More thoughts on Matthew 25 and the least of these my brothers

The final teaching episode in Matthew's gospel (yesterday's sermon) is a challenge to us on many levels. Before I move past it I want to share two more thoughts:

1. Concerning salvation and the Lord's acknowledgment of our acts of charity upon His return:

We are granted eternal life according to the electing love of the Father, the perfect righteousness and atoning death of the Son, the application of the benefits of Christ to us by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of God. We are those who can be called "blessed of My Father" by Jesus at His return, and the resurrection kingdom that we will be part of was prepared for us before the foundation of the world, before we ever had a chance to believe anything or do anything.

We are justified based on the merits of Christ. For the elect, our participation in the true kingdom of God is received and displayed in this current age through true faith, which is further displayed in works of faithful obedience to the things that Christ has commanded. We are known by the fruits of the love of God in our lives. During this age our lives more or less display the fact of the Lord's electing love at work in our lives through the church and to the church, and even beyond the church to the world. At the return of Christ and the beginning of the resurrection age, it would seem that even our smallest acts of faithful charity to one another will be openly acknowledged by the Lord despite all of our confusion and sin. This will all ultimately be to the praise of God's grace, as we cast any crowns that we have before Him, for any good in us is surely of Him. By His grace we have believed in our hearts, confessed with our lips, and cared for one another according to our deeds. All glory to God.

2. Concerning the force of this passage for our way of life now:

The Lord identifies himself with the church. We are the ones he calls "My brothers." He especially speaks of being present among us as "the least of these My brothers." When we do something for those among us in His church who are of little regard among men and are in great need, then we have touched the face of God, and visited with Jesus Christ. This is a great privilege.

Those who are able to take joy in such opportunities the most are those who have made the most progress in seeing themselves as among "the least of these" concerning their own salvation, and who are most aware of the overwhelming truth that they were hungry for the bread of life, and that Christ has fed them. More than than being hungry, they were dead in their trespasses and sins, but God who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved them, has made them alive. By grace they have been saved through faith. These are the ones who will have the most joy in serving the Lord now.

Jesus Christ mercifully reveals to us in this final teaching episode of Matthew's gospel that He will be among us especially in those who are in the greatest need. Somehow He can be "visible" to us in their faces. That's a happy thing to know.

Though we may be confused in some ways about some of the theological connections between God's grace and our faith and works as these things are explained to us in the various passages of the Bible, we need have no confusion about serving the lowest in the Lord's kingdom. We should do that today with a new sense of joy.