48 - Matthew 25:40

’Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’ -Matthew 25:40.

"if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ," says an inspired apostle, "let him be Anathema Maranatha." God has sent into the world love sufficient for the salvation of the race, incarnate in Christ; they who find nothing attractive in that love, thus embodied, turn from Christ; nothing in him awakens responsive love or confidence in them; they look upon him, they hear his Gospel, and they turn away. They turn from Divine love which is eternal life, and they die in their sins. The anathema of God is against all sin; but a banquet of life has been spread, and men are invited to it; rejecting the invitation, they choose the anathema. But let men choose their own way of expressing love, and who is there that will not profess love to Christ, when he understands that salvation depends upon it? The controversy between men and God is about whether they shall do the things pleasing to God, or those pleasing to themselves. If God will only be satisfied with a guarded profession of faith in his Son, with obedience in matters irrelevant, with an occasional melting of heart under the influence of sweet music or powerful eloquence, and let this pass for love to Christ, all will be well. But love itself cries out in indignation, ’I know nothing of such service; that only is love which prefers the will of its object; if any man study not in all things to please the Lord Jesus, I know him not, he has my anathema. He has rejected me, and I reject him.’ The Christian then, the believer, is one who aims in all things to please Christ. He loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. He has a genuine devotion to this Leader and Commander. He has a zeal for his glory. His desire is that Christ may have in all things the preeminence; that his kingdom may come, his power be acknowledged, his blessings welcomed, his love appropriated, his promises embraced. His heart goes where the heart of Christ goes; his powers are consecrated to the carrying out of Christ’s pleasure; he is in the world to do what Christ did when he was in the world; to give a modern expression to Christ’s affectionate thoughts. What wilt thou have me to do? is his question; Christ’s answer is, If any man serve me, let him follow me; I have given you an example what ye should do. Ye are my witnesses; I am the Vine, ye are the branches; I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit. The believer is Christ’s representative in a twofold sense: actively and passively; as doing what Christ would have done, and as experiencing that which Christ would experience; as an exhibitor of kindness, and as a recipient of kindness. Both these ideas are presented in the text: "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it to me." The doers here represent Christ actively; the little ones, passively. And we are not to understand here two classes of persons, but simply the believer in two different positions, or sets of circumstances. He has love to Christ who has love to Christ’s people; not merely to certain disciples that are in honour among men, that have influence, that have wealth, wisdom, or agreeable qualities; but to men, no matter how humble in attainments, how lowly in position, how weak in faith, so long as they have real faith. He has love to Christ who is drawn to every one whom Christ loves, and willingly denies himself that he may relieve the needs of such. Are they sick, poor, oppressed, in prison, friendless? Do they need sympathy, recognition, instruction, prayer? Whatever their need let me meet it so far as God gives me the means; and let me know that in meeting it I am giving Christ himself the most direct proof of my regard for him. I propose to love Him above all; shall I let him hunger, and not feed him, languish in prison, and not visit him? What a mighty stimulus have I here! what an encouragement to make light of all difficulties that stand between me and suffering believers! Can I do better than studiously endeavour, day by day, to apprehend and bring my mind under the power of this great truth, that Christ identifies himself with every one that believes on him? To realise it in its twofold bearing; first, as regards myself, that Christ is identified with me, making all my wants his care, mindful of all my losses and of the world’s maltreatment of me, so that I need not occupy myself therewith; and with my brother, so that whatever I do to him is photographed in the very heart of Christ to be shown the universe on the day of judgment.

’Lovest thou me? said Christ to Peter; ’feed my lambs, the immature believers scattered throughout the towns and villages of Galilee and Judea, whose faith has just now received a great shock through what they have heard of my death on the cross between malefactors. I have opened thy mind to read aright the things concerning me in the Scriptures, and to know why that death was necessary; thou hast seen me risen from the grave; wilt thou keep this precious knowledge to thyself? In how many a habitation is there sorrow and perplexity because there is not thy knowledge; and thou goest a-fishing. Is this thy vocation? Because I am gone, is the opportunity of showing love to me gone? Nay, such an opportunity is given as thou never hadst before.’

How many, with Peter’s knowledge, go a-fishing in our days; leave the feeble ones of Christ’s flock unaided, unfed, while they with their minds full of truth turn to the world and suffer themselves to be engrossed with the pursuit of very much the same things as the world is pursuing. Oh let such ponder a little on the one energising truth that Christ is waiting for their visits, for their succour, for their love, in the bye-ways and lanes, in prisons and hospitals.