Sheep in pasture

Sheep in pasture
Feed My Sheep, Feed My Lambs, Feed My Sheep

Sunday, October 19, 2014

The Straight and Narow

October 12, 2014
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Sermon Series: The I Am Statements of Jesus
Sermon 4 of Series:
“I Am the Gate”
John 10:1-9 CEB
Matthew 7:13-14 CEB

“The Straight and Narrow”

Let us pray…Pray for the Spirit’s leading and that God’s word would be heard…

Have you ever been in a place where you felt completely at peace…you felt protected and loved? We may feel that within our families or we may feel it at a certain place. When I have gone to Rolling Ridge, down in Lawrence, Ma, I feel that peace that goes beyond understanding.

As soon as I get there and step out of my car it feels as if I have stepped on Holy Ground and it almost makes me weep. I feel loved, protected, and safe…I feel the presence of God there watching over me. There is no other place I want to be at that moment in time. The world outside that has it’s siren voice is quieted, even if just for a short time. The world pulls us in so many directions and there are so many roads to follow. There is this narrow entrance there that you have to go through in order to get to the guest house and as soon as I go through it seems as if everything changes in my heart and in my mind…it is more peaceful and calm.

We have entered into the Season that we begin to look forward to the manger…the Season that we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is the Savior of the world but He is so much more than that. As we have been preparing to welcome in the babe in the manger, we have been looking at the seven “I Am” statements that Jesus made while He walked among us. My prayer is that as we do, we will realize what really happened that day, how that one day changed the tide of sin and death. It’s all about the name and what goes along with that very same name…not just who but what that name implies.

Now we have talked about how Jesus is The Bread of Life and about how Jesus fills us spiritually and that we never will hunger again for those Spiritual things that we need for our faith walk. We have talked about the name I Am and that Jesus, the Great I Am, is always with us even when we don’t feel His presence with us in those times when we feel we are walking in a dark tunnel and not seeing the light at the end. And we have even talked about how Jesus gives light for our journey…He lights our way even in those times when we don’t see Him… Jesus even hems us in…He keeps us safe within the pasture of life…

The John Scripture I read this morning reminds me of the 23rd Psalm. It reminds me of the 2nd verse as it states “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” You see…shepherds would protect the sheep from all danger and take them to a place where they would be safe. In the sheepfold, they could rest for the night and be safe from the attacks of wild beasts. The shepherd could also sleep, yet he was willing to lay his life down to protect the sheep and be subject to harm, instead of letting the sheep be in danger. In certain times of the year, the shepherd would lead his sheep away from the village to green pastures where the feeding was better. 

While they were away, the sheep were kept in temporary sheepfolds of brush, mud, a cave, or other type sheepfold.  In this instance, the shepherd would guard the entry to the sheepfold and lay down in front of the only entrance, to be as the one door to the sheepfold and keep out all harm.

Jesus is that Gate for us. Salvation is found in and through Him…the Gate to the kingdom and no one…I repeat no one…can enter unless they go through the Gate Keeper. As the sheep…as we enter through Him we have freedom to come and go as we please as we are in a place of peace in the midst of plenty…kind of like those sheep who were lead to a place where the feeding was better. We can either feed on what the world has to offer or we can enter through the Gate to feed on goodness and mercy all the days of our lives…

We live in a world that offers us a wide area in which to enter. There is a wide variety of ways to go and the entrance has a big neon sign that says “enter through here…it is a much easier way to go because it is a wide road that you are invited to travel on…” But Jesus tells us of a much narrower road that isn’t easy at times but leads to a life of protection…a life where the Shepherd is able to keep you safe.

In Matthew 7:13-14, we hear of this better way to go. Jesus tells us to “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.” Jesus is offering us a road that is straight but is also narrow.

Going down that wide road is much easier. We won’t have to set ourselves apart from the world. We won’t have to “Love others as Jesus loved and loves us”. We won’t have to stand up for the gospel and can just “go along to get along”. But Jesus asks us to consider the cost of the wide road that leads to destruction verses that narrow road that leads to life…life abundant.

Jesus is the Gate and He will protect us as we enter in through the true Gate. The world outside the sheepfold is where the wolves lie in wait, but we are to take the gospel message out into the highways and byways, as 'salt and light.'  Jesus said, "behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." 

At times the path to reach sinners may be rough and dangerous, but with the Lord going before us and leading the way, we will find safety and pasture. Those who enter through Jesus find life, which means we all begin on the outside and need to enter through him. We are all sheep in need of a shepherd, just as we all, like the man born blind, are in need of the light. As we enter through Jesus, the Gate, we carry His light within us and are to carry that light into the world.

So…which gate will you enter through? Will it be the wide Highway that leads to who knows where or through the Narrow Gate by which we know that we will be protected and have an abundant life? Will you and I be light bearers to the world or will we let that light dim so we can “fit in”? The choice is ours to make…which will you choose?

Pray about entering through the true Gate…

Amen!

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