Goats In The Church

This is an intriguing subject. Jesus Himself spoke about the goats in prophesy while describing the final judgment of humanity in Mathew 25:31-33. The Scripture says, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and the angels with Him, then he will sit upon His glorious throne. All nations will be gathered in His presence and He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left”. The two groups were then sent to opposing directions. The sheep to Heaven to spend eternity with God and the goats to eternity in the lake of fire created for the devil and his demons.

Some of us would ask, “What are goats doing in the church of Christ, I thought we are supposed to be His sheep? Does He not say in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me”? Goats enter the church the same way the devil sow tares where the Lord planted wheat (Mathew 13:28-38). The enemy was able to do that because of the complacency of those that were given the responsibility of tending the farm. The Scripture said that he infiltrated the farm and sowed tares while men slept (Mathew 13:25-30).

So, who are the goats in the church today? How do we identify them? Goats are naturally very stubborn animals. They have no direction and are difficult to control. Jesus Christ must have had a reason to have chosen the sheep as a symbol of what He wants His disciples to be. The figure below tells us the differences between the two animals.

It is however important to note that ‘goats’ in Scripture do not refer to unbelievers. The Parable of the Goats and Sheep was narrated shortly after Jesus talked about the ten virgins who were waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom. Five were fully prepared for a long wait by having enough oil in their lamps, while their companions did not and were not allowed to enter the bridal chamber when the bridegroom eventually arrived. So, we ask again, “Who are the goats in the church”?

Some people believe that the goats refer to people in the church who do not believe in Jesus. I beg to differ. They are in the church because they believe in Jesus. They must have confessed Him as Lord and Saviour before they were qualified to become Christians in the first instance. So, why are they called goats?

In John 17:27 Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me”. These are people that are yoked to Christ. They learn from Him. They are led by the Holy Spirit and their meat is to do the will of God. The sheep do not pursue their own agenda. They are totally sold out to God. They desire His will more than anything else in life. Their primary interest is the prosperity of the Kingdom of God. In fact, they say YES LORD always.

On the other hand, goats are very independent by nature. So, Christians who “do their own thing” are exactly like them. They are not yoked to Christ and are in the habit of saying ‘No, Lord’. They do not have the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 declares that “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

The “goats” in the church are also unteachable and stubbornly hold on to their own interpretation of the Scripture. They call Jesus Christ a liar by rejecting His word and choosing their own paths. For instance, Jesus said in Mark 16:15-18:

Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Anyone who believes and is baptised will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in My name, and they will speak new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it            will not hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.

This Scripture is clear and unambiguous. But the goats have their own interpretation for it. They insist that these instructions were for the apostles and intended to strengthen the early church. So, some goat congregations do not accept the manifest work of the Holy Spirit such as healing and speaking in tongues.

They have therefore called Jesus a liar. When Peter spoke to the crowd that witnessed the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he said, “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you and to your children, and even to the Gentiles – all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:38-39).

The promise of the Holy Spirit was the key thing Jesus discussed with His disciples before His crucifixion. Prior to this, He explained the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives in Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”.

This Scripture gives us an idea of how essential the Holy Spirit is to our walk with God. Apart from the sacrifice of His Son to atone for our sin, the Holy Spirit is the best gift we have received from God because it is critical for our sanctification. It is also the power we need to live a holy and consecrated life. No wonder Jesus told His disciples not to commence any ministry work until they are endued with power from heaven (Luke 24:49).

Not only do the goats oppose the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, they also reject the teachings of Paul the apostle on ministry gifts/offices. Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ”.

Why would there be any argument about this clear cut ministry roles and offices? The people who claim to know the mind of God more than Paul insist that apostolic office and the gifts of the Spirit enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12:28 such as prophets, miracles, healing and diversities of tongues were only for the early church.

The funniest thing is that they base their argument on what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, “Love will last forever, but prophesy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will all disappear. Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophesy reveals a little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear”. So, has the end of Christianity come? Have all Christians attained to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? (Ephesians 4:13).

In John 14:6, Jesus Christ declared that He is “the way, the truth and the life”, and that no one can approach the Father except through Him. The goats do not agree with Him even though they claim to be His disciples. The goats in the apostate Babylon insist on going to God through a “Queen of Heaven” which they mischievously give the name of Mary, the mother of Jesus. They also venerate dead people they claim are Saint and use them to reach God.

This is ridiculous to the extreme. In the Bible, only those whose sins have been remitted through the blood of Jesus are called Saints – not the dead. It is pertinent to note that the apostate church or Babylon the great harlot promotes endless confessions without repentance, thereby leading gullible people to their doom.

