Title: Jesus, Once Again! /mt 25:31-40
31 - When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all the angels, he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 - Gather all the nations before him, and separate each one, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 - The sheep will be on his right, and the goats will be on his left.
34 - Then the king will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 - I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
36 - Naked and clothed me, sick and looked after me, in prison and came to see me.
37 - Then the righteous answered and said, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, and thirsty and give you drink?
38 - When did I see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 - When did I see you sick or in prison, and go to see you?
40 - The king answered and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
▽ ≪ Christmas Sermon ≫
⇒ Being able to do something again means that there is an opportunity. It will be disappointing when something fails and you start over, but how grateful you are to have the opportunity to do it again. How grateful would it be if a student listened to a lecture from the teacher and did not understand or did not listen to it for some reason? There are things in the world you can do again and things you can't do once you do. Training can be resumed, but war suddenly breaks out one day. Once you fight, that's it.
. There is no practice in the life of a man. It seems like every day is the same day, and the year is the same every year, but it is not. As the years go by, you take away your youth, and the days of your life decrease accordingly. This year, too, it is Christmas that the baby Jesus will be born. In the world, regardless of Jesus, we eat and drink and have fun about what is good. Churches hold various events to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus. And on the next day, they say that it is the end of the year and that it is a new year. The problem is that every year the coming of Jesus passes as an event to celebrate the birthday of the baby Jesus.
. God is the creator of heaven and earth. God has chosen the children of Abraham, the children of Israel, to be His people. Israel is God's people, and God has made a covenant to be the king of Israel, and the title of the king is Yahweh, which is Jehovah. The Lord made the descendants of Abraham into a great nation, and delivered them from slavery in Egypt and brought them to the land of Canaan. He established the nation of Israel in the land of Canaan and raised the children of David as shepherds for the people in the Lord's place. And God spoke through the prophets. “God is with the people of Israel as king, and he is born in Bethlehem as a descendant of David from a virgin’s body” (Isaiah 8:14, Mic 5:2). It is the Messiah, or Christ, who will come as the King of Judea. When the time came, God came into the world in a human body. He was born in Bethlehem as the son of Joseph, the son of David, borrowing the body of a virgin Mary. That is Jesus.
. The name Jesus is the real life and work he does for those who have become his people as a king. Jesus spoke of His life as a grain of wheat, a servant, and a Lamb. Jesus falls to the ground and becomes a rotting grain of wheat to save His people. Jesus is the servant who serves and exalts His people. Jesus became the Lamb before God and became the sacrifice to die for the sins of His people. The king who comes as the baby Jesus is humble. You live as a servant to serve, so you cannot be flashy. So he was born the son of a poor carpenter, Joseph. Jesus, who became a rotting grain of wheat, suffers. In order to bring peace to the people and make them rich, you had to suffer and give up everything that was for you. Jesus becomes a Lamb, takes up the cross, and is whipped. He wore a crown of thorns, not a crown, and died on the cross. Because that is the work of glorifying your people, and it is the way to pay for their sins and save them from eternal destruction.
. But your people Israel do not know their king. “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, but the world did not know him; he came to his own land, and his people did not receive him” (John 1:10, 11). Why? The king the Jews are waiting for is one who is born into a noble family. They long for a splendid and glorious king more than anyone else. That's why they don't have Jesus as their king. Rather, they persecute Jesus and hinder His work. They curse their king and crucify him to death.
. After completing His ministry, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to Heavenly Father. But when Jesus comes again, he will not be the humble king he was in the first place. As mentioned in today's message, the trumpet of glory will sound and he will come as a king escorted by the angels of heaven. To those who received Jesus, who came first, and to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). What is the result? Those who accepted Jesus became sheep and stood on the right, while those who rejected Jesus were divided into goats and stood on the left. The result of not believing in Jesus who came to this earth is eternal life and destruction, and destiny is divided into heaven and hell.
. When you go to the hospital, the doctor is busy. I have a lot of work so I don't have time to rest. The fact that doctors are busy with work means that there are many patients who need them. Jesus, who came into the world in a human body, was busy. Everywhere I went, people flocked. There were so many people who needed Jesus. If Jesus was as splendid and precious as the kings of the world, who would dare go before him? In today's verse, people who need Jesus. It turns out who Jesus is interested in. Jesus said that those people are me.
