Matthew 12: God is a GATHERER
All through Scripture God/Jesus is revealed as a Shepherd. One who gathers His sheep, cares for them, feeds them, protects them, calls them, tends to them etc. It is one of the MAIN pictures of God that we have. Jesus is actually called the Great Shepherd. (Hebrews 13:20 and 1 Peter 5:4)
When I read Matthew 12 I knew EXACTLY what I’d be talking about today. It’s one verse that I think speaks VOLUMES and I’m not sure we ever read or reference the whole thing.
Matthew 12:30 30“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.
We LOVE using the first part of that verse. We are GREAT at pointing out everyone who “isn’t with Christ” and talking about them. But Jesus takes it a step further and says “If you aren’t gathering with me you’re actually scattering”. The NLT version says that if we aren’t working with Jesus we are “working against” Him. I’m not sure I’d want to be one who is known to God as “one who scatters” or “working against”, yet SO MANY people who call themselves Christians are claiming “I’m with Him” but driving people way, working against and flat out KEEPING people from hearing about and knowing Jesus.
I think there are many “Christians” who aren’t much different than the Pharisees here in this chapter. Arrogant, pious, blind guides who THINK they know what they are talking about, even giving satan credit for something JESUS is doing. And what are they doing? Scattering. Working against. Running sheep away and simply keeping SHEEP from coming to THE SHEPHERD.
God is a GATHERER. He is always seeking out lost sheep, searching for the stray and tending to the flock. The question is, am I? Am I even WITH Christ? If I am with Him am I gathering or scattering? According to Christ there is no in between. There are too many sheep to gather to be busy scattering.
Trying to gather,
Jeff
