Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 • Joshua 3:7-17 • 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 • Matthew 23:1-12

The theme for this week is God lifts up the humble. The Revised Common Lectionary readings always begin with a psalm as a call to worship; this week it is Psalm 107, which beautifully describes the streams and harvest that God gives to those who depend on him. Joshua 3 tells the story of Joshua beginning his leadership for the desert-weary children of Israel and how God goes before them. Matthew 23 is a word of judgment against the Pharisees who are enjoying their “box seats” in society but who should be servants. Our sermon is based on 1 Thessalonians 2, which gives us a picture of Paul doing his humble work as a tentmaker to support his ministry.

Paul at the Workbench

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 ESV

Read, or have someone read the text prior to the sermon.

Most of us remember dad’s workbench or mom’s special drawer of tools—a corner of the garage, basement, or kitchen where a cobbled together table sat under an array of hanging tools or maybe a cluttered drawer in one of the kitchen cabinets. As little kids, we were fascinated by it. As we grew up, we probably learned to ignore it. But chances are that somewhere in there you learned—by way of hammered thumbs and slivers—how to fix some things.

This is a great place for an anecdote or a conversation about dad’s workbench or equivalent. Be sensitive here that not everyone’s memories of their fathers are good.

Hammering a nail, holding a saw, mending a garment, fixing stuff around the house—chances are you learned this stuff by watching. You watched calloused hands at work, not just telling you, but showing you how the work was done.

Much of the apostle Paul’s writing was to people he knew well. These weren’t just people who had heard of him or respected him as a church administrator. They knew him. He had founded those churches in person and discipled these people firsthand.

He didn’t just tell them about the gospel, he lived it in front of them. He didn’t just describe the fruits of the Spirit, he displayed them. He gave them an example to follow—sometimes with words, always with action.

One of the ways he did this was by working with his hands. Through much of his missionary career, Paul worked as a tentmaker, a fact that is known  so well that people in bi-vocational ministry today are often called “tentmakers.”

Paul grew up in Tarsus of Cicilia, a place that exported the goats-hair fabric used in tents. He grew up around the trade and probably learned when he was very young. This was the solid, sweaty work of his hometown.

Tentmakers, like everyone else in those days, worked constant hours—sunup to sundown. He preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath, but he probably did a lot of discipleship and teaching at the workbench. “Hold this rope, let me tell you about Jesus … pull this tight and I’ll tell you about the Messiah while I stitch this seam.”

Let’s sit with Paul at the workbench for a while. Let’s imagine him at work and see what we can learn from his actions as a tentmaker. Let’s look at how that profession—which he was called to do by God as part of his ministry—gave him certain freedoms. God can use anything for ministry, and anything to shape us into the image of Christ. (See Romans 8:28 about that one!) Let’s observe three ways Jesus was able to use Paul’s calloused hands and swollen knuckles as another way to bring his message to the world. Then let’s ask how these same freedoms, which God has given you, enable you to use your work and home environment to share the good news with others.

Let’s look at three freedoms Paul experienced:

• freedom from self
• freedom from status
• freedom to live in the moment

Freedom from self

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:9-10 ESV)

These verses are nestled among metaphors of Paul’s care for them and relationship to them. In one chapter, he says he was like a father, then a mother, then a child with them—all expressing intimate relationships to share not only his message but also himself with them.

There was another aspect here too of the three-dimensional witness of Paul. Unlike Paul, an itinerant speaker and communicator with a purpose-filled message, most orators did not do manual labor like this! In that society, speakers and teachers would have been supported by their disciples, by a wealthy patron, or by the believing community. It was considered beneath someone like Paul to work with his hands.

People didn’t go to workers in the marketplace for wisdom and theology. Yet there he was, right between the fish-sellers and con-artists, stitching fabric and telling people about Jesus. His work gave him freedom from self. God used this simple trade to help shape Paul into the image of Christ. The speaking and preaching, which he was trained for, and which seemed to come naturally to him, was not his calling for making a living.

That’s an interesting irony there. Peter, who was a rough-cut professional fisher, was thrust into the role of speaker and teacher and was supported by the communities he ministered to. Paul, who was a professionally trained communicator, was called to make ends meet by doing work that was considered demeaning.

