Wednesday: The Last Judgement | Rev. Adam Hamilton | Church of the Resurrection

2:08 This is the final week. Several times this week, I've had people ask me the same question. You know, Pastor Adam, is the war in Iran, is that signaling the end times? Is this a part of the end times activities? And apparently there was some military officers who had told their subordinates that, you know, this was, you know, God's will. the war was God's will, that this was lighting a signal light for Christ's return. Now, I can tell you, at least that claim is pretty bad exegesis. Exegesis is how we interpret scripture. So we as Americans are not, by sending our troops somewhere, going to signal or bring in the second coming of Christ. But I really want to talk about this idea of the second coming of Christ and precisely what Jesus had to say about that. Because during Holy Week on Tuesday and maybe Wednesday of Holy Week, Jesus speaks about this while he's in the temple. So the fact that they asked the question tied right into this weekend's sermon.

3:04 So as we think about this, Jesus is going into Jerusalem. He goes in every day. He goes on Sunday, Palm Sunday. Monday, he teaches in the temple courts, Tuesday. Today, we're gonna look at Matthew chapter 24 and 25, material that could have been given by Jesus on Holy Tuesday, maybe it was Holy Wednesday, but I want us to explore this. We're gonna talk about two things. We're gonna talk about the second coming of Christ as Jesus described it, and not just the second coming of Christ, but the destruction of the temple that he so loved. And then we're gonna look at the criteria at the last judgment. Jesus gives a parable in Matthew chapter 25 of how he will judge the nations at the very last judgment. So these are two pretty important ideas. We're gonna explore them together. But I wanna start with the idea of the destruction of the temple. So Jesus says this, he and his disciples are in the temple courts. They leave, we read this in Matthew 24. If you have your Bible, turn there. Matthew 24 verse one. Now Jesus left the temple and was going away. His disciples came to point out to him the temple buildings.

3:58 He responded, do you see all these things? I assure you that no stone will be left on another. Everything will be demolished. What a striking thing to say. I mean, the temple was so important for the Jewish people. And it was so beautiful. Constructed in 1920 and 19 BC by King Herod the Great. Now, you're replacing a previous temple. But this temple represented God's presence in their midst for the Jewish people. They knew that God didn't live inside the temple. but it was designed to be God's throne room. And when people came to Jerusalem, they came over the hill and they saw the temple and they knew God is in the midst of these people. That temple was so important to them and it was important to Jesus. From the time he was a child, he went to the temple. He called it his father's house. And now he's saying that it's gonna be destroyed. How is that possible, Jesus? Why would that happen? Now, I thought before we step into what Jesus says about how this would happen, the destruction of the temple, I'd share with you just a, I saw this video this last week, had a chance to see several video clips from a man named Jeremy Park who created them to show what the temple likely actually looked like.

4:58 And as I watched the video clips, I thought that's about as accurate historical portrayal of the temples I've ever seen. I thought you might enjoy seeing it. This is what the temple likely looked like to Jesus and his followers on that holy week. Take a look. Thank you. Thank you. This was a shocking statement that Jesus made, that the temple would be destroyed.

6:18 But he could see what they couldn't see. That 40 years later, because of the revolt of the Jewish people, not all of them, but some of them, revolted against the Romans. And when they did, as opposed to what Jesus taught them, which was love your enemies, do good to those who are not part of your family. But instead of doing that, there were some that chose to revolt. The first Jewish revolt, AD 66 to AD 70. And by AD 70, the Roman soldiers, there was four legions that came in, marching through the Holy Land. 48,000 troops surrounded the city of Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it. They wouldn't allow food or drink to come into the old city. And finally, they broke through the barriers, broke through the walls, and they destroyed the temple. They killed thousands and thousands of Jewish people in AD 70, the summer of AD 70. They left the temple in ruins. And at least some believe they offered sacrifices to the pagan gods in the place where God's offerings had once been made.

