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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Beautiful, angelic voices it was good to hear on this Good Shepherd Sunday where we celebrate and accentuate the very relationship that our Lord Jesus talks about with us. We are His sheep; He is the Shepherd. And the sheep and shepherd relationship implies many things of which we need to be reminded regularly because sheep are also very stubborn, willful, and like their own desires rather than necessarily the lead of the shepherd.

We live in a world (and we have to remember this) that does not understand the Christian faith as you and I understand it. The world sees this as moralism. The world views what goes on here as another way of infusing morality into the population. But that is not what your or my faith is all about. That is not what is taught in our school here. That is not what has made up part of the work of these two ladies and several others that we're going to accentuate and highlight this morning. It is Christ crucified and risen for all. The undeserving are the only ones for whom He died for there were none who were deserving. But that is not how the world views itself.

So we have to get that understood that from the get-go, there is a marked difference of point of view of reality between the world and us. That is why our Lord spoke very clearly when He was questioned. "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You're the Christ, the Messiah, tell us." "I told you, and you do not believe." Because what differences between us and the rest of the world is faith in a God who sent His only Son who died and rose again and faith in something else…moralism, the goodness of man, some other vaporous truth that is not true.

Now the reason this is so important is did you hear what Pastor read from the first reading? Paul had been preaching to a whole host of people and in a world that's a lot like our present world. The Roman Empire in which Paul was preaching is a lot like our world where moralism, though there may have been a cloaked view of it, was cast to the wind. It was hedonism at its best scattered about. There has always been hedonism. It's just been hidden by self-righteousness or openness…one of the two.

But when Paul left, he said, "I know that after my departure [meaning his death] fierce wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock." That makes sense to us. If there is this differentiation between us and the world, then the world wishes to scatter us because what we're proclaiming is at odds or at variance with the world. We're proclaiming there is only one flock. There is not a whole bunch of flocks and a whole bunch of shepherds who are all working in concert doing different things, but it's all going to come out in the end okay.

We believe there is only one flock, and there is only one Shepherd. Either we are listening to His voice and are a part of His flock, or we are not. The world looks upon that (and rightly so), "Well that's exclusionary, and we can't have exclusion in this world! All should be the same, and all should be equal." Yes, we are. When Christ died, He did die for all. But as the Pharisees got confronted with “not all believe”, that is what marks you as different as one of God's sheep. You are different.

It is the next statement, "And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them." That has been the way of the Church since. Why are there schisms? Why are there multitudinous numbers of Christian churches in this world? Because there are a multitude of different points of view on Scripture and on truth. What is your Shepherd telling you?

That raises that famous statement, "There is no truth. There is no absolute truth." Well if there is not absolute truth, then the words "I love you" from your loved one mean nothing, does it? Because love isn't absolutely true from that person's lips all the time. Catch as catch can? Enjoy as you can? You and I crave and demand absolute truth in a relationship. Your Shepherd has knit you in to such a relationship where you lean upon and demand and can live nothing but by His truth that "I love you as My sheep."

However, in this world of which you and I have been called apart from, that's why we are here. We are called apart from this world that does not gather here and does not wish to hear what this is all about because they are not a part of the flock. You and I have been called apart as sheep of His flock not to sit here and relish the great truths we've been given and to go about our weekly tasks unencumbered by what that means because you and I have been given a great gift. As sheep, you've also been given the gift of being a shepherd.

Now it seems kind of a big thing to grasp, but think of it in simpler terms. You as a shepherd were first given that gift the moment you came to faith. Though you may not have seen yourself as a shepherd (which is sometimes thought of as being someone who is above and over someone else), being a shepherd really means to serve because the Shepherd serves the sheep, doesn't He? Our great Shepherd serves you and me.

Since you were a little boy or a little girl and you came to faith, you have been a shepherd. You've been serving others with this good news about Christ. But not all the people with whom you hung out as a little kid believed what you believed. What a marked contrast that must have been. All of us have experienced. We have come into contact with another kid, and you're thinking that what you're speaking about Jesus and about what He did for you and how He died and rose again isn't speaking another language but speaking something that should make sense! But not all people believe it, do they?

