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Matthew chapter 25 I begin at the verse number 31. 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 them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place

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the sheep at his right hand but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, O blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed

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me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came unto me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcomed thee, or naked and clothed thee? And when did we see thee

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sick or in prison and visit thee?" And the king will answer them, "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." And may God bless to us and to our understanding this reading from his word. Pray with me.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. By a happy Providence, this is two special days in the church calendar rolled into one. First, it is the festival of Christ the King, and second, it is Stewardship Sunday. I say that this is a happy simultaneity because these two

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concepts, the Lordship of Christ and the Stewardship of Christ's servants, are opposite sides of the same coin. You see, if you honor Jesus as your master, then you can only see yourself as his minion. If you understand him to be your Savior, then of course you will want to serve him. These true truths, then, the glory of

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Jesus and the gratitude of his people, are kind of yin and yang of the Christian experience. They are utterly complementary. They are, if you will, twin truths. They belong together. So this morning I want to think with you about what our stewardship is in terms of our Savior. About 800 years ago, the great

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Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides listed what he called the eight degrees of service or of giving. They appear in this order. First and least important is giving and service which is grudgingly offered. A little better than that is when the giver or the servant gives less than what he or she should, but does it

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willingly. Higher than that is when a person serves as they ought to serve, but they have to be asked to do so. The fourth degree, which is higher still, is when one gives what one should and does it without being asked. Even higher than that, the fifth degree, is when those who receive the gift know who the giver is,

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but the giver does not know who the recipients are. Higher than this, a sixth degree is where the identity of the giver is not revealed. The servant stays hidden in the background. The seventh degree, almost at the top, is where both the servant, that is the giver, and the receiver remain anonymous in terms of

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one another. And the eighth degree, the highest degree of service and of giving which he identified, was this. When the giver helps the receiver to better himself or herself so that the receiver in turn becomes one who gives. Now what Maimonides is saying here is that giving is not to be grudged. Our service of

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others is not to be in terms of the least we can do, and we're not supposed to do it for applause. It is to be entered into joyfully, and it is to have as its primary purpose bringing the ones who receive into such a relationship with God that they in turn will want to give. That is service in the eighth

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degree. And I'd like to ask the question this morning, how do we measure up to that standard? We need to remember at the very outset, of course, that we are summoned to stewardship by Christ Jesus. You know, Jesus never promised his disciples fame or wealth. He only promised them one thing. He promised them

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that they would be useful, that he would be able to use them and make them fishers of other men and women. And he taught his disciples to give in the eighth degree by his own example he offered even his very life, and also by his teaching. Now of course the world doesn't really understand this. The world

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thinks you accomplish things by legislation, by the commanding of armies, or perhaps with money and the power which money brings. The world thinks that progress, significant progress, is made by organization. But you see, Jesus was not a politician, and he was not a financier, and he was not an efficiency expert on

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organizational engineering. Jesus said it's a simple matter of offering yourself and all that you have in the service of other people so that they will be won by that service and themselves become similar servants. As you love me, so bring others into that love so that that love will spread throughout

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all of the earth. Not too long ago I read an article in a minister's journal which listed what it purported to be the ten most often used illustrations by clergymen. And the point was you should never use these illustrations. I want to use one of them right now because I can't think of any better. But there's an

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old story about a black minister down south who in a sermon said that Jesus, after he had ascended to be with his father, was being questioned by all the angels about his experience when he was here on earth. And one of the angels said to him, "Son of God, what plans and organizations have you left behind you

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to win the world?" And Jesus replied, "I've left no organization, I've left no strategy and no plans, I've left no performance evaluation review techniques, I've left no endowments, I've left no master plan. What I did do is I taught eleven men to love and to serve as I loved and served them." "Is that all you

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left behind?" said the angel. And Jesus replied, "Yes, this is my only plan." Well, that means, you see, that we, the disciples of the disciples of the disciples, are Jesus' plan. It's a simple plan, it's a silent plan, it's a secret plan, if you will, because it's not ostentatious, but it's his strategy for winning the world. Now, of

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course, the world has real difficulties understanding this, because the world is impressed by big things, building bridges and performing tasks that are significant and appear on the front pages of the newspaper. That's what the world understands. But, you know, as I've thought about that this last week, and as

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I've looked back over history, it has seemed to me that the most significant events, in terms of the blessing of mankind that have happened, are untagged. That is, we don't know who did them first. Who, for example, was the first person to domesticate an animal? Who was the first person to learn how to cultivate fruits

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and vegetables and then taught that to others? Who was the first person to think of the wheel? Who was the first person to see the Pacific? We say it was Balboa. We know that isn't true, because there were thousands who lived along the shores of the Pacific that saw him long before that. He's given the credit, but the fact

