Intro: I know I keep saying this, but did you notice that in the Scripture we had read today, there are 2 groups? 2 – those who go into eternal life, and those who go into eternal punishment. There’s no 3rd group. And the main difference between these groups is the way they treated “the least of these.”
If Jesus says the difference between Heaven and Hell for me is the way I treat a group of people called “the least of these,” I want to know: who are they?!!! Who are “The least of these”?
George Washington Carver once said, “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.” That’s good advice for a good life. But there’s an even more specific list for me straight from the words of Jesus.
I want to especially address that today. Then, for the next 7 weeks, I want to take the CCC family into some very practical, tangible ways we can care for “the least of these.” We’ll detail who those people are, but for today, let’s do the Cliff Notes version, using Mt 25:
Most simply, they are…
1. People in need
1. Hungry
2. Thirsty
3. Strangers. That would mean the person who’s “not from around here”; aliens.
4. Naked – now, that’s a relative term. Let’s say it’s people needing clothing of all kinds.
5. Sick, or feeble. That might include people who are old, or who have mental disease.
6. In prison. People are in prison for different reasons. We’d like to think they’re all just reasons, but that’s not true in 1st Cent. Palestine, and it’s not true in many places today.
That’s “the least of these” that Jesus gives us to consider for our situation. So I did that, and here’s what I notice about this list. The “least of these” are…
2. People the world does not regard
If you’re a worldly person, picking who’s going to be on your dodgeball team, or who you’ll hire for your company, these aren’t the people. If you’re going to have a party, these are the uninvited.
Because, when you start with a worldview that says everything came into existence by meaningless chance, your view of people in the world is shaped by that. In a world where might makes right and where the most fit survive, the ones who matter the most are the ones who contribute the most. Your thinking might be more that way than your realize.
Have you ever found yourself thinking or even saying, “Hey, I contribute a lot here. I deserve to be regarded here.” That just doesn’t fit with this scene in Matthew 25…at all. The attitude that says, “I deserve to be regarded because I contribute” is the same attitude that thinks, “Those who don’t contribute don’t count.”
Isn’t it interesting, in this Scripture, Jesus identifies these people by what they need, not by what they might give?
It isn’t a brand new problem, but it’s a problem in our nation and nations around the world: the least of these are slighted. The smallest of children, yet to be born, aren’t even granted human status in the rhetoric of the media. Then, around the world, little children are trafficked and used as a commodity. The handicapped and the elderly are often cast aside. The poor are denied justice. In India, where nearly 1/5 of the world lives, there is a system you’re born into – the caste system - that presets your place in society for the rest of your life. The people on the low end will just have to stay there, because that’s how they were born.
In Jesus’ economy, your worth doesn’t come from what I can get from you, or even what He can get from you. Think about it: what does anyone bring to Jesus that He needs?
Oh, there are some things that people do that God values and wants from us, but what we often hear and see from Him is a special care for those who are the greatest in need.
James 1:27 (NASB)
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Being the Kingdom of God means we swim against the current of our culture. Our culture says that the least of these are people who have less value.
We can take our cues from the world and think less of these people, or we can listen to Jesus here and realize they are…
3. People Jesus wants us to value
This wasn’t some new idea that Jesus introduced. Do a word search through the Bible sometime. See what God had to say about the poor, the orphan, the widow, the alien and stranger. God valued these people that the world often calls “the least,” so it doesn’t surprise me that Jesus would remind us of it, but He did it in a way that takes it off the paper and puts it into life. Here’s how…
He became one of them
There’s a little note in Lk 2:24 that’s real easy to miss. 50 days after Jesus has been born, His earthly parents are going to the temple to offer a sacrifice, according to the Law. The mother was to bring a lamb and a pigeon or turtledove to sacrifice. If they couldn’t afford a lamb, they were to bring 2 pigeons or turtledoves. Joseph and Mary brought the sacrifice of the person who can’t afford a lamb. Translation: Jesus was born into poverty.
I saw a sign: Please don’t ignore a homeless person and then go worship One on Sunday. What?
Remember how Jesus pointed out that foxes have holes, birds have nests, but He had no place to lay His head? During the years He ministered, at least, Jesus committed Himself to being a homeless person!
Remember how Isaiah described Him?
Isaiah 53 (NASB)
2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men
10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief;…
Nothing special to look at. Nothing to attract us to Him. Someone people reject. Someone Whose life was filled with the sadness and heartache of life.
Doesn’t sound like a rock star, does it? Doesn’t sound like the people who walk the red carpet, or who will be on a magazine cover in the checkout line. This is the guy we don’t want to think about, or even making eye contact with us.
When Jesus came and lived among us, He became one of us, but even more, He became one of those people who is often overlooked, undervalued, or ignored.
