Matthew
25:31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with
Him, then He will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be
gathered in His presence, and He will separate the people as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at His right
hand and the goats at His 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 creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed
me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you
invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me
clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you
visited me.' 37 "Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when did we
ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39
When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 "And the
King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of
these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to Me!' 41 "Then the King
will turn to those on the left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed ones, into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry,
and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn't give me a drink. 43 I was
a stranger, and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked, and you
didn't give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me.' 44
"Then they will reply, 'Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?' 45 "And He
will answer, 'I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these
my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help Me.' 46 "And they will
go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal
life."
1.
Jesus
started the church to preach the Gospel and I think many times we can become
driven by social justice rather than by the Good News of Jesus Christ coming as
our substitute for sin.
1.
Social
justice without Jesus is an injustice because we work so diligently to better
their physical situation while leaving them in their broken spiritual state.
1.
Jesus
died that we might have life and life abundantly.
1.
We
can save someone from hell on earth but condemn them to hell for an eternity
because we refuse to tell them about Jesus.
2.
The
message of Christ and the cross is the greatest message in the world many
people refuse to accept it, they rebuttal it, they reject it or they respond to
it.
1.
The
decision is ours how we will treat the sacrifice of Jesus.
2.
We
need, as a part of the global church, to adjust our vision sometimes if we are
going to fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ.
1.
God
has given us the global church that we may use it as His tool of reaching the
world.
2.
Many
times we make church about every thing else but the initial mission of Jesus
Christ.
1.
Vs.
31-36 There is coming an eternal separation.
1.
Sheep-represent
the merciful, kind, generous, loving and willing to do whatever it takes, even
at their own expense, to help out another human being, type of people.
2.
Goats-represent
those selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed and self-seeking people.
2.
Vs.
37-40 They were just meeting the needs of the people "ministry" and
God was keeping track.
3.
Vs.
41-46 Vs. 41 This is speaking of hell, Hell is real place, a literal place, and
Jesus came to save us from it.
4.
Vs.
44 When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or
in prison, and not help you?
1.
Self
focused, not #selfless but selfish.
2.
I
just didn't see that, I didn't feel compassion rise up within me.
3.
I
was more concerned with my own spirituality.
1.
When
you refused to meet the needs of my people, you refused Me.
2.
When
you refused to help, you disregarded Me.
3.
When
you refused to see people as my greatest asset ever, you refused to see my only
mission.
1.
We
must make Jesus the end goal of all we do.
1.
Vs.
35
1.
Who
was He talking about in this passage?
1.
Himself.
2.
Because
in John chapter 6 He identifies Himself as food.
3.
He
identified Himself as the Bread of Life.
John 6:35
NLT [35] "Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
2.
I
love bread...I don't discriminate against bread.
1.
White
bread, wheat bread, sourdough, rye bread, rolls, loafs,
sliced, biscuits,
cimmanin rolls,
monkey bread, toast, bread pudding, tortilla chips, cake, garlic cheese
biscuits at Red Lobster...my favorite is the Italian restaurants that bring out
the olive oil and herbs and spices.
1.
Bread
is filling, bread is good for you, bread is vital, and when people come to the
House of God we need to be offering them the Bread of Life who can literally
fulfill, satisfy and sustain the hunger they walked in our doors feeling.
3.
Jesus
also identified Himself in John chapter 4 and a few other places as the Living
Water.
1.
People
are walking into churches dehydrated and famished, and they desperately need
the Bread of Life and some Living Water.
Illustrate
here: I remember
going out to eat one evening with our staff team as everyone was getting their
food they never brought mine out. Everyone was eating enjoying their food,
ordering extra ranch, extra sauces, extra napkins and I waiting patiently for
any thing. One of our waitresses slips by and asks, How is everyone doing? Can
I get you anything? When she came to me, "I said sure you could hook me up
with my food." She said oh yes sir I will get it. So again waiting another
waitress comes out to fill our drinks and says can I get any one any thing? I
said yes ma'am I would love to get my food, she says did you not get your food
yet? I said no ma'am, not yet. Neither of them showed back up. So finally our
original waitress comes back later with our check. I said hey if you wouldn't
mind could you take this off of our ticket please? She said why did you not
enjoy it? I said I never got it, she said let me get a manager...I'm thinking
please just any one get me some food!
4.
We
have the right set up, we have the right conditions, but are we presenting them
with the right message?
1.
We
desperately need to be serving up The Living Water and The Bread of Life.
1.
I
think a lot of people are getting discontented with church here in America
because we never brought the food.
2.
Churches
bringing an agenda, churches bringing out who should you vote for, or let's
save the earth.
