Jezreel 3

Who is with God in the hereafter?
Matt 25:31 The longest text of who is with God in the hereafter

I was hungry, you gave me?

Whatever is your relationship with those in harms way is your relationship to me. Every practicing Christian has a spiritual journal called a daytime. If this journal is a record of our advocacy, solidarity, compassion and help for those in harms way. This is indicative of your relationship with God.

Feed the hungry, or go to hell. This is stark but not inaccurate as a summary of the text.

Within many churches there is a phrase that is descriptive of God and the Christian moral compass: “God’s option for the poor”. When you look at jesus’ emphasis on the poor, it seems that Jesus takes sides with the poor. Does God love poor people more than rich people? No, his love is agape.

My wife Maggie and I have 3 girls. If one of my daughters passes out, and I care for her, do I love my other daughters any less? No. A shepherd had 100 sheep, but when one was lost, he focused on the one.

I helped deliver my three baby girls. When I cradled them I felt joy and bonding. God loves us a million times more than that. What is God’s response when one of his son’s or daughter’s is wandering through a garbage dump to feed their children? What is God’s response to this? If this is my daughter or son, I would do anything to save them from this? What is God’s response to the mentally disabled man or family hiding from violence? If they are my family I would do anything to save them from that? God loves his children a million times more than that.

People die of neglect, starvation, war everyday. Why doesn’t God intervene? What’s the proof of God’s love for these? The proof is his church, inspired by the Holy Spirit of Christ, to continue the work of Christ, acting like Jesus to prove the reign of God. The proof is the body of Christ.

When love gets big it tilts naturally in the direction of greatest need. If love is

This is a necessary component of authentic conversion. Our geography of agape expands. Our hearts expand. God drives me outside of the triangle of my own selfishness to those who are not lovable. The gospel drives us out to those that our not lovable.

Luke 19, Zacheeus gave up half his wealth. “Today salvation has come to this house”. Zacheaus sees it in his encounter with Christ. The rich young ruler wants to make sure his relationship with god is right. When Jesus tells him there are social implications he will not receive it. It’s the same story as Zacheus but with a different ending.

We discover ourselves when we give ourselves away. Another spiritual journey is me, my and mine.

Holy people, “saints”, spend most of their time with needy people. It looks foolish from the outside. But from within it you experience abundance. How do you help people have this experience?

Live in the here and now, that is so richly lived it intersects with God’s life, which is unbounded by time and space that it reverberates in eternity. Life is found in this, not in things.