Christ the King
November 20, 2005
Pastor David Swenson
Matthew 25:31-46
We are about to embark on the Thanksgiving –Christmas season! What an exciting time. It is a time of good cheer and great joy. Wednesday evening we gather to offer up our thanks and gratitude to God and next Sunday our worship experience will be filled with powerful music.
But today we have this troublesome Bible lesson about judgment and the sheep and the goats. In fact, have you ever noticed how many of the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God have a judgment theme?
§ Wheat and the weeds-gathered together until harvest, weeds are thrown into the fire.
§ Good and the bad fish in the nets-separated on shore
§ Unforgiving servant is tossed into eternal prison
§ (Last week’s lesson) one-talent guy is tossed into damnation
§ Marriage feast-the invited guests do not show up and are tossed into damnation
§ 10 Bridesmaids-five have oil, five don’t-bride groom arrives and the five without oil are tossed.
§ True vine - branches not bearing fruit are burned in eternal flames
§ Rich man and Lazarus-great chasm separates them-eternal flames
In fact, throughout the Bible there is a constant theme of final judgment. Even though it is continually emphasized it is not something in our tradition we talk much about.
In our Lutheran tradition of the Christian faith we believe that we are saved by grace alone! We know that we do nothing to inherit eternal life. We make it into God’s eternal presence on judgment day because God is good, not because we are good. Salvation is a pure gift of God. Therefore judgment isn’t something we dwell on. But what do we do with all of the judgment talk in the Bible?
I believe there is a danger here for us who do not emphasize judgment much. We need to be careful that we do not adjust scripture to fit our liking! That is called ‘heresy’. Heresy has been around for a long time!
The heresy of remaking scripture to one’s liking dates back to a man named Marcion. He taught that the God of the Old Testament was inferior to the God of the New Testament. He was excommunicated in 144 but his popularity remained for 200 years in what became known as Marcionite churches.
To deny judgment because of our emphasis on GRACE would be to commit the same heresy as Marcion.
If you have come to know who I am during these three years and you know today I am preaching to myself as well as to you.
There will be a time of final judgment-we are saved by grace alone but there will be a judgment. How to reconcile those two beliefs comes in the form of the parable for us this morning. So we take a good hard look at the parable of the sheep and the goats.
I. In that culture commentator Robert Smith tells us it was very common for the sheep and the goats to graze together. But when they were moved to a fresh pasture, or if the goats were to be milked and the sheep sheared or when evening came-the sheep and the goats would be separated by the shepherd.
Another recurring theme in the Bible is the image of sheep and shepherd being used to talk about the relationship between God and God’s people. Even Jesus said ‘I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD MY OWN KNOW ME AND I KNOW THEM.’
Goats are never used in the Bible for this image of God and God’s people.
Here is a simple statement to help us reconcile grace and judgement:
It is impossible for a goat to become a sheep or for a sheep to become a goat.
No matter how many good deeds you do, no matter how much you feed the hungry, tend to the sick, welcome the stranger and on and on – good deeds do not change goats to sheep. Good deeds do not earn you the privilege of becoming a sheep.
There are two grace clues in this judgment parable:
1) He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The separation takes place BEFORE either group is told what the basis of the judgment is.
2) In verse 37, ‘then the righteous will answer him’. When did we see you hungry, thirsty, sick-they are surprised! The good deeds did not bring about the blessing. They are blessed because they are sheep. It is because they are sheep that they naturally and quite unconsciously do the good works.
It is a lifestyle not a list-keeping kind of deal.
Pastor Shawn Raloff lists the characteristics of the sheep lifestyle.
1) It is content in its ‘hiddenness’. Most of the time other people do not even know those acts of kindness are being done.
2) It consists of small acts of kindness. Small acts like complimenting a child on a job well done, writing a thank you note, opening the door for someone.
3) The sheep lifestyle is indiscriminate. That means it does not pick and choose different individuals to serve or not serve. That is a challenge because some people are just plain annoying and at times I would like to leave them alone. But there is no picking and choosing.
4) The sheep lifestyle is always looking for new ways to better accomplish servant posture. It places people’s needs and relationships ahead of policies, rules, and traditions. David Watson in his book Called and Committed writes ‘too often Christian mission work is crippled by clinging to the traditions of the past.’ To be effective, living the sheep lifestyle means continually asking the question
WHAT IS GOD CALLING ME TO DO AND HOW CAN I DO IT BETTER.
Well who are we?
Sheep or goats?
I believe we have this built in assumption that we are the sheep! Right?
Perhaps an alternative perspective is worth considering.
Jesus tells of the impending judgment and says “all of the nations??? will be gathered before him. Brian Stoffergren reminds us that ‘nations’ is translated from the word ethnos-Greek common meaning is “not us???. So if the nations gathered are not us that means that we are not the sheep and we are not the goats.
Who is left? Who are we in the parable?
Maybe in the parable we are the “least of these???.
Maybe we are the people who are created with a deep hunger and thirst for God.
Maybe we are the people who feel unwelcomed and like strangers because we feel uncared for and not appreciated.
Maybe we are those who are naked. ‘Naked’, meaning feeling so vulnerable and fragile to the frightening aspects of our culture and society.
Maybe we are those who are imprisoned. Not physically under lock and key, but imprisoned by an addiction to food, alcohol, or even an addiction to an obsessive relationship.
Perhaps we are ‘the least of these’, those people who have all sorts of spiritual and emotional needs.
Think about that for a moment!
But admitting to that can be pretty scary because it means we have to admit we need help and that we cannot make it on our own.
And if you are like me that means you have a middle and upper middle class ‘attitude’ about life. And having that middle/upper middle class attitude means being “the least of these??? is a sign of weakness and dependence.
SO identifying with the “least of these??? is a pretty humbling experience.
But when we do identify with the least of these, it brings us back to the question-
“Which am I????
in the story: A sheep or a goat? Think about it and tell me if you figure it out.
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