马太福音25:31-40 ：好行为与信心不可分割
31“当人子在他荣耀里，同着众天使降临的时候，要坐在他荣耀的宝座上。32万民都要聚集在他面前。他要把他们分别出来，好像牧羊的分别绵羊山羊一般；33把绵羊安置在右边，山羊在左边。34于是，王要向那右边的说：‘你们这蒙我父赐福的，可来承受那创世以来为你们所预备的国。35因为我饿了，你们给我吃；渴了，你们给我喝；我作客旅，你们留我住；36我赤身露体，你们给我穿；我病了，你们看顾我；我在监里，你们来看我。’37义人就回答说：‘主啊，我们什么时候见你饿了，给你吃，渴了，给你喝？38什么时候见你作客旅，留你住，或是赤身露体，给你穿？39又什么时候见你病了，或是在监里，来看你呢？’40王要回答说：‘我实在告诉你们：这些事你们既作在我这弟兄中一个最小的身上，就是作在我身上了。’”
有时候看起来我们要凭着在耶稣里的信心受审判，有时候看起来我们的行为在末日审判的时候会被用到。这两点都是对的。我们是藉着在耶稣里的信心去天堂，别无其他。保罗在罗马书3章28节里写道：“我们称义是因着信，不在乎遵行律法。”
那我们的行为呢？好行为源自信心。因为这个缘故，我们的行为也是我们信心的证据。所以当耶稣在末日审判降临时，他会让所有人到他面前来，看看我们信心的证据，即，我们奉他的名所做的好行为。我们的行为将会向这个世界证明耶稣的审判是公义的。
只是，当耶稣提醒信徒他们曾奉靠他的名所做的好行为时，你注意到信徒们的反应吗？“我们什么时候如此行了？”他们回答说。对于信徒来说，好行为就像呼吸一样。他们未加思索、未被提醒就做了。他们并没有因为好行为感到骄傲，也不认为他们配得任何奖励。
我们唯独藉着信心被称为义，但信心从不形单影只。信心永远和好行为相得益彰，后者证明圣灵在我们里面做了工。
Matthew 25:31-40: 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 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, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Sometimes it seems that we will be judged by our faith in Jesus and sometimes it seems that our works will be used in the day of judgment. Both are true. It is our faith in Jesus that will get us unto heaven, and nothing else. “We are justified by faith without the deeds of the law,” Paul says in Romans 3:28.
So what about our works? Good works are a product of faith. For that reason they are also evidence of our faith. So when Jesus comes in judgment, he will hold up for everyone to see the evidence of our faith, which are the works that we have done in his name. The works we do will prove to the world that Jesus is just in his judgments.
Only, do you notice that reaction of the believers when Jesus calls attention to the things they did in his name? “When did we do those things?” they respond. For believers, doing good works is like breathing. They do them without thinking or calling attention to them. They are not proud of their good works or think that they are worth anything at all.
We are justified by faith alone, but faith is never alone. Faith is always adorned with good works, the proof of the Holy Spirit working in us.