No, I am not. Matthew 25:40-45
This scripture is about the final judgment where Jesus "separates the sheep from the goats". Since the sheep are those who have assisted Christ's "brothers" and the "goats" are not, this determines their classification.
So you have three different groups mentioned here; two are judged by how they treated Christ's "brothers".
We first have to identify who Christ's "brothers" are and who it is that is supporting them in their trials. Then it becomes clear who is NOT supporting them, and who is even opposing them.
This is not just humanitarianism...it is actions carried out
because these are Christ's 'brothers'.
Which is what prompts caring for one's neighbor. It's certainly not love for the devil that does it. Atheists and non-theists have their own motivations. I'm speaking strictly about theists.
Please don't confuse Matthew 25:40-45 with Luke 10:30-37. (The Good Samaritan)
Love of neighbor is incumbent on all regardless of nationality or creed.
Matthew 25 goes deeper than that. Jesus said to his apostles.....
“Whoever receives you receives me also, and whoever receives me receives also the One who sent me. 41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will get a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will get a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple, I tell you truly, he will by no means lose his reward." (Matthew 10:40-42)
So it requires an acknowledgment that the one being assisted is a disciple of Christ and their action is therefore motivated by love for the God who sent him.
"Righteousness" is a term used often in scripture.....The Hebrew
tseʹdheq and
tsedha·qahʹ as well as the Greek
di·kai·o·syʹne have the thought of “rectitude,” “uprightness,” indicating a
standard or
norm determining what is upright according to God's standards. Those of the Gentile nations who heard the Christian message had to leave their former worship behind to become a disciple of Christ. No one was permitted to bring in their own ideas or to alter Christ's teachings to suit themselves. But as foretold, once the apostles died, that is exactly what happened.
So we have selfish interests in giving a few bucks, or a meal from a diner to the homeless guy on the street? I certainly don't.
Please don't put words in my mouth. Humanitarian efforts, no matter how large or small are to be commended....as Jesus' illustration of the Good Samaritan highlights. It is our obligation as humans to demonstrate fellow feeling for one another no matter what barriers, real or imagined, exist. But the separation of the sheep from the goats is not about humanitarianism.
The Bible is not a book to be read superficially. The treasure is hidden and requires a lot of digging to find the gems. Those who care will put in the effort....the effort will be rewarded if it is rightly motivated.
It most certainly is. We'll have to agree to disagree here because I for one do not believe that it's only obedience to God's commandments, which btw my God does not make commandments or give orders, that prompts someone to "do the right thing".
If you have made you choice about your god(s), then go in peace. We can agree to disagree because it isn't up to me to judge anyone. We each have the freedom to choose who we will serve, of our own God-given free will.
The only reason why God gave Israel a lengthy set of rules was because of the sin (propensity to do the wrong thing and make bad decisions) inherited from Adam. If you go back to the garden of Eden, there was only one law....and they couldn't even keep that one when selfish interests were invoked. Deception is not obvious to anyone until after the deception is exposed and usually after people are hurt. The Bible is an advance warning system about our common deceiver.....but who is listening?
Unlike Israel, Christians are not under the Mosaic Law and its "old covenant". Christ instituted a "new covenant" with only two laws.....
In Matthew 22: 34-40.....
"After the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they came together in one group. 35 And one of them, versed in the Law, tested him by asking: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He said to him: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.”
The whole of the Mosaic Law was founded on these two, so if you break one, you break them all.
Who is the "true God" and why? Maybe the devil is deluding people into believing that, yes? And if not, why not?
If you understand that there are only two "gods" competing for human worship, and only one is the "true God" and the other a "wannabe" who operates under many different names and belief systems.....then you can understand why God allows us the choice. He has used the rebellion in Eden to test all of us, allowing the devil to do his best to sidetrack us in any way he chooses. Only those with a genuine love of the true God will travel the "cramped and narrow road" because it is in human nature to take the path of least resistance. (Matthew 7:13-14)
You have to truly love God and appreciate why he sent Jesus....why Jesus had to suffer....and why we too have to suffer in a world handed over to the devil for this testing. According to Jesus "few" are on this cramped and narrow road"......'cramped' because absolute freedom is not permitted on this path. There are restrictions that some find intolerable. It is 'narrow' because the law of love does not allow for selfishness, greed, hatred, immorality or violence.....the world under satan's control, thrives on all of these. (1 John 2:15-17; 1 John 5:19)
So, God gave us free will and intelligence but yet we need commandments to "do the right thing"?
Understanding what happened at the beginning......how and why God has conducted himself in the intervening period...and how he brings it all to a predicted conclusion is all contained in just one book. Only that book will appeal to a heart that God has "drawn" to understand its message and Christ's part in it. (John 6:44)
When I was growing up in Christendom, there was never any reasonable explanations about any of it. Asking the hard questions was often met with blank stares and an inference that one's faith was lacking. I have been a questioner all my life and my connection to God and respect for his word never wavered, despite what the church was teaching that made absolutely no sense.
I had bits of a jigsaw puzzle but did not know how to fit them together....until I met Jehovah's Witnesses, who gave me their time and attention in answering all my questions, none of which met with a blank stare but with many Bible verses explaining it all so simply. The answers were there all all along, but Christendom is such a mish-mash of confusion that they never quite get any of it to make sense.
The 'good people going to heaven and the bad people going to hell' was never in the original scenario at all.....no wonder nothing made sense! I can't describe the freedom! I was unshackled for the first time, knowing that an angry God was never going to send me, or any of my family to an eternal hell of fiery torment.
In the work that Jesus assigned his disciples to do until his return, I do not see any of Christendom's churches following through on it. It was to be a global preaching and disciple-making work that would continue right up to the end of this wicked world, now, we believe, in its death throes. (Matthew 24:14)
We believe that the time is coming soon when our message will change.....the door of opportunity will be closed, just like the door of the ark was closed, not by man, but by God. (Matthew 24:37-39)
We all have the same choices and they will determine our eternal future. That is what I believe the Bible's message is.
