Involved In
Ministry Matt.25:31-46 Nov. 18, 2007
Introduction
If you follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit you will be Involved
In Ministry, and enjoy
your experience. Those who never, or seldom, work in a God given ministry
rarely enjoy their
life as much as those who seem to constantly serve. In our church we
have a group of men who
constantly look for opportunities to serve. They have a mixture of
newer and older Christians,
and through ministries of service they grow, and help the church to
grow.
1. Involved In Ministry
We Expect Eternal . . Separation For All. 25:31-34
A. Eternal Separation For The Sheep Of The . .
Savior.
25:31-33a
25 "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 them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the
goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right, . . ."
B. Eternal Separation For Goats Of . . Satan.
25:33b
". . . and the goats on the left.
C. Eternal Separation For The Sheep And their . .
Satisfaction. 25:34
34 Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are
blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.
Christians and non-Christians will be affected by their works.
A Christian knows he or she
can only do "good works" after they belong to the Lord. A non-Christian
may try to do good
works in order to get into heaven, but that never works. When
Jesus comes in His glory there
will be a separation of those belonging to the Savior, and those
belonging to Satan. The Lord's
children are called, "sheep," but Satan's children are called, "goats."
The separation for the
Lord's "sheep" will be satisfying, but that will not be true for "
Satan's goats."
2. Involved In
Ministry
We Expect Eternal . . Surprises For all. 25:35-40
A. Surprises From The . . Affects Of Our
Service. 25:35-39
35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and
you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you
took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; 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 did we see You
hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to
drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without
clothes and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and
visit You?'
B. Surprises From The . . Associations Of Our
Service.
25:40
38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes
and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in
prison, and visit You?' 40 "And the King will answer them,
'I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers
of Mine, you did for Me.'
Christians who really serve the Lord do it as a natural
expression of their faith and love for
the Lord. They do not think first of all: "How can I get some rewards
from my service today?" If these Christian see a person genuinely
hungry, thirsty, or homeless, they seek to meet the need. Many times
the affects of this service goes beyond their expectations, because
they did not
immediately expect anything but ministry to take place. The Lord
elevated ministries to
genuinely needy people as He likened service to them as service to Him.
An interesting phrase in
verse 40 states, "the least of these." Whoever those folks are Jesus
applauds service to them as
unto Him: What a magnificent association.
3. Involved In Ministry
We Expect Eternal . . Sorrow For Some. 25:41-46
A. Sorrow Looking At The . . Affects Of Actions
Of The
Lost. 25:41-43
41 Then He will also say to those on the left,
'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry
and you gave Me
nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I
was a stranger and you
didn't take Me in; I was naked and you didn't clothe Me, sick and in
prison and you didn't
take care of Me.'
B. Sorrow Looking At The . . Awareness Of Actions
Of
The Lost. 25:44-45
44 "Then they too will answer, 'Lord, when did we
see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without
clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?' 45 "Then He will answer
them, 'I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of
these, you did notdo for Me either.'
C. Sorrow Looking At The . . Announcement From
The
Lord. 25:46
46 "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life." HCSB
Eternity will bring joy or sorrow. In
Christ there will
be joy,
but without Christ eternity
will be a place of sorrow. If you desire to obey the Lord He will
prompt you in "good works." The non-Christian cannot do works for
the Lord because they do not know Him. They might do
works pleasing, and beneficial to mankind but that will not produce
salvation. We have the
words of Jesus related to a person on Judgement Day as He answered
their boast about their
works and said, "then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." (Matt 7:22-23 KJV) The motivation of the non-Christian leads
them to please self and
not the Lord. In fact their awareness of the Lord's prompting does not
exist. Finally the Lord
announces they will go to eternal punishment. Eternal sorrow awaits the
non-Christian while joy
awaits those genuinely Involved In Ministry. Amen? Amen!
