Jesus, the good shepherd John 10: 7-21
There was a church where a man fell asleep every Sunday morning just as the Pastor began preaching his message. And every week the Pastor noticed him and it really started to bother him more and more as the time went on. He thought to himself, “I spend hours studying and praying over these messages and that guy doesn’t even bother to stay awake for the introduction.” Well, finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and so one day he stopped this man at the door and told him how much it bothered him that he could sit there and sleep during his entire message. And the man said in response, “Do you think I’d go to sleep if I didn’t trust what you had to say?” Please, don’t trust me that much.
A couple of weeks ago we looked at the first six verses of this chapter which is really a bit of an introduction to the whole concept of the church, where Jesus uses the illustration of the sheepfold as a portrayal of the universal church. And what I mean by that is that He is talking here about all believers in general. In other words, there won’t be a separate room for the Baptists and another for Presbyterians or anyone else but everyone and by this I mean all true believers will be part of the one body. We’ll simply be like one large flock of sheep.
And so Jesus began by warning about those who would attempt to get in or become part of this kingdom by going over the wall rather than going in through the door and you will remember that He described Himself as being the door and so He was referring to those who are trying to get into heaven some other way, than through Him. And we all know that there are some who believe they’ll get to heaven because of their good works and there will be others who think they’ll get in because of who their parents were and there might even be some who think they’ll deserve to go to heaven because they went to the right church or maybe even because they attended the right school. And Jesus labeled all these people as being thieves and robbers.
And we saw how thieves and robbers have no business in the kingdom because all they want to do is take care of number one and that’s me. They don’t come in through the door because they have no desire to be part of what the kingdom is all about.
You see, all they want are the benefits of heaven and only those benefits in particular that appeal to them. And can you imagine what heaven would be like if God let all the unsaved just because they felt they deserved it. I mean, those of us who are saved would have to lock our doors and do all we could to protect ourselves all the time because if there was the unsaved there, they’d still have their sin nature. And listen, heaven would be hell.
Now, it almost goes without saying that Jesus was talking about the Pharisees and the rest of the religious crowd when He refers to thieves and robbers. And we notice that always seemed to be listening whenever He spoke but these guys were a walking contradiction. They seemed to be saying two opposite things at once. For instance, in the previous chapter they claimed that Jesus had broken the law by healing a man on the Sabbath and almost in the next breath they said they didn’t believe He could heal. Now listen, even an idiot would say you can’t have it both ways. If He couldn’t heal He didn’t break the Sabbath and if He did break the Sabbath than He healed the man.
And then we looked at how Jesus Himself is the door and He opens it to all those who are willing to come in. I think I might have mentioned before how I heard of a guy who was a hyper Calvinist and he was saying that there will be those who will be dragged into heaven kicking and screaming because they were chosen by God. But, we all know that that’s absurd because if there’s no desire on our part to be in the kingdom then God isn’t going to violate our free will. Now understand this, even if we were forced to receive something that we would have wanted anyway then God would be treating us as less than human and He’s not willing to do that.
And then Jesus goes on to say that He knows all the sheep by name and each and every one of these sheep, follow Him. And this is describing the personal relationship that each one of us has with the shepherd because He knows every one of us by name. And that’s an amazing thought.
There was a time in my life when I would sing and preach in coffee houses, churches, schools, and prisons. And there were times when I was booked six nights a week. And I’m sure that there were hundreds if not thousands of people who saw me and would have recognized me if they saw me on the street. As a matter of fact, I used to do a service once a month at the Whitby County jail with my pastor and one day I was picking up something at the grocery store and a man approached me. He said, “Hey, do you remember me? I met you at the Whitby County jail.” And trying to be friendly I said, “Oh yeah, when did you get out?” And he said, “I’m a guard.” You see, I had met all kinds of people but I’m limited by my human condition, but Jesus is God and He knows each and every one of us, not only by name but He knows every thought that’s ever gone through our heads.
And then we see that Jesus goes one step further and says in verse 14, “I am the good shepherd and know My sheep, and am known by Mine.” So, not only does He know us but we know Him. And the evidence that we know Him is that we follow Him and the proof that we know Him is that we are obedient to His word. And I promise I’ll repeat this as we go along.
