Somewhere around 1988, I was introduced to a singer named Keith Green. Keith was killed in a car accident in 1982 when he was only 28 years old. He is known by many as the godfather of Christian music. I remember a combination of two songs that he wrote that really messed with my teenage mind. The first song, "The Sheep and The Goats" was based on the last story in our chapter today. He always followed that song with a song called "Asleep in the Light." Though the song had a significant impact on me as a teenager, I think my life has not only forgotten the song, but let the message drift as well.
You see this story about the sheep and the goats really is about one word. The word is a small word, but it is the wedge that is driven between the two stories. The word is "DO." I know that my salvation, my relationship with God, is not based on what I do or don't do, but what He did. That's not what is at stake here. The issue here is how we respond to the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the cold and the imprisoned. The people who "do" feed, give drink, provide shelter and visit the imprisoned, do so to Jesus. The ones who don't, don't.
What strikes me today is not how people I know respond or don't respond to the needy around us. What strikes me is how I respond. What I hope strikes you is how you respond. You see, when I see people in these situations, I have a tendency to think:
- What were their bad choices that led them here?
- If I give them something what will they do with it?
- If I make I contact, what will happen?
- If I give, I won't have money for...
- Isn't there a shelter close by?
The brutal fact is that when I see hungry people, I don't see Jesus. When I see thirsty people, I don't see Jesus. When I see homeless or imprisoned people, I don't see Jesus. I've been struck by the conversations we've been having over the past month at how the Jesus we are reading about doesn't match the Jesus we thought we knew. I can tell you that this is definitely not the Jesus I know.
What in the world do we do with this? Do we sell all our stuff and give it away to help others and join in a vow of poverty? How do we reconcile this with our quaint suburban lives? Am I just beating myself up for no reason? Can we really make a difference?
This is going to be a heavy finish to a great 4 weeks. It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be good. Today hasn't been easy for me, but it's been good. I hope some of you will wrestle with these words with me.
If you have any conscience at all, then those in need pull at your heart strings, and guilt and shame can enter in because "I have it better than someone else". I don't think guilt and shame should be prime motivators. So you really prompted me to think this through and read some other verses as well. Tell me what you think.
ReplyDeleteIf you simplify it down to "some did and some didn't, and those that didn't were cast out into eternal punishment", then it is all about the doing. And that doesn’t jibe with what Jesus said back in Matthew 7:22,23: "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me you who practice lawlessness". What? But they were doing this in Jesus name!
And both groups in today's chapter asked: "When did we ever see you sick ,naked, etc...". This seems to be an indicator that neither group looked at the needy persons and saw Jesus. So there must be something else at work here.
So I have to ask myself: what was the real difference? Why did one group 'do', and one group 'not do'? The thing that stood out to me was that the people in chapter 7 'did' things in the name of Jesus, but didn't KNOW Jesus. I think ‘knowing’ God is the difference.
If you KNOW Jesus, your heart has been changed and you respond to life differently. The more you know him, the deeper your relationship with him, the more you respond like him.
My takeaway:
The doing that counts comes from knowing Him; and knowing Him means our heart has been changed.
Ezekial 11:19,20--And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.
John 17:20-26-- “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”