“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ ”
Now notice the negative picture: “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will all go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31–46.
This seems to be a matter of total salvation: you cannot accept Christ unless you accept Him totally. You cannot merely say, “Dear Jesus, I accept You as my Savior.” If you accept Him as your Savior and believe that He lives within your heart, then you must also accept Christ in your brother whom He also has saved. When you reject what Christ is in another believer, Christ identifies that as a total rejection, on your part, of Himself.
When a person says that he believes in Jesus Christ, but we feel that he is not walking as he should, we may tend to reject him. We must be very careful about that, because as we see in this parable, there is one basis of judgment in this day of the Kingdom. At His coming, Christ will judge us by the way we have treated Him in our brother. Christ is in prison. We must not fail to see Christ as He is imprisoned in one of the brethren. Christ must be loosed to come forth in him.
The Parousia is the presence of the Lord that is manifested as He comes to be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believe (II Thessalonians 1:10). But that does not happen automatically. God’s dealings come upon you so that you will submit and encourage Christ to come forth and take over in your life. Likewise, the purpose of body ministry is to encourage Christ to come forth in your brother’s life.
Are you trying to bring Christ forth to see Him glorified and admired in everyone who names the name of the Lord Jesus? If you work for that purpose, and if you are successful in glorifying Christ within yourself and within your brother, then that is the first manifestation of the Lord’s presence—the Parousia. His presence is close, not because He is somewhere up in heaven, but because we recognize Him in one another. Ultimately He will come and every eye will see Him, but His secret coming in the Church first will not happen automatically. It will happen because there is a focus and a diligence on your part to see it happen. Set about to bring forth the coming of the Lord by having Christ manifested through one another. It will not come as an event that is sovereignly executed on the part of God; it will only come by the initiative of your faith. There will be no Parousia apart from this manifestation of His presence and glory.
Christ must first be admired in His saints. What can you do to make this happen? You can look for the Christ who is in prison, and then go to visit Him. Bless the Christ who is chained down in your brother. When you see that the Christ in a brother is hungry because he has not been feeding on the Word, bless him and minister the Word to him. This may be the first good meal that his Christ nature has had for a month. You are ministering to Jesus when you minister to your brother. Keep ministering to your brother, praying and believing for Christ to have His perfect way in him.
Jesus did not say, “I identify Myself with that man to whom you ministered”; He said, “You did it to Me.” It is not that He identifies Himself with the least of His brethren; He is identical with them. It is wrong to try to minister to the many-membered Body of Christ. Rather, you should minister to the Christ in His many-membered Body. Minister to the Lord, not to the human nature. Take seriously the words of the Apostle Paul, Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh… II Corinthians 5:16.
Personalities do not distract a true man of God from ministering to Christ. He does not minister to human beings; he ministers to the Christ in each member of a many-membered Body. He refuses to be bothered with problems on a human level—most of those problems have to be abandoned anyway. He knows that when he leads the people into a walk with God and Christ comes forth within them, then the other problems will be solved. His focus is upon ministering to Christ; therefore he is able to be longsuffering and persevering.
Whenever you become discouraged with someone, just remember that henceforth know we no man after the flesh. See one another in the spirit, and love one another. When reproof or correction comes to you, it is sometimes difficult to accept, but remember that its purpose is to release Christ in you so that He can come forth and be glorified.
Body ministry is ministering to Christ in a many-membered Body. That must be perceived and understood. Embrace it totally in your heart. Do not look at the worthiness or the unworthiness of the individual; look at the Christ in him. What the least one deserves or does not deserve is not the issue. A good pastor does not minister to the flock because they deserve it. That does not determine his faithfulness. He sees Christ coming forth. He sees a new creation—the human nature giving way to a divine nature. He sees some coming to birth, and he is excited about it.
The manifestation of the sons of God is misunderstood. Most believers expect to see a lot of sons coming forth, but it is to be the manifestation of the Son of God in many sons. That is why you must minister to one another in all faithfulness and love one another. Determine to see Christ glorified in His Body!
If a brother walks up to you and makes a sarcastic remark about the church, just bless him—his Jesus is tied down in solitary confinement where He cannot relate to anyone. Yet somewhere in that brother’s heart there must be a spark; just keep blessing him. Even if it does not look like it from the outside, keep saying, “Jesus, are you there?” Be like the little girl who opened up her daddy’s eyes when he was asleep in the chair, and she said, “Yes, he is still in there!” Look to see if Jesus is still in your brother. Feed Him, minister to Him, visit Him, and clothe Him! This is Body ministry which is basic to bringing forth the complete restoration of God’s creation. It is a key to the Parousia and the coming Kingdom. Be dedicated to bring forth Christ in one another and to see the Christ come forth in yourself.
We are to be new creatures with a new life and a new vision. This is not religion. It is Jesus, and He is coming forth within us for His glory and praise!