The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 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, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters 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, ‘Truly I tell you, 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.” (Matthew 25: 31-46; NIV)

The meaning of this parable can vary depending on what we focus on. At a basic level, it shows God’s judgment, contrasting the righteous, who act with kindness and compassion, with the unrighteous, who neglect others out of selfishness. But a deeper look reveals many challenges and opens the door to different interpretations. 

This Parable serves as the culmination of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, directly connecting to the themes presented in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24, Jesus discusses the signs of the end times, urging vigilance and preparedness for His return. This final parable focuses on the final judgment. 

Characters in the parable

1. Son of Man/King

Jesus is the central figure in this parable, and He has dual identities. 

First, Jesus was identified as the Son of Man coming in the clouds in all His glory. This is a reference back to Daniel 7. 

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

Second, Jesus was identified as a King. Unlike earthly kings who want to wield power, Jesus here is identified as a servant King, hidden in the suffering community as referenced by Isaiah 52. 

He also has dual roles. He acted as both Judge and advocate. 

As a Judge, Jesus separates people into two groups. He did this by the authority given to Him by the Father. Jesus said:

Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. (John 5: 22-23)

As an Advocate, He identifies with “the least of these,” much like in Acts 9:4, where He says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” about Saul who persecuted Christians. 

Overall, the Son of Man embodies both divine authority and human connection. He integrates judgment and salvation, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and New Testament revelations. His character is one of compassion and justice, challenging us to follow His example by showing love and mercy to others. In this way, He is not only a King and Judge but also a Savior and Servant, offering both accountability and hope to humanity.

2. All the Nations/Sheep/Goats/Brethren

Next, we see Jesus address several groups: all the nations, the sheep, the goats, and the least of my brethren. 

All the nations represent the entirety of humanity gathered before the Son of Man at the final judgment, including people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, as referenced in Revelation 7:9. In Matthew 24, Jesus states that the end will come when the Gospel is preached to all nations. Additionally, in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, He commands His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. This universality emphasizes the impartiality of God’s judgment, which applies equally to everyone, regardless of nationality or status.

The sheep symbolize the righteous who respond to the needs of the vulnerable with compassion and love. These individuals may not all identify as Christians, but their actions align with the principles of Jesus’ ministry, reflecting His call to love, serve, and care for others. They hear and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, as Jesus declares in John 10:27: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Interestingly, the sheep are surprised by the King’s commendation, unaware that their acts of kindness toward others were, in fact, acts of service to Him. Their actions are not motivated by a desire for reward. Such an attitude can only be because of the result of a heart that is transformed by Grace which bears the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). This inner transformation by grace enables them to reveal God’s love through their deeds. As James 2:17 says, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

In contrast, the goats represent the unrighteous who fail to show mercy or respond to the needs of others. The interesting thing here is that these are not condemned for their sins or evil deeds but for their neglect and indifference to the needy. Their failure to act reveals a heart disconnected from God’s love, as reflected in 1 John 3:17: “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” The goats’ self-centeredness and lack of compassion show that they did not recognize Jesus in the vulnerable, which was kind of surprising for them.

The least of my brethren are traditionally considered as those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned. Scholars debate their identity, with interpretations ranging from all vulnerable people to specifically Christian missionaries or fellow believers. A universal view sees the least as representing anyone in need, aligning with Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord.” This perspective is further reinforced by Mark 9:37: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” Alternatively, a more specific interpretation considers the least as Jesus’ disciples who suffer for His name’s sake, supported by Matthew 10:40-42, where Jesus states that welcoming His followers is equivalent to welcoming Him. 

Another nuanced interpretation sees the least as those marginalized by the religious elite, much like how the Pharisees excluded certain groups in Jesus’ time. Jesus consistently showed compassion to those whom the religious authorities rejected, such as tax collectors, sinners, and the ceremonially unclean. In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus welcomes and forgives a sinful woman, an act that scandalizes the Pharisees but exemplifies His mission to reach the outcasts. Similarly, in Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus dines with tax collectors and sinners, declaring, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This interpretation is echoed in Matthew 23:4, where Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for tying up heavy burdens on others without lifting a finger to help. In contrast, Jesus offers rest to the weary and burdened (Matthew 11:28-30), symbolizing His inclusion of those who are socially and spiritually oppressed. The least, in this context, are those excluded or burdened by religious legalism and hypocrisy.

Regardless of the interpretation, the least of these serve as the test by which the sheep and goats are judged, highlighting the importance of responding to human need with love and mercy.

