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Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you.
Life Together In The Goodness Of God
I was going for an Oscar Romero look. Huh? Okay, well, I'm not going to be able to preach as well as he does, but, or did. My wife and I, Michelle, we have this, well, she has this whistle in our family. Our kids know exactly that whistle. It's not just any whistle, it's a particular sort of signature whistle. We could be in a crowd, we could be at Q2, we could be at anywhere, an HEB, and we can hear that whistle from like 30 aisles over, and we know exactly, either we're in trouble or we need to come quickly. She has this sort of piercing whistle that just cuts through the noise, and without even thinking about it, we know what we need to do. It has gotten so deep into us, it's like it sort of overrides our frontal cortex, and we just sort of snap to it and go to this whistle. Yeah, dude, can I get the whistle, honey? Actually, it's too loud, don't do it. They're not ready for this. Can you do it? There it is. See, all our kids are like, oh, what? What did I do? Well, in John 10, the Gospel reading that we just read, this is immediately what I thought about. When we were talking about the shepherd's voice, cutting through the noise, the shepherd that could call to his sheep, and the sheep recognize the shepherd's voice. Family whistle. There's sort of a family whistle of the kingdom of God, and they follow the shepherd because they know the voice. Notice that the sheep don't follow the shepherd because they have memorized the right doctrine. The sheep don't follow the shepherd because they've passed some test. The sheep don't follow the shepherd because they know that they're good enough. They know his voice. They follow the shepherd because they have been around the shepherd long enough that that sound of the shepherd's voice has gotten deep into their bones. They know the shepherd's voice, and they follow, which leaves me with a question this morning that I want to sit with you together and just think about together. What does it take to know the voice of our shepherd like that? You know what I mean? To recognize it, especially in a world full of noise, full of voices, right? Full of like voices as we scroll. How do we hear the shepherd's voice in a world full of noise? And then not only that, the second question I think even just as important is once we do recognize the shepherd's voice, how do we turn towards it? And then obey it and listen to that voice. And what would it mean if we could recognize the shepherd's voice? What would it mean to actually do something about that voice in our lives as we have them? Here's why to me, if we're going to be honest, it's a beautiful image. And if I was a disciple, I'd be like, yes, but then I'd have a lot of questions. I'd say, Jesus, you know how hard that is, especially in our world. We have been formed by forces that do not yield easily to our willpower or our attitude changes or our perspective changes or our Biblical insight. Think about the family systems that you come from, family cultures. That's a voice. There are voices there. Economic powers, the power of money, we're going to talk about that today. That may be one of the strongest voices in our lives. Politics, race, violence, religion, voices, voices, voices. And too often we make the mistake of confusing our voice with Jesus' voice, right? I mean, I'll tell you how to do that. I'm a pro at that. No, Jesus, is that exactly what I wanted? How did you know? That kind of thing. Or worse, we confuse the shepherd's voice for the voice of the empire, for the voice of judgment, for the voice of fear, for the voice of anxiety, coercion. We confuse Jesus' voice with all of these things all the time. This is what makes it so difficult. Maybe you're still trying to sort out the shepherd's voice from those condemning voices in your own past, from Christians, from the church, from those who claim to stand and speak in the name of God. You're still trying to sift out. That's not the Jesus I know. That's not the shepherd's voice that I recognize. Friends, the reason this is so difficult is because that formation in our lives, it runs deep, real deep, deeper than we realize, actually. And those voices are still loud. This is what makes it, to me, so complicated about responding to the voice of Jesus. But as Jesus is, he brilliantly simplifies this whole equation for us, this consideration. What we make so complicated, I think Jesus offers us in clarity this morning. He teaches us that there are essentially two kinds of voices in the world. One is the thief who comes to steal, who comes to kill, who comes to destroy. That's one voice. We know this voice, I think, probably too well. We know it. We're so familiar with it. We feel it in the anxiety that says that there is never enough for us. We feel it in the cultural current that measures a life by what it can accumulate and build up. That figure in our 401k or our retirement balance. It tells us our worth in our productivity, our security, and our savings. The same