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Things You Find in a Parking Lot

Things You Find in Parking Lots

June 22, 2008

Text: Matthew 25:31-46

Matt 25:31-46

"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. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 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.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40 And the king will answer them, '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.' 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' 45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

NRSV

It was one of the strangest things I’d ever seen.

It was also one of the strangest things the project manager for our building addition had ever seen.

Before the project started, in the spring of 2005, the land upon which our building was to be built had to be tested. So, core samples were taken at four different locations on the parking lot. These left holes, about four inches in diameter, that extended several feet into the ground. The holes were then filled up with gravel.

One day, as I walked the lot, I glanced at these holes. That’s when I saw the strangest thing. In two of the holes, the gravel was missing. I mentioned this to the project manager. He took a look at the holes, and gave me his professional opinion: “That’s strange.”

He had the holes filled with gravel again.

A couple of days later, the gravel had disappeared.

What was going on?

It turned out that underneath our parking lot was a septic tank—a large container that homes used when they couldn’t be hooked up to a sewer system.

Evidently many decades ago a home stood where our new building now stands. When the core samples were taken, two of the holes had been drilled into the septic tank area. So, when they were filled with rock, the rock gradually siphoned off into the tank.

Now, think about that image.

Looking at the parking lot, you would think it was as sturdy and stable as could be. After all, we’d been parking on it for all these years. Yet, looks are deceiving. Had we poured the concrete on top of it and started building, it would have collapsed under the weight. There was something hollow underneath the surface.

I GUESS YOU COULD SAY, IF YOU’RE GOING TO BUILD A CHURCH, YOU’D BETTER HAVE THE RIGHT FOUNDATION. You don’t have the right foundation—a solid foundation—then if you try to build on it, everything’s going to come tumbling down.

Makes you ask the question, “Well, then, what is the right foundation for Jesus’ church?”

One Sunday morning, when I was going to seminary in Atlanta, I attended an affluent suburban church. The polished preacher passionately proclaimed, “We need to raise $10k, to build a 30 foot cross on our front lawn. When people drive to work, they’ll see it and know that we’re a church that cares.”

Is that the right foundation? Build a pretty cross—build a pretty building? Is that what Jesus had in mind?

When I turn on the TV, I sometimes hear a preacher telling me that God loves me, and that God will love me more and do good things for me if I send that preacher some money. Is that the right foundation? Believe a gospel of Divine bribery?

What is the right foundation for Jesus’ church?

Well, this morning, I’m going to take a couple of core samples. [[take shovel, gloves, hard hat]] I’m going to dig down into some Scripture passages. I want us to see what we can extract and examine.

If you dig down deep enough in the long parable Jesus told this morning, you discover something very interesting. Look at this core sample:

“I was hungry and you gave me food, 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.”

You’ll remember that he’s saying this to people who are confused. They weren’t conscious of doing any of these things on behalf of Jesus. They were people who compassionately responded to hungry, lonely, naked, sick, and imprisoned people.

When they asked him when they did such things for him, he answered, paraphrased:

“As you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

You will recall there’s another group of people Jesus talked about in the Scripture lesson. He doesn’t exactly praise them. When he sends them away from him, they ask him, “Lord, why?” And Jesus replies, when you didn’t tend to my family, you didn’t tend to me.

This reminds me of something Jesus said earlier in Matthew, in the three chapters that make up his Sermon on the Mount. Let’s dig down into that, and see what comes up:

“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock… And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand [or on top of a septic tank].”

--Matt 7:21-24, 26.

It’s not enough to say “Lord, Lord!” It’s not enough to say how much we love Jesus. It’s not enough to say how much we love other people. It’s not enough to build pretty buildings in which to say how much we love Jesus and others. Unless we love Jesus by actually going out and acting on what he’s telling us, then our faith is built on sandy soil. If we’re not serious about doing what Jesus says, then we might as well not have bothered with digging up that septic tank.

So, we’ve extracted our two core samples from Jesus’ teachings. What have we discovered?

The foundation upon which Jesus expects us to build his church is this:

IT’S HAVING A HEART FOR THE “LEAST” OF THESE JESUS CALLS FAMILY, THEN DOING LOVING, GENEROUS, SELFLESS THINGS FOR THEM.

I admit, this is difficult to do. Is it difficult for you? Day in, day out, I focus on my work here at church, and on my family. To get outside these walls, or my home’s walls, and connect with the “least” of Jesus’ family? That’s tough. That calls for sacrifice. I can make excuses for not doing it.

