About him

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

ABOUT HIM

Matt 25:31-46

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." 

NIV

At first glance this would certainly make us think that our salvation is completely dependent on doing good works. It was the sheep who are at the right and thus the sheep represent the believers, the flock of God, the flock of the Good Shephard. The goats represent the wicked, those of another flock. Goats and sheep are not flocked or herded or penned together. At any setting in the culture Jesus spoke this, the right was a place of honor, the left a place of dishonor. This is why Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and why we sit at the right hand of Christ. Yet we still must deal with the appearance here that our inheritance of the kingdom of God, or invitation into his rest, our reward of eternal life is dependent on our doing good works. Even our scholars of old spent most of their words trying to describe the list of how we should do things for the needy and the sick and the stranger. Yet we cannot help think that this is not the meaning Jesus was conveying here. Although it is true we should look after people in need, but then even the unbelievers do that. There are many humanitarian agencies or organizations that look after the poor and downtrodden. Even the poor who become in need of help can find it for free in many hospitals that may well be run by unbelievers. It would seem it would be a natural response of believers to afford help to these in need, however that is not the criteria for salvation, for being the sheep on the right. This has more to do with our relationship with Jesus than anything about good deeds. All which he says is about how we consider our relationship with him. What we do to the least we do to him. It is about us and him. The unbelievers do many of what he talked about yet they have no relationship with him. They do it for the poor and needy. They might even do it for their own self affirmation, thinking themselves great humanitarians. The point is we feed on the body of Christ, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we are healed by the blood of Christ, and we are never thirsty because we have the spring of living water springing forth from us. We are the sheep because Jesus is our Good Shepherd. If works were the condition for entering into his rest he would not have told us that in order to enter the kingdom of God we must be born again. If works were the criteria than he would never have told us that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus was raised from the dead we would be saved. If works were the method of salvation than he would not have told us that whosoever believes will not perish but have eternal life. No, it is all based on faith. He has told us that it is by faith we are saved. Yes we could go to James and see that living by faith produces works. That if we have faith in Jesus we will do good deeds.

Eph 2:7-10

 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast . 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 But this passage, these words of Jesus are showing the difference between those who have faith in him and those who do not. It is not about the evidence of works as we have said even the unrighteous do good works. If works had anything to do with our being on the right side then we could boast about the reason we were there. Our boasting would be about the quantity and quality of our good deeds. Yet the only thing we can boast about is our weakness.

2 Cor 11:30-31

30 If I must boast , I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.

NIV

Jesus is speaking about how we relate to him. Do we love him? Do we do what we do for him? Are we living our lives for us or for him? It is and always will be about him.