“The Shepherd’s Voice”
John 10:1-15
Read John 10:1-15
The owner of a sheep ranch in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing his neighbor’s sheep. He vigorously maintained his innocence, however, claiming it was one of his own flock who had been missing, whom he had merely recovered from his neighbor’s pasture.
When the case went to court, there was no definitive evidence to decide it either way, so the judge very wisely called for recess and asked that the sheep in question be brought into the adjacent courtyard. When they reconvened, he then asked the man’s neighbor to step outside and call the animal. When he did, the sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened.
The judge then instructed the accused to do the same. He went into the courtyard and, using his own distinctive call, he called the sheep. As soon as he did, the sheep ran towards the door and that familiar voice. It was immediately obvious to the judge and to everyone else that this was, indeed, his sheep. “His sheep knows him,” the judge ruled. “It’s one of his own. Case dismissed.”
A shepherd spends a lot of time with his sheep, and as a result they develop a level of familiarity and intimacy with one another. The shepherd comes to know each of the sheep well enough to give them names, based either on their marking or their behavior. And the sheep will also grow accustomed to their shepherd--his ways and his voice--and they’ll develop a sense of whether or not he cares about them and can be trusted.
God is often spoken of in the Old Testament as the Shepherd of Israel. For example, in Psalm 100 we read: “...We are God’s. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” And David, the former shepherd, beautifully described his relationship with God in those terms, in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
And Jesus speaks of himself here as being that good shepherd, whom his followers can know and trust, and who will come to know his voice. He says of the good shepherd that “the sheep listen to his voice. He calls them by name and leads them out… and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they won’t follow a stranger; in fact, they’ll run away from him because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.” That was clearly illustrated in the Australian court case.
So, what does the Good Shepherd’s voice sound like, and what is it saying? Jesus provides a personal expression of God’s own voice, one that speaks to us in words of love and blessing. It’s a voice that calls us into a new and better life. Our belovedness is the foundational truth and the bedrock reality on which our salvation rests. God is love itself, who loves the world enough to send his Son, in a human life, to give of himself fully, even at the cost of indescribable suffering, and ultimately, death, to save us from ourselves and our sin.
Pastors used to commonly employ the phrase, “dearly beloved,” in their sermons to remind their congregation of the greatest truth of all: that we’re dearly loved by God. At the heart of our salvation is God’s gracious love for every person. We’ve been created precisely for that purpose, to know and to share his great love.
As Paul writes in the Book of Romans, “there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). “No condemnation” means there is no longer the punishment of harsh judgment at all, ever. And he stresses that point emphatically by saying that there is absolutely nothing, no power that exists in Creation or the spiritual realm, that can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ, our Lord. It’s a perfect, pure form of love, unconditional and unchanging.
The spiritual blessings of joy and peace and hope are all really just different facets of God’s love for us--just as a diamond will refract light from every angle. All of God’s many blessings have their source in his amazing love. That’s why we always need to keep coming back to it as the wellspring of life. It’s that special quality of love we call “grace:” love in its essence, full of kindness and mercy, generously bestowed. We’re saved by that loving kindness, and only by God’s grace, never by our own works (Eph. 2:8-9). That’s where the joy and peace and hope all come from: in trusting that Jesus has already done for us what we never could. The good shepherd has already laid down his life for the sheep. We are dearly loved.
But, “God loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.” The role of a good shepherd is also to guide and correct his sheep, and to keep them safe and away from harm. When David wrote in Psalm 23, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” he was referring to the shepherd’s two tools of the trade: a hooked staff to restrain a sheep who’s going astray, and a rod--used both as a weapon to ward off predators, but also for the correction of his sheep by a swift tap to their body, when necessary. God’s unconditional love is foundational, but Jesus also wants to teach us the wisdom we need to live securely in his care. There’s both love and truth in his shepherding.
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it more fully” (John 10:10). That’s the whole idea: to experience the life we were created to live: full of love, and with a knowledge of the spiritual design of Creation and its very real moral order.
But Jesus also warns us against another voice in this passage, the voice of a stranger, whose voice the sheep won’t recognize and will fear, that of a thief and a robber, who comes only to steal and kill and destroy. He’s speaking of Satan, of course, our nemesis whose sole mission is to inflict suffering and death on the human race.
Sheep are extremely vulnerable animals. They don’t have any means of defending themselves: no sharp teeth or claws--and even if they aren’t directly injured they sometimes die from panic when being attacked. They need the safety and security of a shepherd’s care. It’s also true that if a sheep goes too long without being shorn, the excess wool can cause overheating and death. They need not only guidance and protection, but also the regular care of a shepherd.
We’re more like sheep than we might want to admit. Left to ourselves, we’re susceptible to the dangers and deadliness of sin and the threat of our Adversary, the Devil. God knew from the very beginning that we couldn’t handle the knowledge of evil and the temptations of sin, and that we need his help to survive in a dangerous world.
There are two very different ways to live: either recognizing our need of a caring shepherd, Jesus himself, listening to his voice and following him into the blessings of a life of love and spiritual wisdom and security; or straying off on our own, where Satan lurks and is ready and waiting to do us all the harm he can. The responsibility is ours, to decide whose voice we’ll choose to listen to.
We listen for God’s voice in a few different ways. One is, of course, through Scripture. The Word of God speaks to us throughout the rich stories and characters of the Old Testament, which are given to us to set the stage for the Gospels and the teachings of Christ and his apostles. Our part is to listen, to “study to show yourself approved, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Biblical knowledge is an imperative for a Christian, in the same way a carpenter needs to learn his craft and take pride in the quality of his work.
The late biblical scholar Dr. Bruce Metzger was once asked by a student at Princeton Seminary, “Dr. Metzger, if all the copies of the New Testament were somehow destroyed, do you think you would be able to reconstruct it in the original Greek?” After a moment’s reflection, Dr. Metzger replied very humbly, “Yes, I believe I would.” Only a handful of scholars will ever attain that level of mastery, needless to say, but we should all aspire to gain as much knowledge of God’s Word as possible. That means not only committing to personal Bible study, but also taking advantage of other opportunities to learn in group settings. But it won’t happen without an intentional pursuit of this goal to become biblically grounded and shaped by the truth of Scripture.
It’s also important that we listen to the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit. This familiar phrase could be translated literally as “the voice of silence,” or “a silent whisper.” It speaks of spending time listening to the Spirit in times of contemplative prayer and meditation. I’ve found that many of my best and most inspired ideas for serving God have come in times of prayer when I’ve quieted my spirit enough simply to be still and listen. Jesus promises that he’ll come to us in the person of the Holy Spirit, “the Counselor,” who will always help us, but often through a silent whisper or the gentlest of nudges.
We can also sense God’s voice through the lives and counsel of other Christians. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Psalm 12:17). Where would any of us be without the benefit of fellow pilgrims we’ve met, whether personally or through the ministries of speaking and writing, who have helped us on the way? Just as God has created the natural family to nurture and guide us, so has he also designed the church as its spiritual counterpart, given to encourage, enlighten and inspire us..
God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, is the faithful shepherd of our souls, who loves us and wants to guide, protect and care for us. May we listen well for his voice--through Scripture, prayer and fellow believers, to draw closer to him, “who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24-25).
Amen.
