Sermon: Jesus Is My Shepherd Texts: John 10:22-30; Psalm 23

Transcription

1 Pastor Chris Matthis Epiphany Lutheran Church, Castle Rock, Colorado Easter 4, Series C Saturday, April 16 th, 2016 Sunday, April 17 th, 2016 Sermon: Jesus Is My Shepherd Texts: John 10:22-30; Psalm 23 Focus: Jesus is the Good Shepherd who speaks his Word, knows us, gives us eternal life, and guards and protects us. Function: That they would hear Jesus voice and gladly follow him. Structure: Text-Application Locus: That I may be His own (SC, 2 nd Article of Apostles Creed). Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Ps. 23:1, ESV). 1 No doubt, when we hear these words on this Good Shepherd Sunday, our mind immediately conjures up comforting images of Jesus snuggling a little lamb to his chest or tenderly carrying it over his shoulders. The Twenty-Third Psalm is a psalm of trust, and it is right for us to be inspired by God s care and concern for us, his people his sheep. But we are mistaken if we take these words in a nostalgic or sentimental sense. If we do that, we misunderstand the message. For, in fact, there is nothing cute or cuddly about sheep. When Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd and we are his sheep, no matter how comforting those words may be, he is not paying us a compliment. Sheep are dumb and dirty. They bite and bleat and bleed. They startle at a puddle of water. They are entirely defenseless. And yet they all have in them an unhealthy dose of wanderlust. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6). Our sin and selfishness, folly and pride, carry us far away from God, over 1 All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.

2 Matthis 2 every high hill and under ever green tree. The grass always looks greener someplace else; yet we forget that it is all just grass. So without Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we would all be lost and doomed to die. For, as my friend Pastor Harmon likes to say: What do you call sheep without a shepherd? Lunch! Yet despite the ugliness of our sin and the folly of our thinking, Christ in his mercy shows tremendous love for us. Our Gospel lesson from John 10 is full of wonderful Gospel promises. Jesus tells us, in particular, four things about our relationship with him: 1. We hear his voice (v. 27). 2. He knows us (v. 27). 3. He gives us eternal life (v. 28). 4. No one can snatch us out of his hand (v. 28). Jesus says, My sheep hear my voice (John 10:27). This means that Christ speaks his Holy Word to us, and, by God s grace, we hear, believe, and put into practice what we hear Jesus say. Earlier in John 10, Jesus asserted that his sheep follow him because they know his voice and that they will not follow a stranger, whose voice they do not know (vv. 3-5). When Jesus says that we hear his voice, he is not referring to that still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12, KJV) heard by Elijah on Mount Horeb. While the Lord may speak to us directly and audibly at any time he chooses, that is not the general way he has promised to speak. Yet Christ has promised to speak to us in the Scriptures, the holy writings recorded for us in the Bible. When we hear and obey these words, we are blessed (Luke 11:28). So as God s sheep, we yearn to hear the voice of the Shepherd, which is why we gather for public worship and study the Bible at home. The second Gospel promise is that Jesus knows us. His knowing is more than a passing acquaintance or mere awareness of our existence. Jesus is not like the Deist conception of God, a cosmic watchmaker who puts together the pieces, winds up the clock, and then lets it run down without paying it any more attention. No, Jesus knowledge of you is a deep, abiding, intimate,

3 Matthis 3 ongoing knowledge. As the Psalmist states in Psalm 1, The LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Ps. 1:6a). Jesus knows everything about you. He calls you by name in Holy Baptism and makes you his own (John 10:3). He even knows how many hairs are atop your head or, in the case of some of us, how few hairs are upon our heads (Luke 12:7). Even before a word is upon our tongues, he knows what we are about to say (Ps. 139:4). He even knew us before we were born (Jer. 1:5). Your life is not an accident without meaning or purpose. You are part of God s grand design for the universe. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14). God doesn t make junk. And so the Good Shepherd watches over you and keeps you safe, guarding and protecting God s precious treasure. Jesus also attests that he gives eternal life to his sheep. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish (John 10:28). This is an astounding promise for wayward sheep like us who wander far from our Maker and easily fall prey to wolves and lions, robbers and thieves. But because Jesus died and rose again, he gives the promise of eternal life to all who believe in his name (John 3:16). Jesus says: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again (John 10:11, 18). While these cryptic comments may be difficult to understand, they refer to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death on his way to the cross and the grave (cf. Ps. 23:4). Now, because Jesus died and lives again, we can fear the grave as little as our bed. For Thou art with me (Ps. 23:4). Now Jesus is with us always, to the very end of the age (Matt. 28:20, NIV). The final promise Jesus gives in our Gospel lesson is that no one can snatch us out of his hand (John 10:28). God loves you very much. He made you and knows everything about you. He sent his Son Jesus to die for your sins on the cross. So he will not so easily let you go. No

4 Matthis 4 one will snatch them out of my hand, Jesus insists. Not the devil, not the world, not even your own wicked flesh. Jesus holds you up in his hands, and he has no intention of letting go. As Yahweh said in the Old Testament, How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? (Hos. 11:8). I know that one of the greatest fears for any Christian is that his or her children or grandchildren will wander from the faith and not return. I remember visiting several years ago a woman who was dying of cancer. She told me she was afraid to die not because of her own unbelief or unforgiven sins, but rather because her children were no longer believers, as far as she could tell, and she wondered who would tell them about Jesus after she was gone. Her children were baptized and catechized in the Lutheran Church, but they no longer attended worship, professed the Christian faith, or demonstrated the fruit of the Spirit. Would she spend eternity in heaven without her own family? Here is where Jesus words are particularly comforting: no one can snatch us out of his hand. That does not mean that we cannot wander from the faith. Why else would the Bible have numerous warnings against apostasy and exhortations to continue steadfast in the Christian faith (cf. Heb. 3:12; 6:4-6; Rev. 2:10)? Jesus words, No one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:28), do not mean the Baptist slogan, once saved, always saved. But they do assure us that the same God who would go to any lengths even death on a cross! for the sake of you and your salvation would also go to great trouble to ensure that you do not leave the enfolding embrace of his amazing grace. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). And his searching, seeking love will never give up on you, your children, or your grandchildren. That is the kind of God whom we have.

5 Matthis 5 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want (Ps. 23:1). Jesus is my Shepherd, so I have everything I need: above all, the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and his Word. Jesus is both the Good Shepherd and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). What better news could there be than this Good News of the Good Shepherd?! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I would like for us to end the sermon by singing one of my favorite children s Sunday school songs, hymn #740, I Am Jesus Little Lamb, in the Lutheran Service Book hymnal. Please turn there with me now as we sing