But still, Jesus’ words remain. And Jesus will not compromise, nor accept excuses. So—how can we make sure this is the foundation for our faith?

We do two things.

The first:

LOOK INWARD, AND CHANGE!

We naturally develop attitudes and lifestyles that insulate us from hurting people.

If we are to reach out to them, we need to feel their hurt. Maybe we need to hear the facts about what people are going through.

We complain about $4/gallon gas. We complain about the cost of OJ and bread. We complain about Ameren and Laclede and the Metropolitan Sewer District raising their rates.

But our complaints are pretty insignificant when we hear that…

6,500 PEOPLE DIE DAILY IN AFRICA FROM AIDS

34,000 CHILDREN DIE DAILY FROM HUNGER OR PREVENTABLE DISEASES

800 MILLION ARE CHRONICALLY UNDERNOURISHED

1.33 BILLION HAVE NO ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER

1.45 BILLION HAVE NO ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES

3 BILLION PEOPLE LIVE ON LESS THAN $2/DAY

3 BILLION PEOPLE IN POVERTY

1.45 BILLION WITHOUT HEALTHCARE

1.33 BILLION WITHOUT SAFE WATER

800 MILLION STARVING

34,000 CHILDREN DIE EVERYDAY, NEEDLESSLY

6,500 AFRICANS DIE EVERYDAY FROM AIDS

And we’re concerned about the cost of a Starbuck’s latte?

Our hearts must move from being concerned about our own comfort and convenience. They have to be touched by the billions of people for whom each day is an exercise in painful survival. We have to be touched by the children’s lives that have been aborted prematurely—not by a doctor, but by the world’s indifference. Our hearts must be moved by the man who said, “I was hungry, thirsty, sick—and you ministered to me.”

Then, when we’ve looked inward, and our hearts cry out for others, we do the second thing in building the right foundation.

LOOK OUTWARD, AND DO!

You want to minister to Jesus’ family? Look at how our church family is doing it, and get involved.

You might have done it already, and didn’t know it. How many of you donated or bought something at the garage sale?

The purpose of that sale wasn’t to help you make room in your home for more stuff. It wasn’t to help you find bargains—although I do like a good deal on an air popper popcorn machine. The purpose of this garage sale—and the hard, time-consuming, back-breaking work to put it on—was to minister to the least of Jesus’ family.

$5400 was raised a couple of weeks ago. That money will go to such things as…

There are so many things this church is doing in touching the hungry, thirsty, sick—I can’t name them all. Centenary Cares. Feed My People. Habitat for Humanity. Angel Tree. Veterans Home. Smile Train. Kingdom House. Metro Ministry. Epworth Children’s Home. These aren’t just opportunities to donate. These aren’t just worthy groups for whom you can donate time. THESE TOUCH THE “LEAST” OF JESUS’ FAMILY. THESE SAVE LIVES. THESE CONVEY JESUS’ LOVE, CONCRETELY. THESE MAKE THE WORLD A WARMER, LESS BRUTAL PLACE FOR 1000’S.

Get involved.

Don’t answer this, just think about it:

What happened at 4:30 this morning?

I have to say, there’s a group in this church much more qualified to have preached this sermon than me. This is a group of people who have sharp eyes to see needs in the world, and passionate hearts to energetically address those needs.

Many of you remember that the youth of this church pledged to raise $20k for the Nothing But Nets program—a cause aimed at providing mosquito netting for African families, cutting down deaths from malaria. The youth pledged to raise this over a three year period. In less than a year, they’ve already raised almost $17,000.

The youth know something about ministering to the “least” in Jesus’ family, don’t they?

Did you know that the youth have a mission trip planned in 2010 to Ghana? They’re sending not just money but themselves. To carry supplies. To build relationships.

Our youth program is aimed at shaping young hearts early on, to have a natural compassion for the least in Jesus’ family.

Which brings us to what happened at 4:30 this morning…

That’s when twenty-five youth and four adults met at the church, to go to Detroit. They’re going to be working there this week on the “Nehemiah Project,” helping build a shelter for abused women and their children.

I’m going to pray for these young people and their sponsors. I’m going to be thinking of them this week. I’m going to hear their stories when they get back. I’m going to learn from them.

And I’m going to ask myself: “Where is my Detroit?”

Where is yours?