Gospel in a Nutshell

Gospel in a Nutshell A sermon on Matthew 25: 31-47 by Dwight A. Moody Providence Baptist Church, Hendersonville NC   Our learning text today is a familiar and influential story. Jesus sits on his throne, separates the people like sheep and goats, sends some to hell, welcomes others to heaven. A revival preacher took this as his text on a Thursday night of a week-long revival. Before he preached, a man sang the familiar song, “The King is Coming.” After they finished, an invitation was given, and I walked the aisle to announce my call to the work of gospel preaching. Here I am, 57 years later, and I am still at it! Here we are, reading this text and watching yet another war in the Middle East. Every time that happens, like 1948, 1967, and 1973, people pull out this text and start talking about the end of the world. That is because this story—of the sheep and the goats and the great judgment morning—comes at the end of what we call The Great Prophetic Sermon of Jesus. It fills two chapters in Matthew, 24 and 25. It begins with the exchange, “You see these great stones of the temple? Not one will be left upon another.” Jesus then predicts the destruction of the temple and all Jerusalem. He advises his followers to leave Jerusalem. He says hard times are coming. Then he says this “After these things, the sign that the son of man is coming will appear in the heavens and there will be deep mourning among all the people on the earth. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out his angels and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world.” “No one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only God knows.” Verse 36. Except a bunch of evangelists and preachers in the late 20th century and early 21st century, in the United States of America. They will know, clearly. For they will write books, convene conferences, and design charts to explain all of it; and thousands of people will buy their books, attend the meetings, and memorize their charts. Not only that: this vision of the end of the world, of the final judgment, of the battle of Armageddon will drive foreign policy for the United States of America. “We must stand with Israel because they are God’s chosen people.” That is the refrain that rings in pulpits and studios around the country. So, millions of people watch in horror as Israel bombs hospitals and schools and churches, killing more than 10,000 people; we watch and are paralyzed because to speak against the war is to speak against Israel, and to speak against Israel and Netanyahu is the same as speaking against God. We enter yet another season celebrating the birth of the prince of peace while our soldiers and sailors gather in force around the Middle East, as yet another population of people is reduced to homelessness and poverty, pain and suffering, as playgrounds are turned into graveyards. All around us, preachers see this not as tragedy but as the fulfillment of prophecy, much of it based on this Great Prophetic Sermon of Jesus. I. Today, I want to offer you, instead, the gospel in a nutshell. The walnut is one of many nuts and many other foods that comes packaged in a shell. Others are packaged in a peel, like the grapefruit, the orange, and the banana. In order to get to the food, the edible part of the plant, we must remove the peel or crack open the shell. That is the case here, with these stories, in this text. Instead of predicting some far removed future, perhaps they can coach us about today; instead of focusing our attention on the end of the world, perhaps this gospel in a nutshell can direct us about the beginning of the week. Instead of pushing the gospel word onto world history, this gospel in a nutshell will shape the way our personal history plays out today and tomorrow and every day this week, not in the Middle East but in western North Carolina. Yes, the shell is in the form of a story. There are four stories, one in chapter 24 and three in chapter 25. Jesus includes all four in this Great Prophetic Sermon to teach us something about life and gospel and salvation. He wants to pull our attention away from the end of the world and help us focus on the beginning of a new day, a new week, a new month. His concern is always what is before us, immediately, not what lies so far ahead all we have is wild imagination. We have real life experiences, real life situations, and real life expectations that confront us today, this afternoon, in the morning. We have little time to fantasize about some events far in the future; we have too many pressing things today, and that is what the gospel is about. First, there is the story of the fig tree, a warning about the fall of Jerusalem, which happened a few decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Second, there is story of the wedding, of the people who were not ready because they had ignored what needed to be done today and tomorrow to get ready for a big event. Third, Jesus told the story of three servants, one of whom neglected to use the resources the master had provided to make a living; he was too fearful of the day of judgment that he failed to seize the day of opportunity. Finally, there is this story, our text for the day, the story of the Great Judgement Day, when all people will come before the throne and hear an assessment of what they had done on all the ordinary days of their lives. As it turns out, the judge (called the Son of Man) was less attentive to things planned for the end of the world and more concerned about things needed every day of the week. II. Let’s crack open this nutshell. It is a story. The Son of Many comes in all his glory, whatever that means. All the nations of the world are gathered before him, whatever that means. The Son of Man will separate the nations and all the people into a group on his left and a group on his right, whatever that means. To those on his right, he will bless and usher into the kingdom, whatever that means, and to those on his left, he will curse and push into hell, whatever that means. Finally, we get to something that we understand. The Son of Man, in all his glory, says to one group: “You are blessed because I was hungry, and you fed me.” We know what that means. “I was thirsty, and you gave me water to drink.” We know what that means. “I was naked, and you clothed me, and sick and you healed me.” We know what that means. “I was incarcerated, and you attended to me.” We know what that means. “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me into your home, your church, your circle of care.” We know what that means, don’t we? There is a great deal about this entire Great Prophetic Sermon we do not understand, but here at the conclusion, we know what these things mean. It is just like the human spirit, to get all caught up in things that are puzzling, and