Imagine sitting in a lecture hall—walls inlaid with mahogany, chairs finished with the finest leather—just as the class is about to begin, after a rousing intro by a string quartet, the janitor walks up to the podium, clears his throat and proceeds to give the most brilliant lecture anyone’s ever heard. It’s a bit like that.

Paul’s work, which brought him down in the eyes of society, gave him a freedom from self that let him preach the gospel with joyful abandon.

What does God use in your life to give you freedom from self? Freedom from your own ego and self-focus? For some of you, it might be your actual work. It’s a difficult post when you find yourself out-skilled and out-worked by others, sometimes younger others. Can Jesus use that discomfort to give you freedom from the trappings of your ego, from the unquenchable appetite of status-seeking?

One great example of this is Henri Nouwen. He was a famous priest and professor who had spoken all around the world and written best-selling books. Yet the only place he finally found true rest and lived out the remainder of his life was in a community for special-needs people. In the humbling environment of working with those who had Down syndrome, autism, and mental illness, at the workbench with these folks who had no idea he was famous, Nouwen found the freedom that he was looking for.

Second lesson from Paul at the workbench:

Freedom from status

Let’s look again at that first verse:

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. (1 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV)

This is something Paul mentions in several places.

In a different letter, he tells the Corinthians:

If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:11-12)

You hear this in Paul’s dialogue with different communities. He didn’t burden them financially and was specific about avoiding that.

In Jewish society at the time, the Rabbi was supported by his community as a matter of course. There was no question about where his check was coming from, as it was part of tithing to your local synagogue. Paul wouldn’t participate in this. He didn’t want it to become an obstacle between him and his people.

We also have to remember the other half of Paul’s audience: the Greco-Roman society. That culture had some similar practices, but the motivation was very different. Teachers, with bands of disciples following them, weren’t uncommon in that society; teachers in Athens or Rome were well-known and we still follow some of their ideas today (remember the Pythagorean theorem from geometry class?).

They were so well-known that it became a status symbol to have a thinker on the payroll. Paying your very own playwright or actor or philosopher was a bit of ornamentation to keep up with the elite. If you were wealthy, you had your own property and a large house and slaves and horses and whatever, but if you were really wealthy you had your own sage on the payroll.

Paul walked away from all of that and sat there at the workbench. He stepped out of the discussion entirely. Nobody could accuse him of preaching a new message so he could make money; no one could call him the rich man’s pet. This was his freedom from status. He wasn’t interested in that; he was driven entirely by the mission God had given him.

Has your faith ever brought you to this kind of freedom? Has it brought you to where you can stand away from the constant vying for status and center-of-attention? Social media makes this worse. Now you can make a whole tiny TV show out of your self-focus! On social media we can update, in lighting-fast real-time, all aspects of our lives and then wait anxiously for a meager harvest of approval and attention.

But Jesus tells us that we are loved, cherished, and destined no matter what. He reminds us that our worth isn’t a matter of our works or smarts or looks, but of his grace. Paul wasn’t tempted or distracted by these positions of status—the stately Rabbi or the famous pagan philosopher; he just sat down at the workbench and was free.

Final lesson from Paul at the workbench:

Freedom to be in the moment

 For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 ESV)

The Thessalonian church was a flashpoint in Paul’s ministryI, as discussed in Acts 17. His preaching almost resulted in a riot. Believers were alienated from their cultures, whether Jewish or pagan, and the tension was bad enough to cause violence. Paul and Silas were hidden by the community and then released at night to the next town. Then people from Thessalonica found out they were there and chased them down (Acts 17:13).

In this kind of environment, disowned from their families and cultures, it is no surprise that the church there got fixated on the end times. They became focused and obsessed with the second coming to the point that some of them were even quitting their jobs and disengaging from life. They were simply watching the sky and letting their lives fall apart.

Paul at the workbench stood in stark contrast to this. Instead of a kind of apocalyptic obsession, he participated in one of the most consistent rhythms of human life: work. Listen to his explicit instruction to the community there:

Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (1 Thessalonians 4:10-12)

What a shocking thing to say to a doomsday community! Here they were hiding in bunkers, waiting for their deliverance to come and Paul says, “Come to the workbench. Live a quiet life, work with your hands. Let that be your witness.” He doesn’t offer them fireworks and drama; he offers them a life well lived in the moment.

