Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year—Your Works Revealed, Christ Your Refuge
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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.”
Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
When Jesus preached the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, among other things, He clearly taught us that there are only two places a human ends up after death. They are either taken to the Lord, Abram’s bosom, to be comforted, or they are cast into hell in the torments of everlasting flames, outer darkness, where the worm does not die and the fire is never quenched. Today he teaches, among other things, that there are only two possible judgments when we each stand before His throne individually. We are either the blessed of His Father who inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world, or we are the cursed who depart from the Lord into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
The fact that this judgment will certainly take place as well as the particulars of what this judgment will address are brought up all throughout Scripture.
From the Scriptures, we know that it is Christ who will judge the living and the dead. We know this from the Gospel this morning and words of Scripture such as these from St. Paul in Acts: “God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man, Jesus Christ, whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
God’s Word tells us that no one avoids this judgment. “But now, once at the end of the ages, our Lord has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
The Bible tells us that we will stand individually before God’s throne and have to give an account of what we have done and said. In today’s Gospel, Christ speaks of the works, or lack thereof, of the sheep and goats. Our Lord also says, “For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.” St. Paul says elsewhere, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” And, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Scripture speaks clearly of the severity of this judgment, especially toward those who heard and received the Gospel and presumed to go on sinning intentionally and against conscience. “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
We should know for certain from these words of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture that Christ will judge every human being who has ever lived and will ever live, including us. No one will escape this judgment on the Last Day. Each one will be judged individually. Nothing will be hidden. All will be revealed. No one else will be standing beside you for you to blame. And you will be judged according to what you have done in the body whether good or evil. Every idle word. Every sinful thought and desire. Every sinful action. Every sinful avoidance of doing good. The sins you are aware of and those of which you have no recollection. All will be laid bare. This isn’t an exaggeration. I just read to you from the Word of God that this is so.
Today, our Lord Jesus warns against two basic errors: 1) that being justified by grace through faith apart from works means that works do not matter and are of no consequence; and 2) that works do matter and are of consequence and so we are justified before God in some way according to our works. Both of these are errors, and Christ’s parable of the judgment today shows us that both are incorrect.
First, against the error that being made right with God by Christ by free grace through faith apart from works means that works do not matter and are of no consequence, you’ve already heard from Scripture that this can’t be true. You will have to give an account for your works. God will render to each one according to their works. The sheep and the goats are judged on the basis of the presence or absence of works.
Let’s just consider this according to the Table of Duties. A pastor is called to preach the truth of God in its purity and also live a life that is above reproach, a life described this way: “only having one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, managing his household well, and seeing that his children obey him with proper respect.”
The pastor who presumes to neglect any of this, preaching or life, for any reason, is liable to judgment for that. Notice I didn’t say the pastor must be perfect. But he certainly cannot sin intentionally and against conscience regarding these requirements and remain a Christian.
The judgment from the Lord to a pastor who preaches or lives contrary to His Word will be something like: “When I was hungry for the bread of life, you gave me ideas and opinions from your own sinful heart; when I was thirsty for the living water flowing from Christ, you gave me filthy water that you had stepped in and muddied with your sinful life that caused me to stumble; when I was a stranger you showed me no hospitality; when I felt the burden of my sin and nakedness before God you did not clothe me in the righteousness of Christ through holy absolution and the preaching of the Gospel; when I was sick and in prison you did not visit me; when I was sick and in prison to unrepentant sin you did not call me to repentance.”
The same goes for the rest of our callings, whether you are one in authority or under authority. Those you starve physically or spiritually, whether they are your pastor and congregation, children, or employees, you are starving Christ. Those you insult and disobey, whether they are your pastor, president or other government official, parent, teacher, or employer, you are insulting and dishonoring Christ. When you neglect the good works prepared for you beforehand by God that you should walk in them, you are neglecting Christ Himself. And no excuse of being tired, frustrated, too busy, or blaming others will take that fact away.
It is bad enough when we fall out of weakness in this regard as we always will even as Christians on this side of glory. It is a whole ‘nother ball game when you willfully and intentionally neglect your callings. That is unbelief. That is casting out faith and the Holy Spirit. That is when one must be converted again by the Holy Spirit through the Means of Grace lest they fall into the hands of the living God in judgment against their sin and unbelief and be cast into eternal fire.
