My sheep know My Voice
What is true discipleship? It’s a very good question.
Unfortunately, in the west our approach to evangelism can seem like nothing more than a thinly disguised power grab. We try hard to foist our belief system onto others, debating with people until they decare ‘our way’ the best. Eastern views are much more in keeping with the gospel and encompass the understanding that Jesus died for our sins and that belonging to Him involves repenting and receiving Him as Lord. It also recognises that Jesus lived transparently in front of His disciples in order to teach them how to live. They in turn, were to live transparently before others, involving not just information but transformation. God’s goal isn’t simply to fill the world with people who believe right things, it’s to fill the world with people who shine with the brilliance of Christ and this, I believe, is the way we are to live in front of a watching world.
Today’s reading from Acts 2 stresses the importance of breaking bread together, of corporate prayer, fellowship, mutual assistance and having things in common. This wise counsel resulted in the Lord adding believers to the Early Church every day. Nothing has changed. Reaching out intentionally, volunteering, and sharing resources are all examples of letting that light shine in practical ways that multiplies disciples.
Shepherding in Israel is a wonderful metaphor for this kind of discipleship. Many Christians seem to think that the Great Commission is a matter of getting as many sheep into the pen as possible, inviting people to accept Christ. Where grass is scarce, sheep must really KNOW their shepherd and depend on him to lead them to greener, more verdant pasture. Shepherding in these areas is a much more active task. Not only does a shepherd lie across the entrance to the sheepfold at night to protect his flock from intruders, during the day he lets them mingle with other flocks as he converses with their shepherds. When it’s time to take his flock elsewhere, he simply calls out to his sheep and they separate from the wider group and follow their own shepherd. This still goes on in Israel today.
We all know and love Psalm 23 which is perhaps the greatest OT shepherd metaphor. David, as a young shepherd knew the Lord as his own personal guardian long before he became King. It is a very personal psalm, not just to those of us who find great comfort in it, but beneath the beauty of David’s words there are solid convictions, formed in the midst of intense pressure. It was in the darkest valleys of his life that he felt God’s presence most intensely. We're more prone to talk ABOUT God when we are in the green pastures and more prone to talk TO God when we're in the dangerous ravine. In the light, we are prone to wander off in pursuit of greener grass. But in the dark, we fall at His knees.
Sheep, a bit like us, are prone to wandering. Their pursuit for fresh grass can take them places they ought not to go. They are apt to follow their friends no matter how distant they are or how many walls they have to destroy in order to get there. Like them, we can often see things we want and not consider how the journey may take us away from our closeness to Jesus.
The story just before Chapter 10 of John’s gospel is about the healing of the blind man where Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. As his sight was restored, the man recognised Jesus as the Son of Man – his true shepherd. The Pharisees, who were considered to be the authority on all spiritual matters, were indignant that anyone could follow someone other than Moses – indeed their expected Messiah can never be divine, nor will he have Sovereign power and authority.
We realise that by calling himself the ‘good shepherd’, Jesus is not just invoking a lovely and comforting image but is identifying with God himself – the God who will actively protect His flock and call them out by name. The seven I AM statements in John’s Gospel are about His true sovereign identity and he ties his nature and identity with His role and responsibility towards His people. Jesus put His whole life, heart and soul into being the Shepherd, laying down His life to protect us, calling us out to follow and identify with Him. He was fully committed, fully immersed in what God was doing, even though it didn’t make sense to anyone else.
As we travel from the Easter Story towards Pentecost we read how Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to many people, validating everything He had so mysteriously tried to explain before the crucifixion.
Last Sunday our family were invited to see our younger son’s girlfriend baptised in her home church at Ledbury. Following James’ own full immersion baptism last summer, alongside his elder brother Edward and cousin Callum, Honor felt led to do the same to reaffirm her commitment to Christ and to answer His call on her life. Her friends at Ledbury Church were only too happy to oblige. A baptismal pool was borrowed from another church and as the Bishop of Hereford was due to visit Ledbury that day anyway, he was asked to do the Honors – so to speak. So with James as the Bishop’s trusty servant, Honor was officially and ceremonially dunked. During his sermon the Bishop expanded on the story of the road to Emmaus with Cleopas and his friend talking about and discussing the tragic events of the past few days. The Bishop explained that the English translation of the Greek words for talked and discussed has watered down the true meaning and that in fact as they walked along the road, their conversation became more and more heated until it turned out to be a full blown blazing row. Cleopas and his friend didn’t recognise Jesus as he caught up with them and asked them what had been going on. “We had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel” they spluttered angrily. Those three sad little words “we had hoped” conveying utter disappointment and extreme dejection that what they had thought was a monumental movement to displace the ruling authority of gentile Rome, had fizzled out and come to nothing. How could this have ended the way it did? It just didn’t make sense.
What was once a growing band of united brothers was now a scattered and dejected set of disowners and doubters intent on self preservation. Only John remained faithful.
If we look back in scripture, we see many instances of occasions that just didn’t make sense.
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It didn’t make sense to spit into the dirt and put the mud on a blind man’s eyes and then tell him to go and wash it off, but this wise counsel gave a blind man his sight.
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It didn’t make sense to pour water into wine containers in the middle of a wedding when what was really needed was more wine, but this wise counsel resulted in the finest wine ever tasted.
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It didn’t make sense for Noah to build a monumental ship where there was no evidence of water and where rain had never fallen but this wise counsel resulted in the salvation and preservation of humanity and the animal kingdom
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It didn’t make sense that Abraham took Isaac – the longed for son – up the mountain to be sacrificed, but this wise counsel resulted in Isaac carrying the blessing to future generations and proved Abraham’s faithfulness to God.
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It didn’t make sense for Peter to lower his nets when he’d been toiling all night but this wise counsel resulted in the biggest haul of his life.
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You see some things God calls us to do just don’t make sense at the time.
Does it make sense to forgive someone who has wronged you or your family?
Does it make sense to love those who hate you?
Does it make sense to give more when we we’re in financial lack?
Does it make sense to honour those in authority who are acting wickedly?
Based on the results, every one of these examples proved the wisdom of God is not what we imagine it should be.
Proverbs tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on your own understanding. We are not called to live by human reason, but we are called to listen for His voice and answer His call and leading in our lives, trusting the Good Shepherd to lead us through to the other side of the valley.
Hearing God’s voice sounds difficult - and dare I say it – almost foolish advice in these times – but in fact if we bear in mind the biblical pattern, if something doesn’t make sense, then we need to sit up and listen.
As it turned out, Peter got a second chance and was commissioned by the resurrected Jesus to feed and tend His sheep. Discipleship called and Peter made sure that he followed.
Thomas, as we know, also had a hard time believing. As the resurrected Jesus entered into the ‘disciple’s sheepfold’ to break bread and they assembled together hidden from the wolves outside, Thomas fell to the Master’s knees as he recognised his Master not only as his Lord, but as His God, something the Jewish Messiah can never be.
Our Shepherd has appointed the hard times we experience as a potential path of righteousness. If we stay close, even though we may not be able to make sense of it at the time, He will guide us through these deep ravines. He will let us rest beside still waters as we make our way to the high country, where the sun is warm and the pasture is green.
Every valley is a pathway to something better. The valley isn't good, but the Shepherd is and He knows the way.
https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/sermon-crisis-lord-shepherd-psalm-23
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXA4BRhO32I&list=PLoyFzhgwY9Nkserw1iT3cnkelXzRq8IgN