Sermon on Good Works

Some people listen to their Walkmans or their iPods when they exercise. Me? I'm weird. Sometimes I drag along my clunky old tape-recorder with me when I jog, and listen to a tape of a Bible class or the Divine Service that was recorded for the shut-ins. So this morning, I grabbed the tape on the top of my stack, popped it into the tape-recorder, and headed out the door in my tennies. Serendipitously, the sermon happened to be on Matthew 25:31-46, the passage assigned to the Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Jesus said to His disciples:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.



Have you ever thought about the question, "Why am I a Christian?"

The answer to that question for every Christian rests in what Jesus has done for you. "I am a Christian," we confess, "because God visited me in my sinful condition. I was naked, and I was sick, and I was in a prisonhouse of my own making from sins from which I could not free myself, in bondage to death and the devil. And it was the Lord Jesus who visited me, who bound up my wounds, who set me free, who released the shackles of Satan and everlasting death. And He clothed my nakedness with a robe of righteousness." And He did so by a word: "Son, Daughter, I forgive you all your sins. Do not be afraid. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

"I am a Christian," we confess, "because God's only Son came to me, in my sin and in my weakness, and suffered and died for me. He is my life. He is my salvation."

As Jesus said elsewhere, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them" [in all of their sin and all of their weakness, and that's why I died for them], "and they follow Me, and I give them" [I give them -- it's a gift -- I give them] "eternal life." That's what faith is. That's why you and I are Christians -- because Jesus, God's only Son, in love, has visited us. By that word of forgiveness -- that sweet word of forgiveness -- in the waters of Baptism, in the daily hearing of the Gospel, in the Word of Absolution, in the testament of His body and blood -- that sweet word of forgiveness is what draws us to Him. And it is by that sweet word of forgiveness that we follow Him, wherever our life takes us. This is the meaning of St Paul's word in Romans: "A man is justified by faith," [faith in whom? faith in Christ] "apart from the works of the law."

Then why is it that in the Gospel for this Sunday, on the day of judgment, Jesus mentions works? You heard the words: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." If it is true that a sinner is justified by faith in Jesus, apart from the deeds of the law, then why, why in this parable of the Judgment, does Jesus mention works?

It is for this reason: faith in Jesus is never alone. Faith in Jesus is always active in love: in love for the neighbor, in love for the enemy, in love for the unlovely spouse, in love for children who rebel and turn away from parents and despise their birthright, in love for the stranger, for the naked, for the sick, for the imprisoned. Faith is never alone. Faith in the Lord Jesus' love is always active in love to the neighbor, to the enemy. In this parable that Jesus teaches on the last judgment, He tells us something very profound and it's paradoxical. When you look at your neighbor, when you look at your spouse, when you look at your children, when you look at your enemy, you and I (according to the Gospel of Jesus) are called by faith in that Gospel to see in that neighbor, to see in that enemy, to see in that family member, Jesus Himself. That's a paradox. That is a profound mystery. Because when we look at our neighbor, we see a sinner. When we look at our spouse, we see a sinner. When we look at our children and our enemies, we see sinners. And yet faith in the Gospel of Jesus calls us to see behind that sinner Jesus Himself, our Lord. That's a paradox. That's a mystery.

Why does Jesus speak this way? Because faith that trusts in Him is active in love for those whom He has placed in our path, that you and I -- by faith in the Gospel -- might be to our neighbor (who doesn't deserve God's love) what Jesus is to us. For we were the naked ones. We were the sick ones. We were the imprisoned ones in sin and death from which we couldn't free ourselves. But Jesus visited us. And He loved us in place of Himself. And He laid down His life for our salvation. And it is because we believe this Gospel that faith manifests itself in love toward the unlovely, toward those who do not deserve it.

But such faith never trusts in the works of love that flow from it, as is evidenced in this Gospel. "Lord, when did we see You naked or sick or in prison? When did we come and visit You and clothe You?" That's because faith never trusts in its own works, but solely in the work of Christ.

Now, when you hear me preach this way on this text, honesty compels your heart to confess, "Pastor, I do not love the way you describe. Does that mean I am not a Christian?" No. Rather, it gives testimony to the sin which still rages in your heart. For the Old Adam in you and in me is always a self-righteous, works-righteous brute. Never loving, except those who deserve it. Never forgiving, except those deemed worthy of forgiveness. This is also why we are Christians, for to be a Christian is to daily be in repentance, returning to the voice of our Shepherd, confessing our faithlessness, and therefore confessing our lovelessness, that we might receive anew the word of His love, which not only sets us free again and again and again, but which also brings forth the fruits of His love in our lives, for loveless and unworthy sinners, like those whom He has placed in our path. Christians are Christians because of what Jesus did. And by faith we return to Him, again and again and again, to receive His Word and Sacrament, that we might learn to love as He has loved us. So that, on the last day, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we might hear those words of eternal absolution: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit" [inheritance is always a gift] "inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

In the name of Jesus.
Amen.