Category: Sermon Page

The Day of Pentecost
Sunday, May 28, 2023

“Rivers of Living Water” (John 7:37-39)

Last weekend Susan and I went to Excelsior Springs, Missouri, to attend the wedding of Pastor and Mrs. Paul Flo. Excelsior Springs got its name and its fame long ago from the springs of water located there–healthful, healing waters, with restorative powers, it was said. Well, it so happened that when we went out there on that Friday, I wasn’t feeling so well. But when we returned on Sunday evening, I came back . . . with a bad case of acute bronchitis. I guess the healing waters of Excelsior Springs didn’t do me much good. By the way, I went to the doctor Monday morning, and now I’m doing much better.

Now while the springs of healing water in western Missouri may not cure what ails you, I know some waters that will. And these healing waters are flowing right here, right now. Because today our Lord Jesus Christ invites you to come to him, and he will give you “Rivers of Living Water.”

Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, John 7:37-39, reading again: “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Now the words that Jesus speaks here, there are two different ways to translate them. I’ve given you both ways in your bulletin, and I’ve labeled them A and B. Both options are provided in the ESV and in other translations, as well.

Let’s look first at translation A: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now the way this translation reads, it sounds like the living waters will flow from out of the believer. “Whoever believes in me,” it says, “‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” And you can certainly make a case for that reading, both grammatically and theologically. Grammatically, you can read the Greek text that way, so that the “his” in “his heart” refers to “Whoever believes in me.” And that can make sense theologically, too. For the person who believes in Christ–yes, you could say that the Christian does have rivers of living water flowing out of him. His faith wells up in him and overflows. The living waters of the gospel flow out in an abundance of hope and joy, in the Christian’s life of good works, in the worship of God, and in witness to Christ the Savior. “Whoever believes in me . . . ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Isn’t this like what Jesus told the woman at the well, in John chapter 4? There Jesus spoke of “living water” that would become in the believer “a spring of water welling up.” And that woman then did overflow in joy and excitement. She told her whole village about this man who is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. So there were rivers of living water flowing out from the woman at the well.

Then we have a similar scenario on the Day of Pentecost, which we’re celebrating today, as we heard in Acts chapter 2. Rivers of living water are flowing out in all directions from the heart of Peter and all the believers. Moved by the Spirit, their tongues are telling the mighty works of God. Peter begins preaching the life-giving gospel to the crowd that had gathered, giving them the promise that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So there were rivers of living water flowing out from the hearts and mouths of the believers on Pentecost.

All this supports the first way to read this text: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’ In this translation A, the living waters flow out of the believer.

But then there’s a second way to read the text, which also makes sense both grammatically and theologically. Let’s look at that. It’s translation B, and it reads as follows: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

This too is a legitimate way to translate the passage. It’s the alternate translation provided in the ESV and in other Bibles as well. This translation uses the same Greek words; it just changes the punctuation. It breaks up the two sentences at a different point. Literally, it would go like this: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and let him drink, the one who believes in me.” Then the second sentence would be: “As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Notice what this does. In this translation, the first sentence has two parts that say the same thing in parallel fashion. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me” is the first half of the sentence. And the second half restates the thought: “and let him drink, the one who believes in me.” This type of parallel construction is very common, biblically. And here it would describe faith as a thirsty person coming to Jesus and believing, by drinking the thirst-quenching water that Jesus gives. That makes a lot of sense. This sentence then is Jesus’ invitation in two parallel parts, for thirsty people to come to him and to have their thirst quenched by trusting in him.

And so that changes where the second sentence begins. Now the second sentence would read: “As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” And this changes the one from whom the rivers of living water flow. In translation A, they flow out of the believer. Here in translation B, the rivers of living water flow out from Jesus. Thirsty people are invited to come to Jesus and drink, because he is the source of that living water. “Out of his heart,” that is, out of Jesus’ heart, “will flow rivers of living water.”

