Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
A few short sermons ago, I noted that chapters 24 and 25 were a series of parables, mostly about the Last Day, Judgment Day, the second coming of Christ. And of all the parables regarding the second coming of Christ, the most well-known is this one. Of all of them, the whole lot, this is the one that people generally think of when they talk about, think about, the second coming of Christ. This is probably because it’s somewhat straightforward and simple: sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell. Pretty blunt. That in no way, however, implies that the parable isn’t built with an awful lot of inner lessons to be learned, of things that sort of make it a bit more complicated to understand if you begin to read each particular part of the parable.
And as you also know, it can be kind of uncomfortable when we’re talking about the Last Day, Judgment Day, the second coming of Christ, because we have so many family and friends and loved ones who have departed the church or never were a part of the church ever to begin with. They’ve forsaken their baptisms and have walked away from the faith. It’s a tough kind of parable to hear.
And as you also know, Christians are creatures with two natures: the new nature given in Christ and Holy Baptism and the Word of God, and then there’s the old sinful nature that each and every one of us was conceived in, in that moment of conception in our mother’s womb. In accordance with the new nature, we long for the second coming of Christ. We often say and end our prayers, “Come, Lord, quickly.” But we also know that we have an old sinful nature, and some of the Last Day parables strike a little nervousness or fear even within the hearts of Christians.
The parable starts off simple enough. It begins by dividing humanity into two groups. The first group is represented by sheep, who will be welcomed into the presence of the King. “All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats.” Which leads to the first question, the first part of these many parts of the parable that add insight into who is going where and when: how does a shepherd separate sheep from goats? We know this by all kinds of other Bible verses: by His voice, by His words, by His preaching, by His teaching.
In this world, sheep are mixed with goats, and in the world of the church, goats are mixed in with the sheep. That’s Article VIII of the Augsburg Confession: although the Church properly is the congregation of saints and true believers, nevertheless in this life there are many hypocrites and evil persons that are mingled with the saints.
The people to whom Jesus was first speaking this parable understood the fundamentals of herding sheep. When a shepherd wanted to separate his flock from other flocks and goats gathered around a well, all the shepherd needed to do was to speak loudly and command his sheep to follow him. At the mere command of his voice, the sheep would hear it above all the other noise and racket going on. They hear the voice of their Good Shepherd, and they would pull themselves away and head toward their Shepherd. Jesus uses this image several times throughout His earthly ministry: John 10:27, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” Or, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and My sheep know Me.”
The first thing that distinguishes a sheep from a goat is the voice to whom the sheep listens. If the sheep is listening to something else other than the voice of the Shepherd, then the sheep isn’t a sheep, it’s a goat. The sheep trust their Shepherd. When He returns, He will come and He will call out to the sheep, to the Christian Church: “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.” In other words, they’ve been chosen. They were once goats, they were made sheep, they now are separated to the right. The right is the seat of glory and honor.
The other group, represented by the goats, who have been ordered to stand to the left, they are the unbelievers. The King will ultimately say to them, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”
The judgment of either eternal bliss or eternal punishment is subsequently in the parable supported by their deeds. This is where the parable takes a rather confusing turn. After all, we’re Lutherans, and Lutherans operate on the first fundamental principle when reading and interpreting the Bible, namely justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, for Christ’s sake alone, apart from good works. But now we have a parable that most of it is dedicated to good works, and to no good works at all.
See, that’s where the parable becomes a bit more difficult for people who aren’t Lutherans to understand, and even we do. If you read the parable in isolation of all the other stuff, all the other preaching and teaching and events in the Bible, then you’d have to conclude that this parable is supporting a form of works righteousness. But if you actually take into consideration what all the rest of the Bible has to say, what Jesus preached and taught, what is written in the Epistles written to the churches that often got confused between faith and good works, why, this can be a rather difficult challenge to get your friends to understand what the parable is actually teaching.
