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The Least of These

The Least of These

Sep 25, 2016


by: Jack Lash Series: The Least of These | Category: Mercy Ministry | Scripture: Matthew 25:31–46

I. Introduction
A. Today we begin a new eight-week series entitled The Least of These, which is an expression of Jesus from our morning’s sermon Scripture, Matthew 25:31-46. Read Matthew 25:31-46.
B. This is something we’ve been talking about for a few years now.
1. For me, it began about five years ago when I was talking to my mom on the phone. She asked me if our church had any kind of ministry to the poor or the homeless or anything like that. I was embarrassed to tell her that apart from the deacons helping a few people inside and outside the congregation, we didn’t really have a church program like that.
2. It wasn’t long after that that I heard about the PCA’s Mercy ministry conference in Maryland, which a number of GPCers attended. This stirred up our juices on the subject, leading us to invite Chris Sicks to speak at our retreat.
3. After preaching on the subject, we divided the congregation into focus groups which met through last summer talking about ministry to the needy. Then last fall during adult SS we heard reports from each of the seven focus groups and their recommendations.
4. Since then the church officers have unsuccessfully tried to set up a committee to provide some leadership on this.
5. And now we will be focusing on the topic again in this series.
6. Why? I know this isn’t pleasant for us in the flesh. Though it would be easier to avoid this topic, we need to keep bringing this up so we don’t forget about it.
7. Near the end of the series we plan to have a congregational brain-storming session to talk about these things as a church.
II. Explanation of Matthew 25:31-46
A. 31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”
1. In Matthew 25:31-46 we are near the end of Christ’s life. Immediately after this parable, the story begins to move toward the cross.
2. In the telling of this parable, Jesus is in a place of weakness, just days before His great defeat, and what is He talking about? He’s telling of a great day of victory and judgment.
3. Soon He was hanging on a cross, surrounded by a small group of ragtag followers. But He foresees a day when He shall sit upon a throne of heavenly glory, surrounded by an assembly of creatures more glorious than the world has ever seen before.
4. There is a day coming when everything will be turned on its head. Everything will look completely different than it does today.
B. 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.’
1. Jesus is going to separate mankind into two groups. What is the criteria for the separation?
a. Notice first what is NOT the criteria. You have all nations here, mind you.
(1) But they are NOT divided on account of nation or ethnic group or color.
(2) Not on account of culture or language or age or economic level
(3) No human distinction
b. But the division is this: Some ministered to Christ — by ministering to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the one who needs clothes, the prisoner. And some did not.
C. 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.”
III. Application
A. Does this mean people are saved by good deeds?
1. That’s sort of the impression the parable gives, doesn’t it?
2. But there are many Scriptures which make it clear that that is not the case: e.g. Eph.2:8–9 “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
3. So, how do you explain this? Ultimately, it is not the deed that saves, but the love for Christ motivating the deed which saves.
4. The fact is, some feed the poor but in so doing don’t feed Christ. Some cloth the naked, but in so doing don’t cloth Christ. Because they don’t do it out of the love of Christ.
5. 1Corinthians 13:3 tells us that it’s possible to “give away all [you] have, and deliver up [your] body to be burned” but not do it in Christ’s love, and gain nothing from it.
6. It’s not enough to do good deeds, they must be done out of love for Christ.
7. Salvation is not by works, but by grace through faith.
8. True faith works, and it works through love (Gal.5:6).
9. Love is not a meritorious act by which we gain God’s favor.
10. “Love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1John 4:7-8)
11. In John 15 Jesus taught that fruit comes from abiding in the life of the vine (Jn.15:4-5). The fruit of good works comes out of the faith of abiding in Jesus the vine.
12. Mark Guy Pearse - "Unless our faith saves us out of selfishness into service, it will certainly never save us out of hell into heaven." (Stott, What Christ Thinks of the Church)
13. Or, unless our faith saves a person out of selfishness into service, it’s not true faith.
14. If we’re unwilling to receive the poor, then we haven’t received Jesus, who became poor.
15. Salvation comes to those who truly receive Jesus. And when Jesus takes up residence in our lives, He makes some changes. If Jesus is really in here, you’re going to be able to see it out here in the way I live.
B. The least of these
1. It is clear in this parable and elsewhere that there are some special objects of God’s compassion. God has some people who He especially identifies with. The ones mentioned here include the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner.
2. But it’s clear from the rest of the Bible that this is just a sampling, not a complete list. E.g. Luke 14:12-14 – “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.”
3. Imagine Jesus in a room full of people, talking, moving around. Which people does Jesus focus in on? Which ones does He go after? Where does He invest His time?
a. It’s pretty clear from Christ’s life and from His teachings like this parable that special attention would be given to “the least of these.”
