Back to the Basics - This We Believe!
I Believe in Jesus Christ . . . [Who] Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead
September 21, 2008
Matthew 25:31-46
Today we come to explore the line in the creed which says that we believe in Jesus Christ who ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God and will come to judge the quick and the dead We believe that someday, Jesus will judge everyone-both the quick (that is those who are alive) and the dead. At some point, all of us will stand before Jesus and give an accounting for our lives.
So our scripture today is a description of that final judgment from the Gospel of Matthew. In Chapter 24 Jesus discusses his return and in chapter 25 he describes (in various ways) the final judgment. Prior to this passage, Jesus told them the parable of the foolish bridesmaids who weren't prepared for the coming of the bridegroom followed by the parable of the talents, where three slaves are entrusted with money by their master and when he returns they are asked to give an accounting of what they had done with the money. And you probably know how that turns out. Those who had been trustworthy and had used what had been given to them to make the master more money were rewarded and the one scared slave who had hidden the money was punished. Then Jesus shares this story:
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' 45Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Mt 25:31-46
I'm not sure that most Christians-myself included-have a good theology of judgment. Generally I find we fall into two camps: those who dismiss it too easily and those who take it seriously-especially when judging others.
Those in the first camp have trouble reconciling the idea of a God of love with a God who judges. For them God is a soft touch, we only need to tell him that we are sorry and we love him and all is forgiven and forgotten. To them forgiveness means forgetting all the bad things and only remembering the good.
But the idea of a final judgment is deeply rooted in our faith. The Old Testament prophets were constantly reminding people that we worship a God who loves justice and righteousness. The prophet Micah puts it this way, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) And the prophets were very clear on what it mean to do justice and to love kindness: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. (Zechariah 7:10) In fact, care for the poor, the widow, the orphan and the strangers in our midst lie at the heart of the Torah.
Open your Bible beginning in Genesis and read it through to the end and what you unfolds is the story of God who comes to set things right-to overturn sin, death and evil-and the only way God can overturn sin and evil is by judging and naming it!
Rather than being a sign that God is less than loving, I believe God's judgment-God's commitment to setting the world right and by naming evil for what it is-is in fact a sign of God's great love for us. Surely a loving God can't let us hurt one another without comment! Surely a loving God can't watch us kill each other, abuse each other, ignore the needy among us and not act on their behalf! How could the Kingdom of God be defined by no tears, no death, no fear, no separation if God doesn't judge and deal with all the things we do to one another that causes tears, fear, separation and death!
God commands us to forgive, but it is only because God is willing to judge evil that we can forgive. Forgiveness is sometimes only possible because we can leave God to make things right. When someone hurts us or someone we love, when they abuse, when they kill and are not repentant, are not remorseful, when they don't feel sorry and when they even celebrate what they have done, the only way we can come to forgiveness is to know that God-in God's time-will set things right!
To dismiss the idea of a future judgment is to turn God into an unloving, permissive ruler who doesn't really care about us or about this world.
Luckily, we believe in God the Father Almighty who created this world in love, who cares what happens to us, and who has consistently been at work in history to make the world right-as seen in the sacrifice of his son on the cross, his resurrection on the third day, and the judgment to come.
Then there is the second camp of folks who talk about judgment way too seriously. They talk about judgment as if it is something that only non-Christians need to worry about. They seem to be almost joyful in describing the torments of hell in detail in order to "scare people into heaven." And often they even talk as if all one needs to do is say a sinners' prayer and you have nothing else to worry about. After all, you've got your ticket to heaven and you're guaranteed a seat in the heavenly choir-no worries. But woe to you, if you haven't gotten on board the gospel express!
Yet, interestingly enough, while Jesus talks about judgment-a lot-he doesn't talk about it to those outside the fold. What I mean is that you don't hear Jesus telling the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin nor more or you are liable to the fires of hell." He doesn't tell Nicodemus or the rich young ruler as they slink away that they are bound for hell. Instead, he talks about judgment and punishment most often to those who should know about it already. When the banquet table is set, it is the invited guests that don't show up. At the wedding, it is the bridesmaids who aren't prepared. When the king separates the sheep from the goats, the goats are fully expecting a place in heaven. And the sheep appear to be surprised to be given a place in the kingdom.
