Matthew 25:31-46 Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels[a] with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations[b] will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry
and you gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger and you took Me in;
36 I was naked and you clothed Me;
I was sick and you took care of Me;
I was in prison and you visited Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’
40 “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ 41 Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry
and you gave Me nothing to eat;
I was thirsty
and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43 I was a stranger
and you didn’t take Me in;
I was naked
and you didn’t clothe Me,
sick and in prison
and you didn’t take care of Me.’
44 “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’
45 “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’
46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Here, the Gospel of Matthew talks about the judgement day.
The final judgement is the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state.
There will come a time that the Messiah will gather all the people in the world and separate each of them from who will be rewarded in heaven and who will be tormented in hell.
While living here on earth we should do our best to fulfil our mission to God and that is to be a good and loving brother or sister to our fellowmen.
As God’s children, He expects us to help everyone around us, especially the poor ones, because in our Lord’s eyes we may be rich or poor, but we are all equal.
Our Lord also expects us to be humble and generous to everyone without any one single exception, even to those people who do and did bad things to us.
Matthew 5:43-48 New Living Translation
Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![b] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[c] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Despite our more natural desires and lesser more baser instincts, we should be patient, understanding, and learn mercy, how to forgive those kind of people.
In the end all people will die and we should put in mind that what we are doing here on earth we should do it not just because we want to enter heaven, but too because we are willing to do that for the vainer people around us and for God.
Living and Breathing Our Jesus, Our Most Authentic Friend
John 15:11-16 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. 12 Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. 13 The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends. 14 You are my friends if you obey my commandments. 15 I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for.
Folk and pop singers often write songs about alienation because it produces such raw emotions.
Paul Simon captured it very well when he sang of building impenetrable walls in his life and becoming a “rock” and his becoming an “island,” rejecting love and laughter because “friendship causes pain.”
But the hardest truth that all of us know deep down is that friendship is vitally important for each and every one of us.
From our conception, God Almighty has hard wired us to care for one another.
We long for relationships: to be known, to be loved.
We know that even one genuine friend makes us truly rich in this world.
Deep down in our souls, We don’t want to be known as either rocks or islands.
Yet while we may well have true friends who are genuinely, authentically loyal, sensitive, honest, we can only find the ultimate authentic friendship in Jesus.
He alone is the friend who “is the same yesterday today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) and this is where we are covenanted by God to lead, guide, direct our enemies.
His brand of friendship extends far beyond the bounds of human friendship; He knew how to be a true friend even to tax collectors and sinners and even those who would come to profess his undying, unrelenting love, and then look him directly in his eye betray his friendship (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34, John 21:15-17).
One of the reasons that some find friendship so difficult is because it demands extraordinary vulnerability, openness to another person we don’t want to know.
But Jesus is never in a bad mood, never betrays, never forsakes, never lets us down, never treats us capriciously – died for us all while we were still enemies.
Romans 5:7-10 Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!
And He wants to be friends with us—with you and me and with our enemies!
As we come to Him in faith, the one through whom all things were created delights to call everyone, no exceptions, His friend – Let that sink in a little.
Every friendship requires effort, and friendship with Jesus is no different!
That’s why Jesus tells us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
When we all come to receive Jesus as a friend, we also accept Him as our King.
Perhaps you have found human relationships to be hurtful or fleeting.
Perhaps you are surrounded with friends, perhaps you can’t count a single one.
Perhaps everyone arrayed against you is believed to be your worst enemy.
In any case, here is the most wonderful friend: the enemy of sin, who is never our enemy, the one who 100% knows us completely and loves us all the same.
With Him we can have the kind of friend: “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Desperate for Community – Building Bridges to the Kingdom
Scripture refers to “the kingdom of God” frequently, but many people are unclear as to its meaning.
Let’s look at the past, present, and future reality of this concept.
The first thing we must realize is the heavenly kingdom refers to everything under Christ’s control.
At the moment of salvation, we are transferred from the reign of darkness to the bright authority of Jesus Christ.
And we are eternally secure in Him.
As today’s verses from Matthew 25:31-46 explain, Jesus’ kingdom and reign have been planned since the foundation of the world.
From the beginning, God has been preparing all mankind for what is to come.
One way was by using prophets to foretell how He would redeem humanity and sovereignly rule over heaven and earth.
Once Jesus came and gave His life, He established the “present” kingdom.
This isn’t a geographical locale; it’s a term describing the heart, where God’s Holy Spirit indwells believers to lead, guide, direct, counsel, empower, inspire.
But there is also a very real future aspect of the kingdom, which we can each anticipate with excitement.
You are probably familiar with the words “Thy kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2 kjv).
This speaks of the new heaven and new earth, where we will enjoy freedom from pain and sin.
There, we will continuously worship Jesus with gladness and joy for all eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Ministry of Reconciliation
16 From now on, then, we do not know[a] anyone in a purely human way.[b] Even if we have known[c] Christ in a purely human way,[d] yet now we no longer know [e] Him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things[f] have come. 18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin[g] for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
As God’s kingdom ambassadors, ambassadors of reconciliation, we who are His children and we have the responsibility and privilege of sharing the good news:
Through Jesus’ birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, all who confess, trust in Him are forgiven of sin, assured of eternal life with God.
Whom can we tell about this amazing responsibility of Building Community?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise and glorify Your Most Holy Name. We thank You for all the blessings You give each of us everyday. Despite the problems we are all experiencing You still make a way to give us the strength and lead us to the right path. Help us to gain the gift of zeal in order to serve You well and also our fellow brothers and sisters. We ask for Your guidance in what we do everyday, may You help us to know what is right from wrong and also help us to understand always the people around us. May You also help us to overcome darkness, learn how to forgive the people who sinned against us and do good always at all times. Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 