Through The Valley To A New Life of Service and Excitement

My final Sunday as Interim Pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Tomball, TX. is next Sunday, May 24. That afternoon the congregation will accept Pastor Chris Hull from Illinois as their new shepherd.  He will be installed into office at a special service that afternoon. He is scheduled to arrive with his wife and family the middle of this week. He will preach his first sermon on May 31, Holy Trinity Sunday.

These past two weeks I've received a few friendly comments about my returning to retirement. My usual response has been that I can find no mention of retirement in the Bible. However, upon reflection, I may have to take back that statement. It does occur to me that for one reason or another some of the primary personages in the Bible did indeed retire—at least for a time. Here, for example, I'm thinking about Moses. When Moses impulsively killed an Egyptian who was beating one of Moses' people, he fled—retired if you will, because the Egyptian Pharaoh wanted to kill him.

"But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.  .  ." - Exo 2:15 ESV

Midian was on the other side of the Red Sea. Life changed radically for Moses in that land. He married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, and retired from the luxurious life of a prince of Egypt to the relatively quiet one of a shepherd. Later, in his 80's, the LORD God confronted him in a "burning bush that was not consumed by fire" on Mount Horeb. And so began the well known story of his being sent to lead the exodus of the children of Israel.

I've reflected often upon that story during these past 20 months while serving Zion. Like Moses, I was 80 years old when I received and accepted God's new Call to serve again as a public minister of His Word. By God's grace I have not been asked to serve for 40 years in the wilderness, however. My 20 months of service come now to an end. What awaits ahead I do not yet know.

The simple point I make is that each of us has a call to follow Christ, the Good Shepherd, who leads us through a sometimes bewildering journey to the Father's house. He leads. We follow. He feeds and provides. We lie down in His green pastures. We take comfort knowing that He watches over us with His rod and staff. One day soon He will lead me and all who follow Him safely home.

Then will begin an eternal retirement from the darkness of this world's valley. Meanwhile I can hardly wait for the joy and excitement of that new phase of my life eternal with Him.

Why Jesus Calls His Disciples Sheep

We're talking about reaching out with the Gospel, especially to the current young adult generation that is marked by skepticism and doubts about the validity of the Christian faith. Many such young adults were brought up in the fellowship of the Christian church. Many of us who parented that generation struggle with our own doubts about what we failed to do to support faith in Christ. The Lord Jesus spoke to the skeptics of his day with these words: 

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. 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. I and the Father are one." - Jhn 10:27-30 ESV

Let's look carefully at what he says as a commentary upon his mashal or parable of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-6).

Is there anyone among us with personal experience with sheep? Although I grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota I have zip experience with that particular mammal. So I wonder why Jesus purposely calls his followers sheep. In his Head Heart Hand blog David Murray, who seems to have had at least some such experience, characterizes sheep in this way.

1. Sheep are foolish - they only know how to do one thing well—eat grass. 
2. Sheep are slow to learn - they'll even try to get through a barbed wire fence. 
3. Sheep are unattractive - awkward, dirty, smelly and ugly
4. Sheep are demanding - insatiably demanding food, day and night
5. Sheep are stubborn - don't even think of maneuvering them into a fold
6. Sheep are strong - a running sheep will flatten you
7. Sheep are straying - over cliffs, into bogs, out in the middle of nowhere
8. Sheep are unpredictable - they'll dive right in front of a car
9. Sheep are copycats - if one starts running, well, the rest follow without thinking
10. Sheep are restless - they'll be eating grass at 3 a.m. 
11. Sheep are dependent - they can't live without their shepherd
12. Sheep are the same everywhere - in Asia as in Africa as in America

Wow! As I read that description I began to realize why Jesus called his disciples sheep. Nothing more need be said. 

BUT he also said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." 

The voice of God is, was or will be spoken

• by John the Baptist as he declared himself the one sent to prepare the hearts of God's people by calling them to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2-3). 
• by the heavenly Father on the Mountain of Transfiguration, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). 
• by Jesus upon the cross as he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" 
• by the spiritually reborn who hear the sound of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8). 
• by the dead who will hear the voice of the Son of God and live (John 5:28). 

We pastors, teachers, parents and all who guide must ask ourselves day by day these question: Do I speak for Jesus? Do my hearers hear me speaking the voice of God? When I speak do they hear Jesus speaking through me, calling them to renew their thinking, to see the wonder of Jesus, Son of God and the Savior upon the cross? Do they hear God's voice through me to comfort and to guide? Or do they hear another voice, beating, berating and babbling nonsense? Such a voice they surely will not follow.

