Is Meeting Needs our Primary Motivation

In Matthew 25, Jesus speaks about some sheep and goats. He tells one group that because they didn't meet the needs before them, they are seperated and cast out. To the other, He says because they did meet the needs before them, they are welcomed into His eternal inheritance.

Both groups respond to Him unknowingly. The righteous sheep (those that did meet the needs) responded, "Lord, when did we see you hungry.........etc" and the unfaithful goats, (those that did not meet the needs) said "Lord, when did we see you hungry..........etc"

It is a pretty trendy thing in churches these days to "meet the needs of people". Churches all over the place are simplifying their mission statements to articulate their desire to meet the needs of the world. Loving God, loving people, serving the world. Even our church Missio Dei has employed a byline to reveal our passion for this saying "where the mission of God and the needs of the world meet."

My question is this, does Matthew 25 here address primarily the meeting of needs as a way to demonstrate righteousness? Do Jesus' words here tell us that we need to focus our attention on meeting needs? The sheeps response to Jesus declaration of their righteous acts I believe give us a clue. They met the needs seemingly not knowing that they were touching the fathers heart. They made no bragging about their actions.

It seems to me that if our focus is on meeting the needs of people, then we are wide open to becoming prideful about our actions. On the other hand, if we are primarily focused on serving God in "all things", then certainly meeting needs will be a part of our activity but all of our activity will be guided principly by serving God.

In John 20: 21 "Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Oswald Chambers said, "A missioary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people but the command of Jesus. The goal is to be true to Him-to carry out His plans."