Let us pray.
Our Lord, by your presence, in your living Word, gather your people. Cast out our fear. Cast out our doubt. Gather us into unity and one accord so that, built as living stones in your temple, we may bring you glory. Create faith in our hearts and make us to walk in that faith, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, to whom be all glory and praise forever and ever. Amen.
"Are you scared?"
"Yes."
"Not scared enough."
That's my paraphrase of an interaction between two characters in J.R.R. Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring. The hardened warrior king in the guise of a ragged and dangerous ranger questions a hobbit who has gone on a trek toward dangers he cannot begin to imagine. Though Mr. Frodo Baggins is frightened, he is facing dangers which, if he were to know them, would utterly petrify him. He is on an adventure that will leave him changed forever.
This week this congregation sets out on an adventure you've not gone on for some years. Your pastor has left you to serve a different congregation, one that likewise starts a big adventure of its own. Pastor Maynard and the congregation he is serving need our prayers. As you are adjusting, so are they.
We need to pray and trust our Lord here as well. Maybe you're scared. You wonder what the future of this church looks like. You wonder how I'll do in the meantime as your vacancy pastor. You wonder what kind of person the church will eventually call. You wonder what will happen if someone goes through serious challenges, such as illness or even a death in the family. There is plenty to be concerned about. Then again, maybe you aren't worried enough. Maybe you're content to let things progress without your involvement. Maybe you are someone who has been active in the past and looks forward to sitting on the sidelines and relaxing. Maybe you figure nothing ever happens so nothing will happen in the near future. Maybe you expect half the congregation to leave because that's just the way it goes when there's pastoral turnover. Maybe you figure pastors aren't worth all that much anyway. Yes, you may be frightened. Then again, you may not be frightened enough.
What does our prophet warn us about? What if some of us, according to verses 17 and following, find that we are the gluttons, the bullies, the fat sheep who are pushing others around, spoiling everything? It's easy to fall into those patterns.
There are some times we just want things to go our way. We desire control. It happens all the time in little things. "No, the napkins go here, not there. The desserts go there. Hot foods over here." I remember someone who was always annoyed by a local church's solution to the "lost and found" box. I didn't realize how much it bothered him until the pastor who had made it a habit to put lost and found things spread out on a pew in the back left. After grumbling and storming about a little, this generally patient man got a cardboard box, hurled everything from the pew into the box, and flung it into a corner under the coat rack. He hadn't realized how much he desired control either. I know as a professional teacher I've run into that same kind of issue in myself. It's my classroom, it's going to run the way I say, period. Damn the guns, full speed ahead!
This acts as a call to repentance, doesn't it. It points out our idolatry. We are saying we should be on God's throne. We are the ones who know what we want, when we want it, and we are willing to sin against others to get it that way. May the Lord grant us repentance and forgiveness when we show this desire for control. We are not in charge, our Lord is. We're just on this adventure, following our Lord, not making up the game plan.
Maybe our sinful attitudes show up in a genuine desire to protect God's people and resources. Yes, because we are fallen people in a fallen world we are quite capable of taking a good desire and using it for sin. Maybe we are worried about how things will go in church until there's a new permanent pastor, or even afterward. Maybe changes in the liturgy and routines will make us uncomfortable. Maybe we're afraid people will sin against us or that we may hear teaching and preaching that is sometimes better, sometimes worse. Maybe we are thinking about how we can get off more cheaply. After all, what if people stop coming to church and stop giving? What will we do then? We may want to protect ourselves and others, but we may turn that into an opportunity to be stingy, to avoid being a blessing to others, to stop using the good gifts the Holy Spirit has given us.
On the contrary, maybe there are some priorities the church councils have thought about for a while and would like to articulate better. When I was one of the elders in a church going through a time of transition a number of years ago we had long been debating going to weekly communion. After discussing it for a while, we decided to implement it during the interim period. After all, if we valued weekly communion we'd want to be sure to call a pastor who agreed. We also committed ourselves to developing a better counseling program during that time. We purchased some new hymnals, observing that we didn't even have a vacancy pastor to pay and that a set of hymnals cost less than a month's pay. We took the resources the Lord had provided and we tried to use them prayerfully and aggressively to further God's kingdom in our community. May the Lord grant that we use the gifts he has given us, and use them aggressively, for his kingdom.
