Rev. Cary M. Richert
Midweek Lenten Service
Week 4
March 14, 2007

STRAY SHEEP*
(Isaiah 53:6)

    All we like sheep have gone astray;

        we have turned every one to his own way;

    and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

          "Stray Sheep."  It's a phrase we often use to describe someone who's chosen to travel a different, perhaps out-of-the-ordinary, pathway in their life.  A pathway that may be contrary to what's considered acceptable and desirable and beneficial by their family or, more importantly, by the truths of God's holy Word.

          The Prodigal Son was a stray sheep.  The thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus was a stray sheep.  I’m sure each of us can point to someone  we’d consider to be a stray sheep, based on their life choices.  By the way, the (Chapel/Sanctuary) is filled with stray sheep today.  To see them, look around you ... but remember, they’re also looking at you and me!

          Through the ancient prophet Isaiah, God calls all of us stray sheep.  We're stray sheep who, by nature, are like the people of ancient Israel during the time of the Judges, when everyone did what was right in his own eyes. [Judges 21:25]   Scripture tells us ancient Israel acted this way, because there was no king ruling over them.

When we ignore Jesus' kingship in our own lives, we're prone to act as stray sheep the same way ancient Israel did.  It's in the nature of our inherited sinfulness to want to do what's right in our own eyes.  We wander astray every time (we're) lured and enticed by (our) own desire (to rebel and do what is right in our own eyes).  (And that) desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin. [James 1:14-15]   And often in sin, we rationalize our straying and don’t recognize it for what it truly is, sinful rebellion against God!

          Sadly, by nature we are stray sheep, who so often choose our own path of disobedience and rebellion against God and His desire for our lives as His people.  In our home Bible study group, as we're studying Luther’s Large Catechism, we're learning that: judged by God's holy Law, each and every of us is a stray sheep.  We're too easily inclined to wander off the path on which our Good Shepherd would have us listen to His voice and follow Him.  By our own poor and sinful choices, we find ourselves

8     stranded on the edge of a precipice of spiritual disaster

8     in danger of falling prey to the hungry wolf of selfish indulgence

8     tangled in a briar thicket of confusion, lies and  hopelessness

8     lost in the darkness of loneliness and despair

          Because of our sinful nature, writes (shepherd) Philip Keller, Most of us labor under the delusion that we have every right to our own lives; that we have the right to go where we wish, to do as we please, to live as we choose, and to decide our own destiny. ⁽¹⁾   In other words, we have the right to be stray sheep if we want to, and should be able to be a stray sheep without any earthly or eternal consequence.

          But there IS consequence to being a stray sheep, separated from the flock of the Good Shepherd.  The consequence is death: physical and, more importantly, eternal.  Sheep that stray from the flock and are never found are doomed to die in their straying "lostness".  Keller further notes that, We who are in the family of God, who have been found by the Good Shepherd, often forget just how "lost" we really were. ⁽²⁾  And thus, we also forget how desperate our need to be rescued really is!

          But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, loves His sheep with an everlasting love.  He came to seek and to save lost sheep.  To rescue them, the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. [John 10:11, 15, 17, 18]   For the Good Shepherd is also the sacrificial Lamb of God.  The Lamb whose blood was shed on the Cross for the sins of the world ...  for your sins and for mine.

          The perfect Lamb of God took the form of a suffering Servant, humbled Himself and became like His sheep.  Destined for slaughter from the beginning, Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [Philippians 2:8]   In His loving, obedient, sacrificial death the LORD has laid on (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. [Isaiah 53:6]   Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, became the sin of His lost sheep.  He suffered God’s wrath and judgment and punishment of our sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. [2 Corinthians 5:21], so that we stray sheep might be gathered into the flock of the Good Shepherd, where, in Christ, God sees His sheep to be washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, spotless, adorned with Christ's own righteousness.

          As sheep of the Good Shepherd's flock, we still find ourselves tempted to wander astray.  But the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls lovingly calls us back to Himself by name, through His holy Word and Sacraments, the means by which He also gently leads and guides us toward heaven's eternal pasture-land.

          How beautifully we expressed our faith and trust in God's grace and mercy earlier, when we read responsively the 23^rd Psalm.  For the Lord truly is our Good Shepherd, who leads us, who restores us, who guides us, who never leaves us, who comforts us, who protects us, and who promises us that, as we remain safely within His care, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow (us) all the days of (our lives): and (we) will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. [Psalm 23:6]

          May God grant that we stray sheep, for whom the Good Shepherd laid down His life of His own accord [John 10:18] may draw near to (the Good Shepherd) with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith [Hebrews 10:22] and listen to His voice and follow Him, for He's promised that no one can snatch us out of His (strong and loving) hand. [John 10:27]

          In the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who knows and loves His sheep, and who's known and loved by them.  AMEN.
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NOTES

(1)            P. Keller, A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd and His Sheep, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978, 27.

(2)            P. Keller, A Shepherd …, 149.

*  This sermon was adapted from a Lenten sermon of a similar title by Walter Snyder, published as part of the 2007 Lenten Series, “Our Suffering Savior” © Concordia Publishing House, and purchased for use at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Birmingham, MI.