There are also some goats who believe that the blood of Jesus is not enough to atone for the sin of humanity. They claim that Jesus had to suffer in hell after he died on the cross before He could save humanity. In so doing, they call Him a liar and discountenance His declaration on the cross that “It is finished” (John 19:30). Other goats in this genre equally dismiss Scriptural claims that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16, John 1:18, John 1:14, John 3:18, 1 John 4:9). They insist that they are also ‘sons’ of God; therefore they are also god since Jesus is God.

There are those who believe that the parable of the sheep and goats promote the idea that works help us to earn our salvation. That is further from the truth. When a certain man asked the Lord Jesus what he must do to be saved as recorded in Luke 18:18, Jesus pointed him to the law. When the man responded that he had been obeying the law from his youth, Jesus then asked him to sell all he had and distribute to the poor and follow Him. The Scripture records that the man failed that test and left, sorrowful. He just could not meet the standard of Jesus.

When another man asked the Lord to tell him which is the greatest of the Ten Commandments, Jesus summarised the law in one sentence – love God and love your neighbour. That is the whole essence of His sacrificial death. His love for the Father was manifested in His obedience; the death on the cross to save humanity. We are called to walk in love in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The goats in the church place much emphasis on the judgement Jesus pronounced on those who did not visit the sick in hospitals, fed the hungry or attended to those in prisons. If Jesus meant that our works endeared us to Him, why did he upbraid Martha when she was encumbered about much serving and commended Mary for choosing to listen to His word? (Luke 10:41). If works alone could save humanity, then Christ died in vain. If visiting the sick in the hospital, giving food to the hungry or attending to those in prison could save anyone, then Christ died in vain.

But our faith is not complete without our works, if we understand works to mean obedience to God. James 2:17 declares, “So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith (believe in Jesus). Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all- it is dead and useless”. Peter explains this from the perspectives of being a fruitful disciple of Christ.

He said in 2 Peter 1:5-8, “So make every effort to apply the benefits of these promises to your life. Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence. A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better. Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness. Godliness leads to love for other Christians, and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

So, what is the major difference between goats and sheep in the church? In Acts 20:27, Paul said to the brethren at Ephesus, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God”. When the children of Israel were preparing to leave Egypt, God instituted the Passover ceremony.

One of the instructions for the Passover was that they must roast the lamb in its entirety- head, legs, and internal organs (Exodus 12:9). 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed”. This same Christ is called the word of God in John 1:1-14 and Revelation 19:13.

 The major difference between the goats and sheep in the church is therefore how they respond to the word of God. The sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow Him. They do seek their own paths. They are contented to be led by Him because they trust Him and His word. They know that the Shepherd who gave His life to save them and resurrected for their sanctification is faithful enough to take them to the Promised Land.

On the other hand, the goats are too wise in their own conceits. They trust their own judgement and are not teachable. If they had their way, they would have re-written the Bible to suit their nuances. They do not believe that the word of God should be taken literarily.

They only accept the Scriptures that appeal to their humanistic inclinations. In fact, some of them sponsor spurious translations of the Bible to remove areas they consider offensive to them. They do not accept the leading of the Holy Spirit as they claim that He was only needed by early Christians. The goats also hate doctrines but love entertainment. They go after teachers who tell them what they want to hear.

The word of God does not appeal to them at all, except promises they can claim to better their lives here on earth. Goats are crazy about new ideas; even those that have no foundation in Scripture. They have itchy ears and love to entertain themselves. They do not even mind inviting secular comedians to their events; all in the name of being broadminded. They forget Jesus’ warning that the broad way leads to destruction! Those who refuse to follow their pernicious ways are derided and called narrow-minded.

Can the goats be saved? Until the dispensation of God’s grace for the Gentiles is ended, anyone can be saved. Repentance is the key though. The goats can be saved if they lose their ‘goatishness’ by genuinely accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. No one can be saved who consistently rejects the full counsel of God.

No one can be saved who treats the word of God with levity and utter contempt. Salvation comes from accepting what God said of His Son- “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him” (Mathew 17:5). You cannot be a disciple of Jesus and call Him a liar. When a goat Christian rejects the truth of the gospel or interprets the Scripture to suit his or her fancy, he or she is calling Jesus a liar. It is also impossible for anyone on earth to be God’s counsellor by adding to His word.

Isaiah 40:13 posed the question, “Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counsellor”? And have we forgotten that we did not choose to be Christians? Jesus said in John 6:44 that no one can come to Him for eternal life except the person was first drawn by the Father.

If we did not have the wisdom to choose what is right, how then can we become God’s counsellor by deciding which Scripture is right or wrong? Anyone who rejects the whole counsel of God is a goat Christian. We cannot walk in the Spirit and reject the word of God. Those who do so are clearly their own lord and master and will be shown the way to the lake of fire to spend eternity with the devil, the epitome of rebellion.