Daniel 7:9-14; 2 Peter 3:3-14; St Matthew 25:31-46
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, your salvation hinges upon two things: the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and your fellowship with Him by faith. He has atoned for your sin and the sin of the whole world. He has attained for you by His death on the Cross your victory over death and the grave. He has brought life and immortality to light and open the way to eternal life by His Resurrection. So whether you stand or fall in the judgment depends entirely on whether you stand in Christ or not.
Are you on His right or on His left? Are you a sheep or a goat? Will you live under Him in His kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness? Or will you be forever cursed and die eternally with the devil and his wicked angels?
The scene from the Gospel is not the judgment. The judgment has already been determined at the Cross and the verdict has been openly declared in His Resurrection: for you and for all people, for the world and for all nations. In Christ, crucified and risen, there is no more condemnation or punishment. So too apart from Him there is no salvation. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die (Jn 12:31-33). The judgment rests entirely upon Him. It is by His authority that you are judged: either you are righteous and alive by His righteousness, or else wicked and dead without Him.
This is what is means for Jesus, the Christ, to be the Son of Man, to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth. He who is continuously lifted up unto you in the preaching of His Cross will come to judge the living and the dead.
He has already come on the clouds of heaven. It was His crucifixion. There He rendered the verdict against His enemies. Upon the Cross He was delivered up for your Propitiation, as the Atoning Sacrifice for all of your sins and the sins of the whole world. The Ancient of Days, that is, God the Father, has received His sacrificial service of love and rendered His just verdict of condemnation against all sin in His only begotten Son.
And His resurrection is His vindication. It is the declaration of His righteousness. His resurrection is, as St Paul says, for your justification. Therefore, to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. Baptized into His death for your sin and His resurrection for your life, you are His kingdom and priests unto God our Father in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord. Priests who serve Him in holiness and righteousness, living by faith in His promises and in love toward one another.
Because He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance, He sends out His messengers; that is, His brothers. First His holy apostles who preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name.
Then His under-shepherds, that is, the Pastors of His Church in every time and place. Whoever receives them receives Him. And whoever rejects His messengers and their teaching, rejects Him and His Word. In other words, how one receives and treats the servants of the Word is how he receives and treats Christ Himself! Take to heart what is spoken by these men; it is of eternal importance. For they are His messengers, sent in His stead and by His command to make disciples from all the nations by the means of Holy Baptism and the ongoing teaching of His Word. By these Christ your Shepherd gathers the lost and wandering sheep to Himself.
For the preaching of His Word of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name is the sure and certain verdict of the Lord your God proclaimed now and forever. By it you are crucified and put to death with Christ your Lord. So also are you raised up, in and with Him, to new life. In Christ the old has passed away. You are a new creation. Thus do you, according His promise, wait for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Scoffers will come. They are those who are oblivious to the works of creation, who deny the truth and efficacy of His Word, and reject the fruits of repentance and faith, refusing mercy to the hungry and weak, poor and lonely. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since this is to occur, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?
Firstly, and always, dear Christians, repent of your sins, repent of your lack of faithfulness and love, of your lukewarm confession and fruitlessness, of all that is not Christ. Fear and love Him, the Mighty One, God the Lord, who speaks and summons the earth, as your Lord and God.
But also trust in Him as your great Good Shepherd. He is your merciful High Priest, your Savior and Redeemer. Hear His voice in the preaching of His Word and the gift of His Table. Follow Him through the Cross and death into His Kingdom. The Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The Kingdom which is your inheritance not by works, but by grace through faith. For your righteousness avails nothing, but His righteousness is yours.
Love Him, therefore, because of who He is, and because He loves you faithfully forever. Love Him, by loving and serving His Christians. Love them in His Name and for His sake. These are His brothers. Such love is the evidence and fruit of your faith and life in Christ. For Christ Himself works in you, both to will and to do, according His His good pleasure. And by the Tree of His Cross into which you are grafted as a branch to the Vine, He bears fruit in your life. To reject such fruit of faith is to squelch and reject faith in Christ. To deny mercy is to deny Christ!
