Joseph Parker, an English #Congregational minister, turns Matthew 25 inward. Who truly gives as they ought—sharing even their last crust with Christ in the poor? He questions whether comfortable lives can claim obedience at all. How can you live an examined life? #christian

Cyril of Alexandria, imagines the rich man hearing this in hell: you could’ve shared paradise with Lazarus if you’d shared your wealth with him. Refusing mercy made the punishment fit the crime. Would any preacher today urge the rich to make the poor partners in thy wealth? #churchfathers #christian

Robert Moffat, #Congregationalist, recounts African Christians harassed for their faith—arrested on the way to church, hunted in homes, punished under impossible laws. Anyone treated this way now, and what happens when Christians defend them? How will you pray for the persecuted? #persecutedchurch

Beveridge, #Anglican minister, says God’s work comes in two flavours: devotion upward and justice outward. Miss either and you’ve misunderstood the job. Today we mock one or the other to dodge inconvenience. Steadfast faith, it turns out, still expects both hands to be busy. #christian #neighbor

Luther hears God say in Isaiah 58: I’m not after holy misery or spiritual self-harm. I want justice with skin on it—feed the hungry, clothe the naked, lift the poor. If faith never leaves the prayer room, it’s missing the point. So—what fast will you live?

Parsons Cooke, #Congregationalist, notes that early Christians treated plagues as a call to service: rich women volunteered as nurses, risked infection, spent money, energy, prayers—everything. Today we fear inconvenience more than contagion. When did charity develop an immune response? #usaid

John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople, urges humility through almsgiving, forgiveness, and honest reflection on our own sins. He warns that power, wealth, and force are spiritual dangers, not prizes. It’s worth asking what we admire—and how we learn to stay low. #christianity

Robert Harris, a #Puritan and Westminster divine, complains that we’re impressively generous to ourselves and astonishingly tight-fisted toward God and neighbour. He says this should shame us into repentance. If that sermon feels unnecessary today… well, that might be the problem. #sermonsky

John Calvin notes that the dogs tended Lazarus (Lk 16) when respectable people didn’t. Imagine being out-performed in mercy by a Labrador. Calvin says when animals do the duty we dodged, God has appointed witnesses—and it’s not flattering. So, before the dog beats you to it: who will you help today?

John Noble Coleman, #Anglican minister, calls dueling what God calls it: murder. Society excuses it, the law barely restrains it, but Scripture does not. It’s strange to celebrate “masculine energy” while refusing to admit when violence is being dressed up as virtue. #christianity

John Abernathy, #Presbyterian minister, taught that Christ’s life and the Last Judgment test mercy, not mere devotion (Matt 25; Jas 2). Gratitude to God must move outward. Piety that ignores the poor misses obedience. How will you show mercy today? #mercy #piety #ConfessionalFaith #TheologyMatters

Isaac Watts wrote “Wondrous Cross”. He reminds us that one privilege of life on earth is caring for the hungry, sick, widows, orphans, and the poor—needs that don’t exist in heaven. Mercy is work reserved for now. Who, then, will we serve while we still can, and whom do we leave unseen? #mercy

William Weston Patton, #Congregationalist abolitionist, said duty isn’t optional: it binds us to neighbours and strangers alike, and conscience already knows it. Which makes claims that slavery was “helpful” sound like moral yoga. What does your conscience know? #abolitionist #christian

#Puritan minister William Gouge warns that some guard full pantries yet begrudge crumbs to the poor—then calmly throw spoiled food away. He says both the wasted food and the hungry will cry out before God. What does faithful stewardship look like in your kitchen? #charitybeginsathome #pulpitsky

Frederick Stanley Arnot noted that the gospel was hindered not only by local beliefs, but by centuries of brutality—rum and slave trades included. Many Reformed missionaries agreed: bad Christian witness can block good news. Even if God’s decree stands, will you be the obstacle—or the help? #PlyBren

Llewelyn Joan Evans, a #Presbyterian minister, says bearing burdens starts with noticing. He saw tenement faces marked by poverty and vice and asked: do they stir even a flicker of concern? Faith isn’t looking away—it’s looking back. What happens when suffering meets your eyes?

