Matthew 25: 31-46: I just want to be a sheep

Presented to Trailview Alliance Church in Swift Current
On Sunday, March 07, 2010 by Captain Michael Ramsay

I’m from the West Coast originally. I was born and raised in Victoria and lived a few years in Vancouver. On the West Coast they are always talking about the “big one.” One of these days, apparently this gigantic tsunami (aside voice: what we always called ‘tidal waves’ when I was a kid) is supposedly going to sweep over the west coast of Canada, swamping the mainland and even sinking the whole of Vancouver Island, destroying Victoria and causing death and destruction throughout the Vancouver area. I never really take this seriously but as the years go on we hear more and more about this. Scientists now reporting how the earth’s pressure there is building up to a point where it will just give out and there will be a massive underwater earthquake and tsunami. When I taught elementary school in the early 1990s- things had actually gotten so serious that we started having earthquake drills in schools. Nowadays every workplace, every school and every family is supposed to have a plan (like we do in case of a fire) for an earthquake.

Now I don’t usually worry too much about that over which I don’t have any control but when one hears something long enough, one can become a little cautious over time. And, while I really don’t believe it at first, I must admit that when I first leave the coast and move to the prairies I am a little relieved. My first prairie posting was in Winnipeg. You can’t get too much farther away from the ocean than Winnipeg, which is the geographic centre of North America. I can remember confessing to myself while working away on my computer one day that I’m glad that we’re all safe now in Winnipeg, safe from ‘the big one’ even if it never comes. And God heard my confession. No sooner had I acknowledged that I now felt secure then this reassuring headline came across my computer screen :

Tornado Alert - Winnipeg twister could kill 100, injure thousands: researcher! “Researchers are studying how the city of Winnipeg would fare — not if, but when — a major tornado strikes.”

Some in our text here, Matthew 25:31-46, are surprised when the judgement comes like a thief in the night without warning; scriptures assures us that no one knows the time or the hour of the eternal ‘big one.’

When the eschatological ‘big one’ hits, each of Matthew’s sheep and goats in turn will face the judge, their judge – our judge. We’ll face him as he passes his judgement and sentence upon us…and there are more surprises.

God tells the goats (verse 42 and 43) “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.'” You can almost hear the quiet pause before the goats deferentially, sincerely reply (verse 44) “…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?” The goats are surprised. They should not be because, as others in this courtroom scene could tell them, the importance of provision for the poor and marginalized is a very common theme in the Bible. Deuteronomy 15:9 tells us that when you give food to the poor, then God counts it as though you had given it to him. And Proverbs 19:17 states "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be paid in full." And now they, those that did not lend, are getting paid back in full and this should not be a surprise to the goats but it is.

When we are swept up from our world today and placed in front of our judge, there are many who may be surprised like the goats and like Matthew says earlier in his gospel in Matthew 7:21-22, “not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21-22 Records that not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will be saved. They plead. Many will list the things that they do that they think are good, the Lord replies 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

This brings us – I believe – quite nicely (or maybe not so nicely) to our topic for today: local missions. How do we live out our lives as sanctified sheep where God has placed us, in our local community?

Today I have the privilege and the honour of sharing with you how God is using various people in local ministries at The Salvation Army in Swift Current here and some of you may even be pleasantly surprised at how many members of this congregation our serving our Lord, in local missions. There are many in this room here who serve the Lord in many ways just like as is recorded in Matthew 25:34-36, and so “…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. (25:34-36)” These are the sheep. Let’s look at this through the lens of Swift Current for a moment:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink: in Swift Current we are in a wonderful position to provide this service to the Lord. It is a real blessing. There is only one Foodbank in town and it is a Christian ministry – Praise the Lord. I have seen cities that have two or more foodbanks or foodbanks that are run by secular or other religious viewpoints and it is not the same at all. It is a real blessing that there are not competing foodbanks here and that everything done through that ministry can and should be for the glory and honour of God – particularly since the numbers of people in need in this community have been way up over the last year. So that many more people can come for food both physical and spiritual.

This congregation and members of it, I don’t know if everyone here knows, contributes to the foodbank in Swift Current on a regular basis and I can’t express in words my gratitude to the Lord for your Halloween food drive and other support. It goes a long way to serve God, help humanity, and build the Kingdom of God, and it is evidence of our sheep-ness, so to speak.

