Matthew 25:34-46
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation 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 I needed clothes and you clothed me,I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit 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 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.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I’ve had the mindset of “Oh, the poor is not my thing” for a while.
“It’s not in my DNA. I don’t have compassion for them”, “Young people are more my thing”, “Some people have such a heart for the poor but the poor don’t really touch my heart”.
It wasn’t like I was giving excuses to not help the poor. I genuinely believed that it wasn’t everyone’s responsibility. Until I got ‘slapped awake’ by God a few months back when He showed me Matthew 25 and this verse: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27).
It is very clear from Matt 25:46, that if we want to enter the Kingdom of God, we need to be the righteous ones, and in this case the righteous ones are those who care for the poor and needy.
We have a mandate from God to care for the poor, weak, helpless and needy, and not just caring for them in our hearts, but to go out and do something, even if it means crossing racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious lines.
I once heard a preacher say, “If you want to make God famous, start from the poor.” And he went on to share about how his wife started taking refugee women and children in and helping them in a non-Christian country. Eventually, it got the attention of the media and they wanted to publish the story front page on the largest local newspaper. The wife said, “Ok. But in your article you have to say, “I’m doing this for my God, Jesus.”” And because the reporters wanted the story so badly, they did what she said. And then the prime minister’s wife (who is not a Christian) heard about the news and she wanted to come and see these refugee women and children. So she came in her limo and the wife brought her to their place of worship and told her “We believe in Jesus.”
If the preacher and his wife had wanted to buy the kind of media coverage on the front page of the newspaper, not only would it not be allowed but it would have cost thousands of dollars. And the opportunity to tell the prime minister’s wife? Man they would have had to pull some serious strings to get there. But because of these refugees, Jesus got famous.
In the Kingdom of God, down is up.
If you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, you have to learn not to look up and claw your way to the top of the social pyramid. Instead, we have to be like the good Samaritan, look down, and help your neighbor.
So challenge was I by this message that I started joining the street ministry in church. Initially the motivation was because I wanted to go out and pray for people. I was not satisfied with just reading about what Jesus did and saying we could do without it becoming my reality as well. Week after week we would invite people to come to the centre during specific times for a short time of praise and worship and Word and then have food fellowship. We would also prepare packets of rice and then distribute them to the people on the streets, whether they be drug addicts, homeless, people with social problems, mentally-disabled, immigrants, alcoholics, etc. The packet of rice being a bridge to reach them.
A makeshift bed by the roadside.
Walking through the wet market. Beware of the rats and chicken feathers on the floor! 😀
Drug addicts hang out here or sometimes you find someone sleeping behind the counters.
‘Trophies’ on display in the back lanes.
My first few times there I did not see any ‘results’ and I actually thought to myself, “Is this making any difference at all? I barely get to pray for people, it’s not like the packet of rice has any magic potion to change the behavior of the people. Is this even effective?!” But I knew that this kind of ministry takes time. It takes building up of relationships. And after a few weeks of consistently going, I’ve started noticing some changes.
I want to share with you what I saw last Sunday at the birthday party we put up for the Oct babies in the community.
When I first started helping out at the street ministry (which is only less than 9 weeks ago), I would occasionally see Ah Heng at the center during our gathering time, but most of the time we would meet him at the street corner near McDonalds where many alcoholics gather. Ah Heng is a homeless man but not an alcoholic. He is a little slow mentally, and has an orphaned spirit. If he sees someone not eating the packet of food we passed out, he will take it and eat it even though he just had a full meal at the centre.
2 weeks ago the location of the centre moved a few blocks down. While moving, they saw Ah Heng and asked him to come and help. After that, I see Ah Heng at the new centre every time I’m there. I almost sense a more ‘belonging’ in his spirit. His face looks slightly different, more softened. I don’t know. It’s really just a feeling. When we celebrated his birthday on Sunday, I could just sense a joy + shock mixture. A good shock though. I don’t know if anyone has ever celebrated him or his birthday. Joy and love reflected on his face as warmth and acceptance was shown to him. It was like a part of the truth of Psalm 139 was deposited in his heart. I pray that this seed grows deep roots and flourishes in the days to come.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
