Follow the Good Shepherd
John 10:1-14
Introduction
In 2 Samuel 5:1-5, there is a story of victory and celebration. David has been appointed King of Israel, and his first move is to bring the Ark of the Covenant - the presence of God - back into Jerusalem, where it belongs. (2 Samuel 6:1-5) . The celebration was hearty, ecstatic, joyful. Israel has a King they can love and to whom they submit.
2 Samuel 5:2 “You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.” The idea of shepherding would come naturally to David.
Shepherding is all about feeding the lambs and the sheep, bringing them to good pasture lands and water, grooming and clipping them, delivering new lambs, leading them, and teaching them to stay together, going off after wandering lost ones, and protecting the sheep in the field and in the fold. (Simpson)
The prophets spoke of a coming Shepherd King.
Micah 5:4 “He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God….”
Ezekiel 34:23 “I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.”
Matthew 2:6 “And you, Bethlehem … out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
These statements foreshadow the kind of King Jesus would be.
I’m so grateful that King Jesus is a shepherd who loves and guides his flock - those who have submitted their lives to Him. John 10 offers an extended teaching of Jesus in his role as our shepherd.
John 10:1-14
I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
6 Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[a] were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.[b] They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me...
1. Why We Need a Shepherd's Leading
We do not always perceive the best path forward. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Also 16:25). Most of our messes began with a bad decision.
We Trust our Heart. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Our emotions and feelings change rapidly. Not dependable.
We are more like sheep than we want to think; we wander. Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way….” Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus teaches us that He is the Shepherd of our hearts. Peter 2:25 “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
2. How Jesus Shepherds Us Today
By His Word (John 10:1-3 “The sheep hear his voice…”). Most reliably, we hear Jesus through the Bible. We also hear Jesus through the example of others, through the Creation, and through the Spirit. Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
Jesus Shepherds us Individually (vs 4-5 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”). Jesus knows us individually.
Colin Smith: “There may be times when you are a mystery to yourself, but you are never a mystery to Christ. … Christ knows your temperament, your moods. He knows what lifts you up, and he knows what gets you down. There is nothing you could ever tell Jesus about yourself that he does not already know completely.”
He Leads us into Salvation (vs 7-9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”) Always, Jesus seeks to keep his sheep safe and protected. He leaves the 99 and finds the One. He ultimately desires for us to live forever with him in heaven. He offers Himself as the way!
He Leads us into Abundant Life (vs 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ). Several images in this section remind us that others do not have our best in mind: The thief, Stranger, hired hand, robber, wolf. Jesus is the contrast to everything that hurts, steals, and destroys our lives. Jesus knows we face an enemy we cannot defeat. In every struggle, we have a Shepherd who is aware of our pain and hardship, cares, moves on our behalf. Whatever we face, Jesus has come so that we can
experience abundance in our lives.
He Guides Us. Sheep cannot start out in the morning in search of pasture and then come home at evening time. They have, apparently, no sense of direction. The greenest pasture may be only a few miles away, but the sheep left to themselves cannot find it. Where the shepherd leads, the sheep will go. Psalm 23:2 "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” We depend on the Word of God and the knowledge of His ways to guide us through the difficulties of life.
He Leads all of his sheep into unity (16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.). Jesus wants us to be united with all believers because they all share the one Shepherd. The moment we think we are the only ones He loves, we forget His message - everybody needs to be led by Jesus and no one does it perfectly.
He lays down his life for us. The shepherd would at night lay down in the gate physically to protect the sheep from wolves coming into the sheepfold. He literally put his life on the line for the sheep. John 10:11, 14 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He Loves Us.
Conclusion
Sheila Walsh - Bummer Lambs
Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind. These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called “bummer lambs.”
Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the shepherd does? He takes that rejected little one into his home, hand-feeds it and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat.
Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows his voice intimately. It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the one who loves it. It's not that it is loved more, it just has experienced that love one on one.
So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But Jesus is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat. We may be broken, but we are deeply loved by the Shepherd.
Sheila Walsh, "Loved back to Life”
Read Psalm 23 together.
Psalm 23 NKJV
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the 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.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
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Discussion Questions
1. Who were some of the great men of the Bible who were shepherds? Why would this analogy be so familiar to the people to whom Jesus was speaking?
2. What are some of the characteristics of sheep that are also characteristic of us? What is your personal reaction to being compared to a sheep?
3. How comforting is it that Jesus knows us so well? Is that also disturbing? Why or why not?
4. Why is it significant that he leads them and does not drive them? Why do they not follow a stranger? What does this mean practically?
5. What does Jesus mean that He will give an abundant life? What about a believer’s life makes it abundant?
6. What distinguishing mark of the “good shepherd” does Jesus repeat four times in verses 11-18? Why do you think Jesus emphasizes this?
7. How does the Good Shepherd compare with the hired shepherd?
8. What does it mean that Jesus has ‘other sheep’? What does Jesus reveal about the future of his flock (v. 16)? In what ways do you feel a part of the “one flock” under “one shepherd”?
9. What other thoughts did you want to talk about regarding Jesus being our Shepherd to whom we should submit our lives?
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Resources
Connelly, Douglas. John: The Way to True Life. InterVarsity Press, 2002.
Johnson, Elsabeth. Commentary on John 10:1-10.
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-101-10-3
Lent, Kyle. What Does A Shepherd Do?
https://www.austinstoneworship.com/what-does-a-shepherd-do/
Simpson, Sandy. The Responsibilities Of A Good Shepherd.
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/agoodshepherd.html
Smith, Colin. Seven Ways Christ is the Good Shepherd.
https://unlockingthebible.org/2018/05/seven-ways-christ-is-the-good-shepherd/
Walsh, Sheila. Loved Back to Life
Wright, N. T. For Everyone Bible Study Guides: John. InterVarsity Press, 2009.
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Article
I Am A Sheep
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” —John 10:14-15
In John Chapter 10, the contrast between rejection and faith continues in Jesus’ teaching about sheep and shepherds. He begins with the reality that some appear to be shepherds, but they are dangerous to the sheep.
Most of us are unfamiliar with sheep. I could not begin to raise a sheep myself! So, perhaps the message is not as vivid for us as it was for those who first heard Jesus speak—but we still get what Jesus is teaching. Some pretend to be shepherds but are actually predators.
They sneak over the wall, not through the gate.
They are unfamiliar voices. The sheep do not know them.
They come to steal, kill, and destroy.
They only care about money, not protecting the sheep.
You may not be able to find a strong connection for each one of these items, but the overall picture is clear. Anyone claiming to be a shepherd for the people but who also rejects Jesus is a danger to their spiritual life.
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. —John 10:10
It is striking how divisive the claims of Jesus were and still are. Some claimed he was a demon-possessed madman. Others asked, “Is that the kind of person who can open the eyes of the blind?”
Disciples take great comfort in the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He knows our names. He protects us from the Enemy. He lays down his life (10:17-18). He brings in all those who will listen to his voice. I am a sheep, and Jesus is my shepherd. What else could I want?
From Seven Signs, Seven Days
John Dobbs
https://www.amazon.com/author/johnedobbs