strange, and open to imagination, while ignoring things that are clear, and practical, and familiar. Feed the hungry. Welcome the stranger. Heal the sick. This is the gospel in a nutshell. II. If Jesus were in the Middle East today, where would he be? Would he be in the war room of the Israeli military? Would he be in the tunnels of Hamas? Would Jesus be on an American aircraft carrier, scanning the radar for missiles and such? Would he be in Aman, Jordan, or Cairo, Egypt, orchestrating ways to stay detached and uninvolved? I don’t think so, and neither do you. Jesus would be in the slums of Gaza, wiping tears and blood from the faces of children. Jesus would be in the kibbutzim of Israel, burying the beheaded and sheltering the small children from their butchers. Jesus would be in the hospitals of Gaza binding up the wounds of Arab and Jew, of Christian and Muslim, of soldier and surgeon. Jesus would be unloading trucks of supplies and passing out meals to those who had not eaten in days. There is a picture making the rounds on the internet. I wish I had a large screen here. I would show this picture, of Jesus walking away from us; all we see is his back side. His hands are extended around the shoulders of two teenage boys, one wearing the yarmulke of the Jew and the other wearing the keffiyeh of the Arab. That is the gospel in a nutshell. This is not the word for some end of the world scenario; this is the word for today and tomorrow. This is not the word just for Gaza; this is the word for New York, and Rio De Janeiro; for Seattle and for Seoul, Korea; for Hamburg, German, and Hendersonville, NC; for Kiev, Ukraine as well as Moscow, Russia. Does Jesus even notice the different languages? I don’t think so, because he is listening to the yearnings of the heart: for peace, and joy, for something to eat and somewhere to rest. Does Jesus even notice the different religions and their distinctive dress and their peculiar practices? I don’t think so, because he is feeling the desire for friendship, and family, and community. Jesus is moving through town, this town, every town, helping people sing for joy and live with hope. Jesus is on the side of the people, not the generals, not the prime ministers, not the gunners. Jesus wants what people want: a place to be and flourish, an opportunity to eat and dance, and sing and pray, a day of rejoicing rather than a day of running. II. On the south bank of the Ohio River, down from Louisville and across from Evansville, sits Owensboro, Kentucky. It is where my dad was born and raised, and in more recent years, home to the reigning United States pickleball champion. Out east of town, on highway 60 and near the banks of the Ohio River is an historical plaque, marking the spot where, in 1830, Josiah Henson took his wife and small children from the slave cabins in Kentucky down to the river and paid a man to take them to free country in Indiana and Ohio. They made their way up the freedom trail to Canada, walking 600 miles. He wrote and published his story in 1849, called The Life of Josiah Henson. Three years later, he met Harriet Beecher Stowe, who had read his book. She used him and his story as the basis for her famous and influential book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Which explains why chapter nine features a U S Senator Bird of Ohio and his wife Mary, talking about the recently passed Fugitive Slave Act. That federal bill forbade any American from giving assistance and aid to any fugitive slave. “On the present occasion, Mrs. Bird rose quickly, with very red cheeks, which quite improved her general appearance, and walked up to her husband, with quite a resolute air, and said, in a determined tone. Quote: “Now, John I want to know if you think such a law as that is right and Christian?” “You won’t shoot me, now Mary, if I say I do!” “I never could have thought it of you, John. You didn’t for vote it?” “Even so, my fair Politician.” “You ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It’s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I’ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do. Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can’t give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things. “But, May, just listen to me.  You feelings are all quite right, dear, and interesting, and I love you for them; but, then dear, we mustn’t suffer our feelings to run away with our judgement; you must consider it’s a matter of private feeling,–there are great public interests involved,–there is such a state of public agitation rising, that we must put aside our private feelings.” “Now, John,” she says, “I don’t know anything about politics, but I can read my Bible; and there I see that I must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate; and that Bible I mean to follow.” There, in a nutshell, is the gospel as it is applied to life around us. That woman, Mary Bird, wife of a U S Senator had read her Bible, this very story, this final piece of The Great Prophetic Sermon of Jesus. She understood what it meant for her, in her time, in her situation. We also read this story. We understand what it means for today and tomorrow. We may not fathom how it figures into the end of the world or the Great Judgment Morning or whatever. But we understand what it means for today and tomorrow, for us and our neighbors, and for those who come our way today and tomorrow. This is the gospel in a nutshell. III. In the story of Jesus, the people who receive the blessing say to the judge of all the earth, “When did we see you naked and give you clothes, or when did we see you thirsty and give you drink? When were you a stranger or incarcerated and sick? When did we ever do these things to you? Then shall the Son of Man answer, as given in the New Living Translation, “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!” Some narrow-minded teachers contend that these “brothers and sisters” were just the Jews, and that our command to feed the hungry and clothe the naked pertains just to Jews, which is another justification they give for always giving the preference to those of the Jewish race and religion. But this cannot be further from the truth of the gospel. Yes, it intensifies the Christian desire to support Israel, whatever that nation chooses to do, and justifies it by quoting this and other parts of the Bible. But this reading and this application goes against everything intrinsic to the gospel and to the bible. The wife of the senator of Ohio had it right. She quotes this gospel in a nutshell here in Matthew 25 and she applies it to her social and political situation. “I can read my bible,” she says, “and that Bible I mean to follow.” I agree. That Bible and that gospel I mean to follow. And so do you! What is that Bible and that Gospel calling you to do and be today?