“New Year’s Resolutions: MISSION” (Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 10:9-17) | 1/15/23
Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 10:9-17 | 1/15/23 | Will DuVal
Before you SIT DOWN this morning, I invite you to remain standing for the reading of the word of the Lord… Matthew 25:31-46:
““When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
And ALSO: Romans 10:9-17
“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
This is the word of God… Let’s pray…
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I want to begin this morning by revising my OUTLINE for this sermon that you find there in your bulletins. We will come back to those excerpts from Matthew 25 and Romans 10, which we just read a moment ago. And we’ll still DO so within the context of this broader message on the topic of MISSION - If you’ve been with us either of these last 2 Sundays, you know that we are beginning this year with 3 “New Year’s Resolutions” together, corresponding to our 3-fold purpose statement as a church to love God, love one another within the church, and love those outside the church missionally with the love of Christ. So we’re still talking this morning about that THIRD component: MISSION. But I’m gonna take a slightly different route to GET us there, than what you find in your bulletin.
So here’s your NEW outline:
3 MOTIVES
For 2 MANDATES
Toward 1 MISSION
We’re going to be considering the 3 possible MOTIVES with which you and I can pursue the 2 MANDATES we have been given by God, for accomplishing His 1 overarching MISSION.
And we’re gonna tackle them chiastically; so I want to introduce God’s Mission first, then His Mandates, then our Motives, before returning to the Mandates and finally ending once again with the MISSION. Hopefully that flow will make more sense as we work our way through.
But we start with the MISSION. What do we MEAN, in the church, when we use this word “mission”? You’ve heard of “MissionS” - about a dozen or so of you here serve on our “MissionS” team, where we support global and local missionS as a church; it’s roughly 10% of our budget. So what is our MISSION, as a church?
According to Jesus, the church’s mission is to work with God, to advance the Kingdom of God, for the glory of God.
Work with GOD… to advance the Kingdom of God… for the glory of God.
So the first thing we need to recognize is that God is at work, in our world. And He’s working to advance His KINGDOM. Now, that’s a bit of a foreign concept these days, because the idea of serving a “KING” is sort of passé; in fact, some 250 years ago, some of our ancestors declared WAR so they wouldn’t HAVE to serve a “king” anymore. But many millennia before THAT, ALL of our ancestors did the very same thing: a guy named Adam and a gal named Eve declared WAR, on GOD HIMSELF, so they wouldn’t have to serve Him as KING anymore. So they could be kings and queens, GODS unto themselves.
So here’s what that looked like, in simple illustrated form:
God created everything GOOD. And everything was under His perfectly good reign, God’s rule: that’s what a Kingdom IS; it marks out the territory over which a King RULES. At one time, in God’s case, that was every square inch of the UNIVERSE.
But AS a good king, and not an evil tyrant, God gave Adam and Eve “dominion” over the earth; He gave them the free CHOICE to serve Him as King. But instead, they sinned and rejected God as King. And invited a new king to come rule over them instead: the Kingdom of SIN, Satan, Darkness.
But as our good king, God didn’t just give UP on us. He launched a plan to REINSTATE his kingship here on earth, through a single man - Abram - who would father a nation - Israel - through whom God promised to one day bless ALL the nations of the earth; to take it ALL back, under his benevolent Sovereign rule.
And at times, it seemed like the plan was working, like God’s people were regaining ground for God’s kingdom, by renouncing sin and obeying GOD. But more often than not, it was one step forward, two steps BACKWARD. And instead of being a holy (set apart) people who represented God to the other nations and influenced them to live for HIM, Israel instead was influenced BY those other nations, and became just like THEM, served THEIR gods, fell BACK into sin.
God, in His Sovereignty, had purposely ALLOWED for this, in his plan - the entire history of the OLD TESTAMENT - to help us see that WE weren’t the answer to the world’s problems; we’re actually the reason FOR its problems! The solution would have to come not from US - a mere man like Abraham - but from GOD HIMSELF. God Himself would have to come rescue us FOR Himself, and reinstate His Kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven.
So in His LOVE, God sent His own SON, to do just that. Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man, who ransomed men back to God, and restored us to right relationship with God, by PAYING for our sin, and DEFEATING the kingdom of sin, once and for all, on the cross. This is the good news of the GOSPEL: Jesus Christ came into the world to SAVE SINNERS.
