Read
John
10
And so now we have come to the verse
we know so well. Many have memorized
it.
So just
who is this thief?
It sounds
a lot like Satan but Jesus has been talking to and about the Pharisees.
So, is the thief Satan or religious hypocrite?
The
answer is yes. Jesus noted that his
Father sent him. He and his Father
are one. He
is in the Father and the Father in him.
Nobody comes to
know the Father except through him.
OK,
what’s that all about?
Do you
remember when Jesus confronted the religious Jews and told them that their father was the devil?
Now consider that they are in their father and their father in them.
The thief
is both Satan and those who do his work, those who listen to his voice. What is his work?
To steal.
To kill.
To
destroy.
Jesus
came to give us life, life abundant, and life eternal. In one verse, we have a simple but powerful
dichotomy.
It’s
Jesus or the devil.
It’s life
or death.
It’s love
or hate.
It’s
fulness or emptiness.
Who is our
Father? Does he live within us? Yes, the Holy Spirit counts for our Father
living in us. The Spirit is the Father’s
good deposit of the fullness to come.
Many
would claim that we live in a complicated world. Perhaps, that is true but our choices or
simple.
Good or
evil?
Love or
hate?
Father
who is creator and known by love or Father who is destroyer and known by hate
and deception?
If you
believe in God the Father, then you know his voice. You enter into his
presence through Jesus alone.
You know
that his love endures forever and his faithfulness continues through all generations.
I have
seen so much ignorance these past few weeks from people who I thought knew the
voice of the Master.
We must take action—take matters into our own hands. Prayer just
makes you feel good. We must return hate for hate. Destruction is the only way to get people’s attention.
Whose
voice prompts these responses?
People
have stopped listening
to their Master. They have consumed the placebo of righteous anger and set aside the voice of the Master,
and that will not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
The
emptiness, restlessness, and dissonance that so many know today comes from not
listening to the One who is truth and brings peace in the midst of a troubled world. So many listen only
to the voice of the world.
So many
feel helpless over the strife and violence that is all around us. Finger-pointing abounds but the only finger-pointing that we who follow Jesus need
to do is at the man
in the mirror.
We have
been working God into our lives where he is convenient.
Our families, our work, our school life or our home schooled life, our
sports, our bills, our college funds, our mortgage, our time waiting in line at
the drive-through all seem to take precedence over living for God. And we wonder why we
feel distress at the trouble in the world.
Do we
have problems in this country?
Absolutely. We live in the worst
country in the world, well, except for all of the others. I am glad that we live in a place where we
have a voice. In about half the world
you can have a voice or you can live.
We are so
blessed here. We have it easy. We can sit on the sidelines with our penalty
flags and feel like we accomplished something. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and whatever the
online flavor of the month is give us outlets to reign judgment upon those who
do not follow the Master the same way we do. We can be modern-day Pharisees.
Yes, these
things are platforms to other things that are good, but too often we think
because we post something that we have accomplished something. The voice of our Master calls
us to more.
We can
know the voice of our Master and come off of the sidelines and do what he has
commanded.
Here is
the thing. Jesus did not wait until
there was a tragedy or crisis on television.
He commanded all who love him to follow him to be known by our love.
That’s a daily command. That purpose must be so evident
in our lives that we are unmistakably known by our love.
Why is
there such an outcry in our nation? We
have not been known by our love. We do
not know our Master’s voice. We—and I am
talking Christians here—have become Pharisees.
I am not
talking about those who don’t know the Lord.
What else should we expect of those who do not know the Lord than hate,
greed, and violence?
In our
age, there is a collective term to define those who do not know the Lord and
it’s not pagans. They are
the—our—mission field.
But back
to those in our country who profess to be Christians, why is there such an outcry among
us? Of course, we detest murder and
injustice and disorder, but at the heart of this is that we have stopped listening
to the voice of our Master and have tuned into the voice of the world.
If you
think that trusting the Lord is insufficient, you need to find his voice again.
If you
think that prayer is just to make ourselves feel good, you need to find his voice again.
If you think that you are doing nothing if you are not part of a national
movement or organization of some sort, you are not listening to your Master who
told you to love one another.
We are sent into the world and that includes our states and nation and even beyond our
borders, but we are to start with each other.
We bring good news and love like the world does not know.
If we
hear his voice and know his voice, we start with each other. We practice
on each other. After two millennia you
think we would have a little momentum.
But so many will not hear his voice.
So many who have professed Jesus as Lord find him inconvenient at this time and will not hear his voice. They will not learn from him.
If you
think that loving one another has no efficacy, then you have been deceived by the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
But we
have to take action! Right?
We have
been commanded to action for the past 2000 years. You know that if you have listened to his
voice.
If you
know his voice and he has called you to go to Minneapolis or Atlanta or Gotebo
America, then go.
If you know
his voice, and he has called you to lead or join some national or international
endeavor, then do not kick against the goads.
If you know his voice and he has called, answer and go
where he sends you.
If you are not sure it is his voice that is
calling you, it’s time to come home and know
the One who brings life and life abundant, before you wander off on some
crusade where a couple months from now find yourselves just as empty as when
you began.
If you are not sure it is his voice that is
calling you, it’s time to come home before you embark on a Facebook posting
campaign that will give way to Forrest Gump memes and college football banter
by summer’s end. There is no efficacy in
immediate gratification of our self-righteousness.
If you are not sure it is his voice that is
calling you, it’s time to come home and sign up for caller ID. We know who is calling us by diligent study
of God’s word, continuous prayer, and a heart that seeks
God and longs to bring
glory to his name.
If you
are not sure it is his voice that is calling you, how can you live
out your salvation as the most important thing you do? You must know his voice for his call will
take you out of your comfort zone.
You must
know his voice if you are going to answer his call in your life. I think many among you do know his voice and
some will be called to do great things in reconciling strife in our nation, but
all are called to love one another. That
includes those
who don’t like us very much.
Do not
listen to the voice of hypocrites.
Do not
listen to those who mock God.
Do not
listen to the voice of the devil.
Know the voice of you Master.
The days seem complicated but the choices are simple.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The thief
steals. God gives good gifts.
The thief
kills. God gives life, life abundant,
and life eternal.
The thief
destroys. God creates and loves his creation more than we can imagine.
God chose you to be his disciple.
Will you know his voice when he calls?
Will you
know his voice?
Know his
voice.
Amen.
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