John 10:1-10
“Voices”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
Voices, voices. There are voices all around us.
I was in the drugstore last week when I glanced down at the magazine rack in the check out line.
I believe the paper is called “The Globe.”
On the front page in big black letters was the headline: “Woman has Talking Cat”.
I had to laugh.
I mentioned to the cashier, “My, someone has a talking cat! Imagine that!”
She laughed too.
My brother-in-law, was in a play this year at Duke entitled “Bat-Boy”.
The writer got the idea from this very same tabloid that had featured a supposed half bat/half boy on the cover.
300 pound babies with two heads…
…aliens invade the White House…
…Elvis has been dining at various McDonalds for the past 30 years…
…JFK is still alive…
…Woman gives birth to twin monkeys…
…and it goes on and on each week.
If we were to believe all these stories we would be completely insane!!!
And maybe we are.
Voices…
I remember back in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s when the first tabloid news show exploded onto the scene.
Maury Povich was the host, and each night they would try and scare Americans into thinking that Unidentified Flying Objects were making circles by landing in cornfields.
I wonder how many folks still believe this is true.
I don’t think the tabloids covered the real story…that it was all a practical joke.
…there are so many voices…
Jeanne and I were staying at a hotel for Annual Conference about 5 years ago, when we came upon a new 24 hour news channel that was so much like a tabloid…I never thought it would actually float.
Now it gets higher ratings than CNN!!!…
…and it makes a big impact on the way it’s viewers see and understand the world…
…Voices…
…what voices are you listening to, what voices am I listening to?
The voices that we listen to and believe can have a heavy impact on our lives.
For instance, if we were to believe all the insults and mean jokes that the bully’s on the schoolyard threw at us…well…we would all be completely broken by the time we were 13…
…and maybe some of us are.
How about the voices from parents who neglect their children…or abuse their children through their words?
What about the voices we hear on the television?
Do we believe them?
Is it really true that we need to start worrying about our age before we reach thirty?
Is it true that, if we are balding, no woman worth her salt will be attracted to us unless we join the hair club for men?
Is it true that a few flakes of dandruff on a shoulder will cause someone to ‘not want to have anything to do with us’?
…There are so many voices…maybe now more than ever.
What voices do we choose to listen to and believe…
…what voices do we know are false?
Our very self-worth and abilities to be the best we can be may very well depend on how we answer that single question.
In our Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus talks to us about voices.
He tells us that there are lots of voices…but only one True Voice…and like sheep who know their Master’s voice…
…if we are to have life and have it to the full…
…we must know the which Voice to follow.
Do we know?
Sometimes it’s hard to know which voice comes from the One Who loves and cares for us…the One Who is True…
…and all the other voices which come from the thieves, the robbers, the strangers.
I remember, as a youngster, my mother taught us…
… “Never get into a car with a stranger!”
Very good advice indeed!
Now that many of us are adults, how many of us are still following that ‘good advice’?
Jesus, the Good Shepherd tells us: “the sheep listen to [my voice]. [I] call [my own] sheep by name and lead them out…they will never follow a stranger.”
Obviously, in this lesson, we are the sheep!
Do we know the voice of Jesus?
Are we listening to the Good Shepherd?
For, “the thief comes only to kill and destroy”, but Jesus has come that we may have life and have it to the full!
A friend of mine took some children to visit a farm.
The farmer allowed the children to run and play.
My friend was particularly taken by the farmer’s sheep.
“It’s about time to feed the sheep,” the farmer told my friend.
“I’m gonna call them in.”
Remembering this passage of Scripture, my friend asked the farmer if his sheep listen to his voice.
“Sure do,” replied the farmer, “And I’ve got a particular thing I say to them when I want them to come to the barn and feed…but they won’t come if anyone but myself calls them.”
“Even if someone else uses the same words?,” my friend asked.
“Give it a try,” said the farmer.
He told my friend the call he uses for the sheep, and my friend gave it a shot.
All those sheep were out in the fields…my friend called the sheep at the top of her lungs: “Time to eat!”
They didn’t budge…as a matter of fact, they didn’t even look up. It was if they had heard nothing.
The farmer used the very same call, and the sheep, recognizing his voice…came running.
There are so many voices…
…do we recognize the voice of Christ when there are so many others?
If we were to look at a flock of sheep, we would see exactly that—a big flock!
That’s all.
We wouldn’t see a sheep, but sheep…many of them.
This isn’t the way it is with the Shepherd.
To Him, every sheep has a name.
