The Gospel, in Spades
Sunday, November 20th, 2005
Christ the King Sunday
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 25:31-46
There are memories in each of our minds that mark for us a specific time and place. Some of those memories are associated with a smell, or a sound, or a voice, or a song.
Even now, as some of you have heard me comment, the smell of fresh cilantro can put me back in the open air weekly market that came through our neighborhood in Santiago as I was growing up.
This passage has some of that effect on me today. Though it doesn’t necessarily tie in to an exact date and time, it does tie in to an extended period of time in my life – my first two years of college, when I was introduced to the music of Keith Green.
He was an amazing musician, and a charismatic speaker. He began his ministry in the mid 70’s and officially started Last Days Ministries in 1977. He was killed in a small plane crash in July of 1982, along with two of his children. Keith Green only lived to be twenty-eight years old.
What I believe … and what I came to believe was deeply impacted by the words of Keith’s songs. There was a line that kept running through what he wrote and said – “no compromise” – no compromise in what it means to follow Christ, in what it means to give yourself wholly and completely to Christ. Keith was all or nothing. And he wouldn’t back down from that.
It came as a shock to me last night as I read once again that he was only twenty-eight when he was killed. When someone young dies it always seems to be harder to understand, harder to take in, harder to accept than when someone who has most of their life behind them passes away.
Looking back, it’s hard to think of myself as now being 14 years older than he was when he died. It seems he did so much in the short time he had here on earth.
One thing that Keith demonstrated, at least to an impressionable 19 year-old college sophomore- was a brutal honesty. He met the hard issues head on. At least that’s how I remember it. Over the next few years I stopped keeping up with Last Days Ministries, and have realized that where I have ended up is somewhat different from where I began my spiritual pilgrimage, and I realize it is probably not where I will stay. I fully expect to continue to grow and change as God continues to teach me and mold me – as long as I am teachable and moldable.
I’d like to jump to the end of the passage – actually, to the end of each of the two sections in the passage, for our starting point this morning: the question that we hear from both groups – the ones on the right as well as the left – and please understand, this is not a reference to any sort of political spectrum, it is purely a division for clarity’s sake.
From the first group – those called the sheep – the question is posed in a positive frame – “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” Compare that to the way the later group – the goats – phrased their question: “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?”
In describing the scene, Jesus poses the two groups facing the King – the continuing reference to God, just as we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks – and again we are faced with an outcome that calls for judgment.
Why is Jesus doing that? If he came to bring the Good News of a loving God, willing to do everything for humanity, why is he speaking of eternal punishment?
Last night was opening night for the Westmoreland Players’ production of ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens. With Leslie accompanying and Caleb onstage, we HAD to go see it, of course. It was ‘pay what you can’ night, so we reserved a group of seats and took and met some of our Hispanic brothers and sisters there.
Most of us are familiar with the story. Ebenezer Scrooge goes to bed on Christmas Eve, and the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s former business partner, shows up wrapped in chains, and warns Scrooge of what he is about to experience – the haunting of three spirits – the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. When Scrooge asks what all the chains are, Marley wails that they are the chains he himself forged during his life on earth – each link formed by an opportunity spurned or missed or avoided to do good – to tend to a care, a need, a relationship. And he condemned himself to bear the fruit of his efforts here on earth in the afterlife. So in a sense, he made his own hell.
Whether one consigns oneself to hell or whether it is done by God, the path by which the destination is reached is the same.
Jesus is warning the Marleys and Scrooges of his day of just where they are heading if they do not dig deep and drink the water of life that the Gospel offers. We are called, challenged, exhorted, entreated to find in the living out of Christ’s message and life in us the life that he offers to all who would listen and obey.
The harrowing visit from the last Ghost – the Ghost of Christmas Future – is most harrowing because of the way it brings to light just how ALONE Ebenezer is. The conversations that revolve around his death are mostly comments on the lack of anyone else in his life and his circle of concern other than himself.
And that is the antithesis – the opposite – of what the Gospel teaches us. God sent his Son in order to tell us we are not alone. We are NOT here to focus on our own individual needs and wants. We are here to care for each other. You’ve heard it before from me – we are here to BE community to each other – to BE family. To BE Christ’s presence himself.
And what is made plain in the parable today is that Christ is not only in the acting, but in the receiving as well. When we act as Christ would, then we receive Christ that much deeper into our lives. When we allow Christ deeper into our lives, we are transformed, and it is in the transformation that we become the people God wants us to be.
“Be doers of the word, not hearers only”, James tells us. The Gospel is not simply a set of ideas, of principles by which to guide our lives, the Gospel is action, the Gospel is actively living out what those ideas mean – without the action, the ideas are worthless.
What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we are called to action, we are called to duty, to engage the community in which we live, and the world of which we are a part, to take the Gospel TO them. We can’t come here Sunday after Sunday and simply expect people to find their way here. We’ve had some exposure to a church without walls through our involvement in the Hispanic Ministry of the Association. The idea of taking the Gospel OUT is fully in line with what Christ commissioned us to do – to GO.
