Real Christianity
Matt.25: 31-46
nOTE: Some materials of this sermon are taken from sermoncentral.com
What is Christianity? It is a religion of love –love to God expressed in loving and serving people. Serving people out of their needs is the hallmark and the essence of the ministry of Jesus. When the crowds were gathered around Him, he addressed them and said: “Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He came to serve the people out of their needs. So in Acts 10: 38, Peter reported that “Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”
Moreover Luke tells us that Jesus taught His followers: “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, that lame, the blind” (Luke 14: 13). Jesus conducted His ministry in this way because that was what God had always said He wanted of His people to do. He modeled and taught us what serving people is all about. He would like us to understand that God wants us to be a serving Christians, a serving Church. This is the clear emphasis of the parable given by our Lord in our text this morning.
In our passage, the Lord spoke about His second coming where everyone would face Him to be judged. In a parabolic way, He tells us that like a shepherd, He will separate the “goats” from the “sheep,” one group in His right side and the other group in His left side. The sheep were commended and rewarded, while the goats were rebuked and condemned. Who are these goats and who are these sheep?
Most of us are familiar with these domestic animals. Sheep and goats are often seen together in the same grounds. Farmers, ranchers, and herdsmen usually allow them to graze and roam in the same field. Of course, it is pointless, redundant, work and money for the owners to place them in different fields. Sheep and goats are free to wander, mingle, and associate. The goats and the sheep are the people in the world.
Now, what the Lord is clearly indicating here is that there are two kinds of people who will face Him in the judgment day. The sheep represent those who lived their lives in a way that God wanted it to be. They will receive God’s commendation and reward. Whereas, the goats represent those who never lived their lives as God intended it to be. They will receive God’s rebuke and condemnation. Their attitudes to life and towards other people determine the judgment and eternal destiny they receive.
Was the Lord teaching salvation by works here? No, rather He is teaching us what true and genuine Christianity is. He is teaching us how we ought to live our faith out if we are truly His followers. A close examination of this parable will pose a solemn question for us all to ponder: “Are we showing the fruit of real Christianity?” Someone rightly said: “A Christian may be undeveloped, but not unrecognizable.”
A. REAL BELIEVERS ARE KNOWN BY WHAT THEY DO
To warn His disciples about false teachers the Lord said: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” However, the principle in this statement is also applicable in determining true or phony Christianity. We are known by our actions. People will recognize us by what we do.
Just to remind you again about the doctrine of salvation, the Word of God teaches us that: “Jesus saved us, not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Again it says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast.” In other words, we can’t buy our way into heaven by doing good deeds. Practically, this is a good thing, because it would drive us nuts to try to figure out if we’d ever done good things enough to be acceptable.
Good deeds are but the fruit of our salvation. Good deeds don’t make us a Christian. But if we really are a real Christian…good deeds will be the flower –the fruit –of your faith.
On the other hand, many people undermine the importance of doing good deeds. Our religions say sin is doing what is wrong or bad. But according to the Bible, sin is not merely doing what is wrong, but also failing to do what is right or good. Sin is not merely a bad deed committed but a right thing omitted. Theologically, the practice of wrongdoing is the sin of commission, and the failure to do right is the sin of omission. James 4:17 explains it saying, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
When we think of Sodom and Gomorrah, we think they were destroyed because of the sin of homosexuality. But that was just part of their wickedness. The prophet Ezekiel told Israel there was more to their iniquity than just that one sin “…this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” They do nothing about the misery and the sufferings of the poor and needy.
A lot of people think they are good people merely because they are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. Some people assert that they have not as much as hurt a fly in their life. Jesus met a ruler who asked Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “You know the commandments: ’Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’“ The ruler responded, “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” Jesus then said, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, and did nothing (Luke 18:18-23).