My friends, whichever way we translate the passage, this much is true: Jesus is the source of the living water. He invites us to come to him and to drink and have our thirst quenched. How about you? Are you thirsty? Do you feel the dryness in your soul that comes from sin and a guilty conscience? Are you troubled by your sins? Then come to Jesus and drink. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Yes, Jesus is the source of the living water. That’s also what he told the woman at the well: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Likewise, on the Day of Pentecost. The living water comes from Jesus. Having been crucified and then raised from the dead, having ascended into heaven and now sitting at the right hand of the Father, the exalted Lord Jesus Christ pours out the Spirit on his church. He provides the water. He provides the life.

Now one thing we haven’t discussed yet. Our text says, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up,” etc. So which feast was this? There were three major festivals in the Hebrew calendar, Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles. The feast mentioned in our text was the Feast of Tabernacles. Tabernacles commemorated how the Lord had miraculously provided for Israel during their wilderness wanderings. And on the last day of the festival, as it was observed at Jesus’ time, there was a special water ceremony to remember how the Lord had supplied the Israelites with water in the wilderness. And how had that taken place? It happened when the Lord God directed Moses to strike a rock with his rod, and out flowed fresh water in the desert. A miraculous, divine, life-saving supply.

So it is with Jesus. Jesus was taken to Golgotha, Calvary, the Place of the Skull, a place of death. There he was crucified. There the Lord of life, the Son of God sent from heaven, died to atone for the sins of the world, your sins and mine. And when Jesus died, a soldier came and struck him with a “rod,” so to speak–a spear, in Jesus’ side–and out flowed a sudden rush of blood and water. Jesus himself is the Rock of Ages, from whose pierced side flow the rivers of living water. Because he died, we live. By his blood, our sins are forgiven. And by the living water of the Spirit, which Jesus gives, we receive the gift of faith. By Christ’s death and resurrection, you and I are saved from death for eternal life.

And by our ascended Lord pouring out the Spirit on his church, on us Christians, now the rivers of living water flow out from us to others: in works of mercy, in words of witness, in songs of worship and praise. The source of the living water is Jesus himself. The flow goes from him to us, and then from us to others.

“Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Out of whose heart? Out of Jesus’ heart and into us. Then out from our heart, toward God in faith and worship, and toward our neighbor in fervent love and witness. “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Either way you read this passage, we come out at the same place. The rivers of living water flow out to us from Jesus and then out through us to others. So go with the flow!

Guest Pastor: The Rev. Rob Riebau

First Reading: Acts 1:12-26

Epistle: 1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11

Holy Gospel: John 17:1-11

Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 14, 2023

“I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious” (Acts 17:16-31)

In our reading from the Book of Acts, Paul is in Athens, at the Areopagus, and he begins his address there by saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” Now I wonder how Paul might begin a speech here, if he came to America in our day. He might just say, “I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious.”

Not very religious: Let me explain. If you track the views and activity of Americans over recent decades, you would have to say that we as a country are becoming less religious, and increasingly so. Oh, we’re still more religious than Western Europe, which has become almost totally secularized. But compared to how America was, say, sixty years ago, or even thirty years ago, we are definitely less religious than we used to be. It started in the mid-1960s, the decline of church membership in our country. And now in the 21st century, what was a stream has become an absolute torrent. Church membership has drastically, dramatically, plummeted. Some call it “The Great Dechurching” of America. It’s the largest and fastest religious shift in U.S. history. 40 million Americans have left the church over the last 30 years.

Which leads us to the group known as the “Nones.” Now I’m not talking about little old ladies in black habits. Those would be “nuns,” n-u-n-s. No, I’m talking about mostly young adults who are not into church habits. These are the Nones, N-o-n-e-s. If asked on a survey to list their religious preference, they would mark “None.” They are the religiously unaffiliated; they don’t go to church, they don’t know the Bible, they don’t hold to any particular set of religious beliefs or practices. If you ask them, they’ll say, “Oh, I’m spiritual! But I’m not religious. I don’t believe in organized religion.”

You see, to the Nones, “organized religion” is the big bugaboo. What, so you prefer “disorganized religion”? Or should I say, “individualized, privatized religion”? Because that’s what it’s more like. Each person does that which is right in his own eyes. “My truth is my truth,” even if it doesn’t make any sense. These are the Nones. And they are growing. Rapidly.

