Sheep or Goat?

It’s been a busy few weeks since I last blogged, and I really hope this finds you well. We have just completed a challenging series on Sunday mornings, tackling some more ‘Hot Topics’ – something that we have been doing each Autumn for some years now. These series always get us thinking and talking about difficult issues in life, and although we won’t always agree on everything, it’s important to take a step back and remind ourselves that what we’re doing through these series is much more than trying to agree on what our doctrinal position on any given issue ought to be.

As we tackle these difficult and sensitive questions, we’re doing life together – life in all its messy fulness, with all its relational dynamics and varying perspectives! Precisely because the questions are not easily resolved, we’re forced (or at least strongly encouraged) to read our Bibles, to pray, to fast, to converse with God, to reflect, to think long and deeply about what we believe and why we believe it – and to discuss things, passionately and yes, sometimes heatedly, with our family and friends.

Rather than agreeing unanimously on everything (fat chance!) what I hope we’re discovering is that the process itself shapes who we are; that it deepens our relationship with God and with each other, even as we are drawn into those deep conversations as a church family.

As we engage with God and each other, it’s important to hold onto the idea that ‘engagement is not endorsement’. That’s one of my favourite sayings, and it contains within it a truly liberating idea: I can disagree with you, and sharply, but still engage with you. I may not approve of what you say (or do) but I can still listen to you and try to understand why you say and do those things. Perhaps I really can’t understand you, even after listening, but at least I’ll know that, like me, you’ve really thought and prayed about this. I may not share your opinion, and indeed your opinion may upset or offend me, but I can still disagree with you graciously and well. I may hate your theology (on this-or-that particular) but I still love you.

By the way, if we come away convinced that someone in the conversation is a sinner, we’d best remember that although it may indeed be ‘them’ on this issue, in the greater scheme of things it’s most certainly ‘us’ as well! And let’s never forget, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus famously taught about the day of final judgement and gave very clearly the basis for that judgement He will make about us. It’s recorded in Matthew’s account of his life, where Matthew recalls Jesus saying this:

Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)

“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. 33 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.”

As I embark on my fifth year of studying theology at Oxford, I can say with great sincerity that I’m really glad that Jesus isn’t going to judge us based on our grasp of doctrine! Rather, He will judge us on our mercy.

How then, does your mercy (and mine) reveal itself when we think about the people involved in some of the ‘hot topics’ we have covered in the last few years?

• The person with a disability
• That person’s carer
• The child in the womb
• The young woman with a desperate decision to make
• The bereaved and heartbroken person
• The person who has suffered racism
• The survivor of domestic abuse
• The person displaced from their home by war or persecution
• The person struggling with (and perhaps abused over) their sexuality
• The person living in poverty 

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father…” are the words I hope to hear when King Jesus makes His judgment. May my words and actions ever reflect that hope.

With much love,

Simon