The Parable of the Sheep and Goats • Matthew 25:31-46

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And so let's go ahead and dive on in.

If you've got your Bible, it's going to open up to Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

And this morning, we're going to look at the parable of the sheep and the goats.

Now, as you're turning there, I think there's some significance to the placement of the teaching

and where Matthew puts this parable in.

So this parable is one of the last teachings of Jesus as he enters into the Passover scene

with his disciples.

So some biblical history of what's going on.

This is right before Jesus would teach on the Last Supper.

This is right before Jesus would be betrayed.

It's right before he would be arrested, beaten, and then crucified.

And so this is the very last words of Christ before all of these other events begin to unfold

where he will do some more teaching.

But this kind of ends a segment of ministry for him.

And I think it's very important for us to look at and see what exactly is Jesus talking about.

As we read it, this parable unfolds a little bit differently than other parables.

In fact, some people say that this isn't even a parable.

It's just a teaching of Jesus.

But there are some aspects of it that make it a parable.

So kind of what am I talking about?

So as Jesus begins to teach, he speaks in the reality of referring to himself as the Son of Man.

Which in all the other parables that we've studied,

Jesus begins at the very beginning with establishing who he is as a character within the parable.

But then he's going to switch over and he's going to refer to both the shepherd and the king.

And so when you see in here, Jesus is the Son of Man, Jesus is the shepherd, Jesus is the king,

as it all goes forward and as he tells the parable.

So let's start reading Matthew chapter 25 verse 31.

Matthew 25:31

Jesus says,

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?

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 and to 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 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.

And so Jesus, as he begins this next stage of ministry,

not only for him, but for his followers,

is continuing to lay the groundwork of communicating some hard truth for them

as they're going to continue on in ministry without him.

And what I mean by without him is without his physical presence there.

So Jesus is about to go to the cross and die.

And they're going to have that stretch of three day period where they're without him.

But then also into the ascension where Jesus will go and promise of the Holy Spirit

and still be with his followers in spirit, but not be with them physically.

And so again, it's this important message of the gospel.

It's the important part of what I'm entrusting you with.

And Jesus paints a picture that would be very common of the separating of the sheep and the goats

to the group of disciples that are gathered there with him.

And so what I want us to look at within here is there's some harsh realities of truths

that you and I, as we call ourselves believers,

that we have to embrace within the gospel teaching of what the gospel calls us to.

And then maybe even more important, what we reflect of the gospel.

You know, there's a phrase that's used commonly and it's applied to this passage of scripture

that we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

And I want to say, I agree with that, but I believe that it's a partial truth

and not the full truth of what we're called to be.

That what we're called to be is the hands, the feet, and the mouth of Jesus.

That what we carry with us, what we proclaim, and what we do

should all fully embrace the gospel.

And it's what we see come forward out of this passage of scripture.

So let's understand the gospel and then how that impacts us

and what that causes in our life.

So the first truth I think we want to look at,

which is going to provide the umbrella of which this message falls under,

is this, that the gospel both unites and separates.

The gospel both unites and separates.

One of the common things that a lot of believers are talking about,

especially in the culture and the climate in which we currently live,

is the unity of believers and the unity of the gospel.

And that's true.

The gospel does provide unity.

But the full truth of the work of what the gospel does

is the gospel both unites and the gospel separates.

And it's what we see from the very beginning in verse 32.

Jesus says,

So let's look at this.

What does it mean that the gospel both equally unites and equally separates?

First part, the gospel unites.

Jesus' words.

Before him will be gathered all the nations.

You see, there's a global work of God that's been going on since the very beginning

that we as believers have to come and wrestle with and understand

and work toward applying in our life.

And Jesus doesn't back down from it.

In his teachings, even before they knew of the faith that would go

and that would spread all across the world,

and Jesus establishes right here.

There's a beautiful work of the gospel that unites.

Before him will be gathered all the nations.

In Revelation chapter 7, in John's account of the throne room,

Revelation 7 · chapter mention

as he begins to describe what that looks like,

he's very specific.

Where he says,

Gathered before the king is every tribe, every nation, and every tongue.

Jesus in Matthew 28, when he gives us the great commission, right?