7:12 And so Jesus can see this. He can see what's going to happen in the future. He can imagine what would take place, which is why he wept over the city of Jerusalem when he came into it. And at this point, the disciples asked this. So they've left the temple. They go to the Mount of Olives. And on the Mount of Olives, they say, tell us, when will these things happen, Jesus? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Now, we often read that as one question. Well, when will these things happen, the destruction of the temple? What will be the sign of your coming, the end of the age? But actually there are three questions here. When will these things happen is the first one. And this relates to the destruction of the temple. And then the second is, what will be the sign of your coming, your returning, and the end of the age? That's really almost two questions there. So the first question again had to do with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. And as I noted, that happened in AD 70, the first Jewish revolt. And during the revolt, there's one image I think we have of the burning of the temple and of the destruction of the city.

8:07 And this is taking place, that's the altar there where you can see people on top of it. And just a terrible, terrible destruction. And if you've been to Jerusalem, I've taken groups there many, many times, you still see evidence of this. So you can see one, well, there are actually several walls left of the temple platform. Where the temple once stood is the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic shrine. But on one side of the Western Wall, you'll find there are still rocks that are lying there that were torn down, they were thrown down by the Romans. that had mechanisms to be able to throw these giant rocks over the Temple Mount and onto the ground. They crashed down into the street. And here's some footage of that we took last time I was there. And so you can see this is the street. There were shops there. And you can see the street is actually caved in. And they've left some of these rocks in place. These are giant stones from the temple that remain in the Temple Mount, the temple portions of the various buildings there that remain as a testimony to the very thing that Jesus said 40 years before it happened, that not one of these stones will be left atop the other.

9:07 Now, in essence, the disciples were asking, you know, when they said, when will these things happen? Jesus starts to describe the events that are gonna take place around the destruction of the temple. But then somewhere along the way, he begins to answer the second question, and that is, when will you return? That's a strange question that they're asking. When will you return? Because Jesus is with them, so he hasn't left. And they don't understand that he's about to be crucified on Friday of that week. So when they're asking, when will you return or when will you come, what they're really asking is, when are you going to show that you're the king? When are you going to take charge and lead the forces against the Romans? I mean, that's what some of them were still thinking. Or when will you take charge of the Holy Land and of our people? But Jesus knows something else. He knows that he's actually going to be crucified, and then he's going to leave them, and then one day he will return. This is the second coming of Christ. Now, when you think about the idea of what's going to happen at the end, So they ask, you know, when will the end of the age be?

10:03 So Jews understood that we live in one age now and there's another age that's coming. The one age that we live in now is broken. There's, you know, pain and war and violence and people who are, you know, hurt one another and there's sin, all of this is in the present age. There's good things in the present age too, but there's this age, but they had in their mind that one day this age would come to a close. This age would end with what was called the day of the Lord. So you find this in many of the prophets, Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, all of these talk about the day of the Lord. Joel, they talk about the day of the Lord. So these prophets are writing hundreds of years before the time of Christ, but they say the day is going to come where the world as it is will no longer exist like it is anymore. And the day of the Lord will come in. It will come with judgment. It'll come with war and violence and all kinds of catastrophic things will happen just before this. And then God will finally say enough of this. And there will be a new beginning, a new earth where God's kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. So this is the picture you have in the various prophets. And it's not always consistent, but there's some consistent ideas. There's going to be violence, bloodshed. There's going to be horrible things that happen before God finally says enough. And then the day of the Lord comes, the Lord comes to his people. So when we hear what Jesus is saying, he's not making this up. He's drawing upon the prophets who came before him.

11:22 And when we get to Matthew chapter 24, we read these words, watch out that no one deceives you. So he's answering the question, when will these things happen? Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come to my name saying, I'm the Christ. And there were in fact, maybe a dozen people who claim to be the Messiah or the Christ in the first century. They will deceive many people. You will hear about wars and reports of wars. Don't be alarmed. These things must happen. But this isn't the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other and there will be famines and earthquakes in all sorts of places. but all these things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end. And so he's describing what was happening. He's describing very clearly what was happening in AD 66 to 70 and the revolt against the Romans. But he's also describing things that happen over and over again throughout human history. So when he's describing these things that are taking place, he's describing what happened just before the temple was destroyed, but he's describing in every epoch in every period of time, the wars, the rumors of wars, the famines, the earthquakes, so that every generation could look and say, maybe this is the time. Maybe this is when finally God will say enough and there'll be a new heaven and a new earth, a new beginning, no more war and violence and pain where God's kingdom will be established on earth. Every generation can look at their own times and think, maybe these are the times. Now, after describing a host of other crises and persecution, he returns to the question, what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age.

