AFFIRM

I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy. Psalm 123:1-2

TEXT

Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel‘s hair a wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”(ESV)

REFLECT

“In the physical universe the same laws are seen in the cell and in the farthest star. the universe has the marks of one creative God upon it—it is a universe and not a mulitverse. Then the plan for the universe must be one plan—valid and viral for all men everywhere. For we are discovering that humanity is one. Therefore there must be one plan for this one humanity… A universal man must come to reveal in himself the one universal God, and the one universal Kingdom, the kingdom of God.” E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom

DECLARE

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded
it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Psalm 24:1-2

Opening Prayer

We have given you our allegiance, King Jesus.  We have prostrated our hearts before you.  Now spur our hearts, we pray, to make haste in the paths of righteousness for your Name’s sake.  Spur us on to love and good deeds, to conform ever more fully to your image.  Make us friends to the friendless.  As for our sake you become poor, may we now become poor for the sake of the world.  Amen.

TEXT

Matthew 25:31-46

“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne.  Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father!  Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom.  It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation.  And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about?  When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink?  And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’  Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth:  Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats!  You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell.  And why?  Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

I was homeless and you gave me no bed,

I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,

Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

“Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about?  When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

“He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth:  Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

“Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

The Message

READ

It is the Son of Man before whom the nations of the world shall be gathered.  It is in the presence of humanity that we shall be charged.  And the spectacle itself, the mere sight of it, will silently judge each one.  Those will be there whom we have met and helped; or there, the unpitied multitude whom we neglected or despised.  No other witness need be summoned.  No other charge than lovelessness shall be preferred.

Be not deceived.  The words which all of us shall one day hear sound not of theology but of life, not of churches and saints but of the hungry and the poor, not of creeds and doctrines but of shelter and clothing, not of Bibles and prayer-books but of cups of cold water in the name of Christ.  Thank God the Christianity of today is coming nearer the world’s need.  Live to help that on.  Thank God men know better, by a hair’s breadth, what religion is, what God is, who Christ is, where Christ is.

Who is Christ?  He who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick.  And where is Christ?  Where?  “Whoso shall receive a little child in my name receiveth me.”  And who are Christ’s?  “Every one that loveth is born of God.”

—Henry Drummond (1851-1897)