Because you know how it’s all going to end, you can live more fully in this moment. Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles didn’t offer them (or us) a wait-for-it end-times scenario, but gave them the key to living a different life, every day, even in the details of the workbench.

The gospel life calls us to the daily work of maintaining harmonious relationships. It calls us to the difficult journey of helping the poor. It calls us to the seemingly endless grace-work of Christ being formed in us (Galatians 4:19). The gospel is not an escapist doctrine that relieves us of responsibilities and tensions of life—it gives us strength to press further into life! Karl Marx derisively called religion the “opiate of the masses,” when the truth of the gospel is meant to wake us up!

Paul at the workbench gives us the great example of someone who is holding two realities in tension. On the one hand, he isn’t blinded by the world, trying to make heaven on earth through business dealings and influence and status-seeking. On the other hand, he isn’t watching the skies and obsessing over “signs” of Christ’s return. He is in the real world, living every day in light of eternity, and therefore able to fully live every day.

May you know the freedom of being a fully loved child of the God who will one day put everything to rights. May you follow Paul’s example, not necessarily to make tents, but to be free from status-obsession, end-times-fixation, and the ultimate slavery of living for yourself. For the Son has set you free, and you are free indeed!

Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 78:1-7 • Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 • 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 • Matthew 25:1-13

The theme for this week is hope and promises, which encourages us to consider God’s promises and allow them to fuel our hope. The “call to worship” Psalm reminds us to tell the generations of the “praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” Joshua reminds the Israelites of the many times God delivered them and he encouraged them to base their commitment on this evidence of God’s faithfulness. This week’s sermon outline is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, where Paul addresses the big question about God’s promise of resurrection to us. Lastly, Matthew tells the parable of the foolish bridesmaids who weren’t ready, thus encouraging us to wait with hope, knowing God keeps his promises and is always perfect in his timing.

Hope and Promises

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

When Amanda Messer was a little girl, her parents split up. She was “a daddy’s girl,” and on the days he was scheduled to come for visitation, she dressed up in her prettiest dress and waited by the front picture window to see him pull into her driveway. At first, he was always on time, and she so looked forward to spending time with him. Later, she waited…and she waited…and she waited, until her mother said, “He’s not coming. Go change your clothes.” Amanda didn’t understand it at the time, but her father struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs. What she did understand is that her daddy did not keep his promises to her.

As an adult, Amanda was deeply moved by a coworker’s Facebook post where he talked about his father who had just passed away. Her coworker said that his dad was just an average guy, but his word was golden. He always kept his promises, and this prompted the son to encourage others to keep their promises by mailing out “promise cards.” These were cards people could fill out and give to others or use as a reminder of what they had promised to do. Amanda became a co-founder of this project in 2012, and over the past eight years, it has become an international nonprofit social movement called “Because I Said I Would.” As of 2019, Because I Said I Would has sent out 10.3 million Promise Cards to more than 153 countries, provided free online resources you can download, and offered character development programs to more than 150,000 students.

Amanda Messer’s story highlights the importance of keeping promises. We live in a world where promises are constantly being broken. Parents break promises, marriages fail over broken promises, businesses suffer due to broken promises. And let’s not get into how many promises are broken by elected officials. This has made it difficult for many to learn to trust. And that lack of trust is often carried over to people’s relationship with God. Many wonder, some ask, does God keep his promises?

Throughout the history of Israel, God’s people had been taught about the resurrection. Even Mary and Martha believed they would see Lazarus again—at some future time at the resurrection. They didn’t realize Jesus was the resurrection, the way, the truth.

Believers in Thessalonica were asking about God’s promises—in particular about the resurrection.  Believing Jesus was going to return in their lifetime, there was concern about those who died in the faith. Would only those alive be changed? What exactly is God’s promise? And how do we know he will keep it? Paul answers both questions by reminding us how God keeps his promises through Jesus.

Let’s read the passage:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.  For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NRSV)

What do we see in this passage?

The first thing Paul points out is that we need hope when faced with grief, loss, and suffering, all of which are part of our human experience. While normal, Paul reminds us we can move through and process them better if we have hope.

