THE TRUE FAST: WORSHIP, MERCY, AND THE SEPARATION OF SHEEP FROM GOATS

Jesus' criteria for separating sheep from goats in Matthew 25 focuses on acts of mercy-feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming strangers, caring for widows and orphans-not on church attendance, evangelism statistics, or outward religious appearances, but that we have done unto the least of these…

Modern evangelicalism often prioritizes church-centered membership growth and attendance numbers, building sizes and improvements, cash flow and budget sizes etc. as proof of kingdom advancement and success. Yet, Jesus' own words in Matthew 25 and Isaiah 58 show that what God values most is what he considers to be the "True Fast": justice, mercy, and compassion. Neglect of these is not only unfaithfulness-it is idolatry/adultery. Like ancient Israel, evangelicalism’s replacement of worship through acts of mercy with church centered ritualistic worship risks our own house being left unto us desolate.

James 1:27 makes it plain: Pure and undefiled worship is visiting widows and orphans in their distress in order to keep the Church from being polluted by the world. Worship is priestly service-mercy as sacrifice. As a priesthood ofbelievers, our calling is the same as Christ's superior ministry (Hebrews  as priests and alms givers (Philippians 2:17).

Faith without works is death-and worship without mercy is empty. True worship is embodied justice, lived out through acts of compassion. Jesus replaced the physical temple with living temples-us. The question is not "What church do we attend?" but "Do we care for the widow, the fatherless, the hungry, and the oppressed?"

Anything less is just noise to God, no matter how wonderful it all appears and sounds to us.

“Oh, the noise, the noise noise noise!”