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)
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness,
for they will be filled.
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)
5 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.
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will
gather about me
because of your goodness to 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.”
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
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