Sheep and Goats

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 22:22-31

Psalm 22:22–31 ESV

I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 19:16-17

Proverbs 19:16–17 ESV

Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

Sermon:

Good morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well, we have finally made it to the end of the Olivet discourse. To what's commonly thought of as “the parable of the sheep and the goats” though it's not really a parable and that's really not what this passage, We will see, Is about. Really that is sort of the introductory thought. That's the groundwork. We will see that jesus uses it to lay out what he's seeking to say here.

Ultimately, this portion of the Olivet discourse is very difficult. And at the same time i would argue it's not really all that difficult if we are careful. For the rash or un-invested, really the not-so-careful reader, it's very difficult because we might be led to some conflicting thoughts. But on the other hand, it's not that difficult if we know our savior, if we know what he has taught, really here, but also throughout the rest of scripture. If we know who said these things, then we can make sense of this. Going deeper, It's difficult because there are hard truths to be seen here. There is judgment. There is wrath. There is the real culmination of the thoughts that we have been covering for the last 5 weeks in the Olivet Discourse, hearing as we've been hearing for the past few weeks thoughts like: “I don't know you.” Difficult things like hearing that You are now facing judgment. And so these are difficult thoughts. Yet again, but it's not really difficult if we know our savior and we understand the justice and the perfect holiness of the god that we serve.

This passage teaches us to understand how to live in the completed work of christ. It teaches us how to live that out. How, once we are justified and made holy, we THEN are empowered to live lives in service to Christ. In this passage, we see thoughts that teach us the nature of our justification and then show us the depth of what we are called to in our sanctification. So there's a lot that we're putting into this one passage, so let's read it this morning.

Matthew 25:31–46 ESV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

These are the words of the lord for us this morning. Let's open. With the word of prayer.

Dear Lord, we you thank you for today. Thank you for your words given to us, that we might know you and hear from you. We thank you that we are yours: known from before the foundation of the world, called to be your people. Called to live lives “Worthy of the calling we have received”. To walk in the good works that you have prepared in advance. So we pray and ask that you would help us to be faithful. Teach us according to your word, speak to our hearts, this morning. Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen.

As we start, by reading this parable. Often called the parable of the sheep in the goats, I would say it's actually not a parable. There's some certain things that parables have that this doesn't. Specifically the phrase (or one similar like) “the kingdom of heaven is like”. Instead this is like some sort of introductory thought. Jesus is using them more like a simile. But then,as we get in to it, the sheep and the goats are a picture that teach us something. So, in that way, i guess they are a parable. But because it is a little different, we need to approach it just a little differently. We don't look to how sheep and goats are normally treated to understand this parable. Our Goal is NOT to go through each thing and weigh out what it might mean or represent, truly i would say that it is not that difficult. So this is what i would call a very specific quote unquote, parable.

This is a SPECIFIC “parable”

It's a parable in that the sheep and the goats they they help us. They are picture, at least in the beginning, of how the separation works. But it is not a full orbed parable, because The coming of the son of man with his angels is NOT a part of the picture. It is mixed, a picture to help us mixed with some specific real life things that Jesus is talking about. Because Jesus is DOING something very specific here.

Michael Green in his commentary on this passage writes this: “This parable that is actually not really a parable has been endlessly discussed”. And to that I would say: “Amen”. Truly you could find sermon after sermon book after book commentary after commentary just on these 16 verses. Ultimately, this passage has had a whole lot of ink spilled for it. And yet, it turns out, even in light of all this writing and thought and things going on around this parable, many people don't seem to understand it at all.

To continue from Green: “People who reduce the gospel to social action, seem to love it. Because it seems to have no theology in it and a great deal of care for the poor and the needy. It gives to them the impression that to serve the poor is necessarily to serve christ in them. On the other hand, people with a strong reformed, theology have many problems with it. It looks dangerously close to justification by works. The very antithesis of Paul, Augustine and Luther.”

What He's trying to say here is one of the reasons this passage is viewed with such broad thoughts and attitudes is because people don't seem to read it correctly. There is the classic trap of what we would call isegesis, reading your own thoughts and attitudes and hearts INTO the passage, rather than letting Scripture speak to us. So they want to read a whole bunch of other things into it. Those who would reduce the gospel to some sort of social thing. Not repentance and turning to christ and confessing your sin and finding in him the perfect savior. Not understanding the thoughts of sanctification, not living a holy life, rather: “just do good deeds”. They seem to love it because they think they can find justification for that type of thinking here.

