Sunday Service | January 31, 2021

We’re in Psalm 23 again, looking at Jesus as our good shepherd, teacher, leader, caregiver, encourager, guard, and guide; and we’re continuing the questions asked at the beginning of the year:

• Who is my shepherd?- who or what are we following?

• How am I being tended?- how is what I am following refreshing my soul?

• What do I serve?- out of the overflow of that relationship, where does my effort, desire go?

Friends, Who is our source? Who are we following? What or who drives us?

Let’s read this psalm again together:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

    He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

    he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

    for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk

    through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

    for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

    forever.

In this last decade, we have seen so much change in the world, but specifically we have seen so much change in the culture of American Christianity. 

We have entered into the post-Christian age in the US, and we have gone through the deconstruction of faith/religion/spirituality as well.

Many of us have drawn closer to God, while others have distanced themselves. Many have grown closer to faith communities, while others have separated. 

The question in all of this change, distancing, growth, and deconstruction remains the same:

Who is Jesus? 

Where does He land on our spectrum? 

What kind of extreme is he?

Far left or far right?

Or is he in the middle--God to all--stepping on everyone’s toes and creating room for all?

It can be hard to separate him from the system and the spectrum of politics, powers, and religion.

What about mainstream Christianity? 

Where is Jesus there?

Has Christianity become about: Politics, economics, religion? Power, wealth, control?

Yes.

We are humans trying to meet some set of metrics.

And No.

Because Jesus, the good shepherd, isn’t meeting us in our self-made metrics, but in our journey--wherever we are on it. Mainstream or not, in our pursuit of life we come back to these questions as Christians:

Are we following Christ or are we distancing ourselves because of everything going on in the world of Christianity?

If we are distancing ourselves, then who are we really following?

He wants us to draw close to him. All these changes in and around Christianity are nothing new; history always repeats itself. But there is always a remnant, and Jesus is always pursuing us.

Let us be reminded again of who Jesus is--who Yeshua is.

John 10.7-15

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

This is the character of Jesus:

• who meets with sinners, who keeps the dignity of all, who welcomes children, and blesses the weak

• who meets with kings, religious leaders, the wealthy and elite, who goes to dinner parties and seeks to love rather than to be loved

• who reveals the love of the father, who breaks chains of lies, addictions, and oppression of all kinds

• who brings true justice through his mercy and love.

• who lays his life down to bring hope and true freedom to all of humanity that are enslaved to the powers and principalities of this world, by exposing the lie that we are only fulfilled outside of God

Jesus is the good shepherd.

Jesus is our good shepherd.

Jesus is my good shepherd.

This next bit might be hard to hear:

For many of us, it has become a burden to have faith in Jesus.

To have faith in Jesus we have to slow down, follow, not to make quick choices--take a long view, not go with the flow of culture and our own desire.

And for many of us we have confused mainstream Christianity for following our good shepherd Jesus.

It is not “cool” to be a follower of Christ. It really never has been, but there have been seasons where it has seemed like it was.

It’s associated with many horrible things and buzz words of not being enlightened or being patriarchal or backwards and unloving.

Last week April brought us a time of testimonies of how Jesus continues to be our good shepherd in the midst of this last crazy year.

We need to hear stories of how Jesus continues to tend to us. 

And also, we need to participate in the sharing of these stories to remind ourselves that Jesus is actually with us.

We are the people of the resurrection! Which means we keep showing up when we get it right--that looks like loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

And we show up when we get it wrong. We pray, confess, lament, repent, forgive, and reconcile. We do this because we belong, we are loved, and we are pleasing to the good creator of this world.

How do we do this? We follow the one who lives this: Jesus our good shepherd.

There is Tension: wrestling in faith all throughout scripture. In the patriarchs, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron, and in the disciples--like Peter and Paul fighting.

Evangelism has become an incredibly offensive concept to us; however, the true definition is not about convincing, as much as about living out the love of Christ openly. 

Look at the book of Acts: sharing meals and sharing stories and experiences of the encounters of the good shepherd, not street-corner sharing and shaming.

Learning and pushing ourselves to share these encounters only encourage us and the body of Christ. It helps us get our footing in these ever-changing seasons that we face.

Things change. Pendulums swing. In it all, it is good for us to evaluate and reevaluate. To prune and to grow. Deconstruct and rebuild.

The urgent question for us today though is this: 

Who is leading us through this? Is it the good shepherd or another hired hand?

Is our faith built in chariots and horses--the might and ability we can create--or in faith in the one who lays his life down for us?

We are invited into confession and repentance as the body of Christ: an opportunity to reestablish in our minds, hearts, and beings who the true love of the universe is.

Let’s pause on our journey this year an evaluate who is our shepherd, how are we being tended, and what we are serving.

Jesus’ love for you is trustworthy.

When Paul writes the church at Colossae, he reminds them of their good shepherd. Sit with these words today, and let his trustworthy love compel you to set your gaze on your shepherd.

Colossians 3:1-4:

Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.