Are There People Like Me Here?

John 17:20-26

20My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Are There People Like Me Here?

“Are there people like me here?” It’s a question many of us ask ourselves almost any time we walk into a room. “Are there people like me here?” School’s almost out now, but I’m sure you remember those first day jitters. Who are you going to sit with in class or in the cafeteria? Who are you going to play with at recess or hang out with during your free period? It’s the same when you start a new job or go to a party or a playground or a fair or a church. “Are there people like me here?” We tend to gravitate toward people like us, whether they’re our age or our stage of life. Maybe they’re just wearing Oilers gear and you know that at the very least you can chat about tonight’s game. “Are there people like me here?”

I don’t know how you feel about that. Maybe it resonates with you, i.e. it echoes your experience. Maybe it sounds a little prejudiced to you, as if we should be more enlightened in today’s day and age than to only feel truly comfortable around people like us. However you feel about it, the need for love and belonging has long been identified as a core need for human survival.

Have you ever heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Maslow ranks several core human needs in order of what is most necessary for survival. At the ground floor is our need for food and water. Next comes our need for shelter and safety. You won’t last very long if you don’t have food and water and if you’re surrounded by hungry grizzly bears. But after those very basic necessities, Maslow suggests that the next most basic human need – before you can develop your own sense of identity and self-worth, much less reach your ultimate potential – before any of that, every human has the basic need for love and belonging, i.e. to know that someone cares and that you have a place to feel at home and people to consider family.

How well is your need for love and belonging being met? Some of you have an incredibly tight-knit nuclear family, with dinners around the same table at least once a week. Maybe for you it’s a Scout Troupe, a softball team, a book club, or mates from school. If that’s you, praise the Lord! Consider yourself blessed! Not all of us feel that way.

For some of us, the dream of a traditional, tight-knit nuclear family died (a fiery death) a long time ago. Some of us are still searching for “our people,” still joining groups, still trying things, still putting ourselves out there. Some of us have given up hope. We might put a brave face on, we might grin and bear it, other people might not even know, but we do – the lack, the absence, the something missing.

That’s one of the reasons that John 17 is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible – because of the (not-so-) secret conversation we are privileged to overhear between God and his Son, i.e. between Jesus and his Father in heaven. The words that you heard earlier are a portion of a prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died. It’s the last quiet moment that Jesus would have before he was carried off to be crucified. There’s an urgency to it. And because the time is short, Jesus can’t afford to dawdle or lollygag through it. He only has time for the most important things. And when you combine the urgency of the situation with the importance of his prayer, you get an intensity otherwise unknown to mankind. Luke tells us that Jesus was praying so hard that he was sweating, and the sweat that was dripping from his brow was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Which leaves the curious Christian wondering, “What was so urgent and so important to Jesus that it resulted in blood-like sweat?” The short answer is, “You.”

Jesus was praying about you. “My prayer is not for them alone”– the remaining 11 disciples – “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” [1]  That’s you! “Their message” is the New Testament, like the words of John’s Gospel we are considering today. And now we get to the meat of Jesus’ prayer: “…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you…[2] that they may be brought to complete unity.”[3]

Complete unity. That’s a community in which every member belongs. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? What’s the community you can think of that comes closest to complete unity? It’s not politics, for obvious reasons. It’s not sports fandom. Just ask your fellow Oilers fans who they think should be tending goal tonight.

Is it the church? We know that the Christianity is not united. By my count there are 27 different Christian churches in St. Albert alone. Even individual congregations struggle with internal unity over doctrine and tradition and worship styles and carpet colour. Rarely could you walk into any church and feel like it was completely united.

Why do you suppose that is? What accounts for all those divisions? What prevents love and belonging? I do, when I don’t proactively provide it. You do, when you dig your heels in about an opinion and get defensive about your behaviour. We do, when we get grumpy with each other and judgmental and dismissive. What’s the greatest enemy of love and belonging? We are.

Imagine how that would play out with Maslow’s other needs. If we gave up looking for food and water or fed ourselves poison instead. If we were given shelter and safety, but chose exposure and danger. That’s crazy. But that’s what we do with love and belonging. We chase love away – we banish belonging – because we’re too stubborn or proud or selfish or oblivious.

But God is gracious. He didn’t get grumpy with us or withhold his love from us. It’s the opposite. He tells us that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.[4] God didn’t draw a line in the sand and demand that we stay inside it otherwise he would walk away. It’s the opposite. God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son.[5] Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.[6] God didn’t wait for us to love him before he acted in love to save us. It’s the opposite. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[7]

God provides you the love and the belonging you need through Jesus. In the Bible you hear the history of a God who cares about you. In his house (or, on days like this, just outside of it) you find a place that you can call home no matter where you come from. Through his Word you receive the promise that you are his child, adopted into his family, made brothers and sisters of his one and only Son through the sacrifice he made for us on the cross. You are united to Christ because he is your Saviour.