12:45 And this is what he says, then the sign of the human one or the son of man, that's what he called himself. Then the sign of the human one will appear in the sky. At that time, all the tribes of the earth will be full of sadness and they will see the human one, the son of man coming in the heavenly clouds with power and great splendor. And here he's quoting from one of the prophets, Daniel. He will send his angels in the sound of a great trumpet and they will gather his chosen ones from the four corners of the earth, from one end of the sky to the other. Now he's probably using metaphorical language to describe this great and glorious day when finally history as we know it will change and Christ will bring his rule on earth. Now, again, this isn't new to Jesus. These kind of ideas are found throughout the Hebrew Bible, throughout the Jewish prophets, where there would come an end to this age and a beginning of the next age. And for many people, they thought the next age would feel pretty much like this age, only better, only without the pain and the sorrow, but still on earth in much the same way they had lived up to that point.

13:40 Some even thought, as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that you would still have babies, you'd still have children in that next kingdom. Jesus says, no, it won't be like that. But so this is about his second coming. Now, he's saying these things are going to happen, and he kind of condenses this so the temple will be destroyed, and all these things are going to happen around that, and then the end is going to come. But here we are. That was AD 70, and we're in AD 2026. And where is Jesus? Why hasn't he come back yet, right? And so this is a question that Christians have raised, actually, even from the end of the New Testament period. So you get to the last book written in the New Testament, it was probably 2 Peter. It's thought that it was written after the turn of the century in the first quarter or the first half of the second century. And there we find at the very end of 2 Peter chapter 3, we read these words, scoffers will come, jeering, living by their own cravings and saying, where's the promise of his coming? So by this time, people are raising the question, where is the promise of his coming. And then Peter answers, or the author of 2 Peter answers, don't let it escape your notice, dear friends, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord isn't slow to keep his promise as something of slowness, but he is patient towards you, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to change their hearts and lives. And he gives this line, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Jesus said the same thing. On that day, the heavens will pass away with a dreadful noise, and the elements will be consumed by fire in the earth, and all the works done on it will be exposed. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, waiting for and hastening the coming day of the Lord. Now, I love what he says there, with the Lord a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day. So a couple of thousand years nearly have passed since that time, and it may be thousands of years into the future before the Lord brings to a conclusion. History, as we know it here on this planet.

15:36 Now, it's interesting, when we think about the end of our planet, even our scientists say someday that's gonna happen, billions of years from now, when the Milky Way collides with the Andromeda galaxy or when our sun expands to such a point that our earth is consumed or is enveloped in the sun's heat where we can't support life anymore. Who knows exactly how it's gonna happen, but everyone agrees this planet will not continue as it is forever. But what Jesus was saying is the day is gonna come where I'm gonna return and there'll be a new heaven and a new earth, a new beginning. Now, back in Matthew chapter 24, so when is this gonna happen? And you know, Christians, especially I think certain kinds of Christians are really focused on this idea of when is Christ gonna return? So I have to tell you, I was in high school, I went to a wonderful church in the community and every so often we'd have guest preachers who'd come in and preach there and they came in preaching about the second coming of Christ.

16:30 So they would bring charts. Those charts might be, you know, 15, 20 feet across. And they would try to show how all of these various scriptures, they would pull a scripture from here and a scripture from here. They would take them out of context. And then they would try to put it all together with things that were happening in our world today. Now, this is, remember, this is like 45 years ago. And they were certain that, you know, Christ was coming back any moment, any time he was coming back. And some of you know, LaVonna and I got married the week after high school graduation, in part because my pastor said regularly, Jesus is coming back at any moment. And we wanted to be married before he came back. But you know, we got married 44 years ago this June and he's still not come back. And over the course of Christian history, there have been preachers and teachers and people who came out and said, you know, he's coming back now and they've named times. And every time they were embarrassed because it didn't happen. Even when I was an associate pastor at Central United Methodist Church, what's now Resurrection Brookside in 1988. And I had just come there as an associate pastor and somebody put brochures on people's windshields in our parking lot.