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13 NRSV)

Then Paul connects our resurrection and the resurrection of those loved ones who have already passed with Jesus’s resurrection. That’s a key component of our faith: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We are united with Jesus in his death and in his resurrection.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. (1 Thessalonians 3:14-15 NRSV)

Paul follows this up by sharing details of this resurrection that clearly indicate it won’t be done in secret. It will be a big event with lots of reunions and rejoicing. Further, he emphasizes the promise that we will be with Christ for all eternity.

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 3:16-17 NRSV)

Finally, Paul reminds us to share this promise with others—to give the encouragement of the hope they have in the resurrection.

Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 3:18 NRSV)

Application:

• Jesus’s resurrection is proof that God keeps his promises. Through the resurrection we have been given new life, we are citizens of a different kingdom. Because God raised Jesus from the dead, and because we are included in Jesus, we can trust that God will raise us, too. This fuels our hope for the future and boosts our trust in God.
• People need to be reminded of the hope of the resurrection. There is a lot of pain in the world. Sometimes we forget what our brothers and sisters around the world are going through. There is a need for hope; there is a need to know this life is temporary. We grieve with others, but we don’t grieve as those without hope. We know our hope is Jesus and we are called to remind others of that hope.
• Jesus is the promise and shows us the importance of keeping a promise. Not only do we continually look to Jesus and help others turn to Jesus, we also know the importance of our word. Because we understand how hope and promises are deeply intertwined, we will remember how important it is for us to keep promises made to others, to give them hope and pass along the grace that God has shown us.

Amanda Messer’s story shows how one man’s broken promises affected his little girl, and we also saw how another man’s life of promises kept, though unremarkable in other ways, left a legacy of hope. God has given us hope by providing proof of our resurrection through our elder Brother Jesus.

For Reference:

The Importance of a Promise (Amanda Messer): runs 11 minutes

Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 123:1-4 • Judges 4:1-7 • 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 • Matthew 25:14-30

The theme this week is God is in charge. Psalm 123 calls us to worship, and it sings of God’s mercy that we depend on. Judges 4 gives us an account of God sending Israel victory when they depend on him. 1 Thessalonians 5 talks about the end of days when God re-establishes his rule on earth in Christ. Our sermon, “Royalty in Exile,” is based on this reading. Matthew 25 tells us how God is in charge and we should make the most of the life he gave us because our time is finite.

Royalty in Exile

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 ESV 

Begin by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 ESV.

Falling in love. Getting bit by the love bug. Taking love potion number 9. Puppy love. Shot by cupid’s arrow. The experience of meeting someone and having romantic feelings for them has a host of metaphors around it. Everything from household pets (puppy love) to violence (smitten) has been used to describe this experience. The reason for this avalanche of metaphors is because the experience is hard to put into words.

How do you put this flood of feelings, the sweaty palms and quickened heartbeat into words that encapsulate what it means? The best you can do is hint at it, hence the metaphors.

This could lead to a fun discussion of metaphors for love or a personal example. In my own life, my father always described finding the right mate as: “she feels like home.” She turned out to be exactly right.

This seems to be Paul’s experience at the end of 1 Thessalonians 4 and the beginning of chapter 5. He uses several metaphors to describe the joyous event of Jesus’ return, what Jesus appearance will be like, and how we should live as we anticipate it. He uses so many metaphors that this passage has been infamously misread through a lot of recent church history.

Let’s look at chapter 5 and how this passage informs our lives as God’s people. We will look at the context in the writing itself and in the culture that Paul spoke to at the time. As New Testament scholar Ben Witherington warned us, “A text without a context is just a pretext for what you want it to say.” Especially when it comes to an ecstatic traffic jam of metaphors like this, it’s important to look at what was going at the time, how they would have understood it, and then building a bridge from our own space and time to see what the word is saying to us.

Let’s break it down into three C’s:

–          Citizenship

–          Conduct

–          Courage

First, let’s look at Citizenship.

To apply these words to our own lives, it helps to put ourselves in the mindset of the first people who heard this. We’re talking about a small, beleaguered community in the ancient Greco-Roman world. They were persecuted, scared, and disoriented, but maybe not as disoriented as we would be in our own world.

The ancient world was harsh and war-torn—life could be brutal and short. One theme was very strong through almost all aspects of life, especially when compared to our world—the ancient world was religious. It was extremely religious—mystical ceremonies and beliefs marked almost all of life. There were temples on every corner, and every community occasion was religiously tied. There was no 4th of July or Thanksgiving— every big celebration was more like Easter and Christmas.