Let that sink in for a second. Are you estranged from someone you used to be close to? Are your friendship not what they once were? Is your relationship with your boss, a co-worker, a classmate, a neighbour strained? Do you feel like you could walk into a room and be surrounded by people but still feel devastatingly alone? Have you contributed to that – the strained relationships, the love ungiven, the harm done? Because God loves you, he sent his Son to become one of you and one with you. The Son of God became the Son of Man – he wore the same flesh and blood; he walked the same earth; he felt the same pain, but then he did something to fix it. He died to forgive your sin and absolve you of your guilt, to wash your conscience clean and give you peace and a new perspective on life. Because of Jesus you will never be alone. For time and eternity you will always be God’s son or daughter – a child forever loved who always has a place in God’s house both in the eternal halls of our heavenly Father, but also here and now.

This is the amazing thing that Jesus not only prayed for but accomplished for us. He made you each his brother or sister, which makes you all brothers and sisters to each other. We are all united in his blood that washed us clean of all our sin. We may not all look alike. We may not all come from the same place. We may not all share the same history or heritage. But because of Jesus, there are people like me here. We are all sinners saved by grace. And that is a unity that transcends earthly differences and binds us together as family gathered together in our Father’s house with people who care about us because our Father cares about us.

That’s the love and belonging we need. That’s a love and belonging that’s even better than a weekly family meal or a monthly book club, because this is a union that will last forever. This is a community that wouldn’t have formed naturally. I don’t think I would have met a single one of you had it not been for the love of Christ that binds us together.

This is what Jesus prayed about on the night before he died. This was the desire of your Saviour’s heart. The bounce house is going to be great. We have lots of fun games and gifts to give away. But it’s this right here – the message of our Saviour that brings us together – that was so urgent and important and intense that Jesus couldn’t help but bring it to his Father’s attention and ask for it to come to fruition.

So be the answer to your Saviour’s prayer. Gather with your brothers and sisters in faith. Hear the Word of your loving God. Believe the good news of your salvation. And not just on beautiful days or special occasions like this, because this is one of your basic human needs, which by God’s grace he has given you – love and belonging, from our Saviour and with each other.

Are there people like me here? Absolutely. All I see are sinners saved by grace. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

[1] John 17:20

[2] John 17:21

[3] John 17:23

[4] Ezekiel 33:11

[5] John 3:16

[6] 1 Timothy 1:15

[7] Romans 5:8

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Listen to Your Shepherd's Voice

John 10:22-30

22Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. 23It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

Listen to Your Shepherd's Voice

Do you know who this is? It’s David Attenborough. You might know him from any of his many nature documentaries. David Attenborough turned 99 on Thursday. Did you know that he was born before Anne Frank? Did you know that he’s literally older than sliced bread? The man has lived through some of the most interesting history.

Do you know who this is? It’s Laura Ingalls Wilder. We just finished reading Little House in the Big Woods for bedtime, and it’s sparked the thought of how different life is today than it was back then. If I compare my life to the time when Laura Ingalls Wilder lived, one of the biggest things I notice that’s different today is the incredible, exponential growth in content consumption.

What kind of content did Laura Ingalls Wilder consume? She heard her dad sing songs that he had memorized, and she and her family read the Bible. There wasn’t much more content available to consume.

What kind of content do we consume? I did some research. What do you think are the top 3 forms of content that Canadians consume today? TV, Social Media, and Radio.

• 90% of Canadians watch TV each week with the average Canadian over the age of 18 spending more than 20 hours/week in front of the television.

• 82% of Canadians have a social media account with the average social media user spending upwards of 14 hours/week on social media.

• 70% of Canadians listen to the radio each week with the average amount of time they spend listening being over 16 hours/week.

Maybe you’re better at math than I am, but if I’m reading that right, that means that the average Canadian spends more than 2 full days of their lives each week consuming content – and I don’t mean working hours, I don’t mean waking hours, I mean 50 hours every week consuming content. And doesn’t include podcasts, newspapers, magazines, books, video games. We are a generation of content consumers.

Now, there are advantages and disadvantages that come with content. If it weren’t for TV, we wouldn’t be able to watch the Oilers beat the Knights in the playoffs. But here’s the most disconcerting thing for me as I consider how much content we consume:

• 54% of Canadians trust the editorial content in newspapers.

• 53% of Canadians trust the editorial content on TV.

• 51% of Canadians trust the editorial content on the radio.

• 21% of Canadians trust the editorial content on social media.

But notice, this is editorial content. This isn’t factual content or the news reporting that there was a fire on the West End of Edmonton. This is communication that is meant to persuade you to agree with some random person’s opinion. And for most media – especially the media we consume the most – more than half the time, we trust it.

Now, I want to be clear about this: I’m not here to sow distrust in “the Man” or in media. I’m not here to talk about “Fake News.” I’m not even necessarily here to convince you to consume less content. The reason I bring these statistics up is because of their correlation to your spiritual wellbeing. The content you consume, the people you listen to, the information you believe has a direct effect on your soul. And the words of the Gospel that we heard earlier illustrate that perfectly.

