The least of these

 Read Matthew 25:31-46

We will cover Luke 17 again in the next service.  For now, I want us to make a brief stop in Matthew 25.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We know the parable before this one.  It is the Parable of the Talents that you might have heard a few times or a few dozen times or more.

We long to hear the words, Well done good and faithful servant.

We covet our Master telling us to come and share his happiness.

We also know the words in between the Well done good and faithful servant and those I just read to you.

There is a third servant who didn’t do anything with what his master gave him and even that was taken away from him in the end.

Remember we saw the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous played out at the end of the Parable of the Talents.

The next parable talks of a sorting—sheep and goats are the metaphor in play.  They might represent the righteous and the wicked.

We know this one as well.  Some—possibly those who should have known better—saw people in need or hurting people and went about their business as usual.

Jesus might have been targeting the Pharisees but I think he was speaking to all of us to guard against our selfish human nature.  We want our problems solved and when one is solved, we want to move on to the next one, and the next one.

Sometimes it seems that we take life as nothing more than a series of problems to be solved.  We do solve many problems in our lifetime, but our lives are much more.

Along the way, there may have been people that we could have helped but we didn’t.  We were too busy. They didn’t smell good. They were different.  We had places to go and things to do.

We walked on by or drove on by or walked on the other side of the road or looked down on them as unworthy of mercy.

We know how this parable ends.  The group that walked on by continues along their path to eternal punishment, but the righteous—those who truly seek to live in right standing with God—go on to eternal life.

We want to be in that latter group.  We are in that group because of what the blood of Jesus has done for us, but do we want to live up to the right standing that was imputed to us by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus?

I have talked about the vending machine before.  We are not a form-in and food-out organization.  We are not a signup and pick-up program.

We are about bringing the good news of God’s love and eternal life to people.  Sometimes it comes with a bucket of food.

Sometimes it comes with a blue wristband for the person with a screaming kid in front of us at Walmart.

Sometimes it’s a hug.

Sometimes it’s a ride.

Sometimes it’s a turkey, but it is always delivered in the spirit of God’s love.  We are not Feed the Children or the Oklahoma Food Bank.  Those are good organizations and they do good things, but we bring words of life to people.

We have an abundance of food.  We have sent out an abundance of food to the other church bodies.  We still have an abundance of food.  People bring food here—that never worship here—because they know we will deliver it to hungry people.

Not all of them know that we will deliver it with good news.

Some only have eyes to see the hungry stomachs.  That’s fine.  Empathy and compassion for your fellow man are good qualities.

But we must deliver more.  We must long to feed not only the body but the soul.

I posted this prayer in the Missions Room.  Consider this petition to the Lord as we conclude this morning.

Lord, help us have eyes to see those who are hungry and prompt us to feed them.

Lord, help us to have eyes to see those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and bring them to you.

Lord, help us to deliver good news with every basket of food.

Lord, help us to be your love in action!

Amen.

That’s what I posted.  Let us never become callous to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Know that when we help, it is never really about the stuff.  Sure, people need food for their stomachs, but food without truth can only sustain the body.

Let us deliver food or rides or other help with compassion, mercy, kindness, generosity, and love—most of all love.

Let us speak the truth in a spirit of love and deliver Living Water and the Bread of Life!

Now let’s take this as our own petition to the Lord and as our closing prayer.

Lord, help us have eyes to see those who are hungry and prompt us to feed them.

Lord, help us to have eyes to see those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and bring them to you.

Lord, help us to deliver good news with every basket of food.

Lord, help us to be your love in action!

Amen.