C, Easter 7 - Acts 16:16-34, Revelation 22:10-14 "Actions of Being"

A common misnomer in our thoughts these days is this: If it gets the job done then it’ll do.  This seems to be the bottom line in doing what one must do to survive.  Unfortunately, this type of rationale pays little to no respect for right and wrong.  In fact, one might be tempted to believe, if it gets the job done then it’s justifiable, no matter what the means are of getting there.

As Paul and Silas walked through Philippi on their way to a place of prayer each day, a slave girl possessed by a spirit, repeatedly but rightly points to these men as “servant of the Most High God!”  She was not wrong in what she said even though she was a noisy nuisance and others were making money out of her prophesies.  Surely this might be used as a means of doing God’s work; after all she was proclaiming the Most High God?

Surprisingly though, Paul tired and troubled by her daily ranting, turned and said to the spirit in her, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.  (Acts 16:18)

After Paul took this action, he and Silas were seized, flogged, and thrown into jail.  One would imagine they would have been sorry and sore.  But instead, they sat up singing hymns and praying past midnight.  Suddenly and unexpectedly an earthquake shook the prison, the doors flew open, and the chains came loose.

To the horror of the jailer, he awoke at the commotion, thinking his worst nightmare had come true.  Believing the prisoners had escaped he reached for his sword to end his life, but Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself!  We are all here!” (Acts 16:28)

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family. (Acts 16:29-34)

What must I do to be saved?  The question “what one must do?” is perhaps a very natural response for humanity.  The jailer faced death, because the prison had become unsecured under his watch.  He was frightened, humiliated, and his immediate response, before Paul stopped him, was to take his life.

In this account from Acts, we’ve just heard of two responses to two situations.  They seem to be knee jerk sudden responses, with little thought to what one must do.  The response of Paul and the jail keeper were natural responses according to who they were.  They were immediate responses from their beings, they didn’t have to stop and think what to do!

In the core of Paul’s being he was troubled by the spirit filled girl and, in an instant, he turned and cast out the spirit.  The Jailer was troubled in spirit too, and in an instant, he turned to take his life.  Both men acted according to his being, they acted as according to whom they were called to be.  The difference between them is this: Paul’s being was led by something or someone external, whereas the jailer’s being was led by his internal being or will.  And this was leading him to death.

The difference between the prisoners and the jailer doesn’t end there either.  In fact, ironically, the prisoners act as free men, singing hymns and praying, way after midnight; whereas the jailer acts as a prisoner and Paul needs to stops him from killing himself.  Then in desperation the jailer asks, “What must I do to be saved?”

As Christians, we often place ourselves back under bondage, as did the jailer.  Instead of our freedom in Christ allowing us to be who we are called to be, we get caught up worrying what we and others must do to be Christian – what we must do to be saved and save others.  However, “being a Christian” is exactly that, “being” rather than “doing”.  When one faces the question of doing — failure, depression, and death follow hot on the heels of our defective human deeds.  It’s not so much a question of “what I must do to be?” but rather, “my being in Christ allows me to do what he wills for me.”

From Revelation Jesus says to us, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.”  (Revelation 22:10-11)

Here we are told not to bind up the words of Revelation because the time is near.  In fact, Jesus is near; the Kingdom of God is near.  When Jesus returns to usher in his Kingdom, those who have appeared to be in bondage will be shown to be free while those who seem free, and bind others with their human judgements, will be bound in eternity.  Those whose being is dependent on what they do will reap their wage; their means for getting the job done despite God’s way, will be paid for in full.  Whereas those who allow God’s means to make them holy, so that their being is holy, will also get their reward.

Jesus continues, “12 Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:12-14)

We all must ask ourselves, “What have I done?  Am I doing what God wants me to do, or am I doing something else?  What must I do to be saved?  How do I wash my robes that I might have the right to the tree of life?” 

It’s at this point we must turn away from the deathly deeds of our own rationale and understanding and be continually drawn back into God’s word.  In fact, just like the jailer which Paul saved from death, we must be led away from meditating and trusting in our deeds, and our desire to try and put things right by our own action, lest we too die from our futile and failing deeds.

Paul and Silas acted according to their being.  They were not focused on what they must do.  If they had, they might have moaned and agonised over the actions causing their arrest.  They may have grizzled like victims, “what have we done to deserve this?”  But instead, they worshiped God with joy knowing their fate and suffering, was about who they were called to be in Christ, rather than what they had done.

