serving as the interim pastor and chaired the preaching
department at Southern Seminary.
Dr. Cox was very gracious to me and was a wonderful mentor. As we traveled between Louisville and Lawrenceburg
we had a lot of time to talk and he taught me a lot about writing sermons and
preaching. He even taught me it
was okay to be nervous. One Sunday
evening, just before worship began, he was showing me something in the
program. I noticed that his hand
was shaking a bit and asked him Dr. Cox,
do you still get nervous before you preach? Surprisingly, he said yes. Dr. Cox had written numerous volumes
about preaching and had preached all across our country and in other countries,
and yet he was still nervous about preaching at a Sunday evening worship
service. That made me feel a lot
better! I still remember one of
his sermons. Dr. Cox preached that
everyone has everyone has their personal
Bible. Our personal Bible is
not a particular translation or edition, but one that we put together in our
mind, and that Bible contains our favorite passages. In that sense, a personal Bible is something that is very
positive. We ought to have
passages that our meaningful to us and that we turn to on a regular basis. But the negative aspect of having a
personal Bible is we leave a lot out, and perhaps we leave some passages out of
our personal Bibles because they are difficult and challenging. Today’s verse is a tough one to include
in our personal Bible.
In the passage from which this verse
comes, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus tells of the final judgment, which, in these
verses, is based upon how people care for one another, in particular, those who
are hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter or clothing, sick, or in prison.
This is a very action oriented passage, much
like James 2:14-26, which says, What
does it profit, my brethren, if
someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and
destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be
warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for
the body, what does it profit? Thus
also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But
someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith
without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You
believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and
tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith
without works is dead? Was
not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works,
and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was
fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.” And he was called the friend
of God. You see then that a
man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works
when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is
dead also.
As we continue our series of messages about
spiritual gifts, this morning we come to the gift of Assisting. In our
present day and age, it is a gift that is much in demand. The challenging economic conditions of
the past several years have left many people struggling, and in great need.
A recent study by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture revealed that a growing number of Americans are now “food
insecure,” which means they do not have enough food to adequately feed their
families. The study did not,
unfortunately, receive much media attention. I heard a passing mention of it on a news program and had a
difficult time finding many references to it on the internet. Talking about difficult times is,
evidently, difficult.
Our church receives an increasing number of
calls asking for assistance. I
assume other churches have noted this increase as well. In growing numbers, people are turning
to churches in search of help in making ends meet. We do not, unfortunately, have the resources to meet every
request that we receive.
The requests are rising because greater numbers
of people are slipping into poverty.
The face of what some call the “new poor” is one many of us would
recognize – they are our friends, neighbors; maybe even the person we see in
the mirror.
In order to face the challenge of these
increased needs, I believe it is important that we –
1. Partner with
other churches and organizations.
This month I start a term as the leader of our
local Ministerial Alliance. I have
two goals that I really want to stress during my term, and I would appreciate
your prayers about these two areas.
First, it is my goal to increase the participation in the Ministerial
Alliance. I don’t know how many
churches there are in Shelby County, but only a fraction of them are involved
in the Ministerial Alliance. As
I’m out driving around the community I take some time to stop in at other churches
to invite the ministers to come to the meetings. I’m trying to increase the involvement to help with the
second goal, which is getting the churches to work together to meet the needs
of our community. As Disciples, we
emphasize unity between churches, and I believe that it’s important not only
because it is a part of our heritage, but it is the only way we can make an
adequate response to the needs that surround us.
There is no need for us to “reinvent the wheel”
when it comes to helping others, and there is certainly no reason to “go it
alone.” I am very grateful for
what our congregation does, but I think we can multiply our efforts by joining
with others. There are ministries
and organizations in our community doing great work, and we should join with
them in their efforts. The Open
Door of Hope Men’s Shelter, led by Lee Bean, is doing great work. We have members of our church who
prepare meals each month. Last
week Henrietta Hardin spent the night sleeping in a box as part of an effort to
raise funds for the shelter. At
the beginning of the evening Lee Bean introduced a man who was a desperate
alcoholic living in a cemetery.
Through the work of the shelter he was sober and preparing to start a
new job. Operation Care and CASA
are two more of the ministries, and there are others doing very important
work. Can we offer volunteer and
financial resources to help them in their work, and in doing so expand the
ministry of our own congregation?
2. Speak on behalf
of those who are struggling economically.
Like
many of you, I watched a good deal of both the Republican and Democratic
National Conventions. I heard a
lot of talk about the middle class, but not much about the poor. There were some words used by both
parties that alluded to those who are struggling, but it’s difficult to win an
election talking about the poor.
As God’s people, recognizing the value of every individual and knowing
the mandate given by Jesus to care for “the least of these,” we should speak up
for those who have very few political champions.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets
often reminded those in power of the importance of caring for the poor. Ezekiel, speaking about the city of
Sodom, says that city’s sin was this –
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she
and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not
aid the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49). That’s not how most people think of
Sodom, is it? Ezekiel is very
blunt about the failure of the people of Sodom to care for the poor. Isaiah says Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and break every
yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless
poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide
yourself from your own kin? (Isaiah 58:6-7). Deuteronomy says Since
there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command
you, "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land."
(Deuteronomy 15:11). We could
go on and on with references from the prophets.
3. Keep these words
of Jesus in front of us.
These words are a powerful reminder to the
important work to which we are called.
As we are in the midst of election season, we must remember that a great
deal of politics is about self-interest
– what are you going to do for me? But as Paul reminds us in Philippians
2:4, each of you should look not only
to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Those words are in antidote to the
rampant self-interest of our day and remind us not to forget others.
I was told years ago that one of the first
lessons a minister must learn about serving a church is to pay the rent. This
person said you have to learn to pay the
rent every month and once you’ve paid the rent you can pursue the things you
would like the church to do, but pay the rent first. What he meant by paying the rent is this – find out what
people expect of you and meet those expectations. To put it even more bluntly – learn what makes people happy
and work to keep them happy.
I’ve been in ministry a long time, so I
understand why someone would make such a statement. And I understand that keeping people happy makes life
easier. But I would like to do
more in life than simply pay the rent. Wouldn’t you? And wouldn’t you like to know that our church is doing more
than simply paying the rent? I
think it would be a tragedy to one day sum up my life by saying, what did I do with my life? Well, I paid the rent.
Keeping these words of Jesus before us is a
guarantee that we will do more than simply pay the rent.
We need the words of Jesus in front of us so we
don’t get lost in our own lives.
All of us face difficulties in life, and at times those difficulties are
very stressful and very challenging.
When we have those times the temptation is to withdraw into our own
lives and overlook the suffering that is in the world around us. Jesus draws us ever back to the need
that is in the world.
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