Our nation will be judged on how we treat others!
To care for others gives glory to God!
Faith alone pleases the Father. Faith plus nothing is the gift of salvation that He offers through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But our nation will be judged by our treatment of the oppressed, the marginalized, the poor, the imprisoned and the foreigner that we come into contact with. God will judge the nations by how they treat others.
Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy 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, 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.”
When shepherds brought in their flocks at the end of the day, they typically put the goats in a sheltered area while leaving the sheep in an open-air pen. The sheep in this analogy represent genuine followers of Jesus. They are the righteous ones (verse 37). The goats are the wicked, as well as those who may have thought themselves righteous but turn out not to be genuine followers of Jesus (verses 41, 44–45). 25:34 The Jewish worldview of Jesus’ day envisioned the present age ending with a time of tribulation, followed by divine judgment. Then God’s kingdom—the age to come—would be fully inaugurated. This schema also is reflected in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Understanding John’s Revelation 25:35 The actions described here (and in the next verse) reflect obedience to the command to love one’s neighbor—and thereby demonstrate love for God, as well (22:37–39).
Jesus’ remarks here call for Christian care to reach all the way to the bottom of the social structure, thus inverting earthly values. Faithlife Study Bible
The final section of this discourse involves judgment. Matthew has been called “the Gospel of judgment” because the subject occurs so often. This is to be expected, since Matthew emphasizes the coming of the kingdom and thus the judgment that accompanies it. In the previous two parables, Jesus had been speaking of the judgment on those Israelites who were unprepared for the coming of the Messiah.
In the last parable of this discourse, Jesus focuses His attention on all the nations of the earth.
When the Son of Man comes in His glory recalls the words of Daniel 7:13, 14, 27 and anticipates the future reign of Christ. Nations here means Gentiles. Sheep and goats were both clean animals according to the Levitical law; however, their natures are very different. Shepherds regularly herded their sheep and goats together, but there came a point when the two had to be separated. The kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world indicates that this kingdom has always been God’s goal for humans. The NKJV Study Bible
Isaiah 58:7
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Ezekiel 18:7
If he has not oppressed anyone,
But has restored to the debtor his pledge;
Has robbed no one by violence,
But has given his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with clothing;
James 2:15–16 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
“I believe in person to person,” Mother Teresa said. “Every person is Christ to me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment.”
A little boy was having nightmares. The kind that requires a momma's reassurance. (Dads, at least from my own experience, are typically not wired for nightmare duty.) So, to his momma’s room the boy went, "Momma, momma, I'm having nightmares."
"It’s okay honey," she told him, “Here’s what I want you to do. Go back to your room, kneel down by your bed, pray to Jesus, and he'll fix it."
Back to his room, the boy knelt by his bed, prayed to Jesus, hopped back in bed, and… more nightmares. All mommas know this story. Back and forth to momma's room, throughout the night.
On the sixth visit, "Momma, I know, I know the drill. I'm going to go back to my room. I'm going to kneel down by my bed, and pray to Jesus, and he’ll fix it. But before I do that, can I just lay in bed with you, and have you hold me?"
"Sure honey, why?"
"Because sometimes I need Jesus with skin on it."
Yes. And today, more than ever, we can be—and we need to be—Jesus with skin on it. Voices of mercy. And Compassion. And Welcoming. And Healing. “Sabbath Moments” Terry Hershey
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