2.
The
church does not have an agenda we have a Savior and His name is Jesus.
1.
Only
Jesus can satisfy your hunger, only Jesus can quench your thirst my friend, only
Jesus can save.
1.
Jesus
Christ and the sacrifice of His life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection
has to be the center of every thing we do.
2.
His
message of love, forgiveness, mercy and grace has got to be our obsession and
if's not then, we fail.
2.
Acts
chapter 2, it's funny that we want to control the church but the two elements
that the Holy Spirit identifies with are wind and fire and what happens when
wind and fire get together, it's uncontrollable in a multiplying way.
5.
We
don't want to offend any body lets just get them coffee and a blanket and not
tell them about Jesus Christ's message of redemption.
1.
Just
smile really big and maybe they'll ask us about Jesus.
1.
3,000
people would have gone to hell and the church would not have experienced one of
it's greatest defining moments.
2.
Here's
what happened, Peter got up and said: "You nailed Jesus to a cross and
killed Him. But God raised Him from the dead. God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!" Peter's words pierced their
hearts, and they said "what should we do?" Peter replied, "Each
of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
1.
People
responded to the invitation to meet Christ.
6.
Acts
3 Peter and John show up at the temple, at the hour of prayer, and a beggar
asks them for money they said hey man, we're broke, we're in the ministry.
1.
Instead
they empowered their faith, and gave him the miracle working, life altering
power of Jesus Christ.
2.
He
started walking, leaping, dancing and praising God.
3.
It
got all kinds of crazy but more people showed up and by Acts 4:4 there were
5,000 men, you know why?
1.
The
message of Christ!
Jesus said,
John 12:32 NLT [32] "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw
everyone to myself."
7.
We
have to take the message of Christ to the world.
1.
Well
Pastor people get tired of hearing the Gospel.
1.
Well
then, I will bore you out of your mind cause over the next many decades that's
all I have to give you.
1.
Jesus,
His substitution for your sin, His death for your eternal life, His blood
spilled for your rescue!
2.
He
is our #selfless servant and He is who is our #selfless Gospel is all about.
1.
Bored
hearing about how messed up they used to be before Jesus got a hold of their
life and now they want to regulate His life transforming, conviction filled,
hope spreading message of forgiveness.
2.
When
I am reminded of far I was from God and how much sin I had in my life and there
was nothing I could do to bridge that gap between God and I, I can't help but
be inspired.
3.
Jesus
knew everything about me and received me any way.
4.
I
confessed Him as Lord, He power washed my soul with His blood, made me into a
brand new person, calls me to share that message with the world, and I get to
spend eternity with Him.
1.
That
just doesn't equate to boredom in my world.
Illustrate
Here: Mirror.
8.
Let
me get you to the center of your problem, you’re selfish.
1.
You
only see you, you can't see past you.
2.
You
are only concerned with how it affects you.
3.
You
are all that is important.
4.
People
get tired of hearing the Gospel, well that’s because their obsessed with them
and not with Him.
2.
We
must be more concerned with the outsider rather than the insider.
1.
I
remember preaching one of my first messages as a youth pastor talking about
Jesus’ love for our community, evangelism (which is the personal spreading of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and this lady from our church says, I found your
message intriguing, to that I replied thank you. Then she says, your from that
so and so church, and we don't do church like you do church.
We have our small little group that we're comfortable with, every body
knows every body and we love each other, and I think that's what church is
supposed to be. "Commission Possible" was my sermon title that night.
We then grew our group from 3 teenagers to 47 weekly within 11 months. Then the
Pastor came to me and said: You guys are too loud, there is a lot of new faces
and maybe you guys should even switch to another night, then there would be
less chaos, I then felt the Holy Spirit tell me I was done there.
1.
There
are churches that are way more concerned about the insider than they are the
outsiders.
2.
Where
do you get this from this text?
1.
Jesus
said, "I was a stranger and you invited me in."
1.
Are
strangers welcome in this church?
2.
Are
strangers welcome in your life?
2.
I
have been the stranger at church before.
3.
I
have left churches before thinking I would never come back to this church
again.
3.
Or
do we have an environment that absolutely organizes itself around the personal
preference of the already convinced?
1.
No
where in scripture does God ever commend the church that doesn't reach people
for Christ.
4.
The
Gospel is a priceless treasure so in the parable of the talents you had
somebody with 5 and 2 and 1.
1.
The
Master comes back and rewards the servant with the 5 and the 2 and with the
person that buried the talent he called them, not faithful.
2.
He
called them wicked and lazy.
1.
I
think a lot of churches, and people will stand before God one day and be called
wicked and lazy because we organize ourselves around the personal preferences
of the already convinced.
