Extra Ordinary Grace

1. Read Matthew 25:31-46. Why will the righteous be surprised when they get to the end? What about the wicked?
2. When you consider eschatology (the study of the end times), what are the pitfalls of either (1) ignoring it or (2) obsessing over it? Which do you tend towards and how have you seen it affect you?
3. This passage shows that God's love and grace is both a mark of true salvation and also something we're called to practice as we continuing growing. What are some ways God's extraordinary grace shows through in the extra-ordinary moments of our lives?
4. Do you have any examples where you've seen this grace evident in you? What about times you know you've missed it along the way?
5. What are some opportunities God has given you to serve the poor and needy? What about some ways others have served you when in need?
6. How are you serving those in your own household right now?

Prayer + Practice:

Care packages for the poor. If you want to be more intentional serving the poor and homeless, consider putting together care packages with your Life Group as a missional project. You could include things like a water bottle, protein or granola bars, Walmart gift card, bandaids, toothbrush/toothpaste, wet wipes, sunscreen, lip balm, contact info for Union Gospel Mission, and a Bible verse. These can stay in your car so you can use them as opportunities arise.

Pray: God is increasingly calling us as a church body to a deeper prayer life in this season. This week, evaluate how well you love people based on how you pray for them. What's one small way you could incorporate more prayer for others into your normal week?

All right, good morning. Good morning. Just a reminder, we're going to take communion at the end of the service, just so you can be preparing your heart for that. Hope you're having a good summer. My wife is a teacher, and, you know, my kids are on summer breaks. They're having a blast right now, and my kids don't watch a lot of tv, but they've gotten into these baking shows, and they started with, is it cake? If you've not heard of this one, the bakers have to make something that looks like an object, and then they cut into it and ask, is it cake? And so they'll go around the house chopping furniture, chopping toys, chopping body parts, saying, is it cake? Then they got into this british kids baking show called the junior Bake off. And if you've never seen this one, they have specific criteria for some kind of dessert or pastry or something that they have to make. And a couple times that I've watched it with them, inevitably one of the kids will forget a key ingredient. And so by the end, when they're supposed to put the whole thing together, it's just crumbling. And, you know, they're crying in their british kid accents, just, you know, saying, like, it's not fair. Like, my crumbles crumbled. You know, I got too cheeky with it. You know, whatever british kids say when things don't go right. The passage that we're looking at today is Jesus teaching on the end times, and he's gonna tell us, there is an important ingredient that a lot of people are going to miss. Have you noticed how a lot of end times teaching, it can really focus on dates, cracking codes, the symbolism, and trying to figure out exactly what nations are going to be represented in the end? Sort of like focusing on all the latest kitchen technology and gadgets that are supposed to make you a master chef, but then you miss the key ingredient, the one that holds it all together in the first place. So eschatology, or the study of the end times, it's really. It's meant to inform how we live now. It's meant to change how we see the world and the people in it, not just to keep us staring at the sky. And so in the passage that we just heard in the video, we see, even though we know the end is coming, there will be a surprise for everyone when we get there. The righteous and the wicked are both going to be surprised. There will be some things that shock us when we get to the end. The question then is really, how do you make sure it's not a bad surprise. None of us want to get to the end, having built an entire life, and just find out that we missed Jesus, missed the whole point. So the question comes up a lot. Like, how do you know that you're truly saved? How do you know you're truly safe? Well, this passage in Matthew 25, it shows a particular mark of salvation that's evident in all believers. And so if you want assurance of your salvation, this blessed hope of the future, this passage is calling us to, hey, just take a look and see if there's evidence of this in your life right now. This one thing, the passage, it kind of plays out a little bit like a courtroom drama. Okay? The judge comes in and is seated. The evidence is presented. And like any good courtroom drama, there's a reveal at the end. There's a bit of evidence that was overlooked. No one sees exactly what's coming except for this judge. But before we get to the surprise, we hear, all rise, for the judge has entered the room. God, I just ask that you would open our eyes and our imaginations, help us to see your glory coming today in Jesus name. When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. I want you to grasp with me as we start just the gravity of this moment, the seriousness of this moment, this courtroom scene, is the very last teaching of Jesus before he goes on to die. The very last teaching he's teaching on Mount Olivet. So these two chapters, 24 and 25, are known as the Olivet discourse. And he wants us to know what's coming. So he goes through two whole chapters of parables that are all about making sure that we are awake and alert. Awake and alert for the coming kingdom. They're all emphasizing a faithfulness here and now. In these two chapters, 37 of the verses contain prophecy about what's coming. 