God loves good works. He accomplishes much good for our neighbor through them. He takes note of them, not because they save a person but because they are done in love, without a thought of reward. And such works are rarely glorious. Most of the time they aren’t known by anyone, sometimes even the recipient of the work. That’s how Christians like it. They have all they need in Christ. They don’t need to be praised or noted or repaid. They rejoice to do such works because God has told them that they are good and right. The world is not impressed by the humility of love for the poor and weak. They are not impressed with the hope of the forgiveness of sins. And they certainly don’t want to see the children of Christ helped. The world wants big, flashy works that everyone can see and praise. The world wants to help as long as they can be rewarded and noticed. And the world certainly doesn’t want to help those poor, lowly Christians. They don’t want to hear their Gospel or relieve their suffering. Those pesky Christians need to be driven out and silenced, not encouraged. But Christ will reveal the truth on the Last Day. The precious flock of Christ will be revealed as those who sought no glory or praise from men and showed mercy to their brothers and sisters in Christ who could not repay and whom the world was pleased to see suffer affliction. The unbelievers will be cast away from eternal life because their treasure was in this world. They kept score and worked to make sure they helped only the right people who could benefit and repay them in some way. They will be surprised because they actually despised Christ Himself. They despised His lowliness. They despised His Word. They believed that they could make themselves righteous by doing good works for “the right people” in Jesus’ Name. But it is Christ alone who makes righteous, who humbled Himself and served sinners with no thought of gain for Himself other than to have sinners restored to Him. God grant that we find our righteousness in Christ alone and freely love the humble poor of Christ’s flock. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer