Sermon Sheep and the Goats
Sermon Sheep and the Goats
“Surviving the Last Judgment”
Scripture tells us (OT and NT) that at the end of the world, God will judge each human being according to what he/she has done
In other words, the Last Judgment is a judgment of works
All people, including those who profess faith in Christ—yes, eternal destiny (or real or fake faith exposed)
Conflicts Paul?
Not really
God is holding us accountable for the grace he gave us
Genuine faith produces good deeds
Literary Context
This parable is the end of a big teaching section (chapters 24 + 25) about the end of world (the present age)
The Disciples were asking Jesus when the end of the age will happened and Jesus tells them about it
Talked about the signs of his return (the 2nd Coming): earthquakes, wars, famines, etc
Then he told his disciples to watch out and be prepared
Tells the disciples a series of parables about being prepared for Jesus’ return
Survival guide of the end of the world
First, be a wise and diligent servant and serve faithfully expecting the master to return as opposed to goofing off: beating up my fellow servants and partying all night long
Second parable
Ten Virgins
Half the ladies were prepared half unprepared for the bridegroom (didn’t have enough oil for their lamps)
Shut out of the banquet
‘Open the door!’
‘I don’t know you!’
Third parable
Talents
The servant who buries the money that the master gave him before leaving on a journey and did absolutely nothing with it
When the master returns he holds this servant accountable for his negligence and throws him out ‘into the darkness, where there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (exclusion from the kingdom; eternal separation from God)
Forth parable
Sheep and the goats
Parable
Our parable is about the Last Judgment
Jesus comes back and sits on his throne and judges ‘all nations’ i.e. all the people
No one will be excluded (I think that’s what nations mean)
Symbols: Jesus is the shepherd: separating the sheep and the goats
Palestinian shepherds did that
Meaning: God will divide the righteous and wicked in the Last Judgment
Common theme in the Bible and Jesus’ teaching
There are some difficulties in interpretation at this point
Everyone (Christian and non-Christian) is being judged but the criteria of judgment seems to be referring to people who know Jesus
‘If you have done it for the least of my brothers’
The language is how we (believers treat each other)
I think the best way to read this parable is that it is talking about the judgment of believers
All the 3 previous parables is talking about this
Jesus is speaking to the disciples: warning them: survival guide for disciples
The ‘nations’ language sets up the parable telling us that it’s the Last Judgment
Squeeze too hard in the parables thinks go out of whack
The gist of the parable is that the Sheep gets in the kingdom (goes to heaven) for doing good things and the Goats are shut out for not doing good things
Are you getting the sinking feeling at this stage, the lump in the throat?
Before we try to correct the apparent lack of good deeds in our lives (go into survival mode [Grace gave me this one]), let’s make sure we put our efforts in the right place
First notice the Sheep weren’t in Survival mode
In fact, they were quite stupid, well ignorant about the good things they were doing for Jesus
When did we do these things for you Lord?
They weren’t accounting the good deeds they did
They were going, yes, see this Lord, I’ve done you a huge favor now by giving my brother some loose change
If their focus was not on survival or showing Jesus how worthy they are for the kingdom what are they focus on?
What kind of deeds were they doing? This is key
Feeding the hungry
Satisfying the thirst of the thirsty
Sheltering and befriending the stranger
Clothing the naked
Comforting the prisoner
What do you call these things?
Acts of compassion and mercy
Who did they do it to? Who did they show compassion and mercy to?
Everyone, even ‘the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters’
What’s the point of this?
Not only are the sheep ignorant about what they were doing
They didn’t know how to leverage their good deeds to get the most return!
If you’re smart, you would be nice to people in the community who have something (power resource etc) just in case you need to call in a favor
Or at least be nice to power who are somebodies (higher on the food chain), so you might get some glory out of this
But for goodness sakes, don’t waste you time on the losers and unpopular, because you’ll never get anything back for your efforts
But No! the stupid sheep does things to the least significant people in the community and expects nothing in return
What’s the sheep on about? What’s their secret?
First, they do compassionate things, extreme acts of mercy
Second, they do it to even the insignificant people in the community
Looks a bit familiar?
