The Great Life -- The Heart of a Shepherd
June 15-16, 2002
Matthew 9:35-38 (New International Version)
35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, ¡§The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.¡¨
INTRODUCTION: The 4 Stages of Father.
According to one expert children go through 4 stages of dealing with their fathers. In stage one, they call you da-da. In stage 2 they grow and call you daddy. As they mature and reach stage 3 they call you dad. Finally in stage 4 they call you collect.
I wish I could stand before you today as an expert father. There was a time when I was an expert at being a father, but then I had kids. I do have a world¡¦s greatest dad trophy at home, but then if you are a father perhaps you do as well. What I do know is that our world and especially our children need strong role models as fathers and those who act as fathers with the heart of a shepherd. Living the great life is more than being a father, it is sharing the heart of a shepherd. Jesus reveals such a heart in these closing verses of Matthew 9. I come to you today not as a father expert, but as a father practitioner who loves his 2 daughters very much. What I do well as a father is based more on the love of my wife, the great kids I have, and the grace of God. What makes me want to be a better parent and role model not just to my kids but to other kids of all ages (and that would include you) is something James Dobson observed, ¡§Most children ¡¥see¡¦ God the way they perceive their earthly fathers.¡¨
Today let¡¦s look at 3 guiding principles of
Living Out the Heart of a Shepherd that Christ Gives
Jesus reveals these 3 principles in how he deals with people, and how he challenges us to follow him in reaching out to others with His love. In other words, you don¡¦t have to be a father to follow these 3, just one who has been touched by the love of God to share that love that transforms lives with others.
GUIDING PRINCIPLE 1. SHOW unconditional love that forms the heart of a shepherd into the heart of a child. Jesus modeled before us what he¡¦s asked us to do in showing such unconditional love. We are told in Matthew 9:35, Jesus went to every town and village. He taught in their meeting places and preached the good news about God’s kingdom. Jesus also healed every kind of disease and sickness. -- (CEV)
The disciples watched what Jesus did. They saw him teach and touch others. They heard what He said and made the connection between what he said and what he did. As fathers quickly learn, children will not always do what we say, but often will do what we do.
A woman lay dying of AIDS. The visiting priest attempted to comfort her to no avail. ¡§I am lost,¡¨ she said, ¡§I ruined my life and every life around me. Now I go painfully to hell. There is no hope for me.¡¨
The priest saw a framed picture of a pretty girl on the dresser. ¡§Who is this?¡¨ he asked. The woman brightened. ¡§She is my daughter, the one beautiful thing in my life.¡¨
¡§And would you help her if she was in trouble, or made a mistake? Would you forgive her? Would you still love her?¡¨
¡§Of course I would!¡¨ cried the woman, ¡§I would do anything for her! Why do you ask such a question?¡¨
¡§Because I want you to know,¡¨ said the priest, ¡§that God has a picture of you on His dresser.¡¨
Do you believe that? I guess it depends on what kind of God you have.
A man frequently dreamed that God ran after him with a paper in his hand. All his life he ran from God, for he believed that paper contained a warrant for his arrest. After accepting the Christian faith, the man said that now, looking back on his dream, he realized the paper was not a warrant for his arrest, but a pardon for his sins.
God comes to each of us with his unconditional love and offers forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He comes as He expects a father to come to a child. David put it this way in Psalm 103:13-14, 13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. -- (NIV)
When we love our children unconditionally, we teach them that they are valuable and that God has created them to live in a relationship of dependence on Him.
GUIDING PRINCIPLE 2. INVEST time to demonstrate God¡¦s compassion in action. A child often spells love, ¡§T-I-M-E.¡¨ Such a spelling of love as time would fail the spelling bee but often accurately defines how a child experiences love with a father. Such time together is invested to demonstrate God¡¦s compassion in action. Look at the love Jesus expresses in Matthew 9:36, When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. -- (The Message)
Guy de Maupassant¡¦s ¡§The Necklace¡¨ tells the sad story of a young woman named Mathilde who dreamed, as many do, of making it in high society. However, she was the wife of an ordinary French citizen.
One day Mathilde¡¦s husband obtained an invitation to attend an elegant ball. Thoroughly delighted, Mathilde borrowed from a wealthy friend a beautiful necklace to wear to this elegant occasion. The stunning necklace drew many compliments from the aristocratic guests. However, the worst possible thing happened. Mathilde lost the beautiful adornment.
Panicstricken, she and her husband borrowed thirtysix thousand francs. They bought a necklace that looked exactly like the one Mathilde had worn. Mathilde returned this to her friend, telling her nothing of what had happened. For 10 agonizing years, the couple slaved and toiled to pay back the vast amount of money they had borrowed. They sold their home, dismissed servants, worked at two jobs, and lived in a slum in order to raise the necessary funds.
