Indispensable
Some people are indispensable members of Christ’s body — they get superabundant honor.
The list goes this way:
1) The feeble
2) The less honored
3) The uncomely (These are strength-less or weak).
4) Unbeautified, shapeless and not elegant.
These groups often get kicked to the curb.
Matthew 25:40
teaches, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
How?
When and why were these acts of kindness done to the least, and accounted as having been done to Jesus Himself?
With their shoes on our feet, how does it go?
To discover this, let us become one of these weak, indeed we are already more like them than we admit. With their shoes on our feet, how does it go?
a. They have a physical blemish or crooked walk.
b. They have failed a lot at vital issues.
c. They have struggled financially; socially, they lack people-skills. In self-discipline, they fight as if underwater.
d. They have one or more troubling sins;
e. They live in degrees of depression, and they never seem to get to “homeostasis.”
In the 14th to 18th centuries, life was especially tough in Europe.
This darkened time featured death and the constant threat of it. It was a time of the plague, indefensible and voluminous. Once infected, three days remained in life-expectancy, young or old. 25 to 35% of a town or village disappeared all at once. The work force, in shambles, failed at productivity of foods and vitals. Shysters scoured the neighborhood for opportunities to plunder.
Many adopted hopeless hearts as they mourned the death of sons, daughters, moms and dads. There was a constant hazard of infection. All seemed so helpless, and folks were unsure from where disease would come next. Apprehension isolated friends, family, and social contacts. Suspicion, terrifying fear, and self-absorbed tendencies followed. Blame, superstition, and many “spiritualist” activities were prevalent.
Running from death
Friends, do we also live this way today? Many do — As if running from death itself, precious feeble folk, dishonored and unattractive; they are our mission field.
“The Greatest thing in the World”
…may be the first time for many.
Christ died for the ‘ungodly’
Christ Himself took on uncomliness.
Isaiah tells us “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Christ Himself took on our uncomliness.He is also despised and rejected of men; “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; and we esteemed him not.”
Ye, through his poverty might be rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
Folks, God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. When we love the unlovely, we do it unto Christ, indeed!
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