17:27 They assumed we Methodists really needed some help. and it was 88 reasons why Jesus is coming back in 1988. There were people in Kansas City who ended up charging up their credit cards and there was a certain date they thought he was coming back. They charged up their credit cards thinking they wouldn't have to pay for it, which if you think about that, doesn't really reflect well on their character. And they were just waiting for Jesus to come back, but they were sorely disappointed and had to pay their bills later on. I mean, this is what's happened again and again and again throughout church history. Jesus says this, nobody knows when that day or hour will come. not the heavenly angels and not the son. He says, I don't even know. Only the father knows.

18:05 Now, I wanna mention this week, I went online just to see the preachers out there who are continuing to preach that Jesus is coming back now. Like this is the moment, the war in Iran is a sign, all these things. And I listened to probably two hours worth of these preachers and sounded much the same as they did when I was in high school. What I wanna suggest to you is that the focus Jesus has for us is not to try to figure out days and times and exactly when this is gonna happen. The focus is to be ready, to be ready to meet Christ whenever he returns. Now, there's different ways of thinking about the second coming of Christ. There are some who take this very, very literally and they have their signs and charts and have it all figured out. There are other people who say, look, this is metaphorical. We spiritualize it. Maybe Jesus was confused about this. Maybe he meant something different than what we understand, but he's not ever really gonna come back the way it literally says in the text. And then there are other people who say, no, I'm going to take Jesus at his word that someday he's going to return and he's going to set everything right. But my focus isn't on trying to figure that out or even to understand it.

19:07 My focus is simply to be ready. I don't know when Christ is going to return. I think we live our lives as though he's not going to come back during this lifetime. And we live like we're here for the long haul. And it's been 2,000 years and it might be 200,000 years. But we also live ready in the event that he were to come back today, right? This is a question that I have for you, is are you ready for Christ to come back for you today? Now, I know he's going to come back for me, even if it's not the second coming, I know he's going to come back for me, at least statistically in the next 40 years. I'm 61, and I don't anticipate being here when I'm 101. So somewhere during that period of time, Christ will come back for me. He says, I go to prepare a place for you in John's gospel, and I will come back for you. And I anticipate someday in the next 40 years, I'm gonna hear his voice and I'm gonna go home to be with him. And interestingly enough, at my age, I've known enough people who had died of cancer or heart attacks or something else.

20:06 And so I wake up every day thinking, Lord, I wanna be ready today. I wanna be ready to meet you. It could be an automobile accident or a heart attack, but or it could be your glorious second coming. but help me to be ready to meet you, to stand before you and to hear you say, hey, you did okay, Adam. Welcome home. Or you didn't do so great, but I forgive you anyway. Welcome home. But I want to be ready for that moment. And that was the point of Jesus' teaching in this. So after he talks about all of these things that are going to happen, he says this, therefore, you also should be prepared because the human one will come at a time you don't know. So be prepared. And then he goes on to tell a parable about a fig tree. and then he goes on to tell a parable about bridesmaids and a wedding that's coming, and five of them weren't really ready, and they had to go to the market to get more oil, and they missed the wedding when the bridegroom came, and they just missed out because they weren't ready.

20:58 And so all of this talk about the second coming of Christ is really about two things, I think, primarily. One is it's saying, make sure you're ready for that day. And the second is to say, there's hope. No matter how dark things may be in this life, no matter how awful things may appear, I think about the Holocaust and for the Jewish people and World War II and just the devastation that was happening and the number of people, hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were dying. I think about that and I think that seemed like for those people living at that time, they had to have thought all the signs are here. Christ is coming back. We didn't come back then, but it did point to something important that Hitler doesn't get to have the final word and hate and evil and brokenness and inhumanity. They don't get to have the final word. Christ is gonna have the final word in the end. So that's the first thing that really we focus on in the second coming of Christ. It's a message of hope.