So, as we close this church year, let’s proclaim Christ as King, and look at the beginning of a new year as one full of opportunities by which we can take the message OUT, rather than keep it in.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, November 20th, 2005
Christ the King Sunday
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 25:31-46
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. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then 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; 35 for 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, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37 Then 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40 And 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.” 41 Then 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; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I 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.” 44 Then 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?” 45 Then 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.” 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’
There are memories in each of our minds that mark for us a specific time and place. Some of those memories are associated with a smell, or a sound, or a voice, or a song.
Even now, as some of you have heard me comment, the smell of fresh cilantro can put me back in the open air weekly market that came through our neighborhood in Santiago as I was growing up.
This passage has some of that effect on me today. Though it doesn’t necessarily tie in to an exact date and time, it does tie in to an extended period of time in my life – my first two years of college, when I was introduced to the music of Keith Green.
He was an amazing musician, and a charismatic speaker. He began his ministry in the mid 70’s and officially started Last Days Ministries in 1977. He was killed in a small plane crash in July of 1982, along with two of his children. Keith Green only lived to be twenty-eight years old.
What I believe … and what I came to believe was deeply impacted by the words of Keith’s songs. There was a line that kept running through what he wrote and said – “no compromise” – no compromise in what it means to follow Christ, in what it means to give yourself wholly and completely to Christ. Keith was all or nothing. And he wouldn’t back down from that.
It came as a shock to me last night as I read once again that he was only twenty-eight when he was killed. When someone young dies it always seems to be harder to understand, harder to take in, harder to accept than when someone who has most of their life behind them passes away.
Looking back, it’s hard to think of myself as now being 14 years older than he was when he died. It seems he did so much in the short time he had here on earth.
One thing that Keith demonstrated, at least to an impressionable 19 year-old college sophomore- was a brutal honesty. He met the hard issues head on. At least that’s how I remember it. Over the next few years I stopped keeping up with Last Days Ministries, and have realized that where I have ended up is somewhat different from where I began my spiritual pilgrimage, and I realize it is probably not where I will stay. I fully expect to continue to grow and change as God continues to teach me and mold me – as long as I am teachable and moldable.
I’d like to jump to the end of the passage – actually, to the end of each of the two sections in the passage, for our starting point this morning: the question that we hear from both groups – the ones on the right as well as the left – and please understand, this is not a reference to any sort of political spectrum, it is purely a division for clarity’s sake.
From the first group – those called the sheep – the question is posed in a positive frame – “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” Compare that to the way the later group – the goats – phrased their question: “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?”
In describing the scene, Jesus poses the two groups facing the King – the continuing reference to God, just as we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks – and again we are faced with an outcome that calls for judgment.
Why is Jesus doing that? If he came to bring the Good News of a loving God, willing to do everything for humanity, why is he speaking of eternal punishment?
Last night was opening night for the Westmoreland Players’ production of ‘A Christmas Carol’, by Charles Dickens. With Leslie accompanying and Caleb onstage, we HAD to go see it, of course. It was ‘pay what you can’ night, so we reserved a group of seats and took and met some of our Hispanic brothers and sisters there.
Most of us are familiar with the story. Ebenezer Scrooge goes to bed on Christmas Eve, and the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s former business partner, shows up wrapped in chains, and warns Scrooge of what he is about to experience – the haunting of three spirits – the Ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. When Scrooge asks what all the chains are, Marley wails that they are the chains he himself forged during his life on earth – each link formed by an opportunity spurned or missed or avoided to do good – to tend to a care, a need, a relationship. And he condemned himself to bear the fruit of his efforts here on earth in the afterlife. So in a sense, he made his own hell.
Whether one consigns oneself to hell or whether it is done by God, the path by which the destination is reached is the same.
Jesus is warning the Marleys and Scrooges of his day of just where they are heading if they do not dig deep and drink the water of life that the Gospel offers. We are called, challenged, exhorted, entreated to find in the living out of Christ’s message and life in us the life that he offers to all who would listen and obey.
The harrowing visit from the last Ghost – the Ghost of Christmas Future – is most harrowing because of the way it brings to light just how ALONE Ebenezer is. The conversations that revolve around his death are mostly comments on the lack of anyone else in his life and his circle of concern other than himself.
And that is the antithesis – the opposite – of what the Gospel teaches us. God sent his Son in order to tell us we are not alone. We are NOT here to focus on our own individual needs and wants. We are here to care for each other. You’ve heard it before from me – we are here to BE community to each other – to BE family. To BE Christ’s presence himself.
And what is made plain in the parable today is that Christ is not only in the acting, but in the receiving as well. When we act as Christ would, then we receive Christ that much deeper into our lives. When we allow Christ deeper into our lives, we are transformed, and it is in the transformation that we become the people God wants us to be.
“Be doers of the word, not hearers only”, James tells us. The Gospel is not simply a set of ideas, of principles by which to guide our lives, the Gospel is action, the Gospel is actively living out what those ideas mean – without the action, the ideas are worthless.
What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we are called to action, we are called to duty, to engage the community in which we live, and the world of which we are a part, to take the Gospel TO them. We can’t come here Sunday after Sunday and simply expect people to find their way here. We’ve had some exposure to a church without walls through our involvement in the Hispanic Ministry of the Association. The idea of taking the Gospel OUT is fully in line with what Christ commissioned us to do – to GO.
So, as we close this church year, let’s proclaim Christ as King, and look at the beginning of a new year as one full of opportunities by which we can take the message OUT, rather than keep it in.
Let’s pray.
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