Who Will You Follow?
Notes
Transcript
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Communication, Lack of
The story is told of two businessmen, an American and a Frenchman, who met on a transatlantic voyage. As the American was seated for lunch with the Frenchman, the latter raised his wine glass and said, “Bon appetit.” To which the smiling American replied, “Johnson.” Since neither spoke the other’s language, no other words were exchanged during the meal. After the same thing happened at dinner, an observant waiter later explained to the American that the Frenchman was saying, “Hope you enjoy your meal.”
The next day the American sought out the Frenchman to correct his error. After finding him at lunch, at the first opportunity the American raised his glass and said, “Bon Appetit”—to which the Frenchman replied, “Johnson.”
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Funerals are interesting events for a pastor. Many times it will be the first time that he and a group of people will have met. If they are not careful, both the pastor and those who are now his temporary congregants, will allow the preconceptions that they have formed of one another to get in the way of why they are all present: to acknowledge the death of one whom both parties know in different ways.
Ideally, those who have come to the funeral know the deceased in terms of his or her vocations. No, I’m not talking about his job, although that can be part of it. Allow me a moment to explain, making use of Douglas J. Schuurman, “Vocation,” The Encyclopedia of Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill, 2008), 693.
“In keeping with his view of the priesthood of all believers, [Martin] Luther insisted that every Christian has a vocation and that every legitimate social sphere can become a calling if by faith one serves one’s neighbor through it. God calls princes, soldiers, farmers, spouses, household servants, and more to their stations in life. God prizes the work of the cobbler as much as that of the preacher. Like his contemporaries, Luther distinguished a spiritual calling (vocatio spiritualis) from one’s outward calling (vocatio externa). Unlike his contemporaries, however, he insisted that all believers received both forms of God’s call. Though distinct, the two forms are not two separate callings. They are two sides of the one call (generalis vocatio), in which God comprehensively claims the whole person.
As such, you all have known him as a relative, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor, a classmate, or any of the myriad of possible human connections that we make with one another during our relatively short lives, both for good and for ill. I, on the other hand, know him primarily as a baptized Christian, and therefore, I see him primarily in terms of what the Scriptures say about those whose lives have been hidden in Christ by faith.
1 “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. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
In terms of people, verbs matter more than nouns because we care more about what people do with themselves than we do about what they say about themselves. If a person calls himself rich but acts as if he has nothing, by being selfish, his wealth is of less importance than is his selfishness. In today’s Gospel reading, the verb “follow” is used to distinguish the shepherd from the stranger: the sheep follow the former, and flee from the latter. Why? Not because of their identity, but because of what they have done. The shepherd enters “by the door,” the proper way, while the stranger “climbs in by another way,” the wrong way.
The shepherd acts like a shepherd; he belongs with the sheep, and he belongs in the sheepfold. He doesn’t feel the need to convince either the sheep or the gatekeeper, unlike the stranger, who does not belong there. A called and ordained pastor, in like manner, does not have to convince others that he belongs with the sheep, it is his vocation to serve the sheep, and it inevitably shows itself soon enough.
13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
If we had no idea, as is the case with many of us here today, of what a shepherd is like, we can thank God for Psalm 23, which might be the only thing connected to shepherding that some of us know. It also tells us something about the Lord, does it not? the psalm opens with the words “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” It then goes in to describe, in detail, what that means. In like manner, Isaiah 49:13-16 describes the comfort that we can take in knowing that God does not forget us, not even when the world, the flesh, and the devil rise up to tell us otherwise. God cannot forget those who are united to Him, and here is why:
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
An unbaptized Christian was unknown to Scripture or to the Church for the first 1500 years of its existence. Mark 16:16 says, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” Those are the only two statuses the Scriptures present to us. Leonard was baptized at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and thus was united to Christ in His death, with the promise of also sharing in Christ’s resurrection. The Gospel is the only thing on earth that gives what it promises. We are living in a generation that has a passion for justice, for righteousness. Every form of religion or spirituality, to the extent that it even addresses the question, says that righteousness must be earned, and justice must be obtained by force. The gospel offers it as a gift to those who have their trust in Jesus Christ,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”
Leonard spent but a short portion of his life following Jesus; and a significant portion of that was while in the grip of sickness. One thing you get to learn under those conditions:The Lord is a present help in trouble. There is something that trials and sufferings do to a person. Like a fire, they can purify or destroy, depending upon the object of their attention. Fire destroys wood, hay, and straw, and purifies gold, silver and iron. Fire gives flavor to meats and vegetables, and ruins ice cream and candy. Many of us would like a life without trials, but 1. generally speaking, that does not exist, and 2. if it did, it would leave you an immature, weak-willed old child pretending to be an adult. Parents who try to shield their children from pain end up with children who cannot stand on their own two feet. God is a wiser Father than that. He did not spare is only-begotten Son; He cannot spare you. What He does, though, is even more loving - God goes with you. Christ stands by your side, interceding for you. The Holy Spirit strengthens you, praying with you with groanings that cannot even be uttered.
Baptism brought Leonard and his family into the household of faith. As a Christian, Leonard has an inheritance that He shares with Christ and other Christians. He can no longer tell you of what that means to him, right now, he’s too busy enjoying it. You really don’t need to hear it from him, either, because Leonard can’t tell you anything more than what God has already told you in the Scriptures, and some of you have heard it more times than you can shake a stick at. Today you can, if you have that blessing, remember your baptism and return to the Lord, and if not, you can join Leonard in being united to Christ in His death just like Leonard, or, you can keep on doing what you’ve been doing, demanding justice, feeling disappointed because something is missing, and wondering what you could do to make a difference. When you find out, I hope it won’t be too late.
May the peace of God, that passes all understanding, keep your hearts through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.