Judgment day. It's not what you think.

I've been reading through Matthew lately, and I'm at Matthew 25.  The final verses in Matthew 25 describe the scenes of judgment: All nations are gathered before the Lord, and He puts the sheep on one hand, and the goats on the other. This is a final judgment. There is no appeal.  So He judges the sheep first: (Matthew 25:31-40, NASB)
31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33 and 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 of 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 invited Me in;
36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

The righteous (the sheep) are surprised by the Lord's words:  "we don't remember ever helping You," was their response.  The Lord looked back on the course of their life, and looked for what proved them to be sheep. He didn't look for "special occasions." He looked at what they did by nature, and as a common course of action. And the criterion was how they treated "His brothers." In the context, that has to mean "each other," and "other Christians," and also, "People." (as in the second of the two great commandments: "Love your neighbor as yourself")

Similarly, He says to the goats,
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been 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 did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
44 "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
45 "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

This is final.  There is no appeal from it. Eternity is now fixed--graven in stone--for each group. 

The point Jesus is making is that our true beliefs are exhibited in how we treat people. We always worry about correct doctrine (and we should); we hear about tithing (and that's important, too), and prayer, and Bible study and church organization and communion services and church and...but none of it means anything if our faith is empty, and our faith shows its truth or falsehood in the way we treat people. 

This is why, I think, that Jesus gave us the "New Commandment," to codify His demands: (John 13:34, NASB)

34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

He wanted us to know that the way we treat people is the main basis for judgment day. Yes, it's true that God looks for our name in His Book, the Book of Life, but the evidence that we are IN the book of life is found here. 

So my question to you is, How are you doing at this?

Do you care for people, or use them?  Do you cheat people? Do you harm them so that you (or your company) can have more money? Do you pay the people who work for you enough to live? Do you worship God with your mouth, but hate Him in your heart? Do the words you speak about loving God mean anything? In other words, do you "love your neighbor as yourself?"

Jesus does not care about your success, your acquisitions, your lifestyle, your power, your religious status, your importance.
He wants to know how you treat people.

He is the Judge. To Him you are like anyone else--either a sheep or a goat.

Which? Take your time to think about this, but don't wait around too long.  Your choice will be set in concrete before you know it.

The minister's REAL job...

Although I spent many years as a pastor, I don't usually write about "pastor stuff" in this blog.  I typically write general material, applicable to everyone.  However, this IS applicable to everyone.
(Matthew 24:44-51, NASB)
44 "...you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
45 "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46 "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
47 "Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
48 "But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,'
49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;
50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,
51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.


This is an amazing set of verses, and especially so since the translations seem to miss one of the major points:
We (ministers, and everyone else who is responsible for the care of other people) will be judged by how we took care of our "fellow slaves." This is an immense responsibility.
On the one hand, Jesus discusses the "faithful and sensible slave" (sensible is "phronimos," someone who uses his head), and notes that the Master puts him in charge of his "household."  The meaning is, "household servants." So the real point of the parable is not just how we "did the Master's business," but how we cared for our fellow-householders, the people committed to our care.
This has a strong bearing on both the minister and his people.  If you are in a church, house ministry, Bible study, or whatever, where there is love and care, and that love and care flows from the leader, then you are truly blessed.
On the other hand, if you are in a ministry where the minister uses you and abuses his office, that minister is cursed. He is a "bad guy,"  no matter what his station or prominence is.
This puts the concept of ministry in a completely new light.  Essentially, there are always two kinds of ministers:
One who cares for the people,
And
One who uses the people.
So there are really two kinds of questions here:
1. Who am I? (If I'm in the ministry)
2. What are the people who minister to me like? How do they treat me as a parishioner, attendee, member of a small group, etc?
If you are in the ministry, you need to digest these words with care, whatever the size of your ministry.
If you are a parishioner, member of a small group, member of a larger group, whatever, Jesus has given you an effective way to see through phony people.
Does he care for you?
Or
Does he use you?
What does he do with the money? Does he use his position with the ministry to do good, or to do evil? Does he abuse his fellow slaves (note how Jesus categorizes ministers--a slave temporarily given charge of other slaves).
And if you are in the ministry, beware. When Jesus does return, you definitely don't want to be found "eating and drinking with the drunken," and treating your fellow servants badly. Terrible things will happen to you.
Jesus said, "What I say to you, I say to all: WATCH." Be ready. Do I know when Jesus is returning? Of course not.  Neither do you.  So the wisest course of action is to be ready. Always.