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Mark Wheeler
John 1:29-30
06/23/2024
Biblical Pictures? – “Animals”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Worship, today, friends!
Who here has a pet, a dog or a cat or a hedgehog or something, that you love like a child, like a family member?
Anybody here a birdwatcher? On the rare occasion that a Gold Finch makes its way into our yard, I am ecstatic! We used to have a hummingbird that nested and laid eggs and grew their babies right outside our slider door!
Or any wildlife … or even cows when we’re traveling down the highway – MOOOO!!
We are in this sermon Series through June and July: a Series on Word-Pictures in the Bible – descriptions of God, ideas about God’s Church, images of what it means to belong to God, and depictions of how we demonstrate having been created Imago Dei!
At the very center of the Christian faith is the belief that there is no one like God! God is not a creature, God is the Creator!! Isaiah 6:1 calls Him “High and lifted up”! And Philippians tells us that this One who is above all, better than all, nothing like any other, stooped down to make Himself known to us finite and sinful creatures!
John Calvin loved to describe God as a “nurse who bends low to lisp to a newborn.”
God demonstrates this aspect of His nature every time the Bible uses metaphors to convey His Message of Good News in a way we can understand. These metaphors help us understand God and live like we believe what we say we believe!
Today we look at the biblical metaphor of Animals!
Stories of lambs and sheep and shepherds weave their way all through the Bible, from as early on as Genesis 4 with the story of Cain and Abel all the way through the book of Revelation. There are, of course, lots of other animal stories – the Creation Story, Noah’s Ark, a “big fish” swallowing Jonah, Samson and the foxes and, Daniel and the lions, birds who nest in mustard plants, doves which symbolize peace, a fish with a coin in its mouth, goats, rams, frogs, grasshoppers, the list just goes on and on. But the most common animal metaphor is sheep!
Moses worked as a shepherd before becoming the greatest prophet and leader of the Israelite people. David, as we saw in the Children’s Message, was shepherd before becoming the greatest king of Israel!
These Israelites and their shepherd-like leaders saw themselves as like sheep in need of a Good Shepherd!
The biblical word-picture of Animals gives us a glimpse of the glory of God and our place in His presence!
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Pastor Kathy calls us to worship, today, from Psalm 100:
3-6 And our Prelude of Praise and Worship ––– #103 … Ye Servants of God –
7 Good morning Friends! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem! May the PEACE of Christ be with you!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
8 This morning we have our first 2024 Summer Special Music, with Diana and Linda singing, and Julie accompanying – the Shepherd’s voice calling: “Follow Me”
9 Children’s Message
10 Pastor opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
11 Gloria Patri
12-15 Praises, thanksgivings, adorations, concerns and prays [The Lord’s Prayer]
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17-20 Song of Devotion and Preparation to receive God’s Word – #212 – What Wondrous Love Is This –
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Someone tell me the best Old Testament story of a Sacrificial Lamb – the first story is when Abel offered a lamb as a sacrifice in Genesis 4 – but the most significant Sacrificial Lamb event, the one which changed everything about how God is worshiped and how we connect to God as the Good Shepherd happens in the chapters of Exodus that begin the Israelites’ 40-years in the wilderness – the Passover Lamb!
Throughout their entire history, the Israelites survived by keeping sheep, eating sheep, and sacrificing sheep, and because of this they were taught to think of themselves as sheep, and they looked forward to the day when they would not be sheep without a Shepherd!
This is humbling, right? We don’t usually think of sheep as the smartest of animals. *Take a look at this sheep/shepherd video.*
21.5 (https://youtu.be/bLZW-kWr1F4?si=gXIgNpHr5s8jfxcE)
Sheep probably did not carry the cute “Mary-had-a-little-lamb” image many of us might imagine. Sheep can be dirty, stubborn, stupid, defenseless against wolves and foxes and even birds of prey, and way less than easy to herd….
The Old Testament Psalms and Prophets and the New Testament Gospels are filled with metaphors and parables comparing believers to sheep – how does the most famous, well-known Psalm begin? (“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ….”) We need protection and defending, we require being fed and led to water, we necessitate a safe place and we require guidance.
In Matthew’s Gospel we hear Jesus saying, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore, be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” The Church, collectively and as individual believers, lives in a world of danger – to our faith and to our faithfulness.
God’s Good Shepherd Word is found in daily prayer and concentrated, dedicated dwelling in the Scriptures.
As our denomination’s biennial General Assembly is about to begin its work, some will feel like those dangers are within the denomination as well as outwith it. So we pray – for God’s guidance, protection and wisdom!
Pastor Robert Vandoodewaard, of Hope Reformed Church in Ontario, Canada, says, “In the end, the beauty and power of the sheep metaphor is not primarily a sentimental comparison to a lamb. It is in recognizing our propensity toward sinfulness and foolishness. Most important,” he says,“it is in the Lord’s promises to care for poor and needy sinners.”
Isaiah 40 says, “He will feed His flock like a Shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms…” John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is “the Good Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep and gathers His flock.”
But even more – listen to these words of God spoken through the John the Baptist about Jesus – John 1:29-30 …. —-
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29 The next day (this is at the beginning of John’s Gospel, and we have already met John the Baptist in the Jordan River, baptizing his fellow Jews into a life of repentance … the next day) John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
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Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God, who stooped so low as to become “the (ultimate Passover) Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Though He is the very Word of God, “like a sheep, He was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth.” (Acts 8:32, Isaiah 40:11)
The beauty of this metaphor is in how deeply it demonstrates God’s love and devotion – He became the Passover Lamb – He gives His very life – for the sheep of His hand, the people of His pasture.
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But that is still not the end of the metaphor: in the Book of Revelation, chapter 17, verse 14, we are told how the work of Christ makes this small, weak, humble symbol of the Lamb into the greatest and most glorious symbol of power and might over evil! Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the Lord of lords and King of kings!
He is the reason for every season. Let us worship Jesus, the Ultimate Lamb of God!
25 Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Offering (4449 N Nevada St., Spokane, WA, 99207; or click HERE ; or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
26-30 Expedition Song #356 – All Creatures of Our God and King –
31 Benediction:
May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
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Announcements
- Thru-the-Bible Check-in – Tomorrow at noon
- General Assembly PC(USA)
- Ezra 3 Initiative –
- Furnace Fundraiser
Resources:
Vandoodewaard, Robert; “Animal Metaphors”; TableTalk; June 2019; Pp. 7-9.
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