“Be Faithfully-Devoted Sheep of the Resurrected Good Shepherd”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord [Amen.]
“Through the intervening ages
Round the world the Gospel spread:
Faithful heralds took the message,
Guided where the Spirit led;
So the body grew in stature,
Serving Christ, the living head.
“To each coming generation
Tell the truth, persuade, explain,
Till the time when time is ended,
Till the Savior comes again—
Till the saints are all united
Under Christ’s eternal reign!”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
828:3, 5)
First
Reading.....................................................................................
Acts 2:42-47 (esp. 42)
42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Prologue: Throughout this Easter season that consists of 50 days
including seven Sundays, the First Readings (which are usually Old Testament
Readings) come from the New Testament book of Acts. It was written during
the years 60-70 and its longer title is “The Acts of the Apostles” or “The
Acts of the Holy Spirit.” It’s actually a continuation of “The Gospel
According to St. Luke.” As such, it provides a Spirit-inspired report of
the development of the early Christian Church after our Savior’s
resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven.
Its author Dr. Luke, who was an historian in addition to being a
medical doctor, intended “to show how the Holy Spirit, working through the
witnesses of Jesus, caused the message of the Gospel to spread abroad, and
to record the effect of the preaching of the Gospel: [namely,] the
conversion of sinners; the founding of congregations; [and] the building of
the kingdom of God.” However, let’s be very clear about the fact that
“Jesus Christ is the subject of the apostolic testimony in the Book of Acts.
He sent His Spirit and the church was founded; He furnished the church with
the gifts it needed; He was seen by Stephen; [and] He met Saul and brought
about his conversion.” (Theodore Huggenvik in Your Key to the Bible: A
Presentation of Your Religious Concern with the Bible. Copyright © 1944
Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, MN. Pages 123f.)
With that in mind we realize that “this history is His story, the
story of the risen Christ, who sits at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty as the Head of His Church and through His Holy Spirit governs and
extends it.” (Christopher F. Drewes in Introduction to the Books of the
Bible. Copyright © 1929 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page
148.) Its simple purpose, then, is “To link the Gospel of Jesus and the
service of the 12 apostles with the missionary work of the apostle Paul.”
(The Lutheran Study Bible. Engelbrecht, E. A., Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2009
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 1828.)
Of course, the development of the Church in those early years had
its challenges and difficulties. The Christians then faced many of the
struggles and frustrations that we face today. Among those was the effort
to be unified in what it means to be the Christian Church.
Over a decade ago Kenneth O. Gangel identified the “Marks of a
Healthy Church” as the following five items which are printed in today’s
News & Information Bulletin: 1. “Healthy Churches Are Measured in Spiritual
Rather Than Numerical Terms”; 2. “Healthy Churches Follow Biblical Rather
Than Cultural Patterns of Ministry”; 3. “Healthy Churches Are Based on
Theological Rather Than Sociological Foundations”; 4. “Healthy Churches
Focus on a Ministry Model Rather Than a Marketing Model”; and 5. “Healthy
Churches Adopt Scriptural Rather Than Secular Models of Leadership”. (“Marks
of a Healthy Church” by Kenneth O. Gangel in Bibliotheca Sacra 158
[October-December 2001]. Pages 466-477.)
The newest “Handbook of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod 2013”
identifies the five functions of LCMS congregations as “worship, witness,
teaching and nurture, service, and support.” (2013 Constitution, Bylaws, and
Articles of Incorporation as amended by the 2013 LCMS Convention 20-25 July
2013. Copyright © 2013 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, St. Louis, MO.
Page 23.)
Our Synod Catechism states that, among other things, “God requires
Christians to worship together.” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation.
Copyright 1986, 1991 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 69.)
In addition, it informs us that “A. we should seek always to be and remain
members of the invisible church, Christ’s body, by sincere faith in Christ,
our Savior; B. we should be faithful to that visible church, or
denomination, which professes and teaches all of the Bible’s doctrine purely
and administers the sacraments according to Christ’s institution; C. we
should avoid false teachers, false churches, and all organizations that
promote a religion that is contrary to God’s Word; [and] D. we should
maintain and extend God’s church by telling others about Jesus Christ, by
personal service, and by prayer and financial support.” (Ibid. Pages 162f.)