Likewise, Paul and Silas acted according to their being, when the jailer pleaded, “What must I do to be saved”?  They pointed the man to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking God’s Word of truth and grace, so the Spirit could implant faith in his heart too.  So, in hearing this word, our crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus was planted in the jailer by the power of the Holy Spirit, as he and his family were baptised.  He no longer had to do anything to believe, belief and being were given as a gift, and the work of being a Christian, moved him to immediately cleanse the wounds of Paul and Silas, take them into his home and feed them, and live in joy that he had come to believe in Jesus Christ.

We like the jailer have been captured in baptism, so we might remain in Jesus Christ, receiving all the gifts of his deeds, living as free holy beings of God, who have a right to the tree of life.

The grace of the Lord Jesus is with us because God’s people have received the being of Jesus, through his gracious means of the cross and baptism.  And therefore, the last word in Revelation, the last word of the bible for us — is this:  The grace of the Lord Jesus “be” with God’s people.  Amen.  

C, Ascension of our Lord - Luke 24:49 "Clothed with Power from on High"

Luke 24:49 (ESV) “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Forty days after the Resurrection, the Apostles see Jesus ascend.  One minute he is seen, the next he is hidden. 

It might be easy to picture that Jesus is gone.  But he was not gone, just hidden.

The Apostles’ minds had been opened so they understood the Old Testament Scriptures, they would go on to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it would be written down for all generations to hear and see that Jesus is still present in faith but hidden from sight.

Today it’s hard to know what the Apostles would have felt seeing Jesus ascend.  They lived with the joy of his resurrection, but after the resurrection Jesus was present in a different way than when he walked and lived with them for three years on earth.  They knew all would be different.

We too face change.  Things are different today from yesterday, and tomorrow we can expect change too. 

Our environment changes constantly, as we also change.  Our knowledge changes with age, and so does our health.  People around us change, and expectations change too.

Keeping focus on God in the midst of change is challenging.  What can we learn from the disciples who witnessed the greatest change that God brought about since the beginning of creation?

Saint Paul speaks to the Ephesians about what they can expect from God in this change he has brought about, saying, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,  so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:11–13 ESV)

Paul includes himself with those who were the first to hope in Christ, proclaiming an inheritance and predestination having heard the Gospel and believed.

From this we can learn that the Apostles’ hope was complete trust in God, despite his ascension.  Paul goes on to pass on this hope, saying, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV84)

In our lives of change and aging we are easily distracted from the hope to which he has called you!  As death of routine, rituals, and perceived reality rolls on, the eye is drawn from faith, hope, and love to fear, death, and self-preservation of fleeting pleasures.

But the those who first witnessed Jesus ascend from their sight into heaven, went on to love many, live in faith, and be steadfast in hope despite being martyred for the Gospel.  How?

Their inheritance was the inheritance of the cross.  They knew what happened to Jesus would happen to them.  Faith would carry them to their death and hope would deliver them through it into the resurrection to eternal life.

And this inheritance was a seen destination prior to its reception.  They were pre-destined. They knew where they were going before they went there.  They knew Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life.  Finding the way had absolutely nothing to do with their knowledge of good or evil.

It was quite the opposite actually!  They did not find a way!  In fact, they were told to wait!  These weaklings who had deserted the cross, with minds opened to their weakness and God’s power at the cross, did as they were told by Jesus just before he ascended.

Jesus says, “behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 ESV) 

And so, they waited and then they were clothed with power from on high, as the Holy Spirit led them from Pentecost to the ends of the earth.  And you too as the Holy Spirit leads us to the end of this earth!

As things seem to change for the worse in our world.  Be clothed with the Holy Spirit!

Let him clothe you with faith, hope and love.

Let him clothe you with Jesus Christ, granting you a continual climate change within, tempering the tempest of a tumultuous heart, that’s tempted to lose faith in God, and place it back in fleeting pleasures that lead to hopelessness and coldness of heart.

Let the Holy Spirit lead you and bind you to the cross of your salvation, knowing fear will be replaced with faith, death will be overcome in hope, and the death of selfish pleasures will be replaced with steadfast love.

