When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Christ is so fully identified with suffering humanity that to welcome a stranger and clothe the naked is to welcome and clothe Him Himself. The righteous answer with surprise, asking when they saw Him as a stranger and took Him in or naked and clothed Him, because they did not know their kindnesses were done to Him but served willingly as the pleasure of their character. At the final judgment the Son of man comes in glory with all the holy angels, sits on the throne of His glory, gathers all nations before Him, and separates them as sheep on the right from goats on the left. People are judged according to their works and treatment of others, not by profession, for genuine love is shown by works and even small everyday acts done from love are recorded and rewarded. Taking in the stranger means providing shelter and a temporary home, and with feeding the hungry, giving drink, visiting the sick and in prison, and clothing the naked, it is required personal labor for all believers to the end of time.
Final Judgment Setting
At the final judgment the Son of man comes in His glory with all the holy angels and sits upon the throne of His glory, and all nations are gathered before Him. There He separates them as sheep set on the right from goats set on the left, and invites those on the right to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world because they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, sheltered the homeless stranger, clothed the destitute, and visited the sick and imprisoned. The righteous answer with surprise, asking when they saw Him as a stranger and took Him in, or naked and clothed Him, not knowing their mercies were done to Him. He then occupies the position of supreme Judge of heaven and earth, seated upon the Father's throne with decisions from which there is no appeal, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory escorted by legions of angels to pronounce sentence upon His enemies. The question belongs to that scene of final separation and final reckoning.
The question is part of Christ's parabolical representation in Matthew 25 of the character God accepts, which engages the attention and subdues the heart. By the King's words it marks the partition between sheep and goats, specifying the reward each will have and forever deciding the destiny of the two classes. It is to be heard and comprehended by all who have ears to hear and intellect to comprehend, and alone can educate men and women for the work that must be done for the soul. It is an important lesson about Christ's judgment of people according to their treatment of others in need, presenting welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked as service to Christ Himself. The instruction in Matthew 25:14-46 to which it belongs is to be studied and compared with one's life record, putting away boasting, for self-sufficiency is fearfully dangerous and makes Christ's words of no effect.
In the last day there will be only two parties, the one on the right and the other on the left. Selfish principles have no place in God's service or in His kingdom. Those on the left are blinded and self-absorbed, not perceiving what they owed to their brethren and caring not for others' needs, while those who did not seek Him and would not enter into fellowship with Him will hear, I know you not.
Christ Identified with Needy
Christ identifies His interest with that of suffering humanity, so that sheltering the stranger and clothing the naked when done for those in need is counted as though done to Himself. At the final judgment the righteous ask when they saw Him as a stranger needing shelter or as naked needing clothing, and He answers that what was done to one of the least of His brethren was done to Him. Such deeds of love and charity — feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, caring for the worthy poor, the afflicted, the widows and fatherless — are acts of mercy for which He commends His people at His return. People are judged according to these works, and spending on extravagant display while hunger, nakedness, pinching want and suffering are on every side, having no ears for the cries of the needy and withdrawing from suffering humanity, stands condemned by this reckoning.
His brethren mean not the greatest but the least. In a special sense they are those born into the heavenly family, yet as Son of man He is brother to every son and daughter of Adam and embraces the fallen, erring and sinful. The poor and suffering are placed among men as His representatives on earth, and pity and practical benevolence toward them are accepted as though shown to Him, while neglecting or mistreating them is neglecting Him. He is present in them, in His saints, in righteous causes that bring poverty, toil and reproach, and in His messengers, so that receiving or rejecting them is receiving or rejecting the living Christ, and He visits the needy through His children. Their needs call forth Christian sympathy, love and practical help and the charitable use of means and influence, which helps others and cultivates self-denial and benevolence in the giver, shaping the giver into His likeness.
It was He who was hungry and thirsty, a stranger, sick and in prison. He was famishing in the hovel and empty street while the rich feasted, homeless amid luxurious ease, destitute among crowded wardrobes of rich apparel, languishing in prison amid pleasure. All the days of life He is near in the person of the afflicted, and even a pittance of bread or flimsy garments given to the starving and freezing was given to the Lord of Glory.
