Enter Into Your Father's Joy

Christian, Jesus holds out for you today. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my joy. That's a promised reward that the God of grace graciously gives you. God has given you such a promise of reward. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my joy.

Christian, that must have a significant place in your thinking, in your theology, in your decision making. It isn't just what Jesus has done for you. It isn't just what he's doing in you and through you. It's what he promises that we can live and enjoy forever. There's a great reward set before those who are in Christ. This morning, we're in the Olivet Discourse. If you're new with us, we're walking through Matthew. We've been in this discourse for a while. Matthew is ordered around different long discourses.

Over and over again, Jesus called his people to live patiently. If you were there for the first sermon, a lot of warnings, a lot of dangers. Endure was the high calling. There's a constant call to be alert, a constant call to be faithful and steward, a constant call to be patient. There's a call to not assume upon God's delay and be abusive or self-indulgent.

We heard a parable just read of the master who who lended or gave his servants money to invest. We've already seen a servants who were called to steward what God gave for the master gave. And inversions were supposed to be prepared. Over and over again, we have seen significant patterns.

There's two ways to live. With God against God. Unprepared, prepared. Wise, folly. Faithful, wicked. Working, lazy. That's the pattern over and over again. That's a summary of all that discourse. Are we prepared, waiting, eagerly, expectant? By faith, working? Are we wicked, lazy, and foolish? This morning, we look at the last parable, and then we see Jesus concluding direct declaration.

Faithfulness that leads to joy

If you're taking notes, you want one simple statement? Be faithful for the joy to come, or continue in self-indulgence to judgment. There's two ways to live. Be faithful for the joy to come, or continue in self-indulgence on your way to judgment. First, faithfulness that leads to joy.

There's a setup, there's a man, he's going on a journey, and he calls his servants, and notice there, he entrusted to them his property. Key word throughout scripture, we understand, stewardship. The man had called these servants and entrusted to them his property. It doesn't belong to them, he's entrusted it to them. And then we have a summary of how there's three of them listed. The one who gave five talents, he gave according to his ability and went away. And the one who received five talents traded and made five more talents. And the one who had two talents, he made two more.

So we see some good investment strategy. We don't know how they did that, and that sounds like a pretty good return. But notice the third one's different. But he who had received the one talent, he went and dug in the ground and hit his master. So we've got a pattern of two doubled what their master gave them, entrusted to them, and one dug a hole and hit it. We already see a pretty good setup for a story. We'll notice 19 to 23. I'll read this again, and we see the pattern repeated.

Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I've made five talents more.

And he's doubled it. Here the master's response.

Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

And he does the same. He called the next servant. He also had the two talents came forward and master you delivered to me two talents. Here I made two talents more. This master repeats well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy. Of your master.

That that declaration well done, good and faithful servant. What what? What an affirmation to receive from anyone, especially the master here. You've been faithful over a few things. You had five talents and you've been faithful with it, so I'm gonna give you more. And then the invitation, come and share your master's joy. These things are repeated for both.

We need to remember that the kingdom will be like is what he's setting up. When the king comes, when the Son of Man comes, the kingdom will be like receiving this kind of affirmation for those who are faithful. A master who finds servants faithful, there's three parables in all. Remember that the first parable was the servant who used the resources the master gave him and he fed the other servants. And that was repeated there. Because he was faithful with such little responsibility, he would have more in contrast to the servant who self-indulged and abused others. Whatever he had will be taken from him.

Well done. Something we all should be working for and hoping to hear from somebody. Well done. You've done good work. We want to hear this from those that we have a direct report to. parent, teacher, coach, pastor, employer, well done, good work. We all hope somebody notices the effort we put forth.

We all hope somebody is there to approve the good things that we're seeking to do. Now, there could be a question as to how much this parable is supposed to be equating fully with the coming of Jesus. He has told us this is what it'll be like when the Son of Man comes. But to stand before Christ and hear him give the affirmation, well done, good and faithful servant, that is, I believe, what we're supposed to be longing for.

It's important. First two men we've looked at, they're faithful. They were entrusted and they were faithful. The master, if we're to say anything about him, he's generous. He gives them great opportunity. Whenever they're faithful, he gives them more. If you've been entrusted with such little and faithful to it, I'm gonna give you more. Something about this master, he gives more and he gives more and he gives more.