Jesus will come the same way he left.  This is promised in his word.

In the blink of an eye all will be overcome.  Clothed with the Holy Spirit we will see the bridegroom arrive.  And finally, the clothes of faith, hope, and love that covered our unchangeable sinfulness, will be uncovered to reveal the unchanging, eternal, naked glory of Jesus Christ, recreated in all of us.  Amen.  

C, Easter 6 - John 14:23-27 "Time Management"

A couple of weeks ago we heard how Christ having been raised from the dead, confronted Peter on the shores of Lake Galilee and asked him three times if he loved him.  And when Peter responded in the positive Jesus then commands him to feed and take care of his sheep and his lambs.  If you want to recount these events they can be read in John 21.

In the gospel reading today (John 14:23-29), also under the theme of love, Jesus tells his disciples and us loving God reveals itself in our trust and adherence to his Word.  Not only will one who loves God hear the word, but they will uphold or keep it.

So what is upholding God’s Word, in order that we can be reassured we are loved by God?  How can you be sure your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life?  What guarantee do I have I am being included in heaven’s eternity rather than in an endless existence outcast into a never-ending place of darkness and suffering.

The first thing we can observe is our time management regarding our relationship with God.  This time management is not what we do for God, lest we become guilty of trying to earn our salvation through what we do!  But rather, it comes down to how much time we allow God to do his thing in, with, and through us.  So we ask ourselves, “Am I allowing God access into my hearing heart to conform me to his thinking and will?”  Another way of saying this is, “Am I being still, actually stopping, to know and let God be God to me?”  Alternatively, “Am I so busy in my own mind and life, being god of myself, to let God be God.”

The sin of time is arguably one of the greatest deceptions these days.  People are too busy for healthy relationships with each other.  And even worse, we’re too busy to give God any access into ourselves.  We become so busy embellishing our relationship with ourselves; we have no time for anyone or anything else. 

Let me be clear!  This is the number one idolatry against God’s First Commandment where “I am the lord my god, and I will have no other gods other than myself!”

If we think this sin is worse out there amongst the pagans, I would encourage you to stop and take check of yourself.  This is one of today’s greatest deceptions in God’s children too.  We only need to seriously investigate where the glory trail leads to see we all fail in our time management and our time for listening to God and his will.

In Acts 16 we hear a peculiar occurrence as Paul and Timothy are guided by God not to minister in what we would now know as northern Turkey.  Rather than go into the Asian provinces of Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, and Bithynia, they passed by and allowed the Triune God to lead them into Macedonia, which today is northern Greece and modern day Macedonia.

Surely the people of these Asia Minor areas needed salvation too!  Paul and Timothy very well could have argued this way and gone there.  But with a love for God they placed themselves under his will and were lead elsewhere.  

Unfortunately today in the church, we act in a way which Paul and Timothy didn’t.  We give God’s will a shove and in its place put our desires, seeking to quickly put God in an ever shrinking box rather than giving God time to conform us into him and his will. 

This even happens where we get busy for God, because in doing what “I” believe to be God’s work I am not actually allowing God to be busy in me with his faithful way, truth, or life. 

Are you so busy doing “so called” godly things to let God be busy with what he needs to address in you?  You know!  The things you’d rather keep hidden!  You and I must answer “yes” because of our sinful self-centredness.

So, should we despair of being Christian and do as those who once sat beside us and abandon faith in God in favour of a faith in other things as do the pagans?  Should we give up as a myth having true peace?  Indeed, have we the power to find or hold onto the love of God?  Furthermore, does God love me even while things seem to be falling to pieces everywhere in my world?

Seeking answers in ourselves will lead us to despair.  Looking into ourselves is in fact the problem. You and I have no answers to save ourselves from death.  But rather, death comes to each of us because of who we are. 

Every part of our being is tainted by sin; our emotions and feelings, our understanding and thoughts, even our will and our godly works.  Because we are being bound to death in this life, every part of our earthly being is dying too.  We set ourselves up for failure every time we try to love and exist without someone disempowering the deadliness that pulses from our very desires and efforts.

The answer is with God; in allowing him time to do his will in you!  He seeks to do his heavenly work of forgiveness in you.  This involves digging out the sin, placing it on the cross, and setting you free from its oppression.  We all need to give time to God, to stop our headstrong selves, and let God do what God does.  So often we acknowledge what God does but don’t actually let him come near to do it.  We want God’s love but we don’t let him love us his way, with his truth, nor with his life – given in death, and raised in victory over sin and death.