As foolish, slow, demanding and stubborn as Jesus' sheep are, they do recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd when he speaks—even through under-shepherds such as we may be. 

". . . and they follow me." We sheep who are by nature restless, demanding, dependent and slow to learn, we will follow someone. That should be obvious when we consider all the stupid things we humans do. This is why we must do whatever it takes to teach and proclaim the Word of God. 

The Door Duty Of Pastors

We continue our study of the duties of pastors and their relationship to the flocks they are called to shepherd. Listen again to Jesus' comment about himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10.

I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. - Jhn 10:9-13 ESV

This door to the sheep fold business is quite interesting. Consider what this meant to a first century shepherd. Quite often the sheep belonging to several families were grouped together and led by a hired shepherd. His job, of course, was to protect and guard the sheep from potential predators like wolves or even lions, to say nothing of human thieves. Consequently this could at times be a demanding and dangerous job. He is their door day and night. As the day begins they leave the protecting walls of the sheepfold by passing between his legs. And then throughout the day he guards them. As night draws near they return to the sheepfold by passing between his legs. He counts them and checks each one for wounds or bites received during the day's foraging. Then he sleeps at the door of the sheepfold, ready to spring into action should any marauding predator or thief suddenly appear in the darkness of the night.

This is why "a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep" would run rather than fight with a wolf. This hired shepherd "flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." The true shepherd, however, hired or owner, takes ownership and responsibility for the sheep. He may have as many as a hundred sheep under his control. Nevertheless, he learns to know each of them individually and they, in turn, know and accept him as their shepherd. They know and listen to his voice and they follow where he leads them.

The writer to the Hebrews urges his readers to recognize the same thing about their shepherds.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. - Hebr 13:17 ESV

Note well that shepherds or leaders, as the Hebrews passage calls them, "will have to give an account." To whom? To the Master Shepherd, of course. He calls each under-shepherd to oversee a flock in a particular place and time. They carry out their duties in the name of the Master  And when they do them well, the sheep recognize the "voice" of the Good Shepherd and they follow their shepherd. And what does the Good Shepherd say to his sheep? Listen.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. - Rom 6:1-8 ESV

Sin returns day by day. Consequently the faithful pastor calls his sheep to confess their sins before Jesus, to pass, as it were, between his legs again. Show him your faults and failings, he urges, and permit him to pour on you the soothing and healing water of your baptism. Hear him tell you that you were buried with him by baptism. You died with him. Your sins are forgiven. Now rest and be prepared in the new day to follow where he leads. And rejoice that we all are destined to live with him into all eternity.

Thus the pastor leads each sheep of his flock to rethink his/her relationship with Jesus day by day. This is what it means to repent. The original Greek word metanoiein means "to get a new mind" or way of thinking. This re-thinking is a daily process for the follower or Jesus. It is quite literally a dying to sin and rising again with Jesus day by day.

The same thing is true for the flock as a whole. The entire flock together is an individual body. So the Apostle writes to the congregation in Corinth as he says,

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1Cr 6:19-20 ESV

Note that he does not say "your bodies" are each temples of the Holy Spirit. Rather he says "your (plural) body (singular) is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you." This particular body in Corinth—and then in Houston or Philadelphia or Omaha, etc.—is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a temple tempted to sin, a temple that must also must repent and rise with Christ. The under-shepherd speaks the voice of the Good Shepherd as he also leads the particular corporate body of Christ, flock assigned to him, to die to sin and rise again with Jesus.

Of course, I do not have space here to spell out the implications of this task. Suffice it to say for now that this duty of the under-shepherd, the pastor of a flock assigned to him, is ongoing. The members of the flock recognize this, rejoice in it and do everything they can to support and love their pastor as he carries out his responsibilities.

Under-Shepherds Of The Good Shepherd

In my previous posting I wrote about some of the idols worshipped by Christian pastors. You may feel I am overly judgmental or that I create caricatures. That's OK. At least you are struggling with the point I am trying to make: shepherds called to care for Christ's flock are easily tempted to worship themselves, to be proud and over-bearing, to be so zealous for causes that they become blind to what their very zeal is doing to the sheep they are called to tend. All this is idolatry, what Jeremiah calls the worship of scarecrows in a cucumber patch (Jeremiah 10:5).

