Saved to serve!

This morning, in my personal devotions, my reading was Matt.25:31-46. These are some of the words of the Lord Jesus concerning judgement. There is too much to share in a blog post but, perhaps, one of the most important lessons concerns behaviour. 

We read: "When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then He will say to those at His left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 

What do these words say to us? May I suggest that the first thing is the certainty of His coming?  Secondly, that there will be judgement! But I want to emphasise what I see as a third lesson. If you read those verses carefully, you will notice that the charge against those who are condemned to eternal punishment does not concern what they have done, but what they have failed to do! There are sins of omission, as well as sins of commission! James writes: "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (4:17; my emphasis). The Westminster Divines defined "sin" as "... any want of conformity unto (omission), or transgression of (commission), the law of God." (Shorter Catechism). Not doing good is the moral equivalent of doing evil!

Of course, those who had - however unknowingly - served the Saviour (through serving others in His name) did not gain salvation by their good works! Paul makes that perfectly clear when, writing to the believers in Ephesus, he states that: "... by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast." (2:8-9). I have written in the margin of my Bible: "Salvation is not by works; but good works are the result of salvation." In that vein, Paul continues: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10; my emphasis). 

We do not serve to be saved - but we are certainly saved to serve!

God's provision

I'm sitting here, at Le Chêne du Lac, on the last full day of our summer holiday here.  The owners' two goats are just a few yards away, eating at a hedge.  However, they have escaped from their own enclosure - intended to provide a safe environment - and are trying to eat the leaves through a chain-link fence.  This major obstacle means that, although they are managing to acquire some food, they are not getting a fraction of what is available for them if they were on the other side of the fence - where they should be!

I'm thinking that that is a picture of so many people.  Almighty God has set certain boundaries, in His written Word (the Bible).   These, while intended to provide us with a safe environment, are seen by many as restrictive.  Accordingly, they escape - throwing off the 'shackles' of morality, and ethics, and Godly principles.  They seek to provide for themselves.  They want to be "self-made" men and women.

The reality is that, like the goats, they are just making life difficult for themselves, while losing out on so much that their Creator has available for them.  They are trying to find satisfaction through a chain-link fence, when full provision has already been made for them within the sanctuary of God's enclosure.

So, where are you, today?  In a Godly environment that provides all of your needs (although not necessarily all of your wants!); or 'outside', in a 'freedom' of your own making - but losing out on what Father God has for you?   The choice is always yours!