SERMON for the LAST SUNDAY of the CHURCH YEAR: November 23, 2008
"You Are a Sheep!"
You can hear this sermon as
preached from the pulpit here at Trinity by going
to http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=1109 and clicking on the MP3 link
therein.
Have a most blessed week in the Lord as His precious sheep.
Rev. Kurt Hering
Layton, UT
TEXT: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be
gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His
right hand, but the goats on the left.
"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world:
Matthew 25:31-34
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
You are a sheep!
Dear Christian, this is the Gospel message within the Gospel reading this
morning. You are a sheep.
You are a sheep because God has made you a sheep. At your Baptism, in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, God said, "Here I
am. Follow me. Be my sheep. I will take care of you for every day of your
life, just be my sheep."
To say you are a sheep is another way of saying that you are a disciple. For
disciples follow and live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of the
Lord. That is what Matthew 28:19-20 is all about:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age." Amen.
Yes, this is Jesus' command to His Church to make disciples, but it also
tells how to make a disciple, and therefore, it tells us what a disciple is.
A disciple is one who is Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. AND a disciple is one who is taught to observe, that
is to live or abide in, all things that Christ the Lord has commanded -- in
other words, everything God has spoken to us by His Word as recorded in Holy
Scripture.
In point of fact, this Baptism and teaching to observe is not two things but
one. Being Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit means to be given everything God has to give. When that water
trickled over your brow with the Words of God's very name, you became heir
to God's kingdom.
In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks of the day when that kingdom that has
already been given to you as an inheritance of faith by His New Testament,
will be given to you in full in the flesh.
Between now and that day of His judgment, you live in your Baptism as a
child of God by being taught all the things that God has given you in His
Word and by living in and according to that Word of God. And it is in your
Baptism, or better put, in God's baptism, that you, along with all the
brethren of Christ who share the baptism of God, that Christ is with you
always, even to the end of the age - that is even to the time of our Gospel
lesson today when He will separate the sheep from the goats.
From the moment the first drops of water touched your tiny (or not so tiny)
head, and God's Word was received through your ears by the proclamation of
the Gospel and into your heart by faith, until you take your last breath and
close your eyelids for the last time, Jesus is with you in your Baptism and
you are with Him as you follow Him by hearing and receiving all that His
Word has to give.
Simply put, in Baptism Jesus becomes your Good Shepherd and you become His
sheep. As a sheep you are all about listening and following the voice of
your Shepherd.
"And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice." [John 10:4 ]
Listening and following your Shepherd, you are a member of His flock. Even
though you don't see them, by hearing God's Word, the voice of your
Shepherd, you are gathered with all His other sheep, those of the different
pens throughout time and the far reaches of the earth. [John 10:16] As sheep
you are the brethren of Christ of whom He speaks in our Gospel. Living in
the Word with all the other sheep, confessing the truth in Christ that Word
brings, is how you are among those on His right hand who fed the hungry,
gave drink to the thirsty, sheltered the homeless, clothed the naked and
visited the sick and imprisoned. And because you are content with hearing
the voice and following the person of your Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you
don't even know that as you follow, you are doing the work of God.
In the 23rd Psalm we have a beautiful picture of the church, the sheepfold
of God and His kingdom on earth. For in it the Lord tells us what a sheep
does.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures; he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; he leads
me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, 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
runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
But Pastor, you protest, that didn't really say anything about what the
sheep does, it tells what the Shepherd does.
You are so right, dear Christian. You are so right. For there you have it!
Being a Christian is all about the Shepherd.
And you are a sheep!
The Lord is your Shepherd. The Lord is your Shepherd. The Good Shepherd.
That is who He is and what He does. You are His sheep. Therefore you will
never be lacking for any good thing, because He is here being your Shepherd.
Jesus makes you lie down in the green pastures of His Word and leads you
beside the still waters of His Baptism. You eat and drink in what He has set
before you -- because you are a sheep.
Jesus restores your soul by forgiving you your sin, He leads you in the
paths of righteousness by giving you His name and the works He has prepared
for you to do. You confess your sins and speak of His wonderful works --
because you are a sheep.
Jesus comforts you with the rod of His Law and the staff of His Gospel, the
means by which the great comforter, the Holy Spirit, brings you to
repentance and forgives you all your sin to create faith in you by which you
walk through this dying world with Jesus, your Good Shepherd in front, along
side and behind your every step - because you are a sheep.
Jesus prepares the table of His Supper by setting His resurrected body and
blood before you so that you can participate in His resurrected life, He
anoints your head with the oil of the Holy Spirit so that you will remain in
the faith that receives His gifts to overflowing. You eat of His body and
drink of His blood to give strength to your weak and dying flesh, you
receive His Holy Spirit to give comfort to your flagging spirit, and you
receive life - because you are a sheep.
The goodness and mercy of Jesus, the Son of God and your Good Shepherd
follows you every day of your life as His Holy Spirit pursues you with His
Word, and you dwell in the house of the Lord forever as Jesus dwells with
you by the Baptism He has placed upon you and the body and blood He has
placed within you. You live in the presence of God and have a seat in His
heavenly kingdom even now - because you are a sheep.
Pity those poor goats. The goats on Jesus left have none of this because
they are not sheep. They think they have done many good things, yet they
have not taken in Christ and did not recognize Him as the Son of God and
their Savior because they did not listen to the voice of the Shepherd. The
goats are always wanting because they have and desire no shepherd.
Goats do not lie down and feed in green pastures of God's Word or drink of
the quiet waters of Baptism because they are busy climbing mountains, eating
and drinking whatever garbage they come across. You are not a goat.
Goats do not have their sins forgiven or walk in the paths of righteousness
because they are too busy enjoying their sin and pretending to be righteous.
You are not a goat.
Goats do not have any comfort and are constantly driven by fear because they
are too busy trying to ignore, cheat, or beat death and have no desire to
hear what God would have them do or what He has done for them, they only
want to tell what they want God to do for them or somehow prove what they
can do for God. You are not a goat.
Goats do not eat at the table of the Lord and their cups are perpetually
empty because they are too busy fighting with God, spilling their cups as
they climb their mountains and fight their battles. You are not a goat.
Goodness and mercy does not follow goats and goats do not dwell in the house
of the Lord now, or ever, because they are too busy chasing evil, following
their own desires, and trying to build their own mansions. You are not a
goat.
No, dear Christian, you are not a goat. You are a sheep. You are baptized
into the One true faith. You hear God's precious Word proclaimed for the
forgiveness of your sin. You eat of His body and drink of His blood. By
these very things you have the anointing of His Holy Spirit, the salvation
of your souls, the presence of God your Savior, you dwell in the house of
the Lord forever, and you are among those at his right hand who will most
certainly hear Christ your King say, 'Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!"
Dear Christian, this is the Gospel of the Lord and you cannot hear it too
often...
You are a sheep! --
. . . In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
____________________________________________________________
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