Sheep and Goats

I spent some time yesterday morning looking at the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 and then shared it with our small group. Always powerful stuff.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"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. 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, 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.'

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

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"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. For 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 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.'

"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?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."


Christ points out six specific people groups in this parable that looks intently at suffering and our response to it. (Hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, imprisoned)

Which of these commands strike you the most? Which one of these is most difficult for you on a regular basis? How can you take action steps to change that?

Have you ever specifically failed in one of these areas? How has that failure changed your perspective?

One of the most important things for me to remember about these commands that Christ discusses is that none of them are done “in absence,” meaning they are all to be done directly to and with people. Nowhere does it say “When I was hungry you donated food to a food bank,” or “when I was in prison you rallied for prison reform.” Christ is directly challenging us to get out of our comfort zones, leave our secluded lives and love on people who are suffering. A challenge that is hard for me on a regular basis, yet one I am challenged with on a regular basis.

Picture of Love

Question from chapter 2: “Does the picture of love as a way of ‘being with’ fit into what you have experienced in your life?”

Willard uses the picture of a small child who loves doing things with his parents as the basis for his discussion of love as a way of “being with.” The child, maybe even unknowingly, relishes the time he spends with his parents no matter what they do; yet if the child were alone he may not seek to engage in the same activities because without the parent, it’s not the same. Every Christmas I have to make cutout cookies with my mom; it’s just a requirement I have. Now I don’t go and make sugar cookies any other time of the year; in fact, I’ve never made cutouts on my own. I love doing this activity with my mom because we always have and it means a lot.

Willard also uses the analogy of a loving couple, who when in sync with each other, do not need to demand or control the other’s actions; they just do things for each other out of love. Cleaning, dishes, gifts, positive words, etc all naturally happen with Clare and I because we seek to show our love in action. Although, this too can be upset. When an action is taken by one of us that doesn’t get the response we might have thought it would, the “being with” factor is affected.

Many times it can be the same with God. He does not communicate every aspect of His will to us for He longs for us to reach for it on our own sometimes as evidence of our love for Him. Yet often we look for a response from Him after our actions as a way to confirm our movements. When they don’t happen exactly how we expect them, our “being with” feeling of love is often altered. We need to reach past our pre-determined responses and seek to love God in spite of not hearing Him. And then maybe we truly will understand what He is speaking to us.

The Drawbacks of a Conversational Relationship with God

So I started reading chapter 2 and forgot to blog the final question for chapter 1 after getting over bronchitis, so here it is:

"What might be the drawbacks of having a conversational relationship with God?"

So be honest, there are a ton. Mainly though dealing with our access to God himself. In the Old Testament, from a glance it looks like God had a formulaic relationship with his people. It's not true, but it can be easy to deduce that if just looking at the actions of the people. Do something wrong, kill an animal, and then you're all right with God. Sin, sacrifice, forgiveness, good relationship with God. It seems so simple. And so easy to maintain a good relationship with God. If I follow the easy, laid out, time-tested formula, I'll always have access to the Creator and he will always guide me. In so many ways we latch onto the same view now. Do something wrong, ask for forgiveness from Jesus, and then you're all right with God. True grace has taken a back seat to a parlor trick, a small illusion that wipes away our sins and keeps the status quo. This simple formula keeps our faith lives in a perpetual state of staleness.
And even worse than this is the formula we've made for coming to "know" Christ. All men have sinned. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus was God and was perfect and died for your sins so you could get to Heaven. All you have to do is confess you're a sinner, receive forgiveness....and you make into Heaven! We preach it to others in hope that they'll start living in the "joy" we have too. Yet it's a bunch of crap. While we've gotten so many things right with theology, we've missed the point. Our goal, Christ's goal, was not to "get us into Heaven"; rather it was help us into a right relationship with God. We've made a formula to get into Heaven and we follow it so closely. And it makes a relationship worthless because relationships are hard. Formulas are easy.
We've gotten it wrong; I've gotten it wrong. And I know it. I've known it for a long time. Formulas are easy, relationships are hard. And in so many ways I still live out a formula faith daily. If I do enough or if I lead enough, God will speak to me. If I know enough of the Scriptures or if I have the right thinking about God then he will speak to me. Or if I spend at least three days of the week in "quiet times" God will speak to me. I've lived this way for years, approaching God with formulas. Again, it's not to say any of these things are wrong (God knows I need quiet times to silence my own voice), but with everything in our lives the motives behind our movements are what matter. Do I go through these motions to dive deeper into a relationship with Christ because they are actions that flow freely from a heart that desires intimacy; or am I yet again attempting to earn my way into his grace, hoping to hear a word from the almighty that confirms I am righteously living inside his will? I don't know. But I know two things: a true conversational relationship with God is always harder than a formulaic approach to God, but it is always better.