Thomas Becon, a Reformation minister imprisoned under Mary I, warned wealthy Christians in his catechism that unmerciful riches fall under Christ’s judgment in Matthew 25. Not comfort for power, but mercy for the poor marks true faith. How will you practice liberality today? #wealth #reformation

William Gouge, #Puritan minister, argues that charity earns no merit before God, yet God still freely rewards it in this life and the next. He laments that the rich, though able to gain a “good inheritance,” often lack the heart to give. How will you use what you have? #latinwords #theology

William Howard van Doren, #Presbyterian minister, notes in the Good Samaritan that mercy can overturn hatred. Help from a despised group may feel like help from a brother. Compassion exposes how quickly fear gives way when love acts. How might you aid someone taught to see you as an enemy? #love

Basil of Caesarea, a church father, reads Scripture and then does the maths. Ten percent? Twelve? He treats interest rates like a moral thermometer: when the numbers rise, mercy freezes. Apparently holiness isn’t helped by APRs that need a calculator and a conscience. #sermonsky #Christianity

Edward Traill Horn, #Lutheran pastor and president of the Pennsylvania Ministerium, warns against idle curiosity while urging faithful charity. Our duty, he says, is first to those in our household—and also to the stranger placed directly in our path. Mercy begins where God places need before us.

William Attersoll, #Puritan, reads Philemon and asks whether anyone Christ calls “brother” may be despised in matters of redemption. If God is not ashamed to name rich and poor, master and servant alike, how can we justify disdain? The question presses every age: what divisions do we still defend?

Ralph Wardlaw, a Scottish #Congregationalist minister, writes with compassion for women trapped in prostitution, describing the forces that ensnare them and society’s harsh response. In this passage he sets aside scolding and urges mercy toward lives being lost. #mercy

Thomas Manton, English #Puritan, preaching on Ecclesiastes, acknowledges ongoing oppression of the poor by the powerful. He urges patience before God, who will surely own the afflicted—without denying their suffering. Faith, he implies, neither excuses injustice nor silences the poor.

Charles Spurgeon warns that charity can grow so cautious it stops imitating Christ. When we restrict mercy only to the “deserving,” we become judges, not helpers. Christianity, he says, is called to mercy—not merely the careful distribution of justice. #justice #Baptist #imitationofChrist

John Abercrombie wrote devotionals as a Scotland church elder. He says living faith strips away artificial distinctions and resists selfishness that dulls us to others’ needs. True discipleship, he argues, reshapes how we see people—not as categories, but neighbors. #faith #reformedtheology #unity

Alexander Maclaren, #Baptist, notes that in Philemon, Paul doesn’t coerce a slaveholder but lays “siege” to his conscience through kindness and brotherly love. Moral change comes by truth pressed patiently. How do we witness against wrong without hardening the heart? #christianity #justice

Joseph Parker, a Congregational minister, turns Matthew 25 inward. He asks who truly gives, if Christ meets us in the poor—and whether comfortable lives can still claim obedience. His “inquest” isn’t accusation but repentance: Scripture presses us to examine what we excuse. #christian #examinedlife

John Gregg Fee, a #Presbyterian turned abolitionist preacher, noted that Scripture says we’re all “of one blood.” So inventing racial loopholes to defend slavery isn’t clever theology—it’s simply deciding the Bible is wrong. An awkward position for people claiming to revere it.

Richard Bernard, #Puritan minister, warns that charity wrung from unwilling hands profits the soul nothing. Writing on taxes for the poor, he says resentment and resistance empty the gift of spiritual good. The issue isn’t payment alone—but the heart that pays. #christianity #pulpitsky #taxes #poor

Thomas Granger, an English parish preacher, treats “You shall not steal” as more than petty theft. Citing Nehemiah, he condemns monopolizing work to force dependence and lending that profits from another’s distress. His question lingers: how narrow have we let this commandment become? #christianity

Matthew Newcomen warns that Christians may not plead ignorance when others face ruin. Citing Proverbs and Job, he says faith searches out unseen causes and rescues the oppressed. The question isn’t whether Scripture speaks—but which parts we’re willing to obey. #christianity #empathy #faithfulness

Ambrose says justice isn’t abstract: it’s selling what you have and giving to the poor. That’s a bracing definition. It asks whether our idea of “justice” risks shrinking to what costs us least—while the older church assumed justice should cost us something. #christianity #sermonsky #righteousness

Frank Delitzsch, a German Lutheran scholar, reads Job as a man who would not let a widow’s eyes fail or her tears be wasted. Mercy, he says, gives tears weight before God. If we believed that causing tears offends heaven, what habits would we finally abandon? #lutheran #biblical #christianity

