If The Lord is My Shepherd, What Then?

Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23

        I doubt there is any better known Psalm than the one that begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”  Our hymnbook has nine songs based on that Psalm.  Many of us know the 23^rd Psalm by heart.  I would suggest that if you attend any funeral in the next few weeks there is a very good chance you will hear this poem.  It offers hope, comfort and the reassurance that God is with us no matter the circumstances. We are the sheep, God is the shepherd.  So what are the demands of being a sheep?  In other words, if the Lord is my shepherd, what then?

        I figure there is no greater example of a people responding to God’s promises than the one set by the early church in the days directly after reports of the resurrection.  You know the story.  The spirit of God descends upon the Apostles.  They find incredible courage and begin to preach the gospel of Christ in the streets of Jerusalem.  People responded to this message of hope and redemption.  Thousands proclaimed Jesus as their Lord and savior.  And why not?  The preaching of the Peter and John mirrored the message of the Psalm.  “The Lord is your shepherd.  You shall not want. God will restore your soul.  God will lead down the right path.  When your way grows dark, you need not fear. God will be with you.  Even here in Jerusalem, in the midst of those who killed Jesus, God will prepare a holy feast.  You will be anointed as a child of God.  Goodness and mercy will follow you and you shall praise God for evermore.”  People heard this word of promise and they responded.  Against the reality of persecution and death, people flocked to hear the Apostles.  They openly professed Jesus as their savior.  They lived as if claiming Jesus as their shepherd meant really something.  

        This is the question that baffles me this morning. What does it mean to profess Jesus as Lord and Savior?  That seems like such an easy question.  Let me ask it differently. What does Christ want of us?  More and more I keep hearing folks only talk about faith in terms of it being the key to eternal life.  It seems to all boil down to the simple question, “Do you believe in Jesus?”  If the answer is yes, you get to go to heaven. If you are not sure, you might need fire insurance because those who don’t claim Christ have a future that is going to get awful hot.  Everything seems to hinge on the eternal question.  But is that all there is to faith?  Do we claim Christ only as an eternal insurance policy?  Isn’t there something else?  Shouldn’t the way we live our lives be a reflection of the trust we have placed in God? Shouldn’t our lives mirror how Jesus lived?  If the Lord is our Shepherd, shouldn’t we become a guide to the lost, the lonely, the confused and those who have lost hope?    

        How did Christianity evolve from a movement concerned with community to an institution focused on the individual?  A number of years ago I was doing volunteer work for an organization ministering to folks who had Aids.  In a period of three years I performed a funeral service nearly every month for young gay men.  Quite often the mother and father of the deceased would sit at the back of the sanctuary, too ashamed to be seated with the “family”.  After the service, they would catch me in the parking lot, always asking the same question.  “Did my son repent and accept Christ before he died?” 

        To avoid a difficult discussion in the midst of grief, I always answered, “Yes he did.”  Of course what I wanted to say was, “Why didn’t you ask him yourself?  Why did you treat him like a leper?  Why did you never visit him in the hospital? Why were you ashamed to claim him as your own?  Are you now willing to repent and live as Christ would have you live?  I am certainly willing to hear your confession before you die.”   Of course I never said that.  It would have been impolite, improper, rude.

        The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  But the problem is we do want.  We want to live without fear.  We want to be loved and/or respected.  We want good health, good neighbors, good children and grand children.  We want to reap the benefits of our labor.  We want life to be uncomplicated, void of drama, free of stress.  And sometimes we want everyone else to be just like us.  We want so much.  But have you ever stopped to consider what the shepherd wants of us? Again the answer seems so simple.  God wants our hearts. God wants our souls.  God wants our very being.  Nothing very complicated about that.  Why would we be here this morning if we didn’t love God?   But is that all the Lord requires?

        Imagine owning a large company.  You have built the company from ground level and the success of the company hinges on the people you hire.  An important position has opened and you have spent the better part of the month trying to find the right person.  What would you want of this new employee?  I suspect high on the priority list would be loyalty.  I suspect you would want this new person to be excited about the product produced.  I suspect you would expect the new employee to put in a full days work for the compensation offered.

        Is God any different?   What does God require of us?  For those of you who value the lessons of the Old Testament, the answer to that question is found in Micah.  God wants us to act justly, love kindness and walk humbly with God and our neighbor.  As I read the book of Acts, it seems that this is the way the early church responded to the resurrection of Christ.  We read, “They distributed what they had to all who had need; they worshiped together, broke bread together; they praised God with generous hearts.”     

        The early church celebrated the resurrection by discovering the wonders of Christian Fellowship.  We are told they went out, had a big garage sale and joined together as a community of faith.  They sacrificed their time and possessions for a cause greater than themselves.  They believed that God’s gift of freedom from death also meant a freedom from a lot of the earthly obligations that enslaved them.  They discovered the joy of community, the love that folks of a common mind can share, and the spirit that surrounds us when we live Godly lives.

        When I was a child, my home Church had a group called the Barnabas Club. Meetings were very sporadic.  We met after worship and the meetings weren’t announced until before the benediction.  There were no officers, no minutes, in fact, while I was a member of the club, I could only guess the names of the other members.  Every person who belonged to the Church was invited to join.  I am not sure how many did.  All I know is that if a meeting of the Barnabas Club was announced, my father would give me a couple of dollars and I would walk into the designated room, put the money in a basket, and leave.

        Where did the money go?  Only the minister knew.  When a situation developed during the week where someone in the community or the church family had a need, the Barnabas Club met.  Some needs were greater than others and occasionally the club would have to meet two weeks in a row.  Nothing was ever reported; receipts for tax purposes were never received; no names were ever mentioned but this small church felt blessed to have the opportunity to insure that a member of their greater community had been assisted.

        We as children of the living God have been given the gift of life today and life forever more.  We have also been given the opportunity to live this life as representatives of Christ.  The apostle Paul reminds us as God’s chosen we are to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  We are to bear with one another, forgive each other, love each other as Christ has loved and forgiven us.  We are to let the peace of Christ rule in our heart. Paul concludes by saying, “In all that you do, live life as a thanksgiving to God.”

        The opportunity to be someone’s shepherd is always there.  There are so many broken hearts waiting to be healed.  They are so many lonely hearts waiting to be recognized.  Our job is not to heal folks.  We are called to sit and pray with them until the healer arrives.  And Christ will come, often in a variety of disguises.  He comes as a shepherd.  He comes through a word of encouragement. He comes as we open our arms to the ones who have gone astray, and show them the way back home.

        The Lord is my shepherd. This is a declaration of praise and an acceptance of an invitation to be engaged in a holy vision. Take hold of God’s staff. Fear no evil. Wade in the redemptive waters of God’s grace……. today, tomorrow, and forever more.