Matthew 25:31-46 Don’t Be a Goat
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 22, 2019 Matthew 25:31-46
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 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, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, 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.”
(Understanding the Text) This is a parable, so it is not to be taken too literally in detail but for its lesson. For example, it starts out with Jesus’ second coming and there is a sorting at that time so that the righteous are taken and the unrighteous die the first death and the earth is empty of human life. However, the ability for the unrighteous to speak and ask for reasons is not present at Jesus’ second coming, maybe at the final coming, but not at the first. The SDA commentary says “This, the last of Jesus’ parables, appropriately presents the great final assize and reduces to the most simple and practical terms the basis on which judgment is to be meted out.”
(Revelation of God) It says that when Jesus comes, He will come in glory with all of His angels with Him. It also calls His throne glorious. I’ve wondered why the Bible emphasizes the throne so much. Is it only as a symbol of kingship? Why not emphasize a crown? Crowns are emphasized for Jesus’ followers, but for Jesus, the throne is emphasized. Is there any other significance besides it being a seat of power? It just seems strange to me that it is such a large part of the spectacle in many places.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus says that we will be judged by our works in helping others or not. If we have not helped others, we will be rejected. Helping others is defined as giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and in prison. People who help others are called sheep while those who haven’t helped others are called goats. Sheep follow their master and are totally dependent for their own protection on someone else. Goats go wherever they want and take what they want and don’t need leading as much. It is significant that neither the accepted nor the rejected think that they have done anything like what Jesus says. The accepted do not believe that they have done anything worthy of the honor and the rejected think that they have not done anything worthless enough to be condemned for.
Each of these examples of helping can have both a literal and spiritual meaning. The literal meaning of the text is obvious, but what is the spiritual application? The spiritual meaning of giving food is to give the word of God to others. To give drink means to point them to Jesus and His death on the cross (I think). We can welcome a stranger literally as in welcoming a refugee and helping him to settle, or like when I make new students feel at home, or we can welcome a stranger into the family of God. They are new to God, and we help them to settle in to communion with Jesus and understand what it means to be with Him. Clothing the naked means leading the unsaved to accept Jesus as their Savior so that they are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Visiting the sick means that those who have not yet come to Jesus and are still sick are in our affections also, and we go to them and try to take care of them the best we can. We are to socialize with those who do not know Jesus and try to make their suffering in this world less. Going to those who are in prison means not waiting for people to come to us to know about Jesus, but instead going to the ones who haven’t got a clue and trying to help them. They are imprisoned by life and their own ideas. We go to them and try to help them see that there is something more. We do not wait for them to come to us because they can’t.
The resulting reward is contrasted as eternal punishment versus eternal light. In other places it is clear that the everlasting fire is the glory of God unveiled. Thus, the punishment and the reward is the same; it is just the people’s ability to live in God’s presence that is different. It will burn those who do not belong to God to ash while those who belong to Jesus will become glorified by it. I am not sure how it all works, but it seems to be two sides of the same coin. On the other hand, it says that this is an eternal fire prepared for Satan and his angels, so maybe there is something else here also.
(Application) My application for myself is that I need to learn to value and love others as Jesus values and loves them. I am not very good at that, but I see the need for it. It astounds me that so many Christians do not see the need to love each other. They are fine with backstabbing and judging and condemning and acting harshly without love. I also do those things, but I know that I am wrong to do them. I don’t understand how they cannot see that they are wrong to be unloving towards other Christians.
(Prayer) Teach me to be like the sheep in the parable and not like the goats. I do not do these services to others naturally because of my selfish nature, so I need You to transform me so that I am like You.