Which Shepherd Will You Follow? May 7, 2006
Scripture: Psalm 23, 1 John 3: 11-24, John 10:11-18
Shepherds and sheep are not things you and I see on a daily basis. Especially shepherds are not part of our world—maybe a farmer of two, but they usually take care of horses or cows rather than sheep. Shepherding was very much a part of Jesus life and the life of his ancestors. Those of you who remember the Old Testament stories know that Abraham, the father of the Israel nation, was rich from his many flocks of sheep. Even Moses had a time as a shepherd. He was tending his father-in-law Jethro’s flock when he heard God calling him for a special leadership role. Do you remember that David was a young shepherd boy when he was called to begin his apprenticeship to be the King of Israel? When the prophet Isaiah talked of the coming Messiah, he said “He will feed his flock like a shepherd! He will gather his lambs into his arms.” The 23rd Psalm that is probably the most familiar of Judeo-Christian scriptures is often called the shepherd psalm. We know that Jesus frequently used the shepherd metaphors in his parables such as “The Lost Sheep”.
Let me tell you a modern day shepherd story: A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a Brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced towards him out of a dust cloud. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie ,leans out of the window and asks: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and answers, "Sure!" The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook, connects it to a cell phone, surfs to a NASA page where he calls up a GPS navigation system, scans the area and opens a database and some 60 spreadsheets with complex formulas. Finally, he prints a 150-page report on a miniature printer, turns to our shepherd and says: "You have exactly 1586 sheep!" "That's correct. As agreed, you can take one of the sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man make a selection and bundle it into his Cherokee. As the car starts to pull away, he calls out: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?" "Okay, why not?" answers the young man, stopping the car. "You are a consultant" says the shepherd. "That's correct," says the yuppie. "How did you guess?" "Easy," answers the shepherd. "You turn up here without being asked. You want to be paid for information I already have. And you don't know anything about my business because you just took my dog."[1]
Jesus described the shepherd as one who leads, protects, and even lies down his life for his sheep. He talks about other shepherds as thieves and bandits, sometimes referred to as false shepherds. This morning I would like each of you to think if you have any false shepherds in your life. Maybe you are trying to follow Jesus, but there are other leaders or objects of devotion that keep getting in the way. If you are employed maybe you are following your boss or the ladder of upward mobility—even if it contradicts with the life Jesus has asked you to live. I’m thinking about my good friend and active church leader, George from Southern CA who had worked many years for Rockwell as an engineer. Now Rockwell is a mainstay of the nuclear weapon industry. He never told me exactly what he did at Rockwell but he did share how conflicted he felt his job was with his faith. After a while he took an early retirement except for some consultation work for other types of companies. Maybe some of you are following the wealth shepherd, focusing more on ways to become rich rather than doing what Jesus asks. In my own case, I have an excitement for gambling, which I somewhat satisfy by investing in stocks. I like following the market and can spend much too much time surfing the Internet, reading about various investing strategies and figuring out what to buy and sell. Although there have been many positive results from this interest of mine, such as being able to put myself through seminary by selling appreciated stocks, yet other times I feel very guilty, especially when I lose a lot of money and think about how that money could have been given to help those in need to say nothing about the time that could have been used for more holy purposes. There are many possibilities of other shepherds—one is the shepherd of comfort and luxury. Do you use more of the earth’s resources than is necessary in order to be either warmer or cooler and, therefore, contributing to global weather problems. In theory I believe in living a simple life but I definitely don’t follow that path all the time. I think it is fine to enjoy the finer things of life as long as we keep some appropriate balance. But what is that balance? It’s certainly often part of my prayers to God that I want and need help in this area.
I try not to criticize or judge; it’s better to leave that to God; however, I do think about the contrast between what Jesus did and what many of our church leaders do today. Just one example, while Jesus forgives sinners and hangs out with the marginalized, some of todays’ leaders damn sinners to hell and exclude those that disagree with them about things such as sexual orientation, abortion, or racial mixing to name a few.
So one of the things that I ask myself and I hope you will ask yourself, “What kind of a shepherd do you want to be?” For you see, as Christians, we are all shepherds, we are all ministers. We all shepherd as well as follow.In both our Epistle reading and the Gospel, we are told that the good shepherd lays down his/her life for the sheep, John 10:11; or in the Epistle of l John, it is written that “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” (3:16). Wow!! Are you willing to lay your life down for another? Maybe your child or your spouse, but what about a stranger? Or what about being willing to die for standing up for Jesus? I asked the boys in Confirmation class about this, and they both said they would be willing. Again, I say Wow! I can’t remember how I felt as a teenager about this. Only now am I getting close to being able to say Yes to this question of risking my life for my faith, this question that has been so terribly difficult for me. As I said in confirmation class, I’m thinking maybe it’s because I’m getting closer to the end of my life; I no longer have responsibility for young children; I’ve accomplished many of my dreams. All of that makes it easier.
There’s another question in this chapter in John that’s only a little less hard, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (3:17) How much money have you given to the man by Shaw’s entrance that has a sign saying something like “any amount will help, God bless.”? I haven’t stopped. Maybe I will today. No wonder our churches are so empty if they take seriously the demands that Jesus put upon his followers. I so much want to abide in God and have God abide in me. I’m so glad that we are promised God’s grace. I’m so glad that I believe that God loves each of us unconditionally and will work with us so to help us grow in both faith and action. I’m so glad that I belong to a church because we truly need help and encouragement from each other to do the right thing, to follow Jesus, and to love God and care for each other. Please help me, and I am happy to help you. If God loves us in all our shortcomings, surely we can love and help each other. Amen and amen.
