MAKE IT YOUR PROBLEM

Have you ever thought about what your final words would be before you die?
Often in movies the climax is when someone is uttering something with their last breath.
We hear lines like, “His last words where of you” or like in the movie Braveheart... What was the last thing William Wallace shouted before he died? FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!

These last breath scenes are often so intense! Why?
Because the last words of a person that are very significant, and precious, and important and even revolutionary to almost everyone on this planet.

Now these scenes are great for movies but it’s not so in real life is it?
We don’t have great lighting with some great soundtrack playing in the background that romanticise these moments.

The passage this sermon focuses on has not been romanticised but it was intense.

We encounter Jesus, not speaking for the last time on earth, but we meet Jesus teaching us for last time before He gets crucified.
Chapter 25 is Jesus’ final lesson and He finishes with a strong declaration.
He is teaching on the Mount of Olives and he is teaching about the future.

Matthew 25: 1-13 and Matthew 25: 14-30 are parables that teach about Jesus’ return but the third part of this reading is not a parable.
Jesus knows He’s time is up - so this is straight-talk - Jesus is bottom-lining His ministry for the Disciples and for us.

Matthew 25:31-46: The Sheep and the Goats
31) “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.
32) 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.
33) He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34) “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.
35) 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,
36) 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.’

37) “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38) When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39) When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40) “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41) “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.
42) For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
43) 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.’

44) “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?’
45) “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46) “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ”

Ask yourself this question: Do I fall into the sheep or the goat category?

When we read passages like this, it’s easy for us to become the heroes in the story and simply skip over the challenging parts and leave unchallenged.

So let’s to a self-assessment quickly:
Are you a sheep or are you a goat? (Answer Y/N to the following)

Do I...
Feed the hungry?
Quench the thirst of the Thirsty?
Invite strangers in?
Clothe the naked?
Care for the sick?
Care for the imprisoned?


But you might say, “I do my part. I tithe religiously, empowering the church to minister to those people in need.” There is nothing wrong with that and that is a deeply spiritual requirement of all of us, but is that the point? Are we not missing out on something greater?
The answer is YES! Why? Because it’s not enough to throw money at ministry – we need to get our Hands Dirty.

The reality is this: We live in a broken world and God wants to reveal Himself and heal this brokenness. God wants to heal his people and He needs us to be part of the healing process.

We might also say, “The passage speaks of people being righteous but it’s really tough to be righteous. I try my best but the more I try, the more I feel I fail. I constantly mess up!” Well that’s true for all of us. You are not alone.

And guess what, nor did the people in the Bible get it right all the time either.
Like Noah, for example:
He was a man of great faith!
He went up against all odds and built a boat-on-steroids in the desert, just because God said it was going to rain. As we know, the rains came and whole earth was flooded. And when it all ended, Noah got off the boat and got drunk and naked. Mmm... We don’t hear that preached.

And if we look deeper at the character in the Bible we see that every one of the heroes also found it tough to be righteous. Look at David for example; the mighty giant slayer and warrior king - but also an adulterer and murderer. But God still used him.

What about Jesus disciples? They did constantly not understand what Jesus was doing or teaching and Jesus kept on telling them they were lacking in faith. But Jesus never told them to take a hike – He used them.

And finally, look who Jesus associated with in his journeys; Tax collectors, demon-possessed people, prostitutes, cripples, and all others that society cast out. But Jesus called them friends.

But this is the GOOD NEWS – God still chooses to use ordinary people like us to do great things.
God uses US! COOL!

So we need to ask ourselves... who are the...
Hungry
Thirsty
Stranger
Naked
Sick
Prison
We can look at these words and already point out where to find these people. And we know we should be doing something to help them, but the request doesn’t end there. It’s not only about feeding the hungry beggar on the side of the road or visiting people in prison. It’s more than that...

If you look at these words, have you ever fallen into one of the categories? Of course you have.

Looking at this spiritually:

Have you ever been...?
Hungry for God and his answers?
Thirsty for God’s peace, hope, refreshment?
A Stranger feeling lonely, abandoned, isolated and you longing to belong?
Felt Naked - Exposed, vulnerable, unsafe, ashamed and you needed to feel covered up, protected, reassured?
Sick with sin, worry, or fear?
In Prison - trapped in bondage, sin, guilt, or in situation?
And through all this, you just wish there was someone out there to help you.