So if Paul were here today, he might say, “Nones of America, I perceive that in every way you are not very religious.” And they would nod their heads and say, “Yeah, you’re right, Paul. We are not very religious. And we like it that way.”

But that doesn’t mean the Nones don’t have their gods. They do. Athens was full of idols. So is America. An idol is whatever false god you worship. In the Large Catechism, under the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” Luther writes: “What does it mean to have a god? . . . Whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.” And Luther goes on to list some of the more common idols that people have: Money and possessions. Happiness and pleasure. Whatever you look to as your highest good, that is your god.

So it is today. People may say they’re not religious, but they still have their gods, their idols. I’ve often said that wherever people spend their Sunday mornings, that is where their god is. If it’s sleeping in on Sunday morning, their god is the pillow. If it’s going out for brunch, their god is their belly. If it’s taking their kids to their soccer games, their god is their children. And so on. Now there’s nothing wrong per se with a good night’s sleep or going out for brunch or taking your kids to their games. But anytime you choose to spend your time on something other than giving your attention to the one true God–the God who created you, the God who forgives your sins, the God before whom you will stand on the day of judgment–whenever you choose something else over the one true God, you are making a wrong choice.

Now let’s be clear: It’s not just the “Nones” or the “dechurched” who do this sort of thing. We all do. Even us respectable, church-going folk. Oh, we may put a better gloss or veneer on how we look, but we still have that old, idol-worshiping sinner within us. When it comes down to it, each one of us wants to be our own god and do whatever gives us the most pleasure. It’s been that way ever since the fall into sin. We all sin, and we all die.

So thank God, he has given us the realization that we all are idolaters! Thank God that he has given us the gift of repentance to know our sin and the eternal death and judgment that would await us! Thank God, he’s given us the gift of faith to know our Savior, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose from the dead in victory over sin and death. Thank God for the Holy Spirit, who creates faith in our hearts through the gospel and keeps us strong in this faith and love through the means of grace, Word and Sacrament.

This is what all people need to know. Through the ministry of the church, through the preaching of God’s Word of Law and Gospel, God would have all nations come to the knowledge of the truth.

Friends, this is what the apostle Paul was doing in Athens, preaching at the Areopagus. He was meeting the people where they were and then leading them toward repentance and the forgiveness of sins. “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”

People by nature do not know who the one true God is. So they grope around in the dark and create gods in their own image. The people of Athens would have idols devoted to all the various gods that people come up with, and then, just to make sure they were covering all their bases, they even had an idol devoted to “The Unknown God.” Paul picks up on this and says, in effect, “OK, you admit you don’t know who God is. So now I’m going to tell you about him.”

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,” Paul goes on, and he describes how there is only one God, who made everything that exists. And yet, even though all people should seek for this God, they don’t know him as they ought. That is due to man’s ignorance. But now God has revealed himself to us, so that we can know him. And that means it’s time to give up on our idols, who cannot save us, and turn in repentance to the one true God who can and will save us.

Paul says: “But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” You see, Paul is preaching Jesus and the resurrection. This is what all people everywhere need to know. There is a judgment day coming. How will you stand on that day? Will your idols save you on that day? No, they will not. No Athenian idol can help you on that day. And no American idol, either.

God will judge the world in righteousness. There will be no slipping by. There will be no secrets that you can hide from God. The Law is the Law: Love God with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Anything short of that, and you get the guilty verdict.

But thank God that in his mercy he has sent his own Son, who has taken the guilty verdict from you and served the death sentence in your place! This is Jesus, the God-man Savior. He is your only hope on the day of judgment. Trust in him, not in yourself, not in your idols. This same Jesus, having accomplished the mission for which his Father sent him–this same Jesus rose from the dead and now lives forever. You wouldn’t know this, other than God sending his messenger to tell you this good news. So, listen up and take this to heart.

That’s where Paul is going with his sermon at the Areopagus. And that’s where every faithful preacher goes to this day. This is what you need to know! You are a sinner. You have a Savior. His name is Jesus. And I’m here to tell you about him.

Friends, it doesn’t matter whether you are a “None” or a “dechurched” or a heavy-duty, every-Sunday, “churched” kind of person. There is no distinction. God is not a respecter of persons. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have the same Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and rose to give you the gift of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation. Take hold of Christ, by faith, and you will never need anything or anyone else to save you.

Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 7, 2023

“Our Identity as Church: Living Stones and a Holy Priesthood” (1 Peter 2:2-10)

There’s a lot of talk about “identity” these days. How do you “identify”? What do you identify as? A guy may be born as a male, but now he decides that he identifies as a woman. It doesn’t matter what the reality is, because that’s how he identifies. Whoops, I should watch my pronouns: If that’s how “she” identifies, then that’s who “she” is. And you have no right to say any different.

Identity. How do you self-identify? How do you see yourself? “I’m an American!” “I’m a Cardinals fan!” Oh, I’m sorry. . . . I’m a husband, wife, parent, grandparent, butcher, baker, or candlemaker. And those all may be true. But all of those are individual identities. They all start with “I.”

But what about something larger? Do you and I–do we, together–have a collective identity? Yes, we do! Today I want you to think not just about your “me” identity but more so about our “we” identity: who we are together, who we are as church. And in our Epistle today, St. Peter tells us who we are. He says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood.” And so our theme this morning: “Our Identity as Church: Living Stones and a Holy Priesthood.”

“Living stones” and a “holy priesthood”: Now those are not terms we usually think of as our identity. So they need some explanation. Both of these terms go back to the Old Testament. They both have to do with the worship life of ancient Israel. “Living stones” recalls the building of the temple in Jerusalem. And “holy priesthood” refers to those Israelites who were dedicated to the Lord’s service at the temple.

Now Peter takes these Old Testament terms and applies them to us, the New Testament church. Peter wants us to know that this is who we are and that we should see ourselves in this way. He writes: “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Now notice, our identity as living stones comes as we are connected to one particular living stone. And that of course is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the living stone who was rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God.

He was rejected by men. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Here was the promised Messiah, at long last coming to his people, and yet so many did not receive him. The scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests and elders–the very religious leaders who should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah did the exact opposite. They rejected him. Why? Because Jesus exposed their pride and hypocrisy. He threatened their power and prestige. And so they hated him. They had him arrested and crucified. As prophesied in the Psalms and quoted by Peter, Jesus is “the stone that the builders rejected.”

But in fact, this was according to God’s plan. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. God sent his Son into this world to be the sin-bearer for all humanity. “This is my Son, the beloved, my chosen one,” the Father said at Jesus’ baptism. And so Christ came to do the Father’s will. That meant going to the cross, to redeem sinful mankind. There Jesus shed his holy precious blood to atone for our sins and win our forgiveness. It is done. It is finished. Jesus’ death did the job. For you! You are forgiven, your guilt is removed, and you are right with God. Because of Jesus.

And so God glorified his Son by raising him from the dead and making him Lord of all. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious.” Christ is our cornerstone! He is the living stone, risen from the dead and now alive forever! Christ is the cornerstone of the church, the one foundational stone that determines all the angles in the building. The church is true as it lines up straight with Christ. The church finds its identity as it is connected to Christ. The church finds its life in connection with Christ.

Friends, this is how we are living stones. It’s because we are connected to the living stone, our Lord Jesus Christ. We draw our life from Jesus. You are joined to Jesus through your baptism. God has given you the gift of faith in your Savior. The Word and the Sacraments are the mortar that join us living stones to the one chief cornerstone.

And in the process, these means of grace join us to one another in this spiritual house known as the church. We are not just a bunch of individual stones, scattered and separate and unconnected. No, we have been joined together to take form as the church, to have a real, collective identity. This is who we are. God has made us to be his people. We have an identity and a purpose together. Get this in your head. It’s not just “me and Jesus.” It’s we and Jesus. Let’s think of ourselves in this way.

And so when you absent yourself from the church, it’s like a brick deciding to pull itself out of the building. It weakens the whole structure. Brothers and sisters, fellow bricks, fellow stones, we are stronger when we stay connected and support one another.

We have an identity and a purpose together. This is where the “holy priesthood” idea comes in. “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” What do priests do? They offer up sacrifices. The Old Testament priests were dedicated to the Lord’s service to offer up all kinds of sacrifices: sin offerings, guilt offerings, thanksgiving offerings, and so on. God had set them apart to do this work.