The one with the thick white wool, that’s Andy.
And the one with the one ear up and the other down, that’s Stanley.
And the small one with a black patch on her head, that’s Rebecca.
When I see a crowd, I see exactly that—a crowd. A mass of people. (from a sermon by Christian Cheong)
If we were to go to a Washington Wizard’s basketball game we would see a mass of people—not persons, but people. A herd of humans. That’s all we see.
But not so with the Shepherd. To him every face is different.
Every face has a story.
Every face is a child.
They are his own.
And every child has a name.
That’s how Jesus sees us. He knows His sheep—not as a flock, but each and every sheep.
He knows each one of us by name.
And each of us matter…so very much.
Each one of us are so precious in His sight.
Let’s look around us.
Do we see a crowd?
And just a mass of people?
Or do we see faces that we know and truly appreciate?
Look around today.
Is there anyone you can’t call by name?
That’s not the way it is with God.
God says in Isaiah “See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Amazing!
We are engraved on the hands of God.
That means we cannot be taken off.
Your name is on God’s hand!
Have you ever seen your name in some special place?
Maybe on a certificate or diploma…
…maybe on the inside of your Bible…
…maybe on a foundation of stone.
Or maybe you’ve heard your name mentioned by some important people—your school principal, by a famous star.
How did that make you feel?
Very honored?
Very special?
I can remember walking into gym class in about the 3rd grade when the gymn teacher called out my name in front of all the other students: “Kenny you’re shoe is untied! Better tie it or you will trip and fall.”
Even a little thing like that made me feel very special!
Now, think for a moment…our names are on God’s lips, and on God’s hand.
Can it be?
Perhaps for some of us, we’ve never seen our names honored.
We may feel neglected.
We might not be able to remember the last time someone mentioned our name with kindness.
If so, it may be hard to believe that God knows your name.
The truth is, He does.
Written on His hand.
Spoken by His mouth.
He knows all about each and every one of us.
He made us.
He loves us.
He came to save us.
He calls our name.
Do we listen to His voice?
Do we know His voice?
In our Gospel Lesson Jesus talks about a ‘sheep pen.’
This was usually a rough stone or mud-brick structure, only partially covered, or a cave in the hills.
It had a single opening through which the sheep passed when they came in for the night.
The pen served to protect the sheep against thieves, robbers, and wild animals.
A pen often held several flocks; and when the time came to go out in the morning pasture, each shepherd separated his sheep from the others by his peculiar call.
Instead of driving them, he led them so that they followed him as a unit.
Wherever they went, the shepherd went ahead of them, guiding them to adequate pasture and guarding against possible danger.
The sheep refused to follow a stranger because the stranger’s voice was unfamiliar.
What voices are familiar to us?
What voices are unfamiliar?
What voices can we trust?
What voices are their only to harm us?
Jesus goes ahead of us and calls us forward.
He calls us forward and says come to Him for drink.
Come to Him for the Bread of Life.
Come to Him if you are burdened and He will give you rest.
Come to you and He will give you abundant life!
“Therefore Jesus said again, ‘I tell you the truth. I am the gate for the sheep…whoever enters through me will be saved.”
When the sheep returned to the fold at night after a day of grazing, the shepherd stood in the doorway of the pen and inspected each one as it entered. He anointed any who were scratched or wounded and gave water to those who were thirsty.
After all the sheep had been counted and brought into the pen, the shepherd lay down across the doorway so that no intruder—human being or beast—could enter without his knowledge. The shepherd was, literally, the door for the sheep. (from a sermon by Don Jaques)
So it is with Jesus.
He is our door to eternal life, eternal safety, and life to the full!!!
There are many voices and many doors…
“Enter through the narrow gate,” Jesus tells us in Matthew Chapter 7, “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Why so few?
Could it be that there are too many voices giving us too many choices…
…and we do not know or are not willing to listen to the voice of God?
A VCR, for example, comes with an instruction manual. In it you can learn how to do all kinds of fancy things like recording when you’re not there.
But most of us just plug it in and go.
We get some of the benefits, but not ALL it was created for.
The same is true in our lives.
We’ve been made with all sorts of potential—every one of us.
But in order to fulfill this potential we must follow God’s voice.
When we follow our own voice or the voices of imposters…like the people who would have us believe that there is a woman who owns a talking cat…we get lost and hurt.
Let’s be thankful that we have a Good Shepherd…
…let’s listen for His voice above all the others…
…and where He leads us, may we follow!
