EASTER • 4

Easter Season

Easter is here! Contrary to popular misconception, Easter isn’t just on Resurrection Sunday but actually a whole season (like Lent) until Pentecost Sunday. Easter season basically celebrates and reminds us that Jesus is alive, He has risen from the grave and is actively at work amongst us.

What does your relationship with your Shepherd look like? (This week’s writing should facilitate exploring different aspects of being His sheep)

SONGS FOR PRAYER

reading for: Tuesday Night, 25 april

John 10:1-10

The Full-Life-Ship of the Sheep

  • READ

    In today’s reading, Jesus describes Himself as a shepherd, in two ways within the Jewish understanding of the work of shepherding. Firstly, He is the shepherd (v1-5) that comes through the front door of the sheep pen (v2), and whom the gatekeeper and His sheep recognize (v3). Secondly, He is the gate (v7 and 9) through which the sheep are saved, and go in and out to find pasture.

    Back in the day, the typical sheep pen was walled/fenced all around with stone (or thickly interlocked torn bushes for more temporary arrangements) and had only one way in or out – via the gate or door. Unlike our conventional understanding of doors or gates that could be firmly locked, some of these pens did not even ‘gate’ fixtures per se. Rather, after the sheep had been gathered into the pen, the shepherd would lie down across the gateway (often times just an intentional opening between the walls or a simple wooden frame or barrier). In this way, the shepherd became ‘the gate’ that granted passageway in or out.

    Whatever the finer details of the sheep pen’s construct, the imagery would have been clear to His audience of the time.

    i)                 There was only one way in or out.

    ii)               The sheep pen represented a place of rest and safety from thieves and predators.

    iii)              The sheep of the fold was protected and led out to feed by the shepherd.

    iv)              The shepherd goes in and out through the proper door, while thieves and predator may try other ways in.

    v)               As with the analogy of the relationship between shepherd and sheep, sheep hear and recognize the shepherd’s voice

    What was difficult to understand and process was probably that Jesus was speaking about spiritual truths, and his listener’s carnality kept them from understanding (see 2 Corinthians 2:14). This is evidenced by Jesus explicitly saying that He is the one and only gate by which one was to enter into salvation (v9). The word ‘saved’ here comes from the Greek word, ‘sozo’, that is principally used to talk about God delivering or rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin. This is consistent to the over-arching theme of John which talks about Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

    Finally, when Jesus said that the thief (aka. Satan, the Adversary, or the Enemy) seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, but that He has come that we may have life and life to the full, He was again primarily speaking of spiritual things. Much like the imagery of life tied to ‘abiding in the true vine’ (see John 15), and Jesus’ definition of eternal life is to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3), a full and abundant life is found in abiding in Jesus, following Him, and knowing Him.

    While the benefits of a spiritually abundant life are many and often a by-product of our salvation, John 10:10 should not suggest to us that a life in Christ would be one with material abundance and an absence of hardship. Likewise, while the devil can likely be linked to the trials, hardships, sufferings and poverties in this world, John 10:10 contextually teaches us that the primary concern of Satan is actually to rob, severe, obliterate our relationship with God the Father. As such, sometimes what we see and ask for as blessings in the form of material wealth, shallow peace, and false security may in fact be of the Enemy seeking to numb us from our relationship with God.

    Jesus has come to us not simply as a ‘TED-talk’ speaker or a hired consultant but as our good shepherd who would lay down His life for us (v11). He tells us that He will protect us (v15) and also lead us to what is good (v9). He tells us to trust that He has an abundant life (John 10:10) in mind for us and that our joy will be complete as we abide in Him (John 15:11).  

  • REFLECT

    Jesus tells us that our true longing for a full and eternal life  can only be found in and through Him. Much like the woman at the well (see John 4), Jesus counsels us that He is the only One who quenches our insatiable thirst. Jesus is the puzzle key that causes all the deep questions of this life to be unlocked and find its rest and peace. He counsels us to be mindful of the ‘gate’ by which we come and go, and to abide with Him as our Shepherd.

