With the DaVinci Code book and now the movie coming out soon, there have been people, even Christians, calling into question, who the real Jesus is? Two weeks ago, we began looking at the Jesus’ self declarations in the book of John, Jesus’ “I AM” statements. Jesus telling us who he claimed himself to be. Two weeks ago we looked at Jesus’ statement, “I Am the Bread of Life.” This week we are looking at two, Jesus said, “I am the gate,” and “I am the good shepherd.”
If Jesus is the shepherd that makes us his…sheep. Not very complimentary is it.
Sheep are:
1. Stupid and stubborn - have you ever seen a trained sheep in the circus or zoo? NOT THE SERTA SHEEP WE SEE ON TV.
2. Dirty and Wayward - They are prone to wander, following the others, even they are lost themselves. and never learn from their mistakes
3. Easily frightened and confused – They have been known to plunge off cliffs in their fear and confusion
4. Defenseless and dependant upon others for protection.
5. Need guidance and protection.
Perhaps by implying we are sheep Jesus was trying to say something about us too. We aren’t always bright and sometimes we are stubborn. We are frequently prone to wander and follow the crowd of other sheep even if they are heading in the wrong direction or lost. We are easily frightened and confused when the storms of life come, we panic as if no one is in charge. We are defenseless, sure we have weapons, police, armed forces, but they can only protect us to a certain degree. We are still in need of guidance.
I believe Jesus likened himself to a shepherd for a reason. Like a shepherd cares for and protects his flock, Jesus cares for us and protects us from the enemy even going to great lengths to do so, that we might experience abundant life in this world and eternal life in the next.
1. Jesus cares for his sheep
We know the good shepherd’s responsibility is to tend his sheep, to care for them, provide for all of their needs because he cares about them. In verse 4 Jesus says, the shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out [of the sheepfold].”
He knows each of his sheep by name. It was common for shepherds to have every one of their sheep named and they were able to distinguish them from each other because of their markings or peculiar traits. A shepherd could say, "See that sheep over there? Notice how its feet toe in a little. The one behind it with a gimp in his walk, that’s Limpy; the next one has a patch of wool missing off its back, he’s Patch; there’s one with a black mark below its eye, that’s Blackie, while the one closest to us has a small piece torn out of its ear, Tag. The shepherd knew each by name.
When I look at flock of sheep they all look alike to me because I don’t care about them, they are not my responsibility, and I don’t take the time to really get to know them, certainly not to name all of them. To know someone’s name usually means you have either spent time with that person or you have taken the effort to remember them. How many times have you been to church or in town and you know the person but you just can’t remember their name and you’re too embarrassed to ask? I know it has happened to me on several occasions. Dale Carnegie in his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, says we don’t remember a person’s name because we don’t make the effort, we don’t spend the time trying. But the shepherd knows every one of his flock by name and cares deeply about each and every one of them. In fact the good shepherd cares so much for the sheep that in the event of an attack he even lays his life down for them.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and he knows each one of us by name. You are not just another nameless face to Jesus. He knows you more intimately than you even know yourself. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows our peculiar habits, traits, and characteristics and he loves you anyway. He loves you enough to lay down his very life in exchange for yours so you may experience eternal life and live life to the fullest here on earth without the fear from our enemy Satan because he has no claim on us.
Jesus’ care and compassion were illustrated in his parables of the lost sheep and lost son.
In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus explained how much he cares for the sheep, when one sheep out of a 100 was lost he went and searched and searched for the sheep until he found it. He brought the sheep back and celebrated. Common sense would be to not leave the 99 sheep for the one lost sheep but Jesus cares passionately about even the one lost sheep. At one point in your life perhaps you were lost yourself, and yet Jesus cared about you enough to come after you, otherwise you wouldn’t be here this morning. Jesus cares about you and me, and our lost friends, family members, people in the community who wander around aimlessly like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus calls to us by name [name people in the congregation], I love you, follow me, let me lead you. While it may not always look like God cares for us because of the circumstances we are in. We have not been left behind, or forgotten. Jesus continues to walk in front of us leading us to out to green pasture,
The question is, if Jesus is leading are we following?
A. Knowing the Good Shepherds Voice and Following Him
Jesus said, “His sheep follow him because they know his voice (v. 4).”
Instead of prodding the sheep from the back, the shepherd leads the sheep from the front. The good shepherd doesn’t force the sheep to move forward, he takes the lead, and as they hear and recognize his voice they follow him wherever he goes. They have found that although sheep may not be the brightest animals, they can recognize the voice of their master from among many voices.
One time a man in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep. But he vigorously protested that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days. When the case went to court, the judge didn’t know how to decide the matter. Finally he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom. Then he ordered the plaintiff to step outside and call the animal. The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened. The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep ran toward the door and that voice. It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master. "His sheep knows him," said the judge. "Case dismissed!"
Where does the good shepherd lead those who follow his voice? As David wrote in Psalm 23, “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still water, he restores my soul.”
