• This is the 4th of the 7 I AM statements of Jesus. I AM held a significant meaning in the theological minds of Israel. Moses spoke to ‘I AM THAT I AM’ as he stood before the BURNING BUSH and asked ‘who shall I say is sending me?’.
Keith Miller writes, “Years ago, when our daughters were very young, we’d drop them off at our church’s children’s chapel on Sundays before the eleven o’clock service. One Sunday, just as I was about to open the door to the small chapel, the minister came rushing up. He said he had an emergency and asked if I’d speak to the children at their story time. He said the subject was the Twenty-third Psalm. Just as I was about to get up from the back row and talk about the good shepherd, the minister burst into the room and signaled to me that he would be able to do the story time after all. He told the children about sheep, that they weren’t smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd’s job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off and doing dumb things that would get them hurt or killed. He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were the sheep and needed lots of guidance. Then the minister put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, “If you are the sheep then who is the shepherd?” He was pretty obviously indicating himself. A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young visitor said, “Jesus, Jesus is the shepherd.” The young minister, obviously caught by surprise, said to the boy, “Well, then, who am I?” The little boy frowned and then said with a shrug “I guess you must be a sheep dog.” I remember the look on that young minister’s face every time I get to thinking that I’m the shepherd in charge of some of God’s sheep. There’s only one shepherd of the flock—and I’m not He.”
11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."
THE DIFFERENCE KNOWING THE GOOD SHEPHERD MAKES: 11 "I am the good shepherd;….
• Interesting in the GREEK: ‘I am the Shepherd, the good one’.
1. HIS DESCRIPTION: At least two words, in the Greek for good, one is agathos from which we get the name Agatha, which means good in the sense of moral quality, It is authentic PICTURE: Tree looks like a tree should look like.
But another word that expressed not only moral goodness, but total beauty and loveliness and that word was kalos and is the word that is used here. It describes good in the sense of being a profound piece of art. - Beautiful
Jesus does not say, "I am the morally good one." He says, "I am the good one preeminent and excellent in every feature, I am the good, the beautiful one.
He's not just another shepherd. He's above all shepherds.
• Jewish History was loaded with Shepherds – Abe / Isaac/ Jacob / Moses Most Popular – David In effect He's saying, "I'm greater than David."
• But even beyond the claim to be greater than David He's claiming deity. Israel viewed God as the ultimate Shepherd.
Psalm 23 – The Lord is my …….
Psalm 80:1 - Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
They were familiar with the picture of God leading Israel like a Shepherd leads his flock
Jesus was again putting himself on the same plain as God. Claiming equality with God.
2. HIS DEVOTION: the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep
• Sheep were always at risk – Rustlers, Lions Wolves and Bears The only protection the sheep had was from the Shepherd A true shepherd had to be willing to Lay down His life for the Sheep –
Jesus declared I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the Sheep or On behalf of the Sheep
In the Greek there are two words for life, neither one of them is used here.
One is bios from which we get our word biology which means life just the breathing part of life, as opposed to being dead.
The other is zoe which means the circumstances of life.
But When Jesus gave His life He didn't just give up His biological life, (Bios)
And He did not just forfeit the circumstances of life. (Zoe)
The word used here is psuche, that's the word that's translated soul. It means the total man inside.
When Jesus died, He wasn't just throwing His body up there,
"The Good Shepherd poured out His soul for the sheep,"
It wasn’t just His body – He poured out His SOUL, His entire being into death.
He felt the curse of sin. He felt the hurt of hate. He felt the pain of nails.
He felt every excruciating agony that the sin of the world could put upon Him,
He felt it in the depths of his Soul.
3. HIS DIFFERENCE: 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
• The attitude of the HIRELING when problems appear is ‘I AM OUT OF HERE’. When the going gets tough the timid get gone. WOLVES LOVE HIRELINGS.
• The hireling flees because he has no relationship with the sheep. Hirelings were usually PART-TIME shepherds who didn’t really know or care about the sheep.
When choosing neighbors most would say they would prefer to have someone next to them who OWNS the home and not RENTERS. WHY? We assume that someone who actually owns something will care better for it. RENTAL CARS?
• Hirelings like the RELIGIOUS LEADERS did not really care about their sheep.
You think BRO. SO & SO on the TV cares about those on the other side of the camera like the pastor and staff of their local church?
