Christ the King Sunday 2005
Sunday before Thanksgiving 2005
Dr. Paul G. Humphrey
A man urgently needed to get to town. So he went to a neighbor who happened to be a pastor and asked to borrow his horse. The pastor obliged but told the man that there were some special instructions required for riding this particular horse. The preacher said, “since we need to begin our prayers with thanksgiving and praise, I have taught the horse to go when he hears the words ‘thank you God.’” The preacher continued, “since we end our prayers with ‘amen,’ I have taught the horse to stop when he hears the word amen.”
The pastor asked the man if he understood, and the man answered, “sure.”
The man got on the horse and said, “Thank God.” The horse began to move. He said it again. And the horse moved faster. He said Thank God once more and the horse was in a gallop.
About that time the man realized that he is headed straight for a cliff. He yelled Whoa! But the horse didn’t even slow down. He starts yelling, “stop, whoa, retreat,” but for the life of him could not remember what to say to get the horse to stop. Finally, only feet from the edge of the cliff them man remembered. He shouted “amen.” With that, the horse dug in with all fours, stopping only inches from the edge of the cliff. Wiping his forehead, the man said? . . . (congregation in masse) “Thank God!”
This is Christ the King Sunday, and also the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We each have so much to be thankful for. And as followers of Jesus we need to say thank God, and we also need to express our thankfulness through our actions.
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at a series of parables about the Second Coming of Christ. Each of the parables that we have looked at depict One of great importance, a Bride Groom, or a Master, who is away and will return at an unexpected hour. Each of these parables show us those who were prepared, and those who were not prepared for his coming. Great judgment ensued in each of these parables.
This morning we are looking at the fourth of these parables, the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.
Matthew
25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats:
25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the
left.
In this parable, we have no need to determine who it is that is coming. It is Jesus and all of his holy angels are coming with him. He is going to divide his sheep from the goats. Notice in verse 32, that it says “his sheep,” but does not say “his goats.” They are “the goats.” Do we have any goats here this morning? I hope not. I hope that each and every one of us are sheep that belong to the King. I know that I can sometimes act like a goat. But, when I do so, I am usually reminded, shaken, shouted at, “quit that!” . . . you are a child of the King!
In our parable, the King comes and divides “his sheep” from “the goats.” He sets his sheep on his right and the goats on the left.
25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world:
That Kingdom is a real heaven. If you think that God has given you blessings here, just wait till you see what is in store for you. The Bible tells us that eye has not seen nor ear heard what Jesus has in store for us. He tells them why they are going to be there:
25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye
gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in
prison, and ye came unto me.
25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
clothed thee?
25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Every time you reach out to someone in need, you are in as much doing it to Christ. And, those who Jesus is speaking to do not even realize the significance or impact of the good that they have done.
25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels:
We saw heaven just a moment ago, now we are looking at a far different place. This place of everlasting fire was not even prepared for human beings, but people are going to be there. He tells them why they are going to be there:
25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and
ye gave me no drink:
25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me
not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not minister unto thee?
25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
righteous into life eternal.
This parable draws a picture of persons who did the will of God, and those who failed to do the will of God in living a life of love toward others.
Those gathered on his right gave what was right. Those on the left gave what was left, and there was nothing left. A while back, I had on our sign, “Give God what is right, not what is left.” The truth of the matter is that if we fail to give God what is right, there usually isn’t anything left.
I would say to you this morning, if you give God what is right there will always be plenty left.
On this Sunday before Thanksgiving, we need to realize that we have a lot to be thankful for. Every thing that we have comes from the hand of God. And, as people saved by grace, we need to share our gifts.
Oswald Sanders said, “The basic question is not how much of our money we should give to God, but how much of God’s money we should keep for ourselves.” Sanders says this regarding money, but the same can be said for all of the gifts that God gives to us. He asks for our first fruits, our best.[1]
Two little boys were each given a box of chocolates by their grandfather. The first boy grabbed his box and ran with it into his bedroom and ate it all as fast as he could, smearing chocolate all over his face. The other little boy unwrapped his package there in front of his grandfather. He opened the box and looked at all the candies. He then raised the box to his grandfather saying, “Thank you for giving me this candy. Here. You have the first piece.” [2]
Every blessing that we have is a gift from God. With all that we have, be it money, possessions, abilities, even just our presence to encourage another who is sick or in trouble, we can choose to use all of those blessings for ourselves or we can choose to share them with others.
He calls for our first and best.
R.T. Kendall was a longtime minister at Westminster Chapel in London. He wrote that after he and his wife married, they found themselves hopelessly in debt. Tithing seemed utterly impossible to them. Some of the bills that they had could not be helped, and others were the consequence of impurdence. Kendall worked in the secular world at the time. He came home from work one day very discouraged. He fell on his knees in a sense of desperation, hoping that God would give him a ray of light that would help him through. There on the dining room table lay a large, white Bible that his grandmother had given him. He picked it up and opened it at random. Instantly his eyes fell on the words “Will a man rob God?”
