Sermon for 4/21/24: Fourth Sunday of Easter (series B)

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Hear and Follow

John 10:11-18

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

On this side of glory, our faith lives alongside of doubt. The devil doesn’t need to plant it in us. He just needs to water it. Jesus says, “My sheep know My voice. They follow Me.” But it doesn’t take much to get us thinking: “Do I really know His voice? Am I really following Him?” Doubt wants proof. How much have we done? Can we be recognized in this world by our love? The truth is, we can’t. Sinners that we are, we have blended all too well into the ways of the world. After all, it seems much easier to get forgiveness from a seemingly distant God rather than deal with the mockery and hatred of the world around you. You have not been good enough. Your life does not show your faith so much as it shows your sin. So repent. Turn away from your sin.

Yes, repent…but then tell doubt and the devil to shut up. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He lays downs His life for His sheep. He has met His Father’s wrath. He pays for your sins, your doubts. There is no one left to accuse you. You are righteous because Jesus has declared you to be so. He has substituted His life for yours. He has risen from the dead for your justification. He is the Good Shepherd. He didn’t only defeat death by His death; He also rose again to usher you into the green pastures of heaven, to bring you home. He loves you. You know His voice. You hear it now. You love it.

It seems strange to us, but doubt is actually evidence of faith. Your doubts are the pinpricks of conscience. As your faith in Christ grows, you become ever more aware of your sins and the weakness of your faith. Doubt is evidence that the state of your soul means something to you. Doubt is evidence that you are engaging the enemy inside yourself. If you were not engaging the enemy, you would not care. You would feel no worry about it.

If this is a hard word for lay people to hear, it is torture for pastors. No faithful pastor in Christendom can hear our Lord’s words about hirelings and not squirm. Every faithful pastor knows he does not live up to his own preaching. Every pastor has counted the cost. Every pastor has considered how we might package the message to be successful and make the people like us. The spirit indeed is willing. But the flesh? The flesh knows who writes the checks, and the pastor likes to be able to feed his family. As a pastor who has been forced to leave a congregation, I can tell you that it can be a challenge for me to say the things that are hard for you to hear; even so, that is what I am Called to do—both by God, and by you. It is no easy task, and it is only by the grace of God that any sinful man can serve in this overwhelming office.

But of course, this doesn’t hard saying apply only to the clergy. You have all stood up here at the front of the sanctuary and have made promises you haven’t kept. You have promised to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from the one true faith. Imagine that! You’ve made huge, impossible promises at Confirmation, at your weddings, at the baptism of your children. This hireling bit applies in the first place to pastors, to be sure, but it doesn’t stop there. When the wolf comes, baring his teeth at terrified sheep, the hirelings also run away from their wives, children, and neighbors, and the Church. It’s not just the pastors who squirm at these hard words.

But when we recognize that our faith is challenged and tested; when we recognize that Satan is seeking to devour us like the sheep we are; when we recognize that we have failed to live and believe as we should; it is especially then that we cling to the powerful grace of God. Jesus is our Good Shepherd. The promises of God are not dependent on perfect sheep, but a Good Shepherd who is faithful, a Good Shepherd who has made a promise that cannot and will not be broken, a Good Shepherd who cleanses you in Himself. Nothing can separate you from the love of God—not your sins, your failures, your imperfect faith, your broken vows, nor even your doubts. He has placed His promise upon you, baptizing you into His Name, placing that name on your forehead and your heart. He would have you be part of His flock. Death has no claim upon you. Hell has no way to hold you. You are His sheep, clean and pure by grace. He loves you. He laid down His life you. He comes to you in His Holy Supper. He feeds you with Bread from heaven in His very Body; He washes you anew in His Blood, which He pours out for you.

You are His sheep. You hear His Voice. You love it. You love Him. You desire to be with Him. Even in the midst of your doubts, amidst your struggles against the fallen flesh, you love Jesus. You rejoice in this forgiveness because you know your Shepherd and He knows you. That is why you are here. You are His sheep. And you need fear no evil, for He is Your Good Shepherd. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.