First Christian Church of Berryville: I Am the Good Shepherd

Sermon by John Turner

Based on John 10:1-5, 10-16, 27-30

The title of the painting is “His Master’s Voice.” It was for many years the foundation of one of the most successful branding images in history, becoming the symbol of RCA Victor recordings and record players. What made the image so successful? Is it not the idea that even a dog can recognize his master’s recorded voice?

This raises a question: Do we recognize our Master Jesus’ voice when he speaks to us?

Now this may raise an even more troubling set of questions. Some of us have friends who are always saying, “God told me this,” or “The Lord told me that.” After observing our friends for a time, we may be fairly convinced that they don’t know the difference between the voice of the Lord and the voice of the pizza they had for supper. The Lord is just certain to give better advice than the advice our friends are attributing to him. So, here is the more troubling set of questions:

1. Does the Lord really speak to us?

Yes. I say that for two reasons: A. Jesus says that he will send the Holy Spirit to guide us, and I don’t believe that Jesus is lying. B. I have on occasion experienced what I believe can only be the voice of the Lord, usually when he is telling me something that I am not eager to hear.

2. How does the Lord speak to us?

Through the Holy Spirit, who usually addresses us in a still, small, but clear and insistent voice. Jesus is our Helper, our Comforter, our Counselor, our Advocate, our Paraclete. He tells his disciples that, when he leaves earth, he will send another Helper/Comforter/Counselor/Advocate/Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. The world will not recognize the Holy Spirit, but disciples of Jesus will recognize the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus says, “I will come to you. The world won’t see me, but you will.” In recognizing the Spirit’s guidance, the disciples are recognizing Jesus’ guidance. Here is how it works:

Jesus took the Word of the Father and made it flesh.
The Spirit takes the Word of Jesus and makes it fresh.

3. How do we know that what we think we hear is the Lord?

We practice discernment. Paul and John each give us essentially the same two guidelines for discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit:

A. Is the message consistent with Jesus being both our bodily crucified Savior and our bodily risen Lord—in other words, no message is from the Lord if it causes us to think that we are above the problems of bodily existence or if it causes us to refuse to be morally accountable for our bodily behavior.

B. Does the message lead to love for fellow believers and potential believers, and does it contribute to building up the body of Christ?

C. Today’s Scripture passage suggests that another way to discern is to become more and more familiar with Jesus so that we know the kinds of things that he is likely to say. We learn to recognize the difference between the voice of Jesus and the voice of pizza—or whatever—because we know his character.

Let’s spend a little time reading together a passage in which Jesus talks about being our Good Shepherd.

Just before this passage, Jesus on a Sabbath had healed a man who had been born blind. Leading Pharisees, probably members of the Sanhedrin, wanted the healed man who was seeing for the first time in his life to help them frame charges against Jesus who had given him his sight. When the man would not cooperate, they saw to it that the man was excommunicated from his synagogue. Jesus was outraged by these uncaring religious leaders. He contrasted his role as Good Shepherd to that of sheep thieves and hireling shepherds.

10:1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4: When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

John imagines a shared sheepfold with a gatekeeper who will allow only authentic shepherds through the gate. Once inside, an authentic shepherd can call his own sheep out from the midst of all the others. They recognize the authentic shepherd’s voice, and he calls them by name and leads them out, something that the false shepherd cannot do. The sheep follow the authentic shepherd because they recognize his voice. They flee from strangers because they do not recognize their voices.

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

False leaders do spiritual harm to the sheep entrusted to their care. The good shepherd seeks abundant life for his sheep. We recognize the extraordinarily good shepherd that Jesus is by his willingness even to die in order to deliver his flock out of evil and into abundant (and eternal) life. The hireling shepherds, like the religious leaders who are trying to frame charges against Jesus, are self-seeking and risk nothing for the well-being of the sheep. Jesus knows his own, and his own know him. His faithful, self-giving covenant relationship to his flock is like his Father’s relationship to him. Jesus will be adding to his flock from outside the boundaries of Judaism. The Gentile sheep—such as we are—will also recognize his voice and follow.

10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Jesus repeats that his sheep hear his voice, that he knows them, and that they follow him. Nothing in this world can remove them from the protective authority of the Father and the Son, authority that prevails for all time. Recognizing and heeding the voice of the Son is key to a fulfilling and secure Christian life. Jesus expects that we will learn to recognize his voice so that he can lead us.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us the fresh guidance from Jesus in three ways: 1. through the Holy Spirit’s inspired scriptures, 2. through the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in the church, and 3. through the Holy Spirit’s activity in our own personal relationships with Jesus.

1. The Holy Spirit speaks to us of Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s inspired scriptures.

Recently, we considered how the Risen Christ taught his disciples to see him in every part of the Old Testament. Over the past ten years, I have begun to see Jesus much more clearly in books such as Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, Psalms, and Isaiah. In the past couple of years, I have tackled some of the harder places to see Jesus, which for me are Leviticus and Proverbs. I am amazed to find him there as well. When we more and more clearly recognize our Master’s voice, we hear it far more often and in far more places than we would have previously imagined.

