Servants of Christ

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, you open in your Bibles with me to the book of Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, and we're going to be looking this morning at verses 31 through 46. Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 46. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 876. Lots of corresponding numbers today, it seems like. Matthew chapter 25, Beginning at verse 31, brothers and sisters, this is God's Word.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy 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 them from one another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. and he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of 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 took me in. 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? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, assuredly I say to you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting 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 take me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.

Then they will answer him, 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, Assuredly, I say to you, as much as you did not do it for one of the lease of these, you did not do it for me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous will enter into eternal life.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And we pray now this morning that your Holy Spirit might minister to us. God, I pray this morning that you might give me words to speak and that the congregation as a whole, we might have wisdom from your word. Please, Lord, be our teacher this morning, we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.

Sermon

Well, I don't do two topical sermons in a row, typically. But we have a deacon election on Wednesday, and I never thought I would be asked this, but someone said, can we have a sermon on deacons? Apparently some of you thought it was helpful, the ones we did on elders, and so I only have one week. Today I'm going to encourage you, we're going to have case studies and things like this, and chalk and talk, shameless plug, come back this afternoon, I'll have a list of communicate members as well, and we're going to talk about qualifications and case studies, who we would vote for and who we wouldn't based on theoretical people.

But this morning I want us to turn our eyes to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25, and I want to pick up on this idea of ministry, of service. Now I need to be careful here, right, because Jesus is talking about the last day, and so I want to be faithful to what Jesus is saying. Right, Jesus is saying there are true Christians and not true Christians. He's saying that there are people here who show their faith, and their faith proves real. and that there are other people who are all talk, but they don't actually have roots in Jesus Christ. And what is it that it shows here?

Why would I pick this as a passage to bring to you this morning on deacons? Well, I'd like for you to look at me at verse 44. Then they also will answer him saying, When did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and not deacon, be a deacon to you? When did we not serve you? Then he will answer them, saying, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it for one of the lease of these, you did not do it for me. See, a key mark of faith is love. Jesus is getting them to this point that they need to understand as he's talking to the people in front of them. He's saying that the key mark of your faith on the judgment day is going to be love. Did you first love God? And was that love shown to your neighbors? Did you keep the first commandment of the law?

That's great. You can keep the Sabbath day all you want. But if you don't have love for somebody who's hungry and sick, and instead you close up your heart against them, you're missing the outlying or the outworking of your love for God. Jesus says this is the two greatest commandments and here he's saying he's going to judge whether we kept the second greatest commandment. Did we love our neighbor as ourselves? And the fruit of loving God is loving others. That's your second point. The fruit of loving God is loving others.

And you might say, well, Brian, that sounds a little bit harsh. Are you going too extreme? Is this legalistic? Well, no. I'd like to point you to James chapter 1. By the way, I'm going to be flopping all over the place in my Bible. You could try to keep up if you want, but you don't have to. I promise I'll read it for you.

James chapter 1, verse 27, the Lord says this, Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, Lean in here. How does God defile what pure and undefiled religion looks like? To visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Now isn't that interesting? He doesn't say pure and undefiled religion is this, that you only sing the Psalms a cappella. Pure and undefiled religion is this, that you tithe every single Sunday with a cheerful heart. No. What is it?

Number one, visiting the orphan and the widow in their distress or in their trouble, and number two, keeping oneself unspotted from the world, desiring holiness and a loving, a practical loving, not of people who could repay you back, but of orphans, of widows. Translated into our society, that might still be widows, but it might also look like the single mom who could never actually repay you for your kindness. The lady who has no way to pay you back for what you're doing, but will you do it surely because you love God and you love that other Christian. See, a living faith is a loving faith.

That's what James gets at in the next chapter, James 2, verses 14 through 17. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace and be warmed and filled, but you don't give them things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

You have somebody who comes in the church and they need a ride to work and we shut up our hearts against them because, well, You're okay, I love you sister, do whatever you want. But you don't actually show them kindness. What type of faith is that? You see someone in church and they're hungry, you go out to lunch with someone and they don't have enough money to buy themselves food, and you don't show them the practical kindness. Is the love of God truly in you? Again, you might say, Brian, that sounds harsh. You know, James says some things that us reformed people might not be, we might not like too much. Turn over to 1 John 3, verses 16 and 17. John, 1st John, chapter 3.

