00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 747 of the inspired sturgeon up podcast. Hey, there I'm Cassidy cash. The host of that Shakespeare life. If you'd like to impact the world one day like Shakespeare, one way to do that is listening to this it's inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott made her See the truth is this is a lot harder than it looks like.
00:00:31 It's easy for us to think of it as a formula where if I do good things, then I get a good reward, but it's hard for us to recognize it as the opposite direction that by, by feeling the right way, the good works will come welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be,
00:00:58 then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, who learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's spiritual foundation episode about developing your influence. I talk with you about Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 through 46. I talk about why this passage and many others show that works come from faith,
00:01:35 not faith from works and what that calls for us to do as Christians, Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 through 46 is a well-known passage. It starts out when the son of man or the child of man comes into his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him,
00:01:59 and he will separate people. One from another, as a shepherd, separates the sheep from the goats and he will get the sheep at his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those in his right hand come, you are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food.
00:02:17 I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him. Lord. When was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
00:02:36 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you and the King will answer them. Truly. I tell you just, as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me that he will say to those on those left hand,
00:02:57 you are cursed, depart from me 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 nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me naked. And you did not give me clothing sick and in prison. And you did not visit me.
00:03:17 Then they also will answer Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, it did not take care of you. And then he will answer them. Truly. I tell you just, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
00:03:32 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Now, the interesting thing is this is one of those passages that at first glance, it seems to indicate that the way to get into the godly life, the way to get into good favor is to go and do good. Works for others to take care of those who are in prison or those who are sick or ailing or poor or naked or whatever to do the good works for people who need it.
00:04:02 But I would argue that this passage along with many others is actually showing the opposite. It's out of this righteous feeling of following Christ that came the action. It's not because people did the good works. That Christ recognize them as followers it's because they were followers. They did the good works. They went out and took care of others. Not expecting a reward,
00:04:29 not expecting that they were doing this for the Lord, but just because it was what they were called to do. And in doing that and living that out, that's what made it authentic. That's what made it real. They weren't doing it for a cause or for a result, they were doing it just because it was what they were called to do.
00:04:49 Their heart had changed and they looked at the world a different way. And I would argue that this is what we are all being called to do. See the truth is if all you do is go to church on Sunday or listen to the Bible every once in a while, and you call yourself a Christian, but you don't live it out into action.
00:05:09 If it doesn't affect who you are Monday through Saturday, then it's really not real. It should play out in the way that you interact with others. It should play out in whether or not when you're having a bad day and you cut someone off in traffic and you do all the other things that we all occasionally do, whether that becomes your norm or your norm becomes allowing others to have their way serving others,
00:05:36 taking care of others. First, it allows you to become a servant. And out of that servant hood, the good works come see the truth is this is a lot harder than it looks like. It's easy for us to think of it as a formula where if I do good things, then I get a good reward, but it's hard us to recognize it as the opposite direction.
00:06:00 That by, by feeling the right way, the good works will come. And it's not because you expect to reward. It's not because you want something out of it. It's not some sort of cosmic vending machine where the universe pays it back, but instead it just comes naturally. And the reward comes out of that just as naturally, just as connected.
00:06:25 You know, the truth is that I think we all struggle with this from time to time. I know I do. I struggle with remembering to be a servant. First. I struggle with living out my Christian beliefs every day of the week, instead of just paying attention to it on Sunday morning. And that struggle is part of the Christian journey. That's part of what makes it worthwhile.
00:06:48 That's part of what this passage is talking about, because the truth is it's not an easy path to walk. It's just a path that's worth walking on. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling.
00:07:22 If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures,
00:07:53 develop your influence and impact the world..