Acts of Repentance: Part 2

James, the half-brother of Jesus wrote, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27). In this statement, he identifies Christian service and sanctification to both be important to our lives as Christians. John the Baptist also called on believers to bear “fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:7-14). He called on the people to care for the needy, show integrity in their financial transactions, to be honest in legal matters and not to covet material possessions.

Isaiah describes three actions we are to perform, “divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him” (Isaiah 58:7). Ezekiel describes the actions of people that are “righteous and practices justice and righteousness” (Ezekiel 18:4-9). He describes the righteous man as one who “gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.”

We are to be God’s agents through whom He meets the needs of believers and non-believers alike. We help our Christian brothers and sisters, as one of the means by which God providers for them. We help the lost, as a demonstration of God’s caring for them and kindness towards them. Caring for them is always done in the context of sharing the Gospel with them. The Holy Spirit uses the meeting of physical needs to open the hearts of unbelievers. He is drawing them to ask Jesus to meet their spiritual needs – the need for salvation.

James criticized believers that failed in their obligations to provide for fellow believers, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” (James 2:15-17).

At the judging of the nations in Matthew 25:34-40, Jesus commends the faithful, “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 something to 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.” The righteous respond that they never did those this specifically for Jesus. He enlightens their understanding by teaching them,”to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

John describes how we love our neighbor as ourselves, “let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:17-18). We meet their physical needs and share God’s eternal truth.