I think that this is the only place where God's judging the people is actually described. The fact that He is the judge is mentioned in several places, but the actual process of judgment is here only. It's instructive to us in seeing how God will separate the righteous from the wicked and what he will use to judge between the two. It's not the only passage we should use to determine God's criteria for judgment, if that's all there was we wouldn't need the rest of the Bible.
So how does God divide the sheep from the goats? On the surface it would seem that it was only based on their performance, how good a person they were. But we know from scriptures like Romans 3:23 and Ephesians 2 that none of us are good enough and it only through God's grace that we are saved. But this passage in Matthew draws a clear line between those who did good and those who did not.
What else can we observe about these two groups?
- There was a pattern to their behavior – meeting needs or not.
- Neither group recognized the pattern they were in as applying directly to Jesus. That seems odd to me in reference to the group of the righteous. How could they not understand that to serve others is to serve God?
- The goats recognized Jesus (called Him Lord) and were shocked that they had missed an opportunity to serve him.
What was the difference between the sheep and the goats? Was it perhaps that the goats were not exposed to any needy people while the sheep had many opportunities to serve? I doubt that was true. No one goes through life without being exposed to needs. Needs are everywhere around us, we are all exposed to them. If they were both exposed to needs, why did one group act and the other did not?
I believe this, as in everything, goes back to the heart. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Bible judges our hearts, back in 1 Samuel 16:7 when God chose David to be kin he rejected those who looked good to man because He was focused on the heart and so too here with the sheep and the goats. It wasn't the actions themselves that lead God to be pleased with the sheep. In fact, the sheep seemed surprised that their actions had such an impact on God (so were the goats!) I believed the difference was in their focus.
The sheep had their focus outward on those around them. They were involved in others lives and that involvement revealed need that they were inspired to meet. I think that the goats were so involved with themselves that they completely missed the needs around them. Their own desires consumed them, crowding out the needs of others, so that they didn't even see the needs, let alone meet them.
Look around you. What are the needs around you that you are too busy to meet or even see? Look at your family groups. How much time to spend with those people? Are you too busy to get together with them? Are there perhaps needs that you aren't even aware of because you just haven't stopped long enough to see?
Jesus came and was known as one who met needs. In fact, once that became known, the crowds flocked to Him and He did not turn them away. The more that came, the more He served. The result was that many saw and praised God. (See Matthew 15:28-31) The only way he was able to meet those needs and have that impact was to turn his focus outward and be willing to see what's going on in the lives around Him.
This is not the only place where God's judgement is described. Many books in the OT (Ezekiel, Jeremiah for example) show God's judgement on a nation. Also in the book of Revelation there are clear examples of how God judges people through his son.
I probably was too hasty to make that statement. I certainly didn't do any research on it nor do I have the Bible memorized. :-) Thanks for pointing out some other judgement passages to look at.