[1] Keith Wagner, The Nurturing God
Shepherds and sheep are not things you and I see on a daily basis. Especially shepherds are not part of our world—maybe a farmer of two, but they usually take care of horses or cows rather than sheep. Shepherding was very much a part of Jesus life and the life of his ancestors. Those of you who remember the Old Testament stories know that Abraham, the father of the Israel nation, was rich from his many flocks of sheep. Even Moses had a time as a shepherd. He was tending his father-in-law Jethro’s flock when he heard God calling him for a special leadership role. Do you remember that David was a young shepherd boy when he was called to begin his apprenticeship to be the King of Israel? When the prophet Isaiah talked of the coming Messiah, he said “He will feed his flock like a shepherd! He will gather his lambs into his arms.” The 23rd Psalm that is probably the most familiar of Judeo-Christian scriptures is often called the shepherd psalm. We know that Jesus frequently used the shepherd metaphors in his parables such as “The Lost Sheep”.
Let me tell you a modern day shepherd story: A shepherd was herding his flocks in a remote pasture when suddenly a Brand new Jeep Cherokee advanced towards him out of a dust cloud. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and a YSL tie ,leans out of the window and asks: "If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"The shepherd looks at the yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock and answers, "Sure!" The yuppie parks the car, whips out his notebook, connects it to a cell phone, surfs to a NASA page where he calls up a GPS navigation system, scans the area and opens a database and some 60 spreadsheets with complex formulas. Finally, he prints a 150-page report on a miniature printer, turns to our shepherd and says: "You have exactly 1586 sheep!" "That's correct. As agreed, you can take one of the sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man make a selection and bundle it into his Cherokee. As the car starts to pull away, he calls out: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my sheep back?" "Okay, why not?" answers the young man, stopping the car. "You are a consultant" says the shepherd. "That's correct," says the yuppie. "How did you guess?" "Easy," answers the shepherd. "You turn up here without being asked. You want to be paid for information I already have. And you don't know anything about my business because you just took my dog."[1]
Jesus described the shepherd as one who leads, protects, and even lies down his life for his sheep. He talks about other shepherds as thieves and bandits, sometimes referred to as false shepherds. This morning I would like each of you to think if you have any false shepherds in your life. Maybe you are trying to follow Jesus, but there are other leaders or objects of devotion that keep getting in the way. If you are employed maybe you are following your boss or the ladder of upward mobility—even if it contradicts with the life Jesus has asked you to live. I’m thinking about my good friend and active church leader, George from Southern CA who had worked many years for Rockwell as an engineer. Now Rockwell is a mainstay of the nuclear weapon industry. He never told me exactly what he did at Rockwell but he did share how conflicted he felt his job was with his faith. After a while he took an early retirement except for some consultation work for other types of companies. Maybe some of you are following the wealth shepherd, focusing more on ways to become rich rather than doing what Jesus asks. In my own case, I have an excitement for gambling, which I somewhat satisfy by investing in stocks. I like following the market and can spend much too much time surfing the Internet, reading about various investing strategies and figuring out what to buy and sell. Although there have been many positive results from this interest of mine, such as being able to put myself through seminary by selling appreciated stocks, yet other times I feel very guilty, especially when I lose a lot of money and think about how that money could have been given to help those in need to say nothing about the time that could have been used for more holy purposes. There are many possibilities of other shepherds—one is the shepherd of comfort and luxury. Do you use more of the earth’s resources than is necessary in order to be either warmer or cooler and, therefore, contributing to global weather problems. In theory I believe in living a simple life but I definitely don’t follow that path all the time. I think it is fine to enjoy the finer things of life as long as we keep some appropriate balance. But what is that balance? It’s certainly often part of my prayers to God that I want and need help in this area.
I try not to criticize or judge; it’s better to leave that to God; however, I do think about the contrast between what Jesus did and what many of our church leaders do today. Just one example, while Jesus forgives sinners and hangs out with the marginalized, some of todays’ leaders damn sinners to hell and exclude those that disagree with them about things such as sexual orientation, abortion, or racial mixing to name a few.
So one of the things that I ask myself and I hope you will ask yourself, “What kind of a shepherd do you want to be?” For you see, as Christians, we are all shepherds, we are all ministers. We all shepherd as well as follow.In both our Epistle reading and the Gospel, we are told that the good shepherd lays down his/her life for the sheep, John 10:11; or in the Epistle of l John, it is written that “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” (3:16). Wow!! Are you willing to lay your life down for another? Maybe your child or your spouse, but what about a stranger? Or what about being willing to die for standing up for Jesus? I asked the boys in Confirmation class about this, and they both said they would be willing. Again, I say Wow! I can’t remember how I felt as a teenager about this. Only now am I getting close to being able to say Yes to this question of risking my life for my faith, this question that has been so terribly difficult for me. As I said in confirmation class, I’m thinking maybe it’s because I’m getting closer to the end of my life; I no longer have responsibility for young children; I’ve accomplished many of my dreams. All of that makes it easier.
There’s another question in this chapter in John that’s only a little less hard, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (3:17) How much money have you given to the man by Shaw’s entrance that has a sign saying something like “any amount will help, God bless.”? I haven’t stopped. Maybe I will today. No wonder our churches are so empty if they take seriously the demands that Jesus put upon his followers. I so much want to abide in God and have God abide in me. I’m so glad that we are promised God’s grace. I’m so glad that I believe that God loves each of us unconditionally and will work with us so to help us grow in both faith and action. I’m so glad that I belong to a church because we truly need help and encouragement from each other to do the right thing, to follow Jesus, and to love God and care for each other. Please help me, and I am happy to help you. If God loves us in all our shortcomings, surely we can love and help each other. Amen and amen.
[1] Keith Wagner, The Nurturing God
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:58 PM
<< Home