What Does Unto the Least of These Really Mean? | Matthew 25:31-40

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:07] Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Daily Truths. Yes, this is my Clark Kent look. I gotta get a haircut. And since I need to get a haircut, it doesn't look that good if I don't comb it. So this is Clark Kent. Okay, so I'm going to be talking today about something that I hope will alleviate a lot of guilt that many of you feel about people that are homeless around us, people who are in need. You know, what do we do? It's almost overwhelming.

[00:00:30] Especially when you're driving down the road and you stop at an interstate, you know, traffic light or whatever just off the interstate and you see somebody there panhandling and you remember the verse I'm going to be reading today and you say, man, oh man, I should do something because that's what Jesus tells me to do. Right? Well, let's look at this passage. This is Matthew chapter 25 and I've been talking about verses 31 to 34, but I'll read those

[00:01:00] verses as well as well as to the end of the section. And this is what it says. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. We talked about that four or five days ago. Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. We talked about that. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left. We talked about that. Then the king will say to those on his right, to the sheep, to those who are believers,

[00:01:30] in Christ come, you are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. We talked about the inheritance that we receive through faith in Christ. Okay. Listen to this. And Jesus says this for, I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. Now this sounds like Jesus was hungry and we fed him. Jesus was thirsty and we gave him some to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick.

[00:02:00] And you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Hmm. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? That's a good question. In other words, this is what we could be saying on that final day when we meet the Lord face to face on judgment day. When did we do this? We didn't actually do that. We didn't see you in prison. We didn't feed you when you were hungry. Good question, right? Okay. And then this is what it says. And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

[00:02:29] And the King, namely Jesus will answer them. Truly. I say to you, as you did it onto one of these, the least my, listen to this brothers, you did it unto me.

[00:02:43] What's Jesus talking about there? Those key words, my brothers or sisters mean people within the confines of the body of Christ, people within the church.

[00:02:55] When people are hurting, when people are hurting, when they're needy, when they're sick, when they're in prison, when they don't have enough to eat or enough to drink. What does the church do for fellow believers?

[00:03:07] What do you do for fellow believers? You take care of them. And why do you do that? Because you must, you should, you got it, you better. No, it's not law motivated. It's grace motivated.

[00:03:18] And you do this out of gratitude for what God has done for you in Christ. And sometimes we don't even think about it. We don't give it a second thought. We see a need of someone in our congregation, someone in our life, who's a fellow believer.

[00:03:32] And we say, boy, they are hurting and I must help. Right. That's what Jesus is talking about here. The key words are my brothers. I love that. Let me give you just a few examples in the church.

[00:03:45] I'm serving Mount Hope Lutheran Church. There is a family that recently joined our church that is pretty needy. They have a lot of needs, financial needs, sometimes physical needs.

[00:03:54] And our congregation has just gone, they've just encompassed them with love and encouragement. They've given them money. They've paid some of their bills. Someone in the church bought them a car because they didn't have a car.

[00:04:07] This is what Jesus is talking about here. And when we do that, we're doing it unto Jesus. Why? Because those people are members, listen to this, of the body of Christ.

[00:04:17] So that's what Jesus meant when he said, you've done it unto me when you've done it unto the least of these, my brothers. In other words, anybody who's hurting in the life of a Christian congregation, we should help to meet their needs.

[00:04:31] Now, this is why big box churches oftentimes struggle with this. And this is why they've established small groups, because when people are in small groups and someone in that small group is hurting, people can reach out to them, minister to them.

[00:04:43] If they have a financial need, they can help them, et cetera, et cetera. This is why it's so important to be a part of the church, but also to be open and honest about your needs within the confines of a congregation, because our responsibility is to be there to help you.

[00:05:00] Let me give you another example at the church. I serve Mount Her Hope when somebody goes into the hospital. Oftentimes there's three or four people that show up from the church to see that person before I show up.

[00:05:12] Holy cow. The 30,000 foot view of this passage is responding to the grace of God, thankful for what God has done for us in Christ, empowered by the spirit that lives within us.

[00:05:26] We carry out good works. And I said it before, not because we must be better.

[00:05:31] We got it. We should not because we're afraid of impending doom.

[00:05:34] If we don't do these things, it comes out of a natural response to our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:05:41] So that helps me a lot because many times when I pull up, you know, getting off the interstate and there's a guy up here on Highway 66.

[00:05:49] There's a guy who's there every day and I wash my car a lot because I got one of those, you know, $20 washes for a whole month and you can go as many times you want.

[00:05:58] So that guy is standing there every day, at least every day I've passed by there and I feel so guilty.

[00:06:05] Well, I don't know if that fell as a believer or not, and I'm not sure where that money is going.

[00:06:09] So here's the thing. Jesus is talking about needy people within the context of the Christian congregation.

[00:06:16] So if there's someone, you know, in your church that is really hurting financially, physically, spiritually, whatever it is, I bet you're there to help them.

[00:06:27] Why? Because they are your brother in Christ.

[00:06:31] Let me conclude by saying this.

[00:06:33] We went on a trip recently and someone in our group, a fine follower of the Lord Jesus, wonderful woman of God.

[00:06:40] She fell in the, in the bathtub when she was taking a shower at this hotel was really slick.

[00:06:46] And I want to tell you four or five people just went, why did they do that?

[00:06:50] Well, because of what this says, I mean, she was hurting.

[00:06:55] She needed visiting.

[00:06:56] She needed help.

[00:06:57] And five or six other women were there to say, we're here to help.

[00:07:01] That's what Jesus is talking about in this passage.

[00:07:05] I hope that alleviates some of the guilt you feel about a passage like this, right?

[00:07:09] When you're ministering unto a fellow believer, we're ministering unto the body of Christ and unto Christ himself.

[00:07:17] And that is today's Daily Truth.

[00:07:19] Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:07:22] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Allman.

[00:07:25] Pastor Dave Allman is the pastor of Mount Hope Church in Boulder, Colorado.

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