37 55 of them have to do with, how do you live right now in light of that eternity. And this is the purpose of all eschatology. Honestly, I sometimes I have a little bit of an allergy to eschatology. Sometimes I fail to see how it relates to my life here and now. But often that's a failure of the eschatology. It's a wrong focus. In the eschatology, the focus is just off. I had a seminary professor that I really loved. One of my favorite classes was on spiritual life and witness. And in the class, it was very practical. Everything in the class was so practical. We would read through a book that had to do with spiritual formation and how people change and grow in Christ. And we'd be discussing these practical elements. And my professor, he would always say, remember the first time he said it? He said, what's his eschatology? And we all looked at each other. He didn't say anything about eschatology. He didn't mention it. So we'd ask again, what's his eschatology? And he would ask. It was one of the most constant refrains that he had throughout the entire class. Because how we view the end, the focus that we have on the end, directs what we're doing now. It directs how we live in our day to day life. And so we fall off the edges in a couple of ways. On the one hand, some of us in here are asleep. Some of us are obsessed in the wrong ways. We're either heavy lidded and dull to wake up to what's coming, or else we're in just this frenzy of activity, trying to bring about the kingdom ourselves. On the one hand, some of us just don't think about it enough at all. You might think, hey, when it comes, it comes, and I'll deal with it. Then you might think, there's enough wackos out there just saying stuff. We'll figure it out as we go. I understand that thinking, but the pitfall on this side is that we don't take it seriously enough, that we don't see the weight of it or have a sense of urgency in our lives. Jesus obviously saw it as extremely important. He taught about these themes throughout the gospel, and he comes back again to it here at the end of his teaching ministry to talk about this. His whole ministry was announcing this coming kingdom, how you enter into it and how you live in it now. So, talked about the ones who are sort of awake and dull to it. There's also some who obsess over it in the wrong ways. You know, let me ask you, if there is a teaching on the end times. If you're thinking about it, if you're reading a book on it, if you're a blog post or looking at news events and just seeing how they all fit together, just what does it do to your heart when you think about the end times? How does it change your days when you think about the end, does it make you more anxious and fearful about what's coming? Does it turn you into a prepper? Start hoarding supplies? Getting ready? Does it make you obsess over dates and deciphering codes and feeling a little cocky because you feel like you have some knowledge the rest of us don't have. Does it turn you into a political activist to try to get your whatever candidate in office, to make sure that you introduce whatever this next wave is? Or does your view of the end make you more patient and loving in your own house? Does it give you a sense of urgency for the lost who are around us all the time? Does it bring you to your knees in prayer for others? Does it open your eyes to the needs of those around you and cause you to search like your master did, for ways to serve? Does it make you give more away? James K. A. Smith, in his book how to inhabit time, he said, to live eschatologically with a view to the end is not just a matter of looking toward the future. He said, it's not simply a posture of expectation. It's to live futurely. He says, to inhabit the present in such a way that the future is the beating heart of my now. He says to live futurly is not just to look for what comes next, like waiting for a pot to boil, or like a kid waiting for the ice cream truck. When he hears it getting ready to come around the corner, he says such modes of living put a pause on living. He says, my present life becomes crowded out by what's coming. Instead, he says, living futurely is living in such a way that the very mode of being in the world is infused with anticipation. So in other words, eschatology is not meant to put a pause on our life or to crowd out our lives. It's meant to take the future and make it the heartbeat of now. So he says this. He set up this scene when the son of man comes in his glory, all the angels with him. Then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. I got a picture for you of just some sheep and goats grazing together in Israel. Okay. There's nothing particularly, no qualitative, good or bad, about the sheep and the goats that they're trying to make. It's just an image they would have been really familiar with because the sheep and the goats would have grazed together. They would have grazed together during the day. But the goats are more susceptible to the cold. So when the night comes, they have to put them in a different spot. The goats have