One of the strengths of our community foodbank is that we are connected provincially via our community services computers to every TSA foodbank in the province. We are able to communicate quickly to see if people who are transitioning from community to community are in legitimate need, and how to best help them. We can see when they came in last and what their needs usually are. Our Foodbank director is a professional social worker and an active Christian. When someone comes in for food or water or whatever else their need, Betty can discern if that really is their need and see how we can best help them.

Our scripture today mentioned people in need of shelter, in this community did you know that there is a lot of homelessness? Its not like the West Coast where you are confronted with people living on the streets daily, it is much more subtle. There is something called couch-surfing homelessness where one person who has become evicted brings their immediate family and sleeps on the couches / floors of their extended family or friends – and often times those friends really can’t afford to support them and are clients themselves. We can help. Swift Current has been able to serve the Lord through the Foodbank by discovering and helping those who need shelter too.

Other things as well come up through the foodbank ministries. I have personally taken people down to AA meetings and sat with them as a part of the group, if alcoholism led to their needing our assistance at the foodbank. I know more than one person who began their sober walk with the Lord in and around local Salvation Army foodbanks.

A new problem is really starting to identify itself through our local foodbank – gambling. We have had people come to our foodbank now that are dual income, good wage earning families that don’t have enough money for food because they have gambled it all away at the casino. In response to this, recently I went down to the casino with Betty, our CFS director, and we spoke to them about ways we could work together to help people out of their addiction. I could speak for hours about this ministry but I want to share with you so much more about the local missions here in town. Two things.

1) People come into a saving relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ through this ministry; I encourage all our people ministering with The Salvation Army to pray with those who come to us for help and we can celebrate because sometimes these prayers are eternal commitments of salvation – Praise the Lord.
2) I want to share one or two more of the many, many stories we have here. Shortly after I arrived in Swift Current, a fellow was waiting for me when I arrived at work on a Friday. He wanted to see Betty and I. We are closed Fridays to the public so I explained that to him and he asked me to pass this message onto everyone. He had arrived in Swift Current a week or two before and he had nothing – no food, no home, no job – God helped him through us and today he stopped by just to thank us and – he has food, he has a home and he has a job. We prayed. He is all right now. Praise the Lord.
a) Another story: two Christmases ago as I was handing a single mother her Christmas hamper, she cried. She said without The Salvation Army, she and her children would not have had Christmas at all. They are believers now. There are so many stories from local missions…

I am going to stop talking here about food and drink because I could share the testimonies of the miracles that God is doing in this one ministry all day.

Did you know that we are also a part of the community of Swift Current’s Emergency Disaster Response team? Our building is fully equipped for an event such as struck Chile and Haiti. We have staff trained in food services, emergency shelter provisions, emotional and spiritual care. I personally have experience counselling people and debriefing emergency personnel after disasters have struck in Saskatchewan here as well as around the world – some other time I can share some of the testimonies from that ministry with you. I am also The Army’s only Emergency Disaster preparedness trainer in Saskatchewan so if that is something you would like to learn more about let me know. This is all a part of the local mission. If you would like me to activate your congregation to help out in local emergencies, let me know, I can have you all trained, certified and activated as soon as the Lord permits.

Back to Matthew 25, “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me”: You probably know as well that we are able to provide clothing to those in need – both through our family services department (our foodbank) and also through the Thrift Store. The Thrift Store – this is a very good ministry and I praise the Lord for our manager there, Lori: she is a solid Christian who serves the Lord with us Monday through Saturday and regularly worships Him here on Sundays. The Lord has blessed her ministry greatly. At the Thrift Store we offer quality pre-owed items at incredibly low prices and there are some good items there both for people in need and others who would like to help out the ministry. From this ministry we not only finance some of our other ministries but we are able to keep clothing and furniture on-hand so that those in need can come and speak with us and we can make sure that it gets to where it is most needed. This is very good because it means that no other service agency should ever need to advertise for furniture (for example, as it is very hard to store) or other items that we sell and as they contact us we can work together to share the love of Christ with those in need in the community. As we all work together we can be used a lot more effectively for God and His ministry.

