<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span>Resources for Christ the King</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Matthew 25:31-46 - "The Sheep and the Goats"</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Matthew 25:31-46 - <span>"</span></span>Life's Take-Home Final<span>"</span><span> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<span>Matthew 25 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">[</font></font>the sermon title "The Sheep and the Goats"] </span>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Like it or not,
judgment is a fact of life. That is true whether we are talking about
the histories of nations or the events of our own personal life. If we
break the law, then society will judge us. If we live immorally--drink
too much, engage in sexual promiscuity, live a lifestyle of constant
stress--then our bodies will judge us. We simply cannot escape judgment
in life.<br>
<br>
Jesus rarely spoke about the final judgment, but on one
occasion he did paint a picture for us in one of his stories. The
parable that I just read gives a strong jolt to those who are heavy on
doctrine but short on ethics.<br>
<br>
A shepherd divides the sheep from
the goats, said Jesus, so too shall there be a great division on the
final day. Those on the right hand will be allowed entrance into the
kingdom, while those on the left will be denied it. And the great
surprise is that those who thought they were religious turn out to be
not as good as they thought, and those who thought they failed were told
they did a better job then they supposed.<br>
<br>
I would like to suggest three points that this parable is attempting to make this morning...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>1. We Are to View Each Individual as if They Are Christ.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2. The End Criteria Will Be Simple Acts of Kindness.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>3. We Are Judged by the Good We Do Not Do. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a __removedlink__1001113951__href="http://www.sermons.com/signup" target="_blank">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a></span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<span>Matthew 25 <font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">[</font></font>the sermon titled "Life's Take Home Final" by Leonard Sweet] </span>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>There are two types
of students. There are those students who jump for joy when they hear
the words "take home final." And there are those students who are not
thrilled with joy but filled with dread when they hear the words "take
home final." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>At first blush it
seems a no-brainer. Who wouldn't prefer a take home exam? There is no
time crunch. There is unlimited access to resources for checking facts
and figures. There is the ability to modify, or even completely change,
responses after thinking about them for a while. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>But the students
who dread the take home final know there is a down side to all those
benefits. With all that extra time and unlimited information and fluid
flexibility, there come greater expectations. With a take home final
there is never a firm answer to how much more the instructor expects.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Instead of a quick
couple paragraphs, obviously a longer, more extensive, more exhaustive
presentation is rightly required. With access to unlimited resources who
is to say how many examples are "enough" to prove your point? An exam
given in a closed class room for an hour or two puts all students at the
same advantages and disadvantages. It's a level playing field. A "take
home final" by definition will be "taken" at a different "home" by each
student. A "take home final" forces students to take their exam in their
individual real words - whatever those worlds might be like.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Why is it that we
are always warned "don't take your work home with you"? That caution is
not about teachers correcting papers on the living room couch or real
estate agents updating their listings online while watching Sunday night
football. "Don't take your work home with you" is our attempt to draw a
line between who we are in one part of our life versus who we are in
another part of our lives. "Don't' take your work home with you" tries
to disconnect what we do 9-5 from who we are 5-9.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>For Jesus'
disciples that is impossible. In today's gospel text Jesus makes it
clear that Christian life comes with a "take home final"...<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>For the rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon click here: <a shape="rect">http://www.sermons.com/signup</a> <br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>____________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Judgment: The Sound of Money for the Smell of Food</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<span>A hungry man was
walking down the street in a village of medieval Turkey. He had only a
piece of bread in his hand. He came to a restaurant where some meatballs
were being grilled. The cooking meat was so near and the smell so
delicious the man held his piece of bread over the meat to capture some
of the smell. As he started to eat the bread, the angry restaurant owner
seized him and took him away to see a judge.<br>
<br>
The owner
protested, "This man was stealing the smell of my meat without asking
permission. I want you to make him pay me for it." The judge thought for
a moment, then held up his purse in front of the owner and shook it.
"What are you doing that for?" asked the restaurant owner? The judge
replied, "I am paying you. The sound of money is fair payment for the
smell of food."<br>
<br>
The challenge when we are dealing with the least
and the last is to make sure that what we are sharing with them is real.
We must make sure that our care is expressed in ways that are tangible
and begins to change lives.<br>
<br>
Wiley Stephens, Heaven's Audit of One's Soul<br>
______________________________<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
<br>
</font></font></span></font>