A Sheep or a Goat?
Matthew 25:31-46 (The Message)
The Sheep and the Goats
31"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. 32Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, 33putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.34"Then the King will say to those on his right, "Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. 35And here's why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
36I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
37"Then those "sheep' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? 38-39And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' 40Then the King will say, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.'
41"Then he will turn to the "goats,' the ones on his left, and say, "Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. 42And why? Because--
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'
44"Then those "goats' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
45"He will answer them, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me--you failed to do it to me.'
46"Then those "goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the "sheep' to their eternal reward."
45"He will answer them, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me--you failed to do it to me.'
46"Then those "goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the "sheep' to their eternal reward."
Am I a sheep, or a goat? If my eternal judgment is based on such actions, where will I honestly be placed? I can count the number of times I have fed the hungry or visited the sick on one hand. One hand!!! What, in God's name, am I doing sitting on my lazy butt in a huge, multi-million dollar facility with my nicest clothes on for a couple of hours while Jesus is out there, waiting for us to minister to Him? What kind of Christian am I if I spend more time in that nice building, comfortable and safe, than ministering to Jesus? What kind of church have we made ourselves to be if we aren't purposefully, habitually ministering to Jesus in our community? How is it that Jesus called us to do very few things, really, and we keep missing them? How is it that I have been in church since the womb, and I am not in the habit of ministering to the needy in my community?
And we can't say that there aren't needs in our suburban, middle-class community. There are needs just down the street.
Ben and I have just spent an hour searching online for volunteer opportunities, and we have only a few resources to show for it. Anyone else know of ways to get involved? Let's research, pool our resources, and get out there and do something!!!
posted by Gina @ 3:20 PM
4 Comments:
Hey girl. Thanks for the reminder...just a suggestion: www.perimeterpulse.com and click on Critical Needs in the Community. I know it's through our church, but it may be a good start as far as areas needing specific help. Is FBCD involved with Unite? Just wonderin! Talk with ya soon.
KT
Thanks for that link, Katie! I was able to find several contacts from Perimeter and from the Unite website. No, our church isn't really involved with any kind of community organization like Unite, at least not that I know of.
Info I found through KT's links:
Prison to Praise- 7703186515
Meals on Wheels- 7708228837
Duluth Co-op- 7702327454
Rainbow Village- transitional housing for the homeless- 7704463800
Good point Gina, glad you are motivated and motivating. However, I do think you can sit in church wearing good clothes and go out and minister in the communtiy. These are not mutually exclusive things. I also think that we need to care about the spiritually impoverished people everywhere around us. Both material and spiritual needs should be met by God's people. Sadly, most churches fall dramatically short on the material needs part.
Adam, I agree that we must minister to people both spiritually and physically. What bothers me about our church practice, though, is that most (NOT all, of course) who sit on those comfy pews with their nice clothes on aren't spending time taking that out into the needy world. When we spend more time being fed than feeding others, I think we have missed the point.
Another interesting thing about Jesus' ministry is that the physical and spiritual always went hand in hand. They were never exclusive. Who are we to think we could minister spiritually without ministering physically?
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