Sermon for 5/12/2013. More Like Jesus: Outward-Focused

John 10:7-18
  So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

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The average child uses between 2,500-3,500 diapers their first year of life.  The numbers go down a bit in the second year, and potty training is somewhere between a great blessing and a trial by fire for the parents.  No one is sorry to see diapers go. 

Imagine, though, that your parents kept a running tally of every diaper they used, and when you were gainfully employed, they presented you with a bill, having calculated the cost of every diaper and the labor required to change it. 

Or imagine that your parents gave you a bill for the total cost of raising you.  I’ve seen surveys that peg the cost of raising a child to the age of 18 anywhere between $200-$300k, and that’s before you factor in college, an aspect of child-rearing about which Rachel & I are in denial.

You’d probably be somewhat taken aback by the size of the bill, but even more surprised that they were billing you for such a service.  That’s just what parents are supposed to do, right?

And yet, we don’t expect such generosity from everyone.  We had the alternator on Rachel’s car replaced this week, and when we picked up the car, I wasn’t surprised to get a bill from the mechanic.  I expected it, even if I wasn’t too fond of the size of the charge!  When I go grocery shopping, I don’t expect the food to be free, as it was from the refrigerator growing up. 

The mark of love is a willingness to stop counting the cost.  We don’t do a cost/benefit analysis when we prepare to change Caleb’s diaper, any more than my parents debated whether they were willing or interested in tending to my needs when I was a child.  When I was sick, they comforted me.  When I was hurting, they tended to me, even if there were other things they were more interested in doing.  They sacrificed, just as we will sacrifice for Caleb.  The relationship becomes more important than the needs of the individual in it.

This is what Christ is illustrating when he tells us that he is the good shepherd.  He’s trying to paint a picture for us of his love and devotion.

You may have guessed by now that a shepherd was not the primary path to financial stability in the 1^st century world any more than it is today.  If you want to be rich and live in a fancy house, you’re probably not going to choose being a shepherd.  It’s not the most rewarding job, either.  It entails long hours and late nights, constantly watching sheep, animals that don’t always look after themselves well.  You have to keep watch for predators and make sure the sheep don’t overgraze a spot.  You watch the sheep to see if there are any injuries.  It’s not an easy job, and sheep have yet to find a way to write thank-you cards or take the boss out on boss’ appreciation day.  Shepherding is not the most rewarding profession.  I suppose you could take out a reward for yourself and eat the sheep, but that’s probably going to endanger your future career.

So why be a shepherd?

Because you love and care for the sheep.  Because you’re dedicated to the well-being of the sheep.  Because you want them to flourish, and you’ve stopped counting the cost.  You aren’t focused on making sure that you get your fair share out of it, and you’re focused on the flourishing of the relationship over your own needs.

Which is what we see in Christ’s love for us.

We could never make up the debt we owe to Christ.  God loves each and every one of us so deeply that he was willing to pay whatever price was necessary to redeem us from the bonds of sin and death.  We had run astray, pursued our selfish interests rather than a faithful life, and placed ourselves in clear and present danger of spending eternity separated from God.

But God, rather than let us wallow in our miserable fate, intervened at a huge cost to himself.  He had to watch his own Son, Jesus Christ, suffer and die at the hands of the very people he came to save.  He had to suffer the depths of hell and death in order to liberate us forever, and he paid the price we could not pay.  We were unable to pay such a price, just as a child is unable to repay his parents.

And God did it all at no charge to us.  We aren’t expected to earn such a reward.  We aren’t asked to pay God back.  God loves us so much that he gives eternal life and righteousness to us for free! 

It’s not even, is it?

But that’s what love is—it’s not even.  It’s not balanced.  It’s focused on the needs of the relationship, rather than on the selfish needs of the individual.

Christ compares the Good Shepherd to the hired hand.  The hired hand is the one who is more interested in his own selfish needs than the overall relationship.  When danger lurks, the hired hand turns tail and runs, focusing on saving himself.  The Good Shepherd is the one willing to put himself at risk for the sake of the relationship.  It’s a vast difference between the two.

When I look at the world today, I see a world that is focused on the individual.  We often find ourselves in isolated bubbles, and we are encouraged to pursue our own needs, often at the risk of endangering relationships with those around us.  It’s supposed to be about me and my needs, and you need to learn to live with that.  Self-giving relationships are on the decline.  Self-serving relationships are on the rise.  The rise of the ‘spiritual but not religious’ trend is directly in line with this idea—we get the notion that spirituality is about me and what I want, and you and your messy life are an irritating distraction, so I’ll stay home and keep this about me.  Religion serves me, and when it begins to cost me something, I’ll leave you behind.

 I believe, that if we as Christians want to be a part of what God is doing in the world, we need to think about how we emulate the life of the Good Shepherd.  Rather than being so inward focused, we need to focus on the life of Christ, which was about putting others first, even at expense and risk to the self.  We need to be washed in gratitude and awe for what Christ has done for us on the cross, and this gratitude should drive us to show this type of sacrificial love for others.

I think the world is hungry for this type of love.  People are so immersed in the self and expect others to pursue the needs of the self, that when they see self-giving love, they are struck by it.

 This is the type of love that drives an individual to show up in a classroom every day to teach kids that may not be great at showing gratitude, despite the fact that teaching is not a path to riches.  This is the type of love we celebrate on Mothers’ Day, the love that pours itself out for the child and never stops to count the cost.

If we’re going to be the faithful church of Jesus Christ, we need to be more focused on the people and world around us than on ourselves.  If we’re stopping to count the cost, we’re not emulating the Good Shepherd.  If we’re wondering about how it will affect us and what the cost to us will be, we’re focused on self.  Christ looked outward.  Will we, as New Hope Presbyterian, look outward, too?  Will we think about how we can show selfless love?  Will we give ourselves up so that others may thrive?  Will we go out into a world and be risk takers?  Will we leave what is comfortable to go to the unfamiliar so that others may know selfless love? 

Or will we seek to protect what we have?

We have a choice to make, about what kind of people we will be, about what kind of church we will be.  We can choose to make it about us, or we can opt to be Christ-like, to let his love transform us into agents of love in this world, selfless love that is more focused on how we can serve the other than what it costs to us.

Let us pray