5.
Church
is not about me, it's about Valuing God, Valuing Others, and Valuing the
Mission of Jesus Christ.
1.
We're
about getting deeper in God.
1.
Just
soaking in His presence.
1.
You’re
so deep you don't reach anybody?
2.
Our
church is in into disciple making.
1.
If
your not making disciples who make disciples then you are not making disciples.
2.
The
number one commission of a disciple is to go make disciples.
1.
Disciples
are not measured by their knowledge if they were Satan would be the most discipled
person in the universe.
2.
Disciples
are measured by are we obeying Jesus?
3.
We
can't have a disciple without a convert.
3.
What
about the mature people in the church?
1.
You
know what I've discovered about mature people, they give up their rights first.
1.
That's
what TK and I did when our kids were born.
1.
We
gave up so they could advance and our #selflessness advanced us.
2.
It's
a principle of God.
2.
TK
and I never sat around saying this is inconvenient.
1.
You
know these babies are not very considerate.
2.
They
cry in the middle of the night, this one used the restroom on me today, and
then they vomited on my clean shirt.
3.
They
pass gas in public and make all types of noises, and do the weirdest things,
it's embarrassing.
4.
They
are cute and all but they are just not fitting in, why don't we just put them
out of the house until they mature?
1.
We
do that, they die.
2.
Why
are so many young Christians dying because older Christians refuse to embrace
maturity and say "I'll do whatever it takes to connect with you, and reach
you, and disciple you for Christ."
3.
We
must help people establish a new identity.
1.
Vs.
36 I was naked and you gave me clothing.
1.
Churches
who are not winning the lost are shutting down every day because God is
shutting funerals down.
1.
He
is saying, produce new life or be shut down.
2.
John
11 the story of Lazarus He told Martha to "roll the stone away."
1.
Roll
away the...
3.
She
says, but he is going to stink, he's been dead 4 days.
1.
Jesus
told them, "unwrap him and let him go."
2.
Jesus
doesn't want people to just come out of the tomb He wants them to have a brand
new identity and He wants us as the church to teach them how to take off those
grave clothes.
2.
We
have gravitated towards teaching them to identify themselves with what they do
rather than who Christ is.
2.
Churches
are supposed to be celebrating when we come together, well Pastor we're
reverent.
1.
Don't
confuse reverence with rigor mortis.
1.
Big
difference.
3.
We
are approved by God by our position as His children and not our performance as
his children.
4.
We
must be patient with people as they develop spiritually.
1.
Vs.
36 "I was sick and you cared for me."
1.
Sick
people require patience.
2.
We
have spiritually sick people showing up at our church every week.
3.
How
patient are we with those people?
1.
People
do not heal many times as fast as we want them to.
2.
We
can't just take someone through a 6 week bible study and at the end of those 6
weeks expect them to be completely healed, and restored from their past.
1.
The
bible says we are to bear the infirmities of weak.
1.
Infirmities-physical
or mental weakness.
1.
I
know what it's like to be weak.
2.
If
it wasn't for the grace of God I would be that sick person.
1.
Romans
2:4 It's the goodness of God, the kindness of God that leads us too repentance.
2.
You
mean I have to be kind to sick people?
1.
He
was kind to you.
2.
God
is patient with us not wanting any one to perish-be lost, suffer death, suffer
ruin, but that all would come to repentance-salvation, regret, remorse.
3.
The
church has a bigger impact when we're like Jesus in all we do.
1.
Can
sick people show up at the church?
2.
Can
sick people show up in your life?
5.
We
must make it our mission to proclaim freedom in Christ.
1.
Vs.
36 What do you think the ultimate goal is of someone in prison? To get out.
1.
People
come into our church every week needing a Savior, needing some guidance,
needing some prayer and deliverance from the situation they are in.
2.
They
desperately want to get out.
1.
Can
they come to this church?
2.
Can
they come into your life?
1.
Does
compassion rise within you and compel you to meet their needs?
2.
You
can get out of that prison, Jesus came to rescue and deliver you!
3.
You
can escape from that bondage and find redemption in Christ.
1.
I
refuse to teach people how to cope, i will teach them how to overcome!
1.
We
must rally around the rescue operation that Jesus Christ has commissioned us
into.
1.
It
will always cost deeply.
1.
Every
church, every Christian is either
rallying around and paying for a rescue operation or museum preservation.
1.
Rescue
operations last for an eternity I might point out.
2.
That's
why we invest in people.
1.
The
value of something is determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it.
2.
You
are valuable to God because He paid an incredible price for you—the life of His
own Son.
1.
God
created you on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose.