And then I would say, often in respose to that -- in reaction to people abusing this passage there is the opposite group of people who kinda just wish Jesus never said these things. And so people who are very much reformed, Who are just like ME. Built upon the five solas of the reformation: who are believe in salvation Sola Fide, Sola Gracia, Solus Cristus, Sola Scriptura Soli Deo Gloria. In English: salvation by grace alone, Through faith alone, in christ alone, according to the scriptures alone for god's glory alone. Sometimes we look at this and we think, whoa, this this idea you fed you visited and you came and you did these things… That is what salvation is all about... It feels like maybe that's not what we want to read in here either.

This is what green says and i would agree: “on closer inspection. This passage does not warrant either. Of these attitudes.” So here is the point: This passage is not about some sort of social gospel, it's about the gospel coming to jesus christ in repentance and finding in him the perfect savior. This is not a parable about justification by works. Tough works are here -- That's not how we're justified. That's how we're sanctified. We are justified only in the completed work of christ. We can't earn it. We can't do anything, but trust in him. But then, once we're in him, well than we are his sheep. And as his sheep, he will know us. He will care for us. It's very specific because if we get too broad and we try to universalize any of the individual actions or universalize, any of these other stuff, we miss the very heart and point of this parable. Our relation to the kingdom and to the king is, what is at the heart of this parable.

It's not about how we work. Though work is in here. It's not about sort of social issues though, jesus does broach those. The specific ness of this parable causes us to see this: When we are in christ. We will be Okay.

So the way to think through and i think the way we get to a lot of these specific things, is to just walk through what's going on here. What are the specifics that are being dealt with here in this passage? And what i want to start by saying is that we start with a very particular time.

A particular TIME …

This is not some universally timed thing, this is not sort of time just existing, it's not a universal principle of time. Rather, Jesus is speaking of a very specific time when he says in verse 31

Matthew 25:31 ESV

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

It's at the end of all time. If we need to nail down the time in sort of scriptural phrases and language, we could do this. The timing of this is Revelation chapter 19 starting in verse 11.

Revelation 19:11–16 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

So it when he comes to judge. Too make war. This is the particular time. This is final judgment language. This is -- we are dead and gone standing before our maker to give an account of our lives and account of where we stand. This is nothing less than the end of all things. When the disciples asked at the beginning of the Olivet discourse: “tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Well this is what Jesus was building to, This is the end of the age. The whole passage opens and Jesus has come. It is critical that we start here, with the particular time because if we don’t, if we will be tempted to read more or less into this passage. If this is just a “principle to live your life by”, then we will see this as either not enough, or as way to much.

But to understand that this is the final judgement wherein we will stand before the Lord, that this is the final judgement then it first reminds us that we are his, hidden in christ, but then we should be about service to the master. Knowing the timing frames our mind correctly but then there is more.

There's a very particular time in mind here. And in this particular time, We see a very particular Judge.

… Where a particular JUDGE …

At this time, the son of man will come: Jesus christ Our lord and savior. The one who just a few short chapters, after he said this in Matthew will be crucified. But the one whom the grave could not hold. The one who rose victoriously on the third day. Who then walked with his disciples teaching them, explaining things to them, before he would ascend to the right hand of the father. The judge who From there will return. It's him.

Our prophet, priest and here, particularly — Our king. The judge here is our righteous king. Gathering all nations and separating all people. The judge here is the good shepherd. one who looks and sees and then just truly knows that these are my sheep. And These are the goats. These are my people. These are not.

He is here described as the “son of man”. Again verse 31: When the SON OF MAN comes in his glory”! This goes back, we've noted this before — This is jesus' favorite phrase for himself. And Matthew is quick to use these words that Jesus calls himself. “The son of man”. We get this from Daniel chapter 7. It's important that jesus uses the phrase, “son of man” here because it gets into the nature of this Judge. It ties it to the particular time, but importantly it ties it to particular person.

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

That's the judge of this passage. It's jesus christ. Our lord and king. To misconstrue or to misunderstand what's being said in this, passage misses the weightiness of our judge. And he will judge rightly. The rod of iron, his scepter is in his hand. We already read revelation 19. He's coming. To make war. And in this, this particular judge there is no neutral people.

Either you are a sheep or you are a goat. Either you are one to whom he will say: “come who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom, prepared for you for the foundation of the world.” Or to you He will say: “depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Those are the two options. Life and death. Eternal Life and death. Again, verse 46.

Matthew 25:46 ESV

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

There's a very particular judge. Here it is Jesus christ. Our lord. Coming in a particular time, the time that he sees fit. We should remember, he came at the first time Paul writes in Galatians “when the fullness of time had come”. And now we longingly anticipate the specific particular time where he will come back again. And this particular judge, we should note makes a particular judgment.

