Yesterday I spoke to my Beloved here in Ethiopia and recounted a conversation I had with a long time member of the “Church of God” last week. The gentleman spoke against the notion of personal responsibility and the sayings of Jesus as stated in Matthew 25:31-46. Sharing a similar mindset with a lot of the membership, he claimed that “personal responsibility ” is something the individual believer does based on his or her own convictions. In regards to the parable in Matthew 25:31 – 46, he railed against my repeated statements that EACH CHRISTIAN at the least must individually poses and exhibit the traits of love, mercy, compassion, self sacrifice and an active pursuit of social justice for your neighbor as part of their CORE belief system. The man replies “God is only concerned about repentance and that’s it. Those things you speak of are “works” and we are not saved by “works”. I let him speak…offering challenges but then just concluded that this is why some of the western Hebrew Christian practices face so many hurdles as they die a slow death, hemorrhaging members, the youth among them the most affected as these churches break down and disintegrate. Locked into their presumed roles as “defenders of the faith once delivered”, they never bothered to communicate with those in the east who have been practicing “the faith”, some unaffected by Western Theology for the 2000 years of their existence.

At this point my Beloved replies, “I am surprised…in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church we are taught about individual duty in regards to Matthew 25 in some way during every Kidasse (service) 7 days a week. We learn that these traits that make for the separation of the sheep from the goats are embodied by every member of “the group” or nation on the right, every Christian who claims to be a follower of Christ and God. The traits and behaviors of the sheep are not “2nd Nature” but what I like to call “first nature” behaviors. You see a need and you respond, without reason or justification or qualification. You don’t give the homeless orphan a litmus test to see if they are “angel in disguise” rather you see and respond based on the best way to serve the one in need, exercising and praying for discernment with each situation.

The character traits of the one on Jesus right hand are the BASIC moral foundation of the followers of Yeshua/Jesus. As the Christian repents and develops a personal relationship with God through Christ and seeks to develop the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22 – 26), a level of maturity is reached where God will then reveal the believers purpose (my opinion). It is after this that we realize the wisdom espoused in Ephesians 4: 11 – 16 and LET GOD DETERMINE OUR PURPOSE IN TERMS OF ADVANCED SERVICE. But ALL OF US are to embody the ways of those on the right hand of Yeshua, the embodiment of Yeshua, developing and evidencing the fruits of the spirit through acts of humility, love, compassion and service.

The problem is that some of us have found and find a myriad of reasons to NOT DO the things that identify one as a Christian or a follower of Yeshua. In response to the gentleman’s point, repentance is a given and no one in their right mind would say other wise. But the behaviors of those on the right side in Matthew 25 are our base morality. We repent and grow and seek to develop the relationship with God and in turn are empowered to serve God in ways that embody Christ, reflect the righteous light of God and declare the nature and way of the Kingdom as the true believer is to be the Kingdoms emissary’s or representatives on the Earth. I pray for the enlightenment and awakening of all those who call themselves “Christian” and that they would really consider what it is that defines the follower of Yeshua.

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