John's Gospel Talk 3 - Ch 10

Follow the leader: "I am the good Shepherd"

Today is 15 March 2009 AD, or, "in the year of our Lord", this is not a widely used phrase today, but still true. But if the secular media is to the be believed 2009 is not so much the year of our Lord as it is the year of our Obama

Barak Obama is the poster boy, (or the new messiah if you like), who is apparently going to lead his country and did indeed it appears the whole "free" world, into the dawning of a new age of the secular humanist Utopia of more wealth health and success.

Truth be told, you can't help but marvel at little bit at this guy's capacity can you?
He certainly comes across to me as a leader.
But then that asked the question, what makes a leader?

It seems to me what defines a great leader involves lots of things, but ultimately great leaders are defined by;
I. how they stack up against other leaders
(like would Obama be so loved, if Bush wasn't so hated? - I suspect not)
II. the devotion of their followers.

Some leaders, lead because of their position -- like Bush -- by definition a leader, but hardly a good one, let alone a great one. And why not? Because people had to follow him even if they didn't want to follow him, and it seems to me like a lot of people - did not want to follow him!

A leader is made by their followers, great leaders are followed irrespective of whether they have an official office of leadership will not.

But you know what, there genuinely is not a leader in the world today, or even one of the 20th-century, who can compare to Jesus of Nazareth. Even if you are the sort of person who does not believe he was the Son of God. (Which is hopefully no one here!)


-- he held no official position of leadership
-- he had three years in public life in small back water of the Roman Empire
-- he had no PR department, no you-tube, no face-book, note twitter, not even CNN.

He had none of these things; and yet he has more followers today, 2000 years after he lived, than Barak Obama has today with all his technology.
In truth, Jesus Teaching has impacted more political and legal legislation than anyone; including Obama,
Jesus and his teaching has been responsible for launching more aid and welfare programmes than anyone, including Obama,

When you think about it, they made the dating system of the world after him, he gets us three public holidays a year, so empirically, seriously, can any leader past or present truly hold a candle to him, in terms of his impact upon society today, let alone in terms of the number influence of his followers?

Even if you do not call yourself a Christian, you have to be able to give an account for the success of this man as a leader don't you?

Well today in this passage we are going to learn something about Jesus as a leader, who shows us the conviction of his purposes, and his resolve in the face of opposition, and he does it through his teaching. His words of teaching just like his signs over the last few weeks, will bring both comfort and conflict.
- Comfort to those who believe the truth and follow him.
- Conflict to those who do not believe the truth and deny him as their leader.
Which will you choose today?

Jesus is the good Shepherd, the question is; is he good enough you?
Is he good enough for your devotion, to follow him today?

Well you may have noticed that there is an outline for today's sermon, which has five points, (which is always good for a Calvinist!)
As you see these five points they can be summarised in five words:
1.discipleship
2.Salvation
3.intimacy
4.mission
5.Faith

1.the sheep hear the shepherd's voice and follow (versus 1-6)
NIV John 10:1
"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.

Jesus commences his statement here on v1 with a phrase I tell you the truth, which is exactly same phrase who will use again v7. As you may remember from last week truth is important in John's gospel because each person who appears in John's gospel is in a sense on trial. They are on trial to tell the truth about what they have seen. Much like the blind man was last week, much like his parents were last week. Truth is important in John's gospel, because John will tell us the truth about Jesus, and then asked the question of us; do you believe?

Jesus is a faithful witness in John's gospel he tells us the truth, the truth about God, the truth about ourselves, and the truth about God's messiah, the good Shepherd.

But the first truth Jesus wants to tell us about in this first section of chapter 10 is not about himself, but the truth about thieves and robbers. Throughout this chapter we meet a smorgasbord of characters, some are real, some personifications in Jesus figure of speech, but all up their around 11 characters we meet.
So what we all want to know is, who are the thieves and robbers?
And you know what? I suspect that's what Jesus hearers wanted to know as well!
What we learn about the thieves and robbers is that they are people who usurp authority over God's people, they are not sent by God they are not appointed by God, but they manage to weasel themselves undetected in amongst the flock with only the intention of harming the sheep.

