Big Idea - Sheep and Goats

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Journal Questions:

• Who are the "least of these" in your life, in our community?
• How do you respond to them usually? (be honest)
• Would seeing Jesus in others change how you normally respond?
• In what ways?

Observations:

For some this will be a scary passage - because we too often look past the least and the lost. It's easy, isn't it? But maybe it's better to look at this as a promise - a promise of reward for those who love others. Maybe it's better to read the positive - and look at how we HAVE seen the least and ministered to them...

So - the least in our community? The underemployed and the single moms, the mentally challenged and the addicted. Honestly, I too often don't see them - because I don't look at them and don't look for them. I wait for them to come to me...but that's not Jesus' command, is it? Still, sometimes we get it right, don't we? Rich Mullins wrote a song called "Hard to Get" in which he sings:

Do You who live in radiance

Hear the prayers of those of us who live in skin

We have a love that's not as patient as Yours was

Still we do love now and then

So...we get it...but not always. Do you think God understands? Does the love that "covers a multitude of sins" not flow down from the cross into our lives?

How does seeing Jesus in others change how we respond? It SHOULD...but does it?

Scott Krippayne

I Am Jesus

Saw his old weathered fist holding on tight to that brown paper bag
Pressed it up to his lips and took another sip in the rain
He was mumbling words on the edge of the curb with his eyes to the ground
I would've walked on by but I thought I heard him say

I am Jesus
I'm your mother, father
Sister, brother
Your son and daughter
You can pretend you don't hear me
You can say I don't exist
But I am
I am Jesus

I admit right at first I thought he was just some crazy old fool
'Til he carefully shifted his gaze and looked up at me
I recalled an old phrase from back in the days as his desperate eyes sunk in
Something about whatever you do to the least of these - you do to me

Repeat Chorus

There's no way
Could it be
I don't know
Maybe he
Was some sort of homeless angel
With a message just for me

Repeat Chorus