Latest / The Daily Word / May 8 – Ready for His Return
Transcript
- Cory Barnes: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good wee hours of the night whenever you are joining us. Welcome to the Daily Word podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Cory Barnes and it's my privilege to pastor our Catawba campus. So excited to be sitting down with you for another Daily Word episode. We're going to be doing a devotion based on today's New Testament portion. of the Bible reading plan that we are joined together on it, the church family, the life journal Bible reading plan. And today is May the eighth. And today is New Testament portion of our reading came from Matthew 25. And this is coming near the end of what is called the Olivet Discourse. where just days before Jesus' crucifixion, he's having a conversation with his disciples on the Mount of Olives. And when we're reading this in Matthew 25, it's important to remember that everything Jesus was saying was a response to a question that was asked in Matthew 24 verse three. And that's where the disciples asked him, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? So everything that Jesus is sharing in chapter 24 and 25 is actually Jesus talking about the end of time. In chapter 24, he shares a little bit about the signs to be on the lookout for, but what Jesus really spends his time on is addressing how quickly the end will happen. He compares it to the days of Noah where the world was living their normal everyday life up to the moment that the rain started falling. And Jesus says that that's exactly what the end of days is going to be like. And because life is going to feel like normal in the world, Jesus uses the rest of his conversation with the disciples admonishing them to remain faithful. and be about the business of the kingdom. He tells several different parables, all of which were just illustrating the contrast between what will happen for people who remain faithful and for those who slack off in their duties. The faithful servant will be rewarded and promoted. see that time and time again through those different parables, but the way the, but the lazy wicked servant they're going to be cast out the five jerk the Five virgins who kept their lanterns filled well They were allowed into the wedding feast while the five lazy virgins were left outside the servant who wisely Stewarded his talents was appointed to be ruler over much and the servant who hid his talents and sat on it lost What he had and then to make it even more clear what has to come Jesus paints a really sobering picture for us of his return and verses 31 through 46. That's a big passage that I'm going to read, but I think it really shows us exactly what to expect and why we need to take this soberly and why we need to be mindful of what Jesus is talking about in our lives today. Verse 31, I'm reading out of the new King James today. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another. As a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats and he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then 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, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous. will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you in or naked and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly, I say to you, and as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on his left hand, depart from me. You curse it. into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me no food I was thirsty and you gave me no drink I was a stranger and you did not come and take me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me then they also answer him saying lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you Then he answered them saying, assuredly I say to you, and as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting. See in our Christian life, it's so easy to grow complacent. And the danger is that whether we live to see Jesus' return or whether we die before it, one day in the blink of an eye, we will be gathered there before the throne of Jesus, awaiting his judgment for how we live. our lives. Will he radiate with pleasure in our faithfulness or are we going to look into the eyes of the creator of the universe and see disappointment or displeasure or hurt? Are we going to hear well done, good and faithful servant enter in to all the things I have preferred for you? Are we going to get a different response? Now this isn't a conversation if we know Jesus if we've accepted him as Lord and Savior this isn't necessarily a conversation about like salvation no no this is a conversation about what will our reward be when we get to heaven like we live our lives and sometimes there's this tendency to accept Jesus as Savior to want him to wash away our sins but we forget to to accept him as Lord to let him call the shots in our life and for us to be responsive to what he commanded us to do in scripture, which he really just made it really simple for us when he said, love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and love your neighbor as I have loved you. Those are the commands he left to us. Are we loving our neighbors? Are we going to the least of these and feeding them clothing to them? giving, ministering to them, giving them what they need. Are we going to those that are the least in our society, prisoners, those that are suffering, sick? Are we taking care of them as he directs us, as he gives us opportunities, as he shows us where to go? None of us can do all of this. Let's be clear, but are we doing our part that we have in the body of Christ to go out and minister and just love on people? Because if we aren't doing our part today, tomorrow, very soberly, very seriously could be the last day. we, are we living life today, prepared to meet Jesus tomorrow? And that's my thought. That's my observation. That's my application. What, what are we doing? Let's examine our lives. Am I doing? what I need to do that when I meet Jesus eye to eye, I can be fairly confident that he's going to be pleased with me. And for some of us, that's baby steps. That's small little beginnings. That's just starting along the path. It doesn't mean we're doing it all at once. It doesn't mean that we're suddenly Mother Teresa or something. For some of us, our first step is a very small. baby step and that is beautiful. That is wonderful. Jesus can do a lot with with that. That one little movement towards him. It means so much to him. And for others of us who have already taken a lot of steps, are we keeping up the pace? Are we continuing to pursue him? Are we continuing to love people? See, Jesus said the way one of the ways he knows how much we love him is how we love others, how we love his people. because he points out to this that when we take care of those that are hurting, we are in actuality taking care of him. Where can we take steps forward? Where can we start applying this in our lives? Let's pray. Father, I just thank you. I thank you for who you are. I thank you, Lord, that we love you so much. You are so easy to love and it's also really easy to forget the standard of your love and the standard you hold us to and what what really moves your heart is us showing our love to you by loving your people. Lord I pray that you would show us those that are the least amongst us, highlight them to us, let us see the needs that we can meet. I pray that you would show us the baby steps, the big steps, whatever We as individuals need to take, show us our next steps in pursuing you, Lord. We want to be a people that when we meet you face to face and we look in your eyes at the judgment seat, we would see pleasure that we would hear well done, good and faithful servant. We do not want to enter into your throne room and see sadness in your eyes when you meet ours. We want to see your love and your affection and we want to see that we pleased you with our one life that we get to live. We love you, Jesus, and we're going to show it to you by what we do. Amen.