Bryan Loritts | Matthew 25:31-46: God's Heart for the Poor

well good morning Wheaton what a complete honor it is to be with you again this morning if you have your Bibles I want to invite you to a passage of Scripture and Matthew 25 it is Jesus's last sermon that he preaches prior to the cross and as we read verses 31 to 46 I want you to read this passage under the lens of these kinds of people that Jesus talks about sure they're everywhere but they are most visible in the city here now the word of the Lord beginning in Matthew 25 verse 31 Jesus says when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right but the goats on the left then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the worldwide verse 35 Jesus says for I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty you gave me drink I was a stranger you welcomed me I was naked or naked as they say in Memphis 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 drink and when did we see you a stranger and welcomed your naked and clothed you and when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you and the king will answer them truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me then he will say to those on his left depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels why for I was hungry and you gave me no food I was thirsty you gave me no drink I was a stranger you didn't welcome me naked you didn't clothe me sick and in prison you didn't visit me then they also will answer 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 will answer them saying truly I say to you as you did not do it to one of the least of these did not do it to me and these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life Wow father would you speak to us this morning from your word Lord you have not promised to bless the outline or the insights or the thoughts of a 38 year old man but you have promised to bless your timeless eternal world word and so Lord God I I ask that you would rivet our attention to your scriptures that you would arrest ignite inspire convict challenge change our hearts that we might be people who engage the world the cities the urban centers with compassion reaching out to the least of these teaching us father this morning what does it mean to engage the less fortunate so that in that I'm available to you to stand in my body think with my mind and speak with my tongue those things you would have us know say and do it is in Christ's name we pray amen on October 28 1787 a young parliamentarian by the name of William Wilberforce wrote these words God Almighty has set before me two great objects the suppression of the slave trade and the Reformation of manners Oh Wheaton college student if you have not drunk deeply from the life of William Wilberforce I want to encourage you to drink deeply from his life his story is rather unique it really begins for us at the age of 21 there is young William Wilberforce a 21 year old white man he's at a party with his buddy William Pitt and on a whim on a lark they look at each other and say hey let's run for Parliament pulling on his vast resources he ends up winning the election and and he'll never lose his seat some 50 plus years he serves in Parliament fast-forward now four years later in William Wilberforce is now 25 years of age and it is at this moment in his life where he now becomes a follower of Jesus Christ and yet now at the age of 25 William Wilberforce says I'm at a crossroads I'm experiencing a conundrum here am i a follower of Jesus Christ who at the same time that gives leadership to a nation that is thriving off of the social evil of slavery and so he says himself I cannot reconcile my newfound faith with my vocation so here's what I'll do I'll quit my job I'll resign my post and I'll become a pastor but luckily for human history before he turns in his resignation he goes to see his mentor and many of us know who that is is a man by the name of John Newton that name should ring a bell for years John Newton parenthetically dabbled himself in the lucrative industry of the slave trade he would sail down to the west coast shores of Africa would beat and bound slaves packed him under inhumane conditions sail them through the Middle Passage and sell them into bondage in the United States and in the Americas until one day on April of 1748 he was reading Thomas a Kempis his classic work the imitation of Christ and the Spirit of God got ahold of his heart and he would confess his sins and become a follower of Jesus Christ and would eventually become a pastor but if you know anything about John Newton he would wrestle over and over again with the sins of his past until one day as the story goes he was reflecting on the shame of his past and a beacon of light called grace shone through to him and he picked up the pin and dipped it in the ink and scribbled these words across the page Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see that's the man that Wilberforce goes to see and he says to him John here's the deal I'm a newfound follower of Jesus Christ but I can't reconcile my faith with the so injustice the social evil of slavery I must quit and Newton would say these words that would change the trajectory of Wilberforce's life and therefore human history he says to him it is hoped and believed young Wilberforce that the Lord has raised you up for the good of the nation to strengthen his resolved he was determined that he should not avoid his place in the marketplace but but instead he could redeem it for the glory of God and so Christmas Eve 1787 he stands before Parliament and says these words my great aim is the abolition of the trade I will not rest until I have effected its cause and they don't say anything to them they're quiet just like you know amen no hallelujah is by the way being a chocolate preacher that makes me feel at home when you say Amen or makes me preach faster because I know that you're getting into my vanilla brothers and sisters so feel the freedom to say something how had a brother or whatever and when you're ready for me to finish say bring it home or something and so here he is for the next 20 years he Labor's and he's voted down and he's beaten down and he's ridiculed and made fun of until February of 1807 England votes to to abolish the trade when that evening they're celebrating and someone sarcastically says to wailmer force now that you've finally gotten what you wanted what will you do next and without batting an eye he says I will look for something else to abolish 26 years later 1833 three days before he dies England votes not just to abolish the trade but to outlaw slavery rippling across the Atlantic in 1865 32 years later