He called them His brothers
Another clue that Jesus wants me to care about the least of these is a phrase He uses in
v40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'”
Some people have taken this and tried to say Jesus is speaking about the Jews only, or about His disciples only. I beg to differ. For one thing, this scene in Heaven involves all the nations. And it appears to me that it includes everyone - all of human history, which means people from times and places where there were no Jews and no followers of Jesus. But there have always been people in the world who were “the least.” When Jesus called the least of these “My brothers,” He was saying something we need to ponder.
When you call someone “brother,” you’re saying “I associate with you. We have something in common.” It wasn’t by accident. It was by design. Jesus directed much of the attention of His ministry to people the world despises.
John the Baptist was seeking some reassurance from Jesus that He was the Promised One Who was to come. This is what He said to tell JB:
Matthew 11:4-6 (NASB)
…"Go and report to John what you hear and see: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."
Early in His ministry, Jesus want to visit His hometown of Nazareth, and He was asked to read from Isaiah during worship services in the synagogue. So, He found what we would call ch 61, and read
Luke 4:18-19 (NASB)
18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD."
Jesus wants us to care about the least of these.
OK. It’s fairly safe, isn’t it, to say that I should care about those people because Jesus did? But what if it became a bit less theory and more about doing something? What if the way I treat these people became a test? That’s what happens when I read the rest of this story. The least of these are…
4. People I care for if I love Jesus
If Jesus was here this morning, would you know it? Of course you would. He’d be the one in the white robe, with the blue sash, and with the flowing blond hair! Or maybe there would be a crowd around Him, people looking for an autograph or something. But what if He came in and just looked really ordinary – or even less than ordinary? What if He looked a little odd and out of place?
If Jesus was here,
• Would you scoot over so He could have a good place to sit?
• Would you get up to greet Him and introduce yourself to Him?
• Would you take Him to lunch?
• Would you offer Him a ride to where He was going?
• Would you make sure that He had a place to stay?
• Would you make sure that He had a coat to wear if it’s cold out, or shoes to wear?
You would do that for Jesus, wouldn’t you?
“Oh, but I can’t do all those things for Jesus. Jesus isn’t here.” Or, can I?
Jesus said, “Just as much as you did for these – the least of these – you did for Me.
And just as much as you did not do for these – the least of these – you did not do for Me.”
Is it possible that the way I treat people in need is a direct way I treat Jesus?
Proverbs 19:17 (NASB)
One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.
For me, this makes this whole thing a bit more than just some list of things we ought to do. Jesus is making our kindness to the least of these, or the lack of it, the way we treat Him. And He’s making it an issue that involves where I’ll spend forever. It’s one of those things I kind of wish Jesus hadn’t said! But He did.
On the other hand, here’s something that will help me with this, and I hope will help you as we engage in some specific ways to live this out over the weeks to come…
What if, every time I extend some act of kindness to a person with a need, I picture that I’m serving Jesus? What if I pictured that I’m giving Jesus a hot meal, a cold drink, or helping Him get where He needs to go? What if, every time I went out of my way to help someone else along in life, I imagined I was doing it for Jesus?
I’ll bet I’d be more loving about it. I’d probably be quicker to do it, and I’d worry less about being judgmental and more about being kind. I’d most likely slow down, and start looking for ways that I could help, rather than rushing by and looking away. If all those needs I see from day to day had the face of Jesus on them, how different they would seem to me. That’s what I’m planning to see changed in me over these next weeks.
Conclusion
So, here’s what we’re going to do. Next Sunday is Easter Sunday. The kindest thing you can do for someone is to encourage them to have a relationship with Jesus. So, bring them along.
Then, the next Sunday, April 12th, we’re going to talk about the hungry. There’s something really practical we can do to help hungry people – right here in Rockford. So, we’ll have a list of foods that RRM needs on a regular basis, and on the next Sunday, we’ll bring those with us and pile them right here. That Sunday, we’ll talk about the need for water, and we’ll have a way we can help with that. We’ll challenge our church family to help provide clean water where it’s needed through one of the missions we support: IDES. So, on the 26th, we’ll bring a special offering to help with that. Now, that’s the Sunday we’re going to talk about providing clothing where it’s needed. One of the places it’s needed is the Oblong Children’s Christian Home – another ministry work we support. So, the next Sunday we’re going to ask you to bring specifically needed clothes for Oblong, (May 3) and we’ll pile them up, right here on the stage. May 3rd we’re going to talk about reaching out to strangers. I’m planning to ask the whole church family to jump in with our teens on a project they’re already organizing – a reach out into our community that will be a chance for lots of people to help. We won’t be able to pile that on the stage, but we’ll be asking for some very visible commitments of help that day. There are a couple more groups to help, and some different ways we’ll ask you to participate. We’re going to visit people who are in prison because of their faith by writing letters to them. Somehow, we’re going to extend care to the sick. You get the drift.
This could be very big. It’s “Kind of a big deal!” So, today, I want you to join with me and pray that God will do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine and help us to minister to Jesus as we care for “the least of these.”