By this we know love. Because He laid down His life for us. And we ought also to lay down our lives for our brethren. Now notice this. How do we know that we are loved? Because Jesus laid down His life for us. So how does that play into our lives? Look with me at verse 17. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes up his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in someone like that? Kind of a kick in the gut, isn't it? A practical Jesus humbled himself, emptied himself, gave us everything out of his grace, out of his love, out of his kindness. And now God tells us, do you have something?

Do you see your brother in need? Don't look only to your own interests, but also to the interests of your brother and go help them. Our goal of them, we've lost so much in our American society. Have you ever wondered why so many hospitals in the US are named things like Mercy, Grace, Providence, Hope, Redeemer? Because there was once a day in our country before the federal government took over the large majority of providing healthcare where Christians laid out the bills. where Christians became doctors to serve people, not to line their pockets.

Where Christians took this upon themselves. I don't think we're ever going to return to those days. That ship has sailed. But the reality is we still have so much. We have a ton, especially Especially as Americans, we are so blessed with an overabundance to care for others. And this is what God is saying here. We're to walk like Christ. We're to walk like Christ by loving in a practical way, by serving others in a real way. Each and every single one of us is called to be a deacon.

And in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 20 through 22, I actually find out that this is the opposite of what happens in the church in Corinth. In the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 20, Paul writes of the church there, a church he loved. He was a pastor there for over a year. He says, therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others, and one is hungry and the other is drunk. What, do you not have houses to eat and drink in?

Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I will not praise you. He defines this negatively. He's saying the church is meant to be this place where we come together, we share with one another, we love with one another, we see people who have needs and we meet those needs. This is what the church was marked by in Acts chapter 2.

Right? When Peter gives his speech at Pentecost, when he preaches the gospel, thousands are added to the number. And what do the people do? They sell a whole bunch of their stuff, and they hold things in common. They say, we have widows here, and we need to take care of the widows. There are poor people here, and we need to make sure they have enough food to eat. And in the church in Corinth, they've lost that. They've lost sight of what it means to be a follower of Christ. So what's the motivation? When we look at Matthew chapter 25 and we see those righteous at his right hand, they're surprised by this. What do you mean, Jesus? When did we see you hungry? When did we see you thirsty? When did we see you a stranger? When did we see you in prison? When did we do this stuff for you, Jesus?

And what does the king say in verse 40? Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it for one of the least of my brethren, you did it for me. This heart of service is motivated by love. A love for God and a love for others. A love for the King and a love for our brothers and sisters. This is what Jesus talks about in John chapter 12. John 12, verse 26. Jesus Himself is the one who gives us these words. John 12, verse 26.

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me. And where I am, there My servant will be also. And if anyone serves Me, him, My Father. will honor. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? It means to serve. You might say, well, okay, Brian, are you serious? You're really going to say I'm supposed to be like Jesus here? Well, once again, I'm just going to point to Jesus' words. It's always safe to go with what Jesus says. Luke chapter 16, verses 1 and 2, Jesus himself says to his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a Nope. It's supposed to be Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, verses 26 and following.

But not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater? He who sits at the table? or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as one who rules, who reigns, who's a tyrant over people? No, as one who serves.

Jesus is a chief deacon. Jesus is a chief servant. Jesus is a chief minister. Jesus is the one that the night before he was, or the night he was betrayed, what did he do? He took off his outer garments and washed his disciples' feet. He saw the most menial task, the most demeaning task, the lowest, grossest, yuckiest task, cleaning out his disciples' toe gunk. and He served them. This is the humility that Jesus says is meant to mark His disciples. So when you're looking for a deacon this week, as you're praying about this, as you're thinking about this, look for someone who's already serving. Look for someone who is already busy doing about the work of loving others.

Look for someone like Phoebe. Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16, Paul commends Phoebe. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant, notice, a servant, the word there is diakonos, a deacon of the church in Chincheria, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of you.