Righteous Serve Without Knowing
The righteous themselves are surprised by the commendation, asking when they ever saw the King as a stranger and took Him in, or naked and clothed Him, because they had no consciousness that their mercies to others were done to Him. They did not recognize their acts of care for people in need as direct service to Christ, for Christ was interwoven into their character and what was done to one of the least of His brethren, not the greatest, was counted as done to Him. Kindness had become a pleasure to them rather than a calculation, so they served willingly and gladly without treating the deed as performed to Christ Himself. This humble, unselfconscious service to needy humanity in feeding, giving drink, sheltering, clothing, visiting the sick and coming to those in prison is what receives the welcome to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world at the final separation into only two parties.
Those thus commended may have known little of theology yet cherished His principles through the divine Spirit and were a blessing to those about them. Even among the heathen and those without informed knowledge of God's law are those who worshiped God ignorantly without human teaching, heard His voice in nature, did the things the law required, cherished kindness, and befriended missionaries at peril of life. Their hearts were softened by grace and touched by the Holy Spirit, so their compassionate acts in simplicity, even without having heard the message of salvation, are recognized as faithful service to Christ and they are acknowledged as children of God who will not perish.
Such unconscious ministry is evidence of discipleship and part of the life by which character and eternal destiny are revealed. Holiness of heart produces these good works of mercy and compassion shown in caring for strangers and clothing the naked, deeds that express self-denial and righteousness which the Lord recognizes when He welcomes the blessed into His kingdom. Opening the door to the needy welcomes unseen angels and brings heavenly companionship with joy and peace, makes music in heaven, and numbers the workers among the Father's most precious treasures.
Judgment Decided by Works
The present is the time to use God-given abilities in service for Christ and the salvation of souls. Church membership alone does not secure entrance into heaven, and each person must examine how opportunities and talents entrusted to them have been used. Those who believe the truth and deny self are to begin missionary work for people perishing in sin.
People are judged according to their works and their treatment of others. At the judgment two classes stand before the throne and are separated not by profession but by practice, for mere profession of faith has no value. Genuine love is shown by works, and good works are the fruit of faith and justification. Even small, easily overlooked everyday acts done from love are valuable to God, recorded on an imperishable record, accepted and rewarded, rather than eloquence, intellect, or large donations. The righteous ask when they saw Christ as a stranger needing shelter or naked needing clothing, and their question accompanies acts of care for people in need, which Christ counts as done to Himself when done for the least of His brethren. Those who do not work for Christ and live only for themselves are placed with evildoers and receive the same condemnation.
Neglecting the stranger and the naked is neglecting Christ, while merciful service and relieving their needs is ministering to Him, for He is present in His people and in His saints. Care for people in need — and failure to give that care to the hungry, naked, fatherless, widows, sick, suffering, and those in prison — reveals the basis on which souls are judged. The fate decided turns not especially on revolting crimes but on neglecting what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ provides. People are held accountable not only for wrongs committed but for good they could have done, for driving the weak into danger, and for how they used entrusted time, abilities, money, influence and truth. Those who ignored such needs for riches and self-exaltation face the consequences of their choices, and their regret at judgment is not repentance.
Those who minister to the least receive the benediction, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, with blessing in the eternal world. Taking in strangers and clothing the naked, with feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and coming to those in prison, especially helping humble worthy poor who are sick and suffering, pleases God and brings that reward. Those who believe are to give generously to suffering people, even letting possessions decrease for their sake, and to follow Christ's example by willingly and gladly sacrificing for His saints. Refusing them a temporary home is refusing Christ, and those who refuse such sacrifice offend God as workers of iniquity. Failing to minister to the least is failing to minister to Christ and leads to everlasting punishment, while those who educate and train themselves in self-indulgence lose heaven and the eternity of bliss they might have had by devoting their powers to God.
Practical Love in Action
Taking in the stranger means opening shelter and giving a temporary home, and to refuse that home to Christ's needy people is to refuse Christ Himself, bringing everlasting punishment, while to receive them willingly and gladly is to share His example and His throne. What is done for His saints is registered in heaven as done to Him, so to take in and care for a needy mother who is a child of God is to take Him in, and to neglect her and cast her out of the home is to put Him away in the person of His saint. Hospitality shown to His disciples is shown to Him, and to begrudge God's people hospitality is to begrudge it to Jesus. Neither age nor present need nor unfamiliarity excuses turning a needy stranger away, for welcoming even an unknown godly stranger is an opportunity to welcome Jesus, and failure to give shelter and clothing is failure to welcome Him. That same receiving of the stranger and clothing of the naked calls for opening heart and home to orphaned and homeless children, denying self though it costs time and patience and money, and for relieving the necessities of the afflicted in close and trying places, both colored and white, every such act being kept on record for reward.
Feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison, comforting the discouraged and sorrowful, and pointing souls to the Lamb of God belong together as service counted as done to Him. Entrusted means, time, abilities, writing, speech, influence, and spiritual knowledge, including light on His second coming and knowledge that makes wise unto salvation, are to be used to advance His cause and help those in need, not to accumulate wealth or draw attention to self. Such sympathy and love expressed in food and clothing, joined with words of faith, hope, comfort, and Scripture, awaken spiritual need and help sufferers grasp His saving hand, showing God's care, awakening faith, and bringing the promised blessing to the giver. Workers are to feed, cleanse, and clothe people in need as they seek to reach and restore the lost and degraded.
This personal ministry to individuals — relieving suffering, helping the needy, comforting the sorrowing, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, and telling the sinner of pardoning love — is the work of all who receive His life and are His witnesses, belonging not only to those who can preach to congregations but to all believers to the end of time under His commission. It is plainly required labor for the poor that no zeal for the cause excuses, for His cause is the cause of the oppressed and the poor, and His shepherds must take personal interest in them by feeding the hungry and supplying real want of food and clothing, with sure requital for neglect of even one known case and no blessing on selfishness under pretense of anxiety for the cause. Neglecting or oppressing the poor and distressed cannot be justified as advancing His work, and those who neglect the unfortunate fail in duty, and may be left to learn sympathy through affliction like that of those they refused to help. That judgment test calls His followers to work for those who need the light and truth of the gospel, remembering that an impatient, unchristlike disposition can make His religion distasteful with tragic loss when loved ones are found unsaved.
Faithful Stewardship Required
Christ's direction to remember the poor and supply their necessities would make this world a different place, for welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked are counted as service done to Him Himself. In God's sight no one is owner but only trustee of one, two or five talents, whether means, time, abilities, writing, speech, influence, money, truth, or spiritual knowledge including the light of His second coming and the knowledge that makes wise unto salvation. These entrusted gifts are to be used to advance His cause and relieve poverty, affliction, orphanage and widowhood, even to building hospitals, sanitariums, schools and homes, and not to accumulate wealth or draw attention to self. At the judgment He asks how they were used, for profession alone has no value there, genuine love is shown by works, even small acts done from love are accepted and rewarded, and practical benevolence decides destiny with strict account to heaven.
Spending on extravagant display while hunger, nakedness, pinching want and suffering are on every side withholds resources from the hungry and naked and is condemned as failure to honor God and to do the good works expected of godliness. Jewels, gold chains, necklaces, rings, costly clothes, feathers, ribbons, expensive trimmings, superfluous clothing, needless ornaments, costly excess at the table, and every unnecessary indulgence and overplus of capital plead for the poor and needy against keeping them for self. Those who have no ears for the cries of the needy and withdraw from suffering humanity leave the poor to rise in judgment against them, for living for pride and selfish desire while the rich squander means on show and vanity benefits no one. Using entrusted wealth instead to feed and clothe the needy is right use of means that lays up treasure in heaven, and the duty to feed the hungry and clothe the stranger and naked remains binding as long as hungry ones need food, naked ones need clothing, and souls perish for the bread and water of salvation.
Charitable use of means requires self-denial and self-sacrifice, including letting possessions decrease for the sake of suffering people and giving surplus means and stock to help God's humble worthy poor among the sick and suffering who cannot pay full prices, and such use meets its reward in blessing in the eternal world. The poor are sent as His representatives, and their needs call forth charitable use of means and influence, which helps others while cultivating benevolence in the giver, shaping him into Christ's likeness. Such self-denying good works broaden character, keep spiritual life vigorous, develop character, and may both relieve physical need and awaken spiritual need through words of faith, hope, comfort and Scripture that help souls grasp His saving hand and point them to the Lamb of God.
The rich to whom God gave wealth to relieve His suffering children but who shut themselves away in costly dwellings and splendid churches, spent God's means on pride and selfishness, failed to put themselves in the poor man's place, and treated the poor with contempt will be condemned for failing to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. Their riches were gained by violating God's law, used to exalt themselves rather than to become rich toward God, and leaving the despised without clothing, food or relief, of every nationality and race whom He bought at infinite cost, is failure of duty to neighbors and neglect of His law. Oppression, double dealing and fraud are registered in heaven, angels witness with astonishment the struggle of every sufferer amid neglect, the poor who suffer while means are squandered will rise in judgment, and unfaithfulness forfeits both treasure and the soul, leaving only regret that is not repentance.