Therefore live in love toward your neighbor. Not to merit or maintain your salvation, for that is a free gift, an inheritance of your Father who is in heaven. But because this is the life of Christ. He daily and richly provides you with food and drink for your hunger and thirst; with safe shelter and sanctuary from the cold, from darkness and death; with clothing for your nakedness; with comfort and care in all adversity; with good health in place of all your illness, and with release from your prison.
So then, as for you: feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the poor, visit the sick and imprisoned. Do it for Jesus’ sake. Do it in His Name as He does so for you. Do it all as unto Him.
Learn to see Christ in your neighbor’s frailties and weakness and needs. Not only in the occasional act of kindness and charity, but especially in the daily duties and commands of your vocation. Children, honor and obey your parents and those in authority over you. Parents be patient with your children, bringing them up in the care and tenderness of the Lord, showing them unconditional love even as you are loved in Christ. Husbands and wives love and respect each other. Workers of all kinds obey your employers and serve them in honesty. To all, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, showing greater honor to the weaker and neglected parts of the Body of Christ.
Above all, do not ignore and neglect the Church, for she is the Body and the Bride of Christ. For how you react to the preaching of His Word, to the severity of His warnings and the promise of His grace, is of eternal significance. Therefore hold fast His Word, gladly listening and doing what He commands. As St Peter writes, Be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, that is living by faith toward God, and at peace, that is, living in love and charity and service toward one another.
For this is the significance of the Church on earth, and of this congregation: Here the eternal judgments are declared and delivered. Here the Son of Man exercises His authority to forgive sins, and with that forgiveness of sins He gives you life and salvation. Here He clothes your nakedness and shame with His righteousness. Here He feeds you and gives you drink of His Body and Blood, freeing you from the prison of your sins. Here works of mercy accompany the preaching His Word, for love grows forth from faith. Here the Christian who is served by Christ goes forth and serves his neighbor in Christ.
Here He gathers you to Himself, to feed and clothe you, to heal you, to set you free; even as you wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the Son of Man will come in all His glory and separate people as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The cursed shall depart forever into the hell of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But fear not, dear people loved by God, for He shall declare to you, Come, you blessed by the Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, and enter at last into My eternal peace and rest.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, your salvation hinges upon two things: the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and your fellowship with Him by faith. He has atoned for your sin and the sin of the whole world. He has attained for you by His death on the Cross your victory over death and the grave. He has brought life and immortality to light and open the way to eternal life by His Resurrection. So whether you stand or fall in the judgment depends entirely on whether you stand in Christ or not.
Are you on His right or on His left? Are you a sheep or a goat? Will you live under Him in His kingdom in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness? Or will you be forever cursed and die eternally with the devil and his wicked angels?
The scene from the Gospel is not the judgment. The judgment has already been determined at the Cross and the verdict has been openly declared in His Resurrection: for you and for all people, for the world and for all nations. In Christ, crucified and risen, there is no more condemnation or punishment. So too apart from Him there is no salvation. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die (Jn 12:31-33). The judgment rests entirely upon Him. It is by His authority that you are judged: either you are righteous and alive by His righteousness, or else wicked and dead without Him.
This is what is means for Jesus, the Christ, to be the Son of Man, to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth. He who is continuously lifted up unto you in the preaching of His Cross will come to judge the living and the dead.
He has already come on the clouds of heaven. It was His crucifixion. There He rendered the verdict against His enemies. Upon the Cross He was delivered up for your Propitiation, as the Atoning Sacrifice for all of your sins and the sins of the whole world. The Ancient of Days, that is, God the Father, has received His sacrificial service of love and rendered His just verdict of condemnation against all sin in His only begotten Son.
And His resurrection is His vindication. It is the declaration of His righteousness. His resurrection is, as St Paul says, for your justification. Therefore, to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. Baptized into His death for your sin and His resurrection for your life, you are His kingdom and priests unto God our Father in Jesus Christ His Son our Lord. Priests who serve Him in holiness and righteousness, living by faith in His promises and in love toward one another.
Because He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance, He sends out His messengers; that is, His brothers. First His holy apostles who preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His Name.