Basil does the unthinkable: he tells the poor not to steal and the rich to stop charging interest. Not class warfare—just obedience. Better to share hardship than breed misery with usury. Lend, says Jesus, expecting nothing back. Radical, apparently. #christianity #discipleship #class

Paul Baynes, a Puritan cleric, reads “stop stealing” and says it includes nicking pennies from the poor via wages and prices. That “tiny” loss might be their whole livelihood. Cheat a brother and you don’t beat the market—you meet an Avenger. What will you share? #NottheMCU #christian #puritan

William Tyndale, who translated the Bible and paid for it with his life, looks at Luke 16 and says God loves first, opens our eyes, then sends us out. The servant’s job isn’t hiding with the Master—it’s handing out the Master’s goods. So… where’s your post? #christianity #bible #martyrs

Charles Spurgeon, #Baptist, basically says: if your heart’s shut for business, heaven’s not taking reservations. Love isn’t a hobby for outgoing types; it’s the whole point. If your inner life is just you applauding yourself, you’ve missed it. Real life is doing good, on purpose, for real people.

Samuel Rutherford says heaven’s King has sent you an invite. Pack light—but bring conscience, faith, love, patience, kindness, meekness. Apparently those matter where you’re going. Which is funny, because today #kindness is suspicious and conscience is optional. So… what are you actually packing?

Thomas Taylor, a Calvinist #Anglican priest, warns—rather tiredly—that greed is the devil’s favourite workshop. Once gain is king, no sin is off-limits: Ahab kills for land, Balaam sells sermons, Judas cashes in Christ, Demas defects. Apparently this still endangers souls. Shocking. #christianity

Ludwig Lavater, Swiss #Reformed, notes in Ruth that if you can’t help the needy yourself, you should pester someone who can. Commending the poor to the rich isn’t meddling; it’s duty. If that’s “advocacy,” Scripture seems untroubled by the label. #christianity #advocacy #bookofruth

John McDowell, #Presbyterian minister, notes in Amos that selling bread dear simply because your neighbour is poor is oppression, full stop. Cornering life’s basics and hiking the price isn’t “commerce”; it’s grinding faces. Funny how that gets mislabelled as smart biz sense today. #christinanity

Adolph Saphir, #Presbyterian missionary, notes that the Lord’s Prayer (“OUR daily bread”) trains us to pray outward. The closer people get to God, the more humble and generous they become, eager to lift the weak. Oddly, we’re now told closeness to God means keeping to self. How did that happen?

George Hutcheson, a Scottish Presbyterian, reads Job 24 and does something awkward: he agrees with Job’s moral outrage. He praises mercy in letting fathers keep their children—and calls tearing kids away for debt or raids a barbarity. Funny how some still defend that. #christianity #pulpitsky

William Weston Patton, #Congregationalist, noted that churches propping up tyrants in Europe and slavery in America did more to manufacture unbelief than atheists ever could. When the church drops basic decency, it shouldn’t be shocked when people drop the church. How will you let your light shine?

John Brodhead Romeyn, the Dutch Reformed–Presbyterian, says that if you only help the miserable once you’ve been coaxed, you’ve misunderstood your duties. A Christian—indeed a human—shouldn’t need prompting to feel mercy. Are we training ourselves not to feel it?

James Buchanan, a Free Church of Scotland minister, fumes that once you turn church seating into a rental business, you quietly bar the poor at the door. Call it respectable finance if you like; Scripture calls it partiality. God doesn’t sell tickets. #reformedtheology

Benjamin Keach, a Reformed #baptist, reads Luke 16 and says: admire the rich man’s purple and banquets if you like, but notice the staff change—he ends up attended by devils. It’s a blunt warning to wealthy people who are generous in theory and stingy in practice. #wealthcreators #1689baptist

Thomas Gouge, a #Puritan, says the fastest way to divine displeasure isn’t exotic vice but plain old unmercifulness—Ezekiel blamed it for fire and brimstone. Today we flinch less at ignoring the poor than at offending wealth. Curious priorities. How might mercy look now? #libertarian #mercy

Alexander Maclaren, the Scottish Baptist, says Christ bore our sins by stooping like a labourer lifting a weight. Think of healers and helpers, he says, and you’ll grasp the Passion better than by abstractions. So—whose load will you shoulder, remembering who carried yours? #goodfriday