In the historical context, (particularly following on from the conflict of chapter 9) I'm pretty sure Jesus is referring to the Jewish leadership at this point, and in particular the Pharisees.

In a total contrast, the shepherd of the sheep, has authority over the sheep, because he has been sent from God. It's clear that Jesus means he is the true shepherd, the true leader of Israel, the true teacher of Israel, the true saviour of Israel, who is sent from God.

The Shepherd, in this wonderful picture calls his own sheep by name, what a thing to be able to say, that you and known by God himself by name, the Bishop doesn’t know my name, much less the Arch-Bishop, but God does!

And so Jesus' sheep know his voice, they hear his voice, and they follow him. The shepherd will bring out all the sheep that belong to him and they will follow him out into good pasture.

In V3 it says the sheep or listen to his voice, but listening in English is a passive thing, it would be fairer to say the sheep here his voice, hearing in English is an active thing.
To say to someone I'm listening to you, is a little different to say I want to hear what you have to say. Listening is a little passive, hearing is active and intention. The sheep were to be active in hearing the shepherds voice, hearing almost implies listening and then obey.

As we move on in John 10, in contrast to hearing the shepherd, the sheep will not listen to a stranger's voice, the voice of thieves and robbers, and more than that not only will they not listen, they will in fact flee from them, they recognize that they only seek to do the sheep harm. These strangers at false shepherds, they are false messiah's and false leaders of God's people.

When you stop to consider it, who would you say is your leader or teacher about life? Who is the person you look up to and follow?
Do you flee from, Or entertain, false messiahs?

My suspicion is, that very unlike Jesus day, we are quite unlikely to be misled by other religious leaders (it is possible and unfortunately there are many prominent teachers both on television, the Internet and bookstores who quite clearly teach untruths about the Christian faith to the detriment of the sheep and to their own material benefit), but in our time it seems to me we are less interested in learning from that scene, and in fact far more influenced by our other teacher, our own secular society and its expectations.
And the worst part of the this is I think we do it unconsciously. We often absorb and do not challenge the teachings of our society about life, and we absorb it into our own lives almost by osmosis.

Do you follow Jesus voice when it comes to your views of how life works, like marriage, relationships, sex and money?
Truth be told, hand on your heart, who do you follow in your life?

Christians today are in danger of being ashamed of Christ's teaching about life and how it to live it. Brothers and sisters flee from the sin an idolatry applauded by the world, and flee from those teachers who stand opposed to Christ and his words.

Do you know, hear and love your shepherd's voice?


“My sheep hear my voice”. Whose voice are you listening to about life. I know good Christian friends, who spend far more time each week listening to Oprah's voice than they do listening to Jesus voice. To have a passion for Jesus is to have a passion for the hearing of shepherd's voice from the pages of the Bible. You cannot say that Jesus isn’t speaking today, you can only say that you are not hearing what he is saying.

Be passionate hearers and followers of Jesus our shepherd.
Whose disciples do you look like?
Is Jesus a good enough shepherd you?

Now in case I wasn’t entirely clear in what I was just talking about, I take great comfort and the fact that the greatest preacher of all time (no not JE not even M.D.) that Jesus himself, needed to try another angle of attack to get the whole point of his message across to his hearers we read in verse six. So he starts again in v7 which is our second point today.

2.the sheep go through the door to life (versus 7-10)
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.

Again Jesus starts with his statement I tell you the truth, telling his true testimony again into John's gospel as a trustworthy witness to the truth, and again he tells us the truth using his "I am" expression. This time twice he tells us I am the gate" (or the door).

Now at this point you should be asking what on earth does that mean, "I am the gate"?
Well the gate, is the gate for the sheep, the sheep who passed through this gate (no doubt listening to the voice of the shepherd, who is now also the gate, weirdly, but we get the point!), anyway the sheep who go through this gate (we see in V9) into a salvation, they go out and find pasture -- a wonderful picture of a peaceful existence much like the old Testament promise of Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. ".