Can you relate? I can.

These words in Chapter 25 are Jesus’ Last words of you and for you!
Why ‘of you’?
Because it is for someone to minister to you.
Why ‘for you’?
Because it is for you then to minister to someone else.

God wants us, hard-to-live-righteously-us, to be the Jesus to one another.
In this broken world – there is healing: we need it and we are it.

So where do we start? With ourselves!
We must stop acting like we have got everything sorted out when our own lives are falling apart.
James 5:16. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed….”

To find healing in our lives we need to find someone in our lives that we can talk to about the stuff we are struggling with. The promise is there in James that when we confess to one another we will be healed. Confession does not mean only sin but it about talking about anything that is troubling you.

Last year a friend and I would meet once a week on Monday nights where we would pour out our hearts to one another. We would share intimate parts of our lives in the areas that we were struggling with. Taking this passage in James seriously saved me from a nervous breakdown and saved my friends marriage.

Something powerful happens when we simply do what God asks us to.

I visited an old man and his family last year in one of the township I used to minister in. They were all very sick and had been for months. When I walked into their house the whole atmosphere changed. I visited and prayed with them and nothing out of the ordinary happened, or so I thought. When I left, the old man said to me, “Tata (father), my God has visited my house today.”

Why is this all this so important?
In our reading, Jesus describes the King as presenting himself in the neediest way and in the neediest places. Where there is brokenness – there is Jesus! That’s where God wants to bring healing.

That is not simply a beggar, or offender, or sick person you meet. Inside that person is the Holy Spirit. Inside that person who is hungry, and thirsty, and naked, is Jesus!

Our journey is half complete is people see Jesus in us but we fail to see Jesus in them.


Looking at this literally:
He says’
35) 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,
36) 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.’

Jesus is revealing to us that we do not need to be super spiritual to be part of His healing work.
Jesus makes it so easy, so basic, to be part of building His Kingdom. Simply Be Active He says! Literally, give someone food, drink, clothes, etc.

By you simply doing that, God works powerfully through you to that person.
You may only see yourself feeding another human being, but the Spirit who is in you is meeting the need of the person spirit you are face to face with. Simply because you literally did what Christ asked you to do!

You have all you need to do this. You have the Holy Spirit who lives in you and he knows what’s best.
We are the hands and feet for Jesus and He gives us a mission. He says, “Make it your problem”.

Conclusion:
My friends – It's time to be healed and to be healers.
Its time to:
Feed and be fed,
Quench and be quenched,
Invite and be invited,
Clothe and be clothed,
Care and be cared for,
Free and be freed.

The people with Christ’s heart, hands and feet are those people who follow him.

The last word of Jesus is clear. Will you make it your problem?

Spotlight?

I have often heard people tell me what they have sacrificed for God. They tell me what they have given up or what they have started doing or what they have stopped all together or the people they don't associate with or blah blah blah – the list goes on. When I am confronted with those kinds of conversations, I find myself thinking about the things is have sacrificed as well. We cannot help but focus our minds onto what Christianity has cost us. Whether in those conversation or simply having random thoughts about it; the fact is, we often think about what it has cost us.

This can often lead to a bad taste in our mouths. We think about how great things were before we started living this sacrificial life. We think how difficult it is to sacrifice certain things, and when we don't, we believe that we are failures. And truth be told, sacrifice is tough! It really is. Even the word sacrifice is a tough word.

We as Christians are often told that we need to live our lives as living sacrifices for Jesus. What does that even mean anyway? Theology has different answers for this, but none really inspirational.

Think of what you have sacrificed for a minute. Does it make you feel good? Does it make you feel happy? I don't know about you, but it doesn't make me feel good at all. I start feeling weird inside. As if I have lost something valuable or fun or lost someone special.

Sacrificing is not fun! It's difficult.

So, to get a better idea about this, I read the story of Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22) when something AMAZING hit me like a ton of bricks. Abraham and his son are journeying with some servants to the land of Moriah where God told Abraham in vs.2 to, "… offer him (Isaac) as a burnt offering or SACRIFICE…"

When Abraham and the others get close to the mountain, Abraham says – and here is the kicker – "…You stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there that we may WORSHIP…" Worship? Worship? Would you consider SACRIFICING your son as WORSHIP? I guess Abraham would.