Church in Houston had a man who was the ultimate visitor of people. Some of those here also. He had lots of his own personal health issues so he would end up in the hospital a lot. When visiting him it would not be unusual to find his room empty because he was walking the halls with his rolling IV with him visiting others who looked like they needed attention. One time I came and he had been visiting a person in the next room who went to a Houston Mega Church. No one there seemed to know them, no staff or Sunday School came or called. Our church members were the only ones who came by.
14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
• I think the BEST thing about the Good Shepherd verses the Hireling is that He know us very intimately and STILL CHOOSES to be our Shepherd.
a. GINOSKO – Intimate word for KNOW in the Bible used of Cain knowing his wife and the result was they had a child. No more intimate word obviously.
b. Jesus knows us that well, as intimately as the FATHER knows Him and He still chooses us and is willing to GIVE HIS LIFE for us.
A couple of months ago we gained a new member of our household. While leaving for work one morning Lynne told me she had seen a little dog in our front yard running around the car. I looked and found nothing. Then later I looked out and saw a little head poking around the corner of the house. I called and it ran. Then I later told Hannah who stepped on the back porch and looked left and saw nothing then looked immediately right and sitting in the sun was a small dachshund. Someone had probably thrown the dog out of a passing car due to some injury to it’s chest which made no sense until later we realized this dog has something going on with its respiratory system(asthma?) and is not so cute when it struggles with it. We could have tossed it out again but chose to keep it knowing all the problems it has. Someone else did not.
• Whatever there is to know about us good or bad Jesus knows and still chooses to not cast us aside but to know us intimately and even give His life for us.
(1 Sa 17) —34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.
THE DISCOVERY THE SHEEP MAKE: 16 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
• Jesus lets these arrogant leaders know that not only are they not the Good Shepherds sheep but that there are others who also will be His sheep other than them. Who are these others?
The Mormons teach that this is referring to the lost tribes of Israel that had supposedly migrated to America 600 years earlier.
The Bible teaches that the “other sheep” are the Gentiles.
For the Jew of Jesus’ day, it would seem absolutely incredible to think that Gentiles could be a part of God’s “flock”.
Hannibal man with two families: Spent the week in St. Louis and weekends in Hannibal. Grown sons of which one was a sports missionary in Africa. He suddenly died and as his family in our church was preparing for the funeral they discovered that the man had a second family in St. Louis. One white wife and one black one both with children who got to meet each other for the funeral. Sad but somewhat comparative of this shocking reality to these Jews.
• This is understood to be a prediction of the Gentiles coming to God through the message of the Gospel. It started with Peter seeing a vision and then sharing the gospel in the house of a Roman centurion. It continued with the apostle Paul being sent out to preach the gospel “to the Jew first and also the Greek”.
Eph 2:11-13 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh — who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands — 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
• In heaven, the multitude around the throne of God will sing:
(Re 5:9) …“You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation…
• Jesus is not just for American Christians!! Not just for Baptists!! Not just for Texans!!! All this comes as a shock I know. He has other flocks than Texas Baptist
17 "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again.
• Jesus told Pilot the same thing when Pilot stated, ‘Don’t you understand that I have the power to crucify you?’ Jesus’ response was, ‘you would not have this power if it were not given to you. Jesus willing chose to give His life.
THE PERSONAL DEDICATION THE SHEPHERD HAS: 18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."
• Like the OT account of ABRAHAM preparing to sacrifice Isaac Jesus was not taken kicking and screaming to the cross. We see how He settled it in Gethsemane by saying ‘Thy will be done’.
• The Jews never seemed to be able to accept these truths.
19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" 21 Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?"
DRUG COMMERCIAL: For some affliction and like always these commercials end with this rapid speaking person going over the possible side effects. This one caught my attention because one of them was that ‘your throat could close and this could be FATAL’. These Jewish leaders has the fatal affliction of a CLOSED MIND. The side effect of a hard heart.
• No matter how great the evidence or how clear the testimony these Jesus refused to turn their hearts to God and embrace their Messiah. It was a FATAL CHOICE
WOODEN’S UCLA teams won ten NCAA championships in 12 years. Bill Walton played for Wooden at UCLA at a troubled time in America during Vietnam and Watergate, a time when dissent was in style. Walton said,
“We thought he was nuts, but in all his preaching and teaching everything he told us turned out to be true.
“His interest and goal was to make you the best basketball player but first to make you the best person,” Walton said. “He would never talk wins and losses but what we needed to succeed in life. Once you were a good human being, you had a chance to be a good player. He never deviated from that.
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
