A Living Hope for Lost Sheep

1 Peter 1:19-25 On this Fourth Sunday of Easter we have before us one of the most beautiful images of Jesus in the Bible:  the Good Shepherd. 

We speak those words that have comforted God’s people for thousands of years:  The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.  And we sing those beautiful hymns that speak of all our Good Shepherd does to care for us.  Good Shepherd Sunday has always been a comfort for the people of God.

But it is also a challenge.  The fact of the matter is, we do walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  We do stray like lost sheep.  We are pretty helpless against enemies greater and more powerful than ourselves. 

If we are to claim Jesus as our Good Shepherd, if we are to be comforted by the promise that we are part of his flock, we also have to claim to our status as sheep:  weak, defenseless, prone wander and yet called to follow in his steps for he is the living hope for lost sheep.  The Bible says that:

This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.  For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

            These words were addressed first of all to servants and slaves—the least of all people in the Roman world.  These slaves had become Christians and now their earthly lives had gone from being difficult (because they were already slaves) to almost unbearable (because they were Christian slaves in a pagan house). 

When you think of Christian slaves in the Middle East today and you get some idea what their lives were like—and yet Peter says that they are to endure and do good in the midst of it.

Thanks be to God that none of us are slaves and yet all of us live and work in a world that does not share our Christian values.  All of us are subject at times to those people who do not share our faith and commitment to Christ. 

Maybe we work for a boss who is not a Christian.  Maybe we have to do business with people who do not have our same morals.  Maybe we attend a school where everyone around us is saying and doing things that are opposed to our faith in Jesus. 

More and more that is the world we live in and that is certainly the world our Christian children will live in.

And so then, how are we to live as members of the flock of the Good Shepherd in a world that is hostile to our faith?  Are we to live one kind of life when we are around our fellow Christians and then go along with the unbelieving world the rest of the time?  Of course not! 

Peter says that if we live like the world in doing evil and we suffer for it, there is no credit in it forus.  That is simply getting what we deserve. 

Instead, the Christian is to endure unjust suffering and even do good in the midst of it because this kind of life is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 

For those early Christians slaves and for us sitting here today, that is a powerful motivation to endure and do good in the of injustice, knowing that we are living our lives IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.  And so then…

When we walk the halls of the high school and hear language and see things that would make a sailor blush, we are not alone—God is watching.  When we have to work with people who ridicule our faith and call into question our most deeply held beliefs, we are not alone—God is with us.  When we have to live in a country that has lost its moral compass and turned its back on God, we are not alone—God is working to strengthen our faith and witness. 

In all of these situations where our life with Christ comes up against our life among unbelievers:  God is watching- and God is with us- and God counts it a gracious thing in his sight when we endure hardship and do good in the midst of persecution. 

The fact of the matter is, that is exactly the kind of life that we are called to live as sheep of the flock of the Good Shepherd.  Peter says:

To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

            To THIS you have been called:  injustice on account of your faith; endurance in the face of opposition; good deeds for those who mistreat us—to THIS you have been called.

That is the real truth of the Christian life and it stands in absolutely stark contrast to what so many believe about their life with God—that it is a life of ease and comfort filled with every material blessing. 

No!  To THIS you have been called:  endurance and persecution and outright opposition.  And why have we been called to this kind of life?  Because Christ suffered for you.

Why on earth should we expect that our life as a disciple of Jesus would be any different than the life of our Savior?  When Jesus called his disciples to follow him, he said:  take up your cross.  He wasn’t kidding or exaggerating!  Take up your cross!  Take upon yourself this instrument of death and follow me into death.

We are called to lead a life of patient endurance and loving service to our enemies, doing good to those who mistreat us, because that is the life Christ lived for us and we are to follow his example and walk in his steps.

The word that our Bible translates as “example” originally referred to a writing pattern that a student would then trace in his own hand and in this way learn to write.  That is what Christ is for us:  he is the pattern that we are to follow as closely as possible so that we would learn to walk in his steps---so that his life would be seen (as closely as possible) in our lives.

And so then, what does the pattern of Christ’s life look like as we face our own share of the cross in persecution and hardship and opposition on account of our faith in him?  The Bible says that Jesus:

committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

            When we face hardship and difficulties for our faith, it would be the most natural thing in the world to respond in kind—to lash out and fight back and to give to our enemies as good as we get from them.  But that was not the way of Christ.

He did not return insults for insults.  He did not curse those who cursed him.  He used no guile to undermine those who plotted against him. 

In the face of injustice and opposition and hardship and even death, he lived a holy life and he calls us to the same.  He says:  Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Jesus lived this life-- and he calls the members of his flock to live this life-- knowing that there is a God who is watching over us, a God who is with us in trials, and God who ultimately works justice—even if we can’t see it right now-- and oftentimes we can’t!

It is the height of injustice for Christian girls to be carried off as slaves in the Sudan.  It is the height of injustice for Christians to be murdered and their churches destroyed during Holy Week.  It is the height of injustice for Christians to be ridiculed and scorned for continuing to believe what every person has always believed up to the present:  that life is precious and marriage is sacred.

But these injustices will one day be reconciled by the God who has already begun his restoration of the world in his Son Jesus.  The Bible says that:

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.

            When we face hardships and difficulties in our life of faith; when we wonder if we can endure opposition to our faith (to say nothing of doing good to those who mistreat us!) we must remember the love and mercy that God has already shown to us in Jesus.

We too were once part of a world opposed to God, we too were outside the flock of the Good Shepherd, and yet he loved us and took upon himself our sins and carried them to the tree of the cross.  His wounds have brought us healing. 

And all of this for a purpose:  that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  The word “that” in the original denotes purpose.  Here’s the point: 

Christ has taken our sins and healed us by his wounds for a purpose:  that our lives as sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd would be different than they were before—when we were lost in sin and unbelief--different than the world around us: that we would be people with a living hope in a living Lord because we have been born again through his living word.  Amen.