4. Why just the least? What about loving and taking care of the most, and what about the average? One of the things we’re going to do this series is talk about why people in these categories enjoy the special compassion of the Lord. But let’s get started today...
a. Paul begins to answer this question in 1Cor.12:22-25.
(1) “The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”
(2) The weaker parts need special honor, because the stronger, more beautiful parts get honor more naturally, more according to what is humanly natural.
b. God has made it so that we need the needy.
(1) Jesus said, “The poor you will have with you always.” (Mark 14:7)
(2) Why? All of man’s efforts to eliminate poverty are going to be unsuccessful.
(3) Here is something God calls us to do. And most people believe in it. So why doesn’t God make our efforts successful?
(4) Because we need the needy – for a number of reasons.
(a) How is true love going to be tested after there are no needy?
(b) How are we going to understand our own poverty if there are no poor around?
(c) How are we going to understand the concept that Jesus, “though he was rich, for your sake became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” – 2Cor.8:9
(d) We need to have someone to help. We need to be called to show mercy and to be generous.
(e) God calls us to imitate Him in the way we treat the needy, and without the needy, we can’t do so.
(5) One of the reasons we need the needy is that love is tested by who it’s given to.
(a) Everyone can love the rich. Everyone can love the one who gives you something.
(b) Luke 6:32–33 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”
(c) But by commanding us to love the least of these, the ones who can’t repay us, Jesus has given us a litmus test of whether our love is genuine or whether we’re just loving ourselves.
(6) It also tests the sincerity of our faith. If we have no compassion on the least of these, then it shows that we don’t realize that they are just like us, and that God received us not because of our goodness but because of His grace.
c. You see, God is a God of grace. He wants His grace displayed. He is not willing for it to appear that He loves in a selfish, human way:
(1) 1Corinthians 1:26–19, 31 Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God... 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
(2) He reached out to us when we were needy, when we were poor and helpless and naked and hungry and imprisoned.
(3) And now He wants to fill us with the same Spirit of love and mercy.
d. “The least of these” are prone to humility, just like a rich person is prone to pride and self-satisfaction.
(1) How hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt.19:23-24). Well, that means it’s not as hard for a poor person to do so.
(2) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt.5:3) And “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20)
(3) Of course, it is not inevitable that the poor will enter the kingdom of heaven. There are poor people who are very proud and who bitterly hate God. It’s just that poverty and weakness and helplessness are conducive to humility. They don’t guarantee it.
(4) Jesus does say “the least of these brothers of Mine.”
C. Do you find this challenging? For me, this is very convicting.
1. It calls into question so much of my love. Am I really motivated by love for Christ or am I motivated by a desire to have people like me?
2. Who are the kind of people who get YOUR attention?
a. The movie star, the great athlete, the politician, the media personality, the rock singer, the popular kids?
b. Or is it the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the one who needs clothes, the prisoner?
3. We want the Bible to comfort and encourage us, but sometimes the Bible confronts us and rebukes us. This passage doesn’t make me feel better about myself. Honestly, this parable is disturbing and humiliating.
4. In my flesh I want to move on and live at ease in my comfort zone. In my flesh I’d like to be able to do my thing: live in a comfortable house, sit on a comfortable couch, watch my TV shows, eat good food, hang out with nice people.
5. But we don’t find Jesus in the comfort zone.
6. If I want to meet Jesus, I need to go to the poor, to the sick, to the prisoner. That’s where I’ll find Him.
7. On the cross, Jesus was all of these things. He was hungry and thirsty. He was the stranger. He was naked. He was sick. He was a prisoner. And yet the disciples walked away, just as we have a tendency to walk away when we’re confronted by painful or ugly things.
8. We live in a pain-filled world, don’t we? We live in a need-filled world.
9. A big part of us wants to run away from it, in fear and in self-interest.
10. But Jesus in us moves us to extend ourselves to help and bless the needy. And if we resist this, we’re resisting Jesus.
D. This parable is encouraging to one category of people, though, and encouraging to all of us when we realize we belong to that category of people. This parable is such good news for the least of these!
1. Everybody else may ignore you. The whole world might laugh at you and take you lightly. But not Jesus. Even when no one else notices you, your savior Jesus does.
2. Or maybe at times, you feel so weak and helpless. What comfort and assurance there is here for you.
3. How our Christ identifies with His the least among His people. When Saul of Tarsus was hunting and arresting and persecuting Christians, Jesus appeared to him and said: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) Not “them” but “Me.”
4. The story of Jesus and blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)
5. The amazing compassion and mercy of Jesus!
6. This isn’t all Jesus did in those three years, but often the life of Jesus looked like a series of redemptive encounters with the least of these.
7. The humble and the needy are the special objects of Christ’s compassion.
8. And the fact is, we are all needy, even if we think we’re not. “You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” – Revelation 3:18