On “Sheep and Goats”

This week’s worship sermon is on the final section of Matthew 25: the judgment of the “sheep and goats” at the end of the Tribulation Period.

Summary of sermon series on the Gospel of Matthew:

Jesus condemned the religious leaders of perverting the meaning of the Law and that He had come to correct their errors by teaching the Law as God intended it to be
He would fulfill the entirety of the Law’s requirements and set the nation free to know God individually
Humility was the supreme attitude that all needed in order to correct their errors and set the nation back on the course God had chosen them to follow
Jesus offered His Kingdom and taught in parables what principles of His kingdom were the most important, principles that were the opposite of what the religious leaders had been teaching them for 400 years

Summary Matthew 24-25

The disciples ask Jesus about His comments on the destruction of the Temple: what will be the sign of Your coming, and when will the end of the world happen? He told them in Matthew 24-25 what the signs were, and as far as the timing of His return He told them you’re not going to be told.
Chapter 25 contains three parables/lessons on being ready:
Parable of the bridesmaids/lamps (v. 1-13), be ready at a moment’s notice
Parable of the talents (v. 14-30), in His time should not be wasted but growth and progress returned

The Separation of the Lost and Saved at the End of the Tribulation Period

Now in v. 31-46, He tells them that when He returns there will be a separation of the “sheep and goats.” The “sheep” were those who treated “the least of these My brethren” with compassion and assistance; the “goats” were those who did not offer His brethren help and assistance in their hour of need.
“If you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to Me” - The ones He described as His brethren were the ones who became believers in the Tribulation Period and were being persecuted and hunted by the Antichrist, having to go into hiding and being forbidden by the Antichrist to buy food (if anyone in the Tribulation will be able afford food).
The only way for the Tribulation Period believers to survive will be from the kindness of others. Jesus told the “sheep” that when they offered assistance to these it was the same as offering it to Him personally. Jesus will judge those who do not assist with eternal damnation as an indication of their lost condition.
When the “goats” asked Jesus when they had the opportunity to offer assistance directly to Jesus (implying that if they had known it was Jesus they would have offered it) He told them that in not helping the Tribulation Period believers they were not offering help to Him.
There is a popular belief today on this passage that “the least of these” are all the poor, destitute, oppressed and homeless of this world, and that we are to help them because we see Jesus in them. When you see a poor person, you are not seeing Jesus; you’re seeing a poor person. There are many other passages that tell us to be charitable to those in need: to our fellow Christians, to our enemies, and even to strangers. We do not need to misinterpret this passage in order to induce guilt on the part of prosperous American Christians so that promoters of social-gospel ministries can be well-funded. We know that guilt is profitable, so the temptation to twist this passage is too much for them to resist, it appears.
We are all to do our part to help those in need with love and generosity; but also with careful, reasoned stewardship. We do not hoard the Lord’s resources that we have been given to manage, nor do we waste them. Help the poor, but use your head.

How cold can it get?

This global warming is killing me! It’s cold in Colorado Springs; we’re going through temperatures that have not been above 0 in the past 2 days. This cold spell started the evening of January 31 and continues today. I think we are above zero now and may even be above freezing tomorrow. It has been good to be able to ride out the cold spell at home without having to drag myself out to work every day.

Speaking of dragging myself to work, I worked for a large insurance company as a customer service representative for 21 years, recently retiring right after my 55th birthday (August 29); my last day was September 3rd, 2010. Since then I have devoted more time to the church as well as making up for some traveling that had been put off for many years because of the scheduling requirements of the job. For many years the job was steadily 40 hours a week, but in the past few years the job was 50-60 hours a week by necessity, so the church had essentially become a very part-time thing for me. I would throw together the Sunday studies and services on evenings and Saturdays as able. The church was very patient and understanding through that time. The pitfalls and perils of the bi-vocational pastor will be discussed more in future blogs, as the spiritual challenges faced by the “bi-vo” pastor are special and merit exploration.

Since I have retired I have had more time to dedicate to my pastoral duties, so I want to make the most of this time to get some things done on our building and catch up on my Bible studies. I am working on reediting my notes from the book of Daniel (presented in 2007 I think), and working on a new study guide for the last half of Exodus, the book of Leviticus and the book of Numbers. I have not taught on those books and want to be ready if there is the opportunity to teach on those little-studied books in the future.

I have been suffering through the ravages of a cold the past 3 weeks; the past two Sunday sermons I have labeled “Laryngitic Lessons.” We are currently studying Matthew 24-25 in church as part of our expository study on the book of Matthew which began in February of 2010. The Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24-25 gives the opportunity to present the events of the Tribulation Period prior to the Lord’s Second Advent. Of special mention by the Lord in this address was the need for all of us to be ready for His return. To study prophecy for the purpose of determining the timing of His coming is futile; to study prophecy in order to more intimately know the Lord is imperative. When we accepted Christ as our personal Savior we received eternal life. Since eternity involves the future, to have information regarding the future is related to our relationship with Him. The events that close this world and “life as we know it” are a part of knowing Him personally and therefore an important part of our Christian life. If the study of prophecy does not make us more holy in our daily Christian life, then we are not studying it properly. We study prophecy for today, not just to know the future.
Pastor Greg Chandler