Sermon for Sunday, August 26, 2007

IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY BUT WHAT YOU DO

10^th in a series on Tell Me A Story: The Subversive Parables of Jesus

by

Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

³¹ "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' ⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Many of you probably saw the news article in the Post this week about the congregation in Denver last Sunday that canceled its morning worship services and sent 300 people into southwestern Denver to perform a variety of service projects—22 of them—for mostly low income Latino and Asian neighborhoods.

It was an admirable opportunity for Christians to put their faith directly into action. The marquee on the church building said, “Don’t go to church. Be the church.”

We have had some e mail discussions among St Andrew members this week about this concept and one member wrote to say that this emphasis on faith in action—being doers of the Word and not just hearers of the Word sounds like our own very active congregation.

My own belief is that going to church (worship) and being the church are not mutually exclusive and that one always leads directly to another. We need to be in worship to rehearse our stories about God’s grace and love in our lives and to remember that God blesses us so we can be a blessing. We need to be together to pray for each other and to encourage each other and support each other and learn from each other.

All those are the reasons for weekly worship. Worship together is important and our Methodist understanding is that worship involvement is one valid way to take our spiritual temperature.

AND… our worship always has to lead to more or it is not real worship. It always has to lead to SERVICE—doing what Christ wants us to do in the weekday world or it is not true worship. One church has a sign at the exit doors that says—“Our worship is over. Let our service begin.” And we at St Andrew have often posted that on our video screen right after the benediction.

The parable from Matthew 25 tells us the same thing, and it is one of the most important and for many, most familiar passages in the whole Bible. If we were making a list of Bible passages that people should just know immediately, this would be on the list.

There would be some others: Genesis 12 where we learn God blesses Abraham so Abraham can be a blessing. Romans 8 where Paul says in all things God is able to work for good with those who love God. Philippians 4 where Paul says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. John 3:16: God loved the world so much that God gave the Son to us.

Matthew 28 where Jesus gives us the great commission to go into the world and represent him and create more disciples.

And today’s verses in Matthew 25. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty, naked, a stranger, in prison, sick and in prison and you cared for me.

This passage is so familiar and so part of western culture that if you Google this phrase “I was hungry and you…”, there are 1.8 million answers to that inquiry!!

The first thing I want to point out is that Jesus is describing the final judgment, the final criteria for what happens in the last judgment. It is not speculation that mainline Christians talk a lot about partly because we don’t like motivating people out of fear and partly because the details of the next life do not seem to occupy Jesus’ teachings. But today is an exception.

Look at what Jesus does NOT say in the method of separating the sheep from the goats (The goats are on the left because the left hand, the left direction, is inferior. The word for “left” in Italian and probably Latin is sinistra from which we get sinister.) In the Middle East today to offer someone your left hand will insult them. Only the right hand is acceptable and the left hand, left side, is inferior. 

The unfaithful people are sent to the left, the faithful people to the right in the final judgment. But most important is the way that judgment occurs. Jesus does not base this separation on what people believed about him or about the Bible or about God. He does not seem interested in what people have believed or assented to.

This is different from many churches! Many churches say that unless you believe the same way we do, you are doomed. Have you noticed that? They might say, unless you believe that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God, you are not “saved” or accepted by God. Unless you believe in the virgin birth and the physical second coming, you are doomed. Unless you believe in the four spiritual laws you are not really a Christian and you are probably going to hell.

That is not a United Methodist understanding of what it means to follow Christ, but it is a common thing—to make right belief, right doctrine, the major judgment point.

Jesus does NOT do that. This is important. Jesus did not come and invite us to follow by saluting the correct ideas and assenting to the correct doctrines.

Jesus is looking for something else. He is looking for compassion. It is the quality we heard about all summer in several parables. When the Samaritan man saw the Jewish traveler wounded and lying in the ditch, he had compassion and he stopped and helped. When the father saw his wastrel son coming back home from having squandered all his money on prostitutes, he did not stand waiting on the porch with condemnation in his eyes, he had compassion and ran down the road to meet and welcome the long lost boy.

