[Machine transcription]
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 or 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 has
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
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 heard when 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.