This was a major distinction between the modern context and the ancient. There was a temple and an idol or something similar on every corner. On one hand, there was no problem for people to take up belief in Jesus—the idea that a spiritual entity interacted with us every day was part of life. They could easily have added Jesus to the pantheon of gods they already had in their home and in their minds.

That was one break with the outside world that the Christian community first made. The apostles asked for allegiance to Jesus alone, which meant abandoning all those other gods. To make matters worse, they didn’t just say those other gods and idols were inferior, they said they didn’t exist. God the Father, Holy Spirit and Son was the only God in the universe, the one true God.

One of the early accusations against the fledgling church was that they were atheists! The issue was that they didn’t believe in enough gods. So, when their Greco-Roman neighbors got nervous about them or wanted to blame them for something, the accusation that they were unpatriotic atheists was a strong charge against them.

The other undertone of this discussion got them in even more trouble. One of the universal cults in the Roman empire, where all of them lived, was the worship of the emperor. Citizens burned incense to him and had rites and celebrations involved, even called him by the title: “Julius Caesar—King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

Rome didn’t care much who you worshipped. That was a matter of ancient peace keeping. Rome had conquered so much of the world that different faiths abounded. But one thing you were required to do was worship Caesar. This was no problem for average Greco-Roman citizens, because they just added Caesar to the multitude of gods they believed in. But it was a huge problem for Christians. They weren’t about to worship or bow the knee to Caesar or any other deity. Caesar was a government official, meant to be respected, but just a man, never meant to be worshipped. Worship was for God alone.

That’s what began the persecution of the early Christians in earnest. That’s what got them in real trouble. That’s what took them from rag-tag worshipping communities to become food for the lions in the Colosseum.

Jesus as a sage was fine with everyone. Jesus as a healer was fine with everyone. Even Jesus as a minor deity was fine. But Jesus as King? That was the problem.

Back to the passage at hand. In the previous chapter, Paul describes the appearance of Christ at the second coming:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV)

This imagery, one of Paul’s many metaphors here, is taken directly from the Roman government culture. When Caesar arrived at a city with his entourage, a trumpet was sounded to announce who it was. Then a delegation of people would leave the city, meet the emperor, and escort him into the city.

This is the image given to us of Christ. At the end of all things, when God’s realm and our own (“earth” and “heaven”) are one again, Christ will appear as the true emperor of the universe. What Paul seems to hint at here is that a certain contingent of people will meet him and herald his coming as he establishes his kingdom on earth. This is a delegation going out to meet the true King, who is home at last.

This is Paul’s comfort to the Thessalonians and to us. The true king will one day appear and restore things as they are supposed to be. The alienation that this young church feels is part of the deal, and is not something that should make them despair, but look forward to the restoration of the true Lord. This is our true citizenship as God’s people. One day the full dimension of that royalty will be revealed when Christ returns.

Moving to our text in chapter 5, Paul takes a risk in describing this even more sharply:

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3 ESV)

The phrasing here would have been immediately apparent to the first readers. “Peace and security” was the slogan of Roman power—a phrase they often repeated to show the people they’d conquered the benefits of being under Rome. Much of the “peace and security” Rome offered was brought by crushing and devastating the people and cultures they had conquered. This “peace and security” was nothing anyone had a choice about!

Paul is saying that the true King, the true kingdom, and our true citizenship, is outside of the country we live in. By co-opting both political and religious power, Rome was trying to make itself into its own universe, trying to dictate all of reality. Paul’s revolutionary words were that our citizenship is above and beyond any government power, and that our first allegiance is to Christ.

Think of the Christians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who stood up against the corrupt powers of the day, even joining a plot to assassinate Hitler. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr. who stood up against segregation and prejudice, which was the law in his time. In our own everyday lives, think of every time you don’t give in to a trend or find your value by how many clicks and likes you get in social media or put your career ahead of your family—all of these are acts of revolution declaring our allegiance to the true Lord.

As Malcom Muggeridge, renowned Christian journalist, said, “Never forget, it is only the dead fish that swim with the stream.” Your citizenship, your true identity, is not found in the lazy current of trends and power-plays and culture, but in the royal courts of King Jesus.

Second: let’s look at conduct.

