Beloved, we open our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, and our text from the chapter today is beginning with verse 34. We'll read from verse 34 to verse 40. A very familiar text, I know, and definitely something really, as all of the Bible, but well worth revisiting, thinking about something we'll be studying together in a topical sermon this morning. Matthew 25, verses 34 through 40. Hear now the word of the Lord. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in. naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? and the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Well, I've made a compromise with the elders today for this sermon due to my very busy week, frankly weeks, of taking my class for credit on the introduction to chaplaincy online, having probably bit off more than I can chew auditing a class on Jay Greshamation a week or so before at the local seminary. I've been behind. There's a lot of other things that have been going on. And there was a weak moment yesterday where I updated them, said, please pray for me, I am dragging, I am so struggling, and I don't have, I got four papers still to write, they were due Monday, and before the class started. And I even did get an email from my professor last night, Grant, where are your papers? And I did not get them all done. I still have two to turn in tomorrow, and he's being gracious to me, but I wanna be good to him, because he's going out of town, out of the country soon for vacation. for two weeks, so I want to get it to him. And so I was asking the elders for prayers. I was really struggling at the moment. And in their kindness, they were concerned to persuade me not to preach today, but to have some video sermons. And I assured them that I would if I felt I really needed to. And so this is a compromise, as I said, if I do preach I'll be sure to work with material I've done before and or draw on a lot from my studies in class this week because there's been some wonderful, wonderful devotions. by many different chaplains, wonderful devotions on scriptures, amazing stories of the ministry of presence that we'll talk about as the main idea of chaplaincy that I think should be really what we all care about for ministering. Frankly, I want an avenue to share so many of these stories with you, and if I try to tell you everything at another time, you'll probably be concerned you might fall out of a window at midnight because there's so much to share. So, in a way, I get to break it down and share some of it with you this morning and this evening, and I hope it'll be a blessing and motivate you about the ministry of presence. So, I am going to be sharing with you mostly drawing on my class to manage my time and keep the elders from storming the pulpit on me. And that's our, that's our compromise. Okay. I don't want them to think I'm not listening to them, but in some ways it's more of a blessing to me to preach even if it would be something briefer like this than it is to find videos for you. Um, So with that, we're going to study from this class on the chaplaincy, the main focus of chaplaincy, which I think needs to apply to ministry and being members of Christ's church. It all points to this, thinking of our text. When Christians show up to serve the physical needs of the least of Christ's people, they serve Jesus himself. there's more in the story, there's more in the greater context, and you can go back to our series through Matthew on Sermon Audio to get more of its focus and application in its context. But nonetheless, I give you as the main idea of our text today, verses 34-40 of Matthew 25, when Christians show up to serve the physical needs of the least of Christ's people, they serve Jesus himself. And that should especially be our motivation with the ministry of presence. Again, I wanna explore and meditate on this idea of the ministry of presence. That is really what you're seeing in the text. This is one of the main scriptures discussing chaplaincy. It's not the only one. and I think it really does apply more broadly, but the same idea, having the ministry of presence. One of the books called The Work of the Chaplain by Padgett and McCormick, they write this. When people realize they are not alone in their time of suffering, the fact that the chaplain has not abandoned them may enable them to believe that God has not abandoned them either. It is amazing how often a counsel will remark, excuse me, a counselee will remark. Let me start over. It is amazing how much a counselee will remark to the chaplain, I don't remember what you said, I know it made sense at the time. All I really remember was that you stayed with me. The ministry of presence is often undervalued, they continue to write. The sick wait for visitors, the lonely delight and company, and the fearful take comfort and companionship. The chaplain who is present keeping watch communicates God's assurance, fear not for I am with you. Isaiah 41 verse 10. Ministry of presence is sometimes the most important intervention chaplains provide. And I wanna say that for ministry in general and for ministry as Christians, Ministry of presence is sometimes the most important intervention that you can provide. So beloved, have the ministry of presence. We'll think