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is that it was seen long before he was ever there. Who was the first person to develop the concept of truth? Who was the first person to talk about self-sacrifice These are the really singular events in human history, and yet we can't tie them to the name and reputation of a single individual. The greatest things you see

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have been done in silence and in secrecy. You pick up your morning newspaper this afternoon, and you will see what the world calls important. But suppose God were to write that newspaper today. What do you think would appear upon its page? There might be a story there about a teacher who this last week set a flame,

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a light in the mind of one of her girl students, and that girl is going to go on into medical research and develop some great blessing for all of humankind. There'd be a story in there about some parents who every day teach their children by their own example how to love and care and sacrifice, and those

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children are going to go on and teach their children, and the world would be blessed by the stewardship of these people. I think if the Lord were writing the newspaper today, there'd be a story about a TV repairman who does that six days a week, and on Sunday he teaches a Sunday school class, sixth grade boys, and

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every Saturday night he takes those boys to the bowling alley together, and they enjoy a game, and then he takes them to Pizza Hut, all at his own expense. And one of those boys is going to grow up to be a missionary, and he will teach thousands to read the gospel. And one of those boys is going to grow up to be a labor leader,

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but he's going to grow up because of the example of this TV repairman to understand that cooperation is much more important than competition in this world. And one of those boys is going to grow up to be a doctor who one day in a magnificent act of self-sacrifice will test his own theory by inoculating

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himself, offering himself in the service of humankind. I think in God's edition of the newspaper, there'd be the story of a low-income lady from the North Side who tithes because she believes that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, whether it be the mind of a child or the mind of an older person, and her church uses her

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gift in a ministry to the elderly, to those who have run the gauntlet of years and now need assistance. These are the kinds of stories that God calls important. The great works done by little people. See, in the long run, Jesus had the best idea. Those servants of the eighth degree, people who loved and shared all that they had for

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his sake, and who did it so graciously and so humbly that when they were confronted by him and thanked by him, they said to him, "Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee? When did we see thee thirsty and give thee something to drink? When did we see thee in jail and came to visit you?" And he replies, "You servants

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of the eighth degree, inasmuch as you did it to the least, you did it to me." We're summoned to be stewards by Jesus, and let's remember this, too. There's a great deal of satisfaction in being a servant of Christ Jesus. First, there's the applause. Not the applause of the world. The world rarely applauds. But remember that Jesus

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himself has taught us that about us is a great cloud of witnesses. All the saints of all times and all seasons, they see what we're doing. And we may not hear that applause, but that's the grandest ovation of all. And also, it's deeply satisfying to know that in the offering of your time and your talent and your

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treasure, that you are carrying out God's order in your life. You know, some people waltz through life, and some people joke their way through life. Christians feel the pain of life, but they have the power to meet that pain. If they are largely gifted, then when they tithe, well, in comes a million. If they're not so gifted,

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then when they tithe, in comes a couple hundred. But whether the gift is great or small, the point is, they're fulfilling their assignment. And it's wonderfully satisfying in your heart and soul to know that at least in this, you are doing what God has called you to do. And another satisfaction is this. You understand that

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that which you do in Christian service is eternal. Nothing that you do on earth, insofar as material things is concerned, is eternal. It will all pass away. But what you do for a soul, that lives forever. I remember several years ago, now, sitting at the New Wilmington Missionary Conference one Sunday night next to Don

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McClure, who was a great missionary to Ethiopia. And we were talking before the service started, and Don told me about a new project that he had going at Godi in Ethiopia. African cattle are very poor. They're sick, they're diseased, they're not productive. It's one of the poorest strains of cattle on earth. So Don got

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this idea. He got four pastures, one after another, and he brought a herd of cattle into the first pasture. And here he medicated and treated those cattle for all of their external diseases, funguses and other rashes and things that the animals had. When they were all cleaned up on the outside, then he moved

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those into the second pasture and moved the new group into the first pasture to receive the same thing. And here he began to work on all their internal diseases, killing the parasites and all the things that veterinary could do to improve. And then there was a third pasture, which was another purifying process, and only after

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they had gone through these three pastures of preparation did they come into the fourth pasture. Now meanwhile, while this was going on, through the cooperation of a Christian veterinarian in Colorado, they brought together our best bulls and our best cows and they fertilized the eggs of these cows with

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the sperm of the bull. Then that egg was removed from the uterus of a cow and put into the uterus of a rabbit. See, a rabbit has the same temperature as a cow and it's a lot easier to ship a rabbit to Ethiopia than it is to ship a cow. And besides, when they got the rabbits over there, they ate them. But they took that

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fertilized egg, which had been shipped in this rabbit, and they implanted it into these cattle that had gone through these four steps of purification. And the result was that the calves that came from those cattle not only had the magnificent bloodlines of American bulls and American cows, but they also had the

