NEW Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year - November 26, 2023

NEW Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year       

“Come, Blessed Ones, Inherit the Kingdom”        

Matthew 25:31-46

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation this evening is the Gospel lesson, read just a few moments ago. You are welcome to look at it, together with me, as it is printed in your bulletin.

This is the last Sunday of the Church Year, and it’s not a surprise that our focus would again be on last things and the end of the world and being ready for that day that is often called Judgment Day. But have you ever asked yourself why Jesus would spend so much time talking about the end just a few days before His own suffering and death and resurrection?

If you look in your Bibles, you will find that in Matthew 24, Jesus talks about signs of the end and the certainty of His return, even though no one knows exactly the day or the hour, and therefore the need is there for us to be ready continually. Then in Matthew 25, Jesus tells the two parables of the end that we heard the last two weeks and then gives our text about the judgment. In Matthew 26, right after our text, we hear these words:  “When Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man (referring to Himself) will be delivered up to be crucified.’” And then, in the last three chapters of Matthew, the focus is upon Jesus and His suffering and death and resurrection for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. He is making it clear that it is through trust in Him alone that we are ready for the last day.

Our enemy, the devil, though, always wants to turn things around and put the focus on us, ourselves, and what we have done. The name “Satan” literally means “the accuser,” our enemy who accuses us. Satan likes to ask us, “Do you really think you are good enough and worthy enough that God will accept you?” And deep down, we know that we are not worthy, on our own.

We hear strong Law Scriptures like Matthew 5:48, which says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” - And we know we are not even close to that. Or we hear a strong Law passage like 2 Corinthians 5:10, which says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one of us may receive what is due for what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Satan can take a Scripture like this one and use it out of context and make us begin to wonder, “What if Jesus remembers and exposes all the bad things I have done and that I regret? What if he nails me for all the things I should have done and did not do in my life? We all have plenty of that, too, don’t we?

Or Satan might try to convince us that we’re just as good as anybody else, and we’ll surely be OK on Judgment Day, especially if we try more and more to do what Jesus said in our Gospel lesson - feed more hungry people and visit more prisons and help more sick people and give away more clothes. Surely all that will earn us God’s favor.

All thinking of Satan is actually the opposite of what Jesus says and does. Jesus tells us about the End Times and His return and judgment, but then points us away from ourselves and to Him alone as our Hope and Savior. At His baptism, Jesus said, “I have come to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). And that is what He did. He lived a perfect life, for us, in our place, as our Substitute.

Christ Jesus also “died for our sins. in accordance with the Scriptures,” Paul tells us (1 Corinthians 15:3). Peter says, “Christ Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By His wounds, you have been healed”(1 Peter 2:24). Paul again says, “For our sake, God made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19,21). Our sins really are forgiven and paid for already, in Jesus!

And how many sins are forgiven in Christ? The apostle John says, “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And for whom did Jesus do all this? Paul writes, “There is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). And another Scripture simply says, “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

And how does all that Christ Jesus did for us get to us personally? It comes to us through being brought to faith and trust in Jesus, through God’s Word that reveals Jesus to us, and through His gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the forgiveness that Jesus keeps giving us, as we keep confessing our sins.

We also know the Scriptures: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). And, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). It is Good News for all! And it comes “by the grace of God 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” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Now, apply all this to our Gospel lesson, as we listen to it again: (Matthew 25:31-40). Jesus comes, in His glory, on the last day, and all His angels are with Him, and the souls of all believers who have been already in heaven, as we heard a few weeks ago (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). All the bodies of the dead are raised, and all nations are gathered, and immediately they are separated into sheep and goats, believers and unbelievers.

This is not a long, drawn-out process, because Jesus already knows those who are His own and those who are not. Other Scriptures say that this happens “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51), and Jesus the King simply says to those on His right, the believers, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father.” Eternal life really is a gift, a blessing from God Himself. It is an inheritance - and an “inheritance” is usually something given as a gift to a family member or friend because of some relationship. We, as believers, are now children of our Heavenly Father, through what Jesus has done for us, and we inherit heavenly blessings, as part of a heavenly Kingdom, through Jesus.

And notice the great mercy of Jesus, as he continues to speak and mentions only good things that we, as believers, try to do, in gratefulness for the mercy and love and forgiveness we have seen first and received, in Jesus. Why is nothing of the bad we have done mentioned? Because it is all paid for and forgiven and forgotten in Christ, as we trust in Him.

We don’t do merciful things to earn anything, either, but just to help others and to be a witness to Christ’s mercy to others. The believers are not counting what they have done. In fact, the believers ask, “Lord, when did we do all these things?” And Jesus answers, “When you did these things to the least of these, you have done it unto Me.” These don’t have to be big things, either. How many of us have gotten up in the middle of the night and given a drink to a child or grandchild? Jesus says, “I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.”

Finally, we hear the warning of eternal sorrows coming for unbelievers. Judgment day will be too late for them, but the fact that hell was prepared for the devil and his evil angels is a reminder that no human needed to end up there. Until Christ returns on the last day or until a person dies, there is still time for God’s love and the forgiveness and faith Christ wants to bring, to be brought to others, perhaps through our witness and acts of mercy and care and hope for them, in our Savior, as a means Christ’s Spirit uses.

But for us, in Christ, Judgment Day is a day of great joy. The Scriptures say, “When the Son of Man, Jesus, comes in a cloud with power and great glory… straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is near” (Luke 21:27-28). One commentator, Martin Franzmann, has written, “All that was bad or broken in our lives will then be as if it had never been, and God’s long plan of salvation will be fulfilled. Christ has returned. He will take us to eternal life. He is our hope and glory forever.”

Let us rise for prayer: Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)