8/11/16-Matt. 25:31-46-F.I.A.=Faith In Action

This parable here is the third of three parables in Matt. 25. The first is the one about ten bridesmaids we looked at last week. The second is one we looked at a few weeks ago, where each servant was given different amounts of money to know how to handle it.

Now we come to this one, and all three of these parables teach us about responsibility. In other words, how did we handle God’s gifts given to us?

If we use these gifts as God intended and use them for His glory and for our neighbor’s good, then God uses us to change things, to become co-laborers with Christ, part of His body.

For we gather as a community of disciples not to escape or hide from the world, but to come to an oasis, drink from the Living Water that is Jesus, nourish our souls through worship, energize our heart through song, sharpen our mind through study, then go out, taking what we have learned, and applying it.

Jesus in this parable taught us practical ways of showing our faith, not only with words but with action. He says, “you fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, nursed the sick, visited the prisoners, welcomed the stranger, and you did this all for Me; and you did it by doing it for “the least of these”.

Visiting prisoners, sitting with the sick, feeding the hungry, assisting strangers are all works of mercy. Works of mercy combine with works of piety, like prayer, Scripture readying, even fasting, are the spiritual disciplines that provide a bridge for God’s grace to invade and pervade the lives of us Christians, and they act like a hammer and chisel that the Holy Spirit uses to chip and sculpt, smooth and polish us like a Divine Sculptor who present us to our Heavenly Father saying “Look, I have made another one that looks just like Jesus.”

Taking care of “the least of these” does that. Now you may be asking, “Wait, does that mean we are saved and let into heaven by our works?” Not at all! Remember, It is by His grace that we are saved through faith, not our works. It is a gift of God, so none of us can brag. Even here Jesus says the Kingdom is prepared for you, stressing that it was God, not we who prepared the Kingdom, and salvation is His gift.

So, Jesus is not saying we get into heaven based on our good deeds, but He is saying that, “before you get to heaven let your light shine on earth” We show we are saved by that amazing grace when we let our light shine.

So who are “the least of these, My brethren”? Well it literally means “suffering Christians around the world”, and then taking a step further to extend mercy to suffering people everywhere. The point of this parable is not the who but rather the what (the importance of serving where service is needed) and the why (why we do it).

Remember last week we said that since Jesus hasn’t come back yet, that therefore there still must be work for us to do? And so a disciples who loves Jesus discerns what needs to be done, and does it.

For being saved by God’s gift of grace does not decrease our responsibility, but rather increases it. Increases it to shine the light of the gospel like a lantern in this dark world, showing the path to his Kingdom.

The Gospel is indeed good news exactly because it changes people, conforming us to Christ, and promises us that not only a new world is possible, but that it has a name, the Kingdom of God, and we are to have the attitude that we are part of it now.

If we in the church are to live out this Kingdom in our lives, this is no less than a revolutionary act. If we are called to be faithful to Christ by promoting justice, lifting up the sanctity of human life and family, speaking out against cruelty, and fighting for the needy and the oppressed, then we in the church must be out in front of these issues.

Often times we as Christians do a good work for people, yet we must also ask that pivotal question, Why? Why is it that drug use has become an epidemic in Johnstown. Why do these ills plague us today and what can we do about them? We need not be afraid brothers and sisters, for greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world.

Christ won the war at the cross, and that is why we have the victory in Him. Why do we love the least of these? Because it is love that gives us the courage to challenge evil, because love is the practice of the Christian life that marks all our being and doing. Because love is what the gospel makes us; we are being rescued and saved and therefore are invited by our Rescuer and Savior to be fellow rescuers.

Because the three foundation stones of Christianity are creation, sin, and redemption. The least of these, no matter who they are, are still made in God’s image, they too are broken and enslaved by sin, and they too are within the reach of the nail-pierced hands of love that belong to our Lord Jesus Christ.

He calls us to love the least of these. It is we who make up the church who are God’s strategy for eliminating evil in the world through acts of kindness and mercy. The work that started on the cross is being continued here and now, for it is Christ who has laid a firm foundation and then handed the tools over to His church and says, “Carry on what I have started”

We as disciples are called to stand against the injustice and tyranny of sin, to tell others that there is a kingdom of freedom and peace, the Kingdom of God.

They will see that Kingdom in us when we show it in our lives, through acts of mercy done every day, for these acts do not depend on wealth, ability, or intelligence, but on a willing heart that wants to obey God, and that is something we can all do.

For although we are saved by God’s mercy and grace, it is how we act that shows proof of our salvation. In other words, we do not do good works to be saved, we do good works because we are saved.

We do good because we are so thankful to God and therefore delight to serve Him because He loves us. Think of it like a tree: You only see what is above ground, not the roots. The roots are what we believe that no one can see with their eyes because they are private, in our hearts and minds. Yet, healthy fruit is proof of healthy roots. The fruit of our good works, that come from healthy faithful roots, are what people can see.

We are saved by grace through faith but we are saved to do good works, for we Christians are to be salt and light. And in doing so, we make our faith both private and public, for no one lights a lamp and puts in under a bucket.

True faith must be matched by action, for if you show it by your lives, the world will see that you know Him.