The Lord Is My Shepherd

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“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Romans 4:1-4

Forward and Prayer

When Kong asked me to preach this week from the lectionary, I confess that I was not overly enthralled with the text. I read the scripture and did not see a strong connection in the verses or application of the lesson for the life of our church. So I prayed and let the Word reveal Himself. The following is what was revealed about the lectionary text since Monday’s call. I thank God for His revelation and pray that our church is blessed by today’s sermon.

Sermon Text

Abraham is described many ways in the Word. One of the most significant to the followers of God is found in Romans 4:15-16.

“For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”

Abraham is the father of us all; all those of the law and all those of faith. In light of this truth, we can learn much by paying close attention to the revelations concerning Abraham and Sarah’s relationship with God as revealed to us in Genesis 18.

God showed up to visit Abraham. Abraham recognized God. Then Abraham set about making God comfortable. Abraham asked God to stay if he was worthy to be in God’s sight. Abraham asked God to sit in the shade and allow him to bring water and wash His feet. Abraham asked God to allow him to comfort Him. Abraham then asked Sarah and a young man to help him prepare a meal of bread, butter, milk, and a fattened calf for God. He then offered the meal to God and stood by as He ate. Abraham served God and asked others to help him serve God.

At 100 years old, surely Abraham had many woes that he could share with God. Certainly he had aches and pains and sins that he could have asked God to consider and heal. But he did not petition God for his own needs. Abraham set about serving God and making God comfortable in his presence. He worshipped God with the best that he had to offer. Abraham was thankful to have God in his presence and bowed before Him and served Him.

Then God spoke and He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son." (Gen 18:10) Sarah was listening at the door of the tent and laughed within herself. It is interesting that in Genesis 17, Abraham also laughed at the proclamation of God that he and Sarah would have a child. Abraham thought that this was ridiculous because of his and Sarah’s advanced age. This event is found in Genesis 17:15-19.

“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’

Then God said: ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him…’”

Did Abraham doubt God? Did Sarah doubt God? Today’s scripture reading, the biblical story of the life of Abraham, and the revelations concerning Abraham from Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Old and New Covenant writers prove Abraham to be a man of God. He is the father of our faith. Abraham knew God was the only God and that He was his God, his righteousness, and his salvation. Throughout his life he worshipped God zealously, he trusted God for his needs, he petitioned God for understanding, and he followed God’s instructions. How could Abraham laugh at God’s promises and get away with it?

The “god” that many men teach and preach would not have cared too much for Abraham and Sarah’s response to His promise. In fact, Sarah lied to God and denied laughing when He asked her why she had laughed. Do you think that it is possible that God smiled when He challenged her and said, “No, but you did laugh!”. (Gen 18:15) The Hebrew word for Isaac literally means laughter! God’s response to Sarah teaches us the nature of God’s relationship with Abraham and Sarah and with us today. He is our loving Father. Thank God that he knows we are but dust. Sarah affirms this in Genesis 21:5 when she said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me."

Why did Abraham and Sarah laugh? What caused them to doubt God’s promise? Was it the realities, struggles, and truths of the temporal world in which we live? Was it the fact that a ninety year old woman cannot conceive and Sarah could not even conceive in her youth? Though we all know, trust, and worship God, do we allow worldly pressures to cause us to doubt that God is able to do what He promises; not as it pertains to salvation but as it pertains to our ability to do God’s will and have “offspring” for God’s Kingdom. What is our focus? Is it our own needs and desires or do we focus on the desire of God?

God’s desire is clearly revealed to us in His Word. Let us meditate on His desire as revealed in 2Peter 3:9.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

The Word is the record of God’s pursuit of man; first by promise and then by the blood of Christ. God does not want anyone to perish. Where do we fit in this declaration of God’s will? Are we sensitive to His presence? Do we hear His promises? Do we follow His call? Let us continue together in prayer in today’s scripture lesson and discern God’s desire and will for our lives and ministry. Follow Romans 5:1-8 and listen carefully to all of the things that we “have” or “know”.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Good news! We don’t have to die for ourselves. Christ died for us. Now He asks us to present ours bodies as a living sacrifice for Christ sake and for a lost world; to die to ourselves for sinners as He did first. God asks us to join the Son of God and help fulfill His will that no one perish. For our cup to run over to a lost world, we must stop trying to fill our own cup and trust Christ when He says that He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has filled our cup.