All of that tells us what today’s First Reading described about
the early Christians, namely, …
“Be Faithfully-Devoted Sheep of the Resurrected Good Shepherd.”
This Sunday is the middle Sunday of the Easter season. Its
sub-title is “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the intention of which is to remind us
that Jesus alone is the Lord of His Church. And that’s where the problem
that plagues many congregations comes in.
You see, many Christian congregations of various stripes and
denominations (including our own) struggle with fragmentation as the result
of being attacked by Satan himself, his evil forces of the world in which we’re
living, and the sinful nature of all of us. In a simple succinct nutshell,
the problem is that the devil has succeeded in separating us from one
another and leading us into largely becoming individual persons and groups
instead of a united body that’s focused on and centered in Jesus Christ.
The solution is to honestly recognize and confess such; joyfully bask in God’s
gracious and merciful forgiveness for such; and by the Holy Spirit’s power
alone adopt and practice the five marks of a healthy church, structure
ourselves around the five functions of a congregation, and commit ourselves
to the four things through which the Holy Spirit will develop and maintain
spiritual strength within our congregation. That is, we need to commit
ourselves to …
I. Faithfully Unite Together As One Body. (43-45)
43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done
through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all
things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings
and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Okay, here’s the simple fact of our sinfully-individualistic
lives: we live by the attitude of selfish self-ceentered entitlement. That
means that, to either a lesser or greater degree, we have adopted the motto
that “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours I want to be mine as well … or at
least it ought to be.” After all, why should you have something I don’t
have? And if you do have something I don’t have … and I want to have it …
but I can’t afford it or honestly gain it without sacrificing or giving up
something, well, then you owe it to me to give me what you have.
The early Christians adopted a radically-opposite attitude and
lifestyle. There’s was one of “What’s mine is yours and what God has placed
into my management is not mine alone … but ours.” Their concept of
stewardship was, well, at least for the most part and with rare exception, a
concept of common ownership of all things without any one person or group of
persons getting overly wealthy at the expense of others. They were
committed to sharing their possessions and wealth with others so that all
might have a secure healthy life.
Three things motivated that attitude and lifestyle. They realized
and deeply believed that 1. God Himself actually owned everything (since He
Himself had created all things); 2. He placed material goods into their care
for them to manage in His behalf and according to His will, and 3. Jesus
Christ had given His all for them. That is, Immanuel had liberated them
from the bondage of material possessions by crushing His and their
arch-enemies—Satan, the world, and their own sinful selves—with His own
self-denying self-sacrifice on Calvary’s cross. They possessed and
practiced a God-pleasing attitude of peaceful unity and concord instead of
self-centered fragmentation and separation.
Dearly beloved children of the one and only Heavenly Father, that’s
why families are falling apart, society is disintegrating, and congregations
including our own are struggling at best and crumbling at worst. The
divinely-ordained attitude of self-sacrificial oneness has fallen victim to
the devil-designed attitude of fragmented individualism. Okay, now that we’ve
identified the problem and the solution for it, let’s …
II. Faithfully Praise God By Gladly and Generously Serving Others.
(46-47)
46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their
homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their
number day by day those who were being saved.
Praise for God is simply acknowledging, admitting, and confessing
that He is God and, as such, He is Creator of and Lord over all things. To
give Him the adoration, glory, and honor that He rightly deserves is only
good, right, and salutary. It’s our sanctified response to Him for His
self-denying self-sacrificial rescue of us from sin, Satan, and death itself
about which St. Peter wrote in today’s Epistle Reading, “He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying
like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your
souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25 ESV)
It’s our sanctified response to Him for His gracious gifts of
forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life that Jesus won for us on Calvary’s
cross and secured for us with His resurrection from the dead. It’s our
sanctified response to Him for His comforting and reassuring means of
grace—His Holy Word and His holy sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper—through which He comes to us and by which He abides with us. It’s
our sanctified response to what Jesus Himself said in today’s Gospel
Reading, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that
they may have life and have it abundantly.” (St. John 10: 10 ESV)
“Glad and generous hearts” characterized those early Christians
who came together both in large gatherings in the temple for divine worship
and smaller gatherings in their homes to share with each other what God had
given them—both material and spiritual blessings alike. In both settings
and activities they practiced unity and harmony—not separation and
competition. They sought to care for and build up the forest instead of
giving greater attention to certain individual trees themselves or groves of
trees at the detriment of others. They energetically attempted to see and
care for the whole body instead of unequally caring for one or some parts
while neglecting one or other parts.
