Jesus Shepherds His Church - Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 30^th Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Jesus Shepherds His Church – John 10:1-16, Acts 2:42

     I AM the Good Shepherd, declares Jesus, staking the claim of being the LORD God Almighty, (I AM who I AM, explained God to Moses at the burning bush).  Jesus also promises to personally lead, to shepherd, or pastor His flock, His chosen people.  Far too many of the men who should have shepherded ancient Israel faithfully did not do so.  So, the LORD had promised through the prophet Ezekiel, “I myself will be their shepherd.”  Now Jesus brings that promise to its in-the-flesh fulfillment. 

     Down through the centuries, there have been countless shepherds, or pastors, of the many, many congregations of Jesus’ Church.  But everywhere and always, these men only stand in for and serve as the mouthpiece of the One Shepherd, the only Savior.  Only Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd, who calls His own by name, and they follow Him.  Only Jesus has laid down His life, and taken it up again, so that sinners can be restored to God’s family.  And so there is one flock, and one Shepherd. 

   Sadly, with all the division and confusion and false teaching that have plagued the Church since shortly after the first Pentecost, it is very hard to see this Church Jesus describes.  It is hard to recognize the Church on earth as one, victorious, and unified body of believers, who hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him wherever He leads.  But she truly exists, because Jesus calls her into existence.  He has laid down His life for His flock on Mt. Calvary, rising the third day.  Now Jesus works with His Spirit to fulfill the charge He received from His Father, to gather all the faithful into one flock, one universal and invisible Church.  This Church will, some day soon, be visibly gathered around the throne of God in glory.  Amen! Come Lord Jesus, and lead your sheep into eternal green pastures.   

     But how exactly does Jesus personally shepherd His Church, today?  This can also be hard to see.  The world and the devil are always tempting us to doubt our Shepherd’s care for us, to doubt the Truth of His Promises.  So it is vital that we sheep are confident of and know how Jesus cares personally for us, His people, His flock.  The office of pastor, or shepherd, the man or men called to minister to a local congregation, certainly is key to the Way Jesus shepherds His flock.  There is an icon built into the office of pastor.  The called and ordained servant standing before the altar, leading the congregation, visually represents the greater reality of Christ as the Head, the Good Shepherd, of His Church. 

   This is not to say that the pastor is impressive to look at.  We tend to paint Jesus as a very handsome fellow.  And He is in His essence perfectly beautiful.  But according to Isaiah, Jesus had nothing in his outward appearance to attract us.  So also, the men who have served in the pastoral office through the centuries usually appear unimpressive.  The Good Shepherd was an unlikely carpenter from Nazareth, not someone you would pick out of the crowd and say: “Hey, there goes the Son of David, the Messiah of God, the Shepherd of Israel.”  This tradition continues with pastors. 

     The men called to publicly represent Jesus come in all sizes and shapes.   In many traditions, like our own, we cover them in baggy robes which make them all look more or less alike.  The pastor’s stole often matches the paraments, helping him blend in with the furnishings.  Because you are not called to look at the pastor, but rather to see beyond him to the Good Shepherd.  Jesus and His message are the main thing.  So, you may end up with an unlikely jarhead from some backwater town like Forsyth, Montana.  Not very impressive.   And that’s the point.  Jesus and His unlikely work are the main thing.  The Good Shepherd is present and working, in the Way He chooses, including through the sinners He calls to serve and feed His flock. 

    By choosing and sending the 12 Disciples, a motley crew, to be sure, Jesus gives us the basic form of “pastor and people together” as His chosen vehicle for shepherding His Church.  But we of course need a bit more detail.  The men serving as pastors and the congregations they serve need more specifics, to keep both the man in the office and the congregation on the right path.  Because left on our own, we will surely make a mess of things. 

     Luke provides this detail for us this morning.  On the Day of Pentecost, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of flame, the miracle of languages, after Peter’s preaching which led to the conversion and Baptism of more than 3,000 souls, then we hear this summary of the infant Church’s activity:  they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  What the Spirit of Christ led the earliest Christians to do is still His call for us today:  as the Church, we are to be devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching, the Fellowship, the Breaking of the Bread, and the Prayers.  Five components to this brief guide, one describing the activity and attitude of the Baptized believers, and then four things to be about.  Let’s check them out.

    “They devoted themselves to…”  Another way to translate this is “they were occupied with…”  or “they were continually doing” or “they persevered in.”  This verb is most often used in the book of Acts, to refer to the ongoing activity of Christians.  In chapter six, when the growth of the Church caused the work to become too much for the 12 Apostles, 7 deacons were appointed to see to the distribution of bread amongst the fellowship.  This expansion of the ministry allowed the Apostles “to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”  So devotion has to do with prioritizing activities, to giving your time and energy to the most important things. 

