The Shepherd King
Sermon for Sunday, November 23, 2008
(Christ the King Sunday)
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. Well it’s Christ the King Sunday – in the church calendar this is the last day of the Church year. It’s the day when we remember that at the end of it all Christ is the King of all! We begin the Church year with His birth and we end with His coronation!
So as I come to this time of year I read the Lectionary readings and ponder what it means to follow – to worship – to obey a heavenly King!
Have you ever spent any time just wondering about Jesus as your King?
What does His kingship mean in your life – today . . . tomorrow . . .
· the next time you’re scared?
· the next time your tempted to indulge an unkind or unseemly fantasy?
· the next time you’re tempted to do drugs or to eat that pie or to fib a bit on your Tax Return or to justify an unkind word about another person.
What ultimately does it mean to follow and worship a sovereign Savior King?
3. Deeper ponderings: I have been pondering this most of my Christian life and have been working to instill disciplines in my life so that I am living this fact and not just preaching it.
I fail regularly – how about you?
But this morning Jesus is encouraging us once again to ponder what it means to have and to love and obey Him as our Lord and sovereign King?
Let me get you into my head for a moment . . . Yes, I know Scott is thinking “that a very dangerous place to be!” And he right! Ha!
But stick with me for a moment. Imagine you’re sitting with me in my little bugmobile and you’re driving down Titus Avenue. It’s Friday morning and we’re heading over to Brueggers for our obligatory morning bagel.
Snow is gently falling and the scene is quite picturesque. And I return to my ponderings – “OK – You made all of this and you’re Present right now IN all of this.” What does this mean?
My next thought was the Scripture reference in the Book of Acts –
Acts 17:28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
We live and move and have our being – our very meaning in Him – In God!
He’s in the very air we breathe – He’s everywhere! He’s in our every breath – in our ever thought! We can’t get away from Him!
He gives us being – meaning!
My eye stops on a rather ugly tree – all of its leaves are gone - it’s bare – naked and I think – O Lord, were you present when that old branch first burst from the trunk? And the answer is “Yes, of course I was.”
And then I found myself engaging in a conversation with God and it went sort of like this, “How do trees point or remind me of you?”
I pondered – trying to hear something from God. Wanting somehow to break through the wall and discover our God behind it all!
What I heard after some pondering was something like this:
“What you need to know is that I’m behind all of this. I created it in love. I watch over it and I watch over you with a jealous love. Know this Robert – I created you, I love you and I brood over you in love. Come now and love me and follow my leadings and we will be family.”
And then my mind immediately went to the first reading and I found myself reading it while I was driving. Listen to it:
Ezek. 34:11 “ ‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. 17 “ ‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.
Ah, who is our God – He wants us to see Him – to imagine Him as our Shepherd – the Good Shepherd who looks after his scattered flock.
· He rescues us,
· tends us, heals and
· strengthens us.
· He puts right all injustice.
Arguably the most sublime of all passages in the entire Canon that speaks to us about our “Shepherd King” is Psalm 23.
Listen to it again and see it for what it is – a declaration of who God is to the surrendered heart of one of God’s sheep:
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.
This is who God is for us – this is how God wants us to see Him.
Jesus, Himself – God incarnate used this same image to describe who He is:
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . . 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
4. Shepherd King! So this is how our God wants us to see Him – a shepherd and a king. Keep this in mind as I read again our Gospel reading where we hear an emphasis on His Kingship. How are these two realities reconciled?
Matt. 25:31
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Matt. 25:34
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Matt. 25:37
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
Now please listen very very carefully to our Lord’s response: Verse 40:
Matt. 25:40 “The King – the Shepherd King - will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Matt. 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
Matt. 25:45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Now notice that the ground has shifted under our feet. We were initially trying to discover who our King is but now our King – our Shepherd King - is reminding us of who we are!
Ah! Can you see what He’s telling us – to know Him as our Shepherd King we must become HIS Sheep – as rebellious goats He is our Judge!
Can you see where this little reflection has taken us?
This is what we must be prepared to do when we open our hearts and minds and sanctified imaginations to His leadings!
He’s teaching us that for us to really know Him we must become as His sheep – willing to follow Him wherever He leads us! It’s then and only then that we can know Him as our Shepherd King!
5. Now imagine – Now imagine with me for just a moment. We know that Jesus was a real man – had a real face and a real body. People saw Him. What then does He know look like? He’s still a shepherd but He’s also King.
Hmmm – the mind boggles. It seems like an almost impossible feat. Poets and painters and other creative artists have tried and perhaps you have found an image that seems to fit. Imagine now standing before this our Good Shepherd and our King and you see Him smiling upon you! He recognizes you! He waves and acknowledges you!
Is Jesus such a King?
Does He recognize all of His sheep or does He only recognize the special one – the apostles, the Popes and Mother Theresa’s of history?
Now, Jesus is a Good Shepherd and a sovereign King – He knows every one of His sheep personally.
Remember what He said as He left this world, “Behold, I will never leaven you nor forsake you. I will be with you to the very end of the age!”
Imagine Jesus smiling at you and beckoning you to come to Him. Imagine Him embracing you and holding you as if He never ever wanted you to leave Him!
This is who our Good Shepherd King is!
This is what it means to have a heavenly Shepherd King! He is with us and for us!
I’m going now to ask Kevin to show some images of Christ that artists have rendered over the millennia. This is their attempt to “image” who Christ the King is:
(Show images)
Now over the last few days I have asked some of you for your impressions of who Christ the King is.
When I thought about this I immediately went to Google “Images” and you can see what I came up with.
God gave us an imagination to reach for Him and this is a very brief sampling of what artists over the centuries have come up with.
When I asked this question of some of you I got responses like:
· I think of the Crucifix immediately . . .
· I think of heaven and a crowd . . .
· He’s sees me amongst all of the people . . .
· I see a lion – Aslan. . . .
· I see piercing eyes . . .
But what about you?
Is Christ your Shepherd King?
If He is then what images come to mind?
Now I need to say that you and I don’t need to “see” images. We may simply have impressions. . . and that’s fine – really. We don’t need to see pictures but they are very helpful.
The fact is that Christ is our Shepherd King – This is how He wants us to imagine He is to us.
He is our Good Shepherd. He will guide us through the challenges of this life to the end and then He will be with us for all eternity – our beloved Companion.
The question for you and me this Christ the King Sunday is this . . . . Will we look to Him as present with us always and at all times or will we think about Him as though He were just present with us when we think about Him?
Will we recognize Him as our Shepherd King at all times? For this is who He is . . . Our Shepherd and our King Now and Forever.
Shepherd King
Your eyes find me – know me – search me – reveal me – disarm me – unclothe me – love me – delight in me – cherish me – comfort me – calm me - . . .
Call me – draw me – entice me – closer to you . . . my beloved Shepherd . . . my sovereign King!
How do I remember you? How do I not forget about you in the business of my life?
Ah! To listen for your whisperings, to look for your revealings . . . to sense your appearings . . .
O Lord, forgive me . . . I am so slow of mind and hard of heart.
Renew my mind – renew my heart – draw me anew to You and awaken my love for you so that my very heart’s yearnings will awaken me again and again to your callings.
O Lord, may this new year be one in which I look for and find you again and again . . . every day.
Amen and Amen!
Let’s Pray . . .