Sermon Title: Acts of Service
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
What if how you think is wrong? Have you ever thought about how you view the world could be wrong? That’s what happened here in this Scripture passage. As the nations are gathered before God, some people thought that life was about power and the accumulation of wealth. They looked upon the poor and weak as beneath them, giving those people little time or attention. However, they were quickly made aware of the fact that their perception of who and what was important was wrong. They learned that God not only cares for the poor, hungry, thirsty and sick, but they are special to Him. What those people valued was really worthless in the view of eternity.
We are reminded by this passage that our acts of service are important because people are important to God. The things we often place great value on – our possessions, our hobbies, our desires and comfort – are things that have no eternal value. If we are “right” in our thinking, we will consider the highest priority of our lives to be serving God and others. Only this will last the test of eternal time.
On Sunday, we will talk more about acts of service, and how they should be performed in light of God’s care for people, especially those in need, and with an eternal perspective, as we continue the sermon series, “Love Languages: Five Ways of Giving and Receiving Love.” Hope to see you then!