After it was finally paid, Mathilde saw her friend one day. She confessed what they had done. She revealed the hardship through which they had come in paying for the replacement. It was then that her friend explained that the necklace Mathilde had borrowed was only made of paste. It was worth five hundred francs or less.
What a parable of contemporary life! People frantically slaving for values that turn out only to be paste. Harassed and helplesslike sheep without a shepherd. Can you not see a flock of sheep milling around in a pen? Frightened and confused, they stumble blindly, bumping helplessly into one another, because they don¡¦t know which way to turn. How like so many of us.
There is a famous study involving graduates of Yale University of the class of 1953. It involves goal setting. Do you know where you are headed in life? Do you know how you are going to get there?
The graduates involved in these studies were asked if they had a clear, specific set of goals for their future. Were these goals written down with a plan for achieving them? It turned out that only 3 percent of those interviewed had such written goals.
Twenty years later, in 1973, the researchers went back and interviewed the surviving members of the 1953 graduating class. They discovered that the 3 percent with written specific goals had achieved more in financial terms than the entire other 97 percent put together. They also seemed to be happier and more ¡§together¡¨ in every way.
Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They were frantically striving after values that would only prove to be paste. And so God invites us in living out the heart of a shepherd that Christ gives to invest time to demonstrate God¡¦s compassion in action. This is nothing new, but what God has throughout history invited parents to pass on to their children. Moses in his farewell address to the people of Israel challenged them in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 6Take to heart these words that I give you today. 7Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you¡¦re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. -- (GOD¡¦S WORD)
GUIDING PRINCIPLE 3. PRAY for their life to be filled with Christ and to touch others for Him. God wants everyone to know of His love. Jesus calls us to prayer in Matthew 9:37b-38, 37b¡§The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.¡¨ -- (New Living Translation)
There are many examples in scripture of fathers praying on behalf of their children. Jairus came to Jesus asking Him to heal his daughter in Mark 5; the man whose son had an evil spirit came to Jesus asking Him to deliver his son in Mark 9. Both of these individuals experienced the power of God in their life because their fathers loved them enough to intercede for them. Job also prayed for his children. We are told it was Job¡¦s custom to offer sacrifices for his children, in case they had sinned against the Lord. Toward the end of David’s life, as he was preparing to pass the mantle of leadership to his son Solomon, he prayed a special prayer for his son that is recorded for us in 1 Chronicles 29:18-19, 18LORD God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, always watch over your people¡¦s deepest thoughts. Keep their hearts directed toward you. 19Make my son Solomon completely committed to you so that he will obey your commands, requests, and laws and do everything to build the palace I have planned. -- (GW)
So what should we pray for our children?
„Y Saving faith (thanksgiving if already a Christian).
„Y A growing faith.
„Y An independent faith (as they grow up).
„Y To be strong and healthy in mind, body and spirit.
„Y A sense of mission and purpose with an awareness of God¡¦s hand at work in their life.
„Y A life of integrity.
„Y Excellence in all that they do, say and are.
„Y To understand the ministry God has for them.
„Y To acquire and apply wisdom.
„Y Protection from addictions and activities that would pull them away from God.
„Y The mate God has for them and that individual¡¦s growth and development.
„Y Their future children and generations to follow to walk in the Lord.
CONCLUSION: Give me a sign.
Norman Cates tells the story of a Christian who prayed this prayer every morning: "Lord, if you want me to witness to someone today, please give me a sign to show me who it is." One day he found himself on a nearly empty bus when a big, burly man sat next to him.
The timid believer anxiously waited for his stop so he could exit the bus. But before he could get off, the big burly guy next to him burst into tears and began to weep. This big but contrite man then cried out with a loud voice, "I’m a lost sinner and I need the Lord. Won’t somebody tell me how to be saved?" He turned to this Christian gentlemen and pleaded, "Can you show me how to find the Lord?"
The believer immediately bowed his head and prayed, "Lord, is this a sign?"
Here¡¦s the sign, folks, the people God brings you in contact with and you come across each day. They are the ones God wants you to touch with the heart of a shepherd. If you are a father or mother, your child no matter their age nor where they are with the Lord is your sign to reach out and touch. Show unconditional love. Invest time to demonstrate compassion in action, and pray for workers for the harvest and for your child¡¦s life to be filled with Christ. All this flows out of the love our heavenly Father has expressed to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus on our behalf. It is faith in that Jesus that leads to the great and the heart of a shepherd. Amen.