The goats are people who have perfected the art of doing nothing. They won’t hinder, hurt or harm anyone but they won’t help others to survive or succeed either. They won’t endanger people, but they won’t enable, encourage or empower others either. They are worse than the minimalists, who do the barest minimum or exert the least effort. The goats say, “What can one person like me do?” “There are too many needy people in the world,” or “Why me? Why not others?” The sheep, on the other hand, are proactive, positive, and practical. They were a balm to people’s pain. Their motto is, “If I cannot help all, I will help one.”
Now notice that Jesus used the singular “stranger” (v 35). It means that He did not ask a lot from caregivers, just to serve one. You see, being kind to the poor and downtrodden and doing good deeds to them were central to what God had always asked of His people. In the Gospels there are three times that Jesus was described as hungry, but he never asked His disciples to feed Him; instead, He wants the favor should be transferred in His name to the needy. God expected it so much that, in this passage, we see that He condemned those who failed to it. And God has a promise: “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
B. REAL BELIEVERS ARE KNOWN BY WHAT THEY FEEL
In verse 37-40 Jesus said: “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, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Jesus’ compassion for people is well attested to in the Gospels. Other than the three occurrences of the word “compassion” in the narrated parables, the other nine occurrences of the word “compassion” in the Gospels that occurred in real life refer to none other but Jesus’ compassion –to the two blind men, to a leper, to a demon-possessed man, to a widow, and to the crowd. Twice he fed a crowd because He had compassion on them. He taught and fed the 5,000 because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He fed the 4,000 because the crowd that was with him for three days had nothing to eat, and He did not want to send them away hungry, or they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.
Feeding people was not Jesus’ full-time job; His mission was to preach the gospel. However, His compassion moved him to act. Surprisingly, compassion is not a word in the Bible; it is an activity or a movement. There are concrete Greek words for mercy, but no specific term for compassion. The word used in Greek for compassion is the word for bowels. So, compassion is an urging of the bowels, the yearnings of the bowels – the got to go, got to go right now feeling! Something is eating, paining, and kneeing you inside to cause you to take action. You cannot walk, stand, or sit unless you do something!
Anyway, when it comes to helping, giving or doing good deeds to the needy, the Lord Jesus did not say that we have to give till it hurts. He is not asking us to feel huge responsibility, great guilt, or noble sentiment for others, but to feel touched, moved or prodded inside by the plight of others in need, to be troubled enough to do, offer, or attempt something. He is not asking for love or affection for them, but enough concern and thoughtfulness to quiet the stomach of others and to quench their thirst. He is not seeking for name brand or custom design clothes, just what is usable. He is asking you to care, not heal. He is not asking you to stay in prison with them. You don’t have to feel loving, you just have to feel uneasy. Jesus is not asking for selfless acts or bleeding hearts, just to lift a finger or lend a hand. God expects us to show compassion.
C. REAL BELIEVERS ARE KNOWN BY WHAT THEY REPRESENT
Illustration:
For more than 20 years, a man was able to fool patients and doctors alike. He assumed the identity of a doctor even though he had no diploma or medical license. He learned surgery by practicing on chicken. But after two decades of impersonating a doctor, the man was discovered and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Those who are not who they are, those who do not belong where they are, and those who are not who they claim to be will surely suffer rebuke.
Verse 41-46 says, “Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The goats might be people who think or even claim to belong to God or claim to be followers of Jesus. But they were not who they are and they are not who they claim to be. Their actions prove it. Their indifference and negligence to extend something that would somehow alleviate the pains of those who are suffering give proof that they are indeed phony. They are like the fig which the Lord condemned and proclaimed not to bear fruit again. The Lord was hungry, but when he went up to a fig tree, he found nothing but leaves. The goats represent nothing. They have no fruit to present. So they were rebuked and condemned.
A Christian has something to present. He stands for righteousness, good deeds, and compassionate service. He is identifiable by his works. He may be unenthusiastic or undeveloped, but he is recognizable. He can even be unpredictable and unfathomable, undiscriminating, inconsistent, but he is distinguishable. A christian can be introverted and individualistic, but he is not inactive. He is doing something that has the name of Jesus on it. Finally, a real christian understands that ministering to Jesus is doing what He is doing: that is ministering to others.