The call of all believers to go and to make disciples.

He says that we're not just to make disciples here.

We're not just to make disciples over there.

We're not just to make disciples in our community,

but that the work of the church is continually working and moving

so that we make disciples of all nations.

And the word used there for nations is the word ethnic,

to imply the ethnic groups.

So you and I, when we begin to understand that the gospel is global,

that the gospel unites every tribe, every nation, every tongue,

we begin to understand the bigness of the call of the gospel.

See, we even look at one country in our world right now,

the country of India.

There are over 2,700 ethnic groups alone found in India.

And so God in the great commission,

Jesus here doesn't say, just take the gospel to India.

Jesus says, take the gospel to 2,700 different ethnic groups in India

and the application of the gospel.

Because God's heart, God's desire, God's plan is the gathering of all.

And so we begin to look at this great, big, global work of what God is doing.

And this morning, I was able to pull up the statistics and look at it.

That within the 100 largest unreached people groups,

the 100 largest unreached ethnic groups,

there's 1.9 billion people, 25% of the world's population.

It's a church we've got work to do.

When standing before God, of what, how the gospel unites,

about how the gospel brings in,

about how the gospel has always been intended to be taken to people

who don't look like us,

who don't speak the same language that we do,

that have different cultures than what we have,

have different skin color than what we have,

look differently, act differently, respond differently.

But the gospel goes to them.

What we see when we look at scripture

is that the gospel sees and celebrates diversity.

And it is the power of God displayed in that

that unites.

The world always wants to take people

and divide them into their spot.

Put them in their box.

Give them their area.

Divide them into their space.

And the work of God and the power of only the gospel

says, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not what we do.

We take all of those people who are different.

We take all of those people

who should be at conflict.

And what the gospel does

is brings them together

and turns them into family.

It turns them into a people.

God's people.

So that where there once were peoples,

there's now a people before one king.

Jesus.

And so the gospel unites.

But another thing is the gospel separates.

And Jesus tells us that he will separate people

one from another

as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Now let's talk a little bit about being a shepherd.

Kind of a lost job profession in our world.

But being a shepherd was a hard job.

Being a shepherd was a dirty job.

In fact, if you were a shepherd,

that job was typically done from a distance.

And you would have to take your flock away from town

for a couple reasons.

Number one, they smelled bad.

I don't know if you've ever been around

massive groups of animals,

but they typically don't smell too good.

Right?

So the shepherds would go out from the town

to the pastures in which their flocks would graze.

But then also they had to go outside of the town

to get the water and what they would need.

And so here's why this is important.

Shepherds, when we think of shepherds,

at least when I do in the context in which I grew up,

I picture a shepherd with a big flock of sheep around them.

Right?

If we think back to our old Sunday school classes

and the pictures,

we think about the Christmas narrative

that's told to us and what we picture

and what we think of.

But the truth is most shepherds

during the time of Jesus' day,

it wouldn't just be sheeps.

In fact, most of the time it would be sheep and goats

would all be a part of the flock together.

So as the shepherd would move and navigate,

he has some sheep,

he has some goats,

and the job of the shepherd was to keep them separate

because of what they needed

and how they responded to each other.

But when most people would look out

and look across and look down into the pasture

and see from a distance,

do you know what people couldn't do?

They couldn't tell the difference

between sheep and goats.

Only the shepherd could.

And I think it's an interesting part

for us to be able to understand,

we begin to understand that the gospel separates.

That Jesus says there is this great unity,

but there's going to also be a separation

that is placed in between.

And who separates?

Not the townspeople looking off,

not the people who are out on the side,

but the shepherd himself separates.

And so we begin to understand

in this separation that exists

that Jesus is both the means

and the standard of the separation.

That's why John chapter 14, verse 6,

John 14:6

Jesus speaking of himself,

says,

I, I am the way,

I am the truth,

I am the life,

that it all comes from who?

Jesus.

Not just his teaching,

not the things that he does,

but that all of them found within him

that Jesus is the way,

Jesus is the truth,

Jesus is the life,

and in that the gospel separates.

There's an eternal weight

that is placed within this passage of scripture.