Then we get older, and we're a little more reticent about sharing this faith. This being a sheep that we are being served and loved by the Shepherd, we're a little bit more quiet about it because we don't want to offend. It's not yours to offend. It's Christ's to offend, but not you. You are to show and proclaim what it is you are all about. Now mind you, what you and I are all about is not moralism or how to live a good life. It's about being put to death and rising again. It's about having been baptized into Christ and dying with Christ and rising again with Christ. That's what it's about.

That's hope, and that's joyful, and that's pleasing to the ear because every human being in this congregation as well as everyone outside of this congregation has come into conflict and into a great problem when we come into contact with ourselves. The very thing I desire to do I don't end up doing. That's not common only to Christians mind you. It's common to all people. The difference between a Christian encouraging and strengthening having been gone through that conflict and someone who is not a part of the flock is … forgiveness. Unmerited, undeserved forgiveness.

That's why Paul said, "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace." He does not say, "I commend you to God and all the commandments He has given you. I commend you to God and all the rules you must follow. I commend you to God and all the things you must do to prove yourself." None of that! He says, "I commend you to God and to His grace, which is able to build you up, not tear you down, and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified, made holy [past perfect tense]." That's what it's like to be known.

But now having been known in such a manner, we're used to a world that communicates to us in a very flamboyant and loud manner. We're used to advertisements that are in your face on the radio, loud and proclaiming what you need to buy, how you need to buy it, when you need to buy it, and all kinds of things. We're even into commercials that you get done watching the commercial and go, "That was about a car tire? Some stupid killer whale coming out of the back of a vehicle, and that's about a car tire?"

Jesus will not do that to you. He will not nag on you like maybe your mother or father did. He will not nag on you like maybe your husband or wife will. He is not a nagger. Few people in this world say what they mean and mean what they say and can do so with love. Your Lord does when He speaks to you. But having not nagged you, you have to realize He will not communicate to you the way the world does. He is communicating to you right now in this manner and form. And this will be the way He communicates to you. It will not be in a nagging form, flamboyant, packaged in any way or form. It is the way the Shepherd speaks, and His sheep listen to His voice.

Those who are not His sheep hear it, and it goes in one ear, out the other. That then raises that question. Having been known in such a manner as you have been known by your Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, as Paul said, we must help the weak. You do not help the weak by telling them what to do to be stronger. That's a fallacy. It's like telling a man who has no legs to sprout legs and run like the rest of us. It's insane. To help the weak is to tell them about the same dysfunction and handicap that you have just as they have…sin.

And the one solution and the only solution for such a sin as you and I have is to be cleansed and healed, to die in Christ and rise again. It is not about working harder and trying again. It is about confessing and being forgiven, acknowledging our sin and receiving forgiveness and affirmation of being known as His sheep. Where the wolf comes in from outside the world is the same as how it springs up from within the flock, moving our attention away from that truth to something else, something other than the One who has died and rose again. And we must die in Him and rise again, the One in whom we walk and live by faith.

When Jesus said, "You do not believe because you're not a part of My flock," that is at one hand a condemnation and at the other hand an invitation. That is what we do for the weak. Satan wants us to think of it in terms as only a condemnation. Your Lord wants you to think of it in terms as being an invitation. You are the poster child to what God can do in a sinner's life. That is what you and I share with others. That is what our teachers have been teaching our children in this school for over a hundred years. That is what you as parents were taught and they before them and so on because the Christian faith is far beyond, far beyond, just this time and place.

Its truths have been proclaimed since this was spoken. That's why in each generation His sheep hear His voice. Nothing will keep His sheep from Him. "I know them, and they follow Me," He says. That's a comfort as you and I share this Christ with other people, inviting them. That is a comfort for Christ says, "I give them eternal life. They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand." It's good to be known by such a God as that. It is good to be known by our Shepherd who serves us, who says there is always a place at His supper table for us to feast upon His gifts of forgiveness and salvation. In the Shepherd's name, Jesus, the one and only Shepherd, Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting, Amen.