Either a Sheep or a Goat

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Religion that's real. Religion that's not just a sham. That kind of religion is shown by, watch, visiting orphans and widows and their affliction and keeping oneself unstained from the world.

There are two signs that your faith is genuine and that it is real. Number one, you love those people that God loves. And number two, you're busy rooting out sin. You're taking sin seriously and not just big sins, but anything in your heart that displeases God. Welcome to Summit Life with pastor, author and theologian, J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vinovich. We've been learning over the past week or so that in his parables, Jesus truly does reveal the beauty of the gospel, but only for those who truly listen. Well today, pastor J.D. shares another one of Jesus's parables, and this one is going to show us what it looks like to be a Christian in today's world. Be sure to stay tuned to the end to learn more about our latest resource, a matching devotional to go along with this current teaching series on the program.

You can give us a call at 866-335-5220 or visit us at jdgreer.com for more information. But now let's jump into today's message titled either a sheep or a goat. And Matthew 25, do you know how to listen? That has been the question that Jesus has been asking to us throughout these parables here in the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew explains to us that Jesus spoke to his disciples and to these first audiences in parables so that those who were not genuinely listening would miss what he was saying. One of our campus pastors told me a story this week about when he was in college. You may have had something like this happen to you where he was given an exam and the professor said, you know, make sure you read all the way through to the end. So my friend looked at the exam and saw the instructions there would read all the way to the end before he did anything. But he said, I saw a couple of questions right there on the front page that I knew the answers to and didn't want to take a chance of forgetting them.

So I just jotted them down real quick. He said, I started to work through the rest of the exam. He said, and I noticed about 90 seconds later, all these people were getting up and headed back to the, up to the thing, turn their exam man.

And I was confused by it. So I flipped over to the back and sure enough, it said, you know, only put your name on this exam. If you make any other mark on this exam besides your name, then I'm going to grade it just like normal.

But if you'll walk up and just hand it to me, then you will get a perfect score for the exam if you just turn it in with your name on it. And he said, there I was again with another lesson about how I didn't listen. Listening is a critical life skill that we have talked about. And that is what is happening in these parables. If you have ears to hear, and if you're paying attention, there's a lot of wisdom to gain, but if you're not listening with the ears of your heart, then the meaning of what Jesus is saying is going to go right over you. What you hear when you hear these parables is based more on the condition of your spiritual ears than the content of what's in there, which is why he spoke in parables.

He was speaking in a way that those with the right disposition of heart, those with the right motives for listening would understand what he was saying, and those with the wrong disposition of heart, and those who weren't really listening would just be confused by what he said. Well, Matthew 25 contains three of these parables. We are going to press in mostly on the third one, which is the parable of the sheep and the goats. But all three of these parables are going to make a very similar point. And just to be clear, when I say goat, I'm not talking about LeBron or Jordan or Nicholas Cage or Celine Dion or anybody like that. All right? Goat has a different meaning in this parable, and you'll want to pay attention as to what it is, so not be confused.

Okay? Jesus tells these three parables right before the crucifixion. Jesus knows that he's about to die after which he will ascend to heaven and his disciples will see him on earth no more. But through these three parables, he is encouraging them that the day is coming when he will return. This time he will not come as a baby in a manger. He will not come in a meek and lowly posture.

He will not come watching the feet of people. He will come as the judge of all men. Now, the point of these three parables is that we, his disciples, ought to be prepared for that return, and each of these three is going to build on the one before it.

So before we dive into the third, let me just summarize very quickly the first two. The first parable is about 10 maidens who are supposed to be part of a big marriage party, but the thing is is that they don't know exactly when they're going to be picked up and taken to the marriage party. Well, in Jesus's story, five of these maidens are wise, and so they trimmed their lamps, which means they got oil for their lamps and they packed their bags and they were ready to go. The other five, Jesus says, were foolish and they thought, you know, he's probably not going to come tonight. It's kind of rainy.

It's cold. I'm tired. I want to binge on Netflix. And so they just sat at home and didn't go out and get oil for their lamp. Too bad there was no such thing as Amazon Prime now because this whole terrible parable could have been avoided. They could have just put the order in and it was showed up two hours later.

However, that hadn't been invented yet. So they sit at home with not being packed and ready and with oil in their lamp. And sure enough, that very night the bridegroom comes and he takes with him the ones who are packed and ready and he leaves the ones who aren't. So the point of that parable is that Jesus wants us to be ready when he comes back and not to be sitting around idle. But the question you ask is, well, what does it look like to be ready? Does it mean that we kind of go out every day and look up at the clouds and say, maybe it's going to be today?

