Community Covenant Church - Sermons - The Blessing of Knowing the Shepherd

April 29, 2007

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
       through the valley of the shadow of death, ^[a]
       I will fear no evil,
       for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff,
       they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
       in the presence of my enemies.
       You anoint my head with oil;
       my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
       all the days of my life,
       and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
       forever.

John 10:22-30

22Then came the Feast of Dedicationat Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. 24The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

25Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."

Message: “The Blessing of Knowing the Shepherd”

One of the many pets we enjoy in our home is Spooky, one of four cats born to us while we lived in Omaha. After loosing one of those cats in Omaha to a neighbor’s dog, and another to coyotes here in MA, we’ve been careful to gather in our herd before we head up to bed. But Spooky has always made that task difficult, being our most adventurous cat; the last one in a night, and the one who always seems to find the screen to push out when windows are open on hot summer nights. And so, it is usually His name we always seem to call out when the “cat count” is low. “Spooky”, we shout..... “Spoooooooooooky” we yell! It is a well-known neighborhood sound.... and a good source of neighborly humor as our calls often echoed back to us by neighbors sitting on their back decks.

These days, Spooky is almost 15 years old, and unfortunately, because of cataracts Spooky is almost blind. With Spooky’s increasing age & blindness we’ve noted his growing cautiousness. He no longer goes down our long driveway, across the road, behind the neighbors and through the sandpit to play for hours by the river side. Rather, he stays closer to home, and is usually back home within 30 minutes of his morning departure.... that is, until this past week, when,[ inspired by our recording-setting temperature,[ he pushed out a dining room screen and disappeared into the darkness as we slept.

When I got up in the morning, our dogs went out into the backyard as usual as the cats congregated in the kitchen for their breakfast. It was when I turned to put Spooky’s plate down that I knew he was missing. A quick check of the house, the discovery of the open, screen-less window, painted a worrisome picture, knowing that spring is a dangerous time as coyotes and their pups are out hunting in packs.

So I did the only thing I could do; at 5:30 AM I slide the porch door open..... “Spooky”.... “Spooooooky” I cried as our two dogs ran inside for their breakfast. It took me about 30 seconds to feed the dogs, and only about 10 seconds more for Spooky to show up at the backdoor. “Thank you God”, I whispered, as I picked him up, and scratched under his chin, and set him before the cat food I had saved for him. I really love that cat.

“Thank you God...”,I thought, “.. that Spooky is still alive, that he can still hear , that he recognizes my voice, and that he came when I called him. Thank you God!”

Today, God’s Word from John 10, speaks about our ability as human beings to recognize the voice of God in our lifetime and then, through belief, to be guided by that voice into a safe place. Simply put, today’s Word declares that we are God’s sheep when we recognize His voice and follow Him. And the question I want you to wrestle with this morning is simply: Are you experiencing the blessing of knowing the Shepherd? Do you know God’s voice, and are you allowing God to lead you though life’s dangers into the safety of His eternal home?

1. Recognizing God’s Voice

As in previous weeks, we find ourselves again considering John’s Gospel, the disciple whose faith and discernment allowed Him to see before others could see, the presence and power of God at work in his world. And so it does not surprise us that John’s Gospel pushes its readers to answer the question: “Who do you see in Jesus?” John does this by presenting portraits of Christ for our consideration, together with carefully selected miracles performed by Jesus.

· Water turning to wine to keep the wedding feast going.

· A “long-distance” healing of a royal official’s son.

· The healing of the invalid man by the Bethesda pool

· The feeding of the 5,000

· Jesus’ walking on water,

· Jesus healing the man born blind.

John’s portraits and recorded miracles mix in his Gospel with an occasional testimony of belief by individuals, and a couple private self-disclosures of His messiahship; to the woman at the well and to the blind man now cured. These stories drive us to today’s text in John’s 10^th chapter, where we hear Jesus’ most powerful self-declaration of identity. In fact, this is Jesus’ final public disclosure of His identity. Soon the winter will be over and the spring of His final entry into Jerusalem will begin. But here in chapter 10 we hear an awesome declaration of who Jesus is. It is prompted not by those who believe in Jesus, but by those who do not.

Finding Jesus teaching in Solomon’s Colonnade, an area of the Temple which provided shelter from the cold winter winds, these unbelievers asked Jesus:

"How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

There is another translation of their question which, I believe, better captures the essence of those asking the question:

"How long will you keep us in suspense? can also be translated “How long will you annoy us?”

As we have seen elsewhere, Jesus is very much aware of the sincerity or insincerity of people’s questions; He is able to judge motive... and here Jesus senses little desire among His questioners to get to know him, but great desire to judge Him for offering answers they will refuse to accept.

I wonder if it is not unlike what we witness in politics today. While questions about a political candidate’s position may be asked by someone who sincerely desires to hear and consider their position, it is too obviously these days that most people wait for a clear declaration of a candidate’s position just to jump all over it with a judgment and a critique designed to diminish that candidate.

So tell us plainly, some Jews asked Jesus... Are you the Christ? (Are you the Messiah... the anointed One from God?) Jesus’ answer is marvelous because it reveals their hearts, for Jesus said:

25....... "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Does Jesus know where their hearts are at, or what?! Earlier in John’s Gospel we find Jesus making the same argument to Jews who were persecuting Him for healing on the Sabbath.

