Preparing for Worship - November 26, 2023

On this last Sunday of the Church Year, the Scriptures turn our thoughts again to the last day, Judgment Day, and our confidence in Christ our Savior on that day. In the psalm, Psalm 95:1-7a, we make a “joyful noise “ with “songs of praise” to the Lord. We “kneel” before Him, “our Maker” and “the Rock of our Salvation.” We are “the sheep of His hand.”

In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, the Lord God says that He will go into action “as a Shepherd,” “seeking out” and “rescuing” His “lost” and “straying” and “injured” sheep because many religious leaders of this time were not caring for these people, these sheep. He will judge between (His) sheep” and “sheep who push others aside and scatter them.” “He will set up over them one Shepherd,” the “servant Son of David” - a prophecy of Jesus our Good Shepherd and Servant Savior.

The Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28, tells of the victory of Christ Jesus over our “enemy," “death,” and “every (evil) authority and power,” through His own servant death and “resurrection” for us. He will come back, and “at His coming,” He will bring with Him, all “those who belong to Him,” by faith in Him as “the Christ,” their Savior. He then “delivers this everlasting Kingdom to God the Father.”

In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus gives us a picture of that last day. He gathers all people and immediately “separates His own sheep,” who have followed and trusted in Him, from “the goats,” who have rejected Him. Jesus already knows His own and can tell them also by fruits of faith in their lives, as they have shown mercy and love to others, in gratefulness that Jesus first loved and showed mercy and rescued them. As other Scriptures say, in “the twinkling of an eye,” as those “blessed by God the Father,” they will “inherit the (everlasting) Kingdom prepared for them” as a gift from Christ. In contrast, those who have rejected Christ and the one way to salvation, through His mercy and saving work, will “go away,” whether they realize it or not, “into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (I am preaching again this Saturday, on this passage. Check the podcast next week for more explanation of this in my sermon.)