[Note: Delivered 29 November 1981, Montreal. This is the first of two sermons on Matthew 25:31–46; the following Sunday (sermon 160) continues with the dog–goat–sheep progression.]
Today we continue to study the teaching of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 46. This final section of the Lord's great discourse, from Matthew 24 to 25, is not really a parable — it has parabolic and metaphorical language in it, but it is a description in vivid terms of the last and final judgment. Let us read it first. "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 them one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep at his right hand but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, Come, O blessed of 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, Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee? And the king will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will say to those at his left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into 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, Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee? Then he will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Notice first in verse 31 the contrast between the two comings. His first coming was one of self-abnegation — he was born not into a palace of glory but into a manger, in a stable for animals. But when he comes again it will be in glory; the word appears twice in verse 31. Notice also that when he comes he will come with his angels, in marked contrast to verse 41: the devil and his angels. Here are two contrasting parties — Christ with his angels, the devil with his entourage — and these two groups also define the contrast between the sheep and the goats. The goats end up where the devil and his angels go; the sheep end up with Christ and his angels. These are the only two ultimate groups.
Verse 32 tells us that all the nations will be gathered before him. This is because in Matthew 24:14 it says that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all nations before the end comes; and because the gospel reaches all nations, there will be people from all nations present at this judgment. Then first there is a gathering, and then there is a separation. In Palestine, the sheep and goats grazed together in the same pasture, mixed together, feeding side by side. But at the end of the day the shepherd would separate them. The reason lies in their different characters: the sheep huddle close together body to body and keep each other warm, so they can stay out in the open at night. Goats, however, are complete individualists — they do not huddle together, and given their choice they all like to do their own thing, staying away from each other. Because they cannot keep each other warm, they have to be sheltered at night. There is also an interesting visual contrast: in Palestine, unlike in the West, the goats are black and the sheep are white.
Verse 34 tells us that the kingdom was prepared from the foundation of the world — not an afterthought of God's, but part of his eternal purpose from the time of creation. And the term "naked" in verse 36 does not mean without any clothing at all; in the Bible, "naked" is the idiom for inadequately dressed, as when your outer garment has been taken away. The outer garment was so essential that under Jewish law even if someone gave it as a pledge it had to be returned by sundown, because people used it as a blanket at night. Without it they would be exposed to the cold, or they might be in rags due to poverty — either way, they could be described as naked.
Verse 41 uses the word "cursed" — and we must not imagine this is swear language. "You cursed" is a simple statement of fact: these are people who are under God's judgment. It stands in direct contrast to "you blessed" in verse 34. The language goes directly back to Deuteronomy. In chapter 11 verses 26 to 28, Moses says: "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse — the blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, and a curse if you do not obey." And in chapter 28 verses 15 onwards, a comprehensive list of curses falls upon those who fail to obey God's voice. The goats in this passage are those who, whatever they may have professed with their mouth, failed to obey God's command; the sheep are those who did fulfill it in their lives.
Now who are the goats? This is the central question. A sheep is always, in both Old and New Testaments, the picture of God's people — we need spend no time on that. But are the goats non-Christians? Note first that they are basically of the same family as the sheep. Sheep and goats belong to the yang family in Chinese — the sheep is mian yang and the goat is shan yang. They graze on the same field. They are led by the same shepherd. And in this passage both the sheep and the goats address the Lord Jesus as "Lord" in exactly the same way — the sheep in verse 37 say "Lord, when did we see thee hungry?" and the goats in verse 44 say "Lord, when did we see thee...?" in the identical form. Hardly would a non-Christian address Jesus as Lord in the same terms as a true disciple. So the parallel is very clear, and it continues the same sequence of contrasts throughout the chapter: good and bad servants (both are servants), wise and foolish virgins (all ten are virgins), sheep and goats (both belong to the same flock, both address the same Lord). In each case, we have the same household, the same family — with a fundamental difference of character.
The third thing to notice is that the judgment is based solely on one thing and one thing alone: whether they cared for "my brethren." Non-Christians would not visit a Christian in prison — most likely it would be they who put him there in the first place. So the judgment cannot possibly be addressed to non-Christians. "Brethren" in the Bible always refers to fellow believers — it is why Christians call one another brothers and sisters. The Lord himself said: "Who is my brother, my sister, my mother? He who does the will of my Father." And the word "least" here — "the least of these my brethren" — is in Greek the same word as "little," the only difference being that one is the comparative and the other the superlative form of the same root word. So this is altogether about the care of members of the family of God for one another.
