God's Last Words

Are Sheep Better Than Goats?
Matthew 25: 31-46

A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.

The driver, a young man in an Italian  suit, Gucci shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses and Trump tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his ATT LG G3 Phablet, and calls up a NASA page on the Internet, where he logs in to a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.

Within seconds, he receives an email on his I-phone 6s that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his phablet and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"
"You're a consultant for the U.S. Congress", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars’ worth of technology trying to show me how much smarter than me you are, and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living, or about cows for that matter. I am a sheep herder.

Now give me back my dog.

We’re starting to find out, not surprisingly, that Obamacare was created by the same type of person as this person in this joke. However our problems today are not a joke.

Did you hear about the demonstration in a grocery store out in Berkeley, California last week? Some very radical vegetarians held a funeral for a chicken they took out of the frozen food section complete with a eulogy and prayers and a coffin.

They said that all animal life on earth have the same value, and are equal in the eyes of “mother earth.” Now that’s not quite how my Bible reads, but with the wackos and government people running things there are times when it seems as if some animals are worth more than people.

Occasionally, a psychologist or a counselor, in the course of their interaction with a client, may ask them, “If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?”

Obviously, the answer sometimes may give away some elements or aspects of your personality, such as level of aggressive tendencies or what you actually think about others for example, that you may want to stay hidden.

For me, I enjoy using this question to free up creative thinking and to ease a little tension. Think of how wonderful it must be to be an Eagle and soar on wings or to be a dolphin and be carefree.

Jesus tells us that in the coming judgment it will be better to be a sheep then  a goat, as he compares the coming judgment of the nations of the earth. Jesus talks about sheep a lot in His teachings. Let’s hear His description and then discuss which animal we’d like to be. Matthew 25: 31-46:

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the 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 one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the 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.'

"Then they also will answer, `Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?'

"Then he will answer them, `Truly I tell you, just 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 eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Goats are hardy animals suitable to the rocky hills and mountains of the arid regions in Israel. They are used for their meat, hair, milk, and skins. Goats, to this day, are favored by the Bedouins more than any other group of people.

But goats were falling out of favor by Jesus’ day and were becoming less used by Jewish herders and priests in the temple sacrificial system, which favored either lambs or doves primarily because their bodies had more fat content.

Sheep required much more care and tending than the independent-minded goats. Throughout the New Testament people are frequently compared favorably to sheep and Jesus often pictures Himself as a Shepherd.

Sheep are considered affectionate, meek, docile, submissive, considered helpless if left alone, and have a serious need for guidance.

Human sheep need a shepherd, Jesus, and sheep dogs, pastors/teachers/church leaders, and such. It’s no wonder Jesus compared His disciples to sheep.

The Greek word for sheep is “probaton” and the Greek word for goat is “eriphion.” I remember this word so well because it is almost as if God put us here on probation. The sheep fear God and the goats rip apart.

Goats are independent creatures that are stubborn, destructive, and refuse to be herded, mostly going where their hunger and curiosity takes them.

Jesus tells us the sheep will be on His right hand and the goats on the left: where do you want to be?

The goats in Jesus’ passage are described in Romans 1: 28-32:

 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.

They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

 Being a member of the sheep-fold is where we want to be. That’s where God’s grace will draw us home. And in the sheep-fold we take care of each other. Amen.