Shepherd

Hello and good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, balcony. Yeah, balcony is representing this morning. My name is Mark, I'm one of the pastors. I wanna welcome you. So glad that you are here. Hope you had a merry Christmas and you have a happy new year.

You know, Kyle, I was thinking about your question. What's one thing I hope this year? I hope to catch as many waves as my fellow pastor, Kyle, in 2025. It's probably not gonna happen, but there's always hope. All right. We are so glad you're here and wow, yeah. This is the last Sunday of 2024 and it has been such a full year. It's hard to even keep track of all that's happened.

I mean, do you remember way back in February, the 49ers played in the Super Bowl and lost? Kind of a harbinger of things to come this season, wasn't it? Wow, oh well. It was always next year. But Summer Olympics, we had those. Those went well. Team USA came away with more medals than any other nation. It was very successful. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, absolutely. You can, USA.

Anyway, what else? Politically, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. Interesting year. Is that all I got to say about that? And if things weren't crazy enough, two weeks ago, a legit tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, California. Are you kidding me? No way. I could not believe when I saw the footage of this and wow, who knew that the apocalypse was gonna begin in Scotts Valley of all places? It seems like such an idyllic place.

Anyway, I think it's time for us all to just take a deep breath. What'd you do that for with me? Just say, ah. Ah, that felt good. All right, now we're just gonna focus in on what God has for us today and in the days to come.

All this month, we have been unwrapping the meanings of Jesus' names in the Christmas story as told in the Gospel of Matthew. And so far, we've unwrapped the names: Messiah, Jesus, Emmanuel, King, and today, Shepherd. Shepherd is a big word in the Bible. In fact, it appears in various forms over 200 times. Shepherd's kind of the emblematic, if you will, of the people of the Bible.

In fact, check this out. It's so loaded with significance that Israel's patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all shepherds. Israel's greatest leader, Moses, a shepherd. Israel's most celebrated king, David, a shepherd. So this is just kind of a, so much freight with it. And we're gonna see that today because last week, to kind of catch up, after Jesus is born, sometime later, Magi, or what we often call the wise men, they come and they're all over Jerusalem asking questions about where is this one who was born king of the Jews?

This gets King Herod all riled up. And so he pulls together his Bible experts and he's like, okay, so where exactly is this child going to be born? And their response comes to us in Matthew 2:5–6, kind of our central text. At least we're gonna springboard off this today. In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

So let's unwrap this name, shepherd. First thing of all is that if Jesus is our shepherd, that would make us his what? His sheep. His sheep, his sheep, not his bears, his lions, or his eagles, his sheep. Now, you just think about, yeah. Think about all of the animals that have been picked to be sports mascots. I've already mentioned some. All the predators are very well represented like the bears, the lions, the tigers, the jaguars, the sharks, the marlins, whatever that is, the ducks, the ducks. They're good, but the ducks.

And yes, even the banana slugs, they made the cut, you know, into the mascot kind of fraternity. But you're never gonna hear someone say, oh man, we're playing the sheep this weekend, man. They're gonna clean our clocks. Those guys are so tough, man. They just roll over everybody. It's not gonna happen. Because first of all, sheep are vulnerable, aren't they? Very vulnerable. They're equipped to eat, not to fight. And so they're easily picked off by wolves and other kinds of predators.

But they're not just vulnerable against predators. They're defenseless even against their own selves, if you know what I mean. I read this week that if a sheep ends up on its back, kind of gets stuck on its back, they call this a cast sheep right here. And this is a very dangerous situation for a sheep because its body cannot function in this position. It leads to a buildup of, well, how do I say this politely? A fatal gas problem. Yes, that will kill it unless the shepherd intervenes in time, gets it back up on its feet, kind of steadies it until it can walk on its own again.

And there's even more ways that sheep are vulnerable because sheep are very social animals. They have a flock mentality. And so they instinctively follow each other. And without a shepherd to guide them, they quickly wander and get disoriented. There are even true accounts of where, sadly, one sheep walked right off a cliff only to be followed by the rest of the flock. I'll spare you the gory details, but they need a shepherd.

In fact, I read one, his name is Ed Winton. He's a shepherd in Texas. And this is how it kind of sums up sheep. He says, "Sheep are just born looking for a way to die." Sorry, he's from Texas. But despite all this, despite all this vulnerability, sheep are also valuable. So much so, this sheep right here, this guy right here's name is Double Diamond. He sold at auction in Scotland four years ago for $490,000. Yeah, that's a lot of cash. I know.

