The Voice Of Command
Sermon
From Dusk To Dawn
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Each of us has one. Each of them is different and distinct. It
is called the voice. When we pick up the telephone we can
recognize the voice of a friend before they give us their name. A
friend calls out in a loud voice for her son to quit playing
baseball and come to the table for dinner. The tone of Robert's
mom's voice means that the first grader needs to get home pronto!
RCA's famous logo pictures a dog listening to an old Victrola.
Underneath the graphic are the words, "His Master's Voice."
In an election year voters carefully listen to the voices of
candidates to decide who can best command their attention and
lead the nation into the future. Voices are vital if
communication is to occur.
The people of our Lord's day lived their lives without hearing
or seeing one commercial on radio or television. Their culture
was, nevertheless, "oral." The vast majority of Israelites could
not read or write. They learned from listening to the voices of
their leaders telling them in which direction to head. One of the
most important voices in Israel belonged to those hardy,
hardworking he-men who served their villages as shepherds.
Everyone who owned sheep in a town would place them under the
care of a shepherd hired for the task. The shepherd
would be responsible for all of the sheep who were owned by
different people. At nightfall when the sheep came back to the
village, they were all placed in a communal sheepfold which was
protected by a stout wall and a sturdy door. Only the chief
shepherd was given the key needed to open this door. The shepherd
was entrusted with the feeding, sheltering and health care of the
sheep in the flock.
Sometimes in good weather the shepherd would not bring the
flock back to the town when the Middle Eastern sun dropped into
the western sky. Instead the sheep would be quartered in
sheepfold pens built in the fields where they roamed. These pens
or sheepfolds had only a wall and an opening. They had no door.
The shepherd had to protect the sheep by stretching his weary
frame across the opening into the sheepfold. He was "the door."
It was up to him to protect the sheep with his life.
Jesus told the crowds that he was the good shepherd. There are
two words for "good" in Greek. The word he uses in our passage is
"kalas." This word means that Jesus is an excellent shepherd who
will not permit any harm to come to his flock. Jesus is the door
for our flock. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of us all.
How do we as Christians respond to the voice of our Good
Shepherd? We do so by opening our ears to the God who is always
there calling us to follow him on the gospel road. Old Faithful
geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupts hourly, shooting
gallons of water 130-150 feet in the air. You can count on Old
Faithful to perform. Every church or club has folks who are "old
faithfuls." These are the people who see that the work is done
well and faithfully.
Jesus is ever-faithful, ever-vigilant, ever-present to guide
us on our pathway through the perils, tears, fears and cheering
moments of life.
When the explorer Marco Polo returned from his long journey to
China, he told of the wonders he had seen and the splendid cities
he had visited. His stories were so grand, many of his friends
thought they were but the mythical tale spun from
the loom of Polo's vivid imagination. Marco was accused of lying.
While expiring on his deathbed, a priest bid him to repent of his
lying. Polo replied, "I never told the half of it."
We have heard the voice of command spoken to the community of
faith. We have heard our Lord call us to renounce Satan, pick up
our crosses and follow him. We have heard our marching orders to
go and tell and do the gospel for others. We don't do enough as
disciples of the King. But we can do something. We can tell
others the old, old story of Jesus and his love.
Hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Follow him to heaven. An
old hymn sings:
I look to heaven and long to enter in
... how dare I hope to stand
In the pure glory of that holy land?
It is the voice of Jesus that I hear
His are the hands stretched out to draw me near.
We hear our Good Shepherd and we follow him with faith. We
know that in the difficult uplands of trial, the bleak valleys of
grief and the "dry as dust" routines we sometimes endure, he will
carry us over the chasm to the other side. The voice of Jesus
stills the voices of fear with faith. His voice bids us to raise
up and live. His voice speaks from beyond death's door with the
glad good news, "I am the resurrection and the life."
A Jewish legend explains that at the endtime the faithful will
have to cross over a valley walking on a golden thread which
leads to God. In case the faithful falter, the legend says, a
guardian angel will pick up the person and carry him to the
safety of God.
