Title: Which is Which?
Scripture: John 10:11-13
Introduction:
Have you ever met those people that are constantly looking for shortcuts in every area of their life? Any time they do anything, Every time anything is done, or anywhere they drive, they are always looking for the shortcut. Quality doesn’t really matter rather they think more along the lines of, “let’s just get it done.”
There are things in this life that must be done, and they must be done well. Additionally, we are admonished by scripture to adhere to that in our Christian walk.
It says…
(Prov 16:3 NIV) Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
(1 Cor 10:31 NIV) So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
(Col 3:17 NIV) And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The word “whatever” pretty much would cover or describe anything that we would have before us. Yet there are still Christians that seek out those shortcuts, even in areas that are what I would call “shortcut-prohibitive.” Meaning that there are times where taking a shortcut would not benefit anyone concerned.
There are no shortcuts to salvation. There are no shortcuts to the truth. And, as a Christian, there are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. In chapter 14 of the Gospel according to John, Jesus says in verse 6
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Though ultimately it’s up to us to decide, our way should be left up to the One that is able to make that decision for us, and then we choose to follow it.
Now if He deems it appropriate for you to go a way that is shorter, when compared to other Christians, then that should be alright. Shouldn’t it? But, conversely, if He deems it appropriate for you to go a way that is longer than others, then that should be alright, too. Shouldn’t it?
Well, we should be saying yes. However, in this world today there are so many things that interfere with the clear vision of what Jesus presents to us that we get confused. We get confused by strangers and hirelings out there in the world that tell us they know what’s good for us when they are only looking to what is good for them. And, usually that is money.
Our scripture takes that into account. Today we’ll be looking at John 10:11-13:
11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
Jesus tells you and I first and foremost that He is the good shepherd. Don’t be looking around at someone else, because He’s talking right to you. And, it’s important that we understand exactly what that means when He says that He is the good shepherd.
First of all, what is a shepherd and what does he do?
I think that Dr. Andrew Bonar, a close friend and biographer of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, says it best when he had this to say to a friend of his about sheep and shepherds.
Dr. Andrew Bonar told me how, in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they couldn’t get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can’t jump back again, and the shepherd hears them bleating [crying] in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then they will put a rope around him, and he will go over and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death. "Why don’t they go down there when the sheep first gets there?" I asked. "Ah!" He said, "they are so very foolish they would dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!" And that is the way with men; they won’t go back to God till they have no friends and have lost everything. If you are a wanderer I tell you that the Good Shepherd will bring you back the moment you have given up trying to save yourself and are willing to let Him save you His own way.
In the course of my Christian walk, I’ve seen that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is everything to most people, some of the time. I’ve seen that Jesus is everything to some people most of the time. But, I’ve never seen Him be everything to most of the people, most of the time [and, of course that is not His fault, either].
You see, we are considered by scripture as all being like sheep that, at one time or another, have gone astray. We sometimes follow the seemingly sweet grass of false teaching and we jump down to that precipice, that cliff, and we get stuck and can’t get back up. We sometimes follow the enticing smells and aromas of worldly doctrines, and when we move into those areas, we can’t back out.
Sometimes Christians are no different than others in that we are always looking for shortcuts; we’re always seeking satisfaction in a world that is demanding and unforgiving, and we usually end up getting hurt.
Jesus said that He is the good shepherd.
Jesus is many things to many people. When you are sick, He is your Healer. When you are sad, He is your joy. When you are afraid, He is your strength and comfort.
Jesus is many things to many people. If you were to look through the New Testament you can readily find Jesus claiming to be several things.
I am the bread of life.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
I am the light of the world.
I am the one I claim to be…
I am the light of the world.
I am the gate for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way and the truth and the life.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
I am the First and the Last.
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
And, in our own lives we need to recognize exactly Who He is:
The reason Jesus has so many names is that just one name would not be able to describe Him, nor would one name do service for the many different offices that He holds. Paul calls them Jesus and these offices, unsearchable riches. But, of all those names, none are as sweet and meaningful to the believer as the title shepherd.
In the discourse in Chapter 10, Jesus contrasts Himself with two types of people. First He contrasts Himself with a stranger, and, beginning in verse 12, He contrasts Himself with a hired man, or hireling (as the KJV points out).
Let’s look at the hired man.
The hired man that Jesus is speaking of in these verses is the unfaithful minister of God’s Word. A man, or woman, that has either sought out the office or has been appointed over the ministry of the Word of God, but only looks to it as a source of income or some other form of compensation. And, what other forms of payment [or reward, or recompense] might there be? Of course one form that comes quickly to mind would be that of status. Everyone thinks the preacher is perfect, don’t they? That is until he gets caught in one of those imperfect acts and his life and story appear on everyone’s internet computer screen.
George Mueller wanted money and power and that is what drove him to become a minister, or it did, until the Holy Spirit got hold of him.
The hired men, or ministers or pastors that are referred to here by Jesus as hirelings, will, in time, reflect such an arrangement, usually in a crucial time of church development.
In many of our churches today, the ministers of the Word of God have been muzzled by the congregation and relegated to the position of hireling. The cart has gotten in front of the horse. The restrictions placed on our ministers equate to what it is said in scripture:
(Deuteronomy 25:4 NIV) Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
The church board or church leaders will sometimes puts unhealthy requests or rules over a pastor or Bible study leader and he or she is unable to bring the whole Word of God to the people. The people suffer, the congregation diminishes, the salary diminishes, and the hireling turns cold to the needs of the people and seeks out other forms of financial compensation.