21:51 And then to be ready, to be prepared. So what does it mean to be prepared? What does it mean to be ready for that day when Christ returns for us, whether it's at our death or at his glorious second coming? So when you get to chapter 25, after he tells one parable about bridesmaids and being ready, and it's just broadly to be ready. Then he tells a parable about a man, a king or a ruler or master who had servants. And he gets ready to leave for, you know, to go on a trip for a long time. And of course, Jesus is that master. And he gives to each of his servants so many coins. And he says, now, I want you to take care of these and use these, you know, on my behalf until I come back. And one of them uses them well and doubles them. And another one uses them well and doubles them. And then the third one just buries the coin in the ground. This is very much the same as the parable of the talents, as it's told elsewhere. And what we find is Jesus is saying, look, in the meantime, between now and when I come back, use the talents that you have, use the gifts, the influence, the experiences that you have, your voice, use all of those to do my work while I'm gone.

22:57 I just think this is so important. And I wanna ask you this question. Are you being a good steward of the gifts that God has given you? Your influence, your voice, your resources, are you using these things well? Your life, are you using them in a way that honors God and that furthers the work of his kingdom? Because if you're not, Jesus says, it's not gonna go well for you at the last judgment. So we're meant to use these gifts of life and love and time and talent and resources to honor God because ultimately they came from him. Our very life is a gift from him. So I wanna ask you, not only are you ready, but are you making good use of the gifts that God gave you? your life and your influence and your resources to further the work of his kingdom, to care for his people.

23:42 Now, the last parable he tells, so there's three parables in chapter 25, and the last parable he tells is one that I have referred to, I probably refer to it six or seven times a year, and it's the parable of the sheep and the goats. And some would say it's not actually even a parable. In some ways, it's a metaphor, it's an analogy, but this is how the parable begins, and it's in Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 46. If you have your Bible, turn there. and Jesus says this, when the Son of Man, remember that's what he called himself, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory and 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 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Now he's going to send the goats away. He's going to say, you have no part with me and he's going to send them away, but he's going to invite the sheep to join him. And when he invites the sheep to join him, and when he welcomes them into his kingdom, he says this, I was hungry and you gave me food.

24:41 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. And then he turns to those who he sent away. He says, you didn't do any of those things. You didn't do any of those things. I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you didn't welcome me. I was sick and in prison, you didn't visit me. I was naked, you didn't clothe me. And so both parties, both the sheep and the goats said, Lord, when? When did we see you? I mean, surely if we'd known it was you, we would have stopped to help. When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we didn't help you? And Jesus says this, truly I tell you, Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

25:36 And just as you failed to do it to one of the least of these, you failed to do it to me. What he's saying is I take very personally how you treat your fellow human beings, my brothers and sisters, how you treat them matters. Now, there's some people who read this parable and they want to say, well, this is really about Christian missionaries. So you can find this in commentaries where they'll say, you know, this is just Jesus is saying he's going to judge the world based upon how they responded to Christian missionaries. But at this point, there were no Christian missionaries. I mean, he's, I think, saying, yes, of course, that's true. How did you respond to people who came in Christ's name? But I think he's really teaching a fundamental precept of life and of how he looks at us and what he expects of us. What does Jesus expect of us as humans? And by the way, you know, this is not standing against what, you know, in Paul, we find that we are saved by God's grace. We are rescued by God's grace. And we access it by faith. We trust in Christ.

26:29 and so we're saved by the sheer goodness and love of God and we're not saved by our works. We're not rescued by our works so that nobody can boast. And that's true. I mean, it's not, if it were the other way around, then you would constantly be asking, did I help enough poor people? Did I help enough, did I go visit enough people in the prison? Did I welcome enough strangers so that God would finally affirm me? No, Paul's reminding us, no, God in his grace and mercy reaches out to you and loves you and wants you. And you access that by faith, but that faith is meant to be lived out in concern for your fellow human beings. right? If you fail to get that, you're going to find yourself on that day. When he says, I was hungry and you didn't do anything for me. And I was thirsty and you didn't, you didn't offer me a drink because we failed to get what he was teaching in this parable. He's been talking about his return and his second coming. He says, now, listen, let me tell you how judgment's going to go down on that day. What a powerful picture of what faith is meant to look like, of what our lives are meant to look like and what he's looking for from us.