    We who profess ourselves to be His sheep ought to check if we are attending to His voice, listening to Him, and following Him. Are we safe in the Shepherd’s care or have we wandered off with other shepherds and found ourselves living in other ‘pens’?

    Jesus is risen, alive, and with us this very moment. He invites you to seek and find fullness of life in Him. He invites you to come and see the kind of God our Heavenly Father is through Him. He invites you to trust Him and follow Him and allow Him to show you what kind of shepherd He is.

    Consider making some sacred space to just listen to the song ‘Take me deeper’ by Don Moen, and allow the lyrics of the song to sit with you. Respond to Him this day in prayer and invite His Holy Spirit to help you this moment to hear Him and follow Him. Meditate thoroughly on the truth that He is alive and with you this moment as your good shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd...” (Psalm 23) – Selah.   

reading for: Wednesday Night, 26 april

Acts 2:42-47

The Fellowship of the Sheep

  • READ

    Following the salvation of more than 3000 new believers on the Day of Pentecost, today’s reading is a vivid description of this new fellowship of believers that came together. This comes as a good development of yesterday’s reading where Jesus illustrates Himself as our good shepherd and the gate. What does a community of sheep that follow our good Shepherd look like? Let me also just begin to tackle one polemic that has been risen up again quite a bit following COVID-19. An issue raised and implied by the following questions:

    i)                 Is church necessary? If yes, why?

    ii)               If it is, is attendance and going to a specific local church important? Is meeting in person necessary? Or is online streaming and a resource of sermons and worship songs at my disposal sufficient?

    iii)              If yes, must we attend a local church community in the way we know it traditionally? Isn’t cell group or a small community of friends that is seriously following God what is important?

    iv)              If the church falls short of all that God intends it to be, then what is the point of attending or being in a community of such hypocrites?

    Devotion to Church is Natural and Necessary

    For starters, Acts 2:42-47 as a whole, clearly showed that the church was not an afterthought or an option. It was the result of the outpouring of the Spirit, the preaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, and a repented people (people whose hearts and minds have been changed and turned).

    When the 3000 people were added to the 120 (v41), they immediately (v42) committed themselves to church. Conversion to Christ naturally and necessarily led to commitment and devotion to church – not to a building or any organization proclaiming to be church, but to a fellowship devoted to knowing and following Jesus. A fellowship of believers characterized by some quintessential elements highlighted in today’s reading.

    This fellowship of believers deserves careful attention especially in an age of the ‘spiritual but not religious’ and ‘jaded scepticism’ where church is not just a venue of spirituality if it suites you, but also an obstacle to pre-believers. Reports of people disillusioned by their pastors and leaders, ‘people saying they are not growing’, that ‘their needs are not being met’, ‘disagreements with their teachings’, ‘things not being the same’, ‘feeling out of place’ and the list goes on.

    The Church as Jesus intended is meant to be a place of great joy

    Acts 2:42-47 reminds us that the church in the beginning (and definitely in the end) was not some cleverly planned organizational strategy devised by the apostles to manage people (who were pretty unsophisticated and uneducated people by the standards of that time). Rather, the church is God’s plan for all His children (and ‘sheep’ currently in the fold and those whom He has yet to bring in). The language in the text is filled with universals – ‘everyone’, ‘all’, ‘everything’, ‘anyone’, ‘every’, and ‘daily’. There were no barriers and no half-commitments (though that would come soon after in Acts 5 and 6). No one needed to ask these believers to ‘go to church’. It was the most natural and joyful thing they could do.

    Thus if the church made up of its people are missing joy, something is wrong and indeed many things have likely gone wrong. Today’s scripture perhaps can give us some pointers towards finding and restoring the missing joy.

