I’ve often said that I’m glad I do what I do because I couldn’t do what my wife does. Mothers are amazing. They’re teachers and disciplinarians. They’re cleaning ladies and doctors, and nurses and psychologists and counselors. They’re coaches and chauffeurs. They’re developers of personalities, molders of vocabularies and shapers of attitudes. Mothers are a gift from God.
The love of a mother for her children is unlike any other love that has ever been created. It’s beyond belief. It’s truly amazing.
This week I visited a sheep farm and observed the love of a mother for her baby lamb in action.
The baby was only one day old and this was a first time mom. But I wasn’t the only intruder in the pen, there was also a puppy who was antagonizing this new lamb and its mother. As the puppy ran around the sheep the ewe was very insistent that it stay away from her baby. She stamped her feet at the puppy and shielded the lamb with her own body. It was an incredible sight to watch as this mother practiced her love for her baby by protecting that baby from what she believed was danger. Finally the owner walked over toward the puppy and the puppy backed off. He then approached the baby lamb and instead of getting defensive the mother allowed him to pick up the baby with no problem. What was the difference I wondered? This week I realized exactly what that difference was, and today I want to talk with you about some lessons that I learned from that Ewe and which I believe we each can take away from this place today.
In our text today we have a lesson taught by Jesus by using the symbolism of sheep. For some of you the conclusions that Jesus drew will not be difficult to understand because you are familiar with sheep. While others, like myself, will have a more difficult time because of a lack of experience with them.
I believe there are two very important lessons that we can learn from sheep. The first lesson comes from the fact that the sheep recognize their master’s voice. There’s a commercial that’s aired recently in which a shepherd is on his cell phone and calls his sheep which come running by the hundreds to surround him. While that’s a bit far fetched there’s some truth in it.
Kenny, who owns the sheep that I visited this week tells me that his sheep can be all the way across the field and if he yells for them, it doesn’t matter what he says, they recognize his voice and come bolting across the field.
The sheep wouldn’t respond to me when I talked to them, rather they became afraid and as I entered their fenced in area they hightailed it across the field and huddled together out of fear. The sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd because a relationship exists between them. They recognize the voice of their shepherd because it is the shepherd with whom they spend their time. It is the shepherd from whom they receive everything they need to survive. It is the shepherd with whom they are in a relationship. That brings us to our first lesson.
We must recognize our master’s voice. The only way that we can do that is through a relationship with him. Jesus said that his sheep recognize his voice. They don’t follow any one else but rather wait for his leading and go where he calls them.
If you have your Bibles open I’d encourage you to turn back to John chapter 9 with me. I want to help you set today’s story in context. What we have here is the story of a man who was born blind with whom Jesus comes in contact. Jesus rubs some mud on this man’s eyes and then sends him away to a pool to wash. When he does this he can see. Now this really ticks the religious leaders off. They start questioning him as to how he had been healed. When they don’t get the answers that they’re looking for from him they go to his parents who respond by saying, “He’s a grown man. He can speak for himself.” Finally after questioning him again the man becomes annoyed with them and tells the Pharisees off only to be thrown out into the streets. John tells us that Jesus finds this man and asks “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Now keep in mind that this man has never actually seen Jesus, because when Jesus sent him away to the pool he was still blind. The man replies, “Point him to me, so that I can believe.” Jesus says “You’re looking at him, don’t you recognize my voice?” To which the man bows down and worships.
Ladies and Gentlemen: when we are in relationship with someone, when we know them intimately we cannot help but recognize their voice. Just like sheep recognize the voice of their master because of the relationship that they have with that master, so you and I are called to be so intimately involved in relationship with Jesus Christ that we know his voice. There should be no question when he calls.
I don’t where you’re at, but maybe you have a hard time hearing God’s voice. It’s not audible like we’d like it to be. But this is for certain: God does speak to us. The question is: can we discern that voice from all the other voices we are hearing? The only way to do that is to become so intimate in our relationship with God that we know that voice. I want to encourage you to continue to seek the type of spiritual life that would allow you to enjoy a close walk with your shepherd.
