As You Did It to One of the Least of These

Introduction

How many of us really like petting zoos?

Petting zoos sound attractive. A search of pictures on the internet will show all sorts of happy children feeding and hugging calves, donkeys, and miniature horses, but once you enter through the gate you are in a different world, a world controlled by one animal. The goat.

Let’s look at the goat from a three-year old’s perspective. The goat is at eye level with the child. It has horns. And it demands attention. It demands food. They are a frightening animal to man who are three feet tall.

But where are the sheep? The sheep are often running away from the children. To sheep the children are as goats, something to be feared, something that is demanding their attention. Children are unpredictable to the sheep.

We might think of sheep and goats as being similar because they are often seen together and in Middle Eastern culture they roam fields together. However, they are very much different from each other.

On this Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church Year, we see that God refers to people a both sheep and goats. What makes a person a sheep and what makes a person a goat? Having heard the story from Matthew’s gospel we might think it is by what a person does. Sheep care for others, goats don’t. However this would be a misreading of the text.

Transition: We’ve got to start by looking at the first three verses of our text to understand better what makes people sheep and what makes them goats. Let’s read these three verses again (Read Matthew 25:31-33)

When the King Comes, vs. 31-33

I don’t want to assume anything, but make it clear that Jesus is talking about his return in glory. The Son of Man is Jesus himself. Only this time in his coming he is not laying in a manger, but seated on his glorious through.

Our world is spinning from day to night and night to day, from season to season, decade to decade, millenium to millenium until the day that Jesus is seen in the fulness of his glory. Assumed in Jesus’ story is the reality of the resurrection and the reality of judgment for all humans.

In verse 32 we must note the separation that takes place between the sheep and the goats. In Jesus’ day this separation took place when the sheep were to be sheared.

This separation does not allow for the two groups of people to mingle with each other. Jesus, on his glorious throne, separates the two from each other.

Note that they are already declared to be sheep and goats. Why is this important? This is important because it points us to what Jesus is going to say next. The sheep were sheep in life. The goats were goats in life.

Transition: So what made the sheep, sheep and the goats, goats? That’s the question I want to answer for you as we dig deeper into the text. So, what made the sheep, sheep? Let’s read verses 34-40. (Read Matthew 25:34-40)

The Invitation to Come, vs. 34-40

There is a simple answer to the question of what made the sheep, sheep. It was the good works that they performed.

By feeding and giving water to the poor.

By visiting an caring for the stranger, the sick, and the person in jail.

By clothing the person who has no clothing

By doing these things we might believe that the sheep inherited the kingdom that God had prepared before the world because they were aware that they were doing it for Jesus.

However, how do we reconcile this thought with what Paul says about our inheritance in Romans 8:16-17. We have already inherited the kingdom. It already belongs to us even before we do all these good things.

What makes the sheep, sheep is not their good works, it is their faith in Jesus. It is this relationship that the sheep have with the Good Shepherd that makes them, that declares them to be sheep.

Evidence that the sheep were sheep because of their faith in Jesus is the fact that they recognized that they couldn’t do anything to make themselves a sheep. They understood their lack of doing what Jesus desired them to do. They reflected the shyness of the sheep.

Examine your own walk in Christ. Imagine the day when the Good Shepherd will speak these words to you. Don’t you see yourself responding in the same way? When did I see you...

What makes you one of Jesus’ sheep is your relationship you have with him. Your faith in the fact that the Good Shepherd laid down his life for you makes you one of his sheep now and for all eternity.

Transition: So that answers the question of what makes the sheep, sheep. But what about the other side of that question? What makes the goats, goats? Let’s read verses 41-45.

The Command to Depart, vs. 41-45

Notice the interesting movement in this text. It reflects what you see in a petting zoo. The sheep have distanced themselves from the King because they recognize their failure, but the sheep smash up against the King demanding that they deserve to inherit the kingdom.

We fed and gave water to the poor, probably even better than those sheep at your right hand.

We visited and cared for the stranger, the sick and the person in prison, probably even better than those sheep at your right hand.

We clothed the person who didn’t have clothing, probably even better than the sheep at your right hand.

We make some interesting assumptions about this text. We might think that the work of the sheep had a better quality to it than the goats. Jesus nowhere states that fact. It’s even possible that from our human perspective the work of the goats was of better quality than the sheep.

The evidence that the goats were goats because of their lack of faith in Jesus is the fact that they thought they were great people doing great things in this world. THEY DIDN’T NEED JESUS. They thought that it all depended on them and that Jesus should be proud of their efforts and congratulate them for their behavior. Their boldness reflected the arrogance of goats.

Transition: One of the most difficult passages of the Bible is verse 46. Let’s look at it again. (Read Matthew 25:46)

Conclusion: The new reality, vs. 46

The goats will depart. There will not be any option for them. They will depart to the place of eternal separation from God that was prepared, not for them, but for Satan and the host of hell. The goats have condemned themselves to this fate by their lack of faith in Jesus.

However, the sheep, those who have been declared to be right with God through the blood of Jesus. Those who have know the power of forgiveness in Jesus, will enter into the life that we cannot comprehend. Amen.