of that this evening, have the presence of mind this morning, have the ministry of the presence of body. And that's the message for you today to apply, have the ministry of the presence of body. And I wasn't going to share this, but I'm compelled to share it when we think about what we just read by Padgett and McCormick, how there's so many sick waiting for visitors, lonely waiting for company, fearful, so eager for comfort of companionship. And a chaplain I met with this week, a few things are striking to me, how often as he does his rounds, some who don't have that, Don't even have someone to pick them up when they're ready to go. But in particular, what struck me is what led him to be a chaplain was a heart developing for it. He had served in Youth for Christ for well over 25 years, I believe, including locally, and including with some national impact, and served at a larger church in our area. But he pointed out as things changed, he needed to find something else. But it had kind of that corporate model of church today where the senior pastor says, Let's see. I can't be visiting people in the hospital, I can't be doing funerals in the sick, you can't grow a church like that. And that's the concern, to grow the church. And I thought, man, if that's your focus, I don't know, I was trained, that is church, that's ministry. I mean, you'd have to hold me back with chains to keep me from the sheep, especially in the hospital, such tender moments. And I was trained in seminary, that's the most important thing you never miss as a minister. You be there. I was struck by that. And so this man, his heart developed for chaplaincy because he was given everything to do in terms of ministry, funerals, visiting the sick, because not only was that the view of a corporate church model, but it was also the inclination of the senior pastor. He would do everything he could to get out of visiting the sick, everything he could to get out of visiting hospitals and doing funerals. And I'm thankful that you're shocked by that as I was, I don't get it. But what I want to challenge us is that can tend to be the danger of we as Christ's sheep. We don't get around to, or we avoid, or we may feel afraid. Even my chaplain professor said, two of his young adult children, maybe middle-aged now, are never comfortable in a hospital. One of them gets faintish just entering. And I have relatives who hate to go to the hospital, and I think that there's probably a lot of different reasons for that. But we need to be recognizing, as these chaplains spoke of and others, the privilege of being present with someone to help them in their time of greatest need and suffering. And so again, I want to, I hope that strikes you and it convicts you and I that may that not be what's thought of or said or seen of us, but that we have the ministry of presence of body. Baker, in his book on the foundations of chaplaincy, writes this. He shares the testimony of one correctional prison chaplain who was visiting an older inmate in prison, and as they were both getting up and getting ready to leave, the older man, the prisoner, turned around abruptly and with a smile on his face said, you know, I've been incarcerated for 15 years and you are the first person to shake my hand. Can you imagine? And that we need to be the one extending the hand and I will talk about as we think of the ministry of presence of body, that includes touch. In particular, the context of our text is my brethren. my brethren, you're doing this to my brethren. And that's something that I think the chaplaincy books kind of leave out. They talk about ministering to the least of these, but they tend to admit that the context is the least of my brethren. So, Acts chapter 6 is focused first on caring for the needs of the poor in the Church, the Body of Christ. Now, it isn't that there's not an extension of that, but as the chaplaincy, or missionaries, or evangelists would go out representing the Church it should be a natural aspect of what should be happening within the Church, and yes to those around us as much as we can. serving our brethren, which is to serve Jesus. Look at verses 37 to 40, Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. That's interesting, one of the least. That may be another thing for us to consider. This chaplain also said these pastors of these corporate model churches, it's all about evangelism. But he says, but they're not evangelists, not really. They aren't ones to usually evangelize relationally. They'll show up at the evangelism event to be the keynote speaker, but they're not really evangelizing in their life. They're not with and connecting with people. And you know, there can be that desire to have like numbers, right? And this broad, vague idea of the body. But notice one of the least of these. Maybe no one sees it ever, especially if they're in prison for life, perhaps, right? And you don't have this big prison ministry. You just have a brother in prison and you go to see and comfort them. And Jesus says, you're doing that to me. That's all that matters. And that's only what matters. It's just the one. We're doing it to Jesus. We're doing it to Him ultimately. Similarly, 1 Corinthians 12, we are all members of Christ's body. And the ones that seem most