Pastor Seyi Osanyinbi
[biblegateway passage=”Matthew 25 vs 31-34″ display=”Matthew 25 vs 31-34″]
Prophecy is history in advance. vv 32 talks about “all nations” bring gathered before God. This includes all who have lived, those who will yet live and all those who are living presently. The Bible records in Genesis that God said, “Let Us make man in Our own image and after Our likeness…”, showing that man had been on God’s mind even before he was created. The concept of “predestination” is often misunderstood, especially as it is mentioned in [biblegateway passage=”Romans 8:29″ display=”Romans 8:29″]. The words “foreknew” and “predestined” as used in this context do not mean that God has chosen some and not others. What it does mean, however, is that whoever believes His testimony will fulfill what has been said.
There is a kingdom that God has prepared for them that love Him. It is not one person calling it upon himself (or awarding himself thereby), but he who receives this Kingdom is that person who has walked in the love of God or otherwise obeyed the calling for this prize. God allows us to go through the world, despised. But many times, we don’t see that it is God doing something with us, not the other way around. Who would have thought that Moses would have become a god to Pharaoh? He must have been jeered at when he decided to turn his back on Egypt.
Back to the book of Matthew where we started, it is not by reason of facts that you do anything, it is by Faith. It is possible to serve God and end up in hell. You can pass from Faith and move to works. The only thing that Jesus said should not be done publicly is the giving of offerings and alms but we often misinterpret what the statement “let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing”. vv 34-40. It is not what you do that earns you the Kingdom, the proof that you are a child of God is when you begin to behave like your Father in Heaven.
Reading through the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we see that he put himself at risk to help the injured man. The nature of our society today has brought us to a place where we distrust people, and there is a lot of segregation among us. What could have made the priest pass by and not rescue that man? Perhaps it was prejudice. Whatever the excuse he must have had, Jesus didn’t see it as an acceptable reason why he did not try to help the man who had been attacked. As far as Jesus was concerned, the Good Samaritan was the only one who did the right thing among everyone who had passed by.
In [biblegateway passage=”Matthew 25:38-39″ display=”Matthew 25:38-39″], both parties asked Jesus, “When did we see you hungry, thirsty or naked?” He told them that “…in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these of my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (paraphrased). The Bible tells us not to withhold good if it is in our power to give it. On the one hand, we need Wisdom to know who to help (because in the society we live in today, people have taken advantage of this to commit all manners of things). On the other hand, we need to make it clear whether we are in fact borrowing or giving out. Also, it is wrong to ask someone to borrow you something (money for example), when you have no intention or means to return it.
“For it is the wicked that borroweth and not pay back”. Spirits do not play with words. Jesus said we should let our ye be ye and nay be nay. We should not give excuses for not doing what we have promised. Paul says, “In the last days, perilous times will come”, but it does not take away the fact that this is the expectation of Jesus from us. We should not hold back from people we should help.
This is the lifestyle expected of us. We should behave like our Father in every aspect of our lives. It is a challenge that we have, but we must keep praying for the ability to “rightly divide”. Let us not be naïve nor foolish. We must help those who are our brethren, and always seek the help of the Holy Ghost to do that which is required of us, regardless of the current perverseness in the world.