The second lesson I learned from the ewe this week is to follow our Master. Sheep are by nature followers, at least most of them.
Mrs. Gad-about was a very attractive sheep. Her body was beautifully proportioned. She had a strong constitution and an excellent coat of wool. She had bright eyes. She bore sturdy lambs that matured rapidly. She was hot stuff.
But in spite of all these attractive attributes she had one pronounced fault. She was restless – discontented – a fence crawler. She caused more problems for her shepherd than all the rest of the flock combined. No matter what field or pasture they were in she would search along the fences looking for a hole she could crawl through to feed on the other side. With Mrs. “Gad-about” it was a habit. She just wasn’t content and never learned her lesson. But what made matters worse was that she taught her lambs the same tricks. They followed their mom and became skilled at escaping. Even worse still was the example she set for the other sheep who followed her lead. In order to save the flock the shepherd had to get rid of Mrs. Gad-about. You see within a flock there can be only one shepherd.
The sheep must follow their shepherd and not be distracted by other sheep. With a relationship that is built over time between a shepherd and his sheep, the sheep eventually come to place complete trust in their shepherd to the point where they will follow him any where he leads.
That’s the kind of trust that we are called to have in our shepherd, Jesus Christ. We are challenged to give ourselves completely to his care, because in the same way that we as parents are looking out for what’s best for our children, so too God is looking out for us. God like a parent can see much farther than we are able and can prevent us from unnecessary harm.
Much like sheep you and I also are threatened in at least two ways. First of all we are threatened by predators. For a shepherd, predators are the biggest concern because a sheep has no means of self-defense. While sheep are very alert and untrusting of strangers they have now way to escape danger except to run. With modern day fences the issue is not as serious but the principle is still extremely relevant. A sheep needs the protection of its owner.
You and I are no different. The scriptures speak of the devil as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. There are forces which would seek to destroy you but the good news is that your master is someone who is more powerful than them. But it is crucial that you remain within the fence. You can’t go looking for a hole to climb through but must remain within the care of God. You must remain within that intimate relationship.
The second danger that a sheep is susceptible to is of being “casted”. The word is an old English word and refers to the position of a sheep when they are on their back with their feet in the air. The sheep will be lying on its side and may role over too far and when they start trying to get up they often will fight to hard and make matters worse. A sheep can actually die if they are left in this position for too long.
Often you and I believe that we are can make it on our own. We like to think that we’re independent, but the reality is we’re not. Without the constant care of our shepherd we may find ourselves kicking and thrashing in life unable to get ourselves out of the mess that we’ve created. While we may not die physically because of our struggle we are not able to experience the kind of life that we were created to live a life that Jesus says in this passage he wants to give us: an abundant and real life, more and better than we ever dreamed of.
Ultimately the greatest lesson that we can learn from the Ewe is that we are all in need of a shepherd. The 23rd Psalm says “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” Those who know about sheep know that the only time that sheep will lie down is if they trust their shepherd and believe they are safe. The only way that you and I can truly experience the peace and contentment that we desire is to be involved in a relationship with our Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
I want to close by telling you a story. You may have heard of the concept of a scapegoat before. But you may not have heard this part. A scapegoat is a goat that is bread with a neurological disorder which causes it to faint whenever it is faced with the least bit of fear. You can walk up to a scapegoat and say “hello” and it will faint in fear. These scapegoats are placed among herds of sheep which are susceptible to predators and when a predator approaches the scapegoat faints and the rest of the sheep escape while the predator feeds on that scapegoat. The scapegoat literally saves the lives of the sheep by sacrificing his own life.
You and I because of our sin, because of our brokenness, because of our short-comings, are in danger. There is a predator on the hunt and we would have eventually have had to pay the price we deserved for our sins. But Jesus Christ willingly became our scapegoat. He laid himself down in our place so that we could escape our punishment. Do you remember Jesus’ words, “What greater love is there than this: when a person lays down his life for a friend.”