Now here in our text Peter applies this priesthood language to the New Testament church. We as church have been set apart to the Lord’s service. We are dedicated and holy to the Lord. And God has given us this work to do, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

Here we need to be clear. There are many kinds of sacrifices we offer to God, but there is one we do not make–indeed, we cannot. And that is an atoning sacrifice for our sin. That sacrifice has already been made, once and for all, when our great high priest, Jesus Christ, shed his holy blood on the cross. That one-of-a-kind sacrifice can never be repeated, nor need it be. Jesus did the perfect job for us, complete in every way.

But there are still sacrifices we can offer up to God: sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise. “Eucharistic sacrifices” we can call them. For example, the tithes and firstfruit offerings you put in the plate–these are spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, and they support the work of the church. Then there is the sacrifice of thankful lips, speaking our prayers and singing our praises to the God who has redeemed us, with gladness and gratitude in our hearts. Yes, these are sacrifices, these are offerings, that are pleasing to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is one other spiritual sacrifice you can make, again, the sacrifice of thankful lips: It’s when you tell your friends and neighbors and relatives about what God has done for you. Peter gets at this also in our text. He says: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Proclaiming his excellencies! Fellow priests, we have the privilege and opportunity to tell others of what God has done for us and for them: “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” This is what God has done for us! We were lost, wandering around in the dark. But God has called us out of that darkness of sin and death, and brought us into his kingdom of light and life! New life, eternal life! Excellent! I’d say this is something worth talking about! God has made us his people, he has made us a royal priesthood, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Brothers and sisters, what an identity, what a purpose, we have! This is a high calling! And it’s all by grace. We don’t deserve it. But this is God’s gift to us in Christ. He, Jesus, the living stone, is the chosen and precious cornerstone. Through him we living stones are built into a spiritual house and made a holy priesthood. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Living stones and a holy priesthood: What a joy it is to know that this is our identity as church!

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2023

“The Sheep Hear the Shepherd’s Voice” (John 10:1-10)

Today is the day in the church year we call “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this day we get a reading from John 10, the chapter where Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” Every year we hear Jesus talking about the relationship of the shepherd and his sheep. And so today Jesus says: “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.”

Dear friends, my fellow sheep, it is vitally important–it is a matter of life or death–that we hear and know and follow the voice of our shepherd. For there are other voices out there that would lead us astray, lead us into grave spiritual danger, if we were to follow them. Thus our theme this morning: “The Sheep Hear the Shepherd’s Voice.”

Yes, Jesus is our good shepherd. Throughout this tenth chapter of John, Jesus takes the familiar Old Testament imagery of the Lord as the shepherd, and he applies it to himself. What we find in Psalm 23 and elsewhere, Jesus says is fulfilled in him, that he is the true and good shepherd of God’s people.

The 23rd Psalm says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” The Lord Jesus is that shepherd. He leads and feeds, he guards and guides his sheep. He leads us beside still waters. He feeds us in green pastures. He guards us from all evil, even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He guides his sheep in paths of righteousness.

We the sheep are utterly dependent on the shepherd for our very life. Without our shepherd, we would be in big trouble. We would get stuck in dried-out areas where there’s not enough pasture. We would be alarmed and bewildered by things that frighten us. We’d be easy prey for any predator that comes along. We’d be lost and not able to find our way back to safety. That’s what would happen to us without our shepherd.

And so we need our shepherd–we need to hear the voice of our shepherd–to bring us out of those barren places. To comfort us when we’re distressed. To warn us of approaching danger. To call us back when we wander astray. Without the clear and steady voice of the shepherd, finding us and calling us, we sheep would be surely lost. On our own, we’re vulnerable to all sorts of dangers and predators, vulnerable also to our own lack of good sense. That’s why we need the good shepherd to take care of us.

