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Christ is risen. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our text comes from this morning’s gospel lesson, especially verses 27 and 28. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” This is our text; you may be seated.
I thought it might be appropriate on this Mother’s Day to speak about voices. Now, not all of you are mothers, but I dare say all of you have or have had mothers, and there is something about the voice of your mother, isn’t there? No doubt your mother talked or has talked to many people throughout her lifetime, and many people have heard her voice, but to you, that voice was or is different. It has a different level of authority when you hear it. It sounds different. It means something different to you than it does to other people.
Whether that voice was heard to scold you or to praise you, it’s a voice that you know. And even if your mother is gone, it’s a voice that you remember. Jesus says in our text that his sheep know his voice, and upon hearing that voice, his sheep follow him. A voice of a stranger the sheep will not listen to. Of course, we people, we are the sheep, and Jesus is the voice of the Good Shepherd that we are to listen to and to heed.
So I’d like to do a little experiment with voices. No, I’m not going to make up weird voices for you. I’m going to read a series of quotes, and I want you to consider whether the voice speaking to you through that quote is the voice of our Good Shepherd or the voice of a stranger. Here’s the first quote: “I’m going to tell you something, folks. I didn’t stop sinning until I finally got it through my thick head that I wasn’t a sinner anymore.”
Next quote: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. God has already done everything he’s going to do. The ball is now in your court. If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe. You must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and over your family.”
Another quote: “Brother will deliver brother over to death and the father his child, and children will rise against their parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. In this world you will have tribulation. Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher.”
“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Scripture teaches that receiving Christ as your personal Savior does not necessarily make you a son of God, but if you choose to do so, the power and authority and right to do so is present. Just being saved does not make you a child of God. Only those who are willing to be led by the Spirit actually realize and manifest the sonship of God.
Or the last quote: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God—and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.”
Now if you hadn’t figured it out yet, every other quote was from the Word of God, and the other quotes were from those who Paul described in our first reading this morning when he said, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to the flock. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.”
There are a lot of voices out there in the world, a lot of voices vying for our attention. We are inundated with them on the radio, on TV, on the internet, in bookstores, on your friends’ Facebook pages. We can detect some of these strange voices fairly easily. For example, if someone was to come up to you and say, “Jesus is not a real person,” or “God doesn’t love you,” or “The Bible is a fake,” you would probably fairly easily recognize that voice as the voice of a wolf, as a stranger. Clearly, such theological wolves are not to be tolerated. We are instead to listen to the voice of our shepherd.
But what about those voices that are a little less strange? Those who maybe seem to use all the right religious words, or those who quote scripture out of context, or those who deal in half-truths. In the book of Revelation, the infamous beast that we’re all familiar with, whose number is 666, doesn’t come and attack from outside the world. He comes from within what the world recognizes as the church. False teaching from those who we see as spiritual guides is the most insidious kind of strange voice that there could be.
Consider groups that claim to be Christian. Some of these may knock on your door from time to time, yet they would not even be able to agree with you on the very basics of the Christian faith. They deceive many. Or the voices that I quoted above noted spiritual leaders from our own time and our own country. They seem to have some very religious sounding words and ideas, but when we peel back the veneer of their pretty smiles and their inflated bank accounts and hold up their teachings to the light of God’s Word, they are revealed to be what they really are: false teachers, strangers, wolves.
Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” So how do we know the voice of our Shepherd? How do we discern his voice from the voice of all those other voices out there in the world? I ask you to consider again the voice of your mother. How did you come to know her voice? It’s a simple answer: by constantly hearing it.
By constantly hearing the voice of their mother, children become familiar with their mother’s voice. Even within the womb, we’re told. Perhaps you’ve experienced being able to pick out your mother’s voice from a crowd. With all the other voices chattering about, you can pick that one out. It’s because you heard it so often that you know that voice. And it’s the same with our Good Shepherd’s voice. Through repeatedly hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd, we come to know it.
This voice is the true word of God in Holy Scripture, where we find the voice of the Shepherd. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, as St. Paul tells us. The Psalms tell us that God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. And Jesus prays to the Father on our behalf, “Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.”
God’s word, read and heard and proclaimed from the pulpit, gives us his voice. The more we listen to it, the more we immerse ourselves in that word, the clearer and better able we are to discern his voice from the other voices around us. God’s word to us is an incredible gift. As we grow in it, as we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest his word, we come to know more and more his will for us, how much he loves us, and how he has done everything to secure our salvation in Christ.
And what does that voice say? His voice tells us we are poor, miserable sinners in need of a Savior, wandering sheep in need of a shepherd. His voice tells us that Christ died and rose again to save us from our sin. His voice tells us, “My sheep follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
His voice tells us that God has called us by name in our baptisms and that we are his beloved children even now. His voice tells us that he continues to fight for us against our enemies of sin, death, and Satan. His voice tells us that he has prepared for us a place in heaven and that our names are written in the book of life. His voice tells us that we are to love one another as he has loved us and to proclaim his salvation to the nations as we baptize and teach.
His voice tells us that this is his body and blood, given for us for the remission of our sins. Through God’s Holy Spirit, we are able to discern that voice of our shepherd, able to cast aside the voice of the strangers and the wolves and follow where our shepherd leads. It is true there are many voices vying for your attention, and as you leave this place, you will hear some of them right away—voices of strangers that would seek to lead us astray.
But thanks be to God that we have heard the voice of our Good Shepherd, been led into God’s presence through our baptisms, and may we constantly be in his word, learning his voice, because he alone has the words of eternal life. In Jesus’ name, amen. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.