VIP Ministry Network

Sermon in a nutshell: Matthew 24:32-51

God wants us to be happy. God is willing and able to give us abundant life. God would do anything to give us joy and peace to us. God is even willing to come down in human form and die for us. We are that much important to God. We matter to God. It is like every child matters to the parents.

It is really painful for God to watch us to suffer unnecessary sufferings. We have unnecessary shame, guilty feelings, desires, and wounds. Why? Because we do not have this new identity as God’s beloved children, we measure our worth based on the comments that others make. We struggle to get the better impression from others. We are frustrated when we fail. We try to get a position, degree, or different body, look, hair-style to be accepted by others. We are not free! The Bible calls our efforts for this “Sin.” We try to cover up our insecurity with all those wrapping papers.

Let me be clear. We have all the right to go to the hair-stylist when we want to. We can go to gym and work out when we love to. We can wear pink or red or purple to look wonderful. All these efforts are not sins. We have the God-given right to pursue our happiness! We are free to do that! We know who we are and we want to express our confidence in many different ways!

We have two choices. We can have a life of joy or a life of fear. We can live as princes and princesses in beggars outfit or as beggars in the royal outfit. When the time comes, princes and princesses love to reveal their identities and the beggars hate to be uncovered. Jesus warns us in today’s Bible passage that the time will surely come. Nobody knows when it will be.

However, we do not worry about the exact time as long as we are doing the right thing. What is the right thing to do when we wait for the time? We can find the answer in this question: “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?” (Matthew 24:45). We are all servants who have been called to do this right job!

We should share our food with others! There are so many God’s children who suffer from spiritual hunger. They are starved to death. Our calling is to bring them to Jesus, who is willing and able to give them Himself, bread from heaven! Jesus would give them new identities. Jesus would call them God’s children and they will find themselves as precious children of God! Once they find their true identities as children of God, they do not need to eat such garbage on the streets! We can live as we are! We can live in any condition! There will be tribulations and turmoil in the world. We will hear the news of disasters and wars. These things will happen in God’s time and we can endure all these with expectations for the final victory because we know whose we are. Our calling is to share this conviction with as many people as possible. We should give them the necessary food at the proper time! In this end time, this is the only one worthwhile thing for us to do! Are you willing to share this Good News with others and bring them to Jesus?

1. Who is the one that you are going to bring to church on Christmas Sunday?

2. What is your story of salvation that you are going to share with others?