Now we come to the fundamental presupposition of this entire passage, and once we understand it, everything becomes clear. In the Lord's teaching concerning his church, love for one another is not optional. It is not take-it-or-leave-it. The failure to love one another brings the most severe consequences, as this passage shows. The reason is simple: to love one another is a command, and a command is not optional. The Lord says in John 13:34: "I give you a new commandment — that you love one another." He gives no choice. And in verse 35 of the same chapter: "Hereby shall all men know that you are my disciples, because you love one another." The one defining characteristic of this new society of God is unconditional love for one another — not love based on liking the person's hairstyle or personality, but obedience to a command. And in John 14:15: "If you love me, keep my command" — which also means that those who do not keep his commands are people who, whatever their mouth may profess, do not love him.
In the Bible, faith, love, and obedience are a triunity — they cannot be separated. Faith that is not expressed in obedience is not biblical faith. And love in the Lord's teaching is defined not in terms of feeling but in terms of action. Whether or not I feel any love for a person is beside the point; if he is in need, I am under command to help him. When we break the love command, remember what Deuteronomy says: we come under God's curse. "Depart from me, you cursed" — these are the people who failed to obey his command to love.
Now this brings us to the second main point: that sheep and goats are the same family but of entirely different character, and this difference of character stems from a difference in the degree of transformation accomplished in the life. Juan Ortiz, the Argentine pastor who wrote Call to Discipleship, observes that the sheep in Argentina always huddle together with their heads close, like one body, keeping each other warm. The goats have their backs to each other — bucking and kicking. The goats are complete individualists; they show no interest in one another, and when they do put their heads together it is only to ram horns at each other. This difference in character is not one of mere personality — we are not calling for Christians to be uniform in temperament or to look alike. The essential quality we are speaking of is the divine nature of love, which is not optional in scripture. It requires a transformation of character, because it is not in human nature to love as God commands.
The striking element of this passage — the sheep's surprise when told what they have done — stresses that this love is entirely character-based and unselfconscious. When the Lord tells them they fed him, gave him drink, welcomed him, clothed him, and visited him in prison, they say: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or naked and clothe you? They cannot remember having done these things because it was not done for credit — it was done because it is their nature. A person who is genuinely loving by character does not keep a record of everyone he has helped. He does it because that is what he is. This also shows clearly that this is not salvation by works — not a calculation that if you give enough food and visit enough prisons you will earn your way in. What matters is what you are, and what you are is proven by what you do without thinking. As the apostle John says in 1 John 3:14: "Hereby we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren."
Now, love for the brethren is the minimum standard, not the maximum. If you cannot love a fellow Christian whom you do know, how will you love a non-Christian whom you do not know? It is obviously harder to love someone outside your family than someone within it, and so this is the lower standard by which we are judged here. But if we fail at the lower standard, the higher is beyond us. Now this love must also be made visible. The Lord says in John 13:35 that all men will know we are his disciples because we love one another. They cannot know this unless they can see it. And one of the ways we can make this love visible today in this society — where Christians are not regularly thrown into prison or dying of hunger — is simply by embracing one another publicly and showing our care for one another. The other day at the railway station, watching the training team boarding the train, all embracing and loving one another, the bystanders were clearly very surprised. A new society of people who visibly love one another is the testimony the Lord is looking for.
In the judgment, God is not going to ask when you were baptized or which church you attended or whether you have a baptismal certificate or whether you subscribe to the Nicene Creed. He is going to ask one thing only: did you love my brethren? Did you care for them in their need? Blessed are you, the Lord Jesus says, when you know these things and do them. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.
# The Separation of Sheep and Goats — Matthew 25:31–46 (Part B) — Incomplete Transformation; Romans 12:2; Character Change Through Word of God; Love Visible
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 25:31–46, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 29 November 1981, Montreal.]