But, that’s not all. The hireling that takes a position in a church as a means to a financial end will eventually be found out by the fruit that is produced. The hireling that takes a position in a church as a means to bolster their ego will eventually be discovered by the conviction of the Spirit working in the church people. But, it may be discovered when the church has hung a “closed for services” sign on the front door.
The hireling lacks compassion and zeal, but does not lack an appetite for materialistic gain and societal or community recognition. The hireling lacks knowledge and enlightenment, but does not lack in the areas of plagiarism and untruths. The hireling lacks concern and care for the flock, but does not lack in selfishness and self-righteousness.
Scripture says it best:
Isaiah 56:10-12
10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. 12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better."
Jeremiah 6:13
13 "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
Ezekiel 34:
2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ’This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
And, then Paul says the opposite of hireling concerning Timothy in:
Philippians 2:
20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
If I were to die right now, that is something that I would want people to say, He had a genuine interest in the people’s welfare.
What does that mean? Does it mean that I had a rigid visitation ministry, whether you wanted me there or not? No. Does it mean that I had an open-door policy, that snuggled up with kind sayings and puffed smoke up your backside every time I talked with you? No. It means you’ve been given the whole Word of God, whether it was good or bad…
You see, looking out for his own interest is one of the many things that indicate a hireling. The one that is concerned about what he’s making, what he’s wearing, what he’s driving, and where he’s living is recognized as a hireling because nothing else matters to him except those things.
John 10:
12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep.
The pastor stands in a very peculiar position to the sheep. Pastors are called fathers [not in the Catholic sense] because of the role they offer to the people of the church. Paul calls himself a father many times in scripture (1 Corinthians 4.15; Galatians 4.19; 1 Timothy 1.2; Philemon l0)
Do you see the position and relation of the true minister to his flock? Do you see the position of the hireling?
Which is Which?
Which one of the two will say, along with Paul:
(Phil 4:1 NIV) Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
The hireling is a withered branch that will be pruned and receive no crown, but only judgment. The hireling is the fruitless fig tree that produced no figs and was cursed by Jesus.
Your prayer should be that your pastor’s daily dedication and commitment to you, the congregation, should be that of a true shepherd and not a hireling. Especially in a world that is self-seeking, selfish, and materialistic. The world is creeping in little by little. I tell you; right now the wolf is at the gate and is waiting to see who he can pick off and devour whole.
Pray hard that your pastor is a true shepherd and not a hireling because the hireling will run away when he sees the wolf coming after the sheep. Ministers that are sent from God don’t do that. They stay the course…
Pray hard that your pastor is a true shepherd and anguishes over you deep in his heart and lifts you up daily to the Heavenly Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Pray that your pastor will so love Christ that he may care for the sheep of UCC. [can I get an aaaaamen?]
Look at the scripture before us. Jesus mentions a wolf here in these verses. In scripture, the wolf is used to represent two things: either false ministers or heresy.
Acts 20 makes reference to one of those…
29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock..30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.
In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said to the disciples that He was sending them out among wolves….
16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
The time when the wolf enters in is when you see the mark of the true shepherd. When the wolf, subtly as he can, brings the false gospel in, then you’ll see the mark of a true shepherd rise up from among the people.
What happens to the hireling? He runs away. When persecution is stretching its tireless arm out against the tired congregation the hireling escapes. When a false witness stands like a peacock before the people and crows, the hireling will take flight.
You see, he was in it for the money; he was in it for the fame, the power, the ego trip and the recognition.
In summary:
We are in an age of what I call “Cafeteria Christianity.” Christianity has become a religion where you can walk into church, pick the teaching that you want or choose the philosophy or belief that you like or think is right for you, then leave. And, then, if you decide during the week to give that up, well that’s okay, too. Christianity ain’t an all you can eat buffet, where you can pick and choose what you want to stuff yourself full of and ignore the stuff that’s good for you.
My momma used to say, you eat what you’re served. And she only served what was good.
Jesus says, eat what you’re served by Him, because He only serves what is good.
But, there are the churches that don’t begin with the Good Shepherd. Rather they look to themselves. Some church services have given a whole new meaning to the term “self-service.” Meaning it pertains to choices that glorify one’s own personal values above all others. There’s self-determination, self-knowledge, self-esteem, self-help, and there’s even do-it-yourself books and my goodness, religion for dummies.
In this type of ‘self-reliant’ climate, nothing is safe, especially your pastor.
What was once on the horizon is now here. Assimilation threatens every Christian. Desensitization stands beside us and yells that acclimation is the answer.
But, it’s not. Adaptation is not the key, rather familiarization is. Familiarization with the Father in Heaven, knowing the Son at His right hand, and recognizing the Spirit working within you, the whole Word of God, and prayer: these are the lock and the key to a successful life.
Pray that we as a church continue to receive the whole counsel of God. Pray that we as a church continue to move forward in His-determination, His-knowledge, His-esteem, His-help, His-truth and He doing it for us.
In the beginning we mentioned that the title of this message was, “Which is Which?” My prayer is three-fold, that I, as the pastor of UCC, personify the scriptural description of a good shepherd; and, that I never be given over to the pursuit of money, ego, or anything else that might indicate the work of a hireling. Finally, [as I said three-fold] that you, as some of you have been called to be ministers of His word as well, that you are not relegating yourself to the position of hireling, or selling your gifts for things that won’t matter in the end.
Again, “Which is Which?”