But the good news gets even better than that, and this is where we return to our theme for this morning of MISSION: when Jesus saves us from sin, He doesn’t just take us OUT OF this world; instead He FILLS us with His own, Holy SPIRIT, and then he purposely LEAVES us IN this world - in fact, He sends us even DEEPER INTO the world, the very DARKEST CORNERS! - to be His ambassadors and to TAKE His light and His truth, the saving good news and HOPE of Jesus, to ALL people, EVERY nation.
Church: this is our MISSION - working with God, to advance the Kingdom of God, all for the glory of God.
Now, if that’s our singular MISSION, then you and I will pursue it to the extent that we devote ourselves to the TWO MANDATES Jesus left us with. Not surprisingly, Jesus’ favorite topic of conversation while he walked the earth was the Kingdom of GOD. After all, He came to bring it BACK. But the way in which He DID so was TWO-fold. Pretty much everything that Jesus did in his 3 ½ years of ministry falls into one of two categories: he was always EITHER “serving the LEAST of these, physically”, OR He was “serving the LOST, spiritually”. The LEAST and the LOST, meeting physical needs - Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry - and meeting spiritual needs - Jesus taught the good news of God’s kingdom, he cast out demons.
And NOW, He calls all who FOLLOW Him, to do the same. The way in which WE now partner with God in advancing His kingdom - making earth look a little more like heaven each day - is by devoting ourselves to these same two mandates: 1) meeting others’ PHYSICAL needs - when the disciples told Jesus that the crowds were hungry, he said, “YOU give them something to eat!” (Lk 9:13) - and SECONDLY, meeting their SPIRITUAL needs - Jesus sent us out to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel” (Mk 16:15), to all those who haven’t yet HEARD this saving good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and the re-establishment of God’s kingdom here on earth.
Jesus says, “Give ‘em BREAD - literal, physical sustenance - but don’t forget to give ‘em ME TOO! - the Bread of LIFE, so they can be filled FOREVER, satisfied SPIRITUALLY, eternally, with Christ Himself.
Now, before we dive into the text (still in the “Introduction” here!): if the MISSION is WHAT we’re called to do (work with God to advance His kingdom), and if the Mandates are HOW we’re called to DO it (by serving the LEAST and the LOST), then there are 3 possible MOTIVES I see for WHY we can decide to DO it.
Speaking of FEEDING others, I’ve given my daughter, Ellery, a job to do; I’ve commissioned her with the responsibility of feeding the dog every day. But SHE gets to decide WHY she’s going to obey my command. Her obedience could come from one of 3 motives:
1) The first we’ll call a “TRANSFORMED” motive. It’s possible that what she once saw as a CHORE, that required me to daily REMIND her (“Have you fed the dog yet?”), she could in time come to view as a PRIVILEGE that she voluntarily carries out from her own, INTERNALLY- motivated, reformed heart - either out of a sense of empowerment (“Wow, I can’t believe Mom and Dad trust me enough to keep the dog ALIVE! I’m gonna step up and prove myself and take responsibility…) OR from a sense of empathy (“I know how much it stinks to go to bed hungry, when I refuse to eat the casserole Mom made for dinner; I don’t poor Bentley to go hungry tonight…”). But either way - empathy or empowerment - it’s coming from the highest, purest motive for obedience: a truly transformed heart.
2) The second motive we’ll call the “TRUSTING” motive. Perhaps Ellery hasn’t yet had a change of heart. Maybe if it was up to her, she’d still use those 30 seconds that it takes to scoop the dog’s food for reading her book or playing with her toys instead. But she does it anyway because she knows it’s NOT up to her. She does it, cuz Dad said so. And perhaps she doesn’t yet understand WHY I said so, or why it should be important to HER TOO, but she obeys anyway because she knows that I am in authority OVER her and she TRUSTS me, as her father. “If Dad’s telling me to do it, it must be worth DOING, even if I don’t FEEL like it.”
3) But the third possible motive we’ll call the “TRANSACTIONAL” motive, because it’s honestly more about “what’s in it for ME”. Her heart could still be 100% selfish, and yet she chooses to obey because she runs a quick “risk-reward analysis” and she concludes that the benefits of obedience outweigh the cost of disobedience. That those 30 seconds of scooping smelly dog food are WORTH it, for the $3 weekly allowance AND for staying in Dad’s good graces. Or perhaps even MORE motivating, it’s worth it to stay OUT of the kind of trouble she knows she’d be in if she willfully DISOBEYED.
1) Transformed, 2) Trusting, 3) Transactional. What does any of this have to do with our MISSION and MANDATES? Well, there are three reasons you and I might decide this morning, RESOLVE, to devote our lives this year to the cause of meeting others’ physical and spiritual needs… living on mission for Christ.