There is change, but not sufficient change in many people. So much of the old nature is still there, still present in the Christian who is described as a goat. Their conduct is still very much the character of the non-Christian: spiritually unwise, failing to discern spiritual things, described as unfaithful, not obedient to God. These are characteristics of the non-Christian that are still present in the life of the Christian who has stopped somewhere along the road. Many Christians today have not progressed beyond the initial stage of conversion — they have changed to some extent, they have become Christians, they have become a little different, but the complete change is not yet there. And this is going to result in serious problems.
In the Bible, this change is brought about by two things. The first is the power of God coming into your life and making of you a new person — this is the instant change, as it were. But if you stop there, you might end up being only a goat. Because there must also be the continuing process of the renewal of thinking. As Paul says in Romans 12:2 — a passage I like to refer to frequently — "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Our thinking has to be constantly renewed. And how is our thinking renewed? By the Word of God. As I study his word day by day, it is doing something to my thinking, and as my thinking changes I am being transformed. Step by step, as this process continues, I take on the fullness of the divine character. Just as the Lord Jesus is the Lamb, his people are described as sheep.
Now the goat is much closer to a sheep than to a wolf — that is clear. Sheep and goats can graze in the same field without the goats harming the sheep. But the goat's character is not yet close enough to the sheep's — not yet fully transformed. I tend to think that many people today are goats, not by choice, but because they have not been sufficiently taught in the Word of God, or have not spent enough time meditating upon it. How can they change if they are not taught? So when you meet a Christian who is exceptionally aggressive, exceptionally remote, very individualistic and difficult to approach, remember that this may be a very genuine Christian whose thinking has not yet been renewed. Though he has gone through a conversion experience, he still behaves to a great extent like a non-Christian. If you are one of those people, let this passage of the Lord's teaching go to your heart — because if you keep that kind of character, you will not be able to love, and if you are not able to love the brethren, you are in serious trouble with the Lord.
The element of character is stressed again very clearly by the surprising reaction of the sheep. When the Lord tells them they fed him, clothed him, visited him in prison, they answer: Lord, when did we see you and do these things? I don't remember having done them. This is what happens when you do something from your character and nature: you do not keep a record of it. Someone who is genuinely caring helps people constantly and never makes an account of it. Somebody once told me many years later that they had written me a very nasty letter some years before, severely criticizing me. I said: did you really write that letter? He said yes. I really could not remember it at all. It came back to mind when I stopped to think carefully, but I had not kept an account of it because it simply did not matter. Whether someone thinks well or badly of us is not something we need to record.
As Paul says, we should be forgetting the things which are behind — and this applies both to our sins and to our achievements. The sins God has forgiven, and we can have a clean conscience through the blood of Christ; we need not be forever revisiting them with a guilty conscience. But equally, it is unhealthy to forever remember all we have given up for the Lord and all we have done for him. I gave up this career, I gave up that promotion, I gave up so much — that kind of accounting is a pathway to pride, which is destructive to the Christian life. Paul says it is like so much garbage that he has thrown away; he does not need to remember it anymore. The whole life is geared to pressing forward, to looking ahead at what more can be done for the Lord by his grace. And that is also one of the best cures for pride.
So then, the second point we saw is that the change of character is accomplished by God's power, and it manifests itself in a genuine love. 1 John 3:17 says: when you see your brother in need, of course you will help him. If he is hungry, of course you will feed him. If he is in prison for his witness to the Lord, of course you will visit him. No question about it. This is simply what you do, naturally, because you have passed from death to life. As John says in verse 14: "hereby we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren." The brethren — not the non-Christian. This does not mean that Christians do not love the non-Christian; it means that loving the brethren is the minimum standard. If you cannot love a person you know within your own spiritual family, you certainly cannot love a stranger outside it. We are judged by the lower bar first.
This being the case, this love must be expressed and made visible. The Lord says in John 13:35 that all men will know we are his disciples because we love one another — but how can they know unless they can see it? In this society where Christians are not thrown into prison and most are not destitute, we find that the most natural and visible way to show our love for one another is simply through embracing one another publicly, showing our affection and concern openly. Some people in our church still find this very embarrassing. But how else are we going to obey his command that all people will know we love one another? On the judgment day, God will not ask when you were baptized — you can have your baptismal certificate if you need it for some legal purpose, but it will do you no good on that day. The only thing that will matter is whether you have fulfilled his command to love. Blessed are you when you know these things and do them. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.