This gate is the gate to salvation and peace and in verse 10 the abundant life, or the full life (by which Jesus clearly does not mean a BMW or a tag Heuer watch!). But a life in a full relationship with God, his creation, and his sheep.

Jesus makes an exclusive claim here, there is one gate that leads to salvation and a full relationship with God, and that gate is Jesus. Jesus is un ashamed to make that claim, not because he is boastful or arrogant, but because it is true! And if it is true then the Bible is right in what it says that there is no other name under Heaven or Earth by which we may be saved.
And Jesus confirms that for four of us in chapter 14 of John's gospel, where he says that he alone is "the way and the truth on the life!".

Jesus is not ashamed to tell the world who he is, because it is for their benefit, that they may find salvation. Jesus is not ashamed of that message, the question is are you?

Jesus again develops the theme of the thieves and robbers, those who come and a menacing and self-serving, who think the flock exists only to their benefit. They steal, kill and destroy. They See God’s sheep as vulnerable, and instead of protecting them they are looking around for some nice veggies to roast, and a stick of Rosemary to garnish their meal!
At every step of the way they seek to serve themselves and oppose Jesus and his flock. And again it seems likely to me the historical referents of Jesus remarks are the Jewish leaders, and in particular the ones who threw out the blind man (one of Jesus sheep) from the synagogue back in chapter 9.

Jesus is the one true Messiah, the teacher and leader sent from God who is the shepherd of his people, he is the one gate to life and his desire is that people would come to him and find salvation, peace, meaning and hope, do you believe?

And will you follow?.
Christian people need to follow their leader.

The second half of John's gospel which we will start to look at next week, focuses upon the death of the shepherd. And today’s third point is a great word of comfort to the disciples, that death will end in victory.

3.the good Shepherd is obedient to his father and lays down his life for the sheep (versus 11-15, versus 17-18)
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.

17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—
only to take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have authority to lay it down
and authority to take it up again.
This command I received from my Father."

As we read Jesus statement I am the good Shepherd", with the words of Ez 34 ringing in our ears, we can't help thinking that Jesus is the Shepherd that fits the bill, the one whom God was going to send.

In Ez 34, the Lord is the shepherd and he binds up his people. The shepherd looks for the lost, but he will also divide the Rams and the goats. And he will use his servant David, Israel's Messiah and King to do it.

Twice Jesus says “I am the good Shepherd".
Why is he good? (Other than he is God alone of course!)
Four times in this section he says, "he laid down his life for the sheep" and in verse 18 he tells us this is the father's command. Jesus is the good Shepherd for two obvious reasons in this passage; firstly he saves his sheep because he laid down his life, and secondly; because he is obedient to his father and lays down his life.

This shepherd will die to save his sheep!

Again in this figure of speech Jesus introduces two new characters the wolf on the hired man. And So far when we have looked these type of characters in the chapter, we have concentrated on try to work out who the historical referents could be, and this is an important exercise to help understand the message. But if we only did that, it would be to misunderstand the message in the context of the whole John's gospel. Because to at one level to understand who the historical referents are, is to miss the point that they are merely the agents of a greater foe for Jesus.
From the opening chapter of John, we know that there is a cosmic battle going on, between light and dark, good and evil, and behind both the wolf and the hired man is Jesus true opposition, the devil and his cohorts. And the shepherd will die at their hand, but in the process he will save the sheep and in fact defeat his enemies for all time. That is the great paradox of the cross, that helpless and shameful death achieved the great victory of God over all his enemies, which was declared to all in the resurrection and God's victory over death.

So the truth is the wolf is really just the Devil's agent, who opposes Jesus and his sheep. At that point in history it could have meant the Pharisees who kicked the blind man out, or it could have in fact meant Rome itself who ultimately killed the shepherd. In truth it doesn't really matter, because you can tell a wolf by the way they treat Jesus sheep.
Did they feed them or did they feed on them?
Spiritually, physically, emotionally or financially did they do the sheep harm or good?