That was a cheap laugh. This is bad. All right, I'm gonna stop. I mean, there's even a parable that Jesus tells about the value of sheep. You've probably heard it. It comes out of Matthew 18. Jesus tells a story about a man who has 100 sheep. One of them goes missing. And as the story goes, you know this, the guy goes, "No big deal, I got 99 more, right?" No, that's not how it goes. He leaves the 99 and he goes out searching. He will not stop until he finds that single lost sheep because every single sheep Jesus wants us to know is precious, precious to the shepherd.

And so when the Bible compares us to sheep, it's not a put down, not at all. It's simply saying something that's true about all of us in two different ways but are true at the same time. We are vulnerable. Life is uncertain. And we never know what may happen in a day's time. And no one is immune to this either. But we are also so precious. You are more valuable to God than you can even begin to imagine.

And it brings us really to three things that I would like to share this morning. Three things that the shepherd does for us. And let me tell you something. If you lock in on these things and you just let them kind of take hold in your heart, your mind, and it changes your perspective, it's not only going to bless you today, but it's going to bless and prepare you for the days to come here in this new year.

Because first of all, first thing I want you to know about our shepherd is that our shepherd protects us. He protects us. Now I'm not saying that nothing bad will ever happen to you. We all know better than that. But I bet you can think of a time or probably many times when you were in a situation that really could have ended badly, but it didn't.

For example, this past summer, my wife Lauren and I went backpacking and we were in a really cool wilderness area just spectacular. In fact, we spent our last evening there in this valley, pretty much had it to ourselves. If you want to know where this is, ask me personally because part of the pristine beauty of this place is directly related to the fact that most people don't even know where it is or that it even exists, but it's in the northern part of our state.

And on our last, we had an incredible time and then we're packing out the next morning and a couple hours into our trek and we're in a fairly densely wooded area when suddenly this big bear just runs right across in front of us across the trail, no farther than the people here sitting in the front row. And this was, I've seen a number of bears in the wild. This was a big bear. In fact, it looked like this when it went by. Okay, not really. It looked like this. Yeah. That's how I remember it. Anyway, I mean, seriously, it was impressive.

And I know you may have heard that René had an encounter with a mountain lion recently. He called it a sub-adult. I don't know if that means it's like adolescent mountain lion or something, not to be dismissive. I'm sure it was terrible and terrifying, but this was one big bear. And it even threw me a look when it ran running by, kind of ran off to our left and just kind of looks at me like, don't mess with me. And so fast.

Well, our situation got even more dicey when Laura turns to the left and goes, oh look, there's another one up there. I see this rustle of bushes and all of a sudden the head of a yearling cub just pops up like this, looking at us. So yeah, cubs on the left, we now know it's mom who has run off to the right, which puts us right where you do not want to be. And so I raise up my trekking poles and I kind of clack it and tell the cub, go away bear, go away bear. And it turns and runs away and we don't see mom. And so we just got a tiptoe down the trail.

For the next hour, I'm just doing this like every second. I go, where's mama? We didn't see her. Suffice it to say, I'm really glad and grateful to be here this morning, able to share this story with you. And when things end well for us, sometimes people will go, well, man, you lucked out. You were lucky. I don't believe in luck. I believe in God, a God who works mysteriously in our lives and he often spares us from painful consequences. I don't think just so much time, I think often he does.

But sometimes he does not. Sometimes we experience things that we never would welcome for ourselves or anyone else. But listen to me. Even when something dreadful befalls you or someone that you love, when Jesus is your shepherd, bad events are never final events. Let me say that again, because in the grand scheme, when Jesus is your shepherd, bad events are never final events. The story is not over.

And how is this true? Well, follow me here. Because Jesus himself said this in John 10, he said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Most of you believe that Jesus laid down his life for you. But not only did he lay his life down for us, but three days later, he turned his horrific crucifixion completely on its head. Because the cross, an instrument of just pain, death, evil, three days later became a symbol, the greatest symbol of hope and love ever.

Because through his death and resurrection, our shepherd defeated death and evil. And so the worst event in history became the best event in history. Now follow me here, because if Jesus can be glorified in his sufferings, I'm pretty confident that he can be glorified in yours and mine, you know what I'm saying? Bad events are not the final event. There is more in store for us.

