Sunday 11/23/14 Freeville/Homer Ave
UMC’s
Sermon Title:
“Inherit the kingdom that
was prepared for you”
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 100
New Testament Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 1:15-23
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 25:31-46
My
brothers and sisters, friends, welcome once again on this “Christ the King
Sunday.” On this Sunday, we celebrate the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the
Messiah, the risen Christ. How fitting then it is to have “Christ the King
Sunday” on this Sunday, the Sunday before the Advent Season begins. For the
Advent Season is the season of waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ, which
will occur in the Christmas Season.
In a
reflective and a prayerful way then, we focus this Sunday on Jesus Christ, who
he is, what he represents, and what he means to us.
On this
Sunday, Jesus tells the parable or story of the “sheep and the goats” in the
gospel of Matthew. This parable is literally discussing the reality that Christ
will return to earth one day, and on that day he will separate out the righteous
or “sheep,” from the “goats,” whom are the “evil, greedy, and wicked.”
Certainly
these words can be seen as harsh words from Christ the King, as this is title
of what this Sunday is. Yet, does God really reject any of us? I don’t believe
that God rejects anybody. I don’t believe that Jesus Christ rejected anybody.
Do we reject God though?
You see, the
founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley believed that when Christ died
on the cross, that it was an act of “Universal Atonement.” By “Universal
Atonement,” Wesley argued, as most Christian Churches do, that when Jesus
Christ died on the cross, it was for all persons, without exception, both past
and present. This means that Jesus died for every human being that was or will
ever live. That he died for us.
All that is
required of us then, is excepting Christ, and what he did for us, so that we
may have rebirth, and live anew. In fact, when we truly put our faith and trust
in Jesus Christ, when we become one of his followers, we are filled with the
love and the grace of God. We are changed from the inside to the outside, and we
are then spiritually reborn.
For many of us
who have experienced this conversion of coming to Jesus, to accepting him as
Lord and Savior, it was a powerful moment for us indeed. For in this moment
that we really looked at ourselves in the mirror, we realized how broken we
were, and how sinful we were. I have known some people that surrendered their
lives to Jesus Christ, to God, and experienced an amazing and an emotional out
pouring. I have seen people have tears streaming down their faces, and their hands
raised in surrender, as they came to the realization that the God of the
Universe loves them. That God loves us so much, that he would come down to
earth, take on flesh, and show us what love was by dying for us. That in him,
all things are made knew. That him, all we have ever done is forgiven.
In Jesus
Christ then, we are offered forgiveness. We are offered rebirth and to be made
new, to begin a process of being made into the image of the living God. To do
this though, we must first be cleansed of our impurities, of our sins. Once we
surrender to Christ and once we ask for forgiveness, if we are sincere, then
everything bad we have done up to that moment is instantaneously removed and
gone forever. In this moment the chains that bind us are gone, and were are
freed up to, “Inherit the kingdom that
was prepared” for us.
For Jesus said, in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest.” You see our sins, our problems,
weigh us down, don’t they. Our sins, our problems can eat us from the inside
out if we are not careful. Yet Christ says in Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light.”
It does not mean that when we come to
Christ that all of problems will go away, but it means that they are in the
hands of the one who can do all things. I heard a Christian once say something
really funny about worrying and struggling. He said, “Tell God all of your
problems, then let him deal with them and go to bed, because he will be up all
night anyway.”
So many of us go through life carrying
weights, hurts, regrets, and sins. Jesus says to all people, come unto to me. As
the prophet Isaiah wrote in 1:18 “though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”
So how many of
us this morning feel like we have weights on us that are so heavy and so
overwhelming, that we feel like we are drowning in a sea of hopelessness? Jesus
said, come unto me.
Jesus call us
to repent, to “Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world
began.” All we need to do, is submit, let go, and let God take control of
shattered lives, our shattered dreams, and our sin, and we will be given grace,
peace, mercy, and salvation.
When this
occurs, we are at once loosened, and are freed to “Inherit the kingdom that was
prepared for you before the world began.”
