Matthew 25:37-40
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 invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Every believer is to be equipped for works of ministry according to Ephesians 4:11-16. One thing we have learned this week is that as long as you are believer then you are in “full-time ministry” wherever it is that God has planted you and everything you do you should do it as unto the Lord.
When I think about our key scripture for today, I always look at it as leakage to an exam. Jesus says that on that day He will ask about these 3 things. He will look out for them and expect a report from all of us concerning what we did about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison. The fact that He will look out for these 3 things means that God is concerned about the hungry, the naked and those in prison and you and I are the solution that He has provided to tackle this problem meaning He has already put in our hands what we need to get the job done.
When we talk about the works of ministry, I believe that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and visiting those in prison should be works of ministry that every believer and church for that matter should be involved in.
Sometimes we give up before we even start because we look around and the need is so huge we get overwhelmed. We look at what we have and conclude it is not enough to have any impact but how wrong we are. We should learn from the little lad who had five loaves and two fish. When he released them to Jesus wholeheartedly then Jesus worked a miracle and a multitude was fed.
Listen to what the king said; “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
It is not about whom will feed clothe and visit the most number of people; He is looking out for someone who will do it for one of the least. I believe you and I can feed one, we can clothe one, we can visit one and as we do that faithfully I believe it will grow and God will provide the resources needed to feed and clothe the multitudes.
Now that we know He will ask, let’s get down to business and do something about it.