to huddle up, and they've got to be in a different place. And so it's just a natural image of separation that they would have been very familiar with, that there's going to be some kind of separation. And that theme of separating the righteous and the wicked is all throughout the gospel. You remember the wheat and the tares are going to grow up together in the same field until the end. You remember in the sermon on the mount where Jesus is saying, those who hear my words and do them are going to get separated from those who hear my words and don't do them. So the idea is you can't always tell on this side of heaven who's in and who's out. They're grazing together, the righteous and the wicked and the right hand here, he says, the sheep go to his right hand. The right hand is just a. A place of honor. So the sheep go to the right and the goats go to the left. And it's interesting that while this resembles a courtroom drama, there's something a little bit different, because, notice, the judge comes in and pronounces judgment, and then the evidence is given for why he pronounces judgment. Then he's going to give them the evidence. And here's what he tells the sheep. The king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. From the very beginning, God has been preparing a place for those who belong to him. From the very beginning, before you were born, before your parents and grandparents, before he spoke, the universe into existence has been preparing a place for you. I know, we all know what it feels like to walk into a room and feel like you don't belong, or to feel. Feel like somebody doesn't want you there. God is telling him, I have been waiting for you. I have prepared this place. He's going to look at you at the end and say, I want you in the room. I want you in the room. He has purposed and planned and sought and gone to the ultimate end to secure a place for you. Now everyone who comes into God's presence in scripture has just this overwhelming feeling of unworthiness, like recognition that I am not worthy to be here. It's only the extraordinary grace of Jesus Christ and what he's done that changes us to be people who can stand in his presence. It's his extraordinary grace that transforms our lives. But after the judgment, he's presenting the evidence now of what's changed. Okay. He's presenting the evidence of how that extraordinary grace has come in and infected the extraordinary parts of our lives. This is what he says, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger. You invited me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. And here's the surprise for the righteous, because both the righteous and the wicked are going to be surprised at the end. You and I will both have surprises. When we get to the end, we will be shocked by something. No matter how much you study your eschatology, there will still be surprises, and they 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 naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or imprisoned and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. And this will be the surprise of the first group of people, that God's extraordinary grace and love, the one ingredient that makes the whole batch rise, has transformed our life in such a way that it permeated the innocuous, everyday elements of it. So these righteous are surprised because they didn't see it as religious work. They weren't trying to gain God's favor or gain their salvation, because they didn't even know they were doing it for him. Jesus so associates with the poor and the needy and the downtrodden, the broken, that he says, when you do it for them, you've done it for me. And these aren't big, mighty works of charity either. They're not extravagant acts of service, everyday nourishment like bread and water, basic needs like clothing, inviting people in, overcoming loneliness, giving them a place to belong. It's caring for people who are down on their luck when they're sick, which will come to all of us at some point, those who are in prison, who may or may not deserve to be there. In some ways, it's saying, hey, it's the unlovable in the world's eyes, loving the unlovable, the ones who are hardest to have patience for, the ones who are perpetually needy all the time, and for all the times that you have served in obscurity and thought nobody saw it, Jesus is going to be there at the end saying, I saw you. I saw that I was there. And we're going to say, that was you. You saw me. That's going to be the surprise. Because again, God's extraordinary grace just transforms us in a way that infiltrates every ordinary part of our lives. It's inescapable. And so that's a mark of a true believer. It's not about hanging your hat on what you've done in the past. It's everyday ordinary grace. Look at this theme throughout the gospels. In Luke, he says, he also went on to say to one who invited him, Jesus says, when you give a luncheon or a dinner, don't invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise they may also invite you in return, and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they don't have the means to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. That's what we're looking at here, the resurrection of the righteous. He's talking about those with no means to repay you. But then in other places, he talks about the ones who are hardest to love. Look at Matthew. This is in the sermon on the mount. You've heard that it was said, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sins rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same thing? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same thing. He's saying, what more are you doing than anyone else? When you love those who already love you back? That doesn't take love. People with total self interest can love in that way. Again. In Luke, Jesus says, if you love those who love you, what credit is it to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? Even sinners do the same. But he says, love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high. For he himself is kind to what? Ungrateful and evil men? So it says, be merciful, just as your father is merciful. He's kind to the hardest to love. So what are some ways to do this? I mean, how do we love the least of these. I think first we have to realize that this passage is not a checklist to check off. Okay. I've done a prison ministry before. I've done, you know, gone and visited the sick. It's not a checklist to check off. Defeats the whole purpose. It's not about extravagance. It's a mark of salvation that shows that his love has transformed us. The mark that you have received, his extravagant love, is that it plays out into your extraordinary lives. And this is the test of true discipleship. This is the test how and who did you love? That's the test. So at the same time that it's a mark of salvation, something to. A piece of evidence to measure your life by for that assurance. While it's a mark, it's also something that we are growing and in process, aren't we? And so it's something that we should be practicing. It's something that we should be practicing this kind of love and grace as we're becoming more like him, more loving kind of people. Here's some ideas. You know, we talk a lot about mission opportunities in life groups, and I love what the Zanar Life group has done. The Zanars, they put together these care packages for the poor and the homeless and looks something like this. He's got a Ziploc bag. They packed them together. There's stuff in here like water bottles, soap, deodorant, sunscreen, a razor, toothbrush, granola bar. You can put all kinds of things in here. They have a letter that they put in that just talks about union Gospel mission. Just to say, hey, if you want more beyond this, here's a place to really get some help. If you've ever had that dilemma, when you see people on the road and you go, is this going to be helpful, or is it going to be hurtful? Hey, this is a great way to just keep it in your car, be able to hand it to them. They've had some great stories of just the people that they've encountered and got to hand these to. It's an incredible way to serve. What about serving our kids? We're talking about the least of these. It could be the least in any category. But kids are perpetually needy, are they not? They literally need to be fed and clothed. They have snot noses whenever they get sick. Some of them should be in prison already. They are God's greatest way of sanctifying us, because there's no better test of your patience and your will at the same time. Jesus said, if you don't come in like a kid. You don't come in at all. There's something so joyful about being with a kid. You haven't felt joy until you have seen a kid's face light up for you coming in the room, because you've been a constant staple in their life. So I asked Winnella, you know, our pastor Winnella. I said, hey, do we have needs? And she's like, of course we have needs. In the kids ministry. We have subs. We could go fill the subs in that room for the summer. The gyms ministry, the special needs ministry that we have needs. Female leaders, female adult leaders in there. There are ways to serve the kids here, but also, what about the kids in your own home? I know y'all got in fights on the way today. I know that happened. Serve those in your own home. I mean, we know it's often. It's the most unnoticed, ungrateful place you could possibly serve. Isn't that Jesus sees you when you don't snap at your kids. They might not know that you're holding it back. He sees you. He sees what that takes when you don't snap at your spouse. He sees it when you spend the whole day cleaning. You don't have to tell everyone about it. Jesus says, you did it for me. You did it for me. Let that be your reward. Know that I see you when you go without something so that your kids can have shoes for school, a roof over their head, go to college. They may not know what that takes, but God sees it. Maybe it's not snapping back at parents little acts of service. There's a sign that I read about hangs up in this monastery. It says, everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes. How true. Singles, for some of you young adults who maybe aren't sharing a house with someone right now, this may be the freest and most untangled your life will ever be. How could God use that time? How could God use that time for hospitality, even if you don't have the resources? What about on the other end of the spectrum, just the elderly? How many people hang up their hats after retirement? They hang their hats on the work that they've done for the kingdom throughout their life. Point back to that. God's saying, you're not done. I have work for you to do. Where's the sense of urgency? There are people here who would benefit from your wisdom, who would benefit from you modeling your life with Christ. I heard it said once that when an