This isn't a hypothetical situation

that Jesus is laying out,

but it's a situation

that rings true for scripture

and that every single one of us will face.

As we heard the two little kids

on the end of the video, right,

begin to argue,

I am the sheep,

I am the sheep,

I am the sheep,

I am the sheep.

The reality is,

within our world,

within our life,

there's only two choices.

You're either a sheep,

or you're a goat.

And that's determined

by the king.

It's determined

by the gospel.

So the gospel unites,

but the gospel also separates.

So how do we respond in this

as we read the situation

that unfolds

as Jesus shares

with his disciples?

And for us,

I think what we have to come to

is seeing others

in light of the gospel.

Seeing others

in light of the gospel.

So as we begin to see this story

of what is happening,

the separation happens.

And Jesus says

that the sheep

will be on the right

and the goats

will be on the left.

And what the sheep

will enter into

is the sheep

will enter into

an inheritance.

The sheep

will enter into the kingdom.

The sheep

will enter in

before their heavenly king.

But the goats,

the goats

will enter into punishment.

Same situation,

two different destinations.

And so Jesus begins

to speak

of why one

heads in one direction

and the other

heads in the other direction.

And this continues

to build on the narrative

that we've been seeing

in parables.

Jesus speaks

to their fruit.

Jesus speaks

to what is seen.

Jesus speaks

as to who they are.

And so Jesus

looks at the sheep

and he says,

look,

when I was hungry,

you fed me.

When I was thirsty,

you gave me something

to drink.

When I was a stranger,

you welcomed me in.

When I was naked,

you cared for me.

When I was sick,

you visited me.

When I was in prison,

you came to me.

So as the sheep

are going in,

they're excited

to enter into the kingdom.

And from back behind them,

they can hear

the shepherd begin

to say

why they're headed in.

And then an amazing

thing happens.

They're surprised.

I think this is the part

that we miss

all too often

in scripture.

They're surprised

that they're entering in

and for the reason

of why the shepherd

says they're going

into the kingdom.

And I think this speaks

to the great humility

of the redeemed life.

It's not as they entered in

and as what's being spoken

about them

as they begin

to nod their heads

and say,

that's right,

look at all of the things

that I've done.

But it's that

in the humility

of them,

they're even surprised

of the work

that God has done

in them.

And the posturing

and the positioning

of their heart.

And so they ask

a profound question.

When did we do this?

Jesus, tell us,

when did this happen?

When did we see you

this way?

When did we know

that this is who you were?

And Jesus,

very simply,

Jesus in his kindness

and his compassion,

says,

as you did

for the least

of these,

my brothers,

you did also

for me.

But then there's

the goats.

And as they begin

to enter in,

Jesus begins

to speak

of their lack

of fruit,

of what they

didn't do.

Continuing to build

on that this

is who you are,

that this is the

transformation

that takes place

in your life.

And Jesus says,

I was hungry.

You didn't feed me.

I was thirsty.

You gave me

nothing to drink.

I was a stranger.

I was naked.

I was sick.

I was in prison.

And you not one time

cared for me.

And their response

was,

but Jesus,

if we would have

known it was you,

it would have been

completely different.

And you see

the motivation

of the fruit

of their heart.

It's not about

what's been done

to them

that overflows

on how they

treat others.

You see,

the core of the heart

of the teaching

of the gospel

shows us

who we are,

not only with Christ,

but who we were

before Christ.

The more that I

dig into God's word,

the more I begin

to understand

how unworthy

I am of him,

of what the gospel

reveals to me,

that I was a

desperate sinner

worthy of death

and death alone.

But what God

gave me

was not what I

deserved.

But what God

gave me

was his grace.

And it

transforms us.

The gospel

transforms how

we see ourselves.

And then when

the gospel

rightly applied

to our lives,

surrendered before God,

it begins to

change how

we see others.

And so there's

a question that

comes from this

parable that

a lot of people

argue about.

And the question

is, when Jesus

gives this parable,

who's he talking

about was served?

Who are the

least of these?

Is it everybody?

Is it all

of the different

people that I

encounter, both

saved and lost?

Or is it just

the saved people?

So Jesus,

what are you

talking about

when you say

to the least

of these?

And I want

to attempt

this morning

to answer

that without

answering it

at all.

All right?

I think you'll

understand what

I'm saying

in a second.

The first

thing that I

want us to

understand is

it changes

how we view

the Imago

Dei.

And what I

mean by the

Imago Dei

is everyone.

It's the truth

rooted for us

in Genesis,

in creation,

when God

said that he

made man

in his image

and in his

likeness.

The phrase

in his image

and his likeness

is the Imago

Dei.

It's what

all of

mankind,

regardless of

language,

regardless of

skin tone,

regardless of

race,

regardless of

country,

regardless of

male or

female,

it's what

all of

mankind

has been

made in.

And what

the gospel

does is the

gospel changes

the way that

we view

everyone by

causing us

to understand

and realize

that everyone

is made

in the

Imago Dei,

that everyone

is made

in the image

of God.

So when I

see someone,

regardless of

what I see,

regardless of

what they do,

regardless of

what they say,

they were an

individual made

in the image

of God,

both the

lost and the

saved.

in our

world right

now,

I feel

where we're

being pushed

toward

is placing

ourselves in

camps,

identifying

with a

group

that either

think like

us,

speak like

us,

believe like

us,

or look

like us.

And in

that,

those are

the group

of people

that we

should be

drawn to.

Those are

the group

of people

that we

should care

for.

Those are

the group

of people

that we

should love.

Those are

the group

of people

that we

should give

grace.

Those are

the group

of people

that we

should align

ourselves

with.

The problem

and the

tension

within that

is it

goes against

what Scripture

teaches us,

that everyone

is made

in the

image

and the

likeness

of God

so that

when we

go out

and we

love,

when there's

hunger,

when there's

thirst,

when there's

desperation,

that we

look at

mankind

as the

whole

and how

we view

others

matters.

Whether

they're lost

or saved,

whether

they're

Republican

or Democrat,

whether

they're rich

or poor,

whether

they're

black or

white.

because of

the

Mago

Day,

there should

be a

burden

in our

hearts

for all

men,

all women,

and all

children

to hear,

to see,

and to have

the opportunity

to respond

to the

gospel of

Jesus Christ.

There is

no more

diversity

than in

heaven.

there's

no more

diversity

than in

heaven.

How we

view

everyone

matters.

But it

should also

change this,

how we

view the

family,

those of

us who

were saved.

You know,

it's an

interesting

thing when

you look at

scripture.

God could

have referred

to his

group of

people by

many things.

He could

refer to

them as

a

denomination.

He could

have referred

to them

as a

religion.

He could

have referred

to them

as an

organization

or a

non-profit.

But he

didn't.

That time

and time

and time

again,

the imagery

and the

picture of

what we

see in

scripture

is that

of the

family.

So that

you're my

brother,

and I'm

your brother.

So that

you're my

sister,

and I'm

your brother.

That all

of us,

regardless of

our skin

tone,

regardless of

our language,

regardless of

where we

were born,

regardless of

how we

voted,

regardless of

what we've

done or

what we

will do,

regardless of

our education,

regardless of

our placement

in society,

that we

are all

family,

brothers and

sisters in

Christ,

before the

heavenly

father.

not the

CEO,

not the

manager,

but before

our heavenly

father.

And I

think right

now,

more so,

my life

has been

brief so

far,

but I

believe there's

an opportunity

for the

church,

for the

family of

God,

to display

themselves

in such

a capacity

that glorifies

him and

draws people

to him.

That we

have an

opportunity,

that as

Berger talked

about at the

very beginning

of God's

plan,

that in the

midst of the

chaos,

in the midst

of the ugly,

in the midst

of the hatred,

in the midst

of the name

calling,

that we

have an

opportunity to

reflect something

different in the

family that

causes everyone

else to not

know and

understand why

they can hate

me, but I

just love

them.

And it

gives us

that moment

in time.

But the

question that I

have for us

as a church,

what kind

of family

are we

displaying?

What kind

of family

are we

portraying?

What are we

living out

in this

world?

I want to

tell y'all a

story and

wrap up with

this.

Growing up,

one of my

best friends

was a guy

named Pat.

