"How Will We Serve Christ in 2016?"
Matthew 25:31-45
I think this is a very appropriate passage of Scripture to look at as we come to the end of a year, and prepare for a new one.
The reason I say this is that Jesus is filling in the metaphors of the parables that come before it.
"This is what it looks like to stay awake when the Master comes at an unexpected time."
"This is what it means to bring extra oil for the long nights of waiting."
In verses 31-46 "the oil has become food and drink, clothing, empathy, compassion, hospitality, love."
"This is what it means for us to invest our talents while the Master is away.
We are to invest them in those persons who have nothing to eat or drink, those who are naked and sick, those who are strangers or imprisoned--those who probably will not increase our stock portfolio nor the amount that we get in the offering plate."
"It won't bring us the money to build a fancier building.
I won't get a raise.
But the payoff is worth so much more than all that!!!"
The payoff is that whatever we have done for our fellow human beings--we have done it for Christ!!!
And this is what I believe God continues to call this Church to do.
We are to feed the hungry in our neighborhood and community, we are to visit those who are sick and in prison, we are to clothe the naked, we are to give a drink to the thirsty!!!
18 years ago, I owned a rock and roll tee-shirt shop--named Rock Bottom Imports--in a mall in Syracuse, New York.
The mall was located right next to the biggest high school in the city, and so, after school got out--the mall--and my store had an explosion of teenagers.
Even while school was going on, a number of kids would skip class and come hang out all day in my store.
On the weekends parents, who used the mall as a baby sitter, would drop their kids off and the kids would come and be in my store all day.
The skateboard kids loved Rock Bottom Imports.
Skateboards weren't allowed in the mall, but they were allowed in my store.
So the first place the skater kids would come when they got to the mall was--Rock Bottom Imports.
15 or 20 of them would walk in at a time, all handing me their skateboards which I would store behind the counter for them as they went to the movies, roamed the halls or whatever.
Lots of kids spent a lot of time talking to me in my store.
And my customers weren't the preppy, popular kids.
My customers were the burn-outs, the marginalized, those failing out of school, those whose lives at home were basically a living hell.
As I got to know these kids, I came to love them and care about them...
...and worry about them.
My store was doing pretty well.
And at the time, my biggest seller, by far was Marilyn Manson, who had recently come out with his big hit album: "Anti-Christ Superstar."
I sold more Marilyn Manson tee-shirts, hats, patches, watches, stickers--you name it--than any other band combined.
One night I was watching the MTV Music Video Awards, and Marilyn Manson was playing.
On stage, he got up in something which looked like a pulpit, for he claimed to be a minister in the church of Satan.
He ripped up a Bible and screamed at the crowd: "Christians are a scourge on this earth.
And who would want to go to heaven anyway, you'd just be surrounded by a bunch of _______" you can fill in the blanks.
This really got me.
I was very convicted.
"This is the guy who these precious, troubled kids look up to as a role model.
This is the guy that I am making a living off of selling his merchandise in my store.
At the very least, I don't want to be part of the problem."
So, that night, I made a pact with myself.
I wasn't sure whether I would keep it or not, but I decided I wouldn't sell anymore Marilyn Manson merchandise in my store.
I kept that resolution, and with that decision--my Christian faith, which I'd been struggling with for a number of years, came roaring back to life.
And I decided that I would finally follow God's call and go to seminary in order to become a pastor.
I went into the ministry because of a strong desire to try and make a positive difference in this world--in order for my life to count for something good.
I didn't go into the ministry to get rich, serve a fancy church, etc, etc.
And being faithful to Jesus Christ means that we forsake the direction our lives were going for the sake of love for God and neighbor.
Remember when Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is?
His answer was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind...and...You must love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands."
Isn't that what Matthew 25:31-46 is about?
It's about loving God and loving people.
And the two can't be separated.
Whatever we do for others, we do it for Jesus.
Whatever we don't do for others, we don't do it for Jesus.
This is the prophetic message of the Church: When we read the prophets of the Old Testament, we are confronted with this same powerful message.
Amos, writing in the 9th century before Christ, railed against the abuses of the ruling class in light of the extreme poverty in Israel.
Jeremiah continually reminded the people that justice was measured by how they treated the widows, orphans, and the foreigners in their land.
Isaiah spoke about a messiah who would come and stand up for the poor and oppressed.
And of course Micah exhorted the people to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
Love in action is at the core of the prophetic message.
Amos even took on the religious festivals, the special offerings, and the religious services to God--because the love of the people had grown cold.
Speaking for God he declared in the 5th chapter of Amos: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
I will not accept your offerings; I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your hymns and I will not listen to the melody of your instruments.”
What does God want: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Jesus reminds us that we are to serve “the least of these”, and in doing so we are serving Christ.
James continues this prophetic message: “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
It is not enough to "say" we are Christians and then to keep running after the world--running after fool's gold.
It is not enough to hear the words of Jesus or just carry a Bible around with us and not hear the cry of the needy.
It is not enough to say you believe in what the Bible says.
Christian faith requires action.
Christian faith believes that God wants something better for God’s creation.
Christian faith is a call to a radical new life.
Christian faith comes to life by the way we live, not merely as individuals but as a Church.
The prophets were killed because of this message.
Jesus was scorned for hanging out with the social outcasts, for healing on the Sabbath, for loving the "least of these."
When the Church has properly lived according to Christ's teaching our history is rich.
When the Church does not shrink from the social evils of its day, but finds wisdom and courage to pursue social righteousness our history is rich indeed.
• It is the history of the underground church in Germany that bravely stood up to Nazism in the 1930’s and paid the price as martyrs.
• It is the history of the thousands of Christians who said that racial discrimination in this country was evil and that God says “no” to oppression.
• It is also a quiet history… the history of Clarence Jordan, who in 1942 founded Koinonia farm… retranslated the gospels into the “Cottenpatch Gospel” and through his efforts to enable people to escape poverty--birthed Habitat for Humanity.
• It includes the history of Donaldina Cameron who bravely stood up to the exploitation and enslavement of young Chinese women in San Francisco, starting a shelter in 1874 that is still at work today--Cameron House.
• It a history of women and men through the ages who have sacrificed in the name of Christ for others, to make the world a better place--because of love for God and neighbor.
And then there is our story.
Our challenge is to be the Church which lives according to Christ's teaching today--here in East Ridge and North Georgia.
What will that look like in 2016?
How will we write a new chapter in the Church's history this year?
Will you be here for it?
Will you help write it?
Will you invite others to come write it with us?