Pretty incredible, enter into your master's joy. That really sounds like adoption language. For a servant to enter his master's joy is breaking that master-servant relationship. Come and participate in my joy as in my home. Enjoy what I have for you.

This master, he gives more and more. I want you to see something, Christian. What we've seen in Matthew over and over again, our good heavenly father is rich and abundant and generous. This master doesn't hold a candle to our God who has all things, and gives, and gives, and gives. If you want to meditate upon this a few places, James 4. Simple little verse to memorize.

God gives more grace. God gives more grace.

Or Romans 5,

where sin abounds, grace abounds.

God lavishes his love. He gives generously.

The question What has God given to you? And are you operating with pure gratitude seeking to steward it? What has God given to you? And are you operating with gratitude seeking to steward it? If you're a Christian, God's given you salvation. He gave you his own son. He's giving you a spirit that indwells you and gives you every blessing in the heavenly places. Are we seeking to steward these gifts?

Which means we're holding them dear with gratitude. We're hoping that they'll mold the heart to enjoy them all the more. Christian, if we're not growing more grateful for Jesus and his salvation, we might not have it. We never wrap our head around all that God has given us. As we're grateful, we actually see more and more of what he's given. God gives to those who are faithful a little more. There's something significant about that very clear pattern in scripture.

I do believe we can see you're called to enter into your master's joy. There's a parallel with this passage in John 15 where we're called to abide in Christ. And to abide in Christ, Jesus says, that means to keep my commandments. And then Jesus says, if you keep my commandments, my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. This is taught elsewhere in scripture, this whole idea that you being faithful in Christ, in obedience, gives you great joy. Jesus is even more explicit here in John 15.

My joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.

Are you seeking to enjoy the things of this world in self-indulgence? Are you seeking to steward the great blessings of God that will actually produce joy? Do you believe God is the one who blesses and blesses obedience and blesses our faith? Are we trying to find some kind of satisfaction outside of Him? Now it's Reformation Sunday.

And as I've mentored this text and thinking through what that means for us, I want to tell you, every preacher has like a few little rubrics, a few little ideas that we kind of always slip in over and over again, and hopefully they're the right ones.

Grace, faith, works, reward

One that I'm constantly repeating, I hope you hear, is that salvation has an order. Grace, faith, works. I heard an amen. I hope you've heard that before. You've sung it before already this morning. You're saved by grace. through faith for good works. Any kind of confusion of that gets things messed up, but I want to acknowledge I haven't told you enough by telling you just that. Salvation is grace, faith, works, reward. Grace, faith, works, reward. That is what our text is getting at. And this is who God is.

He gives you grace to give you more reward. If that could just sink in. He gives you grace to give you more reward. He's constantly giving you everything. What he calls you to do in the middle is be faithful. Not to go find the grace, not to make up enough works to get the grace, no, to receive the grace and be faithful to it, and then there's more. There's a reward. By His grace, we are called to believe and live out that faith in works, faithfulness, stewardship, and then there's a reward. I think a lot of just what we've already seen in the Olivet Discourse with the wars and rumors of wars and the dangers and the dangers and fears that we have.

The joy Christ invites us into. His joy. Enter into your master's joy. There's a future joy that's absolute, but there there's a joy today that's a persevering joy. And that's important because we saw a couple of sermons ago that declaration, you must endure to be saved. The joy he gives you is a persevering joy. It's a buoyant joy.

You need to have the joy of Christ to get lifted up out of all the different fears, muck, grime, temptation of this world. You need this buoyant joy that lifts you out of life's worries, fears, temptations. Christ gives you a joy to lift you up out of what drags you down into filth and fear. I believe a great reward we all should be living for, who believe in Christ, well done, good and faithful servant.

We should be longing to hear that, and our decisions every day should be built upon that. But Christian, can you imagine someone who's waiting to hear those words for 40 years, and they never hear any of their encouragement? Do you think they'll make it? If you never heard any affirmation of anything good for 40 years, all you're doing is waiting to hear it from God, and nobody else tells you, do you think anybody can make it?

That's the job of the church. We're supposed to be encouraging one another. That's what Hebrews talks about when he says, meet together to stir one another up to good works and to love. We're supposed to be encouraging each other and pointing out evidence of grace.

I don't believe any of us will ever get there, not ever hearing actual encouragement. It's important we recognize the world out there seeks to destroy and the church is building up. The world is full of lies and we're to speak the truth. The world is full of hatred.