And then we concluded last time with verse 6 that says He used this illustration (Of the shepherd and the sheep) to describe the church but none of His disciples seemed to have a clue as to what He was talking about. And what we have to keep in mind is that the disciples may have been listening to what He was saying but one day they would understand it but during this time they were simply in the dark spiritually. And we might wonder what was wrong with them but think of this, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given and so there was no way that any of this could possibly make sense. And lets face it, before a person is a Christian, they can go to church, they can sing all the hymns in the book and read the Bible from beginning to end but none of these things will ever make any sense until they’ve come to the point of surrendering themselves to Jesus by repenting of their sin and receiving Him as their Savior.
And so, in the first ten verses He called the false spiritual leaders strangers, thieves and robbers but in this section He calls them hirelings and basically He’s referring to the same people from a different perspective and while He’s showing us this crowd from a different viewpoint He still refers to Himself as the shepherd and the believers as sheep. And so, today, we’re looking at a continuation of what we saw last time and what we’ll see is that Jesus takes everything a step further. And He begins by telling us that He will die for the sheep.
I The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
In verses 8-10 Jesus is drawing a picture to illustrate the difference between Himself and the religious crowd that were constantly criticizing and dogging His every step and He makes an interesting statement that can be easily misinterpreted when He says, “All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.” Now, when He says all He’s not referring to Moses and the rest of the prophets because they didn’t claim to be anything more than those who pointed to the one who is coming. But, there were plenty of others who either claimed to be the messiah or they muddied the waters so people would think he had already come or that He wasn’t coming at all.
We also notice here that Jesus begins by drawing a contrasting picture between Himself and the love He has for the flock or what He calls the hirelings. You see, back in His day there were shepherds who were basically born to the task in that they took care of the sheep ever since they were kids. And these people naturally had a love and concern for the flock. And you have to keep in mind that these sheep were raised for their wool, milk and to have other sheep. The only time they were ever killed was for temple sacrifices or a very special occasion.
But on the other hand, there were those who were people who were hired to watch the flock and these hirelings as they were called were really only concerned for themselves. So, the word ‘hirelings’ describes someone who is being paid to do something and these people have no vested interest in whatever it is they’ve been hired to do. And so far as they were concerned, all they had to look forward to was their pay. So they don’t take any chances in terms of getting injured and they had no real concern for the future of the flock they were hired to care for.
I had a friend tell me that one day he hired a kid from the neighborhood to mow his lawn. He met him in the yard first thing in the morning and showed him the mower, made sure he knew had to start it and then told him what he wanted done and then he said he went off to work. And then when he came back later in the day he noticed that his lawn wasn’t cut. The mower was right where he left it and the kid was no where to be seen. And so the next day he saw the kid and he asked him why he didn’t mow the lawn. And the kid said, “Your mower was empty. How was I supposed to mow your lawn with no gas?” The man apologized and said he thought it was full and he also said he felt kind of stupid as he walked away.
A few days later he noticed a big brown spot where the mower had sat. And he realized that the kid had dumped out all the gas because he didn’t feel like mowing the lawn. You see, the problem was; he was just a hireling. He didn’t care what the lawn looked like. His only concern was getting paid.
We see this kind of attitude around town where we have a lot of rental properties. And some of the renters are a lot better than others. Often, we’ll drive by a house and see a couch out on the porch and bottles or other garbage left on the lawn and we automatically assume that the house is rented. Why? Because the people that live there don’t really care what it looks like. They have no vested interest in the place. Or what about a rental car, there’s not too many people who would ever buy a rental car because they know that it’s probably been abused and most likely that it wasn’t serviced properly either.
And we see this in other areas as well. People will throw trash out the window of their cars but at the same time they’d have a fit if they ever saw anyone dropping anything on their lawn. Or kids might borrow someone else’s bike and take risks like jumping over things or riding through puddles but they’d never do that with their own bike. Or someone might borrow a tool to do something and just leave it where they were working while they’d put all of their own stuff away. Why do people act like that? The same reason that the hireling runs away. It says in verse 13, “That they care nothing for the sheep.” You see, the sheep have no value to them. If something doesn’t cost them something then it’s not worth anything. And Jesus’ point is, that those who are working for the rewards think only of what they’re going to get while those who are motivated by love are only concerned with those they are trying to reach.
