Sermon Tone Analysis

*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