The Jesus Driven Church
As I look at all the messages that Jesus delivered this is without a doubt, to me, one of the most powerful.
Jesus makes it clear that when He returns he will be able to distinguish one person from another in their relationship with Him. He will know who has been true to him and who has not.
Not only will he know, he will separate those who have been true, those who are saved, from those who have not been true, those who are not saved. Notice what it is that identifies the saved from the unsaved.
The King does not say, come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance prepared for you since the creation of the world, for you are the immersed.
Yes, yes, yes, I believe in the plan of salvation in the Bible. You must believe, repent, confess, and be immersed. But I also believe that according to this scripture there will be a lot of wet goats. Christians who did very little between getting buried in the water and buried in the cemetery.
You see…
Outreach identifies you as a child of the King
(Verses 31-34)
The sheep were very clearly identified by their outreach.
They gave the hungry some food.
They gave the thirsty some water.
They invited strangers in.
They clothed those without clothes.
They visited the sick and imprisoned.
Was it their outreach that saved them? Absolutely not! Their outreach identified them. It was clear from their lives that they were children of the king.
Notice something else about how Jesus separates the people one from another:
He doesn’t put the rich on the right and the
poor on the left.
He doesn’t put Americans on the right and
foreigners on the left.
He doesn’t put Republicans on the right and
Democrats on the left.
It is not who you are that determines what side you are on. It is how you lived.
In other words,
Outreach can be done by any Christian
(Verses 35-36)
The people here are called “the righteous”. They may not have been to Bible College, they may not have had perfect Sunday School attendance. They were certainly not sinless. They were righteous because they strived to live a right life for Jesus Christ. Any Christian who is willing can do that.
Outreach didn’t make them righteous, outreach showed that they were righteous.
Outreach is not just for ministers and elders and deacons. Outreach is for any and every Christian.
Notice again the acts of outreach performed:
They gave the hungry some food.
They gave the thirsty some water.
They invited strangers in.
They clothed those without clothes.
They visited the sick and imprisoned.
The outreach wasn’t holding 14 day crusades.
The outreach wasn’t donating a million dollars.
The outreach wasn’t performing in front of thousands.
The outreach was simple ordinary acts of love performed by simple ordinary people who loved Jesus Christ.
Notice the recipients of outreach:
Those who could not even provide the basic
needs for themselves
Food, water, and clothing
Those who did not know a friend, they were
strangers
Those who couldn’t take care of themselves,
because of their health
Those who were what we would now call convicts
Thieves, murderers, liars.
Outreach should be done for anyone
(Verses 37-40)
Reaching out those in need can get messy. And most Christians do not like messy. We will tolerate a little messy around Christmas, but we don’t want messy all year round.
If this church wants to an outreach church like never before, I am here to tell you, things will get messy. Carpet will be stained, windows broken, seats taken, services interrupted. This room will have people in it who do not know how to do church. They have not had years and years of being in church. You will be uncomfortable and probably even offended at times. But I say the mess is worth it considering what Jesus Christ did for all of us at Calvary.
When the Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever ….
Whosoever means anyone. Not just people like you and I. Not just people fit the mold. Not just people who have something to offer. Anyone!
Notice what the King says to those on the left.
Depart from me you who are cursed. Those who have not demonstrated their righteousness by acts of outreach. Lack of outreach in your life says a lot about your relationship with Jesus.
In fact…
Lack of outreach identifies you as a child of Satan
(Verses 41-44)
Satan is identified as the Father of lies. The greatest lie you can tell is to say that you are a Christian and then not live it out in your life.
I wonder if any of the goats were too busy sitting in church to go out into a needy world and share the love of Christ through simple acts of service to those in need.
Jesus cannot be any clearer here. If you are not reaching out to the needy, you have missed what he is all about. You do not have a saving relationship with him. Even though hell was created for the devil and his angels, if you are not living out your faith in Christ you will most certainly end up hell, it doesn’t matter if you were immersed in the Jordan river on Easter morning.
Am I judging? No, I don’t have to, Jesus Christ will do that. But I can tell you what the word says about how he will judge you.
You can get mad at me.
You can say I am going extreme with this outreach business.
You can say that what you do in your walk with the Lord is none of my business.
But Jesus makes it very clear…
There is no excuse for a lack of outreach
(Verse 45)
“But Lord we didn’t know…”
“Lord, when did we see you…..and not help you?”
If we had thought that those dirty, needy, strange, corrupt, people were you…
We would have helped right away!
What a sorry excuse!
If you are not involved in outreach, and I mean real outreach that impacts people’s lives, what excuse will you give Jesus as he tells you to stand on the left?
Listen, Jesus does not ask you to do anything that he won’t help you do. He will give you everything you nee to be obedient to him.
Don’t say…my health is not good enough.
Don’t say… I don’t know enough.
Don’t say…God hasn’t given me any
opportunities.
One last time look at those needs that were met…
Hungry
Thirsty
Stranger
Needing Clothes
Sick
Imprisoned
God calls every Christian to reach out to the world with both physical and spiritual needs. You and I can do it. It’s not a question of can we, but will we.
Tonight when you come to church, we will meet in here and then break into small groups and brainstorm how we can make this Matthew 25 a reality in our church.
As I look out, I wonder how many of you will take this seriously and show up.
Several years ago a college basketball team had a little motivational slogan as they strived for a national championship…
If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
Everyone will be rewarded.
(Verse 46)
Your reward will be Paradise or Punishment.
Eternal fire or eternal life.
If you are not reaching out for Jesus, then you might as well step forward this morning and renounce Christ with your tongue, because that is exactly what you are doing with your life.
Maybe there needs to be some repentance this morning.
The first step is a right relationship with Christ.