And you know what this means? This means you do not have to live your life in fear, worrying about what might get you. You can live your life with confidence, hope, peace, knowing that your shepherd has already got you. He's already got you. I love how Peter puts it. He says, "Once you were like sheep who wandered away, but now you have turned to your shepherd, the guardian of your souls." Isn't that a great line? The guardian of your soul is still on the job. He never sleeps. Our shepherd protects us.

And secondly, our shepherd provides for us. Most of you know Psalm 23, or at least how it begins. The shepherd Psalm, it says, it begins like this. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." There's another version of that, another translation. It says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need." But I think you'd agree, we live in a culture that wants to exploit wants and needs in us, doesn't it?

Our culture's really, it's kind of calibrated against contentment. And that means that every catalog that arrives in your mailbox or every ad that you see, it is designed to make you want more, to convince you that you need more. For example, let me ask you this question. How would you fill in the blank here? I will be happy when, what? When I'm healed, promoted, married, single, own my own home, successful, rich, famous, have more stuff, get a degree, get a job in my field of interest, how would you answer that question?

And now let me ask you to consider this. What if that thing that you fill in the blank with, what if you never get that? Can you still be happy? And if you cannot, then I encourage you to think about who you have as your shepherd, or what you have as your shepherd. Paraphrasing Max Lucado here. He says, "You have a God who hears you, the power of his love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven and the world to come ahead of you. You have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every darkness, an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need." Do you believe that today, church? Amen.

And let me ask you something. What can take that away? Can cancer infect your salvation? Can bankruptcy deprive you of the riches you have in Christ? Can death separate you from the love of God? No way. Not when the Lord is my shepherd. Maybe you wonder sometimes, you go, you know, why would the Lord even want me as a part of his flock? I mean, I can be such a mess sometimes. I sometimes seriously wonder if I am worth the trouble.

And if you ever find yourself thinking that, I just wanna remind you that you're exactly the kind of person that the shepherd wants in his flock. And don't just take my word for it. In Matthew 9:36, it says that, "When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." He has compassion on those who feel harassed and helpless. Can anyone identify with that?

And by the way, his compassion isn't some kind of like mild sentiment, like, wow, that's a shame. I hope something good happens to that person someday. No, no. Let's just go back to Psalm 23 again. The first verse begins, "The Lord is my shepherd." The last verse begins like this, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life." And this word follow here in Hebrew is a bit stronger. It means to chase or pursue.

And so make no mistake about it. The goodness of God is not following you around like a puppy wanting to be noticed. It is pursuing you, it is chasing you. His goodness is urging you to see you, his role in your life, because it's your shepherd's goodness and mercy that allows your cup to overflow. That's the kind of shepherd that we have.

In fact, I would encourage you, if you haven't already, maybe take some time this week, and just the remaining days of this year, go for a walk or sit at the kitchen table, and just take inventory for a few minutes of the ways that your shepherd has provided for you. It will not take you long to be convinced that our shepherd provides for us. He protects, he provides, and finally our shepherd leads us. He leads us.

And the most winsome thing about it is Jesus doesn't force us to follow. He doesn't bully us. He doesn't coerce us. He gently and knowingly leads us. As Isaiah 40 says, "He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young." You know, I saw the power of this kind of leadership one time.

Some of you may recall, I told this story before, but some years ago I was pulling out of my driveway and I stopped to make sure traffic was coming up the street or not, and there were no cars, but there was like a full grown sheep just kind of trotting up the street, right? Coming right up towards my driveway, I'm thinking, "Wow, another day in Corralitos." I thought, "Well, someone should do something about this." And so I backed my car back into the driveway and parked it, and by the time I got out of my truck, the sheep is now both munching on and fertilizing my lawn all at the same time.

And so I thought, "Well, maybe it's into food. I can bribe it, get it to do whatever I think I want it to do here." And so I run in the house, I grab a carrot, and I quickly discover that sheep are as about interested in carrots as people are. So I was like, "Yeah, no thanks, pal." And right about that time, this couple that comes up the street from the direction the sheep came, they come up and they've got a dog leash in their hand, thinking that they're just gonna drape it over its neck.

But this sheep, it's an athlete. I mean, it's like, it wasn't running away, but it wasn't gonna let anyone touch it, especially the couple with the leash. And so it's just running around, bouncing back and forth and stuff like that. Very impressive. And yet their strategy was completely unsuccessful. And about that time, my next door neighbor, Lisa, she just walks out of her house like she's been taking this all in. She just walks past us and she just talks to the sheep, like she's some kind of sheep whisperer.

