You Lack Nothing
A sermon preached on St. John 10:11-16 (and Romans 10:14-17) at Vespers by Pastor Zill at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Magnolia, TX on the occasion of the calling the first pastor by St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Magnolia, TX.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
You can’t lay the imagery out better than St. John:
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. – Rev. 7:17
It is one of the great and wonderful paradoxes of the New Testament – the Lamb will be their Shepherd – those two images, that of lamb and shepherd coalesce in Jesus. He is both Lamb and Shepherd, both Sacrifice and King, the one who dies and rises and the one who lords His death and resurrection over us to save us. At His birth, shepherds left their lambs in the fields of Bethlehem to worship Him. In His death He is most Lamb and most Shepherd, giving His life into death and leading humanity through the dark valley of death to eternal life.
The Good Shepherd Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Jesus came as God’s Lamb, the substitute for humanity under the Law, the appointed Sacrifice for Sin which all the sin sacrifices of the Old Testament prefigured and anticipated. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
So this is how God so loves the world – in His Lamb. This is how God deals with the Sin of the world – in the Lamb. This is how Sin is washed away – by the blood of the Lamb. This is how the sinner stands justified before God – in the Lamb.
Think of the cross of Jesus as the doorway. He lays down His life for His sheep, for the world. He lays down in the door of death, throws Himself into the jaws of death’s doorway, and then He rises in the morning of the resurrection to lead His sheep into the green pasture of life. He’s not some hired hand, some flunky who runs off at the first sound of danger. Jesus is the ultimate first responder. Jesus runs at your sin, not away from it. Why? Because he is The Good shepherd. And he’s fully invested in His sheep.
No, life under Good Shepherd Jesus isn’t necessarily easy, or happy, or free of pain and trouble. We have no special immunity from disease, doubt, depression. And we are still, well, were still sheep, and we still need a shepherd, and so God has given us the Office of the Holy Ministry, so that we might yet have a pastor, which is essentially what a shepherd is.
Now you know when you think of “shepherd,” you think of goodness and mercy, right? You think of self-sacrifice, of the shepherd who literally becomes one of the sheep, giving up his life for them, who washes them and tends them and feeds them and protects them, who lays down literally at night at the foot of the gate of the pen so that any predators would have to come through him first.
Sadly, our mechanized, industrial farming and ranching today doesn’t leave us much of a picture of that kind of shepherd anymore. The Palestinian shepherd was much different from our ranch hands and herders. I live in Tucson right across from the Campus Ag Farm at the University of Arizona and they have a lot of sheep. I see them all the time, but rarely though, do I see some one out there with them.
But the shepherd of Jesus’ day was literally a member of the flock. The sheep looked to him as one of their own. He knew each of them the way we know our pets. He gave each of them a unique name, and he had a special way of calling them so their ears would always be attuned to his voice. They’d never follow a stranger, but they’d follow their shepherd anywhere, even when he would lead them through dark and treacherous valleys with wolves watching from the cliffs overhead – the sheep didn’t fear any evil because their good shepherd was with them.
And so God the Father has seen fit to yet provide his people, His Son’s sheep, such shepherds, undershepherds of Christ, yet today.
Let’s face it we live in a dark polluted world. There is no safe place in this world, where wars and rumors of war, murder and riots on the streets, or terrifying hurricanes don’t take place, but you have more than poison puddles to contend with as sheep.
The biggest toxin – the most dangerous toxin you face is false teaching about your Good Shepherd, Jesus. To a world that thinks worrying about doctrine is much ado about nothing, just getting into the weeds. Well, you know what, dear sheep, you better know the difference between the weeds and real grass, because the weeds will kill you. Anything that chokes you and keeps you from your savior’s voice is bad for you.
And this is why we are all here tonight, you are gathered here to call one of your own, a fellow sheep, to also (paradoxically again) be your pastor, an undershepherd, to come and bring Christ and His gifts to you. You are here to do this because, like Luther reminds us, you know that every reasonably enlightened seven year old recognizes at least this much about the church: It’s about “sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.” Or as you heard in the words of St. Paul tonight: “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
But don’t forget tonight that your Good Shepherd, Jesus has himself been guiding you all along to this moment. Think of the journey that you have been on: You formed a mission plant, began services at Klein’s, drafted a constitution and bylaws and endured a really tough reviewer from what I hear, drafted articles of incorporation, had an official visit from the Bishop of the English District, were charted as a congregation, have had 3-4 other pastors from near and far (mostly from afar) come and serve you. You dragged my butt all the way here to Arizona, because of your desire to hear God’s Word and receive His gifts, and you even got the Bishop to basically pay the expenses. No, you haven’t had your own pastor through all of this, but your Good Shepherd has brought you to the point that you are about to call one.
The results will still be the Lord’s so whatever happens, listen to His voice, just as you are here tonight, and will be tomorrow morning. And know this: There are two things you can be sure of. Goodness and mercy will follow you like a couple of your Good Shepherd’s sheep dogs all the days of your life. There will never be a day that goes by, whether good or bad, when goodness and mercy won’t be yapping at your heels, reminding you that you are forgiven, you were died for, and you are a sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd.
The Lord Jesus is your Shepherd. You lack nothing…
In the name of Jesus. Amen.