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immunities which had been built up in these African cattle across the decades. He produced the very finest cattle that Africa had ever seen. I said, "Don, that's really wonderful." Well, he said, "It's a step forward, but you know, someday Gaudi will be gone. Anything that we do of this kind, it's here today and it's gone

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tomorrow. But what's not gone tomorrow," he said, "is the fact that if we do all of this, we are teaching those farmers the gospel of Jesus Christ, and their souls are saved. And when Gaudi is gone, their souls will march on." Two years later, my friend Don McClure was dragged out of his house at two o'clock in the morning

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by a group of communist rebels in Ethiopia, and he was shot to death. And then they went down, and they ripped down all the fences on those pastures, and they drove those cattle away because it was related to the United States and they didn't want anything positive with regard to this country to be seen in

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Ethiopia, the country which they have since taken over. And just as Don said, "It's all passed away." But just as Don said, "The souls that were saved are still living, and those souls are still reproducing in Ethiopia, so that there is a Christian presence and a Christian church there, when all that has done has been passed

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away." That's what it is when you bless a soul. You bless something that never dies, and there's tremendous satisfaction. So we're summoned by Jesus Christ, we're satisfied in Jesus Christ, and let's notice this, we're also sacrificed for Jesus Christ. See, there's a lot of risk in being a serious steward. Now let's face it,

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we're all dying. None of us is going to get out of this life alive. Every one of us owes God a death, and we're going to pay it. The question is, as we are dying, are we apportioning our life for those things that will endure, or are we wasting the limited life which is ours on lesser things? In other words, are we dying for

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something that's worth dying for? I like globes, you know, this world. I've always wanted to own one, but never could justify the money to buy one. They're expensive, and I was looking at some here in the store here in Pittsburgh, and a salesman came over and said, "Would you like me to help you?" And I said, "No, that's all right, I'm

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just looking." And he said, "Well, as you compare prices, remember that lighted globes cost more." There was my sermon for Sunday. A lighted world costs more. That's right. That's absolutely right. And that's exactly what Jesus said. He said, "As the world has persecuted me, so it is going to persecute you." But with the risk, there also comes

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reward. See, a lot of people are very bored with their religion. That's because they believe that when Jesus said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest," that meant they were to spread themselves out on the 395 inner springs of a posturpedic mattress. Now, if you lie down all the time in a reasonable length of

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time, you will lose 40% of the calcium in your body. You won't be able to do much of anything. That's not what Jesus meant. Resting in Jesus is being dragged out of bed and thrown into the waters that surge by the foot of the cross. That's what releases energy in you. That's what chases the blaws away. And when that gets

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into the spirit of a Christian, so that the Christian begins to serve and to give like that, they're so busy doing good that when someone says to them, someone, even Jesus says to them, "You fed me and you clothed me and you came to me in jail and you gave me something to drink when I was thirsty," they say, "Lord, we

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were so busy we didn't even notice. When did we do that?" And he says, "You servants of the eight degrees, because you did it to the least, you did it to me." I had the fun a few summers ago of watching two birds raise their little chicks in a nest in my backyard. And the father, oh, he just went out every day,

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all day long, and they were never filled. Their mouths were always open like this, always, three little chicks. And the mother sort of cuddled them and kept them safe. And I watched the whole process and then one day I just happened to go out and see that they had the three little ones out on a branch. And the papa bird went over

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and he pushed the first one off and it fell just like a stone. But before it reached the earth, pumping like crazy, it started to fly. It wasn't very graceful, but it flew. Now the second bird must have seen that. Because when the father pushed him off, he started pumping right away and just

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flew like a pro, like he'd been doing it for weeks. But the third bird had also been watching. And when his father went to push him off, he wasn't about to go. He hung on just like that. He hung on so tight that he actually fell under the branch and was hanging onto it this way. And his father went over and pecked at

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his tiny talons until the pain of holding on got to be greater than the pain of being let go. And so he let go and he flew. Now birds can walk and birds can hang on to branches. But papa birds know that birds are meant to fly.

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We can walk and stumble through life. Or we can hang on to our branches and our bankbooks and all the little protections we have for ourselves. Or we can do and be what our father knows that we have the capacity by his grace to do or be. We can fly. And the servants of God are meant to fly, lifted by the winds of the Holy

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Spirit. The sky's the limit. You let go and you let God. You risk something in your religion. And when you do that, then you don't waste time in the lower altitudes. You go off into the wild blue yonder. You fly higher and higher until one day, one very special day, you've flown so high that you can reach out

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and touch the very face of God. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you that thou hast made us creatures of the sky, a little lower than the angels. Not only out of the dust of the ground, but also out of the dust

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of the stars. You breathe into us living spirit. We pray that you'll challenge us and push us and drive us off whatever branches are out until we become loving and serving as thy son loves to serve. Until like him, we become servants in the eighth degree. We pray our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]