Well if the wolf actively devours Jesus sheep, the hired man acquiesces in his responsibilities and the sheep are devoured just the same! May be like the blind man's parents last week who give up their son when it becomes hard.

Ultimately both the wolf and the hired man failed the sheep, and serve as a foil in contrast to show the goodness of the good Shepherd.
The good Shepherd in contrast, lays down his life for the sheep, he is obedient to his father and lives and dies from the sheep's benefit.

In summarising this section I used one word “intimacy”, and in verses 14 and 15 we see the intimacy of the relationship between the Father and Son, which has now been extended to the shepherd and sheep.

The profoundly personal and relational nature of God is poured out in these verses, that not only does God know us by name (like V3) but he carries us into the very relational heart of himself.

We now relate to the Father through the Son in the Spirit, we are pulled into a relationship with the one triune God, who as Father, Son and Spirit is Trinity in unity. This triune God made himself manifest, made himself known, revealed himself in the word became flesh, the creator come to the creation, the creator come to make things new in the great signs of re-creation, of making things new, new wine, new eyes and new birth. The creator who came as a shepherd to find his lost sheep.

I am the good Shepherd, the good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The shepherd shows his deep love for both his Father and his sheep by dying a horrific and shameful death upon a cross, and because of this we can have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with a triune God who is our creator.

Jesus is able to shepherd his sheep, because he has received authority from his father. Jesus has authority under heaven and the earth because he is the creator and Lord. And that is what we read in versus 17 .and 18.

Jesus shows he is the Lord of all creation because he is able to not only lay down his life when he chooses, but to take it up again. Because let's face it, it is one thing to raise the dead, and it is a whole different thing to raise yourself from the dead isn't it?
But Jesus has the authority over life and death. The Father loves the Son and gives him the authority over life and death, the Son loves the Father by using his authority and obedience to do the Fathers will.

Jesus Power authority to raise his own life from the dead, is our guarantee and promise that if we enter through the gate that is trusting him and his death on our behalf, we will also see that act of new creation when he raises us from the dead also.

In Christ your death, will not end in judgement but life.
Do you believe?
Will you follow Christ your Shepherd, or drift away after some other false messiah?

Jesus is the good Shepherd, is he good enough you?
Will you hear is use voice and follow?
"I am the good Shepherd, the good Shepherd laid down his life sheep".

Now very quickly we are going to a move through the last two points -- they are both very easy to understand, but challenging to do!

4.the "other" sheep (verse 16)
16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.
I must bring them also.
They too will listen to my voice,
and there shall be one flock
and one shepherd.

First and foremost, we are the other sheep! Those of us who are considered Gentiles have no word of promise from God quite like the Jews, and yet Jesus came to save us.

And this should mean two things for us;
firstly, we should be thankful that God would save sinners and God-haters like us. It is amazing Grace.

Secondly, we should be confident that Jesus has other sheep out there that belong to him and are waiting to his voice, will you speak for Jesus the good Shepherd who has laid down his life of those sheep.

5.Jesus sayings divide like his signs (verse 19-21)
19 At these words the Jews were again divided.
20 Many of them said,
"He is demon-possessed and raving mad.
Why listen to him?"
21 But others said,
"These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon.
Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Jesus sayings just like his signs, bring comfort or conflict.
If they don't believe his words, they would never believe the signs!

Jesus words will divide, and we will see that, but be encouraged because division actually means some will hear and be divided into Salvation. Millions upon millions of people have heard the words of Jesus and believed and been saved, so why not millions upon millions more?
So don't be discouraged but speak Jesus words, because that is what his sheep are longing to hear.

There is one shepherd over the one flock whom we must unreservedly give our allegiance, Jesus our Saviour, our teacher and our Lord. The one who has promised us, "I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep!".