Jesus is saying something like: sheep are sheep, and they’ll enter into eternal rest. And how do you know they’re sheep? You’ll know them by their love. We have a Bible verse about that, and we have a couple of Sunday school songs about that. “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you,” the King says, “from the foundation of the world. For when I was hungry, you gave Me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave Me something to drink, and when I was a stranger, you invited Me in. Naked, you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Now that’s what the sheep did, because they’re sheep.
Conversely, the King says to the goats, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing. I was thirsty, you gave Me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, you did not invite Me in. Naked, and you did not clothe Me. I was in prison, and you did not visit Me.”
Sounds like a system of works righteousness to me, and I’m not alone. A lot of people quote that verse to me once in a while, especially my Roman Catholic friends from time to time. They hang on to that sort of description without understanding the context in which it is being said.
The simple reading of the parable, in isolation of the whole doctrine of the Christian faith, makes it sound like you become a sheep by doing good things. You enter the eternal life and rest by doing good things, and therefore religion, the Christian religion, has good works as necessary for salvation. Sheep do good works, thus sheep are saved. Goats don’t do any good works, thus they are condemned. And our natural instinct is to listen to this parable and conclude that what people do or fail to do makes the difference as to whether they’re sheep or they’re goats. Sheep are welcomed because they did this, that, and the other thing. Goats are rejected because they didn’t do this, that, and the other thing.
And that kind of language is found all over the place in our historic liturgies, in formal prayers. Take for example the funeral liturgy, which concludes, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that which he has done, either good or bad.” Or again, “I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.'” Not to mention the many, many collects that we pray throughout the church year, where we ask God to increase both our faith and our good works.
Article IV of the Augsburg Confession rightly summarizes the central doctrine of the Christian faith: it’s taught among us we can’t obtain forgiveness of sins and righteousness before God by our own works, merits, or satisfaction, but receive forgiveness of sins and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for His sake our sins are forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us.
In the parable, the sheep are praised for their good deeds, but the goats stand before the judgment seat without even one. Now consider this point: most people who hear or read or know this parable are operating with the normal, common definition of good, or of good works. And we know that the normal definition of good works is in play even when bad people do good deeds, display acts of love.
I’m now beginning to make an argument that tells you that the way in which Jesus condemns the goats makes it absolutely clear that good deeds aren’t kept on a scoreboard. You can’t tell me that unbelievers don’t drop money into charity buckets, or haven’t helped someone lift a heavy item, or given somebody a bottle of water when really thirsty, or haven’t given them a few bucks for what they hope is a hamburger. Lots of bad people visit other bad people in prison. You want to find bad people, go there, go meet them. And some of them are really good people, meaning the common definition. They just screwed up, but they’re basically decent folks, right?
Yet in the parable, the goats aren’t even given credit for one good deed, though they would have done them by the normal definition of good. And the sheep, there’s not one mention of them doing anything that is good, and we know that there are plenty of times when we have failed as sheep, conversely, when we have not done good deeds but rather we have done bad, wrong, sinful, and evil things throughout our lives.
So the key to resolving this apparent conflict between the good works of sheep and the lack thereof of goats is threefold. First, all Scripture must be read and interpreted and understood in light of the analogy of faith. What’s the analogy of faith? It’s the article of justification: salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, for Christ’s sake alone. If you read something that seems to conflict with that, like the parable this morning, then you need to read further and understand more completely what Jesus is actually teaching in the parable. All that is written in the Old and New Testament is to be understood in light of that primary doctrine of the Bible, the article of justification.
Second key to understanding the parable of sheep and goats is to know that sheep are sheep, sheep, and goats are goats, and they are in fact very different. Third, God has His own definition of good, namely of good works.
When God looks upon a Christian and their deeds, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit sees a person who has been washed clean in the waters and the Word. They see a person, a child, a saint, namely you, wrapped in the righteous robe of Jesus Christ. And if you’re wrapped in the righteous robe of Jesus Christ, then the works you do that are works of love are good deeds in God’s sight, and they do follow you into your heavenly rest.
Conversely, a goat, a bad tree, can’t produce good fruit. Even if they gave water to a hundred, a thousand, a million people, if they are not in Christ, it’s not reckoned to them as a good deed to be rewarded in heaven. Why? Because they’re not going to be there. A good deed flows from true Christian faith. That’s God’s definition. That’s why Jesus says no one is good except One, namely, He says, God. That’s who makes good works, and who washes them and you clean in the water and the Word.
