2 - (30hrfamine)

Don’t be a goat

Matthew 25:31-46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For 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 invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a goat.  And that’s what its about.  It isn’t that I don’t want to “act” like a goat, I don’t want to BE a goat.  This is about identity.  Who do we say that we are?  Is that who we are?  Like Jesus says in the verses I read, it is about you.  Now, it is easy to become confused about how our actions affect whether or not we’re getting into Heaven or not.  Look at how the righteous reacted to the words of the King.  They didn’t understand how their loving the least meant that they were loving the King.  That’s because they did not do what they did because they thought that what they were doing was going to gain them Heaven.  They did what they did because Jesus was living in their hearts and they had embraced Jesus as their savior.  They did what they did not because of what they might gain from what they did.  They did what they did because of who they were.  And they were who they were, because of who they knew!  AMEN?  No.  They were who they were, we are who we are, because of who knows us.  For it is written…”We love because he first loved us. “ (1 John 4:19).  (tell the story of going to see the King).

Want God to know you?  Then obey.  Dig into the bible, dig into prayer, dig into relationships with other Christians…get close to God and stay as close as you can, constantly reaching out to Him, imitating how he first reached out to you.  J

So.  We are who we are.   And if we are who we say we are, then we need to consider carefully who the least of these might be.

(Discuss – who are the least of these?  Name some…)