The Second Last Sunday – Sunday 19 November A✠D 2023
✠ Psalmody: Psalm 54:1–2;3–5, 7;50:4, 6;Isaiah 35:10a
✠ Lection: Daniel 7:9-14;2 Peter 3:3-14;St. Matthew 25:31-46
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Son of Man, the Son of God, will come again in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and He will sit on the throne of His glory. Much like our preparation when a guest is coming to our home, especially an honored guest, so may the Final Day bring about both excitement and anxious fear. Is everything in order? Have I prepared well for His arrival? Am I myself prepared and in good order? If our Guest were to be coming as a merciless drill sergeant with an eye for the slightest wrinkle in the covers upon our made-up bed, then our preparation is likely to be a frantic, worrisome one, for we do not want to receive His ire. But if we know our Guest well, love Him, and desire to be with Him and Him with us, then any such anxiety would be similar to how we desire our own close loved-ones most of all to be comfortable and pleased to spend time with us.
Almighty King Jesus is coming again. What must you do to be ready for the return of this glorious King of Kings? This question never really passes out of the mind of the Christian. It’s not necessarily what and all that we think about, for we would get nothing else at all done if that were the case. It is simply a comforting truth that we aim not to forget, by which we order our days, and go about the tasks at hand knowing that at any second of any day, the arrival of our beloved Bridegroom could draw oh so bright and near. So, how does this text from Matthew 25 help us to understand what we are to be doing in preparation? How do we prepare for His glorious coming?
We must first not worry about that Day and instead dispel all unrighteous fear, for if you fear that you will not measure up on the Final Day, then you are not properly fearing God. Fear Him as you would fear disappointing a person in your life whom you greatly love and want to please. As loved ones in our home, we don’t fret as to whether we will receive their judgement as to whether we should be shot because the pork loin was under-seasoned, the green beans cold, the thermostat too high, or the couch saggy. We want them not to experience any of those things not because we unrightfully fear those people, but because we love them and desire to make their pleasure our own.
Likewise, when the King comes again to separate the sheep from the goats, we will not be sheep by our doing, for what lamb in the womb has ever chosen to be a lamb? It is God Who has made us and all creatures in the flesh. And more so, it is Him by Whom all who are made to be His sheep, that is, those with living faith in Him unto salvation, are made to be so. He transforms us from being outside His fold to belonging in it with eternal identities as the sheep, as the children, of God. Therefore, beloved of the Lord, do not fear the coming of your King.
The beauty of the Christian’s preparedness for the Last Day comes through how God situates us in life; in opportunities with which He presents us. It is an extreme rarity for any human being to be stranded alone on an deserted island, meaning that God intends us to live with one another. Just the fact alone that life begats life proves that God has others in mind when He makes us. God doesn’t need our good works; our neighbor does. The King’s judgement of the sheep and the goats also reveals this wonderful truth. The sheep were commended for showing themselves to be sheep by how they served others. Again, their works, listed here as giving food, drink, welcoming the stranger, giving clothing, visiting the sick and the imprisoned; these works aren’t what earned them sheep-dom, but were pieces of evidence that they were truly God’s sheep for that is what God’s sheep do. They have the forgiveness of Christ enlightening their hearts. They have the Holy Spirit leading them in Godly love for one another.
The point of Christ’s list isn’t for you to have specific checkmarks to knock off your good works sheet, but to draw your attention to how serving your neighbor, especially those of the household of faith, is a good and ever-lasting work that will follow you into the life to come, things not-so-seemingly-monumental. Notice that Jesus did not list among good works the giving of a brand new, paid-for house, or a cruise around the world, or a lifetime supply or bacon or ribeye steaks. Those things are good, quite monumental, but the real difference we make in each other’s lives comes in the seemingly small acts. Just last week, we gathered as a Christian family around a potluck meal after feasting together on immortality. Many of you spent valuable time preparing something to bring to share with others. That is a good work. But even if we were all dirt poor and gathered around three slices of bread to cut up and share among us, we should not discount the gift of time and interest in each other. The food at the potluck was great. Being together, talking about and living real, in-person life together was even better and was a service to one another. Bring that back into the Divine Service, and you will see that it is even a good work toward your brothers and sisters when you are here in church with them. It is an encouragement just to see you and to have you here; to sing with you; to worship with you; to feast with you.
Similarly, I cannot estimate to you all the value of the treasure that my family received in the enduring days and nights of Eva’s hospital room. By your acts of love and kindness (food, emails, texts, phone calls, visits, prayers; obvious, genuine care) she and the other three of us were served in ways worth more than all the gold that could fill our church building. It’s those things to which you should strive. It’s those things that exemplify the love of God that is within you as Christ’s sheep. Show that love every time the good Lord gives you a chance and know that you’re given a surefire opportunity as you come to this family gathering every week. Focus, practice it here and it will spill out into your week. Let us build one another up to our heavenly Father’s good pleasure.
The opportunities for you to do these good works are almost entirely unique and endless at the same time. No one lives the exact life that you do except you, and your good works need not be colossal acts of notoriety that gain you recognition. Love for the neighbor plays out most effectively in the steady, kind, even if very brief things that you do for those that God places into your lives.
If you want to be ready for the Son of Man when He comes in His glory, cherish the moments, have the conversations, speak the encouragement, give the time, and take the opportunities that you may to be a redeemed, living, loving person to your neighbor at all times, but especially when he is in need. This is how you can spend the time ahead of you getting ready for your Savior’s return.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.