elderly person dies, it's like a library burns down. Don't let the library burn down while there's still books inside to give to those who are still writing the story of their life. Prayer. One mark of becoming more loving is just how you pray for others. Are you on your knees for the lost, praying them into the kingdom, standing in the gap for others who need to be interceded for? And so while we're called to practice these acts of service, remember the main part of this passage. The message here is to be alert. It's to use your love and service toward others as a mark, evidence for your salvation, to wake up to this kingdom. Reality. We will all be shocked when we get to heaven one way or another. Because the core of this message is that God is doing a work in you that is below the surface, in the soil of your life, that is getting ready to come up and serve others. So you can't measure your faith by extraordinary acts. It's in the normal, just warp and woof of life that God's extraordinary grace comes out in these extraordinary ways. So we still gotta look at the goats practicing love and service. It just doesn't work. If you haven't already been transformed by the love of Christ, the love of Jesus abiding in him, you cannot do enough service to get into heaven. No seat at a charity auction is going to buy you a seat at the table in the end. And that's why the goats are surprised. He will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. While God has prepared a place for his own, he's also prepared a place for those who don't want anything to do with him. A place for the devil and his angels, he says, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, you didn't invite me in. I was naked. You didn't clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn't visit me. And he reveals the big surprise, the missing ingredient to their whole lives, when he says they themselves will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, stranger, naked, sick in prison, and didn't take care of you? If we known it was you, maybe we would have done it. He'll answer them. Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you didn't do it to one of the least of these, do it to me, and these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. They got all the way to the end. They had sweat, they had bled. They had lived a life next to the rest of us. But they missed the main ingredient that makes the whole batch rise. They missed Jesus. Remember, the sheep and the goats are grazing together. The wheat and the tares are coming up together. There will be people in this room who don't get in. And it breaks me that you would be in here and you would hear the word and you wouldn't respond. So the message is to wake up. Is to wake up, realize the extraordinary love of God, his extraordinary grace. It's only that that can make you into this kind of person. Look back with me at Jesus servant on the mount. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father, who is in heaven, will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, in your name, cast out demons, perform many miracles. Many miracles can be translated. Mighty works of power. The goats will have a list. That's why that's not your mark. That's not your evidence. The goats will have a list of great things and reasons to get in. But he says, depart from me. I never knew you. How many Hollywood a listers are talking about their charities? How many business moguls will start these grand charities to solve world hunger or other great undertakings? But how many of them have been transformed by the grace of God, a risen savior? Jesus will say to that group, I never knew you. So the final surprise, the key ingredient that makes the whole batch rise, is the presence of Jesus. His presence working in and through us, his presence in the people that we serve, his presence in the everyday, unnoticed, ordinary moments of grace. Has his extraordinary grace changed the ordinary parts of your life? If not, this passage should serve as a warning. Turn to Jesus. But if he has changed your life, this message is one of blessed assurance, a blessed hope of the future that is secure. Now, if that's you, keep going, keep practicing, keep being transformed, keep abiding in him, and hopefully, by God's grace, you will wake up one day like Jacob at Bethel and say, surely the Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it. Let that be your surprise when you get to the end. You were there. Let that be your surprise. Surely the Lord was in this place, and I didn't know it. Wow. Surely the Lord was in that person that I helped. I just thought I was handing something off. Surely the Lord is in the intricate details of your life. I'll close with a story that there was a man named Martin of Tours. He was a roman soldier, and he was also a Christian. One day, he goes out, and he sees a beggar begging for alms, and he doesn't have any money on him. And so he takes his soldier's cloak, and he rips it in half, and he hands half of it to this beggar, who is just blue with cold. And when he gets back, he goes to sleep that night. And the story goes that he had this dream. And he saw Jesus in his dream, wearing half of his robe. And in the dream, this angel asked, master, where did you get that battered half of a robe? Who gave it to you? And in the dream, Jesus said, my servant Martin, gave it to me. Keeping the end in focus is what makes our heart beat. Now.