Jesus is looking for compassion—being moved inwardly. And Jesus is looking for action-for faith being put into deeds of service.

So the son of man—a messianic label—welcomes those into the eternal kingdom who have had compassion and showed that compassion in what they did for others. We talked last week about who it is that we notice and do not notice—whom we are blind to.  The people who are praised and welcomed home are those who have noticed and who have acted to alleviate suffering. They have fulfilled the will of God by caring for others.

Who are the others? First of all, those who are hungry and thirsty. Food was not taken for granted in the first century and for too many today it is not taken for granted. It is usually not a worry for most of us, but it still is a worry in our city. That is why some of you help serve meals on Monday night to homeless persons in the inner city or breakfast on Sunday morning at St Paul church downtown.

God asks us to feed the hungry.

Secondly, God expects us to welcome the stranger or the alien or the outsider—to include them, to invite them in. The Greek word in the Bible is the one from which we get our word Xenophobia—distrust or fear of foreigners/strangers. Let me show you a movie clip of how that word is still useful in the Greek community and the Greek language today.

[Clip from My Big Fat Greek Wedding]

 Who are the outsiders, the strangers, the aliens for us—people whom we think are so different from us. Are we including and welcoming them or excluding and ostracizing them?

Jesus has a long list: those who do not have clothing while most of us have so much our closets are stuffed, those who are ill, and those who are in prison.

How are we doing at ministering to all those persons and others?

Jesus says, it is not about the words or creeds you recite on Sunday morning or about the beautiful hymns you sing. It is about whether you care for those who are vulnerable and in need—because it is the will of God that you sacrifice yourself in caring for others and if you fail to do that, you are failing Christ. If you are faithful in giving yourself for others, you are ministering to Christ.

How are we doing in following this parable? We are doing some things. People say to us in our new member session that they have chosen this congregation partly because of our emphasis on putting our faith to work, putting our words into action. They name ministries like Habitat for Humanity, Interfaith Hospitality Network which lets us feed and house homeless families for a week at time. They name other ministries that you and I support with money and volunteers.

Can we still do some other things? Of course. People do some amazing outreach when the feel the call and feel the passion. Judy Martz has just finished an inspiring book, “Three Cups of Tea”, about Montana native Greg Mortenson who felt the call to help build schools for girls in the remote mountain regions of Pakistan. It required great courage and sacrifice and will and passion. And he enlisted people who might never have done something so bold and so life changing. School buildings were built in difficult areas and eight year old children were given books and papers and pencils and pencil sharpeners for the first time ever.

Are we doing some good things in our congregation? Yes. Can we do more? Yes. And where do you feel the call to care for those persons Jesus names, the persons who are lonely and outsiders and sick and in need?

We have mentioned in our weekly emails and in our announcements that we have a strong need for more people to serve starting this week in our weekday LIFEspot outreach ministry with teenagers. We have over 150 people who have been trained but only about 25 people who are in our core group of volunteers. Mary Kritenbrink, our interim director, will help you get plugged in. We need your help.

And we need more people to help us bake and prepare food for hundreds of homeless people whom we help feed every Monday evening in our Street Reach meal program in the inner city. Jenny Ricklefs can help you get involved there. We need your help.

Or perhaps there are other arenas outside the ministry of St Andrew Church that you feel are calling to you. Perhaps the prayer of Helen Tyler in your bulletin or the other prayers for the beginning of school have already been an impetus for you to get involved as a school volunteer.

You will know where you are needed and where you can find a place to get outside yourself and live out the belief that God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others.

Where ever that servant opportunity may be, what we don’t want to happen is this following description from one congregation in the Western US that I found when I did the Google search on the words: I was hungry and you…

I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger.

I was in prison and you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.

I had no clothes and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God—but I am still very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

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