The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, July 12^th
Am 7:7-15
Ps 85:8-13
Eph 1:3-14
Mk 6:14-29

The Shepherd’s Voice – Sermon Audio

In each of our readings this morning we see people who were called by God, for a specific purpose. Today we will look at how and why God calls people into service and what are the risks involved in speaking out on God’s behalf. Are you dying to live?

We start with Amos from the book of Amos, one of the first books to be named after the prophet who headlines the book. We see in this story that Amos is a farmer, a herdsman, and dresser of sycamore trees who prophesies to the king that the people of Israel are going to be “laid waste”, the high places will become desolate, Israel will go into exile.

Now this is something I don’t want to hear about my country. Amos in fact is from Judah, the southern country where King Uzziah reigned, but he goes north to Israel, the northern kingdom where King Jeroboam is king to voice his prophesy or talk about his visions. (C 750 – 749BC) We see here that Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, the king’s prophet does not like what Amos is saying.

You must remember that this was a time when these kingdoms were peaking in their prosperity and they were in no mood to hear about the housing market tanking or credit default swaps being in danger of default. Amaziah did not want the king to hear this nonsense; in fact he said Amos was conspiring against the King. But Amos said, “the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” Amos also prophesied about an earthquake that was to hit the region and two years later they had a very devastating earthquake.

So we can see from this situation that God called Amos, in this case with visions, but God called him to speak out because people had become greedy, insensitive to one another, and they had stopped following the ways of Yahweh. Amos spoke out against injustice, against those who were becoming wealthy at great cost to the poor and those people with no voice. Amos said God’s judgment was coming and they must repent.

God called Amos to speak out, to warn people of the day of reckoning that was coming, but people put him down and basically ran him out of town. (Let’s now switch gears.)

About 750 – 800 years go by and Christ comes on the scene. How was Christ called? We see that the prophet Isaiah spoke of Jesus coming. Last week we saw in Is 52:14 that Isaiah said a suffering servant was coming. Also in Is 59:20 he said “Out of Zion a Redeemer will come.” First, a Messiah, the Christ was prophesied to come and redeem, to save the lost. So all the people that Amos talked about as needing repentance now have a suffering servant to release them, in fact all people from their sin.

God, through a miraculous plan tells Mary that she is going to conceive and have a baby and his name shall be called Jesus, the Holy One, the one who will save all people from their sin.

So, how was Christ called – He was ordained by God, he was chosen to serve by God. God called Amos through a vision, God called Jesus via people to serve as part of the plan of salvation, God calls us as a part of God’s plan for all people.

Let’s look at a little more detail about how this plan unfolds. In our second reading (Eph 1:3-14) from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Paul tells us God’s plan and purpose for us has been made clear, it’s become real through Christ because, “He (God) destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Christ was called by God and “In him we have redemption through his blood.” To some this is a complicated story, but it doesn’t need to be.

There are many children who die in this world in poverty, in despair, many starve to death. There are a few children who are taken out of that situation. I have a cousin who many years ago adopted a child, a Korean girl when she was a baby. Her life situation up to that point in time looked bleak, hopeless, like she would be one of many who ended up in despair. Her situation today, she has a degree, she is loved, and she now works in a major corporate environment. She will receive an inheritance from her parents who have sacrificed much for her on her behalf.

In Christ we will obtain an inheritance who on our behalf sacrificed everything and we have been destined to accomplish all things according to his good will. Many of us take this for granted. Maybe we have been born into the faith or our parents provided us with our inheritance, but it’s not that easy for everyone. Never-the-less God calls each of us to service in His name.

In our Gospel (Mark 6:14-29) text today we hear about John who had been called by God to be a preparer of the way, someone who set the stage for Jesus coming. Mark is recalling the story of John the Baptizer who after being arrested by Herod was stuck in prison until his daughter and the kings conspiring wife ask for his head on a platter.

Each of these stories we talked about today is different and yet they have many similarities. God called and ordained each person to speak the truth against the power of their culture. Each person Amos, Jesus, and John the Baptist had to go up against powerful people, with very limited monetary resources, and they were all condemned for speaking out.

We can certainly see that their mouth’s got him in trouble. Some preachers will never cause discord, specializing in what William Sloane Coffin describes as “the bland leading the bland.” Their homiletical philosophy is akin to that voiced by Calvin Coolidge when he said, “I have never been hurt by anything I didn’t say.”

If we lived in an oppressive state where people were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Amos spoke the truth and was chastised for it, run out of town so to speak. Christ spoke the truth and paid the ultimate price, death. So, what are you willing to risk based on speaking out about your faith? When you see injustice in the world do you remain silent or are you willing to stand up for what’s right? Many people are dying to live in other parts of the world because they choose God’s way.

I have several friends who have gone to China in recent years to teach English and while they were there they saw how some people had to live as the state oppressed the church. They have been told some horrific stories about people being arrested, beaten, about buildings that were thought to be churches being demolished while believers were forced to stand and watch. Often we don’t know how good we have it.

God calls us as he did Amos, John, and Jesus before us to a life that requires or demands sacrifice, it demands repentance, it demands speaking up against the negative cultural forces that do not honor God. Detrich Bonhoeffer lived in an era, a time when Nazi sentiment pervaded the culture of Germany, but he said “when Christ calls a person he bids him or her come and die.” Bonhoeffer was hanged a few weeks before the allies ended the war and liberated those stuck in Nazi camps and prisons.

Paul said to the Ephesians “In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, we’re marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;” Today, sometimes we talk about being marked with the cross of Christ forever, it’s a metaphor for talking about God’s call on our lives. We’ve been adopted into God’s family; we have received our inheritance in Christ; we are new creatures as we die to sin and rise once again to God’s call on our life.

Thus far we’ve been talking about men, but there’s one more story I want to talk about. It involves a Queen who had great courage. A period in history when the Persians were in control in the Middle East, they had captured Israel and Judah and the Jews were in exile. A Jewish exile named Mordecai knew the situation was dire and dangerous.

Through a sinister plot, the Jews in Persia were secretly condemned to death (Esther 3). Mordecai pleaded with Queen Esther to risk her life, to speak up on behalf of the Jewish people, Mordecai told her: “If you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

This story of Esther and Mordecai transcends time and culture. Esther decided to speak up and said, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Esther was willing to die for the nation of and people of Israel. The situation they faced is similar what many people face today; it still applies and teaches us that we can’t be silent about our faith.

Are you dying to live? Many people have been willing to die in the past to forge our inheritance, to allow us to be marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit forever. As you receive Christ’s body and blood this morning think about God’s ultimate sacrifice that we might have new life, that we might have forgiveness. If you’re dying to live today, know that we are conduits of God’s love to others. God loves you and wants to show His love to others through you. Drink in God’s grace and live.

Amen

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