    The very first lines tell us four practices of the early church that brought them joy – devotion to i) the apostles teachings (i.e. they taught about Jesus as Jesus did for them), ii) fellowship, iii) breaking of bread (i.e. the Lord’s supper), and iv) prayer.

    i)                 The apostles teaching was basically all about Jesus and what He taught them and continued to show them through the Holy Spirit. Jesus connected all the dots of life in a world of confusion and existential crises. He showed them the way to be saved, the meaning of life, who our Creator is, and the nature of the ultimate reality amid a world of bad news, suffering, and hopeless situations. How could there not be joy? On this note, it either preachers like ourselves are not preaching what the apostles taught or that listeners like ourselves are simply not devoted to or serious about what we hear.

    ii)               Fellowship here is anchored by the Greek word ‘koinonia’ which is the kind of intimate fellowship used to describe marriage. It is fellowship with a purpose that goes beyond enjoying each other’s company and having meals together, but to an important task of knowing each other deeply and loving each other sacrificially. This was captured with specific tangibles like being ‘all together’, ‘having everything in common’, and ‘selling their possessions and goods for those in need’. Many have stumbled most over this scripture verse, debating if this should be applied to our contexts today and whether or not this was just an exaggeration. Others have argued whether it is wise given current day contexts and even sustainable?  Whatever the case, this scripture captured the Spirit of God drawing the believers into deep ‘koinonia’ fellowship with one another. A kind of fellowship that most of us would dream of and long for if possible. Clearly, Acts 5 and 6 captures the fact that the church is bound to be work-in-progress till Jesus returns. And that our posture till then should be a unwavering devotion to the full standard of ‘koinonia’ as Jesus lived it. Much like how even if we fail our marriage vows ever so often, we should never stop working towards it. We ought not to allow jaded-ness or a lack of benefits deprive us from committing to ‘koinonia’ to the local church that God has allotted to us. If we have lost joy on this account, perhaps it is because we have lost Jesus’ kind of warm hearted, sincere, open-handed, and self-sacrificial fellowship. To the degree that we live out His ‘koinonia’ fellowship and love, we will have and bring joy in the church.

    iii)              Most scholars agree that ‘Breaking of bread’ here refers to the Lord’s supper. Remembering Jesus was so central to their lives that they did it all the time and in close and small intimate settings of their homes over meals which forged bonds and makes the fellowship real and grounded beyond corporate worship platforms. They lived out family reality with their new family in Christ. If there isn’t joy on this account, its because we have forgotten the centrality of eating together in the Lord’s supper and in small groups.

    iv)              Prayer and worship was a regular occurrence for them over the regular times of prayer in the temple at the time. Similar to today’s context, these would be prayer meetings, Sabbath celebrations, and townhall meetings, and etc. Following today’s scripture, these prayer and worship times were characterized by God’s presence and hand in their fellowship as well as a sense of reverential awe for God. These times were God focused and they were not going through religious motions. They were in touch with God in worship and God touched them. God was sought and He showed up in tangible and unmistakeable ways.  Where the presence of God is there is always joy. If this is absent, perhaps we have stopped reaching out to God in worship and praise and have also stopped expecting Him and waiting on Him to reach down to touch and respond to us in wondrous ways.       

  • REFLECT

    Consider the questions under the ‘Read’ segment, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you about Jesus’ desire that our lives would be full and our joy will be complete in Him. Invite Him to show you how you may contributed to the diminished joy in your local church and small groups. Alternatively, if you stumbled upon this and have been away from the Shepherd and His ‘Fellowsheep’ for a while now, but sense His invitation back, I pray that you will take a step to reach out to a pastor or leader to be reconnected. Do not let past hurts or disappointments or unforgiveness keep you.

    Where is your Shepherd leading and challenging you to walk? Commit to His ways and leading afresh this day. Oh that you may taste and see that your Shepherd is good and only wants joy and fullness of life for you.

reading for: Thursday Night, 27 april

1 Peter 2:19-25

The Follow-ship of His sheep

  • READ

    From our Gospel reading of John 10:1-10, knowing and following our Shepherd’s voice sounds like a good rationale choice as Christians who profess Him to be our good Shepherd. However, honest reflection about our own journeys often reveal that our mettle is truly tested amid our trials, hardships, persecution, and suffering. Just like fair weather friends that leave you when things getting trying or inconvenient, Peter himself is well known for being the disciple that denied Jesus three times when He was going through His worst. Yet it is this same Peter, after going through the depths of his own betrayal of the Lord, and who subsequently reinstated by Jesus Himself that exhorts us here.

