Is He Your Good Shepherd?

Sermon for Sunday April 13, 2008

 

1.  Good Morning.  Let’s pray.  O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to You O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

 

2.  Opening comments:  Today is Good Shepherd Sunday if you haven’t already guessed.

 

Think about this for a moment.  We’re in the Season of Easter – Easter Sunday was March 23 and Ascension Sunday is May 4.  This is the Sunday that celebrates when Jesus ascended into heaven just 40 days after His resurrection and then we have Pentecost Sunday – the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Earth will be May 11. 

 

So currently we’re in the Season of Easter and the preponderance of our reflections has been upon the closeness – the intimacy -  of the resurrected Jesus!

 

Have you noticed that?

 

Last Sunday we reflected upon the burning hearts of the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus and today we’re going to reflect upon Jesus as the most perfect Good Shepherd to us all!

 

3.  Let me ask you a question – Is Jesus Christ your Good Shepherd?

 

Now I really want to encourage you to “PAUSE” and ask yourself that question. 

 

Let me rephrase it:  Do you have any sense – any sense at all - that Jesus Christ – the real and resurrected Jesus Christ - is actually guiding you inexorably through life?

 

Ah!  Someone sent me a wonderful image that reveals the majesty behind the word “Inexorable.”  Kevin would you show it on our video screen please?

 

The silence of a lions eyes!
 

 

C.S. Lewis referrs to the silence of the Lion’s eyes – ha!  Those eyes inspire a sense of “I’m going to inexorably get you!

 

Do you have any sense that Jesus’ is inexorably leading you through your life?

 

Before we dig deeper into this reality – a reality that our Lord wants you and me to live out in our lives here and now - let’s review what God’s Word tells us about our Good  and dangerous shepherd.

 

The 23 Psalm is a classic affirmation of God’s Good Shepherdhood – if there is such a word!

 

Listen to it once again but this time from the classic King James Version – I love the majesty of this version.  As I read this Psalm and our Gospel reading please close your eyes or try to picture the scenes depicted by these words.  Allow the following words to provoke images in your mind:

 

Psa. 23:0

A Psalm of David.  1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

 

And now turn briefly with me to our Gospel reading – John 10:1-11 – try to envision this scene as I read it:

 

John 10:1

“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

John 10:7

     Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:11

     “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

In these two classic readings what do you think God is trying to tell us about Who Jesus is to become to us:

 

No – let’s try something different!

 

What images of who Jesus is that you may have held – THAT DO NOT – resonate with this “Shepherd’s Image?”

 

Elicit from the congregation images that do not fit with the “shepherding image” of Psalm 23 and John 10. . . . .

 

OK – So what images came to mind as we read these two classic passages which remind us that our Lord God is a good good Shepherd?

 

Let me share some that came to my mind:

 

 

Now let’s ask this question:  Why do we sometimes hear His voice and follow Him and at other times we turn a deaf ear to Him?

 

The fact is that in our world there are a multitude of voices clamoring for our attention.  And it’s also a fact that the loudest or even the most eloquent voices we hear are not always to wisest ones.

 

I was told yesterday that Opra Winfrey has developed a massive following of devoted adorers and in a recent interview she was heard to say, “Oh, there are many ways to heaven – and then proceeded to enumerate a number of them.”  But we are told by our Good Shepherd that:

 

John 10:7

          “…I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 

In the crowded marketplace the voice of Jesus keeps saying the same thing it’s been saying for two thousand years. 

 

·        Happiness is found in giving ourselves away to others!

·        Deep inner soul-rest is found by being faithful and loving in all our relationships

·        Sublime inner freedom is found by surrendering our freedom to the service of His kingdom of justice and peace.

 

This is sheep-fold that our Good Shepherd is calling us all to!

 

But all too many of us refuse to listen to any other voice except the one that reinforces the destructive decision we want to make.

 

Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel that this choice can be a moment of death!

 

What His call offers is life and life abundantly!

 

4.  Do you have any sense of being inexorably led by the Good Shepherd?

 

Have you ever experienced the unexpected intervention of the Good Shepherd in your life?  A time perhaps when you knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that He had just stepped in to rescue you?

 

Perhaps some of us can’t think of such a time and are feeling as though either that they aren’t worthy or that the Lord simply isn’t interested in them?

 

But the fact is that God is telling us this morning that He is in fact our Good Shepherd and the fact is that we can live as if this weren’t true or we could finally accept this sublime reality and begin a journey to really getting to know THE Good Shepherd!

 

5.  Concluding comments: There are at least 2 critical times when we respond immediately to the sound of a loving voice: as a baby and in old age.

 

Watch a crying child almost immediately calm down at the gentle reassuring voice of his or her parent.  Look at how a screaming child calms down as a mother nurses it.  And look at how a loved one’s voice comforts and gives confidence to an older person when they’re distressed or disoriented.

 

In this life our Good Shepherd is drawing us ever closer to Him!  And finally at the moment of our death, in the midst of all of the other sounds we hear as we leave this world we will most certainly hear Christ’s voice – soothing, reassuring, comforting, and confident.  And at that moment we will do what we have tried to do throughout our lives – we will walk straight towards it and our Good Shepherd will lead us into Glory everlasting!  May we begin that confident today and not wait until the end!  Amen and Amen!

 

Let’s Pray . . .