So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 4:6-8 ESV)

Again, we have metaphors abounding here. Paul is neither talking about teetotaling nor about staying literally awake all the time. He’s talking about being spiritually awake instead of deadening ourselves to reality.

The pagan culture Paul spoke to had several rites and festivals that involved drunkenness and sexual license. Paul’s message was that these activities deadened and emptied the soul, in contrast to knowing Christ, which wakes you up.

Our conduct should reflect our citizenship. The connection Paul made here, which was rare in those days, was between your religion and your conduct. The Greek and Roman gods might give you favorable weather or good crops if you presented sacrifices and kept their rituals, but they didn’t care very much about how you treated others or helped the poor. The Judeo-Christian message was countercultural—God not only loved you and wanted a relationship with you, but he cared about how you lived and treated other people.

Paul speaks to them about keeping watch, staying awake, being aware of the life God has given you. Verse 2 presents this contrast powerfully:

For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2 ESV)

You have a “full awareness” of something that happens “at night.” Instead of being lulled into the sleep of trusting worldly powers and living by worldly morals, we in Christ have a full awareness—an awareness that this life is only temporary, and that any powers that exist are limited and well under the control of King Jesus. Spiritually, we are awake and sober in the night while the rest of the world is drunk and asleep.

Finally, courage.

Paul is writing to encourage a community that is troubled and tired. We know from context that they were experiencing persecution for their allegiance to Jesus, and that some of them had already died, perhaps because of that persecution.

Paul writes to encourage them, even mentioning those who have died specifically: “And the dead in Christ will rise first” (4:16). King Jesus, upon his return, will have conquered even death. He was writing to comfort and inspire them, not to present the exact details of what Christ’s return would look like. His underlying message is simple: Christ is going to return, be awake and ready, and he will be the true emperor of the universe.

He encourages them with images like 4:11-12:

Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ESV)

This is not a picture of a doomsday cult watching the sky and withdrawing from the world in fear, but of people living free and knowing that their Lord is in charge and will take care of them. We live in faith and our hope for salvation. This is true courage, a freedom from the trappings of ego and cultural winds in which one can be still and know that he is God.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:8-11 ESV)

Paul calls us to keep things in tension. On the one hand, he calls us to realize that our true citizenship is in Christ and that the kingdoms of this world will come and go. On the other hand, he calls us to fully live in this earthly exile— alive and awake in our conduct and working in harmony with each other and those outside the community. Because we know our true identity—beloved children of Father, Son and Spirit, we know our citizenship is in heaven. This changes our conduct, motivating and inspiring us to live as children of God. We do this with courage, knowing God died for us so that we might live in him.

Paul tells us to encourage one another and build one another up with these words.

Small Group Discussion Questions

Psalm 100:1-5 • Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 • Ephesians 1:15-23 • Matthew 25:31-46

This week’s theme is Christ the King. This week’s “call to worship” Psalm invites the sheep of the pasture to sing praises to the Lord who is worthy of universal glory. The text of Matthew governs the other lectionary texts as it focuses on Christ’s coming enthronement to glory. Matthew’s text calls along as a companion the text in Ezekiel where the Lord likens himself to a Shepherd taking care of his sheep. The New Testament passage will provide the majestic opening text of Ephesians that culminates with the exaltation of Christ reigning in full dominion.

The Shepherd King

Matthew 25:31-46

Are you the type of person who doesn’t mind knowing how a book ends before reading it? Or maybe it doesn’t bother you to know how a movie will end even while you are in the middle of watching it. I suspect most of you do not fall into that category. So, let us be warned that today we will be dealing with some things that are coming to an “end.” First, this is the last day of the Christian calendar before we start over with Advent. For a while now we have been in the season known as “Ordinary Time” or simply “The Season after Pentecost.” This last day of that season has a special name—Reign of Christ or Christ the King. Our passage for the day will take up that theme. So that is the first “end” we should keep in mind today. Our journey from Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and everything in between is coming to an end today.

Also, our passage in Matthew will bring us into the end of Matthew’s Gospel. This passage marks the end of Christ’s life and ministry before his death and resurrection. It’s a passage that also marks the end of a section known as the Eschatological Discourse, which will include a parable to end Jesus’ use of parables in Matthew. If you are wondering what an Eschatological Discourse is about, it is a discussion about end-things. That’s a lot of endings for the beginning of a sermon.