Reward/Punishment

The sheep, representing the righteous, are invited to “inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). This reward highlights several important truths

The kingdom is not earned but inherited, signifying a gift rooted in God’s grace. This aligns with Paul’s statement that:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

In other words, the sheep are those who were saved by grace. This grace not only transformed their hearts but also led them to participate in the good works that God had prepared for them in advance. In the same way, these sheep inherit the kingdom that was prepared for them from the foundation of the world referencing to John 14:2-3, where Jesus says, “I go and prepare a place for you.” As Paul said this is all God’s doing. 

The goats, representing the unrighteous, are condemned to “depart into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). The curse represents not just punishment but separation from God’s presence as described here: 

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-12)

The goats, representing the unrighteous, are condemned because their lives lack the transformative power of grace. Unlike the sheep, whose hearts are shaped by God’s grace to produce goodness and good deeds, the goats demonstrate a life disconnected from God’s work in them. As 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 highlights, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.” Grace is the divine force that perfects and completes our desires for goodness, turning faith into action.

Without grace, this divine work cannot take place. The goats, having rejected God’s grace, are left to rely on themselves, resulting in lives devoid of the fruits of righteousness. Their failure is not simply a lack of good deeds but a fundamental rejection of the grace that enables such deeds. As John 3:19 states, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” The goats have chosen darkness, rejecting the light of God’s grace, and their lives show the consequences of that choice.

This idea echoes other teachings of Jesus, such as the Golden Rule (“Do to others as you would have them do to you”) and the Beatitudes (“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”). It establishes a reciprocal dynamic: what we give to others in love, we receive from God.

Even though this explanation is well-accepted among many Christians, there are some problems. First, why would a gracious and loving God, would let the unrighteous burn for eternity? Second, from our studies on Grace in our class, we understood that even though it is possible, it is extremely hard for someone to reject Grace. Then how come so many stayed Goats? The third thing is that even though, we all accepted the Grace of God, we still have both good and evil in us. We still have selfishness like these goats. We still do good things out of a desire to have a good reward from God.  We still marginalize some people in the name of God and reject them. We also tend to notice, that some people are givers and some are takers. Some keep on giving from their childhood and some keep on taking even on their deathbeds. But both types of people can be found in church, and both live a life of Grace. What is it that is burning for eternity? I want to explore some of these thoughts next week. I want to know what your take on this parable is. 

Donald: I found Kiran’s presentation this morning very intriguing, and I appreciated it very much. It relates to many things that I seem to be involved with or thinking about right now in our community—particularly the idea of why not just do good works? Why are we spending billions of dollars to raise up a church? Certainly, there are people who are skeptical of corporate religions because of their organizational structures, which seem to require great sums of money to perpetuate themselves.

That being said, I do think there are corporate religions that exist for the sake of others, independent of the money it takes to maintain them. Maybe it’s like the difference between a hospital and a clinic: you need a hospital to take medicine to where it’s needed, and the equipment and the cost of running a viable hospital are phenomenal. But then, why do we also have clinics?

I think the difference between a clinic and a hospital—maybe not by definition but by perception—is that a clinic runs at a much lower cost and serves the poor. So, should we shut down hospitals in order to have more clinics? I don’t know. Does that relate to this conversation, or am I missing the point?

It seems like we put all this energy into the corporate aspect, and I was talking about this with a friend yesterday. I said, “You know, all this is going to happen while we’re waiting for the Lord’s return. The Lord’s going to come, and we’ll still be talking about whether this church did something right or how the corporate church responded to this or that.” It just seems to me like a tension between where the rubber meets the road—a clinic versus something that’s necessary to support all these larger structures.

Don: One of the remarkable things about the story is the surprise that everyone feels. You’d think that, based on how we practice religion, we would have more confidence or understanding about how our fate should be determined. But in this case, both the sheep and the goats are surprised, which I think is a very interesting phenomenon.

I’m not sure why we’re so surprised about how we’re being judged. Maybe it’s because judgment is overcome by grace. What’s really at stake here is whether you’re willing to pass on the grace you’ve been given, or whether you want to hoard it. It seems that eternal separation from God is a result of hoarding grace. I don’t know if the “burning fire” is something we should take literally, or if it’s simply an indication of separation from God.

Separation from God is a horrible, fatal, and destructive thing. One way to picture that destruction is through the image of a fire that burns continuously. I see it as more metaphorical, a way to illustrate something else: that hoarding grace separates you from the God of grace. It feels like a fiery outcome, but in fact, it’s simply being separated from the source of light and life.

