Judgment According to Works
Text: Matthew 25 Theme of Matthew: “Behold your King is coming to you” (Zech.9:9; Mt.21:4-5) CHARTING THE COURSE
FOR THIS STUDY THEME OF MATTHEW’S GOSPEL: KING & KINGDOM, “BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU” (Zechariah 9:9 with Matthew 21:4-5) A. Matthew 1 is an “aristocratic” genealogy. B. The
King is born in C. The King is anointed (Matthew 3:13-17). The word “anoint” is Christ/Messiah. D. The King confronts Satan, the ruler of the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:1-11) PARABLES & THE KINGDOM parable – (1)
Parables are Jesus’ teaching of kingdom truths in the terms of everyday life
and experience: farmers sowing seed, men look at the seed in their hands and
the plants they become, women baking bread & sewing, real estate
transactions, merchants buying pearls, fishermen fishing, eating unclean food
versus an unclean heart (Mt.15:1-20), etc.
(2) Parables
are not just about the kingdom but our relationship to the kingdom. They are about you and me. (3)
The parables serve to correct many 1st century Jewish
misunderstandings about the Kingdom.
In the parables “Jesus was articulating a new way of understanding the fulfilment of Israel’s hope. He had radicalized the tradition. This, as has often been remarked in recent
years, is how stories work. They
invite listeners into a new world, and encourage them to make that world
their own, to see their ordinary world from now on through this lens, within
the grid. The struggle to understand a
parable is the struggle for a new world to be born” (N.T. Wright, Jesus
and the Victory of God p.176). PETER’S CONFESSION (Matthew 16) THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (Matthew 18:1-5//Mark 9:33-37//Luke 9:46-48; cf. Matthew 20:20-28; John 13:1-20) DISCIPLESHIP IS “FOLLOWING
& OBEYING THE KING” IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT A. Related
to the theme of “King and Kingdom” is living as a citizen of the B. A
“disciple” is one who follows the King.
“Disciple” occurs 73x in Matthew.
“Matthew’s Gospel is, at least in part, a manual on discipleship”
(quoted in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels) What is the essence of
discipleship? (see Matthew 10:38; 11:28-30; 28:18-20) MATTHEW 24-25 IS ABOUT THE “RETURN OF THE KING” A. Matthew 24-25 fits in nicely with our working theme of Matthew: “Behold your King is coming to you” (Zech.9:9; Mt.21:4-5). 1. Matthew 24:4-28 is Jesus’ prophetic statement of how He would judge unbelieving 1st century Israel. 2. Matthew 24:29-31??? 3. Matthew 24:32-35 apply to the Jews of the 1st century. 4. Matthew 24:36-25:46 applies to the Judgment of the Church. B. When it comes to the Final Judgment of the world, Jesus emphasizes two things: (1) be alert/watchful and (2) We do not know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:42) 1. Being on the alert and keeping watch does not mean calculating timetables and trying to predict the time of Jesus’ return. 2. Being on
the alert is another way of thinking about faithful discipleship. Watchfulness is faithfulness (24:45-46; see 1 Corinthians 16:13;
Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 16:15). There is a lot of debate about the doctrine of justification in our day. One of the questions has to do with this idea of a judgment according to works. If we are justified now by faith alone (which Christians are) then how do we understand other passages of Scripture that indicate the Final Judgment will be based on works? (Ecc.12:13-14; Mt. 16:27; 25:31–46; Rom. 2:6; 1 Cor. 3:8; Rev. 22:12) THE PEOPLE SENT TO HELL IN MATTHEW 25 WERE NOT JUSTIFIED TO BEGIN
WITH. THEY WERE CALLED BUT NOT
CHOSEN. LACK OF GOOD WORKS IN A PERSON IS AN INDICATION THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT
DOES NOT DWELL WITHIN THEM. GOD WILL DO EVERYTHING NECESSARY TO MAKE HIS ELECT CHILDREN
HOLY. AND IT IS FOR THIS REASON, THAT
IF WE DON’T PURSUE HOLINESS THAT ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT WE WILL FIND OUT THAT
JESUS NEVER KNEW US. EXTRAORDINARY WORKING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT VERSUS THE “ORDINARY” MEANS
OF GRACE Have you ever come across people who presume that God will make them
holy primarily through extraordinary mean?
In fact, they are mostly interested in the extraordinary means that
God works and they neglect the ordinary means of God’s working? “ Supposing that the Holy Spirit is at work within you, does this mean
that all of your works will therefore be acceptable to God? (see 1
Corinthians 3:9-15) What is one of the primary ways that a Spirit filled Christian knows that they are truly being led by the Holy Spirit? (see Isaiah 63:10; Matthew 3:16 with 4:4,7,10) A. The emphasis of our congregation and our Reformed heritage has emphasized the “ordinary” means of grace. Some congregations/denominations sometimes place the emphasis upon extraordinary experiences. Others focus upon extraordinary facilities, extraordinary programs and extraordinary ministries. This is often done in the context of an Arminian view of evangelism, “Anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart” (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church p.220) 1. Ministries can be detrimental to the work of the church if they take away from family devotions, prayer meetings, Bible studies, worship, sacraments, etc. 2. Programs can be good for bringing non-Christians into the church building. But they can never substitute what Christ has called the church to be. Programs can breed the Christian mentality, “What’s in it for me.” THE “ORDINARY” FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ARE WELL SUMMARIZED
BY THE RPCNA COVENANT
OF CHURCH MEMBERSHIP. |
