Philip Schofield was in a Scottish glen once. And he saw a shepherd and his dog rounding up sheep. They herded the sheep into an enclosure, forced them through a sheep-dip, and then released them again into the freedom of the open countryside. Sheep were handled this way in Jesus' day.
In John 10:9-10, Jesus says, " I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Jesus likens himself to a shepherd AND a gate (because that is what we call a door in outside places).
Have you seen the shape of the sheepfold? The fold included a stone wall, extending in almost a complete circle, and the gate is a gap, through which the sheep come in and go out. At night, the shepherd leads them into the security and safety of what is for them their "sanctuary." Then, as they settle down for the night, the shepherd lights a fire, eats a meal, and sleeps. He becomes “the gate” by standing and sitting in the gap -- protecting against intruders and keeping the sheep safe inside.
This is a simple message. Through Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd we can be saved, and with confidence and trust we can "go in and out and find pasture."
Jesus tells the judgmental self-righteous Pharisees that lost sheep and lost coins are like lost sinners. Jesus finds a sinner when he or she repents. Then God and all His angels rejoice. We are called to be repenting sinners AND to rejoice like God’s angels as Jesus continues to find others as well.
Kyle Matthew sang a song at last Tuesday’s 9/11 concert that reminds us that saints are sinners who still fall down, but they get up like found sheep. We become like valuable coins in the hand of God. “We fall down and God picks us up.”
Henri Nouwen says we are wounded healers who use the salve from our own God given bandages to heal others. We shepherd others as we are shepherded from outside the gates. We sinners draw near to Jesus Christ. He receives us and eats with us here at His table. And we celebrate as He has instructed in this lost-found-rejoice pattern of these and next Sunday’s “Prodigal Son” story. Our hymns for today remind us that: “The Voice of God is Calling” inside and side our church gates. Because we are saved sinners, we ask “And Can It Be That I Should Gain” God’s grace. “Come We That Love the Lord” let us find lost sinners, needing to repent, and help them consciously receive God’s celebrating forgiveness and grace.
It’s amazing how many church gates stay closed throughout the week – even on Sundays – even between church groups. That’s another reason why we have to remember that Jesus is The Gate, even if the Body and Bride of Christ doesn’t look or act like it sometimes. Our cultures inside and outside the church gates are reflected in scripture:
Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:12-17 how he celebrated his life as the chief of sinners, who had “blasphemed, persecuted and insulted Jesus Christ.” Paul was like many non-believers and even some professing believers, who “act ignorantly in unbelief.” While the church in Jerusalem was accepting only righteous Jews into the Church, Paul was outside their gates with the Goyim, the Gentiles, being found out and helping Jesus find other lost soul in the grace, faith and love of Christ Jesus. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners; but I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience for an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
There are still fools in today’s culture outside the church, who say in their hearts, "There is no God" (Psalm 14). They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. They don’t even try to do good. Jeramiah 4:22-28 says that people are foolish and stupid when they do not know God.
The LORD looks down from heaven upon all of us, His children, to see if there are any that act wisely and seek Him. We have all gone astray (Psalm 14) like lost sheep (Luke & John), because we have no light of our own (Jeramiah 4:23). We are all as corrupt (as a lost coin). There is none that does good, no, not one. Jeramiah paints a picture of our life without God’s preserving grace: “I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back (Jeramiah 4:23-28)."
The Lord says, “Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD? There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous (but there is none righteous but Jesus Christ). Without Jesus in our hearts, we would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is refuge for the poor and all who wander outside the gates of our church. Psalm 14 concludes with a special prayer, “O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.” And Jesus says that He is the answer to that prayer. Deliverance has come for Israel and their true fortunes are restored in salvation for all creation in Him. Not only Jacob, later called Israel; but all rejoice and are glad, because sinners are found and repent from their foolish ways without God.
Many churches refuse to reach out and use their wealth to draw in even those whom God may very well call foolish and poor. We here at Dexter choose to draw these lost ones in from outside our gates and to meet their special needs. We refuse to follow the temptation to build buildings away from “the fools and their poverty and violence” – so as to create a man-made “heaven on earth.” We remain so as to go outside the gates of the church, just as Wesley was drawn into ministry for the coal miners and brick makers of Bristol as well as the marginalized throughout England. For the love of Christ - We must cross the boundary of the church gates communicate the Gospel with people who look, smell, act, think, and even grow families and relationships different than we do. For the love of Christ - We continue to design and promote ministries that are based on the needs of downtown Montgomery, while celebrating the once-lost-but-now-found church members already inside the church gates.
Let’s read “Different Roads” by Stacy Hood and pray the closing prayer together:
“I saw a man today. He was homeless and alone. I saw a mom today. She was making it on her own. The world has turned, different faces, different races — People change. We may travel different roads. We may carry different loads. I may live here. You may live there. We may have families that we share. Our lives won’t unfold as images of old. Times have changed. I saw a boy today with his step dad, Mr. Ray. I saw a girl today makin’ two cards for Mother’s Day. The world has turned. Different voices, different choices — People change. We may travel different roads. We may carry different loads. I may live here. You may live there. We may have Families that we share. Our lives won’t unfold as images of old, But the common bond remains, God loves us all the same.”
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for our common bond that remains in Your steadfast love for us all. Thank You for still loving us the same. In Jesus Christ’s name through whose grace it is to share with the world, because You love us that much, Amen.
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