with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in these here United States of America the Emancipation Proclamation haven't already been given now the slave are set free and one of those slaves is a man by the name of Peter Lorre it's working the plantations in Asheville North Carolina and I am leading a multi-ethnic church in Memphis Tennessee at sixty-five percent white 35 percent black because a white man by the name of William Wilberforce says I cannot sit in a Christian bubble I must do something for the least of these friends I have no doubt that when we put Matthew 25:31 to 46 when we see Wilberforce's life through the lens of Jesus's last sermon I have no doubt we will see him in heaven for he gave his life for the least of these our passage though parenthetically poses a hermeneutical challenge I've got to fly this morning our passage proposes to us a major challenge because if you read this passage and you take it at face value it seems as if Jesus is saying that what gets you into the kingdom is works Jesus says in so many words that that if you do not engage the least of these you go to hell Jesus this doesn't seem like a message of salvation by grace through faith it seems as if Jesus is preaching a message of works but you Bible students know this that you understand that one of the major hermeneutical rules is you you never extract a doctrine from one passage of scripture instead you take your findings from that one passage and you compare it to the whole and when we zoom out on the whole of scriptures we see that a constant theme that is woven throughout the tapestry of Scripture is we are saved by grace through faith in Genesis chapter 15 in the Old Testament God comes to Abram and the Bible says in Genesis chapter 15 that Abraham believe God it was accredited under him as righteousness he didn't go to the synagogue first with the temple first I know that what didn't exist back then but just kind of roll with me he didn't do X amount of things first he simply believed God Genesis 15 he's saved now what blows my mind is it is not until Genesis chapter 17 where Abraham is circumcised so even under the Old Testament paradigm Fey precedes works ago one book later to the book of Exodus God says to the nation of Israel pack your bags were getting out of here but this last plague is going to impact you but here's how you get out of it take the blood of a spotless lamb and put it over the doorpost of your homes on the death angel that sees the blood of a spotless lamb he will pass over your homes that is a foreshadowing of the new covenant for all we must do is by faith take the blood of the ultimate spotless lamb Jesus Christ and apply it to the doorpost of our hearts and we will be saved I hear the words of Paul Paul says in Romans chapter 5 that God demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us my favorite word in Romans 5:8 isn't God isn't demonstrated it isn't love but it is the word while that God looked down the corridors of time and he did not wait for me to clean myself up first but he saw me in the midst of my mess he saw me in the midst of my addictions he saw me in the midst of my porn problem he saw me in the midst of my drug abuse he saw me in the midst of my eating disorders and said Christ go die for him God demonstrated his love towards us and then while we were yet sinners are hear the words of the Apostle Paul the greatest writer on salvation by grace through faith for it is by grace you have been saved through faith not of works lest any man should boast now that we have that context we understand Jesus is not preaching works salvation salvation is a mystery though in Matthew chapter 7 Jesus says to a group of religious leaders I can't let you into the kingdom they say why not didn't we prophesy in your name didn't we cast out demons in your name Jesus says thank you but depart from me I never knew you one of the great tragedies of Hell is Hell will be filled with religious people who came to church went to Bible College study the deep doctrines of the faith and yet they will spend an eternity in hell because no amount of theology learning no amount of virginity no amount of morality no amount of giving can get you into the kingdom it is Christ and Christ alone and so CS Lewis speaking on the mystery of heaven and I should quote CS Lewis in this great repository of his CS Lewis says these words that when we get to heaven we will be surprised on two fronts when we will be surprised at who is there that we knew for sure would not be there and then we will be surprised at who is not there that we knew for sure would be there salvation is a mystery so Brian how do I know that I'm saying one word fruit a change in changing life that is not the natural byproduct of the adult maturation process but it is a change in changing life that is in direct relationship to the supernatural presence in dwelling and filling of the Spirit of God that everyone should be able to look through the rearview mirror of their journey with Jesus and conclude no I am NOT where I should be but when I reflect on my life I am not where I once was he is changing me or hear the words of Bishop Kenneth Homer my bishop he said this in front of thirteen thousand people so I don't mind saying it in front of to Bishop Kenneth Homer says when he first became a Christian he used to cuss at the drop of a hat but now since following Jesus he doesn't cuss that fast anymore what is he saying he's saying no I'm not all the way there yet you cut me off on the freeway and I still may want to speak to you in sign language but I'm not all the way where I once was he is changing me that bit of a theological context we are now ready to rightly divide the word of God because one scholar says Matthew 25:31 246 here it does not deal with the route of salvation but Matthew 25:31 246 deals with the fruits of salvation did you get that Jesus in its appropriate theological context says one of the clear-cut manifestations that the Spirit of God is in you that you have been adopted into the family of God is that you engage the poor or to say it this way Jesus says if your life does not engage the poor with a compassionate Christ filled heart you have no biblical grounding that you are genuinely his see I hope wheaton and we've got far more assurance than a prayer that I prayed at eight years old at Kenna genuinely redeemed people do not obsess over video games in houses and lifestyles and vacations they're concerned about and they engage the poor some of you're sitting here thinking okay Brian I am sufficiently convicted how do I change this how do i cultivate a heart of compassion to engage those who are