Do Christ’s words in Matthew 25:40 mean that the good we do to others who are not our brothers is not regarded as done unto and for the Lord?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘Unity, Origin and Victory’ (1987).

Now this question arises from something I said, as I say so many things in great haste and therefore lack of clarity! I was talking about loving the children of God, that it is an evidence that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And I said we need to be very careful: this is not loving people in general, this is loving the brethren: that is, the true children of God. I made the point rather hastily that sometimes the parable in Matthew 25 is quoted by the world at large, where our Lord says, 'Inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me,' and therefore, the world takes the words to mean that if they've given their one pound to Oxfam, they've done it unto Christ. What I was trying to point out was that that is not necessarily true at all. What our Lord is talking about in that parable is giving to one of Christ's brethren and doing it because he is Christ's brother. When the Lord comes he will reward that as though it were done to himself because it has been done to one of his brethren.

If you then ask how do you become one of Christ's brethren and are all men Christ's brethren, well the answer, of course, is no—they're not all Christ's brethren. He loves mankind, but they're not all his brethren. You wouldn't call Caiaphas a brother of Christ, would you? And how we become Christ's brethren is by being born again, so that was what I was trying to say.

But now your question very fairly comes at it the other way round and says, 'But what about a lady who's a believer and gives some money to famine relief to the third world—will the Lord not reward her? And the answer is, of course he will. You've done it unto the Lord. Says Paul to Christian slaves, who are working for the most unregenerate masters you could possibly get, 'Do your job for them and you'll get a reward from the Lord.' For in our daily life, even working for the boss, we're serving the Lord Christ and he will reward you. So if you've given to the famine relief in the third world, of course the Lord will reward you. Yes, and he'll count it as though you've done it to him.

But I was saying that the other way round isn't true. If a kindly atheist now gives his Oxfam relief to somebody who is also an atheist, he mustn't suppose that the Lord is regarding that as having been given to one of his brethren. Why that is important is this, that in that parable when the sheep are divided from the goats (see Matthew 25:31–46), the criterion that is used is, 'How have you treated my brothers?' That's what John 3:14 is saying. We know we've passed from death unto life, because we love the brothers. 'Yes, those that have treated Christ's brothers that way will inherit eternal life,' says the Lord. It's the evidence that they are true believers, but an atheist giving relief to a fellow atheist is no evidence at all that the man is a true believer.