10/14/2007                                                                           Matthew 25: 31-46

“Christians Are To Do What?!”

Rev. Jonathan Rumburg
 

Introduction

            How many of you are fans of “Reality TV”?  Come on, be honest.  How many of you have your favorite reality show that you can’t bear to miss a single moment of because the drama that unfolds and the competition that takes place is so riveting that you can’t bear the thought of missing a moment of it? 

            How many of you are drawn to one participant in particular that you cheer on week after week, and hope and pray they don’t get voted off?  

            Or how many of you tune in each week to see just what grotesque thing someone is going to have to ingest to win the grand prize?

            “Reality TV” shows are addictive to a lot of our culture.  While in seminary by buddy Don and I would gather weekly in my apartment to watch our favorite “Reality TV” show.  It wasn’t Fear Factor because we have weak stomachs.  And it wasn’t even Be the Next Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.  (It wasn’t on back then, but had it been that was what we probably would have watched.)

            We watched, of all things, The Bachelor.  We loved this show.  Each week we would determine, among the remaining hopefuls, who we felt should get a rose from the strapping young bachelor.  Sometimes it was who we felt was the best candidate for our “friend.”  Sometimes it was for other reasons.  But you could rest assured it was never anyone who cried.  If they cried, it was certain Don and I would vote her off.  (We’re guys we don’t know how to deal with crying women.  No guy does.  And that’s a reality!)

            History tells us that these kinds of shows have existed for decades, dating back to shows like Candid Camera that began in the 1940’s.  “Reality TV”, however, really got its grip on society when it started making unthinkable acts and circumstances into a reward possibility.  Soon, droves of people were lining up, ready and willing to perform acts that would have been before seen as unthinkable and humiliating.  All because there was a time limit for such agony and the possibility of a cash pay out when it was over.  

            Reality television turned the question, “You want me to do what?” into the statement “Sure, I’ll do that, for a little while, if you promise to reward me in the end.”

            Such an attitude is similar to the attitude some will often take after reading our text for today.  Many read this text and think, “Great, I just have to do a few things for those less fortunate than me, and I’ll be a sheep at the right hand of God.”

            The reality is—doing something for the least among us is far different that serving the least among us.

Move 1

            You’ve heard me say it many times before, but after hearing our text for today, I’ve got to say again, I love the Disciples.  I love them because we as Christians today can identify with them easier than most of the people we encounter in the Bible.  And this text is just another reason why I love them so much. 

            Their faithfulness drew them to a man most of us would avoid, and a way of life that you and I wouldn’t agree to live unless there was a forty day time limit and a potential million dollar prize for completing it. 

            The faithfulness to follow Jesus and the willingness of the Disciples to leave everything to follow him is an example that we can only hope to emulate in our own lives. 

            But despite their faithfulness to Jesus, and their willingness to follow him any where, they were still so oblivious.  It’s not that they were unwilling to understand Jesus’ teachings and instructions; it’s just that they simply didn’t get them.  But in their defense, often times Jesus’ teachings and instructions just didn’t make sense.

            Take for instance the Sermon on the Mount.  Right from the beginning of his ministry Jesus says and does things that make even the disciples scratch their heads.  The meek shall inherit the earth?  What’s that all about?

            Then throughout the rest of his ministry Jesus uses strange stories with moral meanings and teachings that are obvious, while sometimes not so obvious to those they were directed at, causing wonder and confusion from those who heard it.

            And now in this account, which is thought by some to be a parable but is really an apocalyptical drama about the second coming, we again hear Jesus speaking in such a way that caused the Disciples to scratch their heads and say, “Aaa, what was that Jesus?”

            I love the question they keep asking.  “And when was it…”  “And when was it that we saw you in all these situations, because we’ve been with you for the past three years and we don’t remember you being hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or in prison.”

            Jesus is explaining to the disciples and to us today, the kind of moral, outreaching conduct towards others expected of the faithful, along with the consequences of not caring for others.

Move 2

            It was common practice in Palestine that sheep and goats lived and roamed together.  It was understood, however, that even though both animals were of value and differing importance one held a greater value because of what it offered. 

            Jesus isn’t saying that he loves sheep more than goats.  Rather he is saying that one, because of the greater good they offer, will be revealing his unconditional love to the least among us. 

            As Christians we are all part of Christ’s family, we are all loved by Jesus, and we are all called to do something with our faith.  How we respond to our call determines how we are separated and seen in the eyes of God.

            The “goats”, those who have ignored the least among us, will fail to reveal the unconditional love of Christ, for they have failed to see Christ in others. 

            The “sheep” are the faithful who understand that to serve humanity is to serve Christ, and look and see Christ in each and ever person; no matter how “least” they might be in society’s eyes.  They see that each person is a child of God.

            God called some of the least likely people to ministry, and the disciples are prime examples.  But God used the disciples because they were willing to do what no one else was willing to do or believe.

            Jesus loves sheep and Jesus loves goats.  But when he comes again, Jesus will surely separate the disciples as is they were sheep, for they were willing to do the unthinkable and the potentially humiliating, for any amount of time, without any cash reward at the end.