For these reasons I want to return to John 10, the Biblical passage that got me going on this topic. Remember that this chapter is a continuation of  Jesus confronting the hypocricy of the Pharisees, those pietistic Jews who condemned him for giving sight to a man who in all his life had never seen or known anything but darkness. Those same Pharisees absolutely refused to acknowledge the wonder of what had happened. Instead they threw the man out and condemned Jesus as a sinner who scorned God's will by working on the Sabbath. So we return to what Jesus said in John 10.

"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. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." - Jhn 10:1-5 ESV

I take it that Jesus is talking about how spiritual leaders—pastors or shepherds—gain control of flocks. In the immediate context Jesus addresses the Pharisees who had condemned him for healing that blind man on the Sabbath. They were so zealous to obey every tiny point of the Jewish legal system that they missed the very heart of what God's Word teaches. In other words, they were so wrapped up in proving themselves to the LORD that they forgot his command to "love your neighbor as yourself." And these same Pharisees had great influence among the Jewish population. They were admired, respected and believed to be true shepherds and teachers of the flock of God.

Now along comes Jesus, with his in your face acts of working on the Sabbath when the Law (as they understood it) demanded they rest, pray and do no work whatsoever (cf. Deut. 5:12-15). There are many similar New Testament stories about Jesus "breaking" the Sabbath. Samples:

• Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here." And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. - Mark 3:1-6 ESV

• At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." - Mat 12:1-8 ESV

So back to the shepherds or pastors. How do they rightfully enter the sheepfold? Jesus says, "he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." Jesus goes on to interpret his mashal, his parable. He makes several points.

1. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. - John 10:9 ESV
2. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. - John 10:11 ESV
3. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. - John 10:14-15 ESV
4. 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. - John 10:16 ESV

Apply what Jesus teaches about under-shepherds called by him to tend God's flock in a particular place and time.

1. The pastor is first and always himself a sheep who may enter God's flock only and ever by the sacrifice of Jesus. The pastor also lives in daily penitence and depends totally upon God's grace and mercy in Christ for his personal salvation. Through and in Jesus he finds nourishment for his soul. His personal relationship with Jesus guides everything he does and teaches, since he realizes that his task as shepherd is to lead each member of his flock to follow Jesus, the one and only Good Shepherd. 
2. Following the pattern set by that same Good Shepherd, the under-shepherd recognizes that his task is to "lay down his life for the sheep." His calling is to tend that particular flock committed to his charge. He is to use each and every gift he has to care for his flock. He dare not neglect his flock to focus instead upon some other cause, however worthy he thinks it may be.
3. That further implies that he learns to "know" his flock. This means that he becomes personally acquainted with the members of his flock. He visits them, prays for and with them, teaches them, sorrows and rejoices with them. He is their pastor. They are his sheep. 
4. And then he turns to the world around him, because he knows that Jesus has other sheep that are not of this particular fold. Whether they are many or but one, he is committed to bringing them also into the flock of God. This will involve leading them also to see their sin and receiving Jesus as their one and only Savior. "So there will be one flock, one shepherd." 

I need to discuss further that relationship of the members of the flock to the pastor placed over them, but that must wait until the next time. 

What's A Stupid Shepherd?

In my last post I said that we need to take a long look at pastoral leadership. That conclusion was based upon Jesus' mashal in John 10.

"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. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. - Jhn 10:1-6 ESV

It is common for Christians of all denominations to call their spiritual leaders pastors or shepherds, based upon this parable and the various other references to God's people as sheep led by shepherds found throughout the Scriptures. During my own better than 50 years of pastoral work I have struggled to grasp the full intent of God's Word in that work. I have not. I remain in the same place as I was in when I first began: forced to rely upon the grace and forgiveness of Christ. Nevertheless, seeing ourselves as either shepherd or sheep, it is useful to review what that Word says about this office. Let's begin with a passage that rebukes false shepherds. a passage we might call "scarecrows in a cucumber patch."

For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it." Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it." My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. - Jer 10:18-21 ESV

Jeremiah was a prophet of Judah in the seventh century before Christ. During his lifetime Israel was destroyed by the Babylonians and the people led away as slaves. Jeremiah warned them of this impending fate, but was beaten and imprisoned for his teachings, most especially because he dared to rebuke their stupid shepherds.

What is a stupid shepherd? Jeremiah answers. A stupid, unthinking shepherd is one who does not inquire of the LORD. Instead of turning to the LORD, the true, living and everlasting King of all the earth, he turns to idols created by men. Believe me, there are plenty of idols around to tempt those of us called into the office of shepherd or pastor. Each and every one of them is rightly called a scarecrow in a cucumber patch (Jer. 10:5 ESV). Here are a few examples of idols we shepherds are tempted to worship. There are many others besides these.