We might do it from the purest motive of all: a transformed heart. A heart after God’s OWN heart. And I could take us this morning to ALL the passages (well, we wouldn’t have time for ALL the passages!)... but I could take you to DOZENS of passages in God’s word that show us His HEART for the LEAST and the LOST. Those suffering from desperate physical and spiritual needs. Maybe we’ve got time for just ONE dozen…
God’s Heart for those with PHYSICAL Needs:
Ps 10: “O Lord, you hear… the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed” (17-18)
Ps 140: “the Lord maintains the cause of the afflicted,
and will execute justice for the needy.” (12)
Ps 12: ““I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, [says the LORD] as they have longed for me to do.”” (5)
1 Sam 2: “[The LORD] raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap” (8)
Jer 22: “ “Is not this to know me?” declares the Lord… [to] judge the cause of the poor and needy.” (16)
Lk 6: ““Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.” (20-21)
And how about God’s Heart for those in SPIRITUAL Need, of HIM:
Ezek 33: “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (11)
2 Pet 3: “[God] is patient… not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (9)
1 Tim 2: “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (4)
Matt 5: ““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (3)
Luke 19: ““The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”” (10)
Lk 15: “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (7)
GOD loves the lost and hurting, so we should too. Go and do likewise.
That is one incentive for serving.
The SECOND reason we might recommit ourselves to Christ’s mission this year comes a TRUSTING heart; we could do it simply because “God SAYS so.” And to be sure, God DOES say so! Because God cares so much for the least and the lost, He clearly and repeatedly calls US to care for them as well; about 2,000 times in the Bible! (Bryan Loritts, “God’s Heart for the Poor”, 2015) But let’s just survey another dozen or so:
God commands US to meet others’ PHYSICAL Needs:
Deut 15: “If there is among you anyone in need … do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.” (7-8)
Ps 82: “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy” (3-4)
Isa 1:17 “seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.”
Isa 58: “share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, cover him” (7)
Prov 31: “Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.[c]
…defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (8-9)
Zech 7: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” (9-10)
James 1: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” (27)
Lk 3: ““Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”” (11)
Likewise, Christ commands us to meet others’ SPIRITUAL Needs as well:
Matt 28: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (19)
Acts 1: “be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (8)
2 Cor 5: “[God] entrust[ed] to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ… We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (19-20)
1 Pet 2 we’ve been saved to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (9)
So even if we don’t always “FEEL LIKE” ministering to others, if we love GOD enough, and if we believe His WORD, when He clearly commands us to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those around us, we might obey simply because we TRUST Him. That HIS priorities for how we ought to spend our time, talent, and treasure are better than our OWN. For SOME of us, that’s all we need; “God SAID so; I’m falling in line”.
But there’s a THIRD motivation for obedience too. Such that even if we don’t yet truly have a heart after God’s own heart… and even if we’re not willing to go serve others simply because it’s important to GOD and He SAID so… even without a transformed heart, or a trusting heart, it is still possible to AT LEAST be transactionally motivated for “need-oriented evangelism”. You can be 100% selfish, but if you’ve AT LEAST got your THEOLOGY straight - if you’re thinking rightly about God, if your HEAD’S in the right place, then even if you’ve still got a heart of stone, you will obey God and go serve the least and the lost, if for no other reason than SELF-interest. A SELF-serving desire to be rewarded, and to avoid punishment.
Now, that may seem like a bad reason to serve, like it cheapens it, if we’re just self-motivated. But I think it’s a testament to just how seriously God TAKES this mission, that He would appeal not only to our HIGHEST, PUREST intentions, but to EVERY possible impetus we might have to serve. And there is no QUESTION that even this TRANSACTIONAL motive is found all over the pages of Scripture; quickly:
PHYSICAL needs:
Prov 19 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will repay him for his deed.” (17)
Prov 22: “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” (9)
Isa 58: “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” (10)
Lk 14: “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed” (13)
Prov 28: “Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” (27)
Prov 21: “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.” (13)
Prov 22: “Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will… rob of life those who rob them.” (22-23)
Matt 10: “ whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… he will by no means lose his reward.”” (42)
Matt 19: “Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (21)
Passage after passage, essentially saying, “If you do it for no other reason, you should at LEAST help out the needy because God will BLESS you for it! And conversely, if you don’t, God will CURSE you for your IN-action!