For indeed, she has been a helper of many. And of myself also. And she's already serving Paul. She's already helping the church there in Corinth. There's multiple little churches in Corinth and she's one of the helpers there. One of the servants of the church there. And then we can look for someone like Stephanas. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. I urge you brethren, you know the house of Stephanas. That is the first fruits of Achaia, that means a region of Greece.

And that they have devoted themselves, here in the New King James is translated, the ministry of the saints. The word there, once again, is the deaconing, the serving, the caring for the saints. Look for people who are serving the church. This is one of the gifts that God gives the church. In Romans chapter 12 verse 8, God specifically talks about how he has given the church different gifts, different people who are good at things. And there are people who are cheerful at serving, of showing mercy to others. As you're thinking about people in the church, as you're wondering, who would I want to be a deacon in the church? Is it someone who's been given over to cheerfully showing mercy to others? Or in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 28, another area where God tells us about gifts that He gives His church. He says that some have been given for helps and for administration. Oh, I gotta tell you, I'm so thankful for this. I need administrators.

Right? Y'all don't want me to be in charge of the church finances. Let's just be honest, right? You don't want me to be in charge of the church building, because, well, if you saw what my redneck chicken coop was going to look like, you know that I should not be in charge of the physical infrastructure of the church.

Thank God that there are people who have been given those skills of administration and of helps, who know how to step into the need and care for others, who know how to get things done. Now in all of this, I do need to warn you. There's two dangers in this whole sermon. One is to warn you that this is not a sermon to try to tell you that you're going to be saved by your works. No, I'm saying without your works, you're not going to be saved. You don't get saved because of your good works, but you get saved so that you can do good works. Jesus says, whoever abides in me bears much good fruit. You don't get saved because you have the fruit. You get saved because you're abiding in Christ.

So danger number one I want to tell you with this whole sermon is make sure you don't get this flip-flopped. thinking that, oh, I'm going to get saved because I do this good stuff. Now, there's a whole bunch of people who do wonderful things, they're very philanthropic, they're very altruistic people, and they have no love for Christ, and they're going to be on the left hand with the goats. But the other is, don't get co-opted. The second danger, don't get co-opted into thinking the church's entire ministry is mercy.

There's a social gospel that has its roots in American history that literally gave up the gospel, the true good news that Jesus Christ, King of the Kingdom of Heaven, came and laid down His life for sinners like us, that we might be saved to do good works. The social gospel says the church exists, the good news is we show mercy. No, no, that's a by-product, that's a great thing that happens from the Kingdom of God being established, but that's not the gospel. So I need to warn you about that because there is a social gospel, a works-based gospel that is from the pits of hell and derails the church. So as we look for someone, as I encourage you to pray and devote thoughtfully, when you have this eye towards somebody who is practically loving their brothers and sisters, because they love God.

I promise you the qualifications that you find, and you can write this passage down, 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 8 through 13, that's where you'll find the qualifications for a deacon. And as you find those qualifications for a deacon, and we're going to go over those a little bit during chalk and talk, you're going to find that if someone loves God, I mean wholeheartedly loves God, They're not going to be someone who's loving money, greedy for money. As you find someone who truly loves their neighbor, you're going to find someone who's not a slanderer or two-tongued. As you find someone, as you think about someone who loves the Lord and loves their neighbor, you're going to find someone who's faithful to both God and to their own family. Because they look after the needs of their children and they manage their home well and their children well. You can't look for someone who loves God and loves their neighbor and see someone who's practically doing this and that person not be tested. And that's one of the things for a deacon, right? You're not supposed to elect someone who's a new convert, not tested. But you want to elect someone who you've seen love God and have a love for their neighbor.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ, the deacon par excellence, the minister of a better covenant, and the one who laid down his life to serve us. Lord, we pray that you would give us wisdom. And we pray, Father, that you would raise up deacons in your church. We pray that each one of us would take seriously the fact that we must serve you and love our neighbors. God, I pray for my own heart and I pray for the people here this morning that your Holy Spirit would teach us the good works that you have planned for us in times past, that we might walk in them. Please, Lord, let us not have a dead faith.

In Jesus' name. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.