In Matthew 25, 2 days before his crucifixion, the lord Messiah Jesus gave his disciples some of his last instructions. These contained warnings to stay awake and not sleep like the 5 foolish virgins (Matthew 25: 1-12), as well as not to bury what God entrusted to them, like the unfaithful servant did (Matthew 25:14-30). As he made clear, neither the foolish virgins nor the unfaithful servant would enter the Kingdom of God. After these parables the lord Messiah Jesus continued, explaining how he will conduct the judgment at the end of his 1,000 years rule on this earth.
Let’s read carefully what he said:
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 [the throne of
David at Zion]. “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.
“And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. “Then
the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of y Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ‘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; ‘I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and
you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’ “Then the righteous will
answer Him, saying, ‘lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
and give you drink? ‘When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked
and clothe you? ‘Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
“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.’
“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: ‘for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me
no drink; ‘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.’ “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?’ “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.’ “And these will go away
into everlasting punishment [burned up in the Lake of Fire, destroyed], but the
righteous into eternal life.”
Many unfortunately choose to ignore this passage as well as many other similar
ones. They somehow believe that whatever they do, does not matter. What
matters, they think, is that they just need to “believe in Jesus”. For them having
faith and living the faith is two different things and one can exist without
the other. But this is not true. As James says:
James 2:14-17:
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has
faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister
is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them,
"Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things
needed for the body, what good is that? So, faith by itself, if it does
not have works, is dead."
And John in his first epistle tells us:
1 John 3:16-18:
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's
goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does
God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or
talk but in deed and in truth."
John makes a contrast between love in words and true love in deed. Love which
stops just at words, without getting into deeds – though it has the ability -
is not true love. The same contrast makes James using the same example: faith
which just expressed in words and denies becoming active, is not a living
faith. It is dead faith.
Faith without works is dead!
Returning to the gospel of Matthew, the lord Messiah Jesus
does not seem to ask the people whether they had read the scriptures. Instead,
He went directly to the practical side of the way they treat others. And he
took this personally: If they fed the poor brethren, they did it to him. If
they visited the sick or those in prison, it was a visit he counted as if it
was done to him. And those that didn’t care to do such things, they didn’t care
for him! Do we care for him? If we do care for him, then we will care for his
brethren in trouble, feeding the hungry among them, dressing the naked and
helping in any way we can (and as secretly as we can - Matthew 6:3).
To have real faith is to live it out in the everyday
practice of loving others as ourselves. If you call the lord Messiah Jesus your
lord, they you must obey the words his God and his Father Yehovah gave to him
to give to the world, which first and foremost is to preach, publish the
kingdom of God to the world and all the things involving the name of the lord
Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 7:21-23:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘lord, lord,’
shall enter the kingdom of heaven [God], but he who does the will of my
Father in heaven. “Many will say to me in that day, ‘lord, lord,
have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in your name, and done
many wonders in your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew
you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
They were calling him “lord”! Not only that, but they also did wonders in his
name and prophesied in his name! But this does not mean that they are doing the
will of the Father - Yehovah. Despite their miracles and prophesies, done in
the name of the lord Messiah Jesus, despite calling him “lord, lord”, the lord
Messiah Jesus said that they are not doing God’s – Yehovah’s will. In the last
day they would not hear a welcome from the lord Messiah Jesus but instead: “I
never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!”. Therefore,
believing that the lord Messiah Jesus is your lord and calling him as such, has
to be accompanied by also doing the will of his God and his Father Yehovah. And
what God’s – Yehovah’s will? It is such plain and very simple things as:
walking in love towards all men/women, helping our brothers and sisters in
their needs and not closing our heart from them.
As James
said:
James 1:27:
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God -
Yehovah, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,
and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
Living out our faith is not complicated. It is as simple as helping the poor
and afflicted and keeping ourselves unstained from the world. As Paul also
says:
Galatians 6:7-10:
“Do not be deceived, God - Yehovah is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will
of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit
reap everlasting life. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due
season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the
household of faith.”
Romans 8:12-13:
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to
live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will
die; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
live.”
If we live according to the flesh we will die, regardless of how frequently we
call the lord Messiah Jesus “lord, lord”. Living selfishly according to the
ways of this world and denying doing the will of the Father - Yehovah, closing
our hearts against these who are needy are not the signs of a living faith. If
we live according to the ways of this world the end result is physical death,
and after that to be resurrected at the end of the 1,000 rule of the lord
Messiah Jesus and be judged by him and caste into the Lake of Fire and be
destroyed, which is the second death.
Those who have living faith, living as in the world –
[physically], but not of the world [worldly ways] will experience life as
co-rulers and co-inheritors with the lord Messiah Jesus in his soon coming
kingdom rule, the 1,000-year rule that begins after the end of this age. They
will have positions of service in the Theocratic Government he will establish
to rule over the nations.
Let us then renew ourselves, putting deep into our hearts
the precious sayings of the lord Messiah Jesus and live out our faith in deeds
and in truth. This does not mean that we will not fail - sin. We will fail -
sin. However, when we do, we need to repent and ask God – Yehovah for
forgiveness and then get up and continue moving forward living out the lord
Messiah Jesus in our lives.
What is really a problem is some are asleep like the 5
foolish virgins or bury the spiritual gift given to us as the unfaithful
servant. To think that we can live selfishly, not doing the will of God - Yehovah,
that we will find the door of the Kingdom of God open for us, no! It will be
slammed shut. To believe in the lord Messiah Jesus is not enough. You must live
out your life in obedience to his words as his slaves bought and paid for
[purchased] by his shed blood [sin-offering sacrifice]. As slaves of the lord Messiah
Jesus, you own nothing, all that you have came from the hand of God. As His
slave He gives you stewardship over all that He has given to you. If you have
truly died to self and been baptized then when you entered the water you died,
were crucified with the lord Messiah Jesus and as he was resurrected when you
come out of the water you do so with newness of life, as new creations in the
lord Messiah Jesus. From that time forward to the end of you day you must obey
all the words of the lord Jesus given in the scriptures and by his spirit
through the writing of his apostles. We are to walk through this world as
slaves of righteousness.
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
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