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Friday, January 14, 2011
Today: Ever got a shock?
Passage: Mat 25
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[c] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him,[d] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”(Mat 25: 31-46, NKJV-emphasis added)
I was shocked, when I happened to read the above scripture during a break time at my job. That was shock # 1!
Jesus was not speaking about all those activities which most of us considered to be great, but about having compassion for the poor, needy, the orphans and the widows
We all give to God; but how much do we give to the causes mentioned above?
I think 95% or more of the income in many of our churches are used for things other than what is mentioned in the scripture above
Ministry and spirituality are important, but charity and kindness are no less important; the more privileged should care for the less privileged
The first century church gave due priority to acts of helping the poor and the needy. Apostles focused on prayer and the ministry of the word, but they let the church elect some people specifically for helping the poor and the needy. Unlike many leaders today, the Apostles did not want to put their hand in everything, but believed that the Church should help the needy
1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6: 1-4, NKJV)
Shock # 2: Jesus spoke about a some people who doing signs/ wonders/ miracles in the name of Jesus and prophesying, which many of us consider “great”; for some reason, Jesus did not consider them that great!
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Mat 7:21-23, NKJV)
Does that mean all of those acts like calling on Jesus, and the signs, wonders and miracles are wrong?
I don’t think so. Jesus himself, as well as disciples did those things
But it is all about “we did it all”, I think. They did all of that while they were not properly connected to Jesus. The scripture just prior to that in Mat 7 speaks about the importance of (spiritual) fruit over gifts. (Ref. Gal 5: 13-26) If what is important to Jesus is not what is important to us, we are not going to make it to where Jesus is; as simple as that!
The New Year is still new. We can still make our resolutions. Let Mat. 25: 31-46 make an impact on our resolutions for 2011
Have a blessed weekend!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for talking to me. With all that you have given me, help me to do that which pleases you, which includes my time, money, energy and wealth. Amen
Keep on casting your bread upon the water-Gaither-You Tube (click the link)