• Traditions - This pastor loves liturgical traditions: the bells, whistles, candles and smoke of days gone by. He is enraptured by vestments, processions, incense, kneeling, crossing himself, etc. These symbols and practices have served to teach and bless the church of the ages. He applauds himself for being very historically and liturgically correct. He does not comprehend why some do not want to join him in his correctness. He is simply being true to the traditions of the church, regardless of what those very traditions may be doing to scatter, divide and even destroy the flock of God he has been called to shepherd. 

• Contemporary life - This is the opposite scarecrow. This shepherd scorns all that old stuff. He insists on being modern, with it, contemporary. He will reach out to the world around him, meet people where he believes they are and draw them into God's kingdom. So he comes to an established flock and at once rejects anything even remotely known as liturgical. The very word is disgusting to him. He pulls together a praise band and puts a stop to all things traditional. He always dresses in blue jeans and T-shirts, along with all the other modern folk. His worship services are best done in a gymnasium, with people sitting around tables sipping cokes and coffee and bouncing around to the sounds of rock music. It does not matter to this shepherd what he does to families who despise his approach. He applauds himself for reaching out to people in the modern world. If those tired, old, tradition-bound folks don't like what he's doing, well, they can go somewhere else. 

• Psychology - By this I refer to the shepherds whose exclusive emphasis is upon teaching people to get along with one another and lead successful lives. His source of wisdom and knowledge is modern psychological textbooks, seminars, videos and groups. He is all wrapped up in sermon series on how to overcome alcoholism, drug addiction, relate to your spouse, raise kids, guide your teens, become all you can be, etc., etc. He brings in experts for seminar after seminar. He invites the community to join with his flock in these gatherings. Everything he does and teaches is based upon some new psychological, sociological university study or the work of a world-renowned guru. Certainly he encourages people to pray, but his true emphasis is upon getting in touch with your inner self and learning to relate to others. 

• Create a just world - This pastor insists upon leading his people to engage the world. There is so much racial prejudice, drug addiction, child abuse, divorce, broken families, political greed and police brutality. He insists that he and his flock march against these things, change the laws, save the children and feed the poor. This shepherds speaks out at city councils, goes on marches to Washington and raises money to support political action groups. He is consumed by the desire to create a just and righteous world. He devotes most of his energy and life to such just causes. 

All of the above pastors are certain in their hearts that what they are doing is what they have been called to do. Yet Jeremiah would stand against them for scattering their flocks. He would demand that each pastor ask himself what God's Word says. Is he entering the sheepfold by climbing over the wall rather than by going through the door? Is he teaching his flock first and always to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd? 

More on this next time. 

We Need To Say Something About Pastoral Leadership

As I said in my earlier post, Jesus often taught through the use of mashal —Hebrew for parable, simile, etc. One such mashal is the parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10.

"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. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. - Jhn 10:1-6 ESV

In a variety of mashals in the O.T. the people of God are frequently compared to a flock of sheep led by both good and bad shepherds. In turn, the LORD is portrayed as Israel's rightful Shepherd.

• You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. - Psa 77:20 ESV

• Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. - Psa 80:1 ESV

• For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, that they may feel it." Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous. But I said, "Truly this is an affliction, and I must bear it." My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are not; there is no one to spread my tent again and to set up my curtains. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. - Jer 10:18-21 ESV

• "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. ... And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken. - Eze 34:11-15-24 ESV

• But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. - Mic 5:2-4 ESV

It is quite common among Christians to call their spiritual leaders pastors or shepherds. By this they mean to say that these men are under-shepherds of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. When Jesus first spoke this mashal to his opponents, especially the Pharisees, they did not understand what he was saying to them. Their presuppositions about Jesus completely prevented it. Above all, they could not even begin to imagine that he was the LORD Himself who had come among His sheep to rescue, gather and lead them.

All this compels me to explore in coming postings about spiritual leadership. What really is a pastor, a shepherd? What are his primary duties? And how may he prove himself to be a capable and responsible under-shepherd as he cares for some members of the LORD's flock assigned to him.

