Sermon Series: Seeing God in the Small Things (4 of 4): 2-23-25

The Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.

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.

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate people one

from the other. As a shepherd separates sheep from goats, and He will put the

sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those at His right hand, 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 something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you took care of me.

I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me?

I was naked, you gave me clothing, I was sick, and you took care of me,

I was in prison, and you visited me?

Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry,

and gave you food, or thirsty, and gave you something to drink?

And when was it we saw you a stranger, and welcomed you, or naked,

and gave you clothing? And when was it we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?

And the king will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of

the least of the brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ. Please be seated.

I was just thinking the other day thinking back I remember the day that I got

my first it was a while ago AARP card,

some of y'all also have it attached.

Was a sticker telling me that I could visit to aarp.org and find out all about

my benefits of being a member.

And I could tell them my interests.

I have benefits for being a member? For getting old?

Whoa! All I had to do was fill out the application, pay my dues,

and I have member benefits, no matter whether I take advantage of them,

or not for the next year.

And they are there. No matter whether I take them or not, the benefits are still there.

I can have discounts on purchases at Home Depot or something.

I can have new insurance. I can join the effort to change the world through

various justice groups.

I can get all the info I need to buy a new car. Wow.

It blows you over to find out that you have all these benefits from a little card.

I would imagine many of you have different cards, all kinds of cards,

that award you benefits in return for a few dollars and such.

I have a Kroger card that gives me gas cheaper, gives me money back on my purchases.

You all have other cards. So all kinds of, let's see, there's cards that give

you airline miles, right?

All kinds of benefits.

We live in an HOA. I've never lived in an HOA before, but we live in an HOA.

We have the benefit of a swimming pool full of children, if I want to get in there.

A couple of them, they're still full of children. and

but we have beautiful landscaping around

and we have walking tour places to go and such we have a clubhouse ours doesn't

have a golf course but I'm I know there are those who have golf courses maybe

you have those kinds of benefits too.

There are benefits for saying that you're a member of this club or a group.

Did you shop around before you joined some club or group where you have benefits?

The people of Jesus' time want to know if they had joined the correct club.

They thought the Jewish club was the right club.

Many had grown up in this club, but now they wanted to see if this new club,

the club of the ones who were following Jesus,

is that the right club to belong to now?

Do I have to give up one to have the other, or can I have them both?

They also needed clarification about the requirements of the club,

because you have requirements, right? You either have to pay your dues or you

have to use the card, like my Kroger card. If I don't use it,

I don't get any benefits.

Sometimes we need clarification of the requirements that we need in a Christian

club or the club of those who follow Jesus.

Now, at one time, Jesus told that club that they would be persecuted.

That they would have all of these things that they needed, that they would receive

just because they were in the club.

You know, but there's requirements too.

In baptism, what are our requirements?

Now, you may not remember these, but you say yes to them.

You said yes or your parents said yes when you were baptized,

And then again, when you were confirmed, will you continue to live among God's

faithful people? Remember these?

To hear the word of God and share in the Lord's Supper.

To proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed.

To serve all people following the example of Jesus.

And to strive for justice and peace in all the world.

That is what we do because we are Christian. Not to earn points or to get to go to heaven.

They won't take us to heaven.

FYI, they won't get us there. There's no point system.

But it defines who we are as a Christian. Jesus was very specific in this scripture.

We need to feed Jesus, visit him in prison, give him water, clothe him, help him when he's sick.

Then, of course, as we look at this gospel,

we find out what we must do for God so as to be sure and to see who we are and what we've done.

If our card says we are Christian, our membership in a church or our good deeds,

Our good deeds don't get us into heaven.

Those things don't. What does? Are we sure that the card we carry,

and this is what they're thinking, are we sure that this is a bona fide card?

That if I do this, that I'm going to get all the benefits I'm thinking about. Am I sure of that?

The scripture says we must do for Jesus, and lots of people give money to various

charities for Jesus or give food to collections, give mittens and hats to homeless,

toys to children. We do those things.

Doesn't that work? Doesn't that get us into heaven?

All the people who give, contribute, are the flocks, they say,

that are following Jesus.

And that is what he's saying. This is what you do.

Looking at my life, I'm going to say that when I served breakfast to homeless

in Austin, I didn't see Jesus.

When I held babies so the mother could be examined by the doctor in Mexico, I didn't see Jesus.

Perhaps when you visited someone

in the hospital or jail, you came away saying that I didn't see Jesus.

I took a group to sing at a nursing home, Christmas time. We had a great time, but we didn't see Jesus.

We purchased gifts. I don't know if you do an angel tree. We do it at my church.

We do that, but I didn't see Jesus in there.

All sorts of projects. When you make scars, when you make beds,

when you make mittens, you don't see Jesus.

I would imagine for you, it's just like me, you don't see him. The answer is no.

And here's the question we are asked by Jesus. Why did you do it then?

Did you do it because it was a good thing to do? Did you do it because Jesus said it was a good thing?

Did you do it so Jesus would know you and let you into heaven? Open that door.

Did you do it because your neighbor's needs broke your heart?

Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves and that is what this whole thing's about,

if you did it unto the least of your neighbors you did it unto Jesus,

if you fed your neighbor because your heart says so and you fed Jesus If you

ignored your neighbor, you ignored Jesus.

Your neighbor being whoever you find out there.

If they have needs and it breaks your heart, then you are being Jesus.

That is Jesus that you are serving.

That is what he's talking about.

Each Sunday we have a time when we can reassert our intentions.

Today, you can start all over, reassert your intentions. Is it okay to do the

good thing just because it's good?

Well, sure. Yeah.

There's good things we just do, right?

Jesus asks you to go beyond that, beyond what we teach our children even.

Jesus asks you to realize that when you help your neighbor, you help Jesus, and vice versa.

We are card-carrying members of the Christian family. That card means that we

try a little harder each time.

We look at life from a different direction, a new perspective,

and transform into that Christian that Jesus the Christ is calling us to.

We've been so blessed.

So blessed. We live in a country that has long been a leader.

That so many people have come to. And so they can forge a new life.

We live in Texas. Where the snow doesn't ever stay too long.

We have clean water, clean air, roads with rules. If you have ever driven in

Mexico, you know what I'm talking about.

We have laws that are mostly equal.

We have good medical centers.

We even have prisons that could not have been imagined back in Jesus' time. That was real prison.

We are truly blessed.

And Jesus just says, be that blessing to others. Be the blessing.

Amen. Amen. of the world, seeing God in the small stuff, in love shared,

in moments of rest, in the beauty of creation, and in the joy of serving others.

Live your faith in the everyday, knowing God goes with you, as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God, and we will.