Considering we will be dealing with the “end” of these various elements, we will need to keep in mind all that has gone before. We do not want to separate this day from the rest of the calendar as if now we are talking about something different. We are still talking about Jesus. This day will lay special emphasis on Jesus as King, a fitting end to the whole biblical narrative. Also, we do not want to look at this passage as if it stands alone, detached from the full scope of the biblical witness in Matthew, the New Testament and then the whole Bible. Ultimately, we must read this passage keeping in mind who Jesus has revealed himself to be throughout all of Scripture.

Why are we laying all this groundwork? Because if you have ever read the last chapter of a book or seen the last scene of a movie without hearing the whole story, you run the risk of bringing some distorted assumptions and drawing some faulty conclusions. This particular passage unfortunately has at times suffered in this way. We will try to avoid that so we can “end” well!

Read Matthew 25:31-46

The passage begins in parable form. We are given a simile involving a shepherd separating sheep and goats. This parable is quickly dropped, leaving the rest of the passage to portray a judgment scene. We should proceed holding lightly to any “literal” interpretation. What we can hold firm to is “Who” this passage is about. Jesus.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. (Matthew 25:31 ESV)

Jesus is introduced from the start as “the Son of Man” and after being seated on a throne of glory he is from there on referred to as the “King” and “Lord.” However we slice this passage, in the end, Jesus is King. This is the same Jesus who entered our brokenness and darkness to bring us into his glorious kingdom. He does not stand aloof from those he judges, nor is his judgment different than that of his Father. We can rest assured that Jesus aims to bring us into his own relationship with the Father, the same relationship Jesus maintained throughout his entire life and ministry including its culminating death and resurrection.

Notice the scope of Jesus’ reign as king. “All the angels” and “all the nations” are gathered before him. We have an image of all heaven and earth coming together with Jesus. This is the “end” the Father had in mind from before the beginning of creation. We have some language of “separation” that follows, but the Father’s aim is not to separate heaven from earth but rather to bring them together under the rule of his Son Jesus Christ.

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from 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. (Matthew 25:32-33 ESV)

What do we make of this image of the shepherd separating “people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”? This was a common practice of shepherds, so it would have been familiar to the original hearers of this parable. Shepherds would often keep both sheep and goats in their flocks. At certain times, like milking the goats and shearing the sheep, they would separate the animals from one another. The act of separating wasn’t arbitrary or for bad behavior— it was to serve a fruitful purpose. But we know Jesus is not strictly talking about sheep and goats. He is talking about “people.” We don’t like the idea of people being separated from one another because that hinders relationship. But there are times that separation is the most fruitful thing we can do for the relationship. Have you ever had to separate two people because one of them was acting in ways contrary to the relationship? Or maybe you can think of times in your own relationships where constructive conflict broke down into chaotic discord. The best action may have been to separate until coming together could be fruitful again. This is the angle we will take for the parable Jesus uses to lead into his words of judgment.

The “goats” are cast as the offending party. After being separated from the sheep, they are placed on the “left” hand, which is often the biblical designation for the “wicked.” The sheep are placed at Jesus’ “right” hand, the biblical designation for the “righteous.” Judgement has begun. We are often told in our culture not to “judge,” as if that’s the only commandment that should be obeyed. But there is a difference in “judging” and “condemning.” Jesus does tell us that we shouldn’t “condemn,” but when Jesus judges, his judgment is righteous and good. We see with this parable being combined with a judgment scene that righteous judgment involves “separating,” sifting through, and sorting out. But on what basis does Jesus the Shepherd King judge?

We are given an indication by what the King says to both the sheep and the goats after they have been separated.

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.” (Matthew 25:34-36 ESV)

He addresses the sheep first by telling them they are blessed by the Father and they have an inheritance to receive which was prepared for them “from the foundation of the world.” Notice that Jesus tells them that they are already blessed. He is not saying that now he is going to bless them on account of how they lived their lives. Rather, he is indicating that the way they have been living their lives is already living the blessed life of the Father. Then he does something curious. He starts recounting how they have been relating to Jesus. Jesus credits them with feeding him when he was hungry and giving him drink when he was thirsty. They were hospitable to Jesus when he was a stranger and they clothed him when he was naked. They took care of him when he was sick and in prison. Do you see the orientation of their lives? It is turned towards fruitful relationship with the Lord.