less fortunate I remember one year I was reading through the Scriptures and as I was reading through the Scriptures this one particular year I I was just overwhelmed as never before with the amount of scriptures that I just kept bumping my head against that just talked about God's heart for the fatherless the widow the illegal immigrants over and over again so much so that I began writing down the initials SJ social justice next to each verse when I got finished reading the Bible that year I went back and counted them up there are over 2000 s J's in my Bible over 2000 verses that shows God's heart for the orphan that shows God's heart for the homeless that shows God's heart for the poor see when grudem says that the Bible is a transcript of the heart of God and I can't claim to have his heart and do nothing for them the Book of Leviticus God says these words to the nation of Israel he's setting up their economy and he says these words to them he says when you look at your fields when it comes time to glean from your fields do not glean from the edges of your fields rather leave margins in your fields for the poor to come and glean I love it this is God's welfare policy God's welfare policy was not like America's it was not a policy of enablement it was a policy of empowerment God says if the poor want to eat let them come to your fields and work so I do agree with some who suggest that welfare for far too many people has become the new slave master now I'm not anti welfare some people needed my mother was on welfare for season but anything that rewards systemic and long-term laziness is indeed the new slave master so God says Israel leave margins in your fields for the poor to come and clean now I want and I want you to hear this we cannot talk about compassion without dealing with the economic personal ramifications of it so I think the new covenant principle is God is saying to we believers as you look at your budgets don't do the typical American thing get the race max out the budget get the race max out the budget instead he's saying to us leave margins in your budgets to spontaneously give to the poor now Bryant newsflash you're talking to PO college students not poor you can't afford the other Oh in the are okay I get it I know your best friend top ramen noodles Vienna sigh I get it but I want to plead with you now if you can't be generous with ten dollars you won't be generous with ten thousand so every time I'm over in England I always go and I go visit it's funny the clock stopped working here I always go visit John Wesley's dorm room John Wesley of course the founder the Methodists movements John Wesley when he was a college student he was your age here's what John Wesley said he sat down one year and he said how much do I need to live off of this year you figured it out 28 pounds John Wesley said anything I get over 28 pounds I'll give away to the poor that first year he made 30 pounds lived off the 28 give the other two away at the end of that year Wesley said hmm I like that I'll do it for the rest of my life every year Wesley only lived off of 28 pounds one year he made around 1500 pounds through the sale of his writings Wesley says 28 pounds is enough for me and he gave the other 1472 pounds away here at American Christian hoo-whee we live in the Disneyland of the world if there's one word Christians or Americans in general do not know how to say it is the word enough that's enough house it's enough car it's enough lifestyle wrestle with it now so I was with a buddy of mine and we were we were talking buddy pastors a 5000 member church he does quite well financially he lives in a modest house by American standards 2,400 square feet he's got four kids and is always going to have two college students living with him he says Brian I we're backstage at this conference we says Brian listen man I went over to Africa and I I saw kids rummaging through garbage heaps for lunch he said I got back home I set my bags down in my house I looked around and literally got sick to my stomach so I sold his house moved into a house a little less than a thousand square feet paid cash for it squeezed in eight people where they live now and every month when he would normally make his mortgage payment on the old house he takes that money and gives to the poor he's answered the question of enough or here Bill Hybels right up the street here well Hybels was sharing in one of his books he says I'm sitting there praying and I'm thinking about a single mom and her kids in my church this is my heart stop we had time yeah I give generously but I just since the Lord wanted me to do so much more and so he says I'm praying in the spirit I just I just you know we were talking I'm saying this we got next check I say I'm gonna give it all away next day he walks into his office there on his on his desk is a royalty check the largest royalty check he's ever gotten for one of his books $75,000 this is at that moment the Spirit of God is a remember that conversation we had yesterday bill he's dealt with the question of enough my wife and I just this year I mean you go from planning a church 26 people in a room an hour over 1500 and Lord's blessing us financially and the elders very generous to us just this year my wife and I after the elders decided to give us a raise we looked at each other and said we've got to get a hold on things now so we've capped our salary we've said enough we'll continue to take the raises but anything we get over this line we're giving away to the poor what a plead with you don't go the typical American routes and you make money kill it but are you gonna be happy standing in the presence of God saying look God look at my three houses Russell with that now Jesus says whatever you've done to the least of these you've done it to him let's pray father I'm out of time there's so much more I would have loved to have shared god I pray that your gospel would grip our hearts this cannot be something that we will ourselves to do it must flow from hearts that love you and that love people who have been made in your image I pray right now for these broke college students they would wrestle with that now that they would be generous with ten dollars and that they would give it away for the cause of Christ and it's in his name we pray amen god bless you have a great day

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Keywords: wheaton, college, illinois, Wheaton College (College/University), Bryan Lorrits, Memphis (City/Town/Village), Tennessee (US State), Fellowship Memphis

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Length: 26min 10sec (1570 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2015