Same goes for SPIRITUAL needs:
Ezek 3: God commissioned Ezekiel “I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so… give them warning from me. When… you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life… I will hold you accountable for their blood. ” (17-18)
Similarly in the NT, Jesus tells the the parable of the Talents, which is too long to read in full, but the moral of the story is that we Christians have been entrusted with the good news about Jesus, and those of us who share Him with OTHERS are gonna hear “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and be REWARDED, while those of us who keep the gospel to ourselves are gonna hear, “Cast that worthless servant into the outer darkness, [where there is] weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” (Matt 25:14-30)
Lk 12: Jesus declared, “everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. ” (8-9)
Matt 5: ““Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. [Cuz you’re WITNESSING for Christ!] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (11-12)
1 Cor 3: Paul said “each will receive his wages according to his labor” in the gospel. (8)
So 2 Cor 5: “we make it our aim to please [God]. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.” (9-11) Because we don’t want to have to stand before the Lord on that day and answer His question: “Why didn’t you TELL anyone about me?! How much CLEARER could I have MADE it, your call to evangelize?!”
So: we have THREE MOTIVATIONS - transformed, trusting, transactional - for pursuing these TWO MANDATES - meet physical and spiritual needs; the least and the lost - and ALL of it is ultimately in the service of ONE overarching MISSION: to bring God glory by advancing His Kingdom.
That was your 12-page introduction to this 4 page exposition now of Matthew 25 and Romans 10. I wanted to find the best passage or passages that more clearly than ANY others illuminate our mission with BOTH of its accompanying mandates, while at least hinting at all THREE possible motives. And for my money, there’s no better text of Scripture to incentivize us to meet PHYSICAL needs than Matthew 25, and no better text to motivate us to meet SPIRITUAL needs than Romans 10. And as you see in original outlines, the motivational undercurrent behind BOTH of those passages is the reality - the UNAVOIDABLE, INESCAPABLE REALITY, for every single ONE of us - of DEATH, and then, the AFTERLIFE. You and I and every person who has ever or WILL ever walk this planet, will live for 38, 58, 78, maybe even 98 years!, but then we must all inevitably DIE, and then we will spend INFINITE years, in one of only two places, according to God’s word. So if the afterlife lasts for the rest of ETERNITY, it only makes sense to live your 38, or 58, or 78 or 98 years here in THIS life, in light of and preparing for, the life TO COME. And the Bible very clearly lays out two afterlife possibilities for us.
The first is a place called HELL. Hell is mentioned some 54 times in the Bible. The person who talked about Hell more than ANYONE else was: JESUS; it is impossible to believe in Jesus (a non-fictional Jesus, anyway), without believing in Hell. Hell is described in the Bible, in pretty much all the images that are, I’m sure, evoked in your mind right now, just hearing the word “Hell”. It’s a place of fiery torment, eternal agony and suffering, away from the presence of God, and everything good forever.
Now, most of us ACCEPT the reality of Hell - ⅔ of Americans believe in Hell; of course, the truth isn’t democratic, and Hell would still exist, even if NONE of us believed in it - but most of us still DO; we just don’t think anyone who WE know is gonna end UP there. CERTAINLY not US! “We’re all pretty good people; surely God wouldn’t send folks like US to Hell.” Hell’s got to exist for your Hitlers and your Dahmers, but not for US.
But the Bible tells a very different story. It says that we are ALL sinners, and that ALL sin against an infinitely perfect God, deserves infinite punishment. We all RIGHTLY deserve Hell. And tragically, MOST of the people who ever walk the planet will end UP there: including MANY who claim to belong to Jesus, and EVERYONE who does not truly belong to Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE; no one [gets to God… gets OUT of Hell, and into Heaven, except through ME.” (Jn 14:6) So let’s quickly consider what Matthew 25 and Romans 10 teach us about how we can belong to Jesus and therefore get OUT of Hell and INTO Heaven.
Jesus explains in Matthew 25 that whatever we CLAIM to believe, we do NOT truly belong to Him, and therefore we WILL go to Hell, if we do not meet others’ PHYSICAL needs. The passage we began with this morning - I don’t have time to reread it, but you can double-check me on this in your Bibles - this passage, often wrongly labeled a “parable” (the “Parable of the Sheep and the Goats”) but it’s NOT a parable; this isn’t Jesus saying, “It’ll be KINDA like this at the Final Judgment; No - He says: here’s how it’s gonna go DOWN, when I return, to sort out those who belong to me (the sheep) from those who DON’T (the goats). But notice: he doesn’t say a WORD about believing in Him. About repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior - NONE of that. He just says, “As you did it for one of the LEAST of these” - fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, helped the sick and imprisoned - if you did THAT, then you belong to me, and you’re in. If you DIDN’T, then you DON’T truly belong to me, and you will “go away into eternal punishment”.
