A Word to the Church of Today Pastor Charles Cooley 5

When Jesus was teaching His disciples about end-time events, He related a strange story about sheep and goats. It is found in Matthew 25:31-46 and is quoted below (NKJV).

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

"All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

"And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;

'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 righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

"And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'

"Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'

"Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

"And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Many today equate this as some kind of social gospel - it is not. They use it as justification for government policy of taking money from the rich to give to the poor, but the Bible calls that practice something else - thievery! In fact, it is a teaching on the absolute imperative to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.

Is being kind to the poor, or feeding the hungry, or healing the sick Biblical ? Yes! But more important is hearing the voice of the Shepherd. Jesus said "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." (John 8:28). Some times He healed all who came to Him, other times He goes to the Pool of Siloam, where there were many sick, and healed just one. Why? Because He did just what His Father told Him and nothing more. His was not a 'social gospel', His was a 'listening gospel'. He lived the prophesy of Isaiah, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying 'This is the way; walk in it'" (Isaiah 30:21).

Why are the sheep and goats separated? Because the sheep hear the Good Shepherd's voice and the goats do not. Goats do what is good in their own eyes. Jesus taught, "My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27). This separation is future but, the groundwork for it is being laid even now. Millions have bought into New Deal politics of government handouts, or 'kinder conservatism' which is just more of the same old policies, or the Road Map for Peace, which sounds nice but leaves out the Prince of Peace! Even the Church has bought into the 'feeding trough' frenzy, promising prosperity, forgiveness without repentance, acceptance without a changed lifestyle that matches God's standards. Of course, truth has to take a 'back-seat' to 'feeling good'.

Seldom is Paul's warning about who will be deceived by the coming antichrist ever taught. Paul said, "They perish because they refused to love the truth, and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11). The goats say, "We don't have to worry about this because we will be raptured away before the antichrist appears!" This sounds nice but the problem is - it doesn't match Scripture! Paul writes earlier in the same book, "Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day (the day of the coming of Jesus Christ) will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness (antichrist) is revealed, the man doomed to destruction." (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Does God care for the poor and the down trodden? Of course He does and He directs His sheep to help them. A lady I know has been sick for some time with impacted, infected teeth, but could not afford to get them fixed. A handful of individuals, who heard the Good Shepherd's voice, gave over hundreds of dollars to help her get them fixed by a Christian dentist who also gave some pro-bono work. The fairly large church she belongs to gave nothing. I will not judge that church, but I will say there are sheep who hear and goats who do not hear the Shepherd's voice.

I recently read an article proclaiming what an evangelical Christian is or is not. I don't think God is so interested in what an 'evangelical' Christian is as what a 'Christian" is! I think a good definition might be, One who hears the voice of the Good Shepherd and obeys.