logic that displaces our neighbors, the same voice that extracts wealth from the poor, the same voice that draws us to exploit our own planet, this earth, that's the voice of the thief that comes to kill, steal, and destroy. I was reading this week Daniel Castillo. He wrote a book called An Ecological Theology of Liberation. I found this naturally connecting. He says that the logic that treats the earth itself is a resource to be consumed until there is nothing left is that voice of the thief. And underneath all of it, the oldest thief of all, death itself, is a voice in our life. And it teaches us scarcity and a fear that nothing will ever last. Do you all feel me when you hear Jesus teaching this? You're like, yes Lord, but you know the other voices that are deep in my bones, deep in my life, that I'm swimming in constantly. Jesus steps into that noise with such a contrasting voice, with something so otherworldly, so beautiful, so brilliant, saying, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. That's what the Lord said. How night and day is that, right? The resurrection of Jesus that we just celebrated feels like yesterday. It's not just a miracle that happened to one Palestinian man in the first century. It is a hinge point for all of history. It is actually a turning point for our own life. Thank you, somebody talking to me. The power of death, the logic of scarcity that is organized and spoken into human life for so long has been broken open by the resurrection of Jesus. The reality of our lives has seriously, in reality, whether we can recognize it or not, the reality of our lives as we have them has shifted from being tormented and dominated and captivated by the thief who has now been overcome and set free by our good shepherd who has trampled over death by death and liberated not only this world but all human beings. That is the reality we now get to make sense of in our lives. Jesus, he keeps going. He says, I am the gate. In fact, he says it twice, and we know, like when your mom says something twice, right? Pay attention. This is important. He says it twice to us as if in case we miss it. I am the gate. I am the gate. This gate is not a barrier. We're not policing a boundary here. It's an opening, a crossing for us from one kind of life dominated by the voice of that thief to a new kind of life now governed and cared for by the good shepherd life. And what we are crossing through that gate is Jesus of Nazareth himself. That gate is Jesus of Nazareth. It's not a concept. It's not some homework for you to go wrap your head around later. It's not some program that this church can be like, oh, we got a great idea. Check this out. Here's an announcement. The gate. No, that's not what this is about. The gate is a person. And mind you, the resurrection has taught us that this is not a dead person. Right? We're talking about a human being who's alive and well and in power. He is the gate. What he offers us is forgiveness. The gate is forgiveness given in his body, his poured out blood for us. The gate is mercy. By the way, while I'm describing this gate, contrast this to the voice of death. The gate is forgiveness. The gate is mercy. First Peter tells us he who was abused did not return abuse, did not retaliate. And by his wounds, by his wounds, we've been healed. This is the gate, Jesus of Nazareth, who calls all of us, each one of you. There is not a single person on the planet nor in this room that this gate Jesus is not calling to by name. Then come to me. Come to me. I will care for your life so unlike the way the world, the thief, has hurt your life. I have come to give you life and life abundantly is what Jesus invites us to. So when we cross through that gate, the old logic, it loses its grip on us. You can see it in baptism when we baptize. The old logic of death has been washed clean of our bodies, of our souls. It's healed at this table when we come to eat. This isn't just sort of a half-time snack for the liturgy. This is the body and blood of Jesus given to us to nourish our souls, to heal us, to set us free, for us to walk through that gate of life. That's what this is. And Acts 2 shows us what it looks like when a people like you and me, who, by the way, our lives are just sort of a mess, right? And we don't know exactly what's going on or what we're doing. People just like us, okay? Acts 2 describes a people just like us who begin to believe that Jesus is that gate for real. Who enter into baptism, who come to this table and say, yes, Lord is faith. Acts 2 describes this people. All who believed were together and had all things in common. They would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all as any had need. Sounds like socialism. Hold on, people. Relax. How amazing. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. Sounds pretty amazing to me. I don't know what you're going to call that. Sounds like the kingdom of God. And by the way, the word that translated glad, it means exuberance, overflowing with joy, sort of pouring over, too much to handle, too much to carry. Sort of the way I am on Easter, right? Like a little too much with the bells. These folks who had limited resources, they weren't giving grudgingly. They weren't sharing grudgingly. They weren't hosting people sort of like, well, I'm supposed to. They were compelled to. They were giving out of an abundance in their life because they had passed through that gate into an economy, not of scarcity, but of abundance. It passed into a different way of community and life entirely. And that community, that reality, I know that sounds like a nice biblical thing from back in the days, but it's actually available to us today. I do believe that. Friends, this morning, if you're new to all this stuff, maybe the conversation of faith, maybe following Jesus is a new thing to you, I'm so glad that you're here. And I know this is a lot. And I want you and I hope that you're hearing that God actually cares about you, loves you, and is trustworthy. And God calls to you. You can hear God's voice, even though you've never heard it before. Why? Not because you got your stuff together or figured something out, but because God loves you that much. God would want to speak to you through scripture, through prayer, those around you you trust. I'd be curious what would happen if you listened for the voice of God all around you. It's there. The voice of the Good Shepherd, it can be trusted. And friends, if you're new to faith, that voice will not lead you to despair or death or less. It will lead you to a life at home with God, an abundant life at home with God, in the care of someone who actually loves you. That's good news. Now, if you're not new to faith, that still applies to you. And if you've been a part of this community, I want you to hear something maybe next steps a little bit further along in that journey. I hope you hear the Shepherd's voice for the next part of our story as a church, as a Christian community in South Austin right now with all the trouble in the world surrounding us. I hope you hear the next step in this story, something like what acts, what we're seeing in the book of Acts. The people who have faith to walk through that gate again and again with all the other voices in their world. And particularly, can I just put a finger on it when it comes to money and community? I know. Well, I know. Those are touchy things. Romero says you have to put the finger on the wound actually to heal it, right? So I'm going to attempt with my Romero glasses to put the finger on the wound here with money and community. When is the last time, friends, you have quieted your own voice about money long enough to listen to the voice of God? I mean, I wrote I was looking at this question this morning going, oh, maybe it's been a minute. Someone's last time you quieted your own anxiety, your own voice about money and said this question, God, what do you have to say about my money? What would you have me do with this money? What a wonderful question and not a dangerous one in ways that might bring you anxiety. But if we believe that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, that question, just asking and listening will lead you to abundant life. And not in the sort of prosperity gospel way that the world would like to think. No, like Peter said, there will be suffering even when you do the right thing. But we know that we're in the care of God who knows even greater things than we do and will lead us to a life abundant. God, what would you do with my money? And what does the shepherd's voice have to say about community? When have you quieted your own voice about your schedule and your resources and your like social tank, right? I got one of those too. I'm 43. I don't got a big social thing anymore. When's the last time you quieted your own voice and your anxieties about that stuff and what you think you can handle or the way you arrange your life? To listen to God's invitation about community, to gathering, to being here on Sunday morning, to gathering of one another throughout the week, to gathering with your neighbors and hosting them in love. And then also having a life that you decide to rearrange that it's not so self-serving, but it serves the lives of other people around you. Here's another interesting question. God, what would you say about the way I arrange my life in community, the way I gather, the way I serve? Friends, only you can decide to listen to that voice. You're in control of that. But wherever you are, I hope that this is good news that can lay down some of the things that keep you from opening yourself up to the shepherd's voice. Maybe tell yourself again, I know the shepherd is good. I know the shepherd loves me. I know the shepherd is trustworthy. Yes, Lord, could you speak to me again? Wherever you are this morning, I promise you that listening will set you free. Listening to the Lord will set you free from those thieves that don't bring life to us but deal death. Listening to the shepherd's voice will bring you home to a life with God and fill your life up to the brim. Let's take a moment now and invite that voice. Take a moment of silence and open ourselves and listen this morning. Amen.