As far as formal religion is concerned, I see it as something that has gone off the rails in many aspects. We need each other and need to commune with one another in our spiritual lives. I think that’s pretty clear from the scriptures and the illustrations in the Book of Acts. However, what we’ve done is take formal religion and turn it into the root of salvation. That, I think, is where we go wrong.

We need each other to have conversations like this, to strengthen our faith, and to help us better understand God’s plan for our lives. But this has nothing to do with salvation. This is about a God of grace who freely gives us the gift of grace. If we pass it on to others, we’re doing what’s expected of us. That’s the judgment—whether we’re willing to pass it on to others or whether we want to hoard it for ourselves.

Carolyn: I’ve always believed that we must ask the Lord for forgiveness, and when we ask and believe, His response is to cast our sins into the depths of the sea. Grace comes in and holds us until He comes in the clouds. That’s why we say we have to die daily, but we still must ask for forgiveness.

As far as judgment goes, day by day, we’ve talked about situations like someone being in a car, asking for forgiveness, and then being killed in an accident. We have no idea if they asked or not. We have the grace to not know everything, but we also know the human side—what if we’re in the car, get angry at someone who cuts us off, and then something tragic happens? Maybe we said something wrong before we died. For me, the judgment seems to rest there—am I right? I think it’s a little ambiguous where grace carries us through and where it doesn’t. With the sheep and the goats, can you revert to being a goat? Or are you always moving forward as long as you ask for forgiveness, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and do as He asks? But then, is that us working too?

Sharon: I’ve preached this sermon many, many times over the course of my career. A piece of the discussion that hasn’t come up yet is the role of behavior change in us as we see the face of Jesus in the least of these. It’s not so much, I think, about the impact we make on the poor or those we serve, but about what happens to us as we become selfless and focus on serving others.

I’ve worked in nursing homes and with the elderly for many years, and I’ve always been fascinated by how, in the latter years of our lives, who we were during the prime of our lives becomes amplified. If someone was a grumpy, mean person, they tend to become even grumpier and meaner when they no longer have 100% of their wits. On the other hand, you see those who are so sweet and kind that they would give you the shirt off their back. They would do anything for you.

In the sermon I preach, I talk about denial. For me, both groups in this parable are in denial. Both ask, “Lord, when did we see You?” The denial factor is that you’re so naturally doing something—because it’s such a part of who you are—that you do it without intentionality or worrying about how you implement it. It’s just a natural part of your life to be selfless and giving.

I think the goats, on the other hand, are so narcissistic and self-centered that they don’t even realize what they’re neglecting. If you’ve ever lived in an impoverished community, you might drive past beggars. Maybe for the first two days, you notice them, but after a while, you stop seeing them altogether. This parable, for me, is one of the most comforting ones because it doesn’t ask about your 28 fundamental beliefs or other doctrinal points. It’s just about what you did with your life’s purpose to reach out and help others in a complex social environment.

C-J: I think much of this goes back to those who have abundance and those who have scarcity, and how they view that. I’ve seen people who don’t have much yet feel full of God’s grace. You don’t hear them crying about being poor or constantly asking, “Can I have this?” On the other hand, I’ve seen people with plenty still saying, “Oh, can I have that? You don’t mind if I take this, do you?”

I really do believe it’s the work of God—truly. Much of what Sharon said, I too have witnessed. It’s unfortunate, but it’s only the grace of God that transforms us.

Don: I’d like to suggest that repentance and asking for forgiveness is really for our sake, not for God’s sake. He forgives you. You are His child—by adoption or by birth, depending on your understanding—and He has forgiven you. You’re part of His family, whether you’re good or bad, whether you ask for forgiveness or not. I think we need repentance for ourselves. We need the assurance that God forgives us—not because He’s conditional on our asking for it, but because we often don’t feel like we can be forgiven unless we ask.

I’m past the point of worrying about whether or not I said something wrong just before dying in a car crash. I was there as a young man many years ago, always worried about whether I had prayed in the evening to ask for forgiveness for sins I knew I had committed, and even for those I didn’t know about. I wanted to make sure the “book” was clean—that my sins were stricken from the record of life. But I now see that need as something that was about me, not about God. His grace is sufficient for me, whether I ask for it or not.

The more we come to know God and understand His grace, the more reassured we are of His promise. He is the one whose effort is important for our salvation—not ours. Kiran touched on this in his reference to the passage in 1 Thessalonians, where the work is actually God’s work to bring about good works in us, rather than something achieved by our own effort.