And it is in the gospel of Matthew that we read most of Jesus' teachings on judgment-the only gospel which mentions the church. The gospel which scholars believe was written to fairly affluent, gentile Christians-much like us.
I can't help but hear the words of the old African-American Spiritual: "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't goin' . . . if you want to go to heaven you got to do more than talk about it." Or as Jesus says:
21 "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' 23 Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' 24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. Matthew 7:21-24
All of which leads me to believe that all this discussion about judgment is not about saved versus unsaved but about what God expects from his people!
Yes, we are saved by grace. We are saved because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is a free gift from God. But we would be ignoring most of the Bible if we didn't acknowledge the fact that we were created for good works. God desires a people to be sign of his righteousness in this world. He wants us to be the salt and light of this world. He calls his people his vineyard and he expects us to bear fruit. And scripture is clear about what that fruit will look like.
The Bible is clear, we will be held accountable for our lifestyles. In fact, the Bible seems to indicate that the more we know about what God requires, the greater the accountability. And that would indicate that we-not the unsaved-are more liable to judgment for breaking God's moral laws. But it is also important to note that while we think of righteousness as so called "living right," the Bible defines righteousness as the world being made right-the poor being cared for, the hungry being fed, the marginalized being sought out and brought back into relationship with God and God's people. Therefore, God's judgment will cover much more than just our language, our sexual behavior, and our ethical business practices. We will be judged by how we treat the world God so loves. We will be judged by how we feed the hungry (and notice the sheep did much more than send a check!); how we clothe the naked; how we treat those in prison; how we reach out to those who are lost and forgotten; how we accept the unacceptable-the way that Christ accepted us.
To say that we believe Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead is to say that what we do in this life matters. God loves us enough that he is concerned with every aspect of our life: how we talk, who we hang out, who we sleep with, how we treat our bodies. To say we believe that Jesus will judge the living and the dead is to say that what we do with our salvation matters. God loves this world so much that he calls us to serve it on his behalf. What we do matters so much that one day we will stand before Jesus and give an accounting.
Our good works don't save us-but a saved life produces fruit-visible evidence of the grace of God at work in our lives-and a fruitful life will bear good works. A person saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ will seek to live a life in accordance with the teachings of Jesus. A fruitful Christian will do the things that Jesus did. He will care for the poor. She will tend to the sick. He will cloth the naked and feed the hungry. She will visit the prisons. He will seek out the lost. Our hearts will be shattered by injustice in the world.
Yesterday, I had the honor of accompanying our So Far team to Cedar Lodge. I watched as the gospel was shared earnestly and passionately with women who desperately needed to hear it. I watched as one of the team members showed a woman what it meant when we read a scripture reference and how to find it in the Bible. I watched as women, who embodied what it meant to be the least, the last, and the lost, thanked us simply for coming. And I was convicted!
I was convicted of the fact that I preach about God's requirement that we reach out to the least, the last and the lost, but I spend most of my time in the Christian bubble telling Christians how to behave, comforting them in the bad times, celebrating with them in the good times. Every week I look at my discipleship and find I am lacking when it comes to the areas of social justice and mercy to the least, the last, and the lost. I'm afraid, I've been a bit of a goat staying comfortable among my good Christian-mostly white and middle class-friends. And I think it is time I burst out of my bubble.
I do believe that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead and that I will stand before the one who died for me. And while I may have a streak of goat in me, I want to be a sheep. I want to hear the cries of the needy. I want to seek out the lost. I want to feed the hungry. I want to bind the broken hearted. I want to be able to look into the eyes of Jesus and hear him say, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
For the past couple of months, we have been exploring what it means to say, "We Believe,' But to say that we believe that Jesus will return to judge the quick and the dead is to say that we believe that in the end we will be judged not by what we say we believe but what actions those beliefs inspire. To say we believe in the future judgment is to say that what we do in this life matters to God and makes a difference in this world. So you must make a decision-sheep or goat-which are you? When you stand before Jesus what will he see? And which do you choose to be?
|
