‘To Me’

‘To Me’

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:40

Christ is integrally connected to His people.  He is the Head and they are His Body.  Because of this indissoluble union, Christ, the Head, has an opinion about what happens to His people, the Body.  Therefore, when it comes to the Last Judgment, Christ, having separated the ‘sheep’ from the ‘goats,’ says, ‘to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’  By contrast, when speaking to the ‘goats’ He says, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.’  By these contrasting remarks, Christ demonstrates that He considers our treatment of His people, as treatment of Himself.  As we established earlier in our discussions, there is no way for us to divine in any particular context who are His ‘brethren’ and who are not.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, we do good to all, especially ‘those who are of the household of faith.’  It is very much like the preaching of the Gospel.  We make a full and free offer of the Gospel to all, knowing that God will make the Gospel effective to all for whom Christ died.  We do good to all, without knowing exactly who are His ‘brethren’ and who are not.  Christ ministered to some, already knowing that they were not His, for example, Judas Iscariot.  We simply imitate Christ in doing good, not knowing who are His or who are not.  This is the evidence of the transformed life.  Christ makes us like Himself, and gives us opportunities to do as He did.

Our Gracious and Loving Savior,
we praise You that You lead by example.
We rejoice that You give us the opportunity to do good unto others,
and thereby become the imitators of Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush in Burning