IDEA: There's a rule of unintended consequences that seems to be at work in God's final judgment. TEXT: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of 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 took Me in; 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? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting 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 take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer Him, 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, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch 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 everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:31-46).

PURPOSE: To encourage listeners to do what is in their hand to do.

What is the rule or "Law of Unintended Consequences"?

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus seems to point out something like unintended consequences at the judgment.

I. Little things can mean a lot.

We often feel that insignificant service cannot matter that much to God. Whether we act with deeds of kindness may have more to do with whether we've had a good night's sleep than the fact that they matter to God.

We're often more aware of what we think are "big" deeds and ignore "little" deeds.

II. Motives matter, but not as much as we might think.

Do you face the struggle of having mixed motives?

The people that Jesus refers to as sheep did not think that what they were doing, they were doing for the King. So the emphasis doesn't fall on their motives as much as on their acts of kindness. If the motives for the deed were to build up favor with the King, it would actually be a demerit.

III. What we do not do may be more important in God's judgment than what we do.

The Anglican prayer book confesses sins of omission as well as of commission. We tend not to take those things very seriously. No president will ever be impeached for failing to show kindness or failing to feed the hungry.

But many of the parables of Jesus warn us about playing "safe." If you can see "a random unintended act of kindness to do," do it. Leaving it undone may be the greater failure.