SERMON 498
ACTS 4:5-12, PSALM 23, 1 JOHN 3:16-24, JOHN 10:11-18
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD!
Beloved in the Lord, grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and savior, Jesus
Christ, and from the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.
We will begin our meditation
this morning with a few quotes that were forwarded to me by email the other
day. The first one states, “Don’t let your worries get the best of
you…remember, Moses started out as a basket case.” The second one states,
“Don’t give God instructions…just report for duty.” And the third one, “The
task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.”
This is the fourth Sunday in
Easter and the theme never changes. The lessons will always be about the good
Shepherd. So our theme will be the first words of our Psalm, THE LORD IS MY
SHEPHERD!
I was looking through the
books that I have set aside which contain stories and sayings that can be used
in sermon preparation as good examples. I could not find a single story and
even a word about the shepherd. Nor could I find anything about sheep and only
one simple phrase about wolves. We have certainly moved away from the ancient
pastoral societies and our ability to identify with that way of life.
But some of the truths remain
the same even though we may use different words to express them. We may not
have much acquaintance with wolves in our day but we certainly know what a
predator is. You undoubtedly heard about the murder of the family in
In our lesson from the book
of Acts we hear again about the aftermath of the healing, by Peter, of the man
who had been paralyzed from birth. When the authorities heard about the healing
and the preaching of Peter, Peter and his colleagues were actually arrested.
The authorities demanded to know by what power and in what name this man had
been healed.
Peter spoke with as much
confidence and boldness as he had when he addressed the people who first saw
the miracle. The man had been healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
And in his explanation Peter emphasizes that this Jesus was same man whom they
had put to death by crucifixion and the same man that God had raised from the
dead on the third day.
Peter went even farther. He
accused the authorities, who were the religious leaders of the day, of
rejecting Jesus Christ, who was the cornerstone upon which God had redeemed the
world. Salvation, Peter told them, was to be found in the redemptive work of
Jesus Christ on the cross and in the resurrection, and the name of Jesus was
the only name given among mortals for salvation. Jesus was, according to Peter,
in the words of John, the good Shepherd, the only Shepherd, and the Shepherd
who lay down his life for the whole world.
The authorities remained
solidly in opposition to Jesus and any preaching in Jesus name. They let Peter
go with the instructions to shut up about Jesus.
Now there are still many places
in this world where preaching about Jesus is forbidden, and where those who
preach or confess Jesus publicly will be punished, sometimes by death. We are
indeed fortunate to live in a land where there is freedom of religion and where
basic Christian teaching has in the past formed the basis of our democratic
society. But times are changing. As Christians we have a whole new set of
challenges being hurled at us.
Many of us have heard more
than enough about and some Christians have become bewildered by all of the
publicity surrounding Dan Brown’s book, THE DA VINCI CODE. That novel, by the
way, has sold more than fifty million copies worldwide. The motion picture film
which is based on the book is about to be released in more than sixty
countries. So millions and millions of people are about to hear a far different
story about Jesus Christ
than the one that has been
passed on to us throughout the centuries.
The people of this world are
about to see a picture where Jesus married Mary Magdalene, had a family, and
they are about to hear the claim that his death on the cross was a fake, that
Jesus is not the good Shepherd, the one who laid down his life for the flock,
and that he was not raised in his body on the third day.
The controversy raised by the
book has spurred countless newspaper articles, TV shows, sermons and meal-time
discussions. Recent surveys would indicate that seventeen percent of Canadians
agree with the claims of the book and that eight percent of Christians actually
believe all of this as well.
I would not want to be Dan
Brown on judgment day, especially if his story about Jesus had led thousands
away from the faith. We are to be gathering and strengthening the flock and not
scattering them. We are to be laying down our lives for one another, not
leading astray. Nor would I want to be the publishers of the book or the
producers of the movie on judgment day, using this misleading story about Jesus
as a means of making as much cash as possible, and also being instruments of
leading people to deny that good Shepherd who laid down his life for the whole
world.