This time of transition is no time for a power grab. It is no time for falling into a defensive position and taking refuge in the foxholes either. Though the reactions seem to be opposites, they are ultimately rooted in one and the same thing. In the final analysis, we are more concerned about our own desires than about our Lord's care for his flock. We become those rough and tumble fat sheep and aggressive rams who are pushing others around. And we enter into that kind of behavior when we are not frightened enough. We are not concerned for the well-being of our fellow believer. We are not concerned enough to reach out to our friends and neighbors for the Gospel. We are not concerned enough about the reality of God's judgment, his destruction of sinner along with sin in the end. We set out on the adventure the Lord has put before us and we find that we are the enemy. We are the cause of the greatest danger there is to others and to ourselves.
Yes, when the Lord comes to gather his people, we see in verse 16 that he will gather and care for the lost, the strayed, the injured, and the weak. But he is going to destroy those who are acting to harm his kingdom. These are serious words of warning. May the Lord grant us repentance.
What if you are one of the people who is scattered, one of the sheep who has been harassed, who is a lost sheep, fearful of the wolves, hungry and thirsty, not knowing where you are supposed to go? Maybe you feel afraid, troubled, like you will be badly nourished. Your shepherd is gone. Where are you going to find food? What if there are threats? What will you do then? I don't need to warn you. You are frightened enough. Look again with me at the start of our passage.
Our Lord promises that he will search for his sheep and seek them out. (Luke 9.10, John 10.11) The Lord Jesus Christ himself says that he came to seek and to save the lost. We, his lost sheep, are not outside of his domain. He knows where we are. He knows what we need. He knows our dangers. And like the crazy shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine and seeks out the one, going to carry back a big stinky sheep that may weigh a hundred pounds or more, our Lord has sought us out, when we were lost, clueless, smelly, and overweight. Our Lord does not make us get up and walk back to our homes. No, he comes to us in our time of need and carries us to his home, which is the land he has given us. Our Lord will feed his people in good pasture. As we read in the 23rd Psalm, he will make us lie down in green pastures. Picture resting under the shade of a graceful tree, beside a babbling brook, after a good dinner. What's more, our Lord promises that he will protect us from every enemy. As the good shepherd of the sheep he will fight off any enemy. He will make sure we have the good food that he has provided, as he feeds us in Word and Sacrament. He will gather us out of all danger.
How does our Lord do this? He does it in us as we believe he is who he said he is and that he has done what he said he has done. Our Lord's care for us is not based on what we do or say. It is not based on our own effort at holiness. It is not based on how well we repent, how well we pray, how well we do anything. It's based on how well he has done what he said he would do. And what does our Lord say about himself?
Jesus Christ boldly proclaims himself to be God incarnate. He says that he gives his life for his sheep (John 10). The wages of sin, the sin that we all have, is death. But the gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus (Romans 3). Because all humans sin, we all deserve God's wrath. But in the Bible we see that the death of Christ, being the perfect son of Adam, without sin, can atone for the sin of all of Adam's sinful children, including us (Romans 5). And in the resurrection our Lord proclaims boldly that he has conquered sin and death. As it cannot hold Jesus, so we who believe on him cannot be permanently held by sin and death. He has broken the bonds of sin. And on the day when he calls, the resurrection of the dead to eternal bodily life in the presence of God the Father will break the bonds of death for you and for me as well. This is what we believe, teach, and confess. Remember the second article of the Apostles' Creed. Yes, Jesus is truly the Savior we need.
What will we say then? Let us look in hope to our Lord and rejoice as he gathers his people out of sin and darkness, as he gives us life and hope. Salvation truly is of the Lord.
Let us rise to pray.
Our Lord, giver of life, redeemer of the world, you have purchased reconciliation through your blood. Grant that we may believe on you, that we may rest in the sufficiency of your finished work on the cross, that we may walk through this life in the living hope that we have been raised to life by faith and that we will one day be partakers of the resurrection of the dead, for you, the living Lord, ever live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Lord, by your presence, in your living Word, gather your people. Cast out our fear. Cast out our doubt. Gather us into unity and one accord so that, built as living stones in your temple, we may bring you glory. Create faith in our hearts and make us to walk in that faith, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, to whom be all glory and praise forever and ever. Amen.