A warning against fear and laziness

We're to represent Christ's love. Our words are so powerful. Are we using them to build each other up? Are we actually seeking to echo the words of Christ and pointing out good and faithful works? That's the affirmation of what the master gives. The first two servants. Now there's a warning against fear and laziness. If you're taking notes, a warning against fear. And laziness. Verse 23.

The master, he also who had received, he also received the one talent came forward to the master saying, master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seeds, so I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But the master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I scatter no seed.

Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness in the place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The man had one bag, he went and hid it. We saw earlier, he went and dug a hole and he hid it from the very beginning and so we're now coming to the judgment.

And notice what he says, Master, I know that you're a hard man, severe, demanding, merciless. I know that you harvest where you've not sown, you gather where you've not scattered seed. He's very successful in gaining more where he has not actually put effort. Now, the third servant here, this is the kind of picture most have of God throughout the world. He's stingy, he's miserly, he's merciless.

He demands much and gives little. The servant with the one bag says who he thinks his master is, and then 25, he describes his own response, so I was afraid. Somewhat of an excuse, I know how demanding you are, so I was afraid, so I hid it. That almost sounds reasonable. Jesus, as the authoritative storyteller, puts on the master's lips the right judgment. You're wicked and slothful. You're wicked and lazy.

Now, a big interpretation decision that has to be made is what is the master saying at the end of verse 26?

You knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've not scattered seed.

At some level that's true because he just gained five extra talents from the first servant. Is the master agreeing with him that he is this kind of hard man? Or is the master repeating what he has said and putting it back on him and said, if you knew this who I was, why didn't you at least put it in the bank to gain interest?

I believe it's the latter. If you think, if you perceive me to be this kind of person, why would you hide it the hole? That's counterproductive. You should have at least gained interest on it. I think he's somewhat sarcastically putting his words back on him and making it clear you didn't act even according to what you're saying about me. He takes the talent from him, he gives it to The first servant, he who has much, will be given more.

He who has not and who has not done anything, he will be taken away. 29 states the principle of the kingdom. Those who have more, more will be given. They'll have an abundance. Those who have not, they'll be taken away. Now, I believe a key word that's missing in that simple summary statement that is implied from the previous text Verse 20 and 21, rather. Faithful. He who has much and is faithful, more will be given. That is a constant pattern.

He who has been given much and is faithful, more will be given. He entrusted each according to his ability, remember verse 15. He knew the servants, he gave each according to his ability, and this one, who was lazy and slothful and wicked, chose not to work at all. The judgment, he cast him as a worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there was weeping and ashing of teeth.

Okay, we just launched a normal parable about a master and a servant into cosmic destruction. This is hell. It's one of the many descriptions of hell. Here's outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hell is the place of God's final, perfect, just judgment.

It's where those who have not believed in Christ, those who have persisted in their sin, where they will suffer forever without any grace. That's what we're in here now. God's still gracious to all people living. No one on this earth is feeling the full judgment of God right now.

But hell is a place where there's no mercy because there was no repentance and there was no faith and they're all serving, they're all receiving from the just God, the just punishment. The servant, he said he was afraid. I'm not sure if this is one of those things where he's using the way he perceives the master as an excuse, or if he really was lazy, therefore he thought the master was harsh. Either way, he has a wrong view of his master.

Because again, if we see anything about his master, he gives and gives abundantly. He gives and gives abundantly. Verse 20 makes it very clear. If you've been given, you'll be given more and have an abundance. Christian, you cannot think like the world. God is not stingy. He is not miserly. He is not merciless. He's quick to show mercy. He's abounding in kindness.

The blessing of the Father

Well, next we switch over and we go from a parable to Jesus is giving a very straightforward. Teaching that is interpreting the three parables before. Here, the first thing we'll see is the blessing of the Father or the judgment of hell. You're either gonna have the blessing of the Father or the judgment of hell with the devil. The setup is 31 to 33.

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 from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right but the goats on his left.

There's that first thing, when the son of man, which is a Jesus reference to himself, that's how he refers to himself most often, and that is a authoritative divine figure from Daniel. But it's when the son comes in his glory, the future coming of the son of man will be in his glory.

That implies a different coming beforehand. You see, right now we're hearing Jesus speak for Matthew when he came in grace. Jesus came the first time, and Christmas is around the corner. This is helpful for us to think about. He came lowly, humble. He added to himself a human nature. He came in order to save people from their sins. He came in grace last time. He came to bring peace last time. Next time he will come in glory with all authority, power, and judgment that will be final. When he comes in glory with his angels, he will sit upon that glorious throne on this earth, the proper place of Jesus Christ.

