“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14a)
The greatest miracle of Jesus Christ is His defeat of death and sin on the cross and His subsequent resurrection. His second biggest miracle is that He became human. God put on flesh. He experienced hunger and need as we do. He chose to have a physical body because He cares not only about our spiritual lives, but also about our physical needs. Jesus’ work on earth involved both spiritual teaching and physical healing.
“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” Matthew 4:23
In two separate instances, Jesus feeds thousands of hungry people. It is only natural that as followers of Christ, we are called to do the same: to meet the physical needs of others. In John 21, Jesus tells Peter to feed or tend his sheep three times as a reflection of his love of Christ. I do not believe this calling is solely for a spiritual feeding, but also involves a literal physical feeding.
Spiritual disciplines of reading the Bible, worship, prayer and communion with the Saints are important parts of our faith, but these are only part of our faith. We can read our Bibles each day, worship as we’re driving around, pray throughout the day, go to church and Bible study after Bible study and still miss an extremely important part of following Jesus. We have been called to tangibly care for each other.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:14-18
Love, as the Bible describes it, is actionable. Love isn’t a thought or a sentiment, but rather it requires sacrifice. Without it, we are nothing. We are only fooling ourselves when our words and our sentiments of loving others are not followed by action. We can read and study and meditate on these words day and night, but if we are not acting out in love by caring for others’ physical needs, we are deceiving ourselves.
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” James 1:23-25
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:14-17
Without care for others—practical, physical care for others, we run the risk of being the goats Jesus talks about in Matthew 25:31-46.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who 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, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was 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 welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, 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 no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they 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 minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Notice how He didn’t separate people by whether they went to church on Sunday or whether they read their Bibles (both of which are important for personal spiritual development), but by their treatment of others.
We were not made to consume with no outlet. What makes us holy (set apart) is our counter-cultural directive to give. Our giving should supersede our consumption. We are to lay down our lives for others, as John says. It is counter-cultural to care for the needs of others above our own needs. Rather than amassing things for ourselves, we should be storing up our treasure in heaven by our actions.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21.
Our pursuit of our own happiness—which is not Biblical—has overridden our pursuit of holiness. It has overridden our pursuit of Christ. Our faith has been lulled to sleep by consumerism. We even consume the Bible like we consume physical things. We gorge ourselves on the Bible, becoming spiritual gluttons without exercising the faith we proclaim. It is past time we start acting. I believe if all of the Church would turn away from our consumerism and pursuit of happiness, and we humble ourselves to become a people of servanthood—serving the needs of others—and pray, we would see a great revival like we’ve never seen before. We would see healing like we’ve never seen before.
God can work through us to accomplish so much—we just need to pursue Him above all else.
