Sunday, September 23, 2012

What Side of Christ are You On?


Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes  in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate  the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom  prepared for you since the creation of the world.  35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  36 I needed clothes and you clothed me,  I was sick and you looked after me,  I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,  you who are cursed, into the eternal fire  prepared for the devil and his angels.  42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

I have walked by numerous homeless people and turned away from them all the while feeling guilty for doing so.  Things I may think as I pass these people by might be, “We can’t help everyone”;  “He needs to get up and walk down the street and look for work, not sit on the ground holding a sign”;  “He will just take my money and by more cheap alcohol, or spend it foolishly” and the thoughts go on.  I do believe that we need to pay attention to these people and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them because that is what Christ did.  It is not our responsibility to “fix them” it is our responsibility to love them enough to share with them, yet not all of us are called to share with the homeless.  We may not even live close to the homeless so are we off the hook?  No we aren’t!
As I read the scripture this morning I wanted God to share something new with me regarding this passage as I have read it so many times before.  Today as I thought about the scripture my thoughts turned to the needs that Jesus mentioned,  I was hungry; I was thirsty; I was a stranger; I needed clothes; I was sick; I was in prison.
Hunger

Matthew 5:6

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
Hunger does not always come from a physical need.  Have you ever known someone that was hungry because they were empty inside?  They needed something to fill their life with joy, happiness, and peace.  You had the answer, but you didn’t tell them what it was?  Maybe you told them but they didn’t listen and so when the next person came around you decided it wasn’t worth the time and effort so you just gave up.
Do you know someone now that is hungry?  Are you feeding them the Word of God?

Thirsty

John 4:13-15

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

It is easy to walk down the street and hand someone a bottle of water.  Yet as Jesus states in this passage, the people who get that bottle of water are going to thirst again.  What about that living water that comes from Jesus Christ our Lord?  Have you shared the Gospel with anyone lately?  Have you seen someone thirsty and decided that you were too busy for them?  Have you turned your back on someone because you didn’t want to deal with their issues?  Often times those who are the thirstiest are the ones that have messed up time and time again, like this woman at the well that Jesus is speaking with.  They are thirsty to know of something that will satisfy their pain, are you willing to take the time to give them a taste of the living water?  If they partake, they will never thirst again.

Stranger
3 John 1:5  New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.

As I looked for passages regarding strangers I noticed that most of them in the New Testament dealt with the Christians being considered strangers to this world.  If we are true Christ followers we know that this is not our home, we are strangers to it. That means that those who are not Christians are strangers to us.  So, we are called it two different ways.  We need to support those who are strangers to us in that we don’t always personally know those who are called into the ministry of spreading the Gospel.  At the same time we should be actively entertaining those of the world through the sharing of the Gospel to them.  Does this mean that we need to invite a stranger to stay in our home?  Not necessarily but that could be what God is calling you to do.  However, we need to share the Gospel with those who do not know God.  Maybe it is inviting a co-worker into your home for a meal.  In our home, we always have prayer before the meal and that does not change when we invite strangers into our home.  We hold hands and pray, it is the beginning of sharing the Gospel with them.  We need to carry that further with them though which I try to do through the things I say and the action I do on the job site.  I am not perfect at this by any means and have so much further to go in sharing the Gospel with strangers.  This is an area I really need to work on.

Sick

Matthew 4:23, New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

My husband and I served as deacons in our church for years.  There were times that we went to visit the sick.  Often times the sick turn towards the Lord sooner than those that are healthy.  They come to see that they are weak without Him.   Visits were usually short with a prayer and then on our way.  Too much visit will wear them out and cause you to not be welcomed the next time.  A visit with just enough time gives them a chance to smile, feel refreshed for a moment and a prayer to point them to the power, comfort, and strength of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I find it rather interesting that the scripture of the accounts of Jesus mentions not only the teaching in the synagogues and preaching the good news but also the healing of those who are sick all in the same verse.  We are to be teaching and preaching and spreading the Gospel to those who are in our churches as well as those who are sick, those of the world, those who have a disease called sin that are not even aware of the illness.  Jesus was among the people not just in the church building.  What about us?  Are we serving in the comfortable confines of the church building or are we going out and spreading the Gospel among the people?

Prison

Psalm 142:7  New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

7 “Set me free from my prison,
    that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
    because of your goodness to me.”

The psalmist was in prison, not one with cells and bars but he was in prison.  He was running from his enemies, those who he thought were his friends.  If you read all of Psalm 142, which I would encourage you to do; you will find that David was in distress when he cried out to the Lord. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20142&version=NIV1984

Those who are prisoners may be those who are physically bound behind bars for a crime they have done.  Prison ministries have brought many to the Lord.  When people are locked up and have no place to go, they tend to listen.  There are people who have a great ministry with prisoners, one of which I have never been involved with.    

There is another type of prisoner though outside of those cells and bars.  Maybe it is someone who is locked into their own world.  They may be trapped in a situation and see no way out. They may feel no one cares for them and the world has turned against them.  There are even those who fear stepping outside their door and are trapped within their own home and there are those who are trapped within their own selfish ways.  Jesus calls us to minister to them as well.  Prison can be a symbol of those who do not know Christ and do not see that He is the way out of their present time of trouble.  Are we ministering to them?

Jesus came to do all that this.  He proclaimed that in His hometown when He read from the scroll, Luke 4:18-19 New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He did preach the good news to the poor, an example can be found in John 4: 7-42.  (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204:7-42&version=NIV1984

He proclaimed freedom to the prisoners by setting the adulterous woman free.

He gave sight to the blind.

He released the oppressed through His death on the cross.

He proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor through His resurrection. 

There are many out there who are seeking something to set them free.  As you seek Him may you find that you have the desire to tell others of His amazing love and power so that at the day of His return you will be on the right side of Christ.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila







No comments:

Post a Comment