perhaps unimportant are actually the most important. We need to be serving one another, trusting we're serving Christ's very own body. We're doing it unto Him. the least of these, the most in need of our own with the least ability to repay, with the most physical limitations and the greatest needs. You go to them in person, your presence in their presence and bring care and bring comfort, bring relief, bring renewal. Now, notice if you don't do that, and what is said to those who won't do it, the only sin that's really being spoken to, if you don't do it, so you don't do it unto Jesus, is the sin of omission. Not having the ministry of presence, not having the ministry of presence of body is the sin of omission, and it isn't serving Jesus. It's not touching Jesus. You might be afraid to say it's not present with Jesus. It's not Jesus present with such. Now, what they would have neglected by a lack of physical presence in omission by not doing these things, thus not doing it unto them, they would be like those unlike the good Samaritan in his parable. Those who are not good neighbors, passing by the person, even crossing the road to get further away, leaving the person for dead. But not so, especially not to the least of these my brethren. Remember, Your being bodily present to minister to the bodily needs of the most in need in the church is to serve Jesus Christ himself. When you touch their bodies with affectionate care, you touch his heart. You bring mercy ministry to misery in your presence. Paget and McCormick write, presence is the grace gift that accepts the person who seems unacceptable. Sharing the moment of crisis through the ministry of presence may be the most powerful and appreciated act of ministry performed by the chaplain. Chaplains bring calm to chaos. victory over despair, comfort in loss and sufficiency in need. The very presence of the chaplain reminds the person that God is very present to them. They also write, the ministry of presence often looks like standing around the water cooler. By the way, there's a phrase they use that Baker also brings up, they use as loitering with intent, having walk around a ministry with loitering with intent to engage. Let me start over. The ministry of presence often looks like standing around the water cooler, circulating among the people, sitting quietly with someone, or having a cup of coffee in the lunchroom. Presence may seem insignificant, but presence is the grace gift that chaplains bring to the human encounter. And it's the same thing for all of us serving Jesus, actually touching Jesus. doing that to the least of these, especially the least of these our brethren. Mike Gilson, the chaplain that I was speaking about, I met with him Friday for about almost three and a half hours, and it was just so encouraging. He's an evangelical, was a pastor for a long time, worked for Youth for Christ for a long time. One thing he shared though is, The person before him didn't really walk around and do rounds. They stayed in their office a lot and did kind of the main thing of being evaluated is if people ask for a chaplain, the goal is 100% being there. That's the main thing. But the numbers of people asking for a chaplain per month averaged around 30 something, 34 let's say. But he said what he did, his understanding is you go out and about, you walk the halls, you pep your head in, you attend the staff meetings, you share with people how the chaplaincy can help, you meet people, whoever was willing to talk with you. And what happened was patients and nurses, doctors would make more requests for the chaplain at that point. And it got to be one month or one week, I think it was the 40s. instead of 30-something a month, and it averages now 70-something a month. The point is, when they're out there present, people want you, they know you, they start to recognize, and they ask for your presence by making yourself present and available. He is the, he's in the spiritual care service department at Kaiser Permanente Zion Hospital. And he was kind to give me time as I was exploring for the class and also possibly tent making career about this. And he shared so many stories of the power of the ministry of presence. and I wish I could share them all with you, but this one stands out especially as you think about the presence of body, the ministry of the presence of body. You have to wait in these institutional contexts of employment to be asked to share the Christian faith, to give specific words about the gospel, but so often it comes up by your presence. And sometimes so much of that presence isn't what is said with words, although we'll look at that tonight. He gave one example, and he's only been there six months. He had been doing it per diem with a number of different organizations before. But he spent time with a Vietnamese couple who were there for a while, and they didn't speak very much English. There was not a whole lot to be able to say, but he said a lot by his presence as best he could, and they were there because the wife had cancer. But at one point he was surprised he he came back doing rounds and it seemed like she was making a surprising rebound She was out of I think it was ICU looked like things were improving a lot But then not long after when he was