The Abundant Life

Never say that Jesus does not want us to have an abundant life. This is not at all why I object to the proclamations of the so-called prosperity preachers. Its just that they don't seem to realize what the abundant life is all about. Lets go to the words of Jesus Himself.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. - Jhn 10:10-11 ESV

What life is Jesus talking about? It appears that in the days Jesus walked about teaching and healing lots of folks were interested in something called eternal life. Take the young theologian who asked, "Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus responded by asking the young man what was written in the Torah.

He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (cf. Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).

Jesus told him he had answered correctly and added, "Do this, and you will live."

With the tables turned back upon him, the young theological expert began to feel a bit guilty. You can even hear him starting to stutter as he asks, "Uh, and who is my neighbor?"

This gave Jesus the opportunity to tell the well known story of the good Samaritan who showed mercy to a Jewish man, robbed, beaten and thrown into the ditch on the way down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The story hit home and the young teacher was forced to admit that the hated Samaritan was the one who showed mercy. So in answer to the previous question Jesus simply said, "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:25-37).

There is a very special quality to this life that Jesus points to. For one thing it is eternal. It will not end, because it is a life completely tuned to the LORD God. The one with such life is emotionally, spiritually and intellectually bonded to the LORD. His only thought, word and desire is to submit to this God and obey Him. He is of one mind, one heart and one soul with his eternal Creator. As a result, his Creator's life fills him and he too has eternal life. Further, he loves those around him, as does the Creator. This living one is equally as concerned about the well-being of his neighbor as he is about himself. This is his life!

Know anyone like that? I certainly do not. In fact there has been but one who lived such a life. His name is Jesus! He came into this world so that we who do not in fact have life, might indeed gain it—through Him! As He said, "I come that they may have life and have it abundantly."

Jesus made an end to the judgment resting upon us all because of our failures to live the life of God. He was the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. We who embrace and accept that wondrous personal sacrifice receive, in turn, life abundant. This life of God is within us who believe. It is a never-ending gift of God's Spirit. And it never stops. It is like an endless, bubbling, flowing stream, ever and always pouring into us. In our hearts we always hear our Father telling us that we are forgiven, redeemed and rescued from judgment. As a result this life overflows from us with praise and thanksgiving to God and love, care and concern for others. This is the life that Jesus alone brings. And we who live and believe in Him will never die, even though these earthly bodies must be put aside so that we may be clothed again with eternal bodies like His.

As Jesus explained to the two grieving sisters,

"I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" - Jhn 11:25-26 ESV

This is the abundant life. It has to do with a life filled with love for God and for our neighbors. It has nothing to do with how many possessions, land, bank accounts, fancy houses and cars, jewels and fine wines you have. It is the fool who makes this the aim of his life. Jesus speaks pointedly about such foolishness.

And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." - Luk 12:15 ESV

Let Joel Osteen and all like him learn these lessons and let those among us who are drawn to their empty words run as do sheep who recognize wolves, thieves and robbers who come only to steal, kill, devour and destroy (John 10:7-15).

Jesus' Little Lamb

This coming Sunday is called Good Shepherd Sunday for those churches that follow the ancient church year. The readings for this day emphasize that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep and sees that not a single one is lost or harmed (John 10:1-30). 

For our family this Sunday, May 15, 2011, is also the day on which my first great-grandson will be baptized into the family of Christ and declared a member of the Good Shepherd's flock. He is the first born son of my grandson Shawn and his wife Marian. I am privileged to officiate. It is a time of great celebration for us. His baptized name is Byron. 

Curious about the name Byron's parents chose for him, I did a little research. There are a number of towns in the U.S. named Byron. Since I grew up in Minnesota, I was interested to learn that there is a little town in Minnesota ten miles west of Rochester named Byron. In 1865, when the Winona—St. Peter Railroad (now known as the Dakota Minnesota and Eastern Railroad) was being built, S.W. VanDusen, a New York millionaire, purchased land near Rochester and platted a village he named Byron, after his hometown, Byron, N.Y. Byron, N.Y. is 25 miles SW of Rochester and was first settled around 1807. Settlers named their town in honor of Lord Byron, the renowned British poet.


So, acting in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I will pour water upon Byron's head. In that very simple act, Jesus will declare He has taken Byron with Him into death and out of death into life eternal (Romans 6:3-11). Thus Byron will begin his life as a lamb of the Good Shepherd. In this simple little song we all join Byron to say,

I am Jesus’ little lamb,
Ever glad at heart I am;
For my Shepherd gently guides me,
Knows my need, and well provides me,
Loves me every day the same,
Even calls me by my name.

 I rejoice that Byron will become Jesus' little lamb on Good Shepherd Sunday.