Carolyn: Then why do we have to worry about the final judgment if our sins are already at the bottom of the sea?

Don: You don’t. That’s the good news. All you’re asked to do is to take the grace you’ve been given and pass it on when you have the opportunity. I see this as each of us having a toolbox. Some of us have many tools, while others don’t have very many. Some of our tools are helpful in certain situations, and others are not.

We’re not expected to be everything to everyone all the time. But when we do find someone in need, and we have the tools to help that person, that’s our judgment: Are we willing to use the tools we have to help? That’s it. God’s grace is what transforms us and equips us to use those tools in an effective and meaningful way.

Reinhard: This parable piques our curiosity. In John 3:18, Jesus says, “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned.” It’s very simple. But now, the requirement seems to go further. Sharon mentioned that we need to live selflessly, and I think that’s what God wants from us. God always seems to be speaking in high terms—like when Jesus says that if a man looks at a woman with lust, he has already committed sin in his heart. This is typical of God wanting to teach His children very high standards.

Of course, grace always covers us, but the parable we’re talking about—the sheep and the goats—is an example of this. It talks about visiting the needy, helping those in prison, feeding the hungry, and so on. These acts are not about earning salvation but about reflecting what God has already done for us. God says, “Come to my party,” because salvation has been given. But for those who didn’t act, they try to justify themselves, asking, “When did we see You?”

When you put all this together, I think God always sets a high standard. It’s as if God “threatens” us—not in a negative sense, but as a way of urging us to do good deeds and become better people. To believe in Him means we have responsibilities as Christians. As God says, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” I think that’s very important.

So, in this parable, while God’s grace covers us, He still calls us to a very high standard. I don’t think we’re going to achieve everything perfectly—not all Christians are going to do what God has asked in this parable.

Donald: So why do you think the Ten Commandments were given instead of something like the Beatitudes? It seems to me that the Beatitudes speak more directly to what we’re discussing this morning than the Ten Commandments do.

C-J: Perhaps the Ten Commandments are for society—the rules to control and guide society—while the Beatitudes are spiritual. We need both, maybe.

Michael: The Beatitudes are very hard, and I don’t think we like them as much as we pretend to. They’re not a set of rules that are easy to follow. But they hit differently. They don’t hit the mind; they hit, maybe, the soul.

Donald: Well said.

Carolyn: I think one of the challenges for me is knowing how to talk with people who haven’t been walking with the Lord. They often say, “The Ten Commandments were part of the Old Testament, but when Jesus came, He fulfilled everything.” I think we’ve all heard this from many people. They point out that we now have the greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And this ties into what we’re talking about today.

So, it comes down to the basics of what we believe. The Ten Commandments still apply in some way, but I think the Beatitudes expand on them and connect to the New Testament’s focus on grace and love. I feel like I have an understanding of this inside me, but I don’t always have the language to express it clearly to others. The Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the new commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself” all tie together under the umbrella of grace. It’s a big umbrella, and it’s wonderful that we have it. But it’s not always easy to explain how these ideas fit together.

Donald: I think Connie Jobgot it about right. Maybe the commandments are like the structure—they’re the iron that forms a building. But it’s still not a building until it has its soul. Iron doesn’t create soul; iron creates structure. So maybe that’s part of what’s being expressed here this morning.

I still find myself troubled, having worked for the corporate church for 40 years and seeing the corporate church wrestle with where the rubber meets the road. When you come right down to it—okay, now we’re going to put out some commentary about LGBT issues, for example. That’s just commentary; it doesn’t really speak to the soul of people’s needs. That’s ironic, isn’t it?

I also don’t know the difference between the hospital and the clinic. I know there are one-hour clinics on every corner these days, but I’m thinking of the kind of clinic that doesn’t charge much and helps those with great medical needs. It’s different from the unbelievable charges we’re seeing in health care today. And then, you throw insurance into the mix. Where does insurance fit into this analogy?

Don: I don’t know if this answers your analogy, but I’d say the difference between a clinic and a hospital has to do with the intensity of care. A hospital is a place where the intensity of care is high. Those of you who have been in a hospital recently know that, in the old days, you could stay in a hospital for a long time, even when the level of care you needed wasn’t particularly high. Nowadays, if you can do anything for yourself or move about, you get discharged quickly.

