August 04, 2002
Have You Been to Shepherd?

TEXT: John 12:27-33
“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven. “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

A good friend and I were visiting one day on an important matter. In the midst of our conversation he said, “Pardon me for changing the subject for a minute, but have you been to the Waffle Stop?”

“No, I haven’t, but what does the Waffle Stop have to do with our conversation?” I asked.

“Oh, I just didn’t want to forget it because I know you and your wife would enjoy their waffles. They just melt in your mouth.”

I still didn’t get the connection. However, that very evening my wife and I went to the Waffle Stop, and we have continued to go. The best advertisement for any business is a satisfied customer, and my friend was just that kind of customer.

A few weeks ago, I preached at the church where my son-in-law serves as pastor. This was one of the first Sundays the congregation had worshiped in their new sanctuary. What a thrill it was to be there and share God’s Word with these people! The congregation was started twenty-five years ago. Today it is a congregation of 1,350 people. From a human point of view, how did all of this happen – from no congregation to a large church that worships in a new building costing several million dollars?

Let me tell you one reason that the congregation has grown. Members of the church have asked some of their friends a simple question, “Have you been to Shepherd?” Shepherd is the name of the congregation. If the person says, “No, we haven’t been to Shepherd,” the enthusiastic member responds by saying, “You must come. We will pick you up next Sunday. You will find this church has something to share that may change your life. We call it the Gospel.”

The basis of the message that you will hear in some form is “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to me.” (John 12:32) This message brings peace to the soul and builds a fire in the heart. The enthusiastic member continues, “Let me share with you three effects Christ can have on your life.”

First, He turns your life around. Christ assures you that through His suffering, death, and resurrection, He has paid the price for your sins. By nature we have no relationship with God, because God is holy and we are sinful. A Holy God can have nothing to do with a sinful person. However, in spite of our sins, God loved us and sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world. He took our sins upon himself. When we, in faith, receive Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we are brought into fellowship with the Creator to live both now and for all eternity in a personal relationship with him. Life becomes an entirely new experience. We no longer walk alone, but Christ walks with us.

St. Paul put it this way, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold the new has come.” (II Corinthians 5:17) This is what many people experience who hear this “good news.” Years ago I visited the church where Chuck Swindall was the pastor. As I sat outside the church before the evening service, I had a conversation with a member. When I asked him if he enjoyed the congregation, he replied, “Well, I don’t know if ‘enjoy’ is the right word, but this place means everything to me. This is where Christ met me and turned my life around. I was converted here.

Second, Christ strengthens me to face the tough experiences of life. His Word makes it clear that the Christian is not freed from the hard knocks of life. In the Bible, the book of Job reveals to us that the righteous will suffer. Still, how do we make it through these tough times? Christ walks with us. He offers this great invitation: “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

A certain single-parent mother will share with you how it works. She has a 17-year-old son. He is an outstanding young man and brings great satisfaction to his mother’s life. A few days ago he got sick. The local doctor detected a mass on his pancreas, and they immediately sent him to the Mayo Clinic for care. The doctors could offer little hope, for if that mass were malignant, the illness would be terminal. Then came the day of the operation. There sat this mother, herself a surgical nurse. She knew what was happening. There was no kidding her. She had plenty of experience watching the surgeon look into the abdominal cavity and then close it because he could do nothing for the patient. What would be the answer? After a lengthy period, the good word came, “The mass is benign.” Her son would get well.

In talking with a close friend, the mother said, “I had to be brave and upbeat around Mike and the family, but I was frightened. I knew how serious this could be.” Nevertheless, she was not alone. Christ was with there to see her through some tough, tough hours. She had the eternal promise, “Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Third, Christ makes life challenging. He gives life a new depth. This challenge comes when He says to all who trust him, “Follow me . . . you will be my witnesses.” Life presents many challenges – earning a living, raising a family, having some fun, and the list goes on.
Isn’t it fun to live? I think it is. Nevertheless, if these were the only challenges we have, life would be lacking.

I can illustrate this with the conversation of two men discussing their lives. I had enrolled in a course on how to share the faith at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A part of the assignment was to go calling with a layperson to learn how he shares the faith. This was an unusual part of the course that they did not recommend be done on a regular basis, but it did give the trainee good experience. When the trainer told me we would be visiting with strangers in a mall, I was hesitant. This wasn’t for me, but I had to go along. In the mall we met this man standing by his car. He was waiting for his wife who was in a store.

My trainer asked this gentle man if we could ask him a few questions about his religious life. The person was very friendly and gave his permission.

“Do you belong to a church?” my friend asked.

“Yes, I am a member of a church in Pittsburgh.”

There were other questions, and then came the big one, “Have you come to that place in your spiritual life where you know for sure that, if you died today, you would go to heaven?”

The man replied, “No, I haven’t, and you are looking at a dying man.”

He told us his story. This man had been a high executive in a large company that was downsizing, and he had lost his job. He had plenty of money and a big pension; life was supposed to be easy. However, he had lost the challenge to live, and he knew this would kill him. He asked my trainer if he had a similar problem. My teacher said, “No, I have never been as challenged in my life as I am today teaching people how to share the Christian faith with other people on a personal basis.”

Hearing this, the depressed man said, “What did you do before your retirement?”

The trainer replied, “I was the executive vice-president of a large eastern company with tremendous responsibilities.” Were was a person telling another that teaching people to share their faith in Christ was more challenging than running a billion-dollar company!

The man from Pittsburgh couldn’t understand this, so my friend invited him to have breakfast the next morning at some private club. I often wonder what the outcome of that breakfast conversation turned out to be. The point is, Christ gives us a new challenge that reaches far beyond this world into eternity.

The message of Jesus Christ is what our soul longs for as we walk through life, although we might not know it. That’s why we need to worship regularly in a church that lifts up Christ.

Obviously the church I have described, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, is an exciting congregation. A few years ago there was no congregation. Today 1,350 people attend the congregation’s services and share in its ministry. What is its future? One word – exciting! People who have met Jesus Christ at Shepherd Lutheran Church will keep on asking their unchurched friends, “Have you been to Shepherd?” Some of them will go to see what it is all about, and Christ will be lifted up before their very eyes.

The story of Shepherd is the story of every congregation who tells the story of Jesus.

Amen.

Rev. Homer Larsen
Christian Crusaders