Jesus Is The Good Shepherd

June 7, 2020 Sermon - Jesus: I Am the Good Shepherd”

So glad that You were able to join us today for our online worship service, and to continue our exploration of the “I AM” Statements of Jesus.

I want to pause before we begin this message by acknowledging the extraordinary pain that is being experienced by the black community both in the US, and by extension here in Canada, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by police in the states.

I’ve had a great deal of dialogue with other pastors and leaders in my denomination in the past week as we put together a statement against racism for my denomination, the Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada. If you want to read that statement, you can view it here (include URL of statement).

I have witnessed some very strong support for racialized Americans and Canadians on social media, much of it from Christians who I know and love. I have also witnessed some grotesque ignorance of the reality of racism that so many face. It is hard not to see this ignorance as willful. Given the abundant access we have to information in the age of the Internet, it takes effort NOT to learn and grow. It is hard not to see that ignorance as itself racist.

I’m going to make a very simple statement: it is not possible to be racist and Christian at the same time. Anyone who insists in this matter must choose one or the other. It’s possible to struggle with prejudicial feelings, acknowledging them and any outworking of them to be sin, but it is a completely different matter to blithely carry on in the sin of racism, without repenting of the deep evil that it represents.

It is a sin that blinds us to the reality of God’s good creation, it’s impoverishes us by eliminating the possibility of friendship with whichever group we are prejudiced against, and it reflects truly terribly on our Saviour who died arms wide open for all. Our arms must also be wide open to all for whom Christ died.

There. I’ve said it. I needed to get that off my chest.

Now, Jesus found a lot of helpful insights as he considered the relationship between sheep and their shepherd. Last week Pastor Jan spoke about Jesus being the gate or the door through which the sheep enter. Jesus is the point of or person of access into the presence of God.

He is the one who “sleeps at the gate“, in order to protect his beloved. That is you. If you Love and serve God, the way that you entered into that relationship was through Jesus. There is no other way to enter.

Today, in our passage, Jesus shifts from wanting us to understand him as the gate or the door to the shepherd, to safety; he wants us to shift our understanding so that we recognize that he himself is our shepherd.

The Shepherd Cares For The Sheep

Jesus speaks about himself using the adjective “good“. He is the good shepherd. He is the one who is all in, who is completely committed to the welfare and well-being of the sheep. The sheep are in His thoughts. He knows them all by name, by their markings, by whatever makes them unique.

Those who are injured he tends to with special care. Those who are pregnant are given special care. The older ones protected from the rambunctious younger ones. The younger ones protected from the grouchy older ones dealing with their own aches and pains and not up to giving grace to the young bundles of energy. The sheep are in the thoughts of the shepherd.

Let me tell you something about you. Can I tell you something about you? You are in the thoughts of God. God knows all of your movements. He knows your thoughts, even your far away thoughts. There isn’t anything about you that he does not know.

Psalm 139 versus 2 to 6 say: “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. 5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain”

The Shepherd Protects the Sheep

When a hired-hand sees the wolf coming he thinks about the scary wolf and the threat to his own safety. His thoughts are of himself. The hired hand, thinking of himself first, abandons the sheep when the threat comes.

When the hungry jowls of the wolf are happy to tear through whatever it takes to get a good meal, when the wolf attacks, and scatters the sheep in the hopes of terrifying and separating the sheep so he can focus on the slowest one that’ll make a tasty snack, The hired hand is long gone. He cares nothing for the sheep.