A clinic, on the other hand, is more of an intake or follow-up point, where the intensity of care is lower. So, I’d say the difference between a hospital and a clinic comes down to how much care is needed and how intense that care is—whether it requires multiple specialists or just one. I’ll let you take that definition and develop your metaphor further from there.

Donald: I think back to the multiple times I visited this incredible clinic in Tanzania. It was kind of a balance between a hospital and a clinic. If you looked outside, you’d see people lined up to get in, and it seemed more like a hands-on, low-impact access point for medical care. But in reality, behind closed doors, they were doing what was necessary to truly care for people. They had at least the minimum equipment and sterile environments to perform what was needed.

So, it struck me as a balance between the two—a hybrid, if you will. It’s not like, for example, what Loma Linda offers when they send physicians on short trips to serve in other countries. Those trips are great, but you bring your doctor’s bag, do your best, and it’s not going to be in-depth. You’re not going to perform the kinds of procedures a hospital provides. Still, it’s meeting the needs of the poor.

C-J: You mentioned insurance. What is the need for insurance? Medicine today is highly profitable, and humans have become the commodity. Everything revolves around evaluating that commodity. For a young person with potential, you want to save their life and ensure they have a good quality of life. For older people, the focus shifts to comfort care—we’re not doing heroics, but we’re trying to maintain some level of quality of life.

But with God, I think it’s a different playing field. God is always dealing with spiritual matters. When we think about people like Daniel in the lion’s den, the fiery furnace, or Christ on the cross, it certainly wasn’t “equal” in terms of earning or deserving outcomes. God uses situations beyond our understanding to demonstrate greater truths.

It makes me think about organizational structures, like the military. Take Navy SEALs or Rangers, for example. These are people who know their chance of survival is less than 50%. They accept high risks, knowing they face potential injury and a shorter life expectancy. Some join for a sense of meaning and purpose; others because they’re extremely poor and see few other options. For many, it’s about something greater than themselves.

God doesn’t want us focused on the temporal. He’s always preparing us for the long haul—the spiritual. Day to day, I see myself grow, but then I slip back. It’s like, “Wait a minute here.” But God is always training us. If you talk to a Navy SEAL, they’ll tell you: training day is every day. That’s what God is doing with us. Every day is a training day to better understand who God is, how He works, and how we can be instruments in His hands.

Some days, God might call you to be a servant. Other days, He might call you to be a leader or to lean entirely on Him. It’s always about the spiritual. It’s about recognizing my own smallness—my “speck of dust”—while God fills the room. Do I hear Him? Do I see Him? Am I willing to respond? What adjustment is required of me today to do what He asks?

Today is December 7, Pearl Harbor Day. It used to be forefront in the news, but now you don’t even hear about it. I went to buy a Christmas ornament recently, and I couldn’t find a single angel. Not one. I had to go online to Amazon to find one. Locally, there were none, and this is during the Christmas season! I think this reflects something larger. It’s about God and the relationship He has with us. I don’t have a relationship with God independent of His grace.

Michael: I I think the questions Carolyn is asking are at the heart of who God is, and I think they’re valid questions. You hear what the Church tells you, and you hear what we tell you, but I think you’re doing yourself a disservice by not taking these questions directly to God. Ask Him who He is. I think that’s the best way to understand the truth of who God is. Don’t rely on what others say. This is personal. It’s between you and God. Take it to Him.

Reinhard: Going back to the discussion about the sheep and the goats, the service required of us is key. In today’s world, especially when we’re talking about hospitals—how larger hospitals dominate smaller ones—it often comes down to economy and money. But when it comes to the mission of churches around the world, the focus is on service, helping people. I think that’s very apparent. Many churches, especially in developing and Third World countries, are not focused on profit but on service, and that’s a good thing.

I’d also like to go back to what Carolyn mentioned earlier. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Remember the story of the rich young ruler? He told Jesus that he had kept all the commandments, but Jesus said, “That’s good, but now sell your property and give to the poor.” That story emphasizes the importance of service and helping others.

Once we know the truth, we’re called to act on it. James 4:17 says, “If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” This ties back to the parable of the sheep and the goats and what we’ve been discussing. As Christians, it’s not just about receiving grace from God. He also calls us to do good and serve others. That’s what Christianity is about—our belief in God is demonstrated through our actions.

Don: Exactly, Reinhard. I agree with you. It’s really about judgment, as I said earlier, and it depends on the tools each of us has.

Kiran: The goats are judged not because of their sins, but for their lack of compassion toward others. We’ll discuss this further next week.

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