Jesus is keeping track of how people treat His brothers

Sermon for Trinity 26

2 Peter 3:3-14  +  Matthew 25:31-46

We’ve heard a lot about the Last Day in our journey through the book of Revelation on Wednesday evenings, where God teaches us about it in several different pictures. To summarize the events of that day: it will come suddenly, when people aren’t expecting it—though Christians should always be expecting it, knowing, at least in the back of our minds, that it could come at any time. All those who have died will be raised from the dead with new, immortal bodies. Those who are alive, who haven’t died, will be changed and will be given immortal bodies. Those who believed in the Lord Jesus in this life will be gathered to Him in one place. And the rest of mankind will also be gathered together in one place. The final judgment will be pronounced. The heavens and the earth will be destroyed with fire. A new heaven and a new earth will be created. The wicked will go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. That’s a summary of the Bible teaching about the Last Day. And it’s something God warns His people to be ready for, as the main future event we’re preparing for.

Jesus tells His disciples about one little piece of the Last Day in today’s Gospel, painting a picture of the judgment part of the Last Day. It doesn’t describe every detail of the judgment that will be pronounced or everything that led up to that judgment. Instead, it focuses on just one aspect of human behavior that God is keeping record of and that God will reveal on that day. Jesus is keeping track of how people treat His little brothers.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Jesus spoke these words just days before He was crucified. In a few days’ time His disciples would see him hanging from a cross in shame and apparent defeat. But the shame would be short-lived. And on the Last Day, when He finally returns to the earth, it won’t be in shame or defeat of any kind. It will be as the glorious King of this universe. And instead of standing before a judge, as He stood before the Jewish Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate on Good Friday, Jesus will return as the Judge of all mankind.

Now, if you have a New King James Bible with section headings, this is one of the places you have to watch out for. The heading that the editors chose to place over these verses is, “The Judgment of the Gentiles.” What, do they think there will be a separate judgment of the Jews? Nowhere does Scripture say that. No, the word “Gentiles” is the same word in the Greek as “nations.” All nations will be gathered before Jesus and immediately separated by Him into two groups. Those whom He places on His right are the favored ones, and those whom He places on His left are the disfavored ones.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed ones of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

King Jesus will invite those on His right to inherit a kingdom, the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. There’s a lot here. Notice, first, He says, “Inherit!” That affects everything that follows. He doesn’t say, “the kingdom is your reward for all the good things you’ve done, which I’m about to list.” It’s an inheritance. The ones on His right did not earn a place in heaven by their good works. They simply showed themselves, by their works, to be children of God. Now, the only way in Scripture to become a child of God is through faith in Christ Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, who gave His life on the cross to make atonement for our sins, and who received us into His Father’s family through Baptism and faith.

Notice, too, that this kingdom was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. In other words, these are the chosen people, the ones whom God chose or “elected” in eternity, before the world began, to be adopted as His children and to inherit His kingdom. As the rest of Scripture makes clear, God knew in eternity that mankind would turn away from Him toward sin. But He planned in eternity to send His Son to redeem all mankind. He planned to have the Gospel preached, and to work through the Gospel to bring sinners to faith, to justify believers and to sanctify them in love. It’s that sanctification in love that Jesus goes on to recount to these on His right.

I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. This comes as a surprise to those on the King’s right, because the vast majority of them lived on earth when Jesus wasn’t living on earth. Even those who were alive at the time of Jesus didn’t do all these things for Him directly. But He clears up their confusion. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.

One of the main things Jesus commanded His disciples to do was to “love one another.” And by “one another,” He meant your fellow Christians, your brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s what Jesus and the apostles almost always meant when they used the word “brothers,” those who became brothers of Jesus through faith in Jesus. As Jesus said, For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother. And the will of God the Father is that, first and foremost, all men should repent and believe in Christ Jesus and so become His brothers in the Father’s family. After that, the will of God is the sanctification of Jesus’ brothers, and, again, our sanctification is practiced above all in loving our brothers and sisters in Christ—loving them, not just in our hearts, but in tangible ways, simple ways, like giving food to the Christian who is hungry, a drink of water to a Christian who is thirsty, and so on. And it doesn’t have to be for an “important” Christian, but for the least of Jesus’ brothers. As He said in another place, whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple (that is, because he is a believer in Jesus), truly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Those who believed in Christ Jesus and showed mercy and love toward their fellow Christians will be recognized by Jesus on the Last Day, because He keeps track of how people treat His little brothers. He calls them the blessed ones of His Father. He calls them “the righteous,” righteous first by faith, and then righteous in how they lived in this world, especially in how they treated their fellow Christians.

Then there are those who didn’t end their life as children of God, but as unbelievers, as those whom the judge counts as unrighteous. Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Notice, first, that these on the King’s left are cursed. As St. Paul says, all who have sinned are under God’s curse. Or, I should say, all who have not been brought out from under the curse through faith in Christ. We all started out life under the curse. But, as Paul writes, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations in Christ Jesus. But all those in “the nations” who didn’t believe in Christ Jesus remain under the curse.

Also notice, the everlasting fire of hell wasn’t prepared originally for men, but for the devil and his angels. Because God’s purpose in eternity wasn’t to condemn sinners, but that all should come to repentance and to faith in His Son. But, since most people don’t believe in His Son, they will have to answer for their sins. They will taste that everlasting fire together with the devil, for whom it was originally prepared.

Now, the sins committed in the world are beyond measure; they can scarcely be recounted. But here Jesus doesn’t even mention any of the terrible, violent deeds done by men. He only mentions the good deeds that unbelievers failed to do for His little brothers, for His beloved Christians. I was hungry, and you did not give Me food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, etc…Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Jesus takes it personally when unbelievers fail to help His little brothers. Imagine how personally He takes it when they abuse, harm, ridicule, and falsely accuse His brothers! He wants us to know that He will hold all people accountable for all the mistreatment that we have suffered, as well as for all the good treatment we didn’t receive because we remained faithful to our big Brother, Jesus.

And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Now, if all that is true, if as Peter says in today’s Epistle, all things here, all things in this universe are destined for destruction by fire, if Jesus is really coming again to pronounce judgment on all mankind, and if He’s keeping track of how people treat His little brothers, then, as Peter writes, What sort of people ought you to be? You ought to practice holy living and godliness, awaiting and yearning for the coming of the day of God…Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, make every effort to be found spotless and blameless before him in peace. Work on this, above all things! Work on being found spotless and blameless before God when He comes to judge the earth. Work on behaving in the world like children of light and not like everyone around you who still lives in darkness. Work on treating your fellow Christians with love and respect at all times, remembering at all times that the King is keeping track of how people treat His little brothers. But as you work on those things, don’t put your faith in how well you’ve treated anyone. Put your faith only in the Lord Jesus, and eagerly wait for His coming! Amen.