Jesus knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He is
the Good Shepherd. It is his voice we hear, follow and trust. The
Lord is our Shepherd.
is called the voice. When we pick up the telephone we can
recognize the voice of a friend before they give us their name. A
friend calls out in a loud voice for her son to quit playing
baseball and come to the table for dinner. The tone of Robert's
mom's voice means that the first grader needs to get home pronto!
RCA's famous logo pictures a dog listening to an old Victrola.
Underneath the graphic are the words, "His Master's Voice."
In an election year voters carefully listen to the voices of
candidates to decide who can best command their attention and
lead the nation into the future. Voices are vital if
communication is to occur.
The people of our Lord's day lived their lives without hearing
or seeing one commercial on radio or television. Their culture
was, nevertheless, "oral." The vast majority of Israelites could
not read or write. They learned from listening to the voices of
their leaders telling them in which direction to head. One of the
most important voices in Israel belonged to those hardy,
hardworking he-men who served their villages as shepherds.
Everyone who owned sheep in a town would place them under the
care of a shepherd hired for the task. The shepherd
would be responsible for all of the sheep who were owned by
different people. At nightfall when the sheep came back to the
village, they were all placed in a communal sheepfold which was
protected by a stout wall and a sturdy door. Only the chief
shepherd was given the key needed to open this door. The shepherd
was entrusted with the feeding, sheltering and health care of the
sheep in the flock.
Sometimes in good weather the shepherd would not bring the
flock back to the town when the Middle Eastern sun dropped into
the western sky. Instead the sheep would be quartered in
sheepfold pens built in the fields where they roamed. These pens
or sheepfolds had only a wall and an opening. They had no door.
The shepherd had to protect the sheep by stretching his weary
frame across the opening into the sheepfold. He was "the door."
It was up to him to protect the sheep with his life.
Jesus told the crowds that he was the good shepherd. There are
two words for "good" in Greek. The word he uses in our passage is
"kalas." This word means that Jesus is an excellent shepherd who
will not permit any harm to come to his flock. Jesus is the door
for our flock. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of us all.
How do we as Christians respond to the voice of our Good
Shepherd? We do so by opening our ears to the God who is always
there calling us to follow him on the gospel road. Old Faithful
geyser in Yellowstone National Park erupts hourly, shooting
gallons of water 130-150 feet in the air. You can count on Old
Faithful to perform. Every church or club has folks who are "old
faithfuls." These are the people who see that the work is done
well and faithfully.
Jesus is ever-faithful, ever-vigilant, ever-present to guide
us on our pathway through the perils, tears, fears and cheering
moments of life.
When the explorer Marco Polo returned from his long journey to
China, he told of the wonders he had seen and the splendid cities
he had visited. His stories were so grand, many of his friends
thought they were but the mythical tale spun from
the loom of Polo's vivid imagination. Marco was accused of lying.
While expiring on his deathbed, a priest bid him to repent of his
lying. Polo replied, "I never told the half of it."
We have heard the voice of command spoken to the community of
faith. We have heard our Lord call us to renounce Satan, pick up
our crosses and follow him. We have heard our marching orders to
go and tell and do the gospel for others. We don't do enough as
disciples of the King. But we can do something. We can tell
others the old, old story of Jesus and his love.
Hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Follow him to heaven. An
old hymn sings:
I look to heaven and long to enter in
... how dare I hope to stand
In the pure glory of that holy land?
It is the voice of Jesus that I hear
His are the hands stretched out to draw me near.
We hear our Good Shepherd and we follow him with faith. We
know that in the difficult uplands of trial, the bleak valleys of
grief and the "dry as dust" routines we sometimes endure, he will
carry us over the chasm to the other side. The voice of Jesus
stills the voices of fear with faith. His voice bids us to raise
up and live. His voice speaks from beyond death's door with the
glad good news, "I am the resurrection and the life."
A Jewish legend explains that at the endtime the faithful will
have to cross over a valley walking on a golden thread which
leads to God. In case the faithful falter, the legend says, a
guardian angel will pick up the person and carry him to the
safety of God.
Jesus knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He is
the Good Shepherd. It is his voice we hear, follow and trust. The
Lord is our Shepherd.
