Who Are The Sheep?

Who are the Sheep? Matthew 25:31-46

1. The shepherds Harvest Jesus tells a parable about a shepherd’s harvest,

• The harvest is The act of separating sheep from goats, it’s something everyone can relate to.

• In the ancient world Goats and sheep(Quiet) goats (stubborn) graze together

• When harvest comes its the time to shear the sheep and goats

• the shepherd must separate sheep from the goats. The shepherd stands there, staff in hand,

nudging each beast one way or the other.

2. The separation of the Sheep and Goats During the separating sheep go one way, goats the other.

• It’s taught like this in church some will go to Heaven and some will not.

• Jesus says,” “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a

shepherd separates the sheep from the goats …” (Matthew 25:32).

• Notice for the Jews what they may be thinking “All the nations will be gathered before him.”

• Jewish folk are thinking this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Now we’re going to hear

how those goats, the Gentiles, are going to get theirs, while we sheep from the house of Israel

will be saved.”

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3. In the text no one recognizes Jesus sheep or goats, Nobody

• First, neither sheep nor goats in the story, recognize the Messiah. All of them are equally

clueless. “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger or naked or imprisoned?”

• Jesus answers, “Just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to

me.” Members of my family? Say it isn’t so, Lord!

• It appears that neither the sheep or the goats know which group they are until the Shepherd

separates them Once they find themselves in that group, they have no idea how they got there.

• Jews thought we go to Heaven Gentile goes to Perdition

4. In this story or parable who are the sheep and who goes to Heaven?

• Its those who are truly redeemed The sheep are those who lived caring, compassionate way.

• The judge will look deep into the heart. Some who think they’re sheep will find themselves to

be goats, while others who thought they were goats will discover they’re sheep after all.

” Not all Israel will be saved, and not all Gentiles will be lost.

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5. Notice the sheep didn’t know when they helped Jesus When Did We Have Time for You, Lord?

• The Sheep are those who do thankful deeds not just say thankful words

• The sheep are those who not just love but also have acts of love.

• It seems real sheep believe but also do.

• “Where did we see or help you, Lord? Was it Watching football Gerald, watching TV series, Was it while we were shopping(Juanita Myrtle she gave) and really didn’t need to, Was it when we clean house so we can impress our friends, Maybe when we seen Jesus and helped jesus was when we helped the least.

6. A wealthy Christian who went along on a trip to India, sponsored by an organization called the Ministry of Money. The trip was called “a pilgrimage of reverse mission.” At first, the man feared that this was an attempt to get him to give money. But no, the trip’s leaders explained, their goal was to get him, and others in the group, in direct contact with poor people.

They visited Mother Teresa’s mission to the destitute and dying of Calcutta. Here’s what the man wrote later about his experience:

“Calcutta was undoubtedly the most depressing, undesirable place we visited, but it was also the place of greatest joy for me. … I was feeding a withered, brown old man with a gray stubble beard. He was too weak to sit up and was covered with a blanket. I accidentally spilled a few grains of rice onto his neck. At first, I didn’t want to retrieve the rice because I didn’t want to risk touching him. After some time, however, I realized that the rice was probably uncomfortable to him and that the only thing to do was to remove it with my own fingers.

“As soon as I touched him, all heaven broke loose. He began to speak, smile and wiggle his head in that peculiar Indian way. Though I couldn’t understand the words, the body language was unmistakable: he was overwhelmed with the simple joy of a kind human touch. The feeding continued for some time, combined with numerous outbursts of joy from him.

“Somewhere during this time something surprising happened to me. A big, childish, uncontrollable grin came over my face. I had become infected with his joy. It was a joy so deep that I had almost forgotten that such feelings even existed. Joy just seemed to flow between us as we looked at each other. Then thoughts began to come to me. I realized that up until this point my reading, thinking and experiencing of Calcutta had focused on the suffering of the poor and on the identification of Jesus (and ourselves) with their suffering. But here I was being confronted with an experience of pure joy which seemed to contradict all of that. If indeed I had met Jesus in this man, then I had met not only the suffering Jesus, but also the Jesus of great joy.”