To me it is no
mistake then that one of the lectionary readings from the Old Testament this
morning is from Psalm 100. Psalm 100 begins by saying, “Shout triumphantly to
the LORD, all the earth.” Then in 100:2-3 it says, “Know that the LORD is God—he
made us; we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his own pasture.”
The Psalmist
then says in 100:4 that we should, “Enter his gates with thanks; enter his
courtyards with praise! Thank him! Bless his name. The Psalmist ends this every
short five verse Psalm in 100:5 by saying, “Because the LORD is good, his loyal
love lasts forever; his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.”
What I want to know this morning then,
is do we claim the goodness of God, do we embrace the forgiveness we are
offered by Christ the King, so that we may “Inherit the kingdom that was
prepared for you before the world began.” If we do, we are set free, and our
faith then turns into action. Actions that led us feed the poor, to clothe the
naked, to defend the helpless, and to serve the unfortunate. To change the
world.
Oh brothers and sisters, are we free people today, or are we
in bondage? I don’t know about you, but when I surrendered to God, to “Christ
the King” this morning, as I do every morning, the Lord took my burdens, took my
troubles, took my sins, and he said to me, “serve my people.” He says to me, “feed
the hungry, and do all I have commanded you to do.” He says, “I have freed you
my son, now go and serve others, go and tell them how they can be made free to.”
In the Apostle
Paul’s Epistle or letter to the church in Ephesus, or the Ephesians from this
morning, the Apostle Paul commends the church in Ephesus as he said, “I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people.” The Apostle
Paul then said that, “God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him
from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens, far above every
ruler and authority and power and angelic power, and power that might be named
not only now but in the future.”
The Apostle Paul
then concludes this portion of his letter to the church in Ephesus by say that “God
put everything under Christ’s feet and make him head of everything in the
church, which is his body.” We, my brothers and sisters, are the living,
breathing, moving, body of the risen Christ.
In our gospel
of Matthew reading for this morning, Jesus tells us the parable or the story of
the “sheep and the goats.” Jesus tells us that when he returns to this earth
one day he will come “in his majesty and all his angels” will be with him. At
this point, he will be on his throne, and “All the nations will be gathered in
front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats.” The sheep are the holy and righteous, and
the goats are the one who were self-absorbed, wicked, and focused only on
themselves.
In fact, Jesus
tells the “sheep,” “Come, you who will receive good things from my Father.” Then
Jesus says, “Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world
began.”
Jesus says
further, “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave
me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me
clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you
visited me.”
Then the
righteous say to Christ, when did we do all of these things for you? Jesus
responded by saying, “I assure you that when you have done it for one the least
of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.” When Jesus
says “one of the least of these brothers and sisters,” Jesus speaks of all
person, regardless of who they are, what they are, or what they believe. We are
all God’s children, and have sacred worth to the living God.
You see,
Christ said that when he returns, that the “goats” are going to be those people
that didn’t love others, like Jesus commanded us to. Jesus said that these
people with suffer eternal punishment.
So I don’t
think that God wants us to cower in fear before him, rather he says come unto
me. Jesus says, let me take your burdens, let me take your sins, and follow me.
Jesus says in Matthew 16:24-26, “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
forfeits his soul? Or what
shall a man give in return for his soul?”
My brothers
and sisters, as we approach this season of Advent, as we await the birth of
baby that will change the world forever, let us be moved to repentance, to
submit to the living God, to be spiritually renewed, so that we might more
effectively build God’s kingdom, care for the poor, and make this world into
all that Jesus Christ called us to make into.
I would like
to share a quote by Saint Basil the Great. Here it is, “There is still time for
endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you
slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned” Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap
aside, for when you turn away and weep, then you will be saved.”
My brothers
and sisters, as God’s children, and as God’s church, before we can do anything
we must come to Christ the King, repent, ask for forgiveness, put our full
trust in God, and then you and I will “Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the
world began.” Amen.
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