He didn’t like what he saw, not one bit. So, he closed the Bible and sat down to watch television (the television he still owed for). But he was perfectly miserable. He knew that God wanted him to begin tithing, but he postponed it for a while longer; and in the meantime things went from bad to worse. He said, “although my wife and I were both working, it seemed that paying our bills was like dipping a cup into the ocean of debt.”
Then one day they made a turn. They took 10 percent of their income right off the top, making tithing the number one priority. He paid their bills with the remaining 90 percent. He said, “We were not out of debt in weeks, but we were completely out of debt in less than two years, and those days became the happiest we have known.” [3]
It is true that the Bible tells us to bring our tithes to the temple and that we will be blessed here on earth. But I call you to something so much greater.
There are many in our world today who preach only a prosperity gospel. There is truth in the prosperity gospel, but the essence of it is a total focus on self.
I call you to look upon your gifts to God, be they financial, or reaching out to help someone physically, or even helping someone through visiting and encouraging. I call you to look upon all of these things, not in terms of what we might get in return here on this earth, or even in heaven. I call you to serve the Living God, because of love.
Looking at the parable one might say, we are saved by grace, and not works. This is a true statement, we are saved by grace and not works, but we are saved unto good works.
Jesus doesn’t seem to feel compelled to tell us that on every corner. Matter of fact, these parables show people being judged for their works or lack thereof. Yet, if you read further into the word, you soon see the fullness of salvation. It is a free gift, purchased at a great price. It is more valuable than any other thing that we could know. And, yet that salvation is measured here on this earth.
We are not saved just because we bear good fruit, but because we have become good trees. If we are saved, then we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We are enabled to do good works because we are saved. We are born again. Look for a moment with me to Matthew 7:17.
Matthew
7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt
tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.
7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.
7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
We are known by our works. And, we are able to work because of the type of tree that we have become.
7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven.
7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and
in thy name done many wonderful works?
7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from
me, ye that work iniquity.
These persons would be the religious elite. Not just anybody could prophesy or drive out demons… and yet, Jesus says to this group, “I never knew you.” They had all of the outward religious trappings, but it seems that they had no love in their hearts. It seems that their ministries simply served themselves. What a terrible thing for a person to live their entire life as the religious elite, and at the end of days hear the King say, “I never knew you.”
How many times have we seen the King?
And, are we truly thankful for our blessings, I mean, thankful enough to return what we are called to return?
Once upon a time there was a man who had nothing, and God gave him ten apples.
• He gave him the first three apples to eat.
• He gave him the second three apples to trade for
shelter from the sun and rain.
• He gave him the third three apples to trade for
clothing to wear.
• He gave him the last apple so that he might have
something to give back to God to show his
gratitude for the other nine.
• The man at the first three apples.
• He traded the second three for a shelter from the
sun and rain.
• He traded the third three for clothing to wear.
Then he looked at the tenth apple. It seemed bigger and juicer than the rest. He knew that God had given him the tenth apple so that he might return it to Him out of gratitude for the other nine. But the tenth apple looked bigger and juicier than the rest. And he reasoned that God had all the other apples in the world. So the man ate the tenth apple—and gave back to God the core. (SermonCentral)
How God must shake his head in sorrow as we hand him an apple core.
We have so much to be thankful for. And we can follow God’s will as a showing of our gratitude.
I am going to close with one more story this morning.
There is a story of a missionary who gave his goat to a tribal chief. The chief gave the man a walking stick. What would you be thinking? Great trade huh? The missionary became weak without the milk from the goat. Leaning heavily upon the walking stick, he made his way into a village. He sought to buy goat milk, but his money was refused. He was told that anything that he wanted was his, because he carried the scepter of the King.
You too have been given a great gift if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. You carry the King’s scepter. And, you can’t out-give the King. You may think that you are destitute, when in your hand, you actually have more wealth that even angels can imagine. We have a way here on earth of placing little value on that which is most valuable, and we have a way of placing much value on that which is worthless. I say to you this morning, if you have the King as your savior, you carry the scepter of the King. You will be recognized by the King and by the rest of his servants. The King calls us to give up the goat. He calls us to give period. And, as we do, we find that the hands held open are His.
When the King returns will he know you?
He will return. Will he be saying “I know you!” “This one is mine.” Or, will he say, “I never knew you.”
The greatest gift that this world has ever seen is Jesus himself. And the greatest sacrifice ever made was made by Jesus the King on the cross. It is with thanksgiving for this and all of our other blessings that I call you to come and partake of the Lord’s Table this morning.
Holy Communion.
[1] J. Oswald Sanders, A Spiritual Clinic (Chicago: Moody Press, 1958), 85.
[2] Julius Segal, Winning Life’s Toughest Battles (New York: Ivy books, 1986), 105.
[3] R.T. Kendall, Tithing: A Call to Serious, Biblical Stewardship (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1982), 25.