   The important things begin with the Apostles’ teaching.  For all that He did in His earthly ministry, as far as we know, Jesus didn’t write anything down on paper.  Neither did He visibly remain with His Church to lead their mission efforts.  He ascended to God’s right hand, and continues with His Church to the end of the age, truly present, but invisible.  Delivering forgiveness and mercy and strength for Christian living through the activities of His flock, Christ is unseen, but active.  And His chosen front men in this project were the Apostles.  Their teaching is the center of the Church.  This refers to their preaching and teaching, their speaking in the Name of Christ, and eventually, also to their writing.  These are the Gospels and letters either directly composed by the 12, like Peter, Paul or John, or by another minister who worked directly with the Apostles, like Luke and Mark. 

    The teaching of the Apostles’ is recorded, preserved and gathered together for us in the book we call the New Testament, which is based in the Old, and gives us the true interpretation it, and of all things.  To be the Apostolic Church means to be hearing, reading, copying, translating, teaching and seeking to live based on the deposit of truth Christ through His Apostles has left for us. 

   It’s a big task.  I dare say all of us could benefit from some increase in the quantity or the quality of our devotion to the Apostles’ teaching.  It’s challenging.  There are hard questions the Word does not answer.  From the world and our own hearts and minds there are always issues arising that challenge the faith.  And so we continue in the Word, and we are blessed to see it shape our thinking and doing.  It is a daily wrestling match for the New Israel, through which the Holy Spirit keeps us following along in the flock of Jesus.       

     They devoted themselves to the fellowship.  The things in common.  By this, Luke refers to life together as Church.  For the Jews who became Christians at Pentecost, the need for devotion to their common life together was impossible to miss.  Following Christ meant accepting the rejection of the Jewish religious and political leaders.  Being baptized meant your family might well disown you.  Many a new believer had to depend on the other believers for their daily bread, along with Bread from Heaven.  So they combined resources, and took care of each other, in body and soul. 

   This one is hard for us.  Perhaps we need more crises, more tribulation.  When there is an accident, a disaster, a sudden and terrible disease, we pull together and meet each other’s needs of body and soul.  But we also have an independent and go-it-alone streak in us.  The cost of being a Christian for us here, today, is not so great that we have to constantly depend on each other to survive.  Not yet.  But perhaps we should devote ourselves to each other more now, open ourselves up to mutual support.  And not just because things seem to be getting worse for faithful Christians.  Harder times for Christians do seem to be coming, and in many ways are already here.  But we also would be wise to strengthen our fellowship, our life of mutual support within the congregation, for the sake of joy.  In this life, Christian joy is found in receiving the blessings of God in Christ, and sharing them with others.  We are loved in order to love others.  If we shortchange ourselves on the loving-each-other part, we miss out on joy.  Could you use more joy in your life?

     They devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread.  Just as our Good Shepherd hides His shepherding beneath the unimpressive exteriors of the men we call to be pastors, so also the most sublime fellowship we share is hidden under the simplest of meals, half a bite of bread and a sip of sweet wine.  But combined with Christ’s Word of promise, the “breaking of the bread,” is a mystery where we feast on Christ and are united to Him and to one another.  Call it the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist or Holy Communion.  This little meal does not seem like one of the most important things, to which we are called to devote ourselves.  But if we remember that in the Supper, Jesus comes today and devotes Himself to us, forgiving, restoring and energizing us for life, today and forever and ever, if we hear and trust the Apostles’ teaching about Holy Communion, then we will be led to receive it with joy, and seek it whenever we can. 

     Finally, the earliest Christians devoted themselves to the prayers.  What are the prayers?  They include every conversation with the Lord God that we have.  Think of the prayers like a wheel: our corporate prayers, the Words we say and sing together as the flock of God in this place, these are the hub.  The Sunday prayers serve as the center, anchoring all our conversation with God in the Apostles’ teaching, in the community of care, and in the miraculous meal that prepares us for the week to come. 

    Your daily prayers, read from the Psalms, or form Portals, or flowing from your heart as you drive to work or before you go to sleep, these prayers proceed from and call you back to the center, to the prayers of your congregation, gathered together around Christ and His gifts.  As you are devoted to prayer, corporate, family and individual, God’s Word will be in your mind and heart.  Christ and His Word will be with you as you interact with your neighbors, ready with a good word for a hurting friend, a word of truth for someone who needs to know Jesus, a word of invitation for a sheep whom the Good Shepherd is seeking to reach, through you.   

     As we review this playbook for the Christian Church on earth, I am convicted, and I suspect you are too.  My devotion to these things is too often feeble.  Such a review is healthy, revealing our misguided priorities and pointing us to better paths.  As baptized believers, we are called to such Godly devotion, just as much as the first Christians were.  And so the Holy Spirit calls us to repent.  Turn from lesser things, and set your eyes and heart on the things that come down to us from above.   

     And thanks be to God, as we turn our devotion from the lesser, and sometimes plainly sinful things that attract us, as we turn and look again to the Apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers, our eyes are blessed to see in them the Good Shepherd, calling to us with outstretched and nail-scarred hands, calling us to Himself, today, and forever and ever, Amen.