27:26 I want to mention a couple things related to this I think about you know and one of the things that makes me proud as a congregation you know we're not out there doing works in Kansas City so that we can get God to love us he already loves us we're not trying to earn our salvation by the things that we do but it's a prerequisite for joining this church that you're going to serve people in the community you can't be a member of this church unless you agree that you're going to serve outside the walls the church and inside the walls the church that you're going to serve your fellow human beings that we are called to love our neighbors and you do that in so many magnificent and beautiful ways. I'm so proud of you for this. I think about our food mobile, you know, and all the meals that are served in food deserts here in Kansas. So not meals, but, you know, all the groceries that are provided in food deserts here in Kansas City. And every food program in Kansas City, you're a part of almost all of them. So proud of you for that. And our food pantry at Resurrection Overland Park and the meals that are served out of Resurrection downtown and out of Resurrection Brookside.

28:19 I mean, so many things in which you're looking to see there was somebody who was hungry and you gave them something to eat or providing water or looking to see who needs clothing and shelter. Who is it who needs beds, mattresses for children in our beds ministry? So every kid has access to a nice place to sleep at night, an actual bed to sleep on. Or the backpacks for hunger that you give. We call it something different now, but every Friday, 1,600 children who receive food to tide them over over the weekend. All of these things, the dental bus, the dental clinic, mobile dental clinic that makes sure that children get their teeth clean. I mean, now all of that, what you recognize is every one of those children, you see Jesus in that child. Every mission trip that we take here in Kansas City, but in other parts of the world, every well that we have drilled, why are we doing all those things? We're doing all those things because it's the right thing to do because Jesus told us, this is what I expect. This is what it means to be human. What are you doing? How are you living your faith so that when Christ returns, he says, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your rest and not, is that all you did?

29:18 Or did you not understand? Or what part of the parable of the sheep and the goats did you not understand? I was thinking about where Jesus says to, you know, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. And this is just a really big idea right now. Xenos is the word for stranger here in Greek, xenos. Xenos means foreigner. It can mean stranger. It means somebody you haven't met yet, but it is also the word for foreigner. So when we think of the word, so xenos is the word for stranger. It's foreigner here. I was a foreigner and you welcomed me. xenophobia, you know that word, xenophobia means fear of the stranger or fear of the other or fear of the foreigner, right? And so, and on the flip side, what the New Testament calls us to is philoxenia. Philoxenia is love of the foreigner. It's actually hospitality. That's how it's usually translated. Hospitality is love of somebody who's a stranger, love of somebody who's a foreigner, right? And so when we look around in our country and we think about people who are here, now this isn't about, you know, walls or it's not about laws. You know, we are going to have walls and laws and we're going to have people who are coming in and out of our country. But this is about how do you respond to people who are different from you? How do you respond to people who are foreigners?

30:28 And today we're in a time where we're in the midst of trying to address issues of immigration of people who are here who didn't come in the legal ways. You know, we're considering things that really don't look very much like with this gospel and what Jesus is teaching us, creating warehouses to put people in these warehouses. Like we have to do better. We've got to be able to do better. But I don't want us to forget this, that Jesus says, I was a foreigner and you welcomed me. Right? There are laws, we have to enforce the laws. But how do we do this in a way that reflects our humanity? I was traveling across Kansas this last week and I was talking in different towns. I was in Western Kansas, just listening to people. And what really struck me was hearing people talk about it. These were, you know, most of them were Christians, Catholics, Methodists, others, Baptists and others. And I was surprised how in almost every stop, they talked about this concern. And these were their neighbors and they were concerned for their neighbors.

31:21 And they were, in some cases, they were their employees and they were worried about them. And I just thought it touched me to see the concern in the heart of people in Kansas for their neighbors and how much they wanted them, you know, good for them. And they wanted a legal pathway for them to be able to be here. I was thinking about people in our own congregation and the ways that they live out this parable of the sheep and the goats. And Car Wu is one of those guys. And I love Car Wu. If you've not met him, I hope you have a chance to meet him. He ran an art gallery here in Leawood for a number of years. He sold the art of other people. And he was an interior designer. That interior design in Hallbrook and in a lot of the nice neighborhoods around this community. And then for a time, he moved down to the plaza. He moved his shop to the plaza, thinking he'd come back to town center at some point. But he moved his shop to the plaza. And there he saw so many homeless people on the plaza. And he began thinking, I should do something about this. And he thought that because he'd come from Hong Kong as a, I think he was 19 years old and he had $50 to his name.

