Pastor Joe Fuiten, August 31, 2003

 

Scripture Reading:  John 10:1-15 Page 759

1 "I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father-- and I lay down my life for the sheep. (NIV)

 

            I’m not sure if figures of speech about sheep mean much to Seattle in the 21^st century.  I’ve never been a shepherd and, except on TV, have only rarely seen them other than in my travels through the Middle East.  Since I am usually not sentimental, I do understand that the main goal of sheep is lamb chops, at least from the shepherd’s point of view.  However, in this case, the story is not really about sheep.  If I don’t get the sheep thing, I shouldn’t feel too bad because neither did the listeners in this text.  Verse 6 is explicit in telling us that they did not understand what he was telling them.

            They didn’t get it so Jesus explained it.  That is why verse 9 is a very important verse. It explains the meaning of the figure of speech wherein Jesus claims divinity.  He is God.  Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.” In verse 9, when Jesus speaks of himself as being the way to be saved, he is clearly referencing the Old Testament vision of God as the Shepherd of Israel who saves.   Ps 80:1-3 says, “Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. 3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”  Jesus is the one who sits enthroned between the cherubim.  He is the one who leads Israel like a flock.

            The claim of Jesus to be God is very explicitly referring to Ezekiel 34:11-16 "'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (NIV)

            These statements refer to Israel and God’s regathering them to the mountains of Israel.  This God is doing right now.  The first flock that Jesus has is believing Israel itself.

When Jesus refers to other sheep that he has, it is not as the Mormons say, a reference to the American Indians.  Rather, it is Jesus referring to the Gentile believers who would join believing Israel.  In fact, he is referring to most of us.

            God is the one who will regather Israel.  So for Jesus to refer to himself as the shepherd is to lay claim to divinity.  The sheep will enter through Jesus and be saved.  Obviously, those who do not enter through Jesus will not be saved.  We will go in and out and find pasture.  

            Think about the implications of what Jesus says here. 

He says that he is God and that we must enter in through him.  In that day, people must have thought they would enter in through the law of God, but it is only through Jesus himself.

The modern day equivalent would be the ideas of the Gospel or the values of the Gospel.  Christianity is a way of thinking about God, about relationships and about priorities in the home, the community, in political and economic life.  It is an all-encompassing system of thought.  We can even compare our values and faith with those of other religions.  This is all good.  Cedar Park is very much into this.  We want to apply the concepts of our faith to education which is why we have schools.  We want to apply it to the care of the body at death which is why we have a funeral home and cemetery.  We want to care for the poor which is why we do so many ministries in that area.  We want to apply to faith to psychological health and family relations which is why we have Cedar Park Counseling Network.  There is a subtle danger in applying the values of Christianity.  We might begin to reduce salvation in Christ to the intellectual or social dimension.

There really is no other way to do this.  We have to objectify our faith in order to compare and contrast it with the other religions of the world and with the values of secular culture.

It is very important to keep first things first.  Jesus said he himself was the gate.  That means that salvation is not a concept or a philosophy or even an understanding of God.  It is being in Christ and Christ being in us.  Teachers please remember this as you teach students.  Don’t forget to encourage them to enter a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The same is true for adults.  In your search for a healthy lifestyle, or a positive home life, remember that knowledge or style are not the foundation of the Christian life, Jesus is.

Jesus gave them three dimensions of his leadership as the good shepherd.  First, he calls them by name. He individually calls you to himself.  He doesn’t call Mom and Dad and the kids come along.  He doesn’t call the Dad and Mom comes along.  He calls each one by name.  Every lamb has a name.  You yourself are important to God.  He knows every detail of your life and he has been calling your name.  Sometimes we just have too much going to listen, but he is calling.

Second, he leads them out.  He doesn’t drive them out.  God is easy to avoid.  He didn’t drive you to welcome him and he won’t drive you afterwards.  This is not a by-force operation.  He doesn’t herd the flock, he shepherds it.

Third, he lays down his life for the sheep.  This is certainly a foretelling of the crucifixion as an act in time.  Even more than that, it speaks of a lifestyle.  This is servant leadership.  This is Jesus washing the feet of the disciples

In verse 10, the leadership of Jesus is contrasted with the other options. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  If you look at the previous chapter you see that Jesus is in a conflict with the religious leaders.  He had healed someone on the Sabbath and that was too much for them.  In some respects, Jesus is giving them a lesson in contrasting styles of leadership.  They took.  He gave.  They killed.  He gave life.  They destroyed.  Jesus restored.

There is quite a difference between the Jesus way and the other way, even your way.  To you it seemed so right, but it took you where you didn’t want to go.  The Good Shepherd will watch over the sheep.

A key thing for sheep is actually to keep the nutrition of the sheep steady. They have to eat the right amount of the right kinds of grass at the right times or they will die. If it gets out of order they can get overeating disease. They can eat too little one day and too much the next.  When that happens some of the bacteria that lives in the innards of the sheep will reproduce to abnormal levels and produce toxins that cause death very quickly.

Too much of a good thing, or things out of the right sequence and the sheep dies.  The shepherd knows how to regulate it.  The shepherd knows what is poisonous.  He steers the flock away from disaster.  As smart as you may be, you are not smart enough to be your own shepherd.  Even Tiger Woods will take golf lessons from time to time.  Every human needs a good shepherd, one who watches over us so that we might have life, even eternal life.