doing rounds, he saw them back in ICU I believe and the nurse explained that She had a blood clot and I don't recall if it went to the lung or somewhere, but she said it's not likely She's going to make it And after he came back around doing those rounds, he found the husband screaming, groaning, throwing his body over his wife's body who had just passed. He was grieving so strongly, he finally went out and squatted against a wall out in the hallway. And Chaplain Mike, who is six foot five inches, so when I met him, hello, nice to meet you. He's a big man, basketball player originally. All he could do, especially with the language barriers, was sit down next to him on the floor. That's what he did, he just sat down next to this Vietnamese man, 45 years old, and he was just there. Didn't walk by. And this 45-year-old man, now keep in mind, Vietnamese tend to be of a more smaller size, and he's a big man. This 45-year-old man, just lost his wife, crawled onto Chaplain Mike's lap, chest to chest, and hugged him hard and wept while the doctors and nurses walked back and forth, expressing with tears and nonverbals their approval and gratitude that Chaplain Mike was there. because he had been there. Unlikely this man would have turned to him like that instinctively, except for he had been there. And then he was there and sat down with him in his grief. And he literally climbed onto him and hugged him and wept in his lap, in his arms. Because he was there. Alan T. Baker writes, One hospital chaplain shares, there is incredible power in being present. We make our feet stick in places where most people understandably would want to run. Let me read that again. We make our feet stick in places where most people understandably would want to run. Sometimes all and everything we can offer to someone in pain is compassionate presence. And when you do to the least of these, your brethren, his brethren, you do it to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all you need to know. That's all the motivation you need other than your simple golden rule, compassion and love for others in their time of need. Beloved, may you have the ministry of presence of body. And that is the message for you from this text this morning. Tonight we'll consider and think about how we should have the ministry of presence of mind while we're there with presence of body and some other applications. But may you have the ministry of presence of body. And sometimes if you don't know what to say or there's not much that can be said, just the ministry of your presence is enough. And it is the main thing of the ministry. Have the ministry of presence of body. Let us pray. We do thank you Lord Jesus for the ministry of the presence of your body in this world and on the cross and in your resurrection and your ascension back to your throne at the right hand of God. We do thank you for the ministry of the presence of body that you will raise our bodies from the dead. and Lord that you would have us look at your hands and feet and remember and see that you eat the fish and your body is present now in heaven but you're with us and you would call us to minister to your body present in one another's lives with our bodies physically there ministering to those where they are in their physical needs and their emotional needs. certainly to share you, Lord Jesus, but to serve and touch you, Lord Jesus. Oh Lord, let us be touched. Let us consider our own times when this has been a ministry to us, and let us love so much to be present and have that ministry with our bodies, where other bodies often are restricted, lying still, waiting for better days, and sometimes the resurrection of the body. Lord, let us trust the power of the ministry of presence of the body, and we do pray indeed that you will help us to be such ministers to one another, Lord, to others in our lives, and indeed as an outreach and evangelism to people around us. Keeping in mind the least of these, and Lord, we especially think of our brother working on membership class with us, Joshua at RJ Donovan, and ask that you help us to get what we need in order for paperwork, especially the elders. We've had another form sent, hopefully it gets taken care of correctly this time, and help us to get there and minister to him. and encourage him by our physical presence. It's one thing to receive a letter, receive a message, even to have a video call. It's entirely other thing to see him face to face and shake his hand and pray with him with our hands. And we ask Lord, especially for him, that you comfort him with the presence of our prayers and your ministry that transcends the gate and barbed wire as the prison chaplain I actually graduated with spoke about in the class. And may we transcend it, Lord, in terms of going to serve, knowing we're serving you with our presence. We ask, Lord, that you show us ways to do this, ways we might miss and omit. Show us where particular fears may lie that need to be given up to you. And grow us, Lord, where we might have the most natural abilities and make us more present in the presence of others who are in great need. And Lord, we thank you for being present with us, Emmanuel. and we lift up your name on high, and we pray in Jesus' name and all your people said.