Now, if I wasn’t quoting directly from JESUS - the RED LETTERS! - MOST of you, being the good, orthodox, evangelical Christians that you are, would scream, “HERESY!” and STONE me! You would cry, “Works righteousness! Never! We are saved by grace through faith in Christ ALONE!”
And you’d be right. But Jesus’ point HERE, in Matthew 25, is that while it may be faith alone that saves us; true, saving faith is NEVER alone.
While the Catholics have it wrong when they say it’s “Our Faith in Jesus PLUS Our Works FOR Jesus that RESULTS in our Salvation”...
In Matthew 25, Jesus is correcting US evangelical Protestants, if we believe that it’s simply Faith results in Salvation, with “Works” nowhere to be found in the equation.
NO! Jesus says, “Your faith in me BRINGS salvation from me… which then BRINGS Works FOR me!”
Jesus said, “You know a tree by its FRUIT” (Mt 7:16). Faith may be the ROOTS, that caused that tree of salvation to grow, but GOOD WORKS are the fruit. So when he comes back for the Final Judgment, Jesus essentially says, “Sure, I could dig up every tree and check your roots; but it’s way easier and just as RELIABLE for me to just check your FRUIT. Did you do what I left you here to DO?”
But please notice: Matthew 25 ALSO subtly rules out what I call “artificial fruit”. Like, petri dish, lab-grown fruit, that didn’t come from a real, bona fide TREE - works NOT derived from SAVING faith.
Notice the sheeps’ RESPONSE to Jesus in the passage. Do they proudly step to the front of the Judgment Line, ready to receive their merit badge? NO. They’re almost SURPRISED. “Wait, Jesus… when did we…?!”
Remember earlier when I said, “You can be 100% selfishly motivated and STILL pursue Christ’s mission to the Least and the Lost, in order to avoid Hell and be rewarded with Heaven”? Well, I need to amend that statement slightly: You CAN serve others for the wrong reason, but here’s the thing: it won’t WORK. If you’re helping others really just to help yourself, then you’re not really a sheep. Cuz there’s no surprise, there’s no HUMILITY; you’re still keeping SCORE, expecting a reward; THAT is works-righteousness. And it DOESN’T come from genuine, saving faith.
SO much more I want to say here, but I have to leave it at that: If we don’t meet others’ physical needs - and DO IT for the right REASON; because Jesus WANTS us to, and even more than that: because WE want to, because His Holy Spirit now truly lives WITHIN us and is CHANGING our desires day by day to be more aligned with God’s OWN desires; a heart after his OWN heart - if that’s not TRUE of us, then we are GOATS. Who “will go away into eternal punishment”. Because to love Jesus is to love those whom HE loves, and to care for them in practical, tangible ways - food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine.
But along the way, we can’t forget, point #3 now from your original outline: that ultimately, they need more than food and clothes - “Man does not live by bread alone,” Jesus said, “but by every word that comes from the Father” (Matt 4:4). We need SPIRITUAL food. We need JESUS, the Bread of Life. And if we just feed and house and clothe and visit people without giving them JESUS - then we’re just sending them with full bellies and smiles, comfortable and well-dressed, along their way to HELL.
Because one must “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, [in order to] be saved.” (Rom 10:9)
So who will be saved? “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (10:13)
And how will they do THAT?
Well, Paul reasons, “People can’t rightly “call on” - plea for MERCY to - someone they’ve never even HEARD of!
And they won’t HEAR about Jesus unless someone TELLS them.
And in order to TELL them, we must be willing to GO TO them.
“As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who [GO] preach[ing] the good news!””
And it IS “good news”, indeed, friends: this glorious news that DESPITE our deserving Hell, because of our sin, “while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us.” To give us NEW life. ETERNAL life. In HEAVEN, with Him.
Friends: that’s a party you’re not gonna wanna MISS! So let’s be the people God has MADE us to be, and take care of the LEAST of these.
It’s a party we’re not gonna wanna ANYONE to miss! So let’s get busy doing what Jesus left us here to DO, and SHARE the good news with the spiritually LOST.
And may we do it ALL, not just to receive some reward or avoid some punishment… and not even because God SAID so… but may we DO it, because we know what it’s like to go to bed hungry. Because when WE were the least and the lost, thank God His heart was still with US. May He now fill us with His heart, for the least and the lost today.