But here is where we may scratch our heads. The sheep have no clue of when they ever did such a thing. They seem completely baffled by Jesus’ judgment on them. So, they asked the king when they did any of these things for him.

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 clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison 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.” (Matthew 25:37-40 ESV)

And the King tells them that “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Jesus has equated their actions towards others as actions towards himself. Jesus in no way separates himself from others, be sheep or goats. He is so intimately connected to them that he can judge actions to others as actions to himself.

Now Jesus is going to address the goats. He starts in similar fashion as he did with the sheep, but only in the negative. Instead of telling them they are blessed he declares that they are the opposite:

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 they also 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.” (Matthew 25:41-46 ESV)

Again, he is not cursing them because of bad merits, but rather he is stating what is already there. The goats have an orientation to life that is equated to living a cursed life. And what does this accursed life look like? Jesus goes through the same list he had for the sheep, only this time it’s everything that the goats didn’t do for Jesus. They too are judged by how they relate to Jesus, which comes to light in how they relate to others. They acknowledge him as Lord, but they don’t relate to him in the same way the sheep did.

Let’s take an opportunity to add a current play on the word “goat” to press home the orientation or way of life being exemplified by the goats in Jesus’ judgment. We have a modern acronym of G.O.A.T., which stands for “Greatest Of All Time.” In the sports world, for example, to be the G.O.A.T. of a specific sport is to be the best ever. Everyone else is “less” than the G.O.A.T. Jesus’ use of goats to stand in for people who have no regard for others they deemed less than themselves is perhaps a fortuitous image. If someone sees themselves as the Greatest Of All Time where there is no room for others, especially for someone considered “the least of these,” then that person is living a life that runs contrary to the life found in the relationship shared by the Father, Son and Spirit.

The Triune God for all eternity has never existed in relationship characterized by such disregard of the other. This is not how Jesus lived among us and it’s not the blessed life he shares with us. So, it is not the inheritance prepared for us “from the foundation of the world.” To be a G.O.A.T. in this way is to live as if our relationships with others has nothing to do with our relationship with Christ. It is to live as if we are already separated from others by our own greatness. It is to place oneself on a self-made throne where glory is hoarded for self-worship and the King of all creation is rejected on account of poor “judgment.” Doesn’t Jesus know I’m the G.O.A.T.? Why on earth would he expect me to lower myself to serve the likes of such pitiful creatures who can’t feed or clothe themselves?

Now we come to judgment. “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Notice the goats “go away.” Jesus does not cast them away or run them off arbitrarily. They go on their own accord. Their whole life is oriented in disregard of the King and his reign as anything they want to be part of. So, the natural end is to continue down this path living like a G.O.A.T. with no room for anyone but themselves. In this way it wasn’t Jesus’ judgment on them that sends them into eternal punishment, but rather it is their judgment on Jesus that makes them good company for the likes of the “devil and his angels.”

Now we come to the end of a sermon full of “ends.” But before we close, it seems important to strike the same chord here at the end as Jesus struck at the beginning of his discourse. Otherwise we may walk away thinking this was a “dead-end.”

Let’s remember some important context. Jesus is delivering this parable and discourse as he is standing on the Mount of Olives overlooking his beloved city Jerusalem, which is occupied by the ruthless and dominate power of the world—the Roman Empire. The religious leaders of this city are conspiring with their own oppressors to have him crucified. The inhabitants of this city will also follow suit by rejecting Jesus as their true king. He has with him an entourage of broken men who will forsake him, one will betray him, and all will be scattered. Jesus is facing complete abandonment, utter rejection and a brutal death. This King’s reign seems destined for defeat before it begins. This King seems to be facing his own end. Yet here he stands and speaks of glory. He sees beyond all the “ends” and speaks in triumphant discourse of the new beginning he will bring as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When Jesus shares these words, he is speaking as the King of Hope.

So, let’s not interpret his words outside his kingly rule of Hope. Rather, these are words of warning, of urgency to turn to Jesus in the sure hope that in him is blessing life forevermore. He now stands before you, calling you to himself as the only King who loves you more than he loves himself. He calls you into a life of blessing, a life that can be received right now among brothers and sisters who share the same pasture and gather together to worship.

Small Group Discussion Questions