Shout the Good News; Jesus shepherds His flock.

 

Sermon for 2^nd Last Sunday, November 15, 2020

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Isaiah 40:9-11  ⁹Get up on a high mountain, O Zion, you herald of good news.  Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, you herald of good news.  Lift it up!  Do not be afraid!  Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”  ¹⁰Look, God the Lord will come with strength, and his arm is ruling for him.  Look, his reward is with him.  The result of his work is in front of him.  ¹¹Like a shepherd he will care for his flock.  With his arm he will gather the lambs.  He will lift them up on his lap.  He will gently lead the nursing mothers. (EHV)

Shout the Good News; Jesus shepherds His flock.

Dear friends in Christ,

            I last preached on this text thirteen years ago, and I began by noting how all the news of that time was bad news.  That year, there was a continuous stream of disasters with seemingly no end in sight.  Last year, again, we were eagerly looking forward to the new year so that we could put the struggles of 2019 in the rear-view mirror, but I don’t need to remind you how much fun 2020 has turned out to be.

The truth is, every year has its hardships and trials, because even in the best of times, our world is afflicted with the curse of sin, as St. Paul noted in his letter to the Romans, “For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:22)  In Isaiah’s time, Israel too was experiencing a disastrous situation, and it would get much worse before it got better.  The people of that nation likely thought God had abandoned them, but the truth is, they had walked away from the Lord who loved them, which Isaiah duly noted, saying, “We all have gone astray like sheep.  Each of us has turned to his own way.” (Isaiah 53:6)

Because the whole world walked away from the loving God who wants only to make things right again, one might wonder whether God might simply decide to destroy our rebellious race and start over, but that is not the way of the God of love, so here in our text, Isaiah looks forward to the future and to God’s plans for the resolution of all the problems this world faces.  The message of this text for us is Shout the Good News; Jesus shepherds His flock.

The nation of Israel was God’s chosen people.  They were to be a beacon of light for all the world.  Unfortunately, they often fell far short of that goal.  Afflicted with sin like everyone else, they too so often walked away from God to serve idolatrous inclinations.  It is sad to say that we in the church sometimes struggle with the same faults.  We too have at times forgotten to be lights in this dark world.  We let the troubles of our days lead us to wonder about our futures, and sometimes we imagine that the future is in our hands or subject to the whims of fate.  Certainly, sin afflicts us like everyone else.

Yet, the command given to God’s chosen people continues likewise for us, Get up on a high mountain, O Zion, you herald of good news.  Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, you herald of good news.  Lift it up!  Do not be afraid!  Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”  The city of Jerusalem along with the mountain of Zion represent, in our times, that kingdom of peace that Jesus has established for us.  It is in that refuge of peace that we will enjoy life forever.

Now sometimes, it might seem like joy will come to us only in heaven, but truly, we have peace and joy even in the worst of times, because we know what Jesus has done for us and the gates He has opened for us.  Thus, the Christian Church is ever to be shouting from the heights that there is a Savior and that He comes to the world in this place bringing peace with God. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t require one to be a priest, a pastor, or a called apostle to let this Good News guide our days.  No matter our vocations, trust in Christ Jesus should dominate our lives.  Knowing that Jesus lives and that He grants forgiveness and salvation to all who believe in Him should remove all our fears about life in this world.  Again, Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman congregation, “What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  Just as it is written: ‘For your sake we are being put to death all day long.  We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35-37)

Having been granted the victory over sin, death, and the devil, we have the command to show love to our neighbors principally by sharing the Good News about Jesus.  Of all the things we have to do, and granted the work of our earthly lives is important for the good of all, the most important thing we can do is point to Jesus saying, “Here is your God!”  And of course, many of our times would argue that Jesus isn’t their God, but the fact remains that apart from Christ there is no earth to live on, no air to breath, no food or family or any other good thing.  The Lord provides for the wicked and the good.  Therefore, His is God for all whether believed in or not.