… makes a particular JUDGEMENT!

And here's where things can get messy If we're not careful. The first thing we should note, the first thing we must note: He separates the sheep and goats before anything else. Before he talks about what they did or didn't do. And he can do this because as he makes this judgment, he already knows his sheep and his goats. It's not that you can sneak into one group or the other. He knows his sheep. He's been preparing this place for them since before the foundation of the world. And so he will welcome them. This particular judgment is for each person. It is a judgment to eternal life and blessings worshiping forever in heaven, or it is in to eternal judgment. So the judgment... The particular judgment He's making Is simply this: Are you his Or not?

Before we even get into any of the works, before we get into any of the things that are happening in this passage, that is ultimately what the judgment is. It is, as we said earlier, our relationship to the king and the kingdom. THIS judgment is made first.

How do we know this? The reason we can know this, well, we actually can read it and see it here in this passage. We don't even have to go sort of different biblical places to see different passages that would say these sorts of thoughts. Though, there are many passages that would say these same things that we can see it here. But beautifully here, One of the reasons we know that the sheep can't earn their way, can’t work their way into being sheep and the goats is that they Don't even know what they're doing. In fact, they bulk of this passage is them proclaiming that neither of them actually knows what they're doing.

Jesus comes, he gives them this list that will look at here in a second. But note they say, wait, lord,

Matthew 25:37–39 ESV

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

Ultimatly they are a little confused. WE didn;t do this. We were just your people. They don't even know what they're doing. and then we see the same thought, just completly reversed For the goats. verse 44.

Matthew 25:44 ESV

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

Ultimatly they too just ask: when did we do this?

Because here is the truth: You can't work this! If you're trying to work, if you think this is a social gospel or a works based gospel that's being proclaimed here you have lost sight of the particular time that this particular judge is making this particular judgement. Because you can't work it. Neither of the people working in this passage had any idea what they were doing. Rather all of the actions of the people, the goats, and the sheep in this passage are a natural outpouring of who they already are.

This is about our sanctification that is at work because christ has already justified us. That's the judgment he's making. And so before we even dive into what he says, about what they did note, they are known because they are his. As the judge comes, the beautiful king of kings and lord of lords, the Ultimate judge comes at the end of all time to make his judgment. First and foremost top be separating one from another. And he knows his.

But then, from that we can look to the particular things he notes. For both of the groups there are six things that he lists: (1) Feeding the hungry (2) Giving drink to the thirsty (3) Welcoming the stranger (4) Clothing the naked (5) Visiting the sick and finally (6) visiting those in prison.

The temptation for those of us who are Pharisaical in our hearts is to say a huge thank you to Jesus, because he just gave us a checklist. I can do all 6 of these things, none of them is particularly difficult. I can drop my clothes off at goodwill and think: did my part to clothe the naked. I can donate to the soup kitchen and think: fed the hungry. Maybe I think I am super righteous and so I carry around a case of water bottles to give to people I see standing on the street corner. WE might think: well, I don’t have any loved ones in prison… but if I did, well then I would totally make sure I would visit them.

And as soon as we, the MOMENT that we start thinking this way we have completely missed the whole boat. This list is not about the six specific things, rather this is the practical working out of what Jesus said just a few pages back. It has been a little while, we have been in the Olivet Discourse for a hot minute, but before this if we remember Jesus was in the temple being tested by various groups. And the last test Jesus was given was from the expert in the law, a Pharisaical lawyer. he asked Jesus: “What is the great commandment of the law?” Jesus responded: Love God and love others.

Matthew 22:36–39 ESV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And here these six things are done out of love for Others, yes, but importantly note the turn Jesus uses. It is done for God. Service and Love to God. that is ultimately the measure here.

God, in his perfect wisdom, in his sovereign Rule, as the one who knows the very thoughts and intentions of man is able to see through all the charades and to the literal heart of the matter which is your heart. The sheep prove that they are sheep because they love God, and in doing so they love others, and in doing so they meet their need, they care for them. The goats prove that they are goats, because instead of love and compassion they are filled with selfish thoughts.

Ultimately, Like I said earlier, the judgement is simply this: are you In Christ or Not. but all of these other things, they become a sort of barometer for your life. To try and work at this, will never work. again, neither group knew what they were really doing, instead, one group truly loves God, they are truly his, the others do not. At the perfect time, the perfect Judge will make his perfect judgement. The question for you is this: are you in Christ or not?

Lets pray!