Christ is so fully identified with suffering humanity that to welcome a stranger and clothe the naked is to welcome and clothe Him Himself. The righteous answer with surprise, asking when they saw Him as a stranger and took Him in or naked and clothed Him, because they did not know their kindnesses were done to Him but served willingly as the pleasure of their character. At the final judgment the Son of man comes in glory with all the holy angels, sits on the throne of His glory, gathers all nations before Him, and separates them as sheep on the right from goats on the left. People are judged according to their works and treatment of others, not by profession, for genuine love is shown by works and even small everyday acts done from love are recorded and rewarded. Taking in the stranger means providing shelter and a temporary home, and with feeding the hungry, giving drink, visiting the sick and in prison, and clothing the naked, it is required personal labor for all believers to the end of time.
Final Judgment Setting
At the final judgment the Son of man comes in His glory with all the holy angels and sits upon the throne of His glory, and all nations are gathered before Him. There He separates them as sheep set on the right from goats set on the left, and invites those on the right to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world because they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, sheltered the homeless stranger, clothed the destitute, and visited the sick and imprisoned. The righteous answer with surprise, asking when they saw Him as a stranger and took Him in, or naked and clothed Him, not knowing their mercies were done to Him. He then occupies the position of supreme Judge of heaven and earth, seated upon the Father's throne with decisions from which there is no appeal, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory escorted by legions of angels to pronounce sentence upon His enemies. The question belongs to that scene of final separation and final reckoning.
The question is part of Christ's parabolical representation in Matthew 25 of the character God accepts, which engages the attention and subdues the heart. By the King's words it marks the partition between sheep and goats, specifying the reward each will have and forever deciding the destiny of the two classes. It is to be heard and comprehended by all who have ears to hear and intellect to comprehend, and alone can educate men and women for the work that must be done for the soul. It is an important lesson about Christ's judgment of people according to their treatment of others in need, presenting welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked as service to Christ Himself. The instruction in Matthew 25:14-46 to which it belongs is to be studied and compared with one's life record, putting away boasting, for self-sufficiency is fearfully dangerous and makes Christ's words of no effect.
In the last day there will be only two parties, the one on the right and the other on the left. Selfish principles have no place in God's service or in His kingdom. Those on the left are blinded and self-absorbed, not perceiving what they owed to their brethren and caring not for others' needs, while those who did not seek Him and would not enter into fellowship with Him will hear, I know you not.
Christ Identified with Needy
Christ identifies His interest with that of suffering humanity, so that sheltering the stranger and clothing the naked when done for those in need is counted as though done to Himself. At the final judgment the righteous ask when they saw Him as a stranger needing shelter or as naked needing clothing, and He answers that what was done to one of the least of His brethren was done to Him. Such deeds of love and charity — feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, caring for the worthy poor, the afflicted, the widows and fatherless — are acts of mercy for which He commends His people at His return. People are judged according to these works, and spending on extravagant display while hunger, nakedness, pinching want and suffering are on every side, having no ears for the cries of the needy and withdrawing from suffering humanity, stands condemned by this reckoning.
His brethren mean not the greatest but the least. In a special sense they are those born into the heavenly family, yet as Son of man He is brother to every son and daughter of Adam and embraces the fallen, erring and sinful. The poor and suffering are placed among men as His representatives on earth, and pity and practical benevolence toward them are accepted as though shown to Him, while neglecting or mistreating them is neglecting Him. He is present in them, in His saints, in righteous causes that bring poverty, toil and reproach, and in His messengers, so that receiving or rejecting them is receiving or rejecting the living Christ, and He visits the needy through His children. Their needs call forth Christian sympathy, love and practical help and the charitable use of means and influence, which helps others and cultivates self-denial and benevolence in the giver, shaping the giver into His likeness.
It was He who was hungry and thirsty, a stranger, sick and in prison. He was famishing in the hovel and empty street while the rich feasted, homeless amid luxurious ease, destitute among crowded wardrobes of rich apparel, languishing in prison amid pleasure. All the days of life He is near in the person of the afflicted, and even a pittance of bread or flimsy garments given to the starving and freezing was given to the Lord of Glory.