"Are you scared?"
"Yes."
"Not scared enough."
That's my paraphrase of an interaction between two characters in J.R.R. Tolkein's Fellowship of the Ring. The hardened warrior king in the guise of a ragged and dangerous ranger questions a hobbit who has gone on a trek toward dangers he cannot begin to imagine. Though Mr. Frodo Baggins is frightened, he is facing dangers which, if he were to know them, would utterly petrify him. He is on an adventure that will leave him changed forever.
This week this congregation sets out on an adventure you've not gone on for some years. Your pastor has left you to serve a different congregation, one that likewise starts a big adventure of its own. Pastor Maynard and the congregation he is serving need our prayers. As you are adjusting, so are they.
We need to pray and trust our Lord here as well. Maybe you're scared. You wonder what the future of this church looks like. You wonder how I'll do in the meantime as your vacancy pastor. You wonder what kind of person the church will eventually call. You wonder what will happen if someone goes through serious challenges, such as illness or even a death in the family. There is plenty to be concerned about. Then again, maybe you aren't worried enough. Maybe you're content to let things progress without your involvement. Maybe you are someone who has been active in the past and looks forward to sitting on the sidelines and relaxing. Maybe you figure nothing ever happens so nothing will happen in the near future. Maybe you expect half the congregation to leave because that's just the way it goes when there's pastoral turnover. Maybe you figure pastors aren't worth all that much anyway. Yes, you may be frightened. Then again, you may not be frightened enough.
What does our prophet warn us about? What if some of us, according to verses 17 and following, find that we are the gluttons, the bullies, the fat sheep who are pushing others around, spoiling everything? It's easy to fall into those patterns.
There are some times we just want things to go our way. We desire control. It happens all the time in little things. "No, the napkins go here, not there. The desserts go there. Hot foods over here." I remember someone who was always annoyed by a local church's solution to the "lost and found" box. I didn't realize how much it bothered him until the pastor who had made it a habit to put lost and found things spread out on a pew in the back left. After grumbling and storming about a little, this generally patient man got a cardboard box, hurled everything from the pew into the box, and flung it into a corner under the coat rack. He hadn't realized how much he desired control either. I know as a professional teacher I've run into that same kind of issue in myself. It's my classroom, it's going to run the way I say, period. Damn the guns, full speed ahead!
This acts as a call to repentance, doesn't it. It points out our idolatry. We are saying we should be on God's throne. We are the ones who know what we want, when we want it, and we are willing to sin against others to get it that way. May the Lord grant us repentance and forgiveness when we show this desire for control. We are not in charge, our Lord is. We're just on this adventure, following our Lord, not making up the game plan.
Maybe our sinful attitudes show up in a genuine desire to protect God's people and resources. Yes, because we are fallen people in a fallen world we are quite capable of taking a good desire and using it for sin. Maybe we are worried about how things will go in church until there's a new permanent pastor, or even afterward. Maybe changes in the liturgy and routines will make us uncomfortable. Maybe we're afraid people will sin against us or that we may hear teaching and preaching that is sometimes better, sometimes worse. Maybe we are thinking about how we can get off more cheaply. After all, what if people stop coming to church and stop giving? What will we do then? We may want to protect ourselves and others, but we may turn that into an opportunity to be stingy, to avoid being a blessing to others, to stop using the good gifts the Holy Spirit has given us.
On the contrary, maybe there are some priorities the church councils have thought about for a while and would like to articulate better. When I was one of the elders in a church going through a time of transition a number of years ago we had long been debating going to weekly communion. After discussing it for a while, we decided to implement it during the interim period. After all, if we valued weekly communion we'd want to be sure to call a pastor who agreed. We also committed ourselves to developing a better counseling program during that time. We purchased some new hymnals, observing that we didn't even have a vacancy pastor to pay and that a set of hymnals cost less than a month's pay. We took the resources the Lord had provided and we tried to use them prayerfully and aggressively to further God's kingdom in our community. May the Lord grant that we use the gifts he has given us, and use them aggressively, for his kingdom.
