Sheep and Goats

The Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Alternative 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 seperates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep to his right and the goats to his left.

Then he will say to the goats on his left, ""Go to the pit of eternal fire, prepared for those who have failed God. For you were ministers who didn't manage to visit everyone in your church. You took funerals but didn't do enough follow up visits. You didn't notice when someone didn't come to church, or know that there were people sitting at home waiting for you to call. You did many good things, but you didn't meet everyone's needs. So go and receive your punishment.""

And then he will say to the sheep on his right, ""Come and recieve your reward, for you were not ministers, or house group leaders, or pastoral assistants. So you were not expected to do anything for anyone else. Your job was to have a nice life, pay off your mortgage, look after your garden and do a few cross words. You have succeeded in fullfilling this call. Well done. Come and receive the reward set aside for the saints...""

Or perhaps not...

The parable that I've just retold is most definitely not the version you can find in the Bible. In the version that Jesus tells, I am fairly certain that all people are judged in relation to the way they care for the least ""significant"" members of their society. Jesus expects everyone to meet him in the stranger, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick or the imprisoned. This calling is not just for the ""professionals"".

And yet traditional western church models focus on the ministry of a few, rather than the life of the many. So we generate guilt ridden clergy and apathetic members. I know this is a blatant generalisation, but I suspect there may be some truth in it.

If the Church is to truly fulfil its calling, we need to get away from a model of ministry in which the clergy serve the church and the people support them, to a model in which God works through his people and the ""ministers"" support and resource them. This change is essential! Then through the grace of God sheep and goats together will enter the Kingdom.