What does it look like to live in a posture of readiness? So to answer that question, Jesus tells a second parable. This one is about a master who goes on a trip and he leaves various amounts of money with three different servants. So the first one, he leads five talents. Now don't hear talent and think good at basketball, good at piano, that kind of talent. Talent was a unit of money. They say in our currency about $15,000. So to the first guy, he leaves $75,000. To the second guy, $30,000. And to the third guy, $15,000 and gives each of them the instructions that they are supposed to invest it in the market and to get a return for his kingdom. Well, the first two guys do that and they risk it and put it in the market and they get a return.

But the third was scared he would lose it. So he buries it in the ground and waits for his master to come back so that he could give him the $15,000 that he had been entrusted with. Well, when the master returns, he rewards the two that risked and invested their talents and multiplied them. But to the one who buried his talent out of fear, he called that servant lazy and wicked. So in other words, putting this together with the first parable, we see that what it means to be ready for the bridegroom's return is to be busy leveraging whatever God has given us for his kingdom.

It is true. If you are a believer, God has given you a certain amount of time and talents and treasure for use in his kingdom. And what this parable shows you is that he is going to hold you responsible for how you invest them and leverage them and multiply them for his kingdom. But still you might be asking after the second parable, what actually does that look like in action? What does it really look like to invest your talents for the kingdom? Well, that's what Jesus tells the third parable. In this parable, he gets down to kind of the nitty gritty, the essence of what it looks like to be a follower of his in this day and age.

So let me just ask you a question to consider before we dive in, help you get calibrated as to what you think about this. How do you define the essence of being a Christian? If you're just going to say kind of what the core part of it is, what is that? What determines whether you are really a genuine Christian or not one? I've told you before that many Christians seem to think that it's mainly about believing the right things, being able to pass the doctrinal exam with flying colors, or it means obeying the important moral laws.

But is that really what it is? Francis Chan, an author, a speaker, wrote a book called Crazy Love in which he makes a statement. He said, just to read the Bible, to attend church and avoid big sins. Is that really the passionate wholehearted life of discipleship that Jesus was calling us to? Is that really what it means to be his follower?

Just to read the Bible and go to church and avoid the big sins? I've told you before that many Christians, the way that they look at the Christian life is kind of illustrated in when I was in college, the third year of college, friends of mine and I had a house off campus and one of my friends had a dog, a black Labrador retriever, lovely dog, but the dog had gotten run over on his back legs and so his back left leg was broken and he couldn't walk. And so he would just sort of mope around and he pretty much all day would just lay at our threshold door of our house and just smell up the place. That was kind of his role as a dog. You could feel sorry for him but I was stepping over the dog one day going out to class and I remember looking down at that dog and having this thought that based on how most people understand the Christian life, that dog Max would have made a fine Christian. He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he never cursed.

We'd had him neutered so that wasn't a problem anymore. He obeyed all the 10 commandments, he obeyed all the laws. But is that really what it means to be a follower of Jesus that you just avoid immorality and that you obey when you were told something? Is that what God was after when he called disciples of Jesus? Is that what it means to be a follower of his?

Does he really want robots who just follow him and avoid big sins? So Jesus tells this third parable to try to illustrate for us what it would look like for you to be actively leveraging the talents that God has given you for his kingdom and that's Matthew 25. Let's begin in verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another just like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The thing to notice there is that Jesus is telling his disciples that when he comes again he's not going to come like the baby in the manger. He's not going to come with this meek and lowly posture.