There is no doubt that Cornerstone UMC is a body of believers who love God, who serve God, who trust God for salvation, who worship God, who praise God for miracles, and who petition God for our needs and desires. Like Abraham, if Christ walked into our midst today, we would do everything in our power to make Him comfortable. Here is some more good news! He is in our midst right now. Are we doing everything in our power to make Christ comfortable? Do we listen to Him when He promises us that we will be blessed and grow? This promise has been revealed over time in many different ways to different people since the beginning of this church. Do we believe that we can survive and have “children” or like Sarah do we doubt our ability to conceive due to worldly pressures and realities?

We freely and openly receive Christ as our Savior. The question is do we receive him as our Shepherd? Christ wants us to reach out to a lost world. Are we so consumed with temporal pressures that we do not trust that God will sustain us and bless our church with children for the Kingdom? Are our temporal problems stronger than God’s will and His promises? Let us all pray in the Spirit together for answers to these questions.

The Gospel lesson today gives us our answer and direction. Jesus went about preaching and healing, but when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion. Jesus saw that they were weary and scattered because they had no shepherd. It is certain that Cornerstone has received Christ as our savior, but have we received him as our Shepherd. Though we meet together regularly to praise God, are we a multitude that is weary and scattered? How do we press on? Christ answer is found in His instructions to the disciples.

“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest send out laborers into the harvest.” Matthew 9:37b-38

First things first, we must pray for laborers. The Word instructs us to first find them in our own house. We must all come together in the sheepfold; one flock for the glory of God to do His will. Is it possible that we could meet together every week and praise God and know we are saved and not be following Christ as our Shepard? Are we a congregation of born again believers who, though we are a multitude, are scattered and weary? One thing is certain. When the Good Shepherd rounds up His lost sheep, He brings them back to the fold. The Good Shepherd leads the flock together. The sheep hear His voice. Before we go to “the Gentile” or “the Samaritan”, in our time the lost world, we must round up as many of the lost sheep as possible and receive Christ as the Shepherd of the flock.

After we allow Christ to be our Shepherd as one flock, then and only then can we go forth into a lost world and discern His call and His will. We cannot do this if we are scattered and weary. As the scripture says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” The kingdom of heaven is at hand and many do not know the risen Christ. Pray the Lord of the harvest will move us to come together as a flock so we can reach out to a lost world. Pray that His will that no one perish becomes our will. Pray that we stop trying to fill our cup and in the power of the Spirit we allow it to run over to each other and a lost world. This is the will of our Lord and Savior, our Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

It is fitting to close today with Psalm 23. Listen with your hearts and rejoice in the Word and the revelation of our Lord.

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

If we are truly born again, we know this Word in our hearts. We have all been to the green pastures and still waters. Our souls are restored! It is because of this truth that God will do the following and it is because of Christ that we can do His will without fainting.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

The Shepherd will lead His sheep by prodding them with His rod. If they stray, He will pull them back into the flock with His staff. The sheep may not like the rod and staff, but they are always used by the Good Shepherd for the good of the sheep. We must work together as a flock and hear the voice of our Shepherd to be prepared for the next challenge.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”

God will not remove us from our tribulations. In fact, quite the opposite, He uses our tribulations to build character and hope. Are we listening and learning? He protects us from enemies not by hiding us from them but by communing with us in their midst. God anoints us so our cup can run over for the sake of our enemies. Remember, God defines our enemies as those who do not believe Him. Romans 5:10 states that we were reconciled while we were still enemies of God and we are saved by His life. There is no such thing as an enemy in God’s flock. The saved are brothers and sisters in Christ and Christ is our very life.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Are we scattered and weary? The Good Shepherd will follow us because He says He will. Are we feeling the rod and the staff and resenting it? If it doesn’t feel good, do we deny that it is the Spirit of God working in our lives?

If we believe God, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. If we do not let our temporal problems plague us or scatter us, we will not laugh or scoff at the promises of God. If we start today and allow Christ to be our Shepherd, five years from now we will probably tell God that we did not laugh or scoff at His promises.

Genesis 18:1-15

Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant."
They said, "Do as you have said."
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, "Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes." 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
9 Then they said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?"
So he said, "Here, in the tent."
10 And He said, "I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son."
(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying,"After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?"
13 And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid.
And He said, "No, but you did laugh!"
NKJV

Romans 5:1-8

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6 Christ in Our Place

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
NKJV

Matthew 9:35-10:8

9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

10:1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying,'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
NKJV

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