. The first is a stranger. A stranger is a person who has left home. It's hard when people leave home. Life is hard and lonely. A life apart from God is a stranger. It is hard to live until we return to the eternal house of God. Living a hard life is lonely and hard. Jesus welcomes the strangers and tells them to rest in my arms.
. The second is a person who is imprisoned. A person in prison is a sinner. The sinner is chained. Human beings who have sinned before God are like being imprisoned, life is hopeless. There is no freedom as in chains. there is no peace Jesus is with them. He sets us free by breaking the chains of sin, and brings us out of the hell of eternal destruction and gives us a new life. So Jesus is the hope and the life.
. Third, the sick person. It is painful when a person is sick, whether it is a disease of the mind or a disease of the body. Man has sinned before God and is cursed. Therefore, the body and mind are sick with disease, and life is also sick, and problems continue to arise. Jesus forgives their sins and heals all sickness. He corrects the wrong life and solves life problems
. Fourth, people who are hungry and thirsty. This person is a person who is not satisfied with life. It is not hunger because there is nothing to eat. I am not thirsty because there is no water to drink. It is a hunger for not receiving the word of God (Amos 8:11). It is not the words of the Bible that we know through knowledge, but the words that save lives. Jesus, the bread of life in which the Word became flesh, satisfies mankind. I am not happy to eat high-quality food. They are not satisfied with wearing good clothes and having expensive jewelry on their body. Living with the grace of God is a joy. When we have the joy that God gives us, we feel alive. You must have the hope of God who renews your heart to have the will to work.
. Fifth, the naked person. Taking off your clothes may hurt your body, but it's embarrassing. Human beings have a lot of shame because they have sinned. That's why people don't reveal themselves and hide them. Everyone has many secrets that no one else knows. Who takes away human sin? Who hides the shame that only I know? Who purifies the evil thoughts and filthy heart that keep coming up in me? Jesus. The blood of Jesus shed for me on the cross cleanses me. The grace of the blood of Jesus covers all shame. The power of the blood of Jesus prevents the attacks of evil spirits. Hallelujah!
. if it is If Jesus returned to the world in a human body again, where would he be born? Last time he was the carpenter's son, this time the king's son? Last time it was a shabby stable, so this time, is it a house like the splendidly built Jerusalem temple? no. Again, Jesus is born in a humble way as an ordinary citizen. For the Lord, who will come as the King of Glory, is interested in the poor, not in the splendid palace, but in the prison, and not on the rich and prosperous aristocrats. So the birth of Jesus should not be celebrated like a fancy prince. We should rejoice and give thanks to the Lord who is with us among sinners. If you go to a fancy place and look for the baby Jesus, the Lord is not there. If you go to a fancy place on a Christmas night, people who have nothing to do with Jesus are eating, drinking, and having fun, sinning. When I go to a place where nobles gather, I only see politicians fighting to become heads. Such people do not believe in Jesus, who came in lowliness because they are interested in the flesh, whether in the past or now.
. However, when Jesus comes again, the archangel blows his trumpet and comes as the King of Glory, unlike the first appearance. Everyone must meet the King, Jesus. Those who accepted the coming of Jesus, and those who rejected Jesus and lived as if they had nothing to do with Him, will be judged according to their lives in the presence of Jesus. Those who belong to Jesus are placed on the right, and those who are not Jesus are placed on the left. The person on the right is now blessed with a glorious life in the land of happiness. The person on the left has been good before, but now eternal destruction and the torments of hell await. What are the words that come out of their mouths? “Jesus, if you come to this earth as baby Jesus again, then I will welcome you well and treat you as king. If you give me one more time, I will live with you forever.” But the clock of history does not go backwards.
. Jesus has not yet returned. This year too, we are celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus into the world. Where should we go to meet the Lord? In today's verse 40, "The king answered and said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," said the Lord. This morning, we must take the words of the Lord into our hearts and use these words as stars to visit the place where Jesus is.
. The Lord is still in the place where sinners live, where the prisoners are, where the sick groan and the common people weep. The Lord is among the foreign workers who leave their country to live and come to this land to live a sojourn life after being subjected to all kinds of discrimination and abuse. Because I am not interested, the Lord leaves me and goes to them, and because the church pretends not to know the world, the Lord leaves the church and goes into the world. What must we do to meet Jesus? What kind of life should we live? It is a mission to save sinners like the Lord, to serve people, and to take care of our neighbors in need. Here, we must meet Jesus who was born today. Amen