He's going to be sitting on the throne of the universe. All power and authority is given to him the power of heaven and hell itself and he is going to separate people into categories of those that are headed to eternal bliss and those who are headed to eternal punishment. Verse 33 and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left then the king will say to these on his right come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom that is prepared for you from the foundation of the world and he explains you see I was hungry and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you took me in I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you took care of me I was in prison and you visited me. Well the righteous the sheep kind of look at Jesus and they say what Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you when were you thirsty and we gave you something to drink when did we see you as a stranger and take you in when were you naked and we clothed you I felt like I would remember that when did we see you sick or in prison Lord and visit you the king will answer them truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did it for me. The first question we need to ask here is who exactly is Jesus talking about when he says the least of these my brothers and sisters. Now some very well-meaning good-natured people good and well-intended people want to equate these people here these least brothers and sisters of mine with all poor everywhere and certainly God wants us to care for all the poor which I will show you in a minute but specifically here in this parable he is talking about poor believers when he says these brothers and sisters of mine that phrase whenever Jesus uses the language of family in Matthew he is always talking about his followers and not some general sense of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. Furthermore that term least of these is a common one in Matthew and Jesus always uses that term whenever he uses it and he does it quite often he always refers to his disciples so it is abundantly clear that he is talking here specifically about poor suffering Christians and before we move on before we move on I want you to take a minute just to let that sink in first to you personally even before you think about the obligations that come with it when you do kindness when someone does kindness to you as a believer Jesus takes it as if it were done to him himself when someone does unkindness to you as a believer Jesus takes the offense as if it had been committed against him that's why when the uh Saul uh the apostle future apostle Paul was on the road to Damascus and and Jesus appears to him and knocks him off of his horse he says to him Saul why are you persecuting me not my follower he didn't say my followers he said why are you persecuting me it is amazing that when somebody does something against another believer in Jesus Jesus takes it personally I'm not sure about you but I'm kind of thankful that Jesus takes it personally we'll return to our teaching here on Summit Life in just a moment but I wanted to share a little bit more about our current resource this month if you have a desire to dig deeper into the lessons Jesus has for us through his parables our new 10-day devotional study guide will bring thoughtful understanding to some of his perhaps harder to understand principles reflection questions and prayer prompts give the opportunity to really submit these truths in your head and live them out like never before make these lessons truly personal by reaching out today in support of this ministry give us a call at 866-335-5220 or go online to jdgrier.com and reserve your copy today now let's get back to today's message with Pastor J.D. Greer here on Summit Life. I got a pastor friend who talks about his 10-year-old son playing little league baseball when um the the jerk pitcher for the other team hit his son at the plate intentionally you know with the pitch and he said that the umpire didn't do anything about it because it was really obvious that the umpire was pretty biased toward the other team and had you know it was obvious he had a lot of connections and interactions with people on that team so he said he tried to say that my son the reason he got hit was because he leaned over the plate he goes and I knew that wasn't true he said now I just wanted to go ballistic on that umpire but he said here's the thing I mean all the parents in the stands and all this and I'm a pastor and everybody knows that I'm a pastor and I don't want to create a scene so he said I just stood there and I didn't know what to do because I wanted to defend my kid but I also didn't want to make a scene he said I'm trying to decide what to do when all of a sudden he said this woman that I knew that she went to our church but I didn't really know her at all so all of a sudden she jumps up she grabs the fence she starts to shake it she starts screaming at the umpire with all the language that was appropriate for a moment like that one he said he said I didn't know that woman at all but right then and there I determined that I loved her because when you stand up for my kid you stand up for me well see believer just let this sink in for a minute that's how Jesus feels about others when they do good to us it's how he feels when we extend kindness to other believers and it's how he takes it personal when someone is unkind to one of his children doing something for one of his children is like doing it literally for him so verse 41 then he will say to those on the left apart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels you see I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink I was a stranger and you didn't take me in I was naked you didn't clothe me I was sick and in prison and you didn't you didn't take care of me then they too will answer they'll say well lord what when did we see you hungry I mean what were you hungry for are you hungry now do you want to angels go out and get a hamburger and a coke I'll pay for it lord when when were you naked when were you in prison what were you in for why couldn't you just get out by walking through walls like we've seen you do sometimes what are you talking about and then he will say to them he will respond to them just like he did those on the right then you answer them I tell you whatever you did not do it for um one of these least of these you did not do it for me they will go away into eternal punishment and the righteous into eternal life three very important questions that this parable answers for us question number one is who's going to go to heaven right that's a pretty obvious question question number one who will go to heaven this parable is more than a little alarming to me because it shows us listen to me it shows us that not everybody who considers themselves a Christian is going to go to heaven the sheep and the goats in this parable all seem to recognize the lordship of Jesus nobody here is like whoa who are you where's Buddha I didn't even think there was a god no all the maidens in the first parable considered themselves friends of the bridegroom all the servants in the parable the talents considered themselves in the employ of the master all the sheep and all the goats in this parable recognize the lordship of Jesus this judgment listen does not separate Christians from the rest of the world it separates genuine Christians from imposters and make no mistake about it we are not dealing here with simply loss of reward we are talking about heaven and hell and Jesus ends the parable of the maidens which we didn't read but he ends the parable