Jesus is in Jerusalem. John calls it the Festival of Dedication; we know it as Hannukah. It wasn’t one of the “High Festivals;” there wasn’t a Mosaic requirement that every Jew must be in Jerusalem for it. But Jesus was there anyway, because that’s what Jesus did. We saw it when he was 12 years old. The Temple was his Father’s House. It was where he loved to be the most. Not because the Temple served the best snacks. Not because it raised his public profile. But because it was at the Temple that Jesus heard the Word of God and was able to talk about that Word with the other people who were there. The Word was the content that Jesus wanted to consume, and he did, at a rate far higher than the bare minimum. He didn’t just listen when he had to. He actively sought out extra opportunities to listen to his Father’s voice.

The same could not be said of all the people who were there that day. John tells us about a group of Jews that surrounded Jesus and asked him a pointed, challenging question:

“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”[1]

They weren’t there to listen. Jesus’ answer tells us as much:

“I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me.”[2]

I mean, let’s be fair to the Jews for a second – just a very short second. Jesus never came right out and said these four words: “I am the Christ.” But there was a very good reason for that, and he had said everything but those four words.

Why do you suppose to this point Jesus had never said those four words, “I am the Christ”? What would have happened to him if he had? Exactly what they were hoping to do at this Hannukah festival. They would have arrested him on the spot and executed him for blasphemy. But the time wasn’t right yet. There was more work for Jesus to do. So, he conveyed clearly the message that he is Messiah without using those exact words. He performed miracles. He referred to himself as the fulfillment of Messianic prophecies and he did what those prophecies said he would do.

Jesus wasn’t being coy. They just didn’t believe, because they weren’t his sheep. Jesus tells us what his sheep do –

“My sheep listen to my voice”[3]

– which is the one thing that these people were unwilling to do.

Here’s a common temptation when reading Bible passages like this: “Those Pharisees... Shame! Shame!” But I’m not preaching to a room of Pharisees. I’m preaching to sheep who nevertheless don’t always do what sheep are supposed to do.

“How long will you keep us in suspense?”[4]

they asked. Don’t you feel the same way sometimes? What about those doubts and fears you feel in your heart? “Jesus, would stop beating around the bush and tell me straight whether I’m forgiven or not. I don’t feel forgiven...” “Jesus, could you cut to the chase and tell me whether I’m going to be OK? I don’t know how I’m going to get through the end of the day, let alone the next week, month, or year of my life!”

And why should we feel that way? It’s not as if Jesus hasn’t been clear! He may not have held your hand and said, “Christian, I forgive your sins.” But look what he did! He died on the cross because he loves you and was willing to suffer the punishment that your sins deserve, even for the times that you fail to listen to him. What he said of the soldiers at the site of his crucifixion is true for you too:

“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”[5]

Jesus may not have looked you in the eyes and reassured you in a soothing voice, “Everything’s going to be OK.” But look what Jesus did! He rose from the grave. The worst thing that his enemies could do they did. They separated him from his family and friends; they abused him verbally and physically; they killed him. He walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but he came out the other side. He rose from the dead! He demonstrated his power over sin, death, and the devil! He won the victory for you, because he loves you like a shepherd loves his sheep.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”[6]

Your Good Shepherd knows you. We heard it in the hymn:

For my Shepherd gently guides me,
knows my need and well provides me,
loves me ev’ry day the same,
even calls me by my name.[7]  

Look what he provides you!

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”[8]

Your Good Shepherd has obliterated the obstacles that threatened to stand in the way between you and heaven. He forgave your sin. He conquered death. He rose from the grave, so that you could live with him forever. That’s why you listen to your Shepherd. He answers your worries and concerns, your doubts and fears with the truth not only of what he has promised you, but what he has done for you. You are forgiven. Because your Good Shepherd gave you eternal life.

Look what he promises you!

“No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”[9]

Notice the verbs here. No one will. No one can. Your Good Shepherd can make you this promise because he has the power to back it up – the same power he put on display in his resurrection. You will be OK. Because your Good Shepherd holds you in his hands.

So be his sheep. Listen to his voice. There is so much content vying for your attention. There are so many things that fill our eyes and ears every day. I won’t tell you to stop watching TV (after all, Game 4 is tomorrow night). I won’t beg you to limit the content you consume. But I will encourage you to be discerning about what you do digest. Make the most important thing your Shepherd’s voice. Be in his Word, in devotion and prayer. Be consistent in worship and Bible study.

But not just that. Silence the other voices that contradict his, i.e. that rob you of the peace he gives, that question the certainty of his promises. Stop listening to them. Instead surround yourself with other sheep who love their Shepherd’s voice too and together with them follow him.

It doesn’t matter when we were born. It doesn’t matter how much or even exactly what content there is to consume. Listen to your Shepherd’s voice and receive his peace. Enjoy the eternal life he gives and find your rest in his powerful hands. Amen.

[1] John 10:24

[2] John 10:25

[3] John 10:27

[4] John 10:24

[5] Luke 23:34

[6] John 10:27

[7] CW’21 804:1 I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb

[8] John 10:28

[9] John 10:29

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