Who was really big on compassionate and did extreme acts of mercy?
Who had a thing for the desperate, destitute and defenseless people?
Who? JESUS!
In other words, the stupid sheep did exactly what Jesus did
DWJD
Sheep do that
They love and trust the shepherd and follow him where ever he would go
This is the secret of the sheep
They did what they did because they knew the shepherd
The key to survival is not counting up the good things I need to do to get into the kingdom
Devise strategies
Key is to know Jesus Christ
If you truly know him, you will do the things he did
Not any kind of doing
Without compassion, mercy; it’s void
Wrong kind of doing; chances are you’re in it for yourself
No everyone who calls me Lord, Lord
I never knew you! We have no relationship
Know is a special word in the Bible
Yada – intimacy between husband and wife
Deep sharing
I remember those days
Lily was living with her sister at that time in PoCo
I would drive out there; probably cancel my tutoring work
Who cares?
We would share about thing until the wee hours of the morning
Forget to eat: Gas station Chevron
Wait for McDonalds to open
Time would fly
Things I would do for her
Never count the cost or effort, you would just do it
Why, because you really love and cherish the other person
The secret of the sheep and all that they did was because they were intimate with Jesus Christ
It’s not a matter of survival, but a matter of love and respect for Christ
To know, to have that kind of intimacy, is to share the passion of the other, you can’t help it
Lily had to go back to HK
BBQ; I had no passion for youth (not really)
Stanley
Ma Fan
I didn’t but share in the passion
I begin to see and care about them
To know is to love
To know is to share in the passion of the one I love
I hope you get the point of the parable
The deeds need to be there, can’t get pass it
But make sure you take the right path
Focus your energies in the right direction
Focus is Jesus, to know him
To know him
Is to know that I’m loved by him
To be loved by him is to have love for my brother/sister
Great disadvantage as a CBC
Either they really know Jesus
Or they are slugs (goats) [passively waiting for heaven to descend upon my life]
Bad News: parable
Chinese Christians are different
They know how to get busy
In trying to love, many do become intimate with Christ
Not all, some become Pharisees
Slugs: don’t know Jesus
Living in the narrative of our dysfunctional family
Faith is just the nagging voice of my Christian parents telling me to wake up for church
I have no idea why I go to church
Maybe comfortable familiarity
Cheers, where everybody know your name
I’ve been there; no stranger to slug
As a university grad who went to church all his life, I woke up one day and realized I don’t know Jesus
It’s all BS to me
I was only pretending (not on purpose)
No reality to my faith
No love or compassion in me
I was only a Christian in name
And this was the beginning of true faith in me
Because I realized I had no faith
If you realize you don’t know him
No love for him, no passion for him
He is as real as Spiderman
And then start looking for him
Make this the singular obsession of your life
More urgent that career, having kids, financial security
Ask for the desire to know him
Why do I need to look? Jesus will pursue me won’t he? Like my parents telling me to get married, drink soup or clean up my room
Yes, he will, but we have our part to play
He is the Father looking for the lost son/daughter and he will marshal his powers to bring us home but remember, he sets up the situation, but he requires our participation
Our seeking him is a test of faith and obedience
The Father is waiting, he nudges the Prodigal homes
He flash images of his loving face
He brings memory
But at the end of the day; the Father cannot walk the lonely road for his son
The Prodigal must seek out the Father and walk home
God expects us to participate in our salvation
Slug is bad
He has brought you into families of faith
He has brought you here from a non-religious background
He has brought you here in the presence of his word, in the presence of the Spirit and the Gospel
Now look for him!
Jeremiah
We must participate in our salvation (go with grace)
Way too passive
We think church membership
We think doctrine
Intellectual agreement
No fruits, means no salvation
Obsessing over sins when our lives are barren of compassion and deeds of compassion
We must know Jesus Christ
Because
To know him
Is to know that I’m loved by him
To be loved by him is to have love for my brother/sister
To love my brother/sister is to have eternal life
Attitude
I don’t know you
But I want to know you
To know you
Is to know that I’m loved by you
To be loved by you is to have love for my brother/sister