And you see, this is the idea that Jesus is talking about when He describes the Pharisees as the hired men. The hired man loves his life more than the life of the sheep but we know that Jesus loves the sheep more than He loves His own life. Four times in this portion of scripture Jesus says that He lays down His life for the sheep. In verse 11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” Verse 15, “I lay down My life for the sheep.” Verse 17, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life.” And verse 18, “No one has taken My life away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.” Listen, since the sheep belong to Him, He’s not just helping them so they can help Him but He’ll lay down His life for them. So, there’s a real difference between Jesus and the Pharisees or as He calls them, the hired hands.
And He calls Himself the good shepherd and the word ‘good’ describes someone who is more than just competent but it refers to the character of the person. The word ‘good’ means intrinsically good, beautiful or fair. It describes that which is the ideal or the model that others may safely imitate. So, in Jesus we see that goodness is the essence of who He is. It was part of what He was all about. Now we might say, someone is a good carpenter or a good plumber and that means that they really do a good job; but at the same time this person might be a drunk or be unfaithful to their wives. And so, when Jesus refers to Himself as being good what He means is that goodness is the core of His being. And the first thing that makes Him good is that He lays down His life for the sheep.
And the second thing that makes Him good is His relationship to His sheep. It says He knows His sheep. He says, “I know My sheep and My sheep know Me.” Have you ever been invited to something and when you got there you realized that you didn’t know a soul. And let’s face it, we all feel uncomfortable in a situation like that. But, then all of a sudden the one who invited you calls your name from the other side of the room and immediately you feel comfortable. You feel as through you belong because someone knows you.
We live in a world where no one knows who we are or even cares for that matter. The government knows you by your social insurance number, the province knows you by your driver’s license number, your bank knows you by your account number and your insurance company knows you by your policy number. About the only place people recognize your name is in the graveyard and that’s only if you or your family spent the money to have a stone.
But listen, here’s good news. Jesus knows us, He knows how good we think we are and how bad we really are but the good news is, He loves us anyway. He knows us and we matter to Him. And He proved this when He left heaven and came down to earth where He knew He’d be rejected and then crucified to pay the penalty for our sins. Because before we can have any kind of relationship with Him He had to die so we could be part of His fold and eventually have access to heaven.
Of course, there’s always someone who’ll say, well, Jesus became a man and died on the cross but that was no big deal to Him because after all He’s God. You know the idea. He died, then rose from the dead and went back to heaven so in reality it was nothing to Him. But, did you notice in verse 11 where it says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” Now, in the English language we just have the word ‘life’ but in the Greek language there are several words for life and it’s by our understanding what these words mean that reveal to us what happened on the cross.
I’m always reluctant to say such and such word means something in the Greek other than what we have in English because it sounds like we have the wrong word but that’s not what’s happening. You see, the Greek language might be interpreted into English as one word when in fact it means much more. I heard someone say, “Reading the Bible in English is like watching a firework display in black and white.” We’re seeing the same event but it’s more spectacular to see in color. And that’s why we refer to the Greek language at times.
Now, the most common word for life is ‘bios’ and from this we get our word biology and we all know that this refers to the breathing part of life. Plants, animals and humans all breathe. And we know that when Jesus died He stopped breathing. But that’s not the word that’s used here. The second word is ‘zoe’ and this refers to the circumstances of life. And when Jesus died He didn’t just stop breathing but His death interrupted the circumstances of His life. But this word that’s used here is ‘psuche’ which is another way of saying He poured out His entire being. We see the same word over in Matthew 20:28 where it says, “The Son of Man gives His life a ransom for many.” And there again is the word, “psuche” which means He poured out His soul.
Now listen, He didn’t have to do it. When Adam and Eve sinned Jesus could have simply wiped out the entire human race and started all over again or, He could have just said, forget it they’re nothing but a waste of time but He died to pay for our sin and this was for you and me.
And then He turns His attention away from Himself and focuses on the religious leaders and says, “But he that is a hireling.” And what He’s saying is; you guys don’t care for the sheep. You’re only in this business for the money and the prestige. And as soon as any trouble comes you’ll just bail out and let the sheep take care of themselves. And what He was saying was; they didn’t love the sheep but all they loved was the money they made from the sheep. So, when any problems showed up they just took off because all they cared for was number one and that was themselves.