Their sanctified stewardship of the resources God had placed into
their care by providing for one another caught the attention of people
outside their faith circles. As they did so the result was “a continuous
procession of individuals who, one after another, accept[ed] the offered
salvation and [were] incorporated in the saved community.” (The New Bible
Commentary: Revised. D. Guthrie & J. A. Moyer, Editors. Copyright © 1970
Inter-Varsity Press, London, England. Page 976.) The question that
proceeded from their desire for unity and dominated their determination to
attain oneness was not “What can we do to build up our individual tree or
grove of trees?” but “What can we do to build up the forest of trees of
which we are only a part?” They certainly did so praying in their own way
what we prayed in today’s Collect, “grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we
hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and
follow where He leads.”
In conclusion, therefore, although [tomorrow/today] is Mother’s
Day, allow me to speak directly to us fathers at this time. Fathers, we are
the God-ordained shepherds of our families. God gave us the
responsibilities of guiding, guarding, directing, protecting, and providing
for our families.
At the same time (now a word of Mother’s Day tribute to you
mothers), due to many and varied situations and circumstances you mothers
are frequently, like Eunice and Lois in the life of Timothy, thrust into the
position of “picking up the slack” when fathers are absent or negligent or,
as is most Biblically correct, assisting them in the care and welfare of
your children. In a real manner of speaking, you are the God-given glue
that often holds the family together. For that we compliment and thank you
and beg God’s continued blessings on you.
Indeed, may we all follow the wonderful example that you mothers
often give of what it means to …
“Be Faithfully-Devoted Sheep of the Resurrected Good Shepherd.”
May we do so in grateful response to what today’s Gradual declared, namely,
“Christ has risen from the dead. [God the Father] has crowned him with
glory and honor, He has given him dominion over the works of his hands; he
has put all things under his feet.” (Ps. 95:1-3, 6-7a; antiphon: St. John
10:14, 15b ESV) And, may we do so as we …
I. Faithfully Unite Together As One Body. (43-45) In his devotion for
July 2 entitled “The Fellowship of Believers” the Reverend Mark Jeske wrote:
“It … isn’t good for people to be isolated. He made us to be social
creatures. He also created the concept of the Church because it is not good
for people to be in spiritual isolation.
“Satan has an easier time picking off the strays. Left to
ourselves, we can get lost, consume things not good for us, and fall prey to
any one of the thousand or so temptations that the devil has found
successful in destroying people’s bodies and souls.” (Mark Jeske in Time of
Grace: A Devotional Companion. Copyright © 2010 Time of Grace Ministry,
published by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 197.) “Living
God’s Word as well as learning it; sharing common faith as well as joy and
woes, needs and opportunities; unity in Christ and joy in his salvation; and
prayer which is an expression of believers’ unity and devotion to the
apostles’ teaching” (Richard D. Balge in People’s Bible Commentary: Acts.
Copyright © 1993 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Pages 36f.) are
all ways of achieving and living the togetherness that’s vitally necessary
to avoid separation and fragmentation. After all, “Every one of those
divine activities builds up people’s faith and spiritual strength. Every
one is a gift from God, intended to be enjoyed by a spiritual family.” (Mark
Jeske. Page 197.) So, let’s …
II. Faithfully Praise God By Gladly and Generously Serving Others.
(46-47) Let’s do so because, as today’s Introit hymn said, “The King of
love my shepherd is, Whose goodness faileth never; I nothing lack if I am
His And He is mine forever. Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in
love He sought me And on His shoulder gently laid And home rejoicing brought
me.” (Lutheran Service Book. 709:1, 3.)
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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