I volunteered with the Children's Ministry on Sunday. I used to work in Children's Ministry all the time - first with preschoolers, then kindergarteners, then fourth and fifth graders. I enjoyed it - until I started teaching adults. And I enjoyed that a hundred times more.
But they needed summertime parent volunteers, so I signed up this past week. I met some amazing kiddos.
There were two siblings who stood out to me. I don't think they were twins, but they were close in age and about the same height. The boy turned his fill-in-the-blank Bible verse into a Mad Libs full of potty words. The girl snorted at him and said, "You're probably going to hell for that. You're a goat, and I'm a sheep."
It was funny in a they're-only-nine-years-old kind of way. I was tempted to say, "If we're doomed to hell for making jokes, then none of us will make it," but held my tongue.
On a more serious note, however, Christians often look at the behavior or beliefs or expressions of others and tell them, "You're probably going to hell for that." Somehow, their sins always look worse than our own. Like a reverse grass is greener phenomenon.
The "goats and sheep" reference comes from a famous parable by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-40. A parable is a story with a message in it. It was one of Jesus' most favorite ways to teach, largely perhaps because it was highly relevant to the culture at the time. Let's break it down for a moment so we understand what it says to us, today.
This parable in Matthew 25 is about the final judgment. Jesus says in verse 31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.” He is talking about Himself here. “Son of Man” is the title Jesus most uses in reference to Himself – in fact he uses this title 78 times in the 4 Gospels. This term is often thought of as referring to His humanity, that he was and is the perfect human, the only perfect human, and therefore the perfect sacrifice. However, there is another, deeper meaning to this title as well.
In Daniel 7:13-14 of the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel has a vision of God giving “all authority, glory and sovereign power” over earth to a “son of man” who descends from the clouds. This “son of man” will receive worship from all the people on Earth and His dominion will be everlasting. God does not share His glory and worship with human beings – glory and worship belong to Him alone. So this Son of Man must not be only human – He must also be God. This is the image Jesus is referring to in this passage. He is saying that He is the fulfillment of that vision. He is claiming to not only be a perfect human, but to be perfectly divine.
In the following verses of Matthew 25, the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats. In verses 34-35, He says that the sheep are blessed and have an inheritance because, “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 sheep ask Him, when did we do all this? And He said, verse 40, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Isn’t that remarkable? You did it to me. Now some of your translations may say “for me,” but in the original Greek that this passage was written in, “to me” is a closer translation. In other words, the good things we do for others, we do as though to Jesus Himself.
To do this passage justice, it should be noted that in the following verses, the Son of Man addresses the goats, those who did not do these things, did not give food or drink, did not welcome the stranger, did not visit the sick or the imprisoned. He says in verse 41 that they are “cursed.” If you look down to verse 46 at the end of this parable, Jesus says this: “Then they [the goats] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
That’s pretty heavy. We should not take Jesus’ words here lightly. However, we should also not misunderstand what He is saying. Jesus is not suggesting a “works salvation” here. In other words, He is not saying that if we do all these good things we earn or win eternal life. Whenever we doubt what a verse says we should compare it with other verses in the Bible because the Bible will not contradict itself. And the Bible is clear that the only way to eternal life is through grace and faith in Jesus – it is not something we can earn on our own. Ephesians 2:8–9 for example, says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If that is not what Jesus is saying, then what is He saying? Perhaps this verse from the gospel of John will help. In John 14:15, Jesus says “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Do you know what the second most repeated commandment is in the Old Testament? To care for the stranger, also called the foreigner, the traveler, the alien. In the New Testament the second most repeated commandment is to love one another. I think what Jesus is saying rather is: if we love Him, if we believe in Him, then we will obey Him by loving and serving and caring for others. If we do not do those things, we do not really love Him, believe in Him, or obey Him. To follow Jesus then, is to love, to serve, to care for others – especially the most vulnerable.
Jesus never said, "Go into all the world and fill the pews of churches." He told us to go and make disciples. Disciples are followers. Disciples are taught and mentored and brought up to understand God's commands. Disciples reproduce, by making more disciples, and more, and so on and so on.
If we let ourselves be complacent in our faith, we will become greedy over our blessings and privilege and blind to the suffering all around us.
According to the Census Bureau, close to 38 million people in the US live in poverty. Black and Hispanic families are more likely to be in poverty than their White neighbors. Around 17% of children under the age of 18 live in poverty.
An even greater number of families, perhaps as many as 65%, are living paycheck to paycheck. Meaning all it would take is one bad month to throw them into poverty and perhaps even homelessness.
Homelessness has been on the rise in the US over the last ten years. There aren't enough resources to keep up with it. About 28% of the close to 600k homeless are children.
What are we doing, Christian?
What are we doing to be sheep and to care for those in need around us?
It's tempting to throw up our hands and say, "Yeah, it's a problem. What can I do about it, though? I'll pray for them."
Which in the end, does very little to change their circumstances.
There’s an old cartoon that shows two turtles. One turtle says to the other, “When I meet God, I’m going to ask Him why He allowed so many bad things to happen in this world.” The other turtle responds, “I’m afraid He’ll ask me the same question.”
You see, being a believer is not just about being a nice person, not swearing, and giving to the church. Even nonbelievers can do that! Being a believer means following Christ wherever He calls us. It’s not just about what we give up, the sin we avoid, but also about what we take on. When Paul says in Romans that we are “living sacrifices” it means that we give our lives to Him to use, to be His hands and feet and words to a dying world. This, he says, is our spiritual act of worship – a way of living that praises God. God wants to use us, in very real ways, to reach our world.
Maybe, we could...
- Volunteer with a program that prevents homeless or provides services to the homeless.
- Donate money or in-kind donations, such as food, clothing, bedding/mattresses, furniture, etc.
- Advocate and vote for policies, programs, and interventions designed to help people stay out of poverty.
- Be willing to hire people with poor credit or criminal histories when possible. Sometimes people just need a second chance.
There are probably many other ideas. This article has some that are lofty but if we don't set high goals, we'll be sure never to reach them. A big idea the article is missing however is immigration reform. If we had more documented and insured workers, our economy would be better for it, benefiting everyone.
So, what are you? A sheep or a goat?
Don't be afraid to step out of the pews now and then. You may be the miracle someone is waiting for.
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