Ultimately, Christ presents to us in His Word the importance of good works and even attaches promises to our good works for two reasons: First, because good works, fruits worthy of repentance must necessarily follow. Our Lord reminds us that if good fruit does not follow, the repentance is hypocritical and fake. This is where passages such as, “Faith without works is dead,” come in. Second, we need many outward signs that the Holy Spirit is graciously working in us and that we have a gracious God for Christ’s sake. Our good works actually serve as an outward sign of living faith that strengthens us in the knowledge that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. This is what St. Peter is getting at when he speaks of adding to our saving faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. And then he says, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble (i.e. fall away from the faith).”
The idea that because we are justified by grace through faith apart from works of the Law that means that works do not matter and are of no consequence is a false teaching. Hopefully you see not only the danger of that error but also see how much consolation the Christian misses out on when they do not exercise themselves in the promises God connects to our good works, sowing generously now that the Lord may cause you to reap in abundance, freely forgiving your enemies now to have even more assurance that your heavenly Father forgives you, and other such works. The more we exercise ourselves in godliness, the more consolation we receive from God’s promises. When we are lazy in this exercise we miss out on that consolation and if we willfully and intentionally neglect these works, we are at serious risk of casting the promises of Christ aside in unbelief.
The second error our Lord warns against is that since our works matter and are of consequence they in at least some way justify us before God or constitute a reward God owes us. The first error I spoke of can lead to a serious lack of repentance and what has been called by our Lutheran fathers the “epicurean delusion” where, “some imagine that faith, and the righteousness and salvation that they have received, cannot be lost through sins or wicked deeds, not even through willful and intentional ones. They imagine that a Christian retains faith, God’s grace, righteousness, and salvation even though he indulges his wicked lusts without fear and shame, resists the Holy Spirit, and purposely engages in sins against conscience.”
The second error, that our good works in some way are what justify us before God or constitute a reward owed to us by God can lead to an equally damning place either in self-confidence or hopelessness and despair. Yes it is true that your good works are of consequence, even eternal consequences. But hear again how the judgement given to the righteous took place.
When Christ accounted to them all these good works as being performed for Him, they didn’t respond, “Yes Lord. We know we did all that. Give us what is owed to us and we will be on our way.” The Lord imputes to them works of righteousness that they had no memory of performing. He bestowed on them the honor of having served their God and Savior when that is not exactly what happened in their experience of exercising themselves in good works as believers.
Against pharisaic self-confidence in our own works and against despairing in our lack of enough good works, the Lord shows us in this parable that He imputes to us or reckons to us who trust in Him the works necessary for us to enter into the kingdom prepared for us before the foundation of the world. In the end, we must have the God-worked humility to know by faith that we are but unprofitable servants who have only done what was required of us. And on top of that, we must know that Christ is reckoning to us His works. When we were hungry Christ fed us with His very flesh for the life of the world; when we were thirsty He gave us to drink of His blood and bathed us clean in that same blood in Holy Baptism; when we were strangers He spread out His arms on the cross to draw us in and hide us under the shadow of His wings; when we were naked He clothed us in Himself and His perfect righteousness and holiness; when we were sick He visited us as the great Physician of Souls to call us to repentance and heal our diseases; when we were in prison He came to break the chains of sin and unbelief in which we were bound in slavery to the the devil and the fear of death.
Without good works, faith is dead. Repentance is fake and hypocritical. And God will reveal that hypocrisy, selfishness, overindulgence, and disobedience in full on the Last Day.
Those who feel the lack of good works in themselves, Christ places before you even this very moment His own merit, His blood, His perfect good works. He is so generous that He not only clothes us in His perfect good and gives us good works prepared beforehand for us to perform, but even gives us the Holy Spirit and all that is needed for us to begin to do them.
On top of this our Lord makes these good works that He created and that He causes to come about in us into an outward sign that strengthens us in this life in the knowledge that faith is living in us, that the Holy Spirit is active in us. These good works we do that really are His given to us He now bestows on us to assure us that though we may be mocked and suffer affliction and temptation in this life for striving to live godly in Christ Jesus, our Lord is pleased with our good works done in faith for His name’s sake.
He remembers them and rewards them out of pure grace and mercy apart from any merit or worthiness in us. The necessity and value of good works must always be accompanied by Christian humility. As Christ tells us, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
Let us pray. O Lord God, heavenly Father, Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, bids us feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit the sick, and in this way show our neighbors charity and loyalty. Yet, dear Father, You know how cold, reluctant, and lazy, alas, our hearts naturally are toward all such things, and how fiercely the wicked devil hinders charity in us. Accordingly, we heartily beseech You that You would pardon and forgive us all that we have done contrary to this good and salutary command, and govern us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may increase daily in brotherly love, and continue steadfast in it until the end, and at last with all the saints enter into the kingdom of eternal joy and salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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