Turning to the New Testament, the easiest way to see Jesus is in the Four Gospels. That is where he shows himself in human flesh. In the rest of the New Testament, we learn to see the imprint of Jesus through the lives and teachings of the apostles and through their shaping of his church in accord with his leading. We are thereby challenged to submit our church life more fully to Jesus’ way. In the final book of the New Testament, the Revelation to John, we see Jesus still concerned to shape his church, but also to reveal himself as the reigning Lord of all history and of the new heaven and new earth to come. When we want to hear Jesus, studying the Scriptures is where we start learning to recognize his leading.

2. The Holy Spirit speaks to us of Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in the church.

It is important for us to know that we are not alone in hearing Jesus. Other people, in other times and places, in other cultures and circumstances, have also heard and followed Jesus. By listening with attention to their experiences, we can learn much that Jesus would teach us. Of course, the church has made many mistakes along the way, often following worldly thinking rather than godly thinking, and so we must practice discernment as we listen. But lone rangers don’t make dependable Christians. We need to learn from others. Some of our best teachers will be the Christian friends with whom we share church membership. Okay, so sometimes they are irritating, but often they will be the ones who stimulate us to see beyond our personal preferences and prejudices how Christ’s truth is impacting us in our present situation.

3. The Holy Spirit speaks to us of Jesus through the Holy Spirit’s activity in our own personal relationships with Jesus.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us personally in response to our prayers. Even if the speaking may come as we are going about our other daily tasks, it is our habits of prayer that open the way for the Spirit to address us. We need to develop ways of praying that work for us and that cause us to approach every part of our day with an eye to what God would teach us in each moment.

Through the scriptures, the church, and our personal devotional lives, we can learn to recognize the voice of Jesus when he speaks to us. In the end, it is a matter of familiarity and faith. Through walking daily with Jesus, studying his word, sharing spiritual fellowship with other believers, and maintaining our prayer life, we learn to recognize his voice, and we learn to trust that he will not lead us astray. So we hear and follow.

Conclusion

Did you ever have a cheap radio—or maybe even an expensive one-- that would not zero in clearly on a station, so that you always had the signals of other stations bleeding in? There was an area of Indianapolis in which the signal of the praise and worship station on my car radio would be drowned out by crying-in-your-beer music. I’d be driving along contemplating the greatness of God and suddenly be invaded by woeful tales of adultery. When we are listening for reliable guidance, hearing the right signal is vitally important. Here are three stories to stick that truth in our minds:

Bible scholar Gerald Borchert remembers two stories from his time in Israel:

Story 1. A shepherd was leading his sheep through modern Jerusalem. Cars were noisily whizzing past while the shepherd sang and whistled to his flock. They followed him through the bustling traffic. Hearing the right signal is important.

Story 2. One early morning four Bedouin shepherds began to lead their respective flocks out of the sheepfold they had shared for the night. As each shepherd took his turn singing and calling to his sheep, they separated from the others and began to follow him to the hills where they would be led to green pastures. Hearing the right signal is important.

Bible scholar Gary Burge also shares an image from modern Israel:

Story 3. The Israeli army decided to punish a Palestinian village for failure to pay its taxes. The commanding officer rounded up all the village animals and penned them up together. A widow approached him arguing that her 25 sheep were her only source of livelihood. He quipped that it would hardly be possible to find and separate her sheep in the packed pen. She asked if she could separate them herself and take them. Her persistence won the day, and he agreed. The woman’s son produced a small reed flute and began to play a simple tune again and again. Soon sheep heads were popping up around the pen, and the woman’s twenty-five sheep found their way to the gate and followed the young flutist home. Hearing the right signal is important.

I have always thought of sheep as rather stupid, and perhaps they are, but, as I consider their ability to recognize and follow their shepherd, I know that my life would be better if I could so unfailingly hear and follow the leading of Jesus.

Finally, the question is, when our Master teaches us or calls us into mission or counsels us with divine wisdom, do we recognize who is speaking to us? Are we familiar with his character and voice? I am sure that this is a skill in which we can all improve to our own benefit.

Bonus:

Here are some links to some copyrighted pictures that may help establish today’s message in our hearts. These pictures cannot be copied without permission. After viewing each picture, use your browser's "back arrow" to return to this blog:

Painting: “Shepherd in Galilee,” Miriam McClung

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drawingonthepromises/3239675040

Painting: “Sheepfold in Galilee,” Miriam McClung

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/SHEEP-FOLD-IN-GALILEE/65113

Painting: “Sheep Will Follow,” Cyrus Mejia

http://cyrusmejia.com/art/silent-no-longer then click painting title: “Sheep Will Follow”

Painting: “The Good Shepherd,” Jesus MAFA website

http://www.jesusmafa.com/anglais/pagetprod2.htm then click Parables and Painting 31.