Jesus, the Son of God, promises to manifest himself and his love in us.  In his work he reassures us that his Father is also our Father in heaven.  And because he knows we struggle with receiving and giving forgiveness, we so often succumb to temptations, and we continually need to be delivered from every evil under the sun, he sends the Holy Spirit to continually work in us to call, enlighten, and gather us as one holy church into Christ’s heavenly presence.

The Holy Spirit works in us enabling us to love God, to know we are loved by God, and gives us the ability to let the love of God shine in our lives when we uphold and keep his Word.  This means placing yourselves under his authority by hearing his Word, repenting in accordance with what the Law shows us we do wrong, and glorifying the work of Jesus on the cross over all things. 

So regardless of the testing times we face, we are continually turned to Christ in faith rather than being lead by unfaithful worry and doubt caused by the tests we face.

Give God time to do his work in you; to let the Holy Spirit teach you with the Word of God so the Word of God is empowered in you, so it can cleanse you from all sin and doubt and worry.  And so you hold it up with Christlike trust!

Let the Word of God work in you so the Risen Word, Jesus Christ, in all his glory can reassure and remind you he has done enough for your eternal peace.  Let God be the God of your time until it is time for him to take you out of time into eternity.

Jesus answers you, "If you love me, keep my word, and my Father will love you, and we will come to you and make our home with you. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.  And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:23-27 with my “you” emphasis)

Amen.

C, Easter 5 - John 13:31-35 "Love that Glorifies God"

John 13:31–35 (ESV)  When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.  If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.  Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus had just washed the feet of his disciples and revealed Judas as the betrayer.  The text before us today follows these events ending with the statement, “And it was night.” (John 13:30b ESV)

It was as dark as it could be.  Here, Jesus knows all will now take place according to the will of his Father.  He knew exactly what Judas would do.  He knew the mob would come when he was praying.  He knew what the Sanhedrin would accuse him of.  He knew what Pilate and Herod would say.  He knew what the Roman soldiers would do to him at the cross.  He knew Peter and all the disciples would be scattered.  He knew his death and descent into hell was forthcoming.

Knowing all of this he says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31 ESV)

In the darkest of times, Jesus announces that he and God the Father are glorified.  How are Jesus and the Father glorified?

Firstly, the sheer magnificence of this act of salvation is beginning to unfold.  Every Old Testament event prior to this one and every microbe of creation has been waiting patiently for this salvific event to occur.  This event will far supersede Noah’s salvation through the flood, or Israel’s rescue from the Egyptians through the Red Sea.

From the incarnation of God in the womb of Mary, the Son of God was born in the flesh of sinful humanity, was plunged in the Jordan by John the Baptist to fulfill all righteousness.   From there he walked in human weakness for forty days in the wilderness, tempted, but yet without sin.  Why? Because of the magnificent event that awaited him on the cross.

Secondly, the glory of God, concealed behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies, in the temple, was about to be brought out into the open for all to witness.  After three hours of darkness, all witnessed Jesus yield up his spirit as the curtain ripped in the temple.  After three hours of night in the middle of the day, the glory of God was released, and light shone on one who had kept the law perfectly, innocently, without self-interest, without a hidden agenda.

Knowledge of good and evil, was put right in the goodness of the guiltless Son of God, as he bore the evil of humanity on a tree, which would give humanity back its life.

Not only had all creation been waiting for this glory of God to shine, not only was Jesus born to fulfil the law and die under the law to release us from the law.  But now, thirdly, Jesus, gives us this glory to share with each other.    

However, these days are dark.  In fact, Jesus says many will be deceived in these dark days.  Many people, both pastors and parishioners, will be carried away from God, through doubt and deception as the darkness swirls all around us.

Just as it did in Jesus’ day, as he awaited the return of Judas with his accusers, we are called to trust Jesus in the same way in which he trusted his Father. 

Like Jesus we have knowledge of what will happen.  He tells us beforehand in his Word and sends the Holy Spirit to work endurance and perseverance within us as we share in his suffering.  We now turn our backs on a knowledge of good and evil and look to the knowledge of Jesus Christ found on the tree of life.