            But we don’t have to look at just the disciples to guide us toward how we will be separated.  There are plenty of modern day examples as well.

Move 3

            Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine recalled reading, nearly two decades ago, a Washington Post headline that had the current Secretary of State, Ed Meece, stating that there were no longer any hungry people left in America.  Just days later Wallis was at the Sojourners Neighborhood Center working with others at their weekly food pantry, a food pantry that was just a mile and half from the White House.  Outside the center were three hundred families lined up waiting for a grocery bag of food that would be for them, that week, the difference between their family being fed or going hungry.

            Prior to the Center doors being opened, and all the people coming in for their food, those who helped prepare the grocery bags would join hands and pray together.  The prayer on this particular day was offered by Mary Glover, known to be this groups best pray-er.  Wallis explains that she prays like someone who knows to whom she is talking, and that she had been carrying on a conversation with her Lord for many, many years. 

            Wallis talks about that days prayer when he writes, “Mary Glover always first thanks God for another day, ‘Another day to serve you, Lord’ she will say.  And then, on that day, she prayed something that I would never forget.  She prayed these words, ‘Lord, we know that you’ll be coming through this line today so, Lord, help us to treat you well.’”

            God used Mary Glover to help others open their eyes to God in their midst.

            Jesus loves sheep and Jesus loves goats.  But when he comes again, Jesus will surely separate Mary Glover as is she were a sheep, for she saw in each person who society deemed to be less than, the face of Christ.

Move 4

            Bill Glass made a name for himself as an outstanding football player.  He was an All-American at Baylor University, and would go on to join the Cleveland Browns.  He was a member of the 1964 Browns team who beat the Baltimore Colts to win the NFL World Championship one year prior to the first Super Bowl.  He was a four-time Pro Bowl defensive end, and still holds the Browns single season sack record.  He retired in 1969 after 22 years in amateur and professional football without ever missing a practice or game.
            Bill spent the off-season of his Pro Football career attending Southwestern Seminary, and in 1969, at the urging of friend Billy Graham; he founded Bill Glass Ministries, which today is called Champions for Life.  He has authored fourteen books, collaborating on some with our friend Terry Pluto.

            The Champions for Life ministries reaches out to at risk youth, communities, and prisons, and over the last thirty five plus years, God has used Bill and Champions for Life ministries to share Christ in thousands of towns, cities, churches, prisons, and youth facilities across the United States and several foreign countries.  Bill Glass and his ministries have reached out to people and places that most people wouldn’t consider going to unless there was, again, a time limit and cash prize at the end of it.

            Quite recently, however, a member of our church, and an active participant in our Christian Men of Faith group participated in a one day Champions for Life event.  His willingness to participate in such an event, his willingness to go to a place that housed “the least of theses” took him to a juvenile detention center in Massillon.  It wasn’t something that he dreamed of doing at some point in his life, and even up until just days before the Saturday he was to do this, he still was only pretty certain that he would go through with it.  But because he recognized the opportunity that God was pushing him to tend to, he went even though he didn’t completely understand why God was calling him to do this.

            God used a former football star to start a ministry that would reach out to those in need.  And then God used a Fed Ex delivery person from Wadsworth Ohio as a vehicle for that ministry to be taken to “the least of these” among us.

            Jesus loves sheep and Jesus loves goats.  But when he comes again, Jesus will surely separate Bill Glass and Steve Hess as if they were sheep for they were willing to do what they never saw themselves ever doing.

Conclusion

            So what does a Christian have to do to get their “reward” at the end of this reality we call life?  Well, the answer is simple, and it might just surprise you.

            In order to receive God’s grace, in order to receive the reward promised to us through Jesus’ life death and resurrection, in order for a Christian to get everything God has promised, we have to do nothing.  I told you the answer might surprise you.

            Once a Christian we don’t have to do anything else to earn the kingdom of God.  You don’t have to carry a bible with you everywhere you go.  You don’t have to put your money in the offering plate.  You don’t have to go to Sunday school, bible studies, pot luck dinners, Christmas pageants, youth group meetings, retreats or anything else.  You don’t have to go to soup kitchens, food pantries, hospitals, nursing homes, or prisons.  You don’t even have to go to church.  Our debt has already been paid.  Christ already did for us, the least among us, what was needed for such a reward.

            But what we must remember is that when we invite Christ into our lives that we are then called to a way of life that begs us to open ourselves up to whatever God might need from the value that we hold. 

            And then we need to remember that anything we do for others, particularly the least among us, we are really doing to Christ himself.  We must be open to the people that God will bring across our paths and the opportunities we are given to serve those around us.  And we must be open to the possibility that they just might be unthinkable acts and places, which offer us nothing in return.

            “Christians are to do what?!” you might ask.  We’re to quite possibly: do the unthinkable, for the least desirable.  And do it for how ever long God needs us to do it.  And do it for nothing in return.

            It is my prayer, that as you go forth from here this day, that you will ask yourself the question, “As a Christian, what can I do to show the love of Christ to another child of God?”

            Ask that question, and the reality is:  God will use the value you have and the willingness you are offering, to serve the least among us. 

            Amen.