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GOD'S STANDARD OF JUDGMENT
(My
notes are in red) Here is an excerpt from Barclay's
Bible Study Series (full source at bottom of page).
I thought it made several good points. The
verses discussed, Matthew 25:31-46, were the
inspiration for creating Christian Charity Center.
Matt.25:31-46
"When the Son of
Man shall come in his glory, and an the angels with
him, then he will take his seat upon the throne of
his glory, and all nations will be assembled before
him, and he will separate them from each other, as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he
will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats
on his left. Then the King will say to those on his
right hand, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
enter into possession of the Kingdom which has been
prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry,
and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave
me to drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me
in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you
came to visit me; in prison, and you came to me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did
we see you hungry, and nourish you? Or thirsty, and
gave you to drink? When did we see you a stranger,
and gather you to us? Or naked, and clothed you?
When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to
you?' And the King will answer them, `This is the
truth I tell you--insomuch as you did it to one of
the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
then he will say to those on the left, `Go from me,
you cursed ones, to the eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry,
and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and
you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and
you did not gather me to you; naked, and you did not
clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not come
to visit me.' Then these too will answer, `Lord,
when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did
not render service to you?' Then he will answer
them, `This is the truth I tell you--in so far as
you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not do it to me.' And these will go away to
eternal punishment, but the righteous will go away
to eternal life."
This is one of the most vivid parables Jesus
ever spoke, and the lesson is crystal clear--that
God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to
human need. His judgment does not depend on the
knowledge we have amassed, or the fame that we have
acquired, or the fortune that we have gained, but on
the help that we have given. And there are certain
things which this parable teaches us about the help
which we must give.
(i) It must be help in simple things. The
things which Jesus picks out--giving a hungry man a
meal, or a thirsty man a drink, welcoming a
stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the
prisoner--are things which anyone can do. It is not
a question of giving away thousands of pounds, or of
writing our names in the annals of history; it is a
case of giving simple help to the people we meet
every day. There never was a parable which so opened
the way to glory to the simplest people.
(ii) It must be help which is uncalculating.
Those who helped did not think that they were
helping Christ and thus piling up eternal merit;
they helped because they could not stop themselves.
It was the natural, instinctive, quite uncalculating
reaction of the loving heart. Whereas, on the other
hand, the attitude of those who failed to help was;
"If we had known it was you we would gladly have
helped; but we thought it was only some common man
who was not worth helping." It is still true that
there are those who will help if they are given
praise and thanks and publicity; but to help like
that is not to help, it is to pander to self-esteem.
Such help is not generosity; it is disguised
selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God
is that which is given for nothing but the sake of
helping.
(iii) Jesus confronts us with the wonderful
truth that all such help given is given to himself,
and all such help withheld is withheld from himself.
How can that be? If we really wish to delight a
parent's heart, if we really wish to move him to
gratitude the best way to do it is to help his
child. God is the great Father; and the way to
delight the heart of God is to help his children,
our fellow-men.
There were two men who found this parable
blessedly true. The one was Francis of Asissi; he
was wealthy and high-born and high-spirited. But he
was not happy. He felt that life was incomplete.
Then one day he was out riding and met a leper,
loathsome and repulsive in the ugliness of his
disease. Something moved Francis to dismount and
fling his arms around this wretched sufferer; and in
his arms the face of the leper changed to the face
of Christ.
The other was Martin of Tours. He was a Roman
soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he
was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked
for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was
blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what
he had. He took off his soldier's coat, worn and
frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of
it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In
it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and
Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing
half of a Roman soldier's cloak. One of the angels
said to him, "Master, why are you wearing that
battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?" And Jesus
answered softly, "My servant Martin gave it to me."
When we learn the generosity which without
calculation helps men in the simplest things, we too
will know the joy of helping Jesus Christ himself.
I
cannot begin to say how much these verses affect me
- - I have good intentions, but why is it so hard to
act upon them. There is no excuses really, we
MUST wake up, we must get past our selfishness, our
fear.
Again, The verses discussed, Matthew 25:31-46, were
the inspiration for creating Christian Charity
Center, and my prayer is to the Lord that we might
become involved in active giving and helping.
That we might learn to love a little more.
BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE
STUDY SERIES (NT)
The Daily Study Bible Series by William Barclay,
Revised Edition (c) Copyright 1975 William Barclay.
First published by The Saint Andrew Press Edinburgh,
Scotland.
The Westminster Press (R) Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. |