Pat and I

were best

friends all

through elementary

school and

middle school.

Pat would

always come

over to my

house and

spend the

night.

We played

on the same

baseball team

together.

Johnny's

recaps.

My dad

was our

coach.

I was the

second baseman.

He was the

shortstop.

He would

come to

my house

and we

would just

play baseball

all day

long.

He'd come

over Friday

when we

got out

of school

and he

would stay

until after

church on

Sunday.

Pat was

like a

brother to

me.

I loved

him.

We're

still

friends to

this day.

Absolutely

love Pat.

Pat would

spend the

whole weekend

at our

house,

would eat

meals with

us,

would watch

TV with

us.

My parents

were like

his parents.

My sister

was like

his sister.

We know

the beautiful

thing about

elementary age

kids sometimes

is we say

things that

everyone's

thinking but

no one has

yet said,

right?

And one day

Pat's at my

house and

we're playing

and we're

having a good

time and I

remember this

conversation.

I said to

him, I said,

Pat, man,

why don't you

ever ask me to

spend the

night at your

house?

And he

kind of sat

there for a

minute and

he said,

man, he

said,

see, I

don't know

my dad.

My dad's

never been

involved in

my life.

And I

come here

and your

dad takes

us down to

the gas

station and

buys us

candy and

drinks and

plays baseball

with us in

the front

yard.

He said,

my mom,

she's got her

own problems

and her own

struggles and

she's not like

your mom.

He said,

I don't know if

my mom will be

at home when I

wake up in the

morning.

She doesn't

cook for us.

She doesn't

do stuff.

My mom would

go out and

play basketball

with us and

beat us most

of the time.

He said,

my mom,

she doesn't

do that.

He said,

my house

isn't like

your house.

We don't

eat together.

We don't

watch TV

together.

We don't

hang out

together.

He said,

but when I

come to

your house,

you all

become my

family.

You see,

what Pat

experienced

was a depth

of love

that he

longed for.

A depth

of love

that he

craved

and that he

needed.

there's

people in

this world

that need

to experience

the love

of Jesus

Christ.

A depth

of love

that as

Christians,

we say

we know,

we say

we've

experienced,

we've even

acknowledged

that we've

been called

to share it

with them.

but the

question I

have

for all

of us,

do we?

Do we?

There's only

two options.

You're either

a sheep

or you're

a goat.

Jesus is real

clear.

And I

love the

argument

that happened

between those

two little

kids.

I'm one,

no I'm one,

no I'm one,

no I'm one.

And here's

my hope.

I hope

we all

are.

I hope

we all

are.

But it

says

that we

gotta live

like it.

So are

you a

sheep?

Are you

a goat?

Would you

pray with

me?

Lord,

come to

you this

morning.

Lord,

I thank

you for

your

unfailing

love for

us.

Lord,

it is

by your

love and

through your

love only

we find

life,

we find

hope,

we find

purpose.

Lord,

if those

are of us

that are

sheep.

Lord,

may we

continue

to be

transformed

by the

gospel,

to live

our lives

worthy

of the

name by

which we've

been saved.

Lord,

continuing

to press

into

in difficult

situations,

in difficult

relationships,

grace and

kindness.

Lord,

that we

would understand

that within

us that

the gospel

is greater

than our

opinion.

And Lord,

that the

gospel maybe

begin to

shape and

change our

opinion.

Lord,

may we

begin to

understand

what it

looks like

to love

everyone and

love the

family of

God.

Lord,

the beauty

that is

developed

and

matured

and how

that

attracts

and how

that

draws

in

and how

people

long

to want

to know

you.

Lord,

convict our

hearts,

capture us.

It's in

Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

One question

for you.

I just

got one.

We're all

going to walk

out these

doors.

We're all

going to go

to our

lives.

Monday is

going to

come for

all of us

short of

Jesus

calling us

back.

As you

leave here,

will you

leave a

sheep

or will you

leave a

goat?

We'll stand

as we

worship him.

Thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast.

We hope

that you

enjoyed

listening to

this week's

message.

If you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources,

visit us

online at

www.willowridgechurch.com

or by searching

for Willow Ridge

Church on

Facebook and

Instagram.