May 8, 2022 ~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ Sermon & Zoom Worship Video Link

This is the Worship Video Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/QcMhcMP0PGlnqhkLIKIh0FMj__uyfEOorZWS3bguEzuWwJoWTa1d-K0mVDzQaEcO.08kE_UYPXO6VLfzH?startTime=1652018229000

4^th Easter                                                                                 05/08/22—Highland—Meute

“Familiar Voices”

Psalm 23; Acts 9: 36-43; John 10: 22-30

Pearl: Attending to the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Function: To commend listeners direct their keenest attention to the voice of Jesus, our Lord, similar to how we heed certain voices very carefully.

There are certain voices which can capture our immediate attention with stunning power. The mere sound of those voices can flood us with worlds of memories.

1. On Mother’s Day we can attest to the power of the voice of a parent. But there are many other voices which hold sway over us. The voices of mentors, spouses, siblings, friends, ministers.
   1. Often times we leave the recordings of loved ones on our voice mail messages and when we hear some of those voices, we can be moved in various ways.
   1. Maybe even the voices of animals turn our heads—dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep and goats.
      1. We know how well tuned their hearing is to our voices!
   1. The pastor of my youth who preached the most sermons had a New England accent. When I hear that accent, it holds a certain charm and it is through that accent that I first heard the Gospel.
      1. And then there is the voice of my college chaplain whose sermon tapes I still listen to occasionally. That voice brings back a world of familiarity.
   1. How about the voices of famed sports announcers: Howard Cosell, Jack Buck? Mike Lange of the Pittsburgh Penguins has many unique sayings which bring instant recognition.
      1. Some of my favorites are, “scratch my back with a hacksaw;” “Heeeeee shoots and scores!”
   1. We heed the voice of Alexa, don’t we?! And the charming voices of our GPS get us to where we want and need to go, if we listen and obey. These voices command our apt attention.
2. Familiar voices hold a lot of sway over us.
   1. The voice of Jesus held sway and it continues to hold sway to this day. As it surely should!
   1. One day Jesus was confronted by people demanding that he settle things once and for all about whether or not he was the Messiah. In responding to them he said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10: 27).
3. This is an important point. We need to recognize the true voice of the true Shepherd of our souls. Once we recognize it we then follow it and are continually changed and transformed by that voice.
   1. It is a figurative voice, for sure. But it is the real voice of Jesus to which we are called to listen.

Jesus is the true Shepherd of the church. There is only one shepherd in the church. Sometimes pastors think that they are the shepherds of their church. And congregants think that the pastor is the shepherd of the church.

1. Thanks to The Rev. Craig Barnes, the about to retire President of Princeton Theological Seminary, he pointed out in an article some years ago that pastors are more truly “sheep dogs,” rather than shepherds.
   1. Sheep dogs push, prod, nudge, and round up the sheep in the direction of the shepherd, but the sheep dogs are not the shepherd.
   1. So pastors are more “sheep dogs” than shepherds.
   1. Indeed, Christ Jesus alone is the Shepherd of the church. I really like that correction to a common misnomer.
      1. Feel free to scratch my belly, I am the “sheep dog” for the true shepherd, Jesus Christ!
2. It is striking how sheep will respond to the true shepherd.
   1. I drive my school bus by a farm every day and one pasture runs along a stream and right next to the road that I drive. There are often many sheep and goats in this field. One day recently, I was coming by slowly because it is also at a sharp turn in the road where the gate to the fenced-in pasture is situated.
      1. And I noticed that many of the sheep and goats were all congregated in groups and several rows deep looking intently at me. I had not seen them like this before.
      1. They were staring straight at me with expectation, and anticipation. They were clearly waiting for someone in particular. It must be their shepherd, or at least whoever cares for them. Maybe they lacked their usual food. Who knows but they were all congregated by the gate and looking at me as if at the same time saying, “Where is our master? You’re not him; you’re not her?”
3. Christ followers, disciples of Jesus Christ, listen for his voice. We look for his direction. We long for his wisdom. We even wait for his return like that flock of sheep that was standing at the gates the other day.

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.”

Now it must be said that there are competing voices for that of the true shepherd of the church. So Jesus followers have to discern the true and trustworthy voice of Jesus.

1. The Apostle Paul warned his young protégé Timothy about this type of discernment. In II Timothy 4:3 we read, “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away into myths.”
   1. We know that there are no shortage of teachers and preachers saying this and saying that, myself included. We have the sacred duty to weigh what we teach and preach and give our utmost to keeping it true to our shepherd.
      1. And you also have the duty to discern the true voice.
   1. The key is “you,” plural. The best way to discern is in community. This is why bible study is best in a group. Personal reading is good but the discernment comes through group discussion and reflection. It comes through theological discernment.
      1. It is serious work and a work that lasts your lifetime.
      1. This is why humility is required. We change our ideas and move onto greater maturity.
      1. We think we know a lot, but we have a lot to learn…the scholars included.
   1. Just be wary of those who think they alone, or their group alone, has the voice of Jesus.
2. And it certainly goes beyond words to genuine good works that testify to the true shepherd.
   1. Tabitha is a case in point. This dear, devoted female disciple of Jesus had died. Many people were grieving her death, testifying to how much she meant to so many.
      1. She was generous in her charity, especially to widows.
      1. The people summoned Peter to come quickly, I suppose to pray for her recovery. He arrived to find her dead. And she was surrounded by many of the widows she served. They were showing to each other the clothing she had made for them, weeping with feelings of love and loss.
   1. Peter prayed over her and she was revived. She lived again, thanks to God.
      1. Thanks to God not to Peter. Peter was the sheep dog, remember. He did not revive Tabitha. He only prayed, prodding the Lord to intervene.
      1. God revived her. And as the news of this miracle traveled, “many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:42).
3. We know the voice of the Lord Jesus as we see the fruits of the gospel of the kingdom evidenced.
   1. The poor are cared for; the oppressed are given relief; the sick are healed; wrongs are righted; the imprisoned are visited; the lonely are remembered; and on and on go the varieties of charitable and grace-filled actions which followers of the true shepherd carry out.
      1. These good works testify that we hear the voice of Jesus.

Another familiar voice can be some highly valued portion of scripture or hymn. Psalm 23 is a voice that most all know and recognize well.

1. This Psalm assures us that we can be secure in the Lord, who is our true shepherd. We love this Psalm because it gives us such peace and comfort.
2. Nonetheless, it at the same time recognizes that there are many dangers which surround us.
   1. There are valleys and shadows of death.
   1. There are enemies on the prowl.
   1. There is the presence of evil.
   1. As comforting a Psalm as this is, it recognizes the vital necessity that we follow the true voice of the true shepherd to be able to endure the perils of life.
3. It is constantly necessary to tune our hearing to discern the true shepherd.
   1. As a musician I have experience with tuning.
   1. My high school symphonic band director would spend as much as half an hour of rehearsal time tuning the various sections of the band before we began to play together.
      1. You are either right in tune, or you are a bit sharp or flat. There are things you can do to adjust your tuning.
      1. Followers of Jesus constantly tune ourselves; we tune our hearing, our vision, our thinking, every aspect of our being, so that we can discern the true voice of our true shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.”

God help the voice of Jesus Christ to be the most familiar voice to command our attention and obedience!