Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The sermon text for this morning is from the 10th chapter of John: Jesus answered, “ I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”
When Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd, He’s telling the people He’s the Lord. Everyone knew the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” He’s also telling them that Jesus comes to lead His people to good food and green pastures, and that as God’s sheep we can trust His voice and follow Him. Our Good Shepherd Christ Jesus isn’t a hired hand, He owns the flock. He created us. He won’t run away when His sheep are in danger.
The world is full of false shepherds. Jesus warned, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.” The Good Shepherd calls out to lead us through trial and trouble, but it’s important that sheep don’t thoughtlessly follow any “Johnny-come-lately.”
In an age of Biblical illiteracy, God calls His sheep to be childlike in our trust of Jesus our Shepherd, but never to be content with a childish faith – but to crave a deep, intimate knowledge of God’s will as He feeds us on His pure Word of Truth. Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice and follow Me.”
But let’s be honest, too often we’ve been lazy to listen. As God’s people, the sheep of His pasture, we need to learn again to love the voice of the Good Shepherd. Our children and grandchildren need to hear words of life from the Good Shepherd in Sunday school and midweek, so that they learn to recognize the Shepherd’s voice. Our adults need to make a priority of Bible class where we share God’s Word together. Devotional reading of God’s Word in the home needs to drown out television.
God’s Word speaks clearly and guides us into His truth. He warns us away from sin – away from embracing lifestyles that destroy our faith. And, contrary to popular opinion, God’s Word hasn’t changed. It shows us where a truly blessed life can be found and warns us not to forage in the worthless weeds when God wants to feed us on the pure pastures of His Word. Colossians 3 says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
Starving oneself from God’s Word, makes us easy prey, unable to recognize the wolves who prey on the vulnerable. Peter wrote, “The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and they know Me.” Whose voice are you hearing?
In a world that long ago gave up on the idea that there is a truth – and you can know it with certainty – the Good Shepherd says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” How eternally sad will be the end for those little lambs who don’t take seriously God’s call to hear His voice – who refuse to plug their ears when the devil whispers his lies. The false shepherds of this world seem inviting, but in reality the devil’s putrid pastures are spiritual poison and lead only to hell.
Baptized into the flock of our Lord, we hear the Good Shepherd’s voice of grace. Through His precious call, our Good Shepherd establishes a relationship with His sheep that He always remembers. While we wander, the Good Shepherd searches us out and finds us, lifts us to His shoulders and restores us to His flock.
In this Easter season, we remember our Good Shepherd saved us, becoming a Lamb, without fault or blemish, and as the Lamb of God, Jesus offered Himself up to take away the sins of the world. Our heavenly Father sent His Son to die that He might restore us to life through Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. The Shepherd died for His sheep, so that God’s precious lambs would have life through His resurrection.
At Easter’s empty tomb, the sheep hear the angel’s word of life “Christ is not dead. He has risen, just as He said!” Our Shepherd conquered death and the devil on our behalf, and, through faith, creates an eternal flock. Daily God uses His Word to feed us and strengthen us, as He creates and strengthens us to know our Shepherd, His Word and His will. Strong faith comes from knowing a strong Shepherd. Romans 10 says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.”
Much trouble and sadness, and even eternal death, comes when we ignore God’s voice. Amazingly, we can even crowd out God’s voice with worldly choices and priorities, even believing these dying things are more important than the Good Shepherd. But all worldly things will one day die away. Only one thing has eternal value for us and our loved ones. Peter wrote: “All men are like grass, and all their glory as the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.”
While the Good Shepherd never promises the road we travel will be an easy one, He does promise to be with us. He promises to strengthen us for the journey by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. He promises to be “with us always to the very end of the age.” Life’s road is often rocky, with snares and pitfalls, but Christ the Shepherd won’t stumble. His Word is sure, “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 they staff they comfort me.”
Late one night, a little girl was awakened by a thunderstorm. She went flying into her parent’s bedroom, “Mommy, I’m scared.” The mother, half-awake and half-unconscious, replied, “Go back to your room. God will be there with you.” The small girl stood in the unlit doorway for a moment and then said softly, “Mommy, I’ll sleep here by Daddy and you go in there and sleep by God.”
In the rocky, difficult times of life it isn’t always easy to feel the presence of our Good Shepherd, but Isaiah 43 tells us, “I have called you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers; they will not sweep over you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
Jesus went on to tell the Jews, “My sheep hear my voice and follow me, and no one can snatch them from my hand.” The Good Shepherd Jesus is true God and true man. He is stronger than the devil, this sinful world, and our sinful flesh, and “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” That’s a promise you can bank on – a promise guaranteed when He rose from the grave.
I made what I thought was an unbelievable discovery this week. Did you know unshorn sheep can carry more than 40 pounds of wool? They don’t like it. It doesn’t make their lives easier for sure. Sometimes that’s how our lives can become. We carry around so much added weight. Life apart from God and His Word can become a tangled mess of unbearable burdens as we stumble and crash into the wasted ways of the world.
The Good Shepherd searched for you and me. He died and rose again to make us His sheep, and searches us out, as the Holy Spirit calls through God’s Word. He lifts us to His shoulders and restores us to His flock. With His words of forgiveness spoken in His stead and by His command, Christ shears away the heavy load of sin. Isaiah 1 says that Jesus died to make our tangled, sin-splattered coats whiter than snow. With His very body and blood at His altar, the Good Shepherd brings us to green pastures and quiet waters, “preparing a table before us in the presence of our enemies.” Because Christ rose from the dead, the words of the Good Shepherd Psalm are eternally true for those who know the Shepherd through faith: “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Amen.
And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.