Abraham never saw God as someone who would ask for anything if it were to destroy something Godly. Even when it seems ridiculous and makes NO sense at all. Abraham never saw sacrificing his son on the altar as anything other than worshipping God. WOW!

Abraham has given me a paradigm shift. And this is it:

Every time we talk to someone about what we sacrifice; or when we think about what we have sacrificed and are sacrificing; all we really are doing is taking stock of what WE have done and how much WE have done, and why WE have done it. Every time we talk about living lives of sacrifice, we are pulling the spotlight onto ourselves so that we may hopefully feel good or get some recognition. But not Ab. Ab was clear that the spotlight is solely for God.

When we sacrifice something, we are not sacrificing something for our sake – we are worshipping God. The fact that you fast is not a sacrifice of food – it's worshipping God. The times you sacrifice bad habits is not sacrifice, its worshipping God.

The gist is this;

Every time you think about how much you sacrifice – in that moment – you are worshipping yourself.

But every time you think of those sacrifices as worshipping God and not as sacrifices – you are worshipping God.

We need to be in a place where we worship God no matter what God asks of us. Just look at ol' Ab. Because when we have our hearts right and our minds are in the correct paradigm, we will be living lives that please God. We wont be sacrificing, we will be worshipping!

And in comparing the two; worshipping is WAY easier than sacraficing. When we know we are worshipping God, life is a little easier and we will smile a little more. Our trust will be in God and God's pease will be in us.

So do you live a life of Sacrifice or Worship?

HISTORY’S VOICE TODAY!

The Prophets of the Old Testament still speak today. If you don't believe me, go read up about them. Don't just look at what the Bible says but also look at history in what was happening in their context at that time and then ask yourself, "how is this similar to today?" Then you will understand that although their messages were written so long ago, their insights, understanding and wisdom are just what the doctor ordered for today.

If one had to look at the post apartheid South Africa we live in today, we could identify that the struggle for justice and equality of the apartheid has not gone away. In fact it is like a chameleon that merely changed colour and is well camouflaged. It is still the same animal but it has a different colour. We could take the context and teachings from the Prophet Amos and apply them to our context. As Amos pointed out; God was not only against the enemies of the Israelites but God also apposed the atrocities performed by Israel. Although Apartheid has ended and there is liberation from that oppression, we need to understand that the abuse of this liberation today - through fraud, corruption, tribalism, reverse-racism, etc. – is invariably no different than the time of Apartheid. The lesson we must learn from Amos is God will not accept this and God will bring these atrocities under God's judgement once more. Why? Because God is just! So in the arena of this camouflaged society we need to learn this lesson and turn away from these evils, remember God and live seeking God's will for this country AND apply it. Only then will this country be magnificent.

BLAMING GOD

The other day I was listening to a friend who found himself in a situation he didn't bet on getting. He was on a 'mission' and felt this that this is what God wanted for him. He was all fired up at the possibility! He went on and found himself on the other side of the coin and obviously this was not on the side which he wanted to be. What he expected never happened. This was very confusing for him. "Why did God want me to go through this?" he asked me. Wait a minute… hold on…! What would he have said if everything turned out the way HE wanted it to? He automatically would've said something like, "God is GOOD!"

It seems to me the 'rule of thumb' is to praise God when things go the way we want them too but to question God when things don't go the way we want them too. This seems to be the norm with a lot of the people I encounter. They head off on a 'mission' thinking this is from God but when their eyes are opened to the reality of the situation or it turns out differently than expected, then God is on trial. This is WEIRD and SO typical of human beings. The first thing we do if things don't go our way is point fingers and unfortunately God gets the pointed finger a lot.

We call ourselves adults but we are not willing to own up to the fact that WE SCREWED UP! God is not out there to kick us in the teeth. God is not there to play games with your life! God gave us the gift of free will. So when we exercise that free will and choose the wrong option, we have SCREWED UP! It's not God's fault you find yourself in the hole after you chose to pursue something that never worked out. It's your fault! It's not God's doing. God's promise is this: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans
I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"." So why would a God who said this, pick on you? That doesn't make sense.

We need to look at ourselves and understand that God gives us the gift of free will to choose whatever we want too. And most of the time we make the choices we not supposed too. In that, we do a great job convincing ourselves that this is what God wants for us because we are so fueled on our own emotions. So naturally when things go all pear-shaped, we blame God.