Then His under-shepherds, that is, the Pastors of His Church in every time and place. Whoever receives them receives Him. And whoever rejects His messengers and their teaching, rejects Him and His Word. In other words, how one receives and treats the servants of the Word is how he receives and treats Christ Himself! Take to heart what is spoken by these men; it is of eternal importance. For they are His messengers, sent in His stead and by His command to make disciples from all the nations by the means of Holy Baptism and the ongoing teaching of His Word. By these Christ your Shepherd gathers the lost and wandering sheep to Himself.
For the preaching of His Word of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name is the sure and certain verdict of the Lord your God proclaimed now and forever. By it you are crucified and put to death with Christ your Lord. So also are you raised up, in and with Him, to new life. In Christ the old has passed away. You are a new creation. Thus do you, according His promise, wait for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Scoffers will come. They are those who are oblivious to the works of creation, who deny the truth and efficacy of His Word, and reject the fruits of repentance and faith, refusing mercy to the hungry and weak, poor and lonely. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since this is to occur, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?
Firstly, and always, dear Christians, repent of your sins, repent of your lack of faithfulness and love, of your lukewarm confession and fruitlessness, of all that is not Christ. Fear and love Him, the Mighty One, God the Lord, who speaks and summons the earth, as your Lord and God.
But also trust in Him as your great Good Shepherd. He is your merciful High Priest, your Savior and Redeemer. Hear His voice in the preaching of His Word and the gift of His Table. Follow Him through the Cross and death into His Kingdom. The Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The Kingdom which is your inheritance not by works, but by grace through faith. For your righteousness avails nothing, but His righteousness is yours.
Love Him, therefore, because of who He is, and because He loves you faithfully forever. Love Him, by loving and serving His Christians. Love them in His Name and for His sake. These are His brothers. Such love is the evidence and fruit of your faith and life in Christ. For Christ Himself works in you, both to will and to do, according His His good pleasure. And by the Tree of His Cross into which you are grafted as a branch to the Vine, He bears fruit in your life. To reject such fruit of faith is to squelch and reject faith in Christ. To deny mercy is to deny Christ!
Therefore live in love toward your neighbor. Not to merit or maintain your salvation, for that is a free gift, an inheritance of your Father who is in heaven. But because this is the life of Christ. He daily and richly provides you with food and drink for your hunger and thirst; with safe shelter and sanctuary from the cold, from darkness and death; with clothing for your nakedness; with comfort and care in all adversity; with good health in place of all your illness, and with release from your prison.
So then, as for you: feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the poor, visit the sick and imprisoned. Do it for Jesus’ sake. Do it in His Name as He does so for you. Do it all as unto Him.
Learn to see Christ in your neighbor’s frailties and weakness and needs. Not only in the occasional act of kindness and charity, but especially in the daily duties and commands of your vocation. Children, honor and obey your parents and those in authority over you. Parents be patient with your children, bringing them up in the care and tenderness of the Lord, showing them unconditional love even as you are loved in Christ. Husbands and wives love and respect each other. Workers of all kinds obey your employers and serve them in honesty. To all, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, showing greater honor to the weaker and neglected parts of the Body of Christ.
Above all, do not ignore and neglect the Church, for she is the Body and the Bride of Christ. For how you react to the preaching of His Word, to the severity of His warnings and the promise of His grace, is of eternal significance. Therefore hold fast His Word, gladly listening and doing what He commands. As St Peter writes, Be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish, that is living by faith toward God, and at peace, that is, living in love and charity and service toward one another.
For this is the significance of the Church on earth, and of this congregation: Here the eternal judgments are declared and delivered. Here the Son of Man exercises His authority to forgive sins, and with that forgiveness of sins He gives you life and salvation. Here He clothes your nakedness and shame with His righteousness. Here He feeds you and gives you drink of His Body and Blood, freeing you from the prison of your sins. Here works of mercy accompany the preaching His Word, for love grows forth from faith. Here the Christian who is served by Christ goes forth and serves his neighbor in Christ.
Here He gathers you to Himself, to feed and clothe you, to heal you, to set you free; even as you wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, when the Son of Man will come in all His glory and separate people as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The cursed shall depart forever into the hell of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But fear not, dear people loved by God, for He shall declare to you, Come, you blessed by the Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you, and enter at last into My eternal peace and rest.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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