I have one of again many testimonies to share with you about our Thrift Store. Our longest employee – she is now a soldier (a full member of our church) and a devoted Christian with a powerful ministry. She came to the Lord through her work at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. We begin our meetings there in prayer and through prayer Jesus saves and this employee who is such a wonderful tool for Christ came to the Lord through her service to Him through the Thrift Store.

The Thrift Store is a wonderful opportunity for different groups to minister from time to time as well – I am not sure whether Trailview has in my short time in Swift Current but I know other youth group’s have donated some of their time to serve Christ at our Thrift Store and our manager there, Lori, has been excellent at sharing our reason for that ministry – the Kingdom of God. Those here who know her, I would encourage you to thank and praise the Lord for her ministry.

One more thing about the Thrift Store – it as well as our other ministries accepts volunteers and our manager enjoys mentoring people who wind up there through the courts (fine options, CSOs, etc.) and we have had more than one testimony of people not only being blessed through this ministry but continuing to serve the Lord through the Army long after their allocated time is finished. Praise the Lord. I could go on about the Lord’s ministry at The Salvation Army Thrift Store – but I must continue with other things…

Matthew 25 records the Lord telling us that, “I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Like most churches in this congregation we minister to people in the seniors’ residences and the hospitals. I would encourage you all in this kind of local ministry. As far as the prison is concerned, I was personally involved in that somewhat in Vancouver and quite a bit in Winnipeg. I could tell you a million stories about those ministries but I will leave that for another time.

I know in Swift Current, the Christian Church has the honour of administering the Alternative Measures Programme for SW Saskatchewan through The Salvation Army and Harvey, who is another very active member of your congregation here. This is a very important ministry. Many people can be helped out of serious problems without being burdened with a criminal record. People can experience a real life object lesson of the restoration and reconciliation that we all can have with God as we confess our sins and throw ourselves on His mercy and I have certainly celebrated with our coordinator as people have received through this social justice ministry a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. I can’t possible share all the miracles that God provides through this ministry but the opportunities are amazing. Harvey shared a couple of stories with me. He says,

“I was doing an intake interview with a shoplifting offender in a small town in southwest Sask. It became apparent that the offender had a problem with alcohol. I would need to ensure that -as one of the consequences for his offence- that counselling was arranged for him. As our interview progressed I felt a nudge of the Holy Spirit to share my faith story with the man. I asked his permission and when he agreed, I shared what God laid on my heart. As a result, he came to faith in Christ. Later that afternoon we moved to the next phase of the mediation. The offender (now a new believer) asked to have counselling with his wife's pastor. This was agreed to along with some other consequences.

The next day, I called the pastor of the church to make arrangements with him for counselling with the man. He was shocked when I told him the circumstances and who the man was that had asked for counselling and that he had been led to Christ. Here’s the thing: this church had been praying for this man’s salvation for YEARS.” Praise the Lord. He is faithful and He uses our prayers to do His work!"

Another story from Harv:

There had been multiple break-ins at this business over a period of time and it had nearly put the victim, the owner into bankruptcy. At the meeting the victim gave good advice to the youth and assured him that the path he had taken led to a dead end and a very steep cliff with not a pretty landing at the bottom. He spelled this out in terms the youth could easily grasp: the victim MADE IT VERY CLEAR that the youth needed help for addiction issues AND more importantly that the youth HAD to stay in school and … the victim wanted to see each of his report cards.

As the youth was part way through grade ten, this was a long process with many report cards. The young offender was faithful. In March of his Grade 12 year, he approached me for a reference letter for post secondary education and scholarships. His marks had improved from 60's when the break-in occurred to mid 80's by the time of graduation. The result was that he got two scholarships to a technical training class and is headed toward a journeyman's certificate. The Lord changes people.

It is great to be doing a job where God leads you by His Spirit. It is a great reward to see first hand the eternal results of the work that we do for the Lord in the lives of individuals in local missions like the sheep in the parable of the sheep and the goats.

I personally would like to tell you more about what God is doing here but there is not enough time. In my own work serving the Lord around Justice issues, I personally would love more time to be able to sit in the courtrooms and pray with people and walk them through this very difficult time. This is a ministry that I have enjoyed in a number of different communities – but if anyone or small group would like to volunteer to serve God and your church through the Salvation Army’s ministry in the courtroom, let me know we will train you and put you to work…the harvest is great but the workers are few. Likewise in our Thrift Store and Community and Family Services, missions opportunities abound AND it is exciting!