And he will be judge. He'll call all nations, every single human being, all nations will go before him. And everyone will have to give an account for themselves, and he will separate the sheep from the goats, the faithless from the faithful. All nations will be gathered. He's going to rule all of creation. All of creation was created for him and by him, and he will be the master and king over all creation. Every tongue will confess. He is the one creator and the one king.

Now, what's significant about the sheep that are separated on the right? These are the sheep that the shepherd has already purchased by his own blood. These are the sheep that are following him because they've already been washed and called by him. He separates them from the goats and the sheep are put on the right hand.

That's a place of honor. Let's make sure we understand over and over again, there's two ways to live. Wise folly. Sheep-goat. There's no middle way. There's no middle ground. You're in Christ, or you're in sin. There's no third way here. With this kind of judgment, with this God, with the one true God, there's a gracious invitation to enter into His joy, or a warning, you will suffer forever. There's not a third option.

Come and enter into the joy by believing in Christ who came in grace. Notice the sheep, they are blessed by the Father. The sheep are blessed by the Father, that's 34 to 40. The king will say to those on the right, the sheep,

come, you are blessed by my Father.

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

That's a significant declaration. The kingdom you get to have, sheep, is the one that's already been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world. This is enter my joy language. Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom that's prepared. Hear the repetition, though.

I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

These are all positions of need. And he's saying to the sheep, you performed the right action. Then the righteous will answer him, that is the sheep.

Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and gave you drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and welcome you, or naked, and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?

All right, if I'm just thinking about how this story is going, I'm thinking, after verse 36, I'm just going to nod my head. Yeah, I did that. But they're asking, when did we do this? In the throne, there's nothing but light and truth. So they're asking an honest question. When did we see you? That's important. Because he said, you welcomed me. You fed me. And they're saying, when did we see you? When did we do this to you? Oh, verse 40 has so much packed into it.

Truly, I say to you, sheep, the righteous in the right hand who are blessed by my Father, I say to you, As you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, the other sheep around you, you did it to me. We see a rich understanding and declaration of how Jesus identifies with his people covenantally. When you did it to the least of these, and it's not speaking of children there, it's even the least of these, those who cannot give anything back. When you sought to bless one of your fellow brothers, fellow sheep, when they were in need, you did it to me."

First, he said, you are blessed by my father. And now he's calling all the sheep his brothers. This is adoption. Entering into my joy is entering into the Father adopting you into the family of God, and he adopts you only in Christ as he shares his inheritance with you. We see a number of mixed metaphors here. We've got a king, a shepherd, and a family. But all are true. You're brought into the family of God so that we get to call him Father. We get to know him as the one who blesses abundantly.

And as we care for one another, as brothers in Christ, Jesus is saying, you're caring for me, him. The least of these is not the children. You're giving to those who can't give back. You're not looking for return. You're seeking to just simply be a blessing.

As you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to me.

Jesus is the head of the church. He's a bridegroom of the church. He's the one who is united with himself so covenantally in love, he identifies with his bride uniquely and powerfully in a real way. Remember in Acts when he confronts Saul, why are you persecuting me? Saul was just attacking his church, but Jesus said you're attacking me. He speaks this way. When he says this bread is my body, he's not identifying himself physically with that bread, he's identifying himself covenantally with that bread. There's a real presence.

You did this to the least of my brothers, you did it to me. This is kind of the flip side of love one another as I've loved you. As you love one another, you are loving me. Church, this elevates service to a higher standard. Jesus is saying, as you serve one another and care for one another and encourage one another, you're doing it to him. It's worship. The way you relate to the other Christians around you, the way you use your words and energy towards other Christians around you, it's worship because you're doing it to Jesus, the head. You're saying, whatever you do to one another, you're as if you're doing it to me.

Come and be blessed. Enter into my joy. Now notice he says the opposite to the goats.

Then he will say to those on the left, apart from me, you cursed and eternal fire prepared for the devil and the angels.

And the reason is you saw when I was hungry and you did not feed me. They did not do these actions. And they're going to ask the same question. When did we see you hungry? Verse 45,

truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

I think we see the first gospel at play in Genesis 3.15.