When we find ourselves in those situations we should know we didn't seek God enough or at all. The only way to bypass this waste of time in our lives is to be in place where we know God's will (See blog: Learning from Ab… http://ourdirtyhands.blogspot.com). When God's will is our will, we will seldom find ourselves in weird-God-blaming situations and in more GOD-IS-GOOD situations.

The Good News is that if you are in a situation right now you shouldn't be in then God is BIG enough to do something miraculous about it. Why? Because that's God! It's said in Roman 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him,
who
have been called
according to his purpose." God can fix it and make it right. Trust God because GOD IS GOOD!

Listen to what Joel says about God; Joel 2:13, "Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return
to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity."

The challenge for us is to reflect on those situations when we've wondered about God's intentions and ask ourselves;

• How did I get into that/this situation?
  
• What should I do to prevent this happening again?
  
• Who do I need to speak to before I make choices?
  
• How can I hear God's voice clearly in my life?
  
• What do I need to do to draw closer to God?
  
• Who can help me with my relationship with God?
  

  
  

Please bear in mind that by me saying all this does not mean we will not face trials. We WILL face trials (Read James) but WHEN we face trials, then we will know they will be GOD-IS-GOOD trials, not trials we inflicted on ourselves. That's the difference.

p.s. this blog does not include the wrong things people do to us that are not in our control.

Preaching without words

I have a friend named Thomas. Thomas is a quiet guy who doesn't look for attention or status. He is a very humble man who is always behind the scenes. He is never upfront delegating tasks to people. In fact, Tom hates speaking in public. Yet Tom is one of the greatest leaders I have ever met. Whenever we are at a function or a camp, there is Tom, one of the first names on the list to get involved. And at the end, it's guaranteed that he is one of the last people to leave. If there is work to be done for God, Tom is there getting his hands dirty. Whenever I see him in one of those settings, he is always doing something (most of the time sweating and out of breathe). I've often seen him standing in a crowd chatting away to people when he looks around and sees something that needs to be done, like picking up a piece of paper, taking a dirty plate to the kitchen, packing away chairs, and he slips away from the group quietly and starts cleaning up. Many a time, those who see him doing this quickly follow suit and help with whatever needs to be done. These people are inspired and mobilized and clean up is done in no time.

Without Tom saying one word, my servant leader friend, influences other people to become humble servants. His example is simple yet powerful. He doesn't do it for applause or recognition; he does it because that's what Jesus would do. That why I say Tom is one of the greatest leaders I have ever met. He leads not by words but by action.

Jesus said, "The greatest among you will be your servant". He said that in His Kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all. "The real test for a saint is not one's willingness to preach the Gospel, but one's willingness to do something like washing the disciples' feet – that is, being willing to do those things that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God".

We live in a world where people want to become something, achieve greatness, gain status, become recognized, receive praise, and maybe they want to achieve this all for God. Maybe we want to become that light that shines on top of that hill that the Bible speaks about. But sometimes to achieve this greatness we must look in the opposite direction. We need to turn away from what we think will make us 'something' for God and assume the role of a humble servant – maybe even striving to become a 'nothing' in the eyes of the world and look for nothing other than pleasing God.

The example that comes to mind is St. Mother Teresa. She became a 'nothing' in the eyes of the world, living and serving the poor of India the best way she knew how and in doing so, she became an 'everything' in the eyes of God, and so too in the eyes of the world. Now the name Mother Teresa is a house hold name. We even hear people say, "I'm no mother Teresa" when they screw up.

Jesus said it Himself, "You wanna become great? You wanna do great things? …then serve". You and I have the opportunity to become the greatest people in this world. All we need to do is serve one another in a way that pleases God. Remember; if you honour God - God will honour you!

When people look at Thomas and read about St. Mother Teresa, they'll see Jesus at work.

Reflection Questions:

• Do I know people like Thomas? How have their lives affected me?
  
• Do I want to please God or the world? Why?
  
• Am I willing to become a 'nothing' for God? Why?
  
• Where is God asking me to get Dirty Hands?
  
• When am I going to do this?
  

Prayer:

Lord, I will do anything that Your Kingdom requires of me. Wherever You want me to be, I'll go. Whatever the circumstances, I'm willing to follow. If You want to meet a need through my life, I am Your servant; and I will do whatever is required.