Luther puts it like this: “You are a lost sheep and you cannot, of yourself, find the way to the shepherd. Of yourself you can go astray, and unless Christ, your shepherd, sought you and fetched you back, you would simply fall a prey to the wolf. But now he comes, seeks you, finds you, and brings you back to his flock, that is, through the Word and the Sacraments, back into the Christian church, gives his life for you, keeps you henceforth in the right way, that you fall into no error. There you hear nothing about your own strength, good works, and merits, except that your strength, good works, and merits mean going astray, being defenseless and lost. Christ works, merits, and manifests his strength in this alone: He seeks, upholds, and leads you. He wins life for you through his death. He alone is strong enough to protect you so that you do not perish, and are not snatched out of his hand. Towards all this you can do nothing but lend your ears, listen, and receive with gratitude this unspeakable treasure and learn easily to recognize your shepherd’s voice and to shun the voice of the stranger.”

Jesus’ sheep gladly listen to the voice of their shepherd. They recognize his voice as the one they can trust. And they shun the voice of the stranger. Understand the picture in what Jesus is saying: In ancient times, there might be several flocks of sheep gathered into one sheepfold. In the morning, when the shepherds come to get their sheep, they begin calling out to them. Any number of shepherds might be in the sheepfold at one time, each one gathering his flock. But each sheep in that flock knows the voice of its own shepherd. They ignore the other voices calling throughout the sheepfold, and they zero in on their own shepherd. They hear his voice and follow him, not someone else.

“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.”

Oh, there are many other voices in our world that you and I could listen to. There is the voice of our popular culture, calling out to us. What does that voice sound like? It sounds very appealing. It speaks our native language, the language of our flesh. It appeals to our desires. We can hear this voice calling out to us night and day, from entertainment, celebrities, education, media, and government. This voice says: “There is no such thing as truth, there’s no such thing as right and wrong. The only thing that matters is what’s true for you, what feels right to you. Be spiritual, sure, but don’t get too involved in organized religion. Make up your own mind. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do or believe.” This voice is calling out 24/7. It is the voice of the world around us. It’s that little voice lurking in the dark corner of your heart. It’s the same seductive voice that came slithering on a tree and whispered in the ear of Adam and Eve. Don’t listen to it. It’s not the voice of your shepherd.

The voice of your shepherd has a clear and distinct tone. His voice rings true, calling you home. This voice, like the one in Eden, comes calling out from a tree. But it is a different tree, and this voice speaks a different word. This voice speaks of forgiveness. It speaks of the love of the Father who sends his Son to redeem a world that had rebelled against him. This is a one-of-a-kind voice. You hear the voice of God in the true and trustworthy words of Jesus. Here is your shepherd; his, the voice you should listen to.

Listen to him speaking to you today. Jesus speaks absolution to guilty consciences, when Christ’s undershepherd says: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.” Jesus speaks of the willing sacrifice he makes to guard and save his sheep: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus speaks of what he came to do for his sheep: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” This is the living voice of the gospel that Jesus speaks to you even now through the preaching of his word.

And what a sweet sound it is! Jesus gives a gift no one else can give. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus gives you life! Abundantly! Eternally! This is life renewed and restored back to God. Life that is yours right now by faith. Life that lasts forever, conquering the grave. Jesus’ sheep will never perish. We will not die eternally. The abundant life that Jesus gives is life with God that will never end.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus can give this gift because he earned it for us on the cross, where he suffered the judgment we deserve. As Peter writes: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

On the cross, our good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep, only to take it up again in his resurrection. And now our living Lord Jesus speaks to us–his voice very clear, very recognizable–so that we can hear and know it and follow where he leads.

Listen to your shepherd’s life-giving voice and follow him. This is the life of faith. This is life in his flock, the church. You were made Jesus’ little lambs in your baptism. You were brought into the fold. You know your Savior, Jesus Christ, and he knows you. You learn to know the shepherd’s voice through your life in the church, here in God’s house, listening to God’s word as it is preached and taught and sacramented. These gospel means, these means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments–these are your life! For they are the life of Christ coming to you and leading you through life and into the life to come. The voice of Christ comes to you in his word and nowhere else. Never stray from his word. Never get out of range of his voice. Your very life depends on it. His life comes to you by means of it.

Brothers and sisters, are you feeling a little sheepish today? Good. I hope so. For we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. We are Jesus’ sheep, and we gladly listen to his voice. Our shepherd calls, and we follow. “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.”