In other words the Lord, as the shepherd, provides for my needs, he helps me find refreshment for my soul. As Jesus said, he came so that we may have life to the fullest. He leads us to green pasture. When we imagine the shepherd leading his sheep to green pasture the image we usually have is of a huge rye field going for miles and miles, where the sheep can keep grazing forever. In reality the green pastures in Israel look more like west Texas or Arizona, with a patch of green here and there [picture]. The fertile land was used to raise crops, not for sheep to roam. The shepherd had to keep moving the flock from place to place to find pasture, and to lead them away from danger. If the sheep did not listen for the voice of the shepherd when it was time to go, they found themselves alone and hungry.
Jesus wants us to follow him to green pasture, to experience abundant life on this earth, and eternal life in the life to come, but like the green pastures of Israel we must keep moving and following the good shepherd. When Jesus moves, are we listening to his voice and following him? Sheep only found the green pasture as they followed the shepherd. We only experience abundant life as we follow Jesus daily. Jesus is only going to give us enough to last that day, we must follow close to him, abide in him as the Scriptures say. We can’t rely on yesterday to get us through today, we must listen for his voice today. What is Jesus saying today, where is he Jesus leading me today?
Have we been listening for the voice of Jesus following his voice?
Quite honestly I will be the first to admit it is sometimes difficult to hear God’s voice. His voice gets drowned out by my own selfish desires, or by the world telling me what I should or shouldn’t do. This is why we need to spend time with Jesus in prayer. As kids illustrated earlier, they knew the voice of their parent even though they were blindfolded because they have been with them their whole lives. The more time we spend with God, the more we learn to hear God’s voice, and recognize what he is saying and what he wants us to do. Reading God’s word is another way to help us recognize God’s voice and he tells us what we are supposed to do. Where are you leading me today? Are you leading me to talk to someone, to say a prayer for someone? Fortunately when we do wander off Jesus’ path, Jesus comes back looking for us to bring us back to him.
If we haven’t been experiencing abundant life, we have to ask ourselves, have we been following Jesus voice as he leads us to green pastures, and beside still waters? Or have we been relying on our own direction in life.
It is easy to be deceived by the enemy if we are not able to recognize Jesus’ voice.
2. Jesus protects his sheep
The second image of the Good Shepherd in this passage is one of protection. The good shepherd leads us to safe places and protects us. The image in John 10 is of a sheepfold or a pen which could be either a fenced off area or a natural boundary like a cave where there is only one way in or out, there is only one door. Sometimes several shepherds would bring their sheep to the sheepfold to stay together at night to protect the sheep from predators, such as a wolf or lion. The shepherd would lie across the opening, and sleep there all night long to prevent anyone else or anything else from entering the pen. He was the door or the gate. Only those from his flock, who knew his voice, could come in and find safety.
Jesus uses this imagery to help us understand that we are all in danger if we choose not to enter his sheepfold. Out there in the wilderness at night we are vulnerable to the enemy, Satan, who the Bible says, prowls around like a lion, waiting for his chance to pounce and devour us (1 Pet. 5:8). When we are not under the protecting watch of the shepherd we are more likely to be a target. Each one of us has the choice, are we going to choose to be safe and protected under the watchful eye of the good shepherd?
There are two ways which we can find ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. 1) Not being in the flock or the fold, or not being a Christian. 2) Not staying in the fold, but wandering off.
1) Not being in the fold
Are we going to enter through the gate and into Jesus’ sheepfold? Jesus said, “I am the gate, those who come in through me will be saved.”
When Jesus said ‘those who come in through me will be saved’ he is referring to putting our faith in him. Are we willing to trust in Jesus as God’s Son who laid down his life for ours, to protect us from our enemy Satan? Contrary to popular opinion, there aren’t many gates into the pen, there is only one, Jesus. He cannot save you if you choose not to be a part of his flock. If we do choose to trust in Jesus, he promises he will keep us safe. He will hold us in his arms, in his care now and forever. A few verses later Jesus says “no one can snatch the sheep out of my hand (10:28).” Once Jesus has a hold of us, no one, not even Satan, can take us away no matter how much he might try. Jesus won’t let go of us.
2) Wandering off from the fold-church
While Jesus won’t let go us. We are sometimes prone to wander from the flock. We don’t listen for Jesus’ voice and we do our own thing. We disobey Jesus’ commands, we sin. Pretty soon we find ourselves in a different place than where Jesus is. Perhaps in a literal sense we have distanced ourselves from Jesus and his flock, the church.
Illustration from MS Trip. I encountered a man who had recently gone through many things but as we talked I discovered he had quit attending church. I shared how Satan is compared in the Bible to a lion. Lions kill their prey by separating them from the herd and then attacking. When we are away from the herd or the sheepfold we make ourselves more vulnerable to attack. What makes us part of the sheepfold is not just going to church, it is believing in the one who saves us, and being united with others who believe. You can come to church, be involved in all of its activities, and still not be part of the fold.
Fortunately as the parable of the lost son reminds us we can always return because God’s arms are open wide. He seeks after us to bring us back into the fold. Are you following the Good Shepherd or have you wandered away? Do you know others in your family, friends, or neighbors who have wandered away? Let us pray for the lost to be found and return to the Good Shepherd.