As we share Jesus’ weakness of being human, the Holy Spirit will work the faith required to show us evil in this world is sabotaged by the cross, as forecast in the Word of God. 

Because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can daily return to our baptism and in repentance wash ourselves of all partial and presumptuous sins, thinking we have to fix, only what God can fix.

It’s quite easy for us to fall into the trap thinking we need to fight God’s battles.  However, the truth is, rather than fight, we are called to stand and suffer as Christ suffered.

We are like, James and John, who after witnessing the rejection of a Samaritan town, were rebuked by Jesus after they asked, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9:54 ESV) 

Jesus does not need us to be his crusaders.  We have two thousand years of evidence where working for the greater knowledge of good, not only usurps the Holy Spirit, but actually champions the accusatory work of the evil one.

Returning to the text for today, instead of calling together a posse of zealous fighters, as the night darkened at his impending arrest, Jesus teaches, and he prays.  But he begins with a new commandment which is the text before us.

Knowing all that would occur he says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” 

He called them to love as he loved.  To serve as he had just served them in all humility washing their feet, even Judas Iscariot’s feet!

However, like Peter, we are just as lacking in our perception of what truly pleases God.  When push comes to shove, our pious works are short lived and not what God wants.  Our piety leads to cutting off the ears of those who need to hear the Gospel, leaving only Jesus to restore them.  And after we do this, like Peter, all our piety goes out the window as we end up denying Christ and fleeing.

Two thousand years, since Jesus gave this new commandment, Peter flees, and we too with him.  Yet Jesus saw this on the night when he was betrayed and even right now as we realise our own self-righteousness and guilt, Jesus’ words are just as true as they were then, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

God has been calling us to love one another as he has loved us for two-thousand years.  And yet we still struggle to know what love is. 

God struggles with us, to love us.  He also struggles within, so we love others the way Jesus has loved us.  We resist God the Holy Spirit when we exchange the work of the Holy Spirit with the presumptuous work of the human spirit, the old Adam.

Even with the best of intentions, when we desire to do God’s work, it’s not what God desires and he rebukes Satan within us, just as he had to with Peter.  Nevertheless, God is glorified, and so is Jesus, as he does this work of the cross within each of us. 

So how do we glorify God?  Especially when any glimmer of his light in these darkened times will alert the world, and the enforcers of its powers and principals bringing suffering and tribulation down upon us?

We love one another as Jesus has loved us!  We allow the Holy Spirit to work the good confession of Jesus Christ within us.  

This is the confession to the world that we are sinners being forgiven.  Not confessing in pride that we sin!  But that despite our sinful nature and the sin that bleeds from it, we have freedom to confess it.  This is, in fact, the greater works Jesus teaches we will do, in John fourteen verse twelve, which are greater than his works.

As truly confessional people, confessing sin, but also confessing his forgiveness of our sin, and our trust in that forgiveness, the Holy Spirit will bring others to seek that same forgiveness.  As we share the forgiveness with which God has forgiven us, then we will be truly loving others as God loves us.

This justifies Jesus’ death!  This justifies God’s magnificent plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.  This also justifies the work of the Holy Spirit and his being sent to us from the Father and the Son, to bring us in faith to the Father and the Son. 

Loving others as God loves us, we confess our sin to create freedom for others to confess and receive forgiveness.  And as we do, the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified.  Amen.

C, Easter 4 - Psalm 23:1-2 "A Shepherd without Want"

Psalm 23:1–2 (ESV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  How many times have we heard this first line of Psalm Twenty-three?  We have all heard it and said it many times, in Sunday services, at funerals, and we’ve sung it to different well-loved tunes.  The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want!

But how many times have we told ourselves when the desire to get something is strong, “I shall not want because God is my shepherd”? 

So often, the grass seems to be greener on the other side of the fence, so I sidestep the Lord, and stray off seeking what I want.

Want is desire, something sought, what a person seeks or is looking for.  What one wants is what usually pleases someone!  Want is interchangeable with the word, love. 

Wanting can be coveting or worshipping.  So the question goes begging, what gods shepherd one’s life?

Are my finances my shepherd?  When I’ve got money, does that satisfy my want? 

Are my friends or my family my shepherds?  As long as I’ve got them am I content? 