Righteous Serve Without Knowing
The righteous themselves are surprised by the commendation, asking when they ever saw the King as a stranger and took Him in, or naked and clothed Him, because they had no consciousness that their mercies to others were done to Him. They did not recognize their acts of care for people in need as direct service to Christ, for Christ was interwoven into their character and what was done to one of the least of His brethren, not the greatest, was counted as done to Him. Kindness had become a pleasure to them rather than a calculation, so they served willingly and gladly without treating the deed as performed to Christ Himself. This humble, unselfconscious service to needy humanity in feeding, giving drink, sheltering, clothing, visiting the sick and coming to those in prison is what receives the welcome to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world at the final separation into only two parties.
Those thus commended may have known little of theology yet cherished His principles through the divine Spirit and were a blessing to those about them. Even among the heathen and those without informed knowledge of God's law are those who worshiped God ignorantly without human teaching, heard His voice in nature, did the things the law required, cherished kindness, and befriended missionaries at peril of life. Their hearts were softened by grace and touched by the Holy Spirit, so their compassionate acts in simplicity, even without having heard the message of salvation, are recognized as faithful service to Christ and they are acknowledged as children of God who will not perish.
Such unconscious ministry is evidence of discipleship and part of the life by which character and eternal destiny are revealed. Holiness of heart produces these good works of mercy and compassion shown in caring for strangers and clothing the naked, deeds that express self-denial and righteousness which the Lord recognizes when He welcomes the blessed into His kingdom. Opening the door to the needy welcomes unseen angels and brings heavenly companionship with joy and peace, makes music in heaven, and numbers the workers among the Father's most precious treasures.
Judgment Decided by Works
The present is the time to use God-given abilities in service for Christ and the salvation of souls. Church membership alone does not secure entrance into heaven, and each person must examine how opportunities and talents entrusted to them have been used. Those who believe the truth and deny self are to begin missionary work for people perishing in sin.
People are judged according to their works and their treatment of others. At the judgment two classes stand before the throne and are separated not by profession but by practice, for mere profession of faith has no value. Genuine love is shown by works, and good works are the fruit of faith and justification. Even small, easily overlooked everyday acts done from love are valuable to God, recorded on an imperishable record, accepted and rewarded, rather than eloquence, intellect, or large donations. The righteous ask when they saw Christ as a stranger needing shelter or naked needing clothing, and their question accompanies acts of care for people in need, which Christ counts as done to Himself when done for the least of His brethren. Those who do not work for Christ and live only for themselves are placed with evildoers and receive the same condemnation.
Neglecting the stranger and the naked is neglecting Christ, while merciful service and relieving their needs is ministering to Him, for He is present in His people and in His saints. Care for people in need — and failure to give that care to the hungry, naked, fatherless, widows, sick, suffering, and those in prison — reveals the basis on which souls are judged. The fate decided turns not especially on revolting crimes but on neglecting what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ provides. People are held accountable not only for wrongs committed but for good they could have done, for driving the weak into danger, and for how they used entrusted time, abilities, money, influence and truth. Those who ignored such needs for riches and self-exaltation face the consequences of their choices, and their regret at judgment is not repentance.
Those who minister to the least receive the benediction, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, with blessing in the eternal world. Taking in strangers and clothing the naked, with feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and coming to those in prison, especially helping humble worthy poor who are sick and suffering, pleases God and brings that reward. Those who believe are to give generously to suffering people, even letting possessions decrease for their sake, and to follow Christ's example by willingly and gladly sacrificing for His saints. Refusing them a temporary home is refusing Christ, and those who refuse such sacrifice offend God as workers of iniquity. Failing to minister to the least is failing to minister to Christ and leads to everlasting punishment, while those who educate and train themselves in self-indulgence lose heaven and the eternity of bliss they might have had by devoting their powers to God.
Practical Love in Action
Taking in the stranger means opening shelter and giving a temporary home, and to refuse that home to Christ's needy people is to refuse Christ Himself, bringing everlasting punishment, while to receive them willingly and gladly is to share His example and His throne. What is done for His saints is registered in heaven as done to Him, so to take in and care for a needy mother who is a child of God is to take Him in, and to neglect her and cast her out of the home is to put Him away in the person of His saint. Hospitality shown to His disciples is shown to Him, and to begrudge God's people hospitality is to begrudge it to Jesus. Neither age nor present need nor unfamiliarity excuses turning a needy stranger away, for welcoming even an unknown godly stranger is an opportunity to welcome Jesus, and failure to give shelter and clothing is failure to welcome Him. That same receiving of the stranger and clothing of the naked calls for opening heart and home to orphaned and homeless children, denying self though it costs time and patience and money, and for relieving the necessities of the afflicted in close and trying places, both colored and white, every such act being kept on record for reward.
Feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick and those in prison, comforting the discouraged and sorrowful, and pointing souls to the Lamb of God belong together as service counted as done to Him. Entrusted means, time, abilities, writing, speech, influence, and spiritual knowledge, including light on His second coming and knowledge that makes wise unto salvation, are to be used to advance His cause and help those in need, not to accumulate wealth or draw attention to self. Such sympathy and love expressed in food and clothing, joined with words of faith, hope, comfort, and Scripture, awaken spiritual need and help sufferers grasp His saving hand, showing God's care, awakening faith, and bringing the promised blessing to the giver. Workers are to feed, cleanse, and clothe people in need as they seek to reach and restore the lost and degraded.
This personal ministry to individuals — relieving suffering, helping the needy, comforting the sorrowing, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, and telling the sinner of pardoning love — is the work of all who receive His life and are His witnesses, belonging not only to those who can preach to congregations but to all believers to the end of time under His commission. It is plainly required labor for the poor that no zeal for the cause excuses, for His cause is the cause of the oppressed and the poor, and His shepherds must take personal interest in them by feeding the hungry and supplying real want of food and clothing, with sure requital for neglect of even one known case and no blessing on selfishness under pretense of anxiety for the cause. Neglecting or oppressing the poor and distressed cannot be justified as advancing His work, and those who neglect the unfortunate fail in duty, and may be left to learn sympathy through affliction like that of those they refused to help. That judgment test calls His followers to work for those who need the light and truth of the gospel, remembering that an impatient, unchristlike disposition can make His religion distasteful with tragic loss when loved ones are found unsaved.
Faithful Stewardship Required
Christ's direction to remember the poor and supply their necessities would make this world a different place, for welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked are counted as service done to Him Himself. In God's sight no one is owner but only trustee of one, two or five talents, whether means, time, abilities, writing, speech, influence, money, truth, or spiritual knowledge including the light of His second coming and the knowledge that makes wise unto salvation. These entrusted gifts are to be used to advance His cause and relieve poverty, affliction, orphanage and widowhood, even to building hospitals, sanitariums, schools and homes, and not to accumulate wealth or draw attention to self. At the judgment He asks how they were used, for profession alone has no value there, genuine love is shown by works, even small acts done from love are accepted and rewarded, and practical benevolence decides destiny with strict account to heaven.
Spending on extravagant display while hunger, nakedness, pinching want and suffering are on every side withholds resources from the hungry and naked and is condemned as failure to honor God and to do the good works expected of godliness. Jewels, gold chains, necklaces, rings, costly clothes, feathers, ribbons, expensive trimmings, superfluous clothing, needless ornaments, costly excess at the table, and every unnecessary indulgence and overplus of capital plead for the poor and needy against keeping them for self. Those who have no ears for the cries of the needy and withdraw from suffering humanity leave the poor to rise in judgment against them, for living for pride and selfish desire while the rich squander means on show and vanity benefits no one. Using entrusted wealth instead to feed and clothe the needy is right use of means that lays up treasure in heaven, and the duty to feed the hungry and clothe the stranger and naked remains binding as long as hungry ones need food, naked ones need clothing, and souls perish for the bread and water of salvation.
Charitable use of means requires self-denial and self-sacrifice, including letting possessions decrease for the sake of suffering people and giving surplus means and stock to help God's humble worthy poor among the sick and suffering who cannot pay full prices, and such use meets its reward in blessing in the eternal world. The poor are sent as His representatives, and their needs call forth charitable use of means and influence, which helps others while cultivating benevolence in the giver, shaping him into Christ's likeness. Such self-denying good works broaden character, keep spiritual life vigorous, develop character, and may both relieve physical need and awaken spiritual need through words of faith, hope, comfort and Scripture that help souls grasp His saving hand and point them to the Lamb of God.
The rich to whom God gave wealth to relieve His suffering children but who shut themselves away in costly dwellings and splendid churches, spent God's means on pride and selfishness, failed to put themselves in the poor man's place, and treated the poor with contempt will be condemned for failing to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. Their riches were gained by violating God's law, used to exalt themselves rather than to become rich toward God, and leaving the despised without clothing, food or relief, of every nationality and race whom He bought at infinite cost, is failure of duty to neighbors and neglect of His law. Oppression, double dealing and fraud are registered in heaven, angels witness with astonishment the struggle of every sufferer amid neglect, the poor who suffer while means are squandered will rise in judgment, and unfaithfulness forfeits both treasure and the soul, leaving only regret that is not repentance.