Final Judgment

[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh. [00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel. [00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the gospel, we are studying the event, the final judgment. This is found in Matthew 25:31 46. Read along with us. [00:00:39] Speaker B: When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he shall sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 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. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 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? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothed you? And when did we see you sick or imprisoned and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. [00:02:01] Speaker A: Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me naked, and you did not clothe me sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then also they will answer, saying, lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger, or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Now again, this is finishing this section, Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 talking about the second coming. Matthew 25 talks on these three parables. The first one is talking about the ten virgins and being ready, building up that reserve of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. The second parable is talking about our talents and what do we do with the gifts God has given us. And more importantly, how do we view God? Do we view him as an angry, harsh taskmaster, or as a loving master that we desire to be with and do good for. And now we come down to this final judgment. The first two really focus on the church, God's people, his followers at the end of time. [00:03:48] Speaker B: I like to see a logical connection between these three parables. The first one, the waiting, is a little bit passive and this is why they fell asleep. In the second parable, the idea is how can we keep them awake? Give them something to do and the master entrusts them with talents. In the third one, the question is how to invest those talents. And the surprise answer is not to use them just in church or for yourself or for the loved ones. It's how to use them for these six categories. Those who are hungry, those who are thirsty, to the stranger, we call them immigrants today. To those who are naked, that means they have even the basic necessities like clothing for those who are sick and those who are in prison. Some of them are the outcasts of the society, living on the margin. They are never in the focus of our life. They are not potential customers to buy our products or clients to get services from us. How do we deal with this? Which are called by Jesus brothers, and. [00:05:06] Speaker A: That'S a good question. This group, you know, I don't see in this list. I'll get to your answer. I do not see in this list. Give Bible studies, preach a sermon, convert, baptize, you know, make disciples. I don't see that here. What matters at the end is are we doing the basic human good? Are we serving those around us when we see a problem, are we intervening? You know, looking at all the TikTok videos, everything. Now there's a fight going on and people pull out their phones to record it. Instead of trying to separate and get involved, you know, when something goes on, pull out the phone, record it. Instead of trying to help the situation. What can we do to try to help the situation? [00:06:04] Speaker B: Based on what you said, we should expect a basic fundamental revelation of God's character, based on which God expects some basic in our treatment of the neighbor. So that revelation of God's character is universal, or it should be universal. And it is done through nature, because everyone gets in touch with the nature in a way or another. And this universal revelation of God's character is done to everyone. It's not channeled through a church or through a Bible. It can be through family experience, through the wisdom of the village, through, you know, education in a public school, everything that this common good, which reflects the basic intention of God's character, God's goodness towards us, demands a basic response and this is the minimum threshold in the day of judgment. [00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah. And we have missionary stories of missionaries going to population groups that had not been contacted before. And these population groups are living to the morals of the Bible without knowing God, without knowing Jesus. They didn't have a Bible. They, they lived to that, that basic goodness that is in us, that that is God dwelling in us. And they rejected the self, the selfishness, the Satan and what he wanted to do, the carnal. And so this kind of gets back to our last episode where we talked about at the very end, we talked about having fun, using our talents. We can get so focused on, I need to baptize, I need to increase the church that we get so stressed out and we get away from living with our neighbors, enjoying life with our neighbors, being present with them. It is in those times when we're present with our neighbors that we find their needs and we're able to meet their needs. And you know, ultimately yes, we want to see them in church with us, communing in a community together. That's our ultimate desire. But if nothing else, just being with them. [00:08:29] Speaker B: What I also take from this parable is that in the day of judgment we will make it or fail to make it to heaven. Not based on the information or the amount of information we acquired about God and godless things, but it will be based on how we treat people. And if there is one word that summarizes all these six encounters with six categories of people is service. And service is the foundation of God's kingdom. And Jesus Christ, that night in the upper room when he took off his outer garment and washed the disciples feet, he said, I came to serve and you should do the same. You should not be like lords or masters for other people. You should be servants. Because by serving you show who God is. And God came to serve us by loving us and giving his one and only son to die for our sins. [00:09:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I kind of wonder if Jesus was alive today, how would he make this list? You know, would he add be kind to the drivers around you, don't post hateful things anonymously online. What else would he add to this? In our work, whatever position you're in, whether you're the lowest in the company or the CEO of the company, you can be there for self serving reasons or you can be there to serve others. And this is what God has called us to do is to serve, to serve those around us, even if we get nothing out of it, even if we get nothing back, to build up those who need us. [00:10:30] Speaker B: That Reminds me of a story from Harvard University some years ago, not many. When they built a new building. It was a debate between the alumni, especially the donors, what would be the name of the new building? And at the end of that debate, they decided to give the name of a janitor who was very close to students, always, especially during the final exam, getting closer to them, asking, how are you today? How do you feel? How was your exam? And they were so impressed when they remember those stories. And they gave his name, janitor's name to the new building. [00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I said the lowest in the company to the CEO because I didn't want to put the janitor at the lowest. You know, in my mind, the CEO is the lowest. They get like $20 billion to sit around and do nothing, and everyone else works. So it's the worker on the ground who's the highest. But what can we do? What do we do? You know, what do we say to janitors? I supervised the janitors at a college I went around, And I think 99% of what I heard from professors, from students, from people, were complaints. But there was one professor, and she made it her point to always talk to me about something good that the person cleaning their area was doing. And it could be they messed up, they really screwed up an area, they forgot to clean something, but she would point out the good, she wouldn't touch on the bad. And that really hit me how much she cared for the person. These students who are cleaning the buildings. [00:12:17] Speaker B: In American calendar, we have a week or a day to appreciate teachers and nurses and doctors and, you know, mothers and fathers and first responders. So we appreciate many professions. Maybe it's about time to have a week of janitor's appreciation week or day or so. [00:12:40] Speaker A: So, yes, what can we do? This comes back to this question, what can we do to be ready? [00:12:48] Speaker B: And we have six practical opportunities to do something. And that will keep us engaged, that will help us invest our talents and to have an active waiting of the second coming of Jesus Christ. [00:13:03] Speaker A: And to tie this all back in, I find when I have the Holy Spirit in my life, yes, he brings me to people where I can use my talents to make their life easier. God does that naturally. And we're filled with joy when we do this. Let's pray. Father God, we want to be ready on that day when Jesus comes. [00:13:31] Speaker B: Amen. [00:13:32] Speaker A: And we're thankful that our salvation is not a list of how good we are or how bad we are, but our salvation is that gift. Jesus Christ is our substitute. But God. In order for us to desire that and to want that, there needs to be more in our lives, a changed life. We live that changed life today. And you do a work in us that changes the very core of our character to make us someone who cares for those around us. And I pray that you will do that work within us. That you will give us a joy to spend time with you. It will give us a joy to serve others and to be present in their lives. In Jesus name, amen. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Amen.