Oh…I have so many stories! I’m a storyteller. That is one of my favourite ways to communicate the gospel but because I haven’t been here quite a year yet many of my stories (Jesus spoke in parables, right?) of how the Lord transforms local communities through local missions are areas that are now not so local – Vancouver’s infamous downtown eastside, Winnipeg’s notorious North End, Stoney Mountain Penitentiary… all these experiences must have been just to toughen us up for Swift Current. I won’t share those stories today, I don’t want to step on the toes of the many fine speakers that the Lord and your congregation have lined up for you over the next few weeks.

Local missions really is a way that we live out the reality of our salvation on a day to day basis and when we skip over local missions and look abroad, the results are quite scary. In BC where I grew up did you know that Atheism (no religion) is the fastest growing religion? At Christmas time, I was instructed at one point in the schools there not to dare mention the name of Christ in the classroom – at Christmas! (I used to teach, once upon a time, when I was teaching we were told to no longer refer to Christmas as ‘Christmas’ either – we now had to call it a ‘winter festival’ or some such term that would represent the secular religion that is replacing the Christian worldview there). I seem to remember reading too that only 3% of people in Vancouver – Canada’s third largest city – attend Christian churches regularly. BC used to be Christian. In Ontario, I have heard stories about people tracking down civic politicians who pray during their meetings and calling the police. In Ottawa, the recent minority governments have stopped saying the Lord’s Prayer in the House of Commons.

If we neglect our local mission field than we become the international mission field for someone else. We can see this in our world today. Where is Christianity growing and thriving? – Africa and Asia. That is where we have focussed on missions in the past and that is where there is fruit today. Something to think about…

I do want to leave you with one more story about Our Lord and His local missions…let me share this story I read a couple of years ago in a theological magazine, the Expository Times.

James V, the King of Scotland used to go around the country dressed like everyone else: a common person. That is because he wanted to meet the everyday people of the country not just the rich and powerful. He wanted to see how the normal people lived.

One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don’t know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion comes to the disguised king’s aid.

Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King’s land, known as Cramond Brig, now Jock unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is.

The King responds – in a Scottish brogue that I am not even going to attempt – ‘Ach, I’m a good man of Edinburgh.’

‘And where do you live in that city and where do you work?’

‘Well,’ says James, ‘I live at the palace and I work there too.’

‘The palace, is it? I’d like to see the palace; if I could see the King, I’d tell him a thing or two…’

‘About what?’ asks the King in disguise.

‘I’d tell him that I should own this land that I am on. I work it every day and he never comes here & gets his hands dirty working this land’

‘You’re right enough’, says the man. You come tomorrow to the palace at Holly Rood and I’ll show you around. Come at two.’

So the next day at two o’clock, Jock Howieson, is washed, dressed and at the palace to meet his new friend at the back door. The good man, whom Jock had served and saved the day before, shows him around the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms – the whole place. Then, at last, the two of them come to the great rooms of the State.

‘Do you want to see the King?’ the man asks Jock.

‘Oh yes indeed’, says Jock, ‘I do. I do want to see the King.’

So they enter the great hall and as they come in, men bow and ladies curtsey. It is really quite a thing to see.

So Jock whispers to his friend, ‘How will I know who the king is?’

‘He’s the only one who keeps his hat on’…

Jock says, ‘But… there’s only us two with our hats…’ and Jock immediately takes off his hat as he realises that James is indeed the King of Scotland.

And so it is with us today. Jesus is King, what we do for the least of these through our local missions – just like Jock, just like the Matthew’s sheep in Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, what ever we do for the least, the lost and the last, we are actually doing for Christ. Today, He is walking around with each of us showing us his domain here on earth and just waiting for us to take off our hats in service to Him.

Appeal: If there are any of us here today who have not taken off our hats and lain them before the Lord, I invite you to speak to someone after the service here today and commit your life to the excitement that comes from serving Christ because the big one IS coming. The tornado, the tsunami, the eternal judgement, and those of us that love and serve the Lord are saved. We, the sheep are saved – and what a glorious salvation it is as we live it out in local missions.

- Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

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*This sermon was loosley Based on a sermon by Michael Ramsay dated 14 June 2006