    The pre-text of this scripture was a call for slaves to submit to their masters but not just the good ones but even those who are cruel and harsh (v18). This is noteworthy because Peter was laying down this exhortation with a very explicit and tangible situation and dynamic in mind. People of the time was had probably experienced or heard very explicit stories of master-slave dynamics that would be beyond abusive in our modern context. It is with such an example given, that Peter exhorts his readers to continue to do good and endure suffering because of it (v20). He was also highlighting a widely applicable reality that we would often times face persecution and suffering and hardship even for doing good.

    Peter tells his readers, that it is to this that they were ‘called’ that just as Christ suffered for them, they ought to follow His example. The word ‘called’ here is derived from the Greek word ‘Kaleo', which is the same word that makes up the word ‘Ekklesia’ which is the word for ‘church’ (i.e. ‘Ekk’ + ‘Kaleo’ translated directly to be ‘called out ones’).

    This imagery ties in wonderfully with our Gospel reading in John 10 once again. Just like sheep who are ‘called out’ of whatever they are doing to follow their shepherd, we as His church, and people who profess to follow Him ought to recognize that our trying circumstances and relationships are His invitations to love just as He loved us. In fact, it is this exact imagery that Peter himself quotes (v25), reminding us that we were once like sheep that was astray or lost but are now sheep who have returned to the Shepherd of our lives and souls.

    This is a tough and demanding call that would not even sit well with social work principles of today. It is as good as asking a person who is abused to stay on in an abusive relationship and telling them that this is God’s call for them as their good Shepherd. While slavery is frowned upon today and is sometimes used to question Peter’s assertions in today’s scripture, most scholars would agree that the Spirit and teaching of Peter’s exhortation endures – following our good Shepherd guarantees that we will suffer just as our Master suffered. But our readings also remind us that the often times ‘crazy’ calls of our good Shepherd is the way through life’s darkest valleys and enemy-filled terrain. During such times, we are called to remember that Jesus Himself chose and walked the way He calls us to follow in. Will we trust the Shepherd of our souls?

  • REFLECT

    It is no wonder that Jesus counsels us to enter by the narrow gate for wide is the path that leads to destruction, and many go by it. But narrow is gate and difficult is the way that leads which leads to life and few find it (Matt 7:13-14). Jesus never hid the cost of discipleship from His listeners and always told them how difficult it was to follow in His steps. He guaranteed them that in this godless world we will have trouble but that they could take heart for He has overcome the world (John 16:33)!

    Are we willing to be devoted to our Lord’s teachings and follow in His footsteps even amid very real world costs? Are we taking His Word and teachings seriously and working out our salvation in reverence for our good Shepherd? Do we truly acknowledge that this world that we live in is passing away? Examine our treasures and investments and I pray that the Holy Spirit will bring about Godly repentance in areas that we have gone astray. Let us take heed while we can and not be found like the rich young man who built and stored up in barns only to find that it all amounted to nothing. Our good Shepherd’s call and invitation is a tough one in this world that we live in, but He gave His life to assure us that He knows where He is leading us and that He has our best interests in mind.      

reading for: Friday Night, 28 april

Psalm 23

The Firm Foundation of His Sheep

  • READ

    The beauty of this well-read Psalm is not just in how the Psalmist beautifully captures how the Lord is personally his good Shepherd but also how this Psalm simultaneously describes the Lord’s shepherd-ship over the nation of Israel.