The thing that shepherds us is your god and my god, and this god is what you and I want.  The problem is, the gods we want most of the time, are idols that deceive us as we seek them.

In the twenty-third psalm it’s as if the Psalmist is proclaiming to his own heart, “Yahweh is my shepherd, because I have got him there is nothing that I want!”

Rooted beneath this much-loved line from Psalm Twenty-three, is the First Commandment, “I am the Lord your God, you shall not have any other gods.”  What does this mean?  Luther rightly teaches, “We are to fear, love, and trust God above anything else.”

Another good description of what a loving shepherd looks like, is what we believe God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, is and does, as our provider and protector.  The Small Catechism again teaches…

“I believe that God has created me and all that exists.  He has given me and still preserves my body and soul with all their powers.  He provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from day to day.  God also protects me in time of danger and guards me from every evil.  All this he does out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, though I do not deserve it.  Therefore, I surely ought to thank and praise, serve, and obey him.”

Like King David telling his heart to not want because the Lord is his shepherd, we confess to ourselves and each other that God has created me and all that exists, etc.

However, the only person to ever not want, is Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who truly looked to the Lord as his shepherd. 

Although King David wrote Psalm twenty-three or authorised someone to write it, the writer was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write down the word of God, which has its origin in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Jesus says of himself to the Jews who were looking for a preconceived Messiah for themselves, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,  but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.  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.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.” (John 10:25b–30 ESV) 

The Jews were looking for a Messiah like King David, and not to he who inspired King David to write the Psalms and lead Israel, all while submitting to he who was truly shepherding Israel through the shepherd boy anointed as King.

They did not want Jesus, the Lamb of God, to be their Messiah.  They wanted a zealot king to toss out the Romans, they wanted what  pleased them.  They wanted to be saved from everything else, but they did not want to be saved from themselves or their slavish wants.  Nor did they want the Romans to be saved.

The grass was greener on the other side of the fence, in oh so many ways!

The Jews did not realise the grass on their side of the fence was dead, because of what they had bound themselves to, what they wanted they had got in the past, and it had fenced them into a dead corner.  Now a shepherd had arrived to bring them and all nations to greener pastures and calm waters.  

Where was the grass greener?  Where they were, or where they wanted to be, or where this Messiah was seeking to lead them?

In the same way we confuse ourselves with what we want!  We double face ourselves, turning back on our tracks like a fox avoiding the spotlight, after devouring the landowner’s lambs.

But the Shepherd who desires us to trust him as our true shepherd, makes us lie down in the green pastures he wants us to lie in.  He leads us by his sustaining waters of peace.  Not to the pastures of our powers or pleasures, nor the surging temptations of seemingly progressive worldly human opinions.

Our Shepherd was the Lamb of God, who takes your sin away, when he took away the sin of the world on the cross.  But now this Lamb of God, is the Shepherd of God, who will guide to springs of living water that flows from the eternal throne of heaven.

Until we stand before that throne in heaven, our Shepherd causes us to lie down in green pastures on this earth.  Where he causes us to lay might not always seem green to us.  In fact, without faith, this pasture will seem dead to the hearts of sheep continually wanting a shepherd to justify what they want.

Here again Luther teaches in the explanation of the fourth petition  “God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all people, though sinful, but we ask in this prayer that he will help us to realise this and to receive our daily bread with thanks.”

These days the Shepherd of God sends his holy sheep dog to help us.  The Holy Spirit continually rounds us up and seeks to bring us back to our Shepherd.  We need this because we are continually tempted by many dangers.

In fact, we are in the great tribulation, and the great tribulation goes on within each of us, and around us, as the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit struggle with your human spirit, and all the idols luring us towards a false salvation that has no hope.

Yet as the battle rages, it has already been won!  In the bloody battle we stand with Jesus Christ in the victory, having been washed in the blood of the Lamb he now shepherds us in robes of his holiness and righteousness.

Look and see not what you want, but what you need and already have!  See your Shepherd on the throne in heaven, see yourself in eternity with him, having received him whom you wanted. 

And as you look forward to the victory feast, see to it that you remain in the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, by confessing your sin, and believing confessed sin is forgiven.

See with the eyes of faith as you hear of your heavenly celebration with the eternal congregation, who… “are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15-17 ESV)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; now and forevermore, Amen.