I was at a Pastor’s conference one time and I was having lunch with a bunch of other Pastors and one guy was talking about certain problems in his church and one of the other pastors made a statement that really got a few peoples attention, he said, “I don’t get paid enough to put up with that kind of foolishness.” And I remember thinking; “If you only do what you get paid to do than where is your sense of call.”
Last week we we’re in New York where I had been a student at the Word of Life Bible Institute and I remember how every morning they started the day with devotions. Some times they had a staff member and other times there was a visiting missionary, a local preacher or someone who was involved in some other aspect of ministry. One morning they had a mission’s representative and this guy had a special gift, I mean he was really boring. Right from the time they introduced him, he looked and sounded like he would rather be anywhere else but talking to a bunch of kids. Well, he went on and on and at 8:23 the first bell rang and that meant that the speaker had two minutes to wrap up what he was saying. And as soon as the bell rang he was in the middle of a sentence and he closed his Bible and sat down. As far as he was concerned, he had filled the twenty-five minutes and he was finished. And I don’t think there were too many people who missed what had happened.
Listen, anybody who is in the ministry for the money he is making whether it’s a little or a lot is a hireling. And the Bible is very strong on this. In Titus 1:10 it says, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” In other words, in the very first part of the church there were those who were simply in the ministry for the money. And then over in I Peter 5:2, Peter tells the elders of the church, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.” In other words, money can never be a motivation in the mind of someone who is called to preach the gospel.
Just before I got sick from my kidney problems I was called to candidate at a couple of churches in Ontario and then several churches on the west coast and I really had a great ministry in a couple of them. I remember one where we had two people saved in the morning service and another one had come forward for rededication. And the people of this church were really excited because they hadn’t seen that happen for a long time. But, after being there for a week and talking to several groups within the church, Sally and I came to the conclusion that we simply wouldn’t fit in there.
I mean, it was a Baptist church but they also had a charismatic element and the two factions got along quite well. And so we felt our going there would cause a split because the first thing I’d be doing is teaching the proper role of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that would cause problems for everyone. So, I told the chairman of the board I wasn’t interested and I explained why. He tried to talk me into going anyway but when he saw I wouldn’t move he offered me another ten thousand a year. And all I could think was, what kind of Pastor would say he didn’t think it was God’s will for him to go somewhere and then change his mind for any amount of money. Because the scriptures plainly teach that money is not to be our motivation. And the other side of that is we as believers have the responsibility to pay our Pastor enough to live on.
So, the flock of God suffers from a two-fold danger. There’s the danger of attack from outside the church and there’s also the problems that come if their Pastor is a hireling. And that’s why it’s so important to have God’s man as Pastor and then the Pastor has to be careful who comes in to minister to the flock.
II The good shepherd also loves the sheep.
In verse 14 and 15 He says, “I am the good shepherd and know My sheep and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” And there’s a relationship here between He and us that corresponds to the relationship that exists between Him and His Father. And this is one place that I like to emphasize the eternal nature of our salvation because this tells us that Jesus would no more abandon a believer to hell than His Father would ever let Him go. I mean, that’s the assurance we have of our salvation.
And this also tells us that He loves us because it says He knows us. And the word ‘know’ is often used in the Bible to describe a love relationship. For instance, in the Old Testament it says, “And Cain knew his wife and she bore him a child.” And we know he didn’t just know her name but when it says he knew her this implies a love relationship. In Amos 3:2 it says, “Israel only have I known, said God.” And that doesn’t mean that God didn’t know that other nations existed but that He knew Israel in a special way. He loved her. And in Matthew 7 Jesus says one of the judgments of God is that one day He’ll say to the unsaved, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” And that means these people never had a loving relationship with the Lord. And so, if we apply what we get from all these verses we could read this verse this way, “I am the good shepherd and have loving fellowship with My sheep and My sheep have a loving fellowship with Me. As the Father has loving fellowship with Me, even so I have loving fellowship with the Father.” And the bottom line is; my relationship with Jesus is more than just a theological fact. It’s personal. He loves me and I in turn love Him as well.
And so it says, the good shepherd dies for the sheep. Why does He die? It’s because He loves them. And the result of His death is that He unites His sheep. And the unity we enjoy doesn’t come from the fact that He shoved us all into one big fold but our unity comes from our relationship to Him. And here He states that others are not of the fold but they will be brought in and in this case He’s referring to us, the gentiles. Stephan Oldford once said, “When we get to heaven all the denominational labels will be blown off. Some will be burned off.” But, in any case we will be one.
