Our Shepherd, Jesus, Is That Good :: John 10:11, 14-16, 27-28

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Dear Michael and Tina ... Elsie ... friends and family ... brothers and sisters in Christ ...

Thanks be to God, today, there is more than aching sorrow. There is more than empty defeat. Yes, thanks be to God, there is triumph today. There is joy. There is victory. How great that joy is, you and I cannot begin to know. 

But this we do know: A legion of angels are singing a song of triumphant praise today. Why? Heaven’s all glorious king, our earth-born brother, our dying, rising, ascending, and victorious Lord Jesus has crowned one of his saints … Douglas Lynn Kennedy … with the gift of eternal life. Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give to them eternal life, and they definitely will not perish forever, and no one will seize them out of my hand (vv 27-28). 

Thus, heaven’s joy streams into our sorrow today. Tragedy is undergirded with triumph. Defeat is spelled V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Death has become Life ... because ... thanks be to God ... 

OUR SHEPHERD ... JESUS ... IS THAT GOOD

I.

As a baptized child of God, Doug is one of God’s own. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, Jesus told Doug, and he tells us. It was for such a day as today that the Good Shepherd left the glories of his Father’s house to save his own. It was for such a day as today that he came to us. It was for such a day as today that the Good Shepherd came to become one of us … one with us ... to offer himself a sacrificial ransom for us. He paid the price of the Father’s perfect justice. Jesus shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins. The Shepherd became a Lamb ... a spotless Lamb ... the perfect sacrifice on the altar of the cross. Jesus bore our griefs. Jesus carried our sorrows. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions. Jesus was bruised for our iniquities, and with his stripes we are healed. I am the good shepherd, Jesus said. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

This is the good news of God … the Shepherd is Good. By bleeding and dying for us ... and for Doug ... Jesus has put death to death once, for all ... and given all who have faith in him his righteousness. Against all the evil forces of sin, Satan, death, and hell that would have utterly destroyed us, the Good Shepherd came to enter into combat for us. And he emerged with the triumphant shout of resurrection victory. 

And now, brothers and sisters in Christ, this victory is yours! 

As Job reminds us, I know that my redeemer lives, and at the last, he will stand upon the dust, and after my skin has been destroyed, in my flesh I will see God (Job 19:25-26). 

This is the comforting, joyous, hope-filling Gospel of God that the Good Shepherd proclaims to us today. He draws our hearts to receive him as our Beautiful Savior to trust him, to follow him, and to let him be what he is ... our Good Shepherd who leads us to paradise.

II.

That undoubtedly is what Doug did. 

In many and various ways, different ways, we knew the man whose body lies before us. Two of you ultimately came to know him as a beloved father ... a beloved brother. I knew him as one of God’s own. The shepherd is that good. 

With a humble childlike faith, Doug came to believe in Jesus, thanks be to God. To be sure, some of that had to do with the nurturing witness of his beloved late wife, Linda Lou. There was a reason we played the song Prop Me Up Against the Jukebox (If I Die). That’s how they met, dancing to that song. 

Doug had not otherwise been raised in the church … or around it. But as Jesus said, I have other sheep that are not out of this fold. It is necessary for me to bring them. They also will hear my voice. Doug certainly did. 

He and Linda were married on March 2, 1990. Just four years later, the Holy Spirit saved Doug in baptism, and just a year after that, he confirmed the saving faith given to him through baptism. He then began following the Good Shepherd for the rest of his life, longing to worship, hungering for the assurance and strength of the Lord’s Table, giving generously. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me, Jesus said (v 27). 

And so Doug did. And now our Good Shepherd’s promise to Doug is fulfilled. Eternal life is his. He will never perish, and no one will snatch him out of our Lord’s hand (v 28). 

Even as the angels of God rejoice in receiving our loved one into the joys of eternity, the loving heart of the Good Shepherd turns to us, to his other sheep, in our moment of need. I am the good shepherd, Jesus said.

How very beautiful are these, his Words, for us today? Let the Good Shepherd indelibly inscribe into your aching heart today the comfort and strength and hope of these words, knowing, There will be one flock, one shepherd (v 16). And his name is Jesus. There is no other name in heaven or on earth by which men will be saved. 

Just like Doug used to watch his cows, we are in the gracious care and keeping of the Shepherd. Jesus keeps watch over you ... Jesus keeps coming to you ... nurturing you ... caring for you. And one day, the glorious angels will sing another chorus for us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, the Good Shepherd. 

He knows your need. He promises to lead you. Attend you. Nourish you just like he did for Doug. So let us celebrate the giving of the crown of victorious life to our beloved father, brother, and friend ... in Jesus’ name.

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