Saint Matthew, Some Shoeboxes, and a King

[This was shared during worship with the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, earlier today.]

Matthew 25:31-46
Last Sunday morning was exciting!

After worship, for the first time in Saint Matthew’s history, we participated in Operation Christmas Child. Along with thousands of other Christians in North America, western Europe, and Australia, we prepared to send our shoeboxes filled with gifts for children in Third World countries. Together, we wrapped our gifts. On Monday, some of our youth took the gifts to our local distribution point, the Antioch Alliance Church facilities. Later that day, I learned that Saint Matthew folks had contributed seventy-two shoeboxes. I was so excited that I wanted to shout!

Of course, my excitement was due in part to the fact that impoverished children you and I will never see or know—whether in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Pacific Islands—will receive gifts on Christmas morning, along with the Good News that the God of all creation was born into our world to die and rise and give new and everlasting life to all who repent of sin and believe in Him.

That prospect so excited one of our Saint Matthew shut-ins that she filled two shoeboxes with gifts last week! But my excitement about the shoeboxes has another reason. Let me explain.

If you were to ask the average Lutheran Christian how they were sure that they will spend eternity with God, most would give the right answer. They’d say the same thing that all the recipients of our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes will be told on Christmas day: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Forgiveness, peace with God and ourselves, and eternity are all gifts from God.

And this fact is exactly why the story Jesus tells in today’s Gospel lesson disturbed me for a long time. As is true of all of Jesus’ parables, this one is rooted in everyday life in first-century Judea. Every night, shepherds would separate sheep from goats. The two will graze together peacefully. But when night comes, the goats have to be boarded. They can’t take the cold the way sheep can. Jesus uses this nightly occurrence to talk about the day when, in effect, night will come upon the world, when life on this planet will come to an end, and Jesus, King of the universe will judge the nations.

As Jesus tells it, when He returns, He’ll separate sheep from goats. He’ll tell the people He refers to as sheep to join Him in His kingdom. Why? Because they had seen and served Him whenever they fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, welcomed a stranger, clothed the needy, cared for the sick, or visited the imprisoned. “As you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Then Jesus will turn to the goats and tell them to be separated from His kingdom forever. Why? Because they hadn’t seen Jesus in or cared about the hungry or the thirsty, the stranger or the needy, the sick or the imprisoned. “As you did not do for the least of these my family, you turned your back on me.”

Here’s what bothered me. The goats seemed to be condemned for failing to love or serve their neighbor. The sheep seemed to be saved for loving and serving others. It confused me because Jesus appeared to be saying that the sheep in His parable were saved by their works.

But then, I noticed something: Both sheep and goats are surprised.

The goats ask, “What do you mean, Lord? When did we see you in need of help and not lend a hand?”

And the sheep ask, “What do you mean, Lord? We don’t remember doing all those things.”

You get the feeling that had the people Jesus describes as “goats” known that Jesus put such a premium on loving one’s neighbor, they would have spent a lot of time trying to rack up brownie points or bragging rights for eternity.

You get a completely different feeling about the ones Jesus describes as sheep. They didn’t help those in need for ulterior motives. Service to others had been such a part of their lives that they couldn’t even remember doing any of it. They were the people saved by God’s grace through their belief in Jesus Christ.

And something happens in the lives of those who believe in Christ. Christ becomes our king. We begin to think with the mind of Christ, love with the heart of Christ. Not perfectly. We’re still human. We still sin. We, as Paul puts it, "see through a glass darkly." But as we live in daily repentance and renewal, Jesus takes up residence in our hearts and the love of Christ shows up in the way we live, the decisions we make, the manner in which we treat others.

And this is why I got so excited by seventy-two shoeboxes filled with gifts last Sunday. It demonstrated to me once again that here among the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, Jesus is Christ, our King! Jesus lives here among us.

My excitement built on Tuesday night, at our most recent Getting to Know You Dinner when I asked, as I always do, what the people gathered there might see God calling us to do and be as a congregation. Only prayer, discernment, and hard work will tell which of the ideas we discussed will come to fruition. But the list of ideas I jotted down included: an outreach to military families, a freshman dance or after-prom, an overseas medical mission, an abused women’s shelter, elder day care. There were so many good ideas. But they all fell under a single emphatic heading which I finally wrote at the end of my list in capital letters, with an exclamation point: OUTREACH!

This is the hallmark of a congregation where Christ is King. Whenever Jesus lives in Christians, they, like the sheep in Jesus’ parable, can’t help but reach out with God’s amazing love. They care for their neighbor not to earn salvation; they care for their neighbor because they’ve already been filled with Christ and the gift of salvation. When you’ve been given eternity, you tell God, “Thank you,” by giving away His love in whatever ways you can. And, I’m here this morning to beg you all to remember one very important thing: Never underestimate what God can do through those who follow Christ the King!

Never underestimate what Christ the King can do through you or what He can do here at Saint Matthew! Once Jesus gets hold of an ordinary man or woman, an ordinary boy or girl, amazing things can happen.

They call him Shoe Bob. I read his story this past week. Bob is a slight, bespectacled man, with a brush cut, whose wife left him not long ago. He owns a shoe repair place in the wealthy suburb of Wayzata, Minnesota. Bob is an ordinary, imperfect human being:
“In 1995 Bob was invited to go winter camping, something a man with a childhood fear of freezing to death had never considered. He kept his fear a secret from even his closest friends, hoping to one day overcome it with God and Minnesota. ‘I purchased a pup tent, pitched it in the backyard, and bundled up in the warmest clothes I had,’ Bob recalls. ‘My plan was to sleep in the tent for one night without retreating to my house.’ Bob tried, but sleep eluded him. And each breath he took felt like sucking polar air. He was cold. So he prayed…remembering words from Philippians that had become his [personal] life verse…'I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death' (Phil. 3:10). Bob prayed that he could last the whole night outside so he could tell his friends he gave it his best. But while he was tossing and turning trying to stay warm [God seemed to respond to his prayer]: 'This is a good idea, sleeping out here,' [God] seemed to tell Bob. 'Why don't you move the tent to the front yard and sleep outside to help the needy in Wayzata?'"

Bob thought that idea was crazy. Wayzata was an affluent place. There were no homeless there. Or so he thought. But research showed that there were even homeless people there. So, “in November 1996, Bob committed to sleeping in his tent on his front lawn…until he could raise $7,000 to buy Thanksgiving dinners for 100 families. In 14 days, Bob was back in his own bed—he had raised $10,000.”

Bob has continued to do this each November. "Over the past nine years, Shoe Bob has raised more than $5,500,000 for the [Christian homeless ministry in his community]…A 58-year-old shoe repairman with wire-rim glasses and an old-fashioned brush cut who listened to God alone in his tent in the snow.”

You and I are ordinary human beings. But this morning, I’m certain that God is calling you and me to reach out to others with God’s love. Together, we can be Christ’s hands and feet in Logan and around the world.

Today is both Christ the King Sunday and Consecration Sunday at Saint Matthew. To be consecrated is to be dedicated. This morning, as we end our time of worship in silence and prayer, I ask you to consider what it might mean for all of us at Saint Matthew to totally consecrate ourselves, to completely devote ourselves, to Jesus Christ our King in the coming year?

I’ve got to tell you folks, that those seventy-two shoe boxes, your contributions to the CHAP emergency food bank, the many other ways you serve others, and your passion for outreach all point to one important truth: With Christ as our King, amazing things are bound to happen at Saint Matthew in 2009.

And that too, excites me!