There’s an interesting prophecy concerning the unity of the body over in chapter 11:49-52. It says, “And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” And so He already was referring to us as children of God and we just had to wait to be gathered. And the unity we share with other believers has to do with our relationship to Jesus Christ and not some ecumenical group.
So, this section tells us that the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep and then that He loves the sheep and all this is based on the relationship He has with his Father. John Philips wrote, “There is a full and eternal understanding between the Father and the Son. It was always understood that if God acted in creation then He would one day have to act in redemption and if He acted in redemption than the Son would have to come to earth, die and rise again. Eternal love between the Father and son ordained all these things.” And what he’s saying is what the scripture teaches, that this was the plan from the foundation of the world.
Look at verses 17 and 18. “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.”
Did you get that? He said, “I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me.” And we’ll see later on in the book how true this was. In chapter 18 He allowed them to arrest Him after they were all blown over backwards when He said who He was. In chapter 26 He remained silent in front of His accusers even though He said he could have called twelve legions of angels. And then He allowed them to crucify Him and as He hung on the cross He shook the world to its very foundations by causing what seemed to be a massive earthquake.
And what we are seeing in Jesus’ life was love that expresses itself in obedience. He was absolutely obedient to the Father’s will in every step of His life. Every once in a while someone will say, “I really love God.” And their life is a total contradiction of that statement. The Bible says, “Study to show yourselves approved unto God” but they don’t study. They sing, “Oh, how I love Jesus.” But they never come out on Sunday night. Maybe they just love Him in the morning. And they say they love Him but they never use the spiritual gifts that He gave them to minister to others. Listen, our love is expressed in our obedience to God.
III The good shepherd relationship to the world.
And in verse 19, it says, “And there was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him? Others said, these are not the words of Him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” And what we see here are two extremes in the evaluation of who Jesus is. One group sees Jesus as a threat to their way of life and the other sees Him as a possible means of salvation. And that’s where the world still stands today.
And everyone has to make a choice. Who was or is Jesus? Was Jesus a demon possessed mad-man as this crowd claimed He was or was He the Son of God? There’s no middle ground. After all, He claimed to be God over and over again so either He was what He claimed to be or He was either lying or deluded.
But listen, the things He said certainly didn’t sound crazy to many of these people and they don’t sound crazy to us either. I mean, people in every generation have testified that Jesus’ teaching is the one hope for a world that’s gone crazy. And many of those who’ve rejected Him don’t have a clue as to what He said or did. They think they know but they don’t.
And yet, it wasn’t just His words that were important, the things He did certainly lend a lot to His credibility. He raised the dead, healed the sick and fed the hungry and none of this was done for any selfish reason. As even the Jews who were right there said, “A madman couldn’t open the eyes of the blind.”
I think we could even go a step further and say, a madman wouldn’t open the eyes of the blind because as we all know a madman really only cares for himself. If you’ve ever seen anyone who really had lost control of their minds they don’t do anything productive, not for themselves and certainly not for anyone else. And the things Jesus said and did were certainly the actions of someone who was not only sane but loving as well. I mean people in every generation have been challenged and changed by the life He led and power of His words.
Conclusion
I’ve heard it said that there are three legs on the stool of life. In other words there are three things that we all need. Number one, we all need other people to recognize when we have problems. And sometimes we may need help while at other times we just need to have someone to listen. Number two, we all need to have someone who really cares about our problems. I remember telling someone about the quality of the kidney specialists at the George Dumont hospital. And when they asked me what was different about them all I could say was that they really cared. Other doctors had treated me but these people to their credit really seemed to care. And we all need someone to care in our lives. And third, we need someone who not only cares but can do something about our problems. So, we need someone to recognize that we have a problem, to care about the fact that we have a problem and then do something about it.
Well, the good news is; Jesus knew we had a problem. He knew we were lost in sin and headed for hell. And then He cared enough to do something about that problem when He came to earth, faced the rejection of the human race and voluntarily died for our sins. And that’s not the end of it because now He’s willing to help us as we wrestle with our sin nature as we live out our faith and preach the gospel to others like ourselves.