this way by saying the door was shut later the rest of the maidens also came and said master master open up for us he replied truly I tell you I don't even know you he ended the serve the parable of the three servants this way to the wicked servant you evil lazy servant throw this good for nothing servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and he ends this parable of the of the sheep and the goats with him saying to those on the left the goats depart from me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels I don't think it could get any clearer we are talking about heaven and hell and it means that there are a lot of people in church who think they are Christians who think they are on their way to heaven that are tragically mistaken by the way if you wonder if Jesus really believed in hell look no farther how could it get any clearer than what he says here he said well what it was what's the difference between the sheep and the goats what what's the difference between heaven and hell well evidently it had little to do with what they believed or how much they went to church it's assumed here that both the sheep and the goats believe the same things and they're really involved in church those things are not referenced here the only difference between the sheep and the goats in this parable is what they did and did not do whether or not they were actively tangibly engaged in the mission of God whether they were generous toward the poor particularly poor believers apart from that Jesus said apart from that all other religious activity is useless the whole Bible says that by the way Isaiah 56 Isaiah 56 God says to Israel you fast all the time by the way when you fast that means you're pretty committed right I never went into somebody who's like yeah I don't go to church that much anymore and I don't ever read my Bible but I fast like once a week no if you're gonna fast it means you're all the way in it's the really committed God says to Israel Isaiah 56 you fast all the time and you do all this other religious stuff but none of it matters to me because you turn a deaf ear to the poor and I don't care how religiously active you are if you turn a deaf ear to the poor you don't know me at all James Jesus's half brother would say it this way James 1 27 religion that is pure and undefiled before God the father is this in other words religion that's true religion that's real religion that's not fake religion that's not just a sham that kind of religion is shown by watch visiting orphans and widows and their affliction and keeping oneself unstained from the world in other words there are two signs that your faith is genuine and that it is real and those signs are number one you love those people that God loves and number two you're busy rooting out sin you're taking sin seriously and rooting it out of your life not just big sins but anything in your heart that displeases God now I know that you hear this I know you're like well wait a minute J.D. doesn't the Bible teach that salvation is by faith alone through grace alone and isn't saying that our salvation is determined by how we respond to those poor brothers and sisters isn't that a contradiction with the teaching that salvation is by faith alone no not at all what it's showing you listen to this what it's showing you is that real faith the kind of faith that saves you is more than just intellectual assent and church attendance saving faith transforms you from the inside out and you demonstrate that transformation by engaging in the mission of God again James who is Jesus's half brother would say it this way faith without works is dead what he's saying the analogy he uses after that is it's like a body that has no breath it looks like a body it looks like it's alive but the life is not in it and that's faith it looks like it's real but if it doesn't have the life breath of generosity and love particularly to the poor then it is a dead body with no life or breath in it you see and that's where it helps to reflect listen on the fact that the ones Jesus specifically identifies with are Christians particularly Christians who are suffering because of their commitment to the message because that's the reason they're in prison and that's the reason they're hungry and naked is because they're being persecuted for Jesus and what he is saying in this parable is listen if you believe this message at all how are you not going to be moved to action by the stories of those who are suffering for their commitment to the spread of this message let me take you one other place in Matthew real quick where Jesus says the same thing because I think it will help you get your mind around what Jesus is saying here you say there in Matthew 25 I'm gonna go to Matthew 10 real quick Matthew 10 Jesus sends out his disciples on their first mission as his representatives and they're supposed to go and preach what he preached and heal like he healed and he explains to them that they're going to be dependent on the hospitality of the villagers wherever they minister and here's what he says Matthew 10 42 watch this who anyone who welcomes you welcomes me and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me in the ancient world taking somebody into your home and showing them kindness was a sign of friendship intimacy and support for whatever that person stood for so Jesus equated the welcome of his representatives with acceptance of their message he's saying the same thing in Matthew 25 if you really believe my gospel how can you not be moved by the suffering of those who are suffering because of their commitment to my message he is not saying that we will be saved by our giving to the poor he is saying that there is no way we could be saved if we are not kind to the poor and he's saying that if we're really saved we will show that by our kindness and generosity to others particularly those who represent Jesus himself hear this the sign of genuine saving faith is a passionate commitment to the people of God and a passionate commitment to the mission of God these are powerful reminders from pastor jd greer here on summit life if you joined us late you can always catch up with our teaching by visiting us at jdgrier.com jd in our newest resource that follows along with this teaching series you begin with a parable that's actually about parables right yeah the story about the sower who threw out the seed is a parable on parables it's a picture of how you and I and other people encounter the word of God the word of God always bears fruit and listen if you've seen fruit in your own life you need to thank God for that and ask him for more but here's the thing you got to drive the word deep into your heart because the weeds of temptation and the the sun of persecution or difficult circumstances and then even our enemy the devil is is coming to try to get rid of the seed and so you've got to you got to drive that word deep into your heart our newest resource is going to help you do that it is 10 devotionals that take you beyond just the hearing and take you into diving into the bible we would love to give you a copy of this if you'll just reach out to us today go to jdgrier.com and reach out to us and and we can get you a copy of this and i think you'll i think you'll find it to help we'll send it as our way of saying thanks when you donate 35 dollars or more to support this ministry give us a call at 866-335-5220 or you can give online at jdgrier.com i'm molly vidovich be sure to join us tomorrow for the conclusion of our message titled either a sheep or a goat on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries