April 30, 2023
Pastor John Hering
1 Peter 2:19-25
1 Peter 2:19-25
19 For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God. 20 For what credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is favorable with God.
21 Indeed, you were called to do this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you would follow in his steps. 22 He did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 23 When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but you are now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
When you hear King David write, “he makes me lie down in green pastures” what do you think of? Some beautiful place that your family has gone? Maybe a place with “quiet waters” might even remind some of you of Camp Shiloh! These are absolutely beautiful images, but there are other images of a Christian’s life that you have heard about. In 2020 it is estimated that in the world there were 13 Christians killed every day because of their faith! According to Christianity Today there are approximately 340 million Christians around the world. 1 out of 8 live in a country where they suffer some form of persecution, such as unjust arrest, violence, and even murder. But, we don’t have to travel around the world to find Christians going through difficult times. What about in your family with sickness, unfaithful relatives, unrest at work and the list goes on. So just maybe on this Good Shepherd Sunday you find yourself unable to relate to King David in Psalm 23 and say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want!?!” That is until we consider the Word of God from 1 Peter 2 where St. Peter links the Good Shepherd to the cross. What a contrast between green pastures, quiet waters and the cross.
Yes, the cross is still the focal point for us today, even on Good Shepherd Sunday, for a person cannot really know the voice of the Good Shepherd unless he also makes sense out of the cross. Neither can one make much sense out of the trouble that goes on around their world, if they first don’t know the cross. So, today we pray the Holy Spirit would help us to
View the Cross of the Good Shepherd
The Cross that paid for our sin
When guest walk into our church they can’t help notice the cross. Last week it was wonderful to hear the Aragona’s tell the story of how we got this crucifix for our church. We love crosses. For instance, I wonder how many men and ladies here this morning have a cross hanging around their necks made of silver or gold? What are you thinking to have such an instrument of torture hanging around your neck? You probably have a cross hanging on your walls in your home, or decorating a mantle over the fireplace. When you think about the cross does it cause you sorrow or joy? Sorrow because of our sins, but we also know through the cross God the Father planned to earn forgiveness for us, God the Son paid the price of his life on the cross to fulfill that plan, and God the Holy Spirit has seen to it that this message of the glory of the cross has reached your ears and created faith in your hearts to trust in Jesus as your Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil. It is really a miracle of God that we Christians so treasure the cross!
However, beautifying the cross might tempt us to take the edges off the cross so it doesn’t scratch our necks. Or what if I use a common phrases such as, “Jesus died on the cross” or “Jesus paid for the penalty of our sins on the cross.” These statements are true, but when I say it, I don’t see tears welling up in your eyes! The edges might be worn smooth and we are tempted to consider the message of the cross as old, boring news. Peter said, “He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree.” When Jesus hung on the cross God the Father fired his anger at his Son that should have been aimed directly at you and me! Peter tells us why, “25 For you were like sheep going astray.” Straying sheep fail to see the full impact of the cross! Some may think since Jesus is true God, he could make it so that the suffering he endured wasn’t all that bad. “Oh sure, he felt the beatings, the nails, and the crown of thorns, but he is the Son of God. He could separate himself from the worst of all that.”
While we recognize how undeserving we are, and what we truly deserve, the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to pen these amazing words, “22 He [Jesus] did not commit a sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. 23 When he was insulted, he did not insult in return. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself carried our sins in his body on the tree so that we would be dead to sins and alive to righteousness. By his wounds you were healed.” The cross jumps out at us when we are amazed at Jesus’ willingness to allow himself to be captured in the garden, to be beaten and tortured, and even to allow himself to be nailed to the cross. But, how much more amazing for God himself to remain on the cross and refuse to retaliate against those who so abused him. But, Peter tells us why. View The Cross of the Good Shepherd where he offered himself as the perfect Substitute we needed to take our sins upon himself and then give us the perfect holiness we need in order to stand holy before our God.
(Point to the cross) This crucifix reminds us that this is the place where Jesus paid the price for all our sins. For since “the wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die. But, not for his sin, but for your sin and for mine. It is bad enough to suffer for one’s own sin, but to suffer the torment of hell while hanging on a cross because of the sins of others, that is suffering. This adds to the amazing love shown to us at the cross. Who would ever do such a thing? Jesus, our Good Shepherd for his sheep. Wow! Behind the beauty of the cross we often see in art or decoration lies what really happened on that cross. Behind the pretty wood or golden jewelry see the heart of God at work. See the huge sacrifice Jesus made for you. Then you will be able to view the beauty of the cross that no wood or gold can ever capture—the golden heart of the Good Shepherd who died on the Cross To Pay For All our Sins. View the Cross of the Good Shepherd and believe what he did for you there and it will have an impact on the Crosses you bear in life.
The Crosses we bear because of sin
When we ask people what the “green pastures” looks like in their lives I would imagine we would get answers like this: Success and happiness. Comfort and security, people want life to be filled with peace and contentment. But, there are so many weeds in our green pastures that become an intrusion into our happiness by suffering, pain, worry, stress, and fear of the future or the unknown that interrupt the flow of happiness in our lives. The next step is to figure out how to deal with those intrusions. I suppose we try to make them a lighter burden to carry and if possible, to ignore them so we can get on with the joys of life. Others might try to fill their lives with more pleasurable activities that they have no time to deal with the parts of their life that aren’t so pleasurable. Others will look for the quick fix. Think about it. How many ads have you seen that tell a person who has taken months to dig themselves into deep credit trouble, that with their program they can free themselves from their debt by purchasing their quick and successful problem in a couple of hours. If you have a headache, muscle ache or backache, we have the drug for you – what did I hear recently, there is one drug that can take care of all those pains at once! Healthy diets, proper exercise promise a happy and healthy long life.
When you view life as constantly fixable by our advancements in finances and pharmaceuticals then it will be very difficult to understand what Jesus the Good Shepherd means when he says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Oh no! Is Jesus suggesting that his work of paying for our sins was not finished and that we have to suffer and die to pay the penalty of our own sins? No. But, consider the life of Jesus. While the physical cross upon which he died did happen on a Good Friday 2000 years ago, there are also the crosses Jesus bore during his life. At his birth his parents had to flee the threatening sword of King Herod. He lived with a family and certainly experienced the cross of the daily grind. Don’t you think he watched his step-father Joseph sweat it out day in and day out? Or his neighbors trying to figure out what they were going to do with their aging parents? Or his neighbor lady down the block whose marriage was on the rocks because her husband made no effort to value her and communicate with her? Don’t you think he saw the kids with attention problems, the abuse, and the spiritual apathy of those around him? Let’s not think for a moment that he was free of temptation! Jesus carried his crosses for 33 years because he lived in this sin-broken world just like you and me! That’s what the prophet Isaiah means when he wrote: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Is 53:4). Jesus Carried the Cross of Living in this Sin-infected world because he was doing good by following his Father’s will. This caused Jesus to have a difficult life on this earth.
Likewise, these are the crosses that Peter refers to and when we face them God wants us to have the same attitude toward our lives as Jesus had in serving us: “19 For this is favorable: if a person endures sorrows while suffering unjustly because he is conscious of God. 20 For what credit is it to you if you receive a beating for sinning and patiently endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is favorable with God.” If we suffer because we’ve done something wrong, that’s easy to understand—such crosses are the consequences of sins we commit. But, who wants to suffer for doing what’s good? That’s a heavy cross to bear! These are the crosses we bear because we’re living in a world that has rejected God and ridicules us for following God! During those times how difficult it is for us to remember that suffering for following God’s will is “favorable with God!” Of course this means we’ll face difficult days and have plenty of times we will fail. So, listen to what Jesus did to give us hope and strength to follow him: “21 Indeed, you were called to do this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you would follow in his steps.” Following in Christ’s footsteps means we understand it is God’s will for us to be free from suffering. Yet, God’s holy will was ruined by sin. Thank God Jesus is the solution to our suffering.
Yes, I said suffering because suffering is unfortunately a part of living in a sin-broken world. Does this bother you? If so, good—it’s supposed to bother you. All of this is to teach us that we do bare the crosses. Without suffering we might float merrily along on our way to hell. But, these crosses bring a great blessing to remind us of the great need we have of a Good Shepherd. The Lord provides our Good Shepherd because he loves us so much. He doesn’t want us to be like sheep going astray. He wants us to know that Jesus has returned us “…..to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
Yes, Jesus does lead us beside the green pastures, the quiet waters, and restores our souls. He also lead us THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death when the devil, sin and death would strike out at us. Why? He wants to teach us the reality of the cross. The cross was not beautiful for Jesus, but we are beautified through Jesus’ cross. With a firm hold on Jesus we can view the cross of the Good Shepherd and know in the end we belong to him. We can live through the “not so beautiful times of our life” confident of the day when the Good Shepherd will lead us, his lambs and sheep, to the perfect beauty we will enjoy with him in heaven. Amen.