This time of transition is no time for a power grab. It is no time for falling into a defensive position and taking refuge in the foxholes either. Though the reactions seem to be opposites, they are ultimately rooted in one and the same thing. In the final analysis, we are more concerned about our own desires than about our Lord's care for his flock. We become those rough and tumble fat sheep and aggressive rams who are pushing others around. And we enter into that kind of behavior when we are not frightened enough. We are not concerned for the well-being of our fellow believer. We are not concerned enough to reach out to our friends and neighbors for the Gospel. We are not concerned enough about the reality of God's judgment, his destruction of sinner along with sin in the end. We set out on the adventure the Lord has put before us and we find that we are the enemy. We are the cause of the greatest danger there is to others and to ourselves.
Yes, when the Lord comes to gather his people, we see in verse 16 that he will gather and care for the lost, the strayed, the injured, and the weak. But he is going to destroy those who are acting to harm his kingdom. These are serious words of warning. May the Lord grant us repentance.
What if you are one of the people who is scattered, one of the sheep who has been harassed, who is a lost sheep, fearful of the wolves, hungry and thirsty, not knowing where you are supposed to go? Maybe you feel afraid, troubled, like you will be badly nourished. Your shepherd is gone. Where are you going to find food? What if there are threats? What will you do then? I don't need to warn you. You are frightened enough. Look again with me at the start of our passage.
Our Lord promises that he will search for his sheep and seek them out. (Luke 9.10, John 10.11) The Lord Jesus Christ himself says that he came to seek and to save the lost. We, his lost sheep, are not outside of his domain. He knows where we are. He knows what we need. He knows our dangers. And like the crazy shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine and seeks out the one, going to carry back a big stinky sheep that may weigh a hundred pounds or more, our Lord has sought us out, when we were lost, clueless, smelly, and overweight. Our Lord does not make us get up and walk back to our homes. No, he comes to us in our time of need and carries us to his home, which is the land he has given us. Our Lord will feed his people in good pasture. As we read in the 23rd Psalm, he will make us lie down in green pastures. Picture resting under the shade of a graceful tree, beside a babbling brook, after a good dinner. What's more, our Lord promises that he will protect us from every enemy. As the good shepherd of the sheep he will fight off any enemy. He will make sure we have the good food that he has provided, as he feeds us in Word and Sacrament. He will gather us out of all danger.
How does our Lord do this? He does it in us as we believe he is who he said he is and that he has done what he said he has done. Our Lord's care for us is not based on what we do or say. It is not based on our own effort at holiness. It is not based on how well we repent, how well we pray, how well we do anything. It's based on how well he has done what he said he would do. And what does our Lord say about himself?
Jesus Christ boldly proclaims himself to be God incarnate. He says that he gives his life for his sheep (John 10). The wages of sin, the sin that we all have, is death. But the gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus (Romans 3). Because all humans sin, we all deserve God's wrath. But in the Bible we see that the death of Christ, being the perfect son of Adam, without sin, can atone for the sin of all of Adam's sinful children, including us (Romans 5). And in the resurrection our Lord proclaims boldly that he has conquered sin and death. As it cannot hold Jesus, so we who believe on him cannot be permanently held by sin and death. He has broken the bonds of sin. And on the day when he calls, the resurrection of the dead to eternal bodily life in the presence of God the Father will break the bonds of death for you and for me as well. This is what we believe, teach, and confess. Remember the second article of the Apostles' Creed. Yes, Jesus is truly the Savior we need.
What will we say then? Let us look in hope to our Lord and rejoice as he gathers his people out of sin and darkness, as he gives us life and hope. Salvation truly is of the Lord.
Let us rise to pray.
Our Lord, giver of life, redeemer of the world, you have purchased reconciliation through your blood. Grant that we may believe on you, that we may rest in the sufficiency of your finished work on the cross, that we may walk through this life in the living hope that we have been raised to life by faith and that we will one day be partakers of the resurrection of the dead, for you, the living Lord, ever live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
--
Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com
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