    The opening line that affirms the Lord as his Shepherd (v1) is actually a well-known and royal descript for gods and kings in the ancient near eastern context that goes beyond herding sheep. The king as a shepherd and representative of the gods was meant to rule with justice and show kindness in counseling, protecting, and guiding his people through every difficulty. Therefore, to call God his Shepherd was to acknowledge how God as his deliverer, God’s rule over his life, and to surrender to his will. The second part of the verse (v1b), ‘I shall not want’ or ‘I have no lack’ makes a striking claim that the Lord is really all one needs and that He provides for all that is essential to life. The rest of Psalm 23 goes on to elaborate on the assertions of verse 1.

    Given how far the average reader today is divorced from the context by which this Psalm is written, it is easy to simply perceive and imagine the personal applications of this Psalm. For our Jewish readers of the time however, one cannot help but find parallels of the Psalm with the nation of Israel’s own story with God. God delivers them out of slavery, guides them through the wilderness, provides for their needs even in the wilderness and in the face of enemies, and defeats their enemies. Through this all, they lacked nothing physically but also spiritually (Deut 8:2-4)! God provided good commandments and laws for them that they may be a people set apart that had life rather than death like the nations around them.

    All these give the Psalm the immense depth of being personal while being communal at the same time. This is an important point, especially where well-meaning teachers and preachers sometimes over-emphasize the individual and personal nature of our faith as simply a personal relationship with God without holding in tension the historicity of the church over the generations and the people we are a part and called to in our own generation as well. The result is people who live under the false belief that we do not need to be a part of a biblical ‘fellowsheep’ of believers (see Wednesday’s scripture and writing) who shun the pains and realities of relational community for a safe but false and incredibly lacking individualistic faith.

    In fact, the Psalm in all its integrity points to communal elements of God’s presence when the Psalmist writes that he shall ‘dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life’ (v6). The ‘house of the Lord’ here like referred to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem where the people of the Lord came together in united worship, praise, offering, seeking and etc. of the Lord. It was the unifying emblem of a people and also representing the presence of the Lord. It is no coincidence that God’s presence is widely associated with a people as much as it also speaks of individual anointing. Jesus Himself talked about God’s presence being in the presence of two or three(Matt 18:20) and His Father name being glorified when we bear fruits in how we love one another (John 15). Where does the Psalmist come to know the Lord as His Shepherd and find his life without lack? Where does the Psalmist find that goodness and mercy follows him all the days of his life? While he does not say it specifically, we can see it from his choice and desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life (v6b) and perhaps simply from all that we learned about the nature of sheep this week.

  • REFLECT

    Some of my deepest pains and darkest nights of my soul have been related to people. Whether it is in how I failed as a person to others or in hurts I have experienced journeying with family, friends, and love ones. But it is also in those places that I truly got to know my Shepherd and His great love for me better. It was in one of these deepest episodes of personal ugliness that I also discovered His love was bigger than my ugliness and that His goodness and mercy would truly follow me all the days of my life (v6a). It was there that I truly realized that goodness and mercy was not just blessings of God, but the Shepherd Himself – He was and is the goodness and mercy that followed me, delivered me, lifted me, and led me on.

    Whatever, your challenges this day and no matter how ugly you seem to yourself this day, I just want to declare this truth that nothing can separate you from the One who laid down His life for you while you were still a sinner, and that He is right there with you right now. Come back to the good Shepherd of your soul. He knows best and will see you through.

    And if you have been hurt in personal relationships or even by His people and leaders from church, I pray that you will find the grace and love in Him to forgive and come back to His fold of messed up sheep. I pray that you will follow your good Shepherd’s example in the face of great suffering, betrayals, denials, and persecution (even from you), trusting in the right paths that He Himself walked.

    Lets us come together afresh keep our eyes and ears on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith and the Shepherd of our souls. Let us devote ourselves to full-life-sheep (nothing less than His fullness for us), fellow-sheep (not in the enemy’s lie of isolation), and follow-sheep (not allowing pride hinder us) that we may find ourselves upon the firm foundations of the path walked before us by our beloved Shepherd Himself.

Season of EasterCNL