Making Goats into Sheep

Eric over at xphiles.com writes a great post about the difference between being a sheep and a goat. Many times in discussing how to reconcile ’salvation by faith alone’ and ’salvation without works is dead’ we get caught in a false dichotomy. It deserves the same answer that my professor from college quoted when asked, ‘How do you reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s free will?’ His answer, “You don’t. Friends do not need to be reconciled.” There is nothing contradictory between the two positions. The only thing lacking is our understanding.

When you read Matthew 25:31-46 you see that Jesus commends the sheep: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” but condemns the goats, identified as those who did not do these things, to hell. So is our salvation dependent on these works?

The behavior of the sheep and the goats shows how the righteous and the unrighteous, respectively, act. It is descriptive. If you want to see how the righteous behave, look at this! It doesn’t, however, tell us how to become righteous. The sheep themselves certainly weren’t seeking holiness! They just did what came to them. Their ministrations to the poor, hungry, sick, and imprisoned did not make them righteous; their righteousness caused them to serve their neighbors in all circumstances.

It was not something they did to be saved or even to raise their level of holiness. It was just something they did naturally since they were sheep.

As a description of righteous vs. unrighteous behavior, what then does this parable do? Well, for me, it provokes repentance. I don’t share a lot of water or visit many (read: “any”) people in prison. I don’t work in any soup kitchens or food pantries. I have lots of self-justifications for this. Fact of the matter? I think there are more important things for me to do. More specifically, there are more important, selfish, things to do, for me. In other words, I’m a goat. And if I suddenly start behaving more sheepishly, it’s likely out of selfish motivations.

So what are we to do then? Confess! Plea for mercy. For only God can turn goats into sheep. God can give us the desire to help others so that it is something we want to do rather than something we feel obligated to do.

When Christians aren’t acting like followers of Jesus, the way to cure this isn’t to point out their shortcomings and tell them to get on the stick. That’s necessary, but it’s not the solution. What will change us is the goodness of God. The Law and the Gospel. If the parable of the sheep and the goats is preached apart from the good news that Jesus turns goats into sheep, it will not change us. But if it is preached as part of the good news of justification by grace alone through faith alone, with no twisting needed, then by the Holy Spirit’s power, there may just be fewer hungry people in the world afterwards.

Amen. I am not sure I have heard a better Christmas message than this one. Thanks Eric.