32:18 So he knew what it was like to live homeless when he came to America back in, I think the 1970s. And so he had a heart for these people and he began opening the bathrooms up and saying, you know, you can use my bathrooms. And then he began preparing. One day he decided he'd prepare 28 sandwiches and he took them to the park where there were homeless people. And then he began to look to see what else can I do, you know, to be able to help. And finally, he decided, I think I need to devote myself full time to this. And he closed his shop and he began working. He formed an organization that at the time was called Artist Helping the Homeless. And, you know, one of the themes that he has in there is be the change. Be the change. Be the person who, when you see somebody who's in need, do something. He says, I didn't grow up religious. You know, I see him regularly here at church and he's got such a deep spirituality because he brings the folks. He has now six homes in Kansas City, in the Kansas City metro area, Kansas, Missouri, in Lawrence. He has two homes in Lawrence. So six homes.

33:10 He has 80 men. I think they're all men who live in his homes. 80 men who either are in, they're in recovery and many of them were struggling and homeless or they're people who are coming back out of prison. They're reentering society. And he says, I can do something about that. And he raised the money to be able to buy each one of these houses, then remodel them so that he could have a place for these guys. and this is his passion and his joy. This is what he loves to do. And then he brings groups of these guys to our various locations, you know, so they can hang out for programs or come to worship. And I love seeing these men and I love seeing Karwu because he embodies what Jesus talked about. I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was a stranger, you welcomed me. I was in sick and in prison and you visited me. This is how he lives his life. I was reading this week William Barclay's commentary on this passage in the Gospel of Matthew and he includes the story of Martin of Tours who lived in the 4th century in the 300s and Martin was a Roman soldier and he was a Christian and he tells the story one cold winter day as Martin was entering the city a beggar stopped him and asked for money it was very cold Martin had no money on him all he had really was his cloak his soldier's cloak it was tattered and he looked at the man and the man was shivering and cold and his skin was blue and so he got off his horse and he took his Roman cloak, his soldier's cloak and he cut it in half and he gave half of it to the shivering man and he kept half of it for himself.

34:39 That night he had a dream and in his dream he was taken to heaven and he was there in the heavenly realm. There was Jesus and there were the angels around him and he looked at Jesus and to his surprise, Jesus was wearing that half of his soldier's cloak, of his tattered cloak and one of the angels turns to Jesus and says, Jesus, where did you get this? And he said, my servant Martin gave it to me. I wonder what Jesus will say you gave to him in the kingdom of heaven. Did you understand that your daily life is not just about your job and the things that you do, but it's about being a human being, being a decent human being, caring, compassionate, understanding, empathetic, seeing people and saying, how can I use the gifts that God has given me to be a help, to offer care, to help Jesus and to help his people? I want to end with this I was in, I think it was Holton, Kansas and one man came up to me after we had visited I'd been listening and he said hey, before you leave, I just want to say one thing to you I'm a one issue voter and I said, oh, well what's the one issue?

35:48 he said, I'm not going to vote for anybody who doesn't believe and live that we're to love our neighbors we love ourselves that's my issue and you know, I think maybe that was Jesus' issue too So I want to ask you, are you ready when he comes? And have you been living your life in such a way that when you look and see people who are in need, you can actually see the face of Christ on their face? One last little invitation. Next Saturday, if you're in town, I know many of you are on spring break, but if you're in town, next Saturday is our next Serve Saturday. And you can go online, court.org slash next, and you can find a way to sign up to serve in one of those capacities. And what you're going to find is you see Jesus and Jesus sees you. Let's make sure we're ready. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you so much for the promise that this life and this world with its tragedies and brokenness and pain and all the good things about it too, but when we see the tragedies, the brokenness and pain, that we know that this is not all there is, that this world and suffering does not have the final word, that you promise that one day, the day of the Lord will come And in that day, all things will be made right and new.

37:01 No more wars and famines and heartache and heartbreak. We thank you for that hope, that blessed hope. And we remember that you call us to be ready. And you told us how to be ready very specifically today. So please help us, Lord, every day to pay attention, to see how we can come alongside others, to bless, to care for, to encourage, to love, to meet their needs. Help us, oh Lord, to see you in them. We offer ourselves to you in Jesus' name.