Welcome to the First Sunday of a summer without Pastor Scott. There is sadness in this, but there is also joy and excitement. It is a good thing for our brother and sister; and good will be in it for us, too. (Take a moment and pray for Fullers.) Welcome also to the First Sunday after the crazy madhouse that was Synod Assembly. I’m sure you all know the two best things about guests: (1) They come and visit, and (2) They leave! It is good to be here with just the family again!
You know all the commotion around here got me thinking—sometimes it’s really good to get really simple, to take another look at our basics. So today, we’re going to turn the Sanctuary into the small chapel and do a Lutheran 101-style sermon.
Let’s dig in!
What is a Lutheran?
– What is it that makes us unique, our unique voice, contribution?
– One sentence
We just assume we’ve GOT this—cornerstone of our faith, preaching, and community.
– Thing about cornerstones (shoved in the corner and buried under 15 feet of dirt)
Justified
– Grace through Faith
– What is Justification; What is Grace?
Faith
– Harder to explain; Harder to grasp
– What do we want to do with faith? What do we try to do?
We turn it into something We Do!
– Jesus knocks on the door, but we have to….
– Christ will choose you, if you choose Christ…
– All you have to do is…
– We just have to…
– We make our salvation conditional. It only applies if and when…
Why do we do this?
Fear
– Who gets in? How do we get in?
– What does it mean that Christ died for me? Did Christ even really die and rise? How can we know?
Faith isn’t a satisfying answer. It gives us nothing firm to latch onto or measure.
There’s no mile marker; there’s no progress.
So if you want to be certain of your place in God’s kingdom, you need something else…
And so, we talk about doors we must open and choices we must make. What if, instead of all the fearful, messy, sinful options we manufacture, we look at what the Gospel of Jesus Christ lays out.
Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” And there you have the entire Gospel—the entire Good News. The whole reason we build places like this church! The whole reason this Christian thing has continued for 2000 years despite all our fumbling!
So, let’s look closely. What do sheep, fish, and wheat all have in common? They are three of the most common images Jesus uses to describe people affected by His Message (that’s you and me!
None of these three are particularly clever or discerning…(What I mean by that is that none of these things chooses their final destination!). Fish are caught! Sheep are herded! Wheat is harvested! None of these things choose their final destination, but we still think that we choose Christ.
Think how different Jesus’ ministry and our present church would look if instead of fish, wheat, and sheep, Jesus had used an image like a Jury. My Jury listens to my voice; they are convinced; and then they choose in favor of me.
You know what? If we woke up tomorrow and found all the Bibles magically changed from sheep to jury, our churches would hardly change at all! Because this is what we do with scripture in the first place!
Jesus is trying to tell us that we are his sheep. But we insist on pretending to be his jury.
So, fine, let’s say someone finally convinces us all that we’re sheep. What do we do with that? We say, “Yes, but I’m an obedient sheep and those sheep over there are straying from the flock.”
We always try to draw the line, to find some way to compare, some way to show progress, some way to show ourselves that we are doing everything we can. Fear—we have that Fear deep in our bones, and it interferes with the Gospel. It doesn’t let the Gospel be as amazing and radical as it truly is.
And the Gospel truth is that there’s nothing remarkable about the sheep. They don’t make some heroic effort to leap over fence and hedge and rushing river to come to their shepherd. The shepherd comes to them and calls them home.
If the gate were left open, the sheep would idly wander out and drift away. But the shepherd comes and finds them, one at a time, and rejoices greatly when even one is brought home!
If a wolf were to break in, not one single sheep would stand up bravely and say, “Tear out my throat, Wolf. I will never leave my shepherd’s field!” They would all scatter in terror and confusion. But the shepherd keeps the wolf at bay and guards the sheep from those fangs.
We are the Sheep and Jesus is the Shepherd. That is the radical message of the Gospel.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
But, it can be hard for us to pick out Jesus’ voice, can’t it? What are the other voices that either try to seduce us or just plain old drown Jesus’ voice out? This world shouts at us with fear, death, shame, vanity, and countless others. Is it our responsibility to pick out the right voice and follow it to safety?
Listen to the second part of the verse: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them…” It isn’t about how well we know Jesus; it’s about how well Jesus knows us. Sheep will be herded by anyone. But Jesus knows us. Jesus knows you and he knows me. So when all the other voices of this world lead us astray, he plunges right in among this strange, deceptive flock and says, “You are mine and you are one of mine.” He scoops us up and takes us back.
Hear it again, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Remember it. Hold on to it.
You have been made a part of God’s flock and Christ is your shepherd. As sheep we are very good at wandering; thanks be to God that as Shepherd, Christ is much better at bringing us back. Amen
Intern Mark Dixon