She's like, "Well, hello, are you lost?" And the sheep's like, "Hmm?" Looks at her like, "Lisa's an old friend or something like that." And while she's talking with the sheep, I look over at this couple with the leash and I'm like, "Pfft, nice try, come on." I didn't really do that, but I should have. Anyway, she just talks it down the driveway and down the street. She's like, "We need to get you home, don't we? Come on, you're fine." And it's just like, "I will go wherever you say." It was stunning.

And it was just, you know, the carrot wasn't gonna do it and the leash wasn't certainly gonna do it. It wasn't interested in her bribe. It wasn't interested in coercion. It was just interested in a soothing, welcoming, gentle voice. Jesus has something like this in John 10. When he says, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me."

And so as we wrap up here this morning, let's make this application. I wanna invite you to consider two questions. And the first question is this. Have I made the good shepherd my shepherd? Have you made the good shepherd your shepherd? And maybe you're here today because it's kinda kicking the tires of Christianity a little bit and you've been checking it out and you keep kinda coming back.

Or maybe you're here because you're visiting with friends or relatives and when they announced you were gonna go to church today, you were just too polite to kinda like say no. So you're here. But whatever the case is, perhaps you're hearing the voice of the shepherd saying, I love you. I would really, really, really want you to be a part of my flock. You are welcome. And so maybe today is the day that you simply say, yeah, count me in.

And if that's you, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do that in a moment. I would imagine most of us would say that we've been following the shepherd for some time, maybe for years or decades or something like that. But every so often, speaking as a fellow sheep, every so often we find ourselves kinda going in a direction that we know it's not really gonna do us any good, it's not gonna do anyone else any good, it's a direction. Eventually it's gonna reach a dead end.

But we put off some sort of course correction to some time in the future because it's just the way we are. And yet your shepherd has been faithfully saying, no, this way, let's go this way. That's gonna get you lost. Maybe today, today is when you go, okay. In other words, here's the question for most of us. Where is my shepherd calling me to follow him? What is it specifically? And be honest with yourself, just the privacy of your own heart.

And if you're struggling about either of the two questions, I wanna show you something. Look up at the screen here because there's a guy in Israel, he makes these little videos about life in Israel to help people kinda understand different parts of the Bible, kinda see what it looks like and what. And one day, completely unstaged, he deceased this sheep just wandering off by itself, away from the rest of the flock.

You know, they're back, the so-called 99 are back in the pen, they're safe, but this one, it just keeps wandering farther and farther away and it's gonna stay missing until the shepherd comes and finds it. And how do you think a shepherd's gonna act when he comes across this little guy? Well, I want you to watch this, I want you to see how he rescues this sheep.

The first thing he does is call out, he wants the sheep to hear the sound of his voice. So it doesn't need to be afraid. This is a beautiful scene.

(whistling)

(whistling)

That's what a good shepherd does. He's so tender and patient and do you realize this is how our shepherd calls us when we wander off? It's like the Bible says, "It's his kindness that leads us to repentance." Not his scolding, not his yelling, not because we think he's mad at us. He tenderly calls us to himself. He tenderly calls us home.

And so if you are hearing his voice today, I just wanna remind you, he loves you. You are welcome. In fact, he proved his love by laying down his life for you. What more could he do? And so today might be the day that in the area of life or your whole life, you come home to him. Let's go to him now in prayer.

And with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, just make this a private and sacred moment between you and your shepherd. And if you're hearing this right now, you're in this room or watching this and today is the day you say, "Lord, I wanna belong to your flock. I wanna respond to your call." Words aren't magical. It's just the intention of your heart. You can say something like, "Jesus, count me in. I believe you love me. I believe you laid down your life for me and that on the cross you took all my messes and my regrets and that died with you there. And yet you didn't stay there, you rose again. And so I follow you, my living Lord, my shepherd, the guardian of my soul."

And so if that's you, my friend, just know he hears that and he will follow up and he will begin to lead and guide and provide all the things we talked about today. And for those of us who know there's just need for course correction in our lives, that we're wondering or we're just kinda out on the periphery of the flock, kinda keeping everything at arm's length. Lord, for all of us who might be in that situation, would you draw us ever closer to you?

And may we say, "Lord, I wanna start this new year fresh and new and by your grace and through the power of your Holy Spirit, help me to follow through on the changes that I might need to make in my life." Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your grace. We thank you that you are with us, that you hear us and that you move in our hearts and lives. We pray these things in the name of our good shepherd, our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, amen, amen.