John 5:19-21;31-32,36b-37a

19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.....

.... 31"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid....

... 36b For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37a And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.

When Jesus says in our passage today, that “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30) Jesus is declaring that He and God the Father are one in purpose and will. Now it is also true, and declared elsewhere in the Gospel of John, that Jesus’ oneness with the Father also describes their common divinity, but can you hear Jesus’ answer to those who seek to destroy Him?

Look at my work, my purpose, my will, and you will see God. Listen to my teaching, and you will hear the voice of God. Don’t you recognize it? If you do, then you know my identity, and you are my sheep. If you do not know my identity, why not? Why can’t you recognize God’s voice in me? Whose voice are you listening to?

2. Believing & Following

Here I want to bring in a huge element, which may be new to some of you. But without it, we will miss what Jesus is saying here.

When I earlier read our passage from John 10:22-30, how many of you glossed over its reference to The Feast of Dedication? ........... It is easy to do so; it is easy to let it slide as a “first century Jewish cultural thing” we can just ignore. Can anybody tell another name for The Feast of Dedication? (The Hebrew word for dedication is Hanukkah.

The Feast of Dedication = The Feast of Hanukkah

Now my guess is that most of us have wished some neighbors, relatives or co-workers a “Happy Hanukkah” around the same time they were wishing us a “Merry Christmas”, but do you know the significance of Hanukkah, as it relates to John’s telling of the story?

To do so you would have to open your Bibles and consider all of chapter 10... a very familiar passage about Jesus, shepherds and sheep. Listen to a few verses:

John 10:7-11,14

7.. (Jesus said) "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

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—

So why does Jesus offer this teaching about sheep & shepherds at the Feast of Hanukkah? Because Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple after an era defined by bad shepherds... corrupt Temple officials. It recalls a time when the religious leadership led people away from God, but then an uprising in 164 BC among the people rejected those “bad shepherds”. In fact, Hanukkah’s liturgy include the words of the Prophet Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34:2-10

2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

7 " 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : 10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

Who are you Jesus... tell us plainly, the unbelieving Jews asked during the Feast of Hanukkah.

I am the Good Shepherd, the only one you can trust to lead you to safety, for my purpose and will is that same as our Father in Heaven. I give my sheep... those who know my voice and follow me... I give them eternal life; they will never perish because I will never lose them.

Today, do you experience the blessing of knowing the Good Shepherd? Not a shepherd who leads you astray, but

- one whose purpose and will is that of our Heavenly Fathers,

- one whose life and death for you shouts out the love and mercy of God,

- the One who came to save you from your sin and whose Spirit guides us toward righteous living?

The blessing of knowing the Good Shepherd begins when you recognize that Jesus and our Heavenly Father are one. In His actions and in his teachings He has allowed us to see God. But the blessing of knowing the Good Shepherd really takes off when, after we hear and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd as the very voice of God, we follow that voice. It is important to recognize that shepherds do not drive their sheep, they lead them. And the Good Shepherd leads those who follow Him throughout their lives.

As we read from Psalm 23, God our Shepherd leads us into green pastures and quiet waters where our bodies and souls are nourished, lacking nothing. He leads us into righteous living, and guides us through our darkest valleys. Remember, Jesus will not lose you because the Heavenly Rather will not lose you. He will lead us into Shalom... a place of peace even among enemies, and he will lead us into an eternity in His home.

I think a lot of us have that hope for a blessed eternity with God, but I want us to celebrate the blessing that we have even now as we live in a broken and dangerous world. For even here the voice of Jesus is heard, and it calls us away from death and destruction, and toward salvation and life.

Let me leave you with one final image of shepherds and their sheep.

Today middle eastern shepherds continue to care deeply for their flocks, and through relational elements like tending to their needs for food and healing, by talking and singing to them, even playing a pocket flute as they graze on the green grass of a hillside, their sheep come to know and trust and follow their shepherd.

A story is told by Gary Burge, a former New Testament professor at North Park University, that during the Palestinian uprising of the late 1980’s the Israel army decided to punish a village near Bethlehem for not paying its taxes. The officer in command rounded up all the village animals and placed them in a large barbed-wire pen.

Later in the week he was approached by a woman who begged him to release her flock of 25 sheep, arguing that since her husband was dead the animals were her only source of livelihood. He pointed to the pen containing hundreds of animals and humorously quipped that it was impossible because he had no way of finding her animals.

She asked that if she could in fact separate them herself, would he be willing to let her take them? He agreed.

So the soldier opened the gate and the woman’s son produced a small reed flute. He put it to his lips and played a simple tune over and over again... the exact same tune His father and played for His sheep as they lived under his care. Soon sheep heads began popping up across the pen. The young boy continued playing his father’s music as he walked home, being followed by a flock of 25 sheep.

Citation: Burge, Gary M., John; The NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 2000, p. 302 (modified)

Friends, Jesus has come, and those who through faith recognize his voice as God’s voice, follow Him to safety and into an eternity in Jesus’ firm grasp. Are you experiencing the blessing of knowing the Good Shepherd today... of being the sheep of His pasture?

Listen for his voice,

Recognize who He is,

and then follow with total trust.

Because if you do, you will be saved, and you will discover a life lived in abundance. AMEN

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r).