Israel was told, “Look, God the Lord will come with strength, and his arm is ruling for him.  Look, his reward is with him.  The result of his work is in front of him.”  Seven hundred years before the Son of God took human flesh into the Godhead with His incarnation in the virgin birth, Isaiah reminded his people that God was coming into the world to save them and to save us. 

Jesus came with a strength that was unrecognized in the world.  Certainly, His miracles did not go unnoticed, but His greater strength lay in His humility and weakness.  When Paul prayed for relief from some ailment, the Lord replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)  For you and me, likewise, weakness is a good thing.  We cannot cure the world’s ailments or the persecutions of our enemies by militaristic might or by our own hands in fight.  Yet, trusting solely and completely in Jesus, and in His care for us, yields the perfect ending—life in heaven where there will be no more suffering, sorrow, or death. 

Jesus perfected this weakness on our behalf by living as a man with no wealth, no army, no rebellious bands waging a guerrilla war, and not even a humble home in which to lay His head.  Rather than demand the honor He was owed as the Son of God, He came only to serve, and Jesus expressed the strength of His complete and perfect weakness on our behalf by trusting solely and completely in His Father above.  Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s commands in our place, then as our Good Shepherd, He gave His life so that we would live, and even as He hung on the cross after suffering the pains of hell for the sins of the world, Jesus continued humbly submitting all things to God above crying out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)

Jesus’ “reward” and the “result of His work” is the believers He has won for salvation.  Not only did Jesus live, suffer, die, and rise again so that we might be His own and live with Him forever, but as the resurrected Lord of Life, Jesus continues to work all things for those who follow Him, and for those who yet will. 

Isaiah wrote, “Like a shepherd he will care for his flock.  With his arm he will gather the lambs.  He will lift them up on his lap.  He will gently lead the nursing mothers.”  What a beautiful picture of the Shepherd’s gentle care.  Though the world is against us and rejects our Shepherd, He continues to provide for all.  Especially for His flock, Jesus guides all things for our everlasting good.  Through the power of His Spirit in the Word, He resuscitates believers from the stone-hearted walking dead.  Though we couldn’t choose Him, God chose to give us life.  More than that, having given His life to rescue us from the curse of death, Jesus gives His body and blood in a simple supper of bread and wine to nourish and strengthen our faith, reminding us again and again of the forgiveness and life that is ours through Him, putting His immortal flesh and blood as life-giving medicine directly on our lips and tongues.

Starting with the apostles hand-picked and personally trained by Jesus, the Word has gone out throughout the world to gather in His Father’s chosen children.  So many times, this requires a special care.  When the lost lamb is surrounded by savage wolves, our Shepherd comes to the rescue, picking up that lamb by the power of His love, carrying him or her close to His heart through these trying times to a place of refuge and peace.

As you can imagine, a new-born lamb isn’t ready to travel the rough spiritual terrain so common in our world, but Jesus will never abandon those He loves.  Likewise, the picture of the nursing mother, so often so involved in the care of her lambs that she pays no attention to the dangers around her, but Jesus is there to gently lead her with her children to the perfect pasture where no danger can trouble them ever again, so “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Thus, the prophet cries out to me and to you, just as to Israel, “You herald of good news.  Lift it up!  Do not be afraid!  Say to the [world] (cities of Judah), “Here is your God!”  May our whole lives ring true to this grace that through the humble sheep of Jesus’ flock, the world may see the God of Love.  Have no fear of the troubles of this world, dear friends, no matter how loud Satan’s prowling wolves may howl.  Boldly go, not cowed by the troubles, sickness, and pain of this life but confident that your Shepherd has all things well in hand for your good. 

None of this means we don’t do our ordinary jobs or fail to take reasonable precautions for our health and that of those around us.  Rather, it means we go forward through every trial, danger, temptation, and fear while showing love to our families and neighbors with full confidence in the forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life that is ours through faith in Christ Jesus, that we sing for joy in the face of hardships and trials, rejoicing for the peace that is ours both now and forevermore.  Then with every breath we take, and for every moment we live, through any trial, hardship, sorrow, or pain, we will Shout the Good News; Jesus shepherds His flock.  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.