In this short communion sermon Pastor Clark speaks of Jesus – the Door.

<p>In this short communion sermon Pastor Clark speaks of Jesus – the Door.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

The Door

Well, today we are celebrating the ordinances of the Lord's Supper.

It's something that we as the Seventh-day Adventist Church do on a periodic basis, about 4 times a year.

And in the Adventist Church, we practice what we call open communion.

That means that you don't need to be a member of our church to participate in our services.

You do need to have faith in Jesus as your savior.

It's about his blood, about his body that was broken for us.

And so it would not mean anything to us if we didn't have faith in him as our savior, would it?

And so if you love Jesus and he's your savior from sin, you've accepted him as Lord of your life, then you're welcome to join us in our communion service today.

Before we have that ordinance of humility and the foot washing and the Lord's Supper, though, we're going to spend a few minutes in God's Word.

We want to think about what He means to us.

And so, today I would invite you to just bow your heads with me for an additional word of prayer.

Father in heaven, today we are grateful that you have given us your love.

And as our children reminded us today, your love endures forever.

We can't understand what it means to truly love unconditionally, eternally.

And yet we know, Lord, that your word is true, and you have said that you will never stop loving us.

We thank you for your word today, and as we open its pages, as we contemplate its thoughts, its teachings for us, We just want to ask that Your Spirit would guide our hearts and our minds, that we might come to love You more, and we might respond to that eternal, everlasting, unconditional love.

And we thank You for these gifts, in Jesus' name.

Our Scripture today, from John 10, reminds us that Jesus is not only the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

He is not only the good shepherd who takes care of his sheep.

Our scripture today reminds us that while Jesus is the Lamb and he is the shepherd, he is also the door, the gate to the sheep fold.

And The text that Hannah read for us, we're going to look at it once again.

Jesus says in verse 7 of John chapter 10, "'Most assuredly I say to you, "'I am the door of the sheep.

"'All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, "'but the sheep did not hear them.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." Jesus uses the door of the sheepfold to represent himself.

Now we might think there's more than 1 way we could look at this illustration of a door, right?

We could think of the door as something that prohibits access, Right?

We could think of the door as something that prevents intrigue.

And in that sense, we would look at Jesus as the door of the sheepfold, and we would think, Jesus is the obstacle in our path to salvation.

But do you think that's what Jesus is trying to say?

Is Jesus some sort of a gatekeeper that says, well, you know, I want you to prove yourself before I'll let you in.

And the children shared here today, Jesus' love is unconditional and Jesus' invitation is open.

We don't have to do anything before we can enter through Jesus into the fold.

Oh, but some people say, that's lowering the bar too much, Chester.

Listen, I'm not here to advocate the idea that God's salvation is somehow cheap.

I know it costs the life of Jesus on the cross.

But what I am saying, if we think that we have to do something before we can enter through Jesus, then we're sadly mistaken.

Many Christians have tried, tried to earn their right to enter.

They have tried, and I'm going to suggest, friends, that if we are trying to, by our own works, by our own obedience, by our own lifestyle, whatever it is, if we're trying by our own selves, our own efforts to enter the fold, we're not going through Jesus.

Trying to climb over the wall, trying to dig under the wall, but we're not going through Jesus because Jesus says we simply come to him.

By grace are you saved through faith, right?

That doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't change our lives.

That doesn't mean that Jesus, when we are saved by grace through faith in him, he does not create us a new creature unto good works, that he does not ride his law in our hearts and change us so that we are empowered by his grace through his blood, through his power, to live obedient lives.

All I'm saying is if we wait until we've made ourselves better or obeyed, we're not entering through Jesus.

In fact, Jesus being the door tells me several things, and I want to just share with you what it tells me today.

3 thoughts I want to share with you about the door, Jesus as the door.

First of all, when Jesus calls himself the door, he indicates that He is 1 who offers us opportunity.

Have you ever thought of doors in relationship to opportunity?

Maybe you're praying that doors will open.

We're talking about opportunities, right?

Jesus is the door and Jesus says, I am the door and if anyone enters by me he will be saved and go in and out and find pasture.

Jesus says, if anyone will enter through me he will be saved.

Jesus says he will come in and out and find pasture.

Well, once we enter through the door, Jesus is not just the door, He becomes our shepherd.

Jesus is not only the door, He also becomes our shepherd.

When Jesus is our shepherd, we can go in and out and find pasture.

We have freedom, friends, and We have blessings, we have opportunities.

The psalmist said it this way, the Lord is my shepherd, I...

He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters.

These are the opportunities that Jesus gives us.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

My cup runs over." And it's as If David could not find enough superlatives, as he says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Through Jesus, we find entrance into the house of the Lord.

Through entrance, we have, through Jesus, we find entrance into the pastures, the green pastures that He wants us to enjoy.

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The Door

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