April 13, 2008 — Fourth Sunday of Easter
“Sheep Following Their Shepherd” — Pastor Lassman
Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download. (Right Click)
My fellow redeemed in Christ,
The novel ”The Poseidon Adventure” was made into two major movies, one in 1972 and one in 2006. All are agreed that the 1972 film was the better movie, staring Gene Hackman. The story is about a luxury liner that is flipped over by a massive wave in the 1972 movie, or a terrorist bomb in the 2006 movie. The giant ship is now floating upside down in the water. The survivors of the storm argue about what to do next. Some want to just stay put and wait for the coast guard to come and rescue them. But Gene Hackman tries to convince them they will all die if they do that. So he pleads with them to follow him to find a way to the top of the hull and possible way of escape. But only a small number of the group decide to follow him….the others stay behind to be rescued…..bad choice…for the rising icy waters drown them all. But those who follow Gene Hackman end up being saved. This is what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel lesson. But he uses a different picture…the picture of a “sheep following their shepherd.
I. Only those who followed Gene Hackman saved their lives and only those who follow Jesus Christ will have eternal life. There is only one way as he says: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved….”
A. Jesus is kind of like the gate at an airport. Of course, there are many gates and many planes at the airport. If you want to make sure you get where you want to go you have to make sure you get on the right plane..and the only way to make sure you get on the right plane is to go to the right gate. And so it is with Jesus. If you want to have eternal life you must believe in Jesus. For only Jesus Christ has been sent by God to save you from sin, death, and damnation. He hasn’t sent anyone else, not Moses or Mohamed or Buddha or Confucius… only Jesus Christ has died in your place to take the punishment that your sins deserved. Only Jesus Christ has canceled your debt to God. So peter says in our second reading: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” there is no other person in human history who has even made such a claim. No one. What an audacious claim! If it not true then the message of Jesus Christ is a big lie…nothing more than a made up story. But it is true. For only Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God as he said on the cross: “It is finished!” and of course, no other human being has ever been raised from the dead and never died again... All of the founders of all the other religions in the world died and stayed dead. But not Jesus Christ. On the third day he rose from the dead….and he is still alive today. And he sits at the right hand of God the father almighty ruling all things for his people, the church. And only Jesus Christ will judge the human race, including all the founders of the so called religion of the Worlds: Moses, Mohamed, Buddha, Confucius…will all stand before Jesus Christ on the judgment day along with the rest of humanity. For all of these reasons only Jesus Christ is the savior of the world just as he says: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved….”
B. But not everyone accepts this…not everyone believes this. There are many who deny that Jesus Christ is the door….and who say that there are others ways to eternal life. There are many religions in the world: Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and others. But Jesus also speaks about false prophets and teachers which Jesus calls “thieves and robbers.” Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Science and Unitarians all have a different view of God and how to be saved. And even in those denominations that are considered Christian there are false teachers who deny the very basics of the Christian faith. Here’s just one example: “the view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed”. Who said that? Retired Episcopal bishop “John Shelby Spong” in his book, A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying and How a New Faith is Being Born. Sadly, many other examples could be given. But Jesus calls all such people and groups “thieves and robbers” because by distorting the truth they lead people away from God instead of to God. But Jesus died to bring people to God as peter says in our second lesson: “for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.” Jesus alone is the true shepherd of the sheep and he is the only door to eternal life. All other religions in the world are wrong and lead away from God. But even among those who call themselves Christians the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be taught correctly. And to teach it correctly means to teach it as it is taught in the bible. It’s a horrible feeling to be at the airport and realize that you’ve missed your plane because you went to the wrong gate. And so it is with Christ.
II. And this is why we won’t follow anyone but Jesus.
A. Each one of us has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even though Jesus died for every human being that will ever live, he still has a personal relationship with each one of us. God has created all of us, and yet each one of us is unique. In all of human history there never has been and never will be a person just like you or me. We are really “one of a kind.” and so when Jesus died on the cross he died not only for the sins of the world but for your specific and individual sins..and mine too. For just as parents have an individual relationship with each one of their children..so likewise God loves you and me and treats us as individuals. That’s what Jesus is getting at when he says that the shepherd “calls his own sheep by name.” God knew you by name not only before you were born but even before he created the world. And it is God then who has called you to faith in Jesus Christ as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians: “he called you…through our Gospel that you might share in the glory of our lord Jesus Christ’ (2:14). Just like a mother calling her child in for dinner..Jesus Christ has called you to faith.. You have heard his voice in God’s word and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In these means of grace you have heard the voice of Jesus giving you the forgiveness of your sins and leading you to the green pastures of eternal life. A child knows the voice of his mother. And likewise, you now the voice of Jesus. It’s the Jesus of the bible, the Gospel taught in it’s truth and purity.
B. And this means that we will not follow the voice of any other religious figure. And yet, as I said earlier, there are many religious voices in the world, many religions, many philosophies. Even in the Christian church there are false Gospels that say they are speaking with the voice of Jesus Christ..but they really aren’t. Just because someone is teaching in the name of Jesus Christ does not mean that they are teaching him correctly. Jesus warned about this in the sermon on the mount when he said “Watch out for false prophets, they come to you in sheep’s clothing..but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt. 7: 15). In his letter to the Galatians Paul warns about this as he says: “But there are some who trouble you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:7). And again in his second letter to the Corinthians: “and no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). False teachers who distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ want to take us away from the real Christ and the true Gospel. But when we hear such teachings, whether in the Christian church or outside of it, we don’t hear the voice of our shepherd, Jesus Christ, but the voice of strangers….and that’s why we don’t believe them and don’t follow them because they are as Jesus says, “thieves and robbers” who only steal and kill and destroy the sheep of Jesus Christ. The church in Galatia had been infiltrated with false teachers who distorted the Gospel of Jesus Christ..and so Paul wrote to them: “you are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:34). These false teachers were stealing, killing and destroying the sheep of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: in “The Poseidon Adventure” only those who followed “Gene Hackman were saved from the icy depths of the ocean. And at the airport if you go to the wrong gate you will miss your flight. And it’s no different with Jesus. Only he can gives us forgiveness with God and lead us to the green pastures of eternal life. With his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead Jesus has become mankind’s only savior…our savior. He has come into the world that we might have abundant life…..life with God..now and in eternity. And that’s why we flee from those who don’t speak with the voice of Jesus. For as Peter says in our second reading, now that we have “…returned to the shepherd and overseers of our souls” we don’t want anyone to take us away. Amen.