For centuries now the
teachers of Islam have told us that Jesus did not die on the cross for the sins
of the world, or was he raised from dead. Now we have mighty voices from within
what used to be called Christendom echoing that same story over and over again.
But as strange as all this
fuss about THE DA VINCI CODE might be, it is not something that should
overwhelm or frighten us in the least. What we should see in it, rather, is a
marvelous opportunity to explain, testify to, and bear witness to the real
teaching about Jesus, his life, his teachings, his death and his resurrection.
God is giving us a real opportunity to stand up and be good shepherds
ourselves.
Nor should we be overly alarmed
by those within the church who are led astray by such teaching. Peter told the religious
rulers of his day that there is no other name, than the name of Jesus Christ,
given among mortals by which we must be saved. They did not believe him. We
still have leaders in our midst who are wondering whether or not there are many
paths to God, one as legitimate as another, Jesus being only one of the paths
to God.
The disciples and apostles
taught us from the very beginning that Jesus is the only Shepherd that can lead
us to life eternal, that in his dying God was forgiving and redeeming the world,
and that in his rising from the dead, the powers of sin and death and evil were
being destroyed, and that the message of the this salvation in Christ should be
proclaimed to the ends of the earth. God was in Christ Jesus reconciling the
whole world to Himself. And God can bring Christ to the nations through us. And
God can bring Christ even to those who have never heard. We do not know how God
does all of this but we do know that at the end every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that Jesus is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Every generation of
Christians has been tested in their faith and called to be faithful shepherds
like their master. Why should it be any different for us? We do not need to be
afraid or alarmed. We need only to accept with joy the challenge that is now
being set before us in our day.
In the letter from John, John
tells us that we only have two commandments. One, that we believe in the name of the son of
God, Jesus Christ. And two, that we love one another as he has loved us. Jesus
himself told us that we also must be prepared to answer to the hope that is in
us to those who ask.
There are certainly going to
be a lot of people asking what we think about this Jesus. So let us prepare
ourselves for this wonderful opportunity. If we are not familiar with the
reason for our hope in Christ and his death and resurrection, we need to spend
as much time as required in God’s word. We need to put on the whole armor of
God. We need to be ready for any question put to us. We need to be confident.
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD! We
can certainly testify gladly to what kind of a shepherd he is and has been for
us. In Christ we have never been and we know that we will never be in want. He
has filled us with such peace so that in midst of all the troubles of this
world and our own lives, we can walk as though we were in green pastures and
sitting beside still waters.
This shepherd has given us new
life and he renews that life day after day. On our own we once walked in
slippery paths but with him as our shepherd we now walk in joy and peace and
love and in righteousness.
Once upon a time we were
actually afraid of death. We fear death no more because with our Shepherd near
us, death becomes simply the gateway to eternal life. Though evil assail us, it
cannot harm us, for we walk hand in hand with the Shepherd who has put sin and
death and evil and hell away from us forever.
And what a table the Lord has
spread before us. We even eat and drink of his very own body, the food of
immortal life, and we do so in the presence of all the saints of God. He did
anoint our head with oil when we were baptized, sealing us with the gift of the
Holy Spirit, the very Lord and giver of life. This shepherd has blessed us all
the days of our life, so much so that every cup that we drink of this life
seems to be running over with goodness and mercy and love. And we do know that
as sure as the sun will come up and go down tomorrow, so sure are we that we
will dwell in the house that God has prepared for us, forever and ever and
ever.
Our shepherd will never run
away from us. He has already laid down his life for us. He knows our voice and
we know his. We belong to him. And when he has gathered everybody that belongs
to him together, we shall all see him face to face. It will be so good to be
able to match the face with the voice that has called us, guided us, comforted
us and loves us now and forever.
THE LORD JESUS IS MY
SHEPHERD! May we, in the days and challenges that lie ahead, be as faithful a
shepherd to others, as he is a faithful shepherd now, to you and to me. And let us remember as heard at the beginning
that “The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.” AMEN!