The children of Eve are the children of life who love God and love one another. Here, the goats, they're gonna suffer with the devil because their children are the devil. They follow the way of the devil. They've resisted God, they've rejected God, they've rebelled against God, they've hated humanity. They have seen others in need and they have not performed what is good. They have not been their brother's keeper. Now we need to think about this text.

It's a faith that works

First, this text is one of the key proof texts used to promote what's called the social gospel. And that is declaring that the primary mission of the church is to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and so forth. That is with a social gospel. And I believe it's a different gospel. Because it's simply saying, let's make this world as good as we can. And it conflates the gospel with only physical need. It doesn't see the gospel work as making disciples of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming forgiveness and a right relationship with God.

It's actually interesting that the very next chapter, Jesus is gonna say,

the poor you'll always have with you.

I wanna be very clear, Christian, if you see an image bearer suffering and do not see they're like you and do not have a love for your neighbor as yourself, you're failing at something. But that does not mean the primary mission of the church is to resolve hunger, but the church cannot be ignoring it either. as that Malachi verse reading earlier in the service would warn us. The goal of the church is to make disciples who serve one another out of worship. So what is the gospel?

Another way this passage is easily misunderstood is in relation to how grace and faith and works relate to each other. At face value, it looks like they're saved by their works, doesn't it? If we read this passage, if this were the only passage of scripture, I would say, we need to go help everybody because it's the only way to be saved. It looks like he's saying, you did this and that's why my father blesses you. We need to be careful as we're gonna read all scripture together. I believe we must see that the God who blesses them has called them to have all they need to help one another. I believe what Jesus is saying here is the same thing we read in James 2 earlier. It's a show me faith.

If you say you have faith and yet you do not care that your brother is suffering, it's not a real faith. If you say you have faith in God, but you actually don't put forth any effort toward loving your brother, it can't be a true faith.

Faith without works is dead.

I believe the whole idea of 35 to 36 isn't saying if you do enough, God will love you enough. That denies the rest of scripture.

God loved us while we were still sinners. God sent his son to save us while we were still sinners. That's grace. We believe he has saved us, and then we want to do the good works he's put before us. This is just describing what faith looks like. Actually caring about one another in a way that glorifies Christ. Because he's saying, if you do it to one of these, you're doing it to me. It's a faith that works. All the examples assume a generous master who has given everything to his servants that they need to do the good works. And those who are rewarded are the ones who are faithful.

To be very clear, God has saved us by his grace. He has sent his son. Jesus is just days away from dying on the cross for every sinner and every sheep that he mentions here. They're only righteous by his grace. And they've believed in him. And that faith then demonstrated itself in works.

There is no way to work your salvation out. to go full-on Reformation Day, the Catholic Church takes this works, your faith about works is dead, they flip it around, to be very clear. Because they're not even saying what James is saying, they're not even saying what Jesus is saying. They're saying, you need the work of the church to finish your salvation. You need to come and receive something from a priest to finish your salvation. You need the work of somebody else, not Jesus, to finish your salvation. What Jesus is saying, what James is saying is the same thing.

If your faith isn't a show-me faith, if your faith isn't alive and active and faithful, it's not a real faith. Your faith demonstrates itself in the way you relate and treat other people. It's very clear throughout scripture, you love God because he first loved you. And if you confess that you love God but hate your brother, it's a lie.

You don't need a priest to finish the work of Christ. The work of Christ is complete. You need faith that's then going to be worked out in more faithfulness. And this is why that's so important, Christian. There's a great reward for those who receive that grace, who are faithful to that grace. There's more grace. That's what the great reward is.

Well done, good and faithful servant. You did nothing to deserve that apart from Christ. You did nothing to deserve that reward without Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who's done all that work inside of you to even do anything worthy of hearing, well done, good and faithful servant. But because of the Holy Spirit, because of the grace, you can be faithful. And you must long for those words. You must long for that joy. God is rich and generous. He gives and gives more. He gives grace so that he might even give us a great reward. Cry out to him for more grace. Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank you that you have sent your Son so that we can be brothers, adopted into your family, I pray that we would see this new identity, a new covenant we have with Him and with each other. Help us to see how this dynamic changes everything about us so that we know how to relate to you with and through and for one another. Or may we be on guard against the lie that says you're stingy And miserly, may we know how to encourage each other that you are gracious and generous. And we know how to encourage each other in the good works that we're doing together. Help us, Lord, to glorify Christ. In his name we pray, amen.