Jesus used the image of sheep and goats precisely because they have notable differences, they have different character. Christians have a new nature in Christ, and people who first heard the parable understood just how different goats and sheep were. Sheep look to be rather humble creatures, in contrast to goats. Sheep bow their heads and eat, grazing, eyes down, shortsighted. Goats, on the other hand, hold their head up high and they grab anything they can get. Go to a little farm and watch that happen, right? They push, they’re pushy, they try to grab anything even when it’s not supposed to be edible, and they’ll still eat it.
Sheep are timid. They flee from any possible danger or stranger to the safety of their shepherd. Goats, on the other hand, are curious, aggressive, troublesome, intrusive. They’re about as troublesome and intrusive as any creature you’re going to meet. Goats are independent. They’re not a part of any flock, really. They’re just out for themselves, and that’s how they conduct themselves. Goats are very difficult to manage, thus they don’t make good church members.
When a sheep gets into trouble, it’s usually because they’re shortsighted and thickheaded. That’s what we have, that’s us. We’re shortsighted, we didn’t look down the road, we didn’t plan accordingly. Moses said they are stiff-necked people. That applies to us. But we as Christians do what we can to avoid trouble, it’s in our nature. A goat, however, loves it, goes looking for it, tries to get into whatever it can get into.
The sheep in the parable have no idea that they were serving Christ when they gave simple acts of love, when they fulfilled their duty as mothers and fathers and husbands and wives and children and parents, employers and employees, members of our community. They had no idea that when they showed kindness and charity to their neighbors, they were actually doing something to Christ Himself. “Lord, when did we do these things?” they ask Him. Their deeds didn’t save them. Rather, their deeds were declared good works because God Himself declared them, and those Christians, to be so.
Our old sinful nature can’t produce good works in God’s sight. So the goats are equally confused in the parable. They don’t understand how they missed doing good works. They themselves will answer, “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of You?” “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it unto Me.”
God will reward the good works of Christians. And we as Lutherans ought to speak more often about the good works that Christians are to do, and engage in them ourselves. We should not hesitate to defend the doctrine of justification while at the same time upholding the teaching that Christians, by virtue of the Gospel, can’t help but do good works. Good works are the byproduct of the Gospel. They’re the second benefit of the Gospel, besides forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Good works are not necessary for salvation, but good works are necessary. Our confessions say: God does not need our good works, but our neighbor needs our good works.
So Judgment Day is coming, and Christ will return as King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will come to judge the nations, that is, all tribes, all people, to deliver believers into heaven and unbelievers into hell. Judgment Day for you, though, will not be a day of terror or fear. It will not be a day of regret, but it will be a day of joy and reward. The Scripture speaks often about the fact that God does reward His children and those who do good things.
He was thirsty, after all. He was thirsty in the temptation of the wilderness. He was thirsty on the cross of Good Friday. He was naked, stripped naked to take to the cross, to be hung on the cross by nails. He took upon you all your sickness and your infirmity to the cross. And though He was not formally in prison, He was held in custody by Roman guards who scourged Him and beat Him to death.
Our failure to serve God and neighbor, listen to this, are not written down in a ledger. Our sins are not reported. They are thrown from us as far as the east is from the west, the text says, and God remembers them no more. There’s only one thing written in the ledger: it’s your name. “I have called you by name, you are Mine,” declares the Lord.
We are sheep because we’ve been made to be sheep. And we come to church to hear His voice and follow Him. “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27). So you, little Immanuel, you are sheep of the flock. You do good works, though you don’t go around counting them, bragging about them, telling other people about them. And you come here each and every week to confess your faith, as God is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
You are sheep of this little fold called Immanuel, and Jesus called you in the waters of your baptism and the gift of faith, when you heard the Word proclaimed. And He will one day come back to bid you to enter in to the righteousness unto everlasting life. Why? Because you believe first, and yield the fruit. Amen.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.