[sermon given by Kevin Freeman, RBC Minister of Youth]
How many of you have ever been in a situation where at first your observations led you to make one conclusion, but ultimately the facts pointed a totally different way? Whether it’s something you want to admit or not, we often make wrong judgments about a given situation. I’m reminded a scene from the first Men in Black movie. How many of you have seen it? Maybe it was on your Christmas wish list in 1997. That was back when Will Smith must have had some contractual obligation to be in a blockbuster movie every 4th of July. The scene I’m thinking of in the movie is when Smith’s character was in a shooting range with other candidates being interviewed for the Men in Black job. In the shooting range, all sorts of monstrous and evil-looking aliens were popping up as cardboard cutouts in a downtown scene. While the other candidates were furiously discharging their weapons at the creatures, Will Smith would take aim, then lower his gun each time. He finally took aim, firing one shot at a cardboard cutout of a little girl. When asked why he fired at her, he explained that each alien was not doing anything illegal. The one hanging on the streetlight was simply working out. The mean one that was snarling had a tissue in its hand because it had a cold. He shot the little girl, however, because she was carrying some advanced relativity and quantum physics books, which he explained, much more colorfully than I will, made him conclude that she was the only one who posed a threat.
Well this humorous scene illustrates that we can be like the other guys firing weapons at the aliens. We sometimes have the wrong impression in a given situation. In our text we see that Jesus corrected the misconceptions that the Jewish people had about him and their own faith. When we allow misconceptions to affect our view of Christ, it impacts our own lives and manifests itself in multiple undesirable ways. The subject is certainly timely as we move from the Advent into the Christmas season. Why did Jesus come to earth? When we get the answer to this question wrong, or when we sometimes forget the answer, we might reduce our idea of who Jesus is and fail to make him the Lord of our lives. Or maybe we see Jesus as one of many important parts of our lives. Then we tend to have other priorities instead of Christ, or often we subject the Christian faith to the current leanings of society. Entire denominations have made this mistake and reduced Christianity to a feel-good faith devoid of any need for a Savior.
In John chapter 10, Jesus clearly told us who he is. Feel free to turn there in your copy of the Scriptures. As you do that, I’ll try to give you some context for our passage by quickly reminding you of what Pastor Mark told us of John chapter 9 a few weeks ago, before his Christmas message series. In that chapter, Jesus healed a beggar who was born blind; he did this on the Sabbath, which was a big no-no to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. They decided to launch an investigation into the healing. The beggar did not know who Jesus was, but he still defended him to the Pharisees, and he was eventually kicked out of the synagogue. Essentially, his church privileges were revoked, which was a worse social stigma than his beggarly status. When Jesus met the man later, he revealed himself to the man, who placed his faith in Christ. The Pharisees there were none too happy, especially at the reference Jesus made that they were spiritually blind.
Christ the Door 1
Chapter 10 continues Jesus’ response to these Pharisees and to the crowd that was inevitably gathering while he spoke. Our plan today is to look at Jesus’ teaching across the whole chapter, which means we will need to dive in and out of these 42 verses of the text. Instead of continuing the blindness metaphor, Jesus switched to another familiar one, speaking of sheep and shepherds. If you don’t have your Bible, you can read the words on the screens behind me. We’ll start in John 10:1 2.
"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. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 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. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice." – (John 10:1-5 NIV)
And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
To understand what Jesus was saying, we need to understand the full idea behind the term “shepherd.” The Bible first mentions Abel as a shepherd in Genesis 4:2. Israel’s patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – were also shepherds, along with Jacob’s sons and even Moses. 3 King David was a shepherd, too, and he referred to the Lord as his own shepherd in Psalm 23. You see, the shepherd was responsible for caring for and watching over the flock of sheep. When it was time to find water, the shepherd led them there. When food was scarce, it was the shepherd’s role to find a suitable pasture for the sheep. The shepherd was the only one to defend the sheep against attack by wild animals, too. In the same way, God cares for us, meets our needs, provides for us, and protects us. David was right to call the Lord his shepherd, but he wasn’t the first to do so. Jacob did that in Genesis 48:15, calling him “the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.”
The word “shepherd” also came to represent not only literal shepherds but also leaders, both political and religious. A king or a priest cared for Israel in much the same way that a shepherd cared for his sheep. Psalm 78:70-72 describes King David this way: “He [God] chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” Israel, too, was described as God’s flock of sheep. Isa. 40:11 uses this metaphor, along with Jeremiah 31:10, where it says, “He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.” In times of poor leadership, the nation was at times described like a flock of sheep without a shepherd, and several verses charge failed leaders, whether priests or kings, of being poor shepherds for the nation.
I hope that background on shepherds is helpful, but if you’re like me, you might still need more information on some of their practices. Most of my experience comes from watching Looney Tunes episodes of Ralph the wolf and Sam the sheepdog, who used the same time clock to punch in together at the beginning of each workday. Apparently there are a few inconsistencies with that cartoon, so I did a little more digging. The typical sheepfold was enclosed by rocks and had just one door. At night the shepherd would actually lie down across that door in order to guard it. A thief then would have to steal sheep away at some other part of the enclosure. Jesus passed judgment on the Pharisees; they were the clear reference to the thieves. Christ was building his flock, which included the beggar, but they had thrown him out of the synagogue.
Warren Wiersbe provided another useful insight into shepherding during Jesus’ time. He writes, “It was not unusual for several flocks to be sheltered together in the same fold. In the morning, the shepherds would come, call their sheep, and assemble their own flocks. Each sheep recognized its own master’s voice.” 4 That imagery is powerful, because there are a lot of competing voices in our time. Some voices are other faiths, while other voices claim all faiths are equally valid. There are voices of materialism and individualism that speak to us during the commercial breaks of our favorite shows; they tell us how much better off we will be when we buy the things we deserve. During the shows we see all the examples of people who live for themselves and not for God and seem to be just fine. All of these voices call for us to follow them. They are all false shepherds except for the one true shepherd. Which one will we follow? The one whose voice we know. The more we know the true shepherd, the better we will be at following his voice. Jesus’ sheep listen to his voice. So let me ask you, whose voice do you listen to the most?
I think in America we feel like the sheep in the fold at night. There are sheep from other flocks all around us. We are all together. Some sheep from our own flock mention the need to listen to the shepherd’s voice, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a point when sheep from multiple flocks are in one place. But there will be a time when our shepherd calls us, and we might be so used to listening to the other shepherds that we listen to their voices instead of his. It is these times when there are dividing issues in our culture, and we have no choice but to choose sides because the flocks are separating. Our choice will most certainly be based on the voice we listen to the most.
Christ is the true shepherd. He actually describes himself as both the shepherd and the door. The people had not understood his teaching up to this point, so he plainly told them in verse 7, “I am the door – or gate – for the sheep.” He alone is the access point for his flock. Only by listening to the voice of Jesus, our access point, can we have the fulfillment that we often think we can find through all of those other voices. It is only through Jesus. Four chapters later he makes this truth even more plain in John 14:6, saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” As that access point he wants to truly give us our heart’s desire. Listen to John 10:9 and how it compares with Psalm 23:
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
And Psalm 23:1-3: “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. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Christ the Shepherd
Jesus is that shepherd. He stands in contrast to the thief in John 10:10, who most scholars think is a reference to Satan, whose goal is to kill and destroy the sheep. Jesus came for his sheep to “have life, and have it to the full.” The birth of the Christ child that we have been celebrating had a purpose: to give us true, abundant, fulfilling, and lasting life!
What we see then is that, while knowing Jesus’ voice is crucial, it automatically implies truly listening to him. Jesus’ sheep follow him. The amazing benefits that he mentions – the salvation and metaphors of safe passage and provision – they only come through Jesus. The lie that we too often buy is that of false security. We often trust in our jobs, our investments, our education, our bank accounts, our things, and on and on.It is as though we need to be convinced of our need for the shepherd. I remember taking a mission trip to Jamaica when I was a teenager. Our entire group marveled at the fact that the people we witnessed to were so receptive to the gospel message. They were poor, and they knew it. In America, many of us are poor, but we don’t know it. It is like the cold medications many of us are taking this time of year. If we have a sore throat, we numb it with throat spray. If our nose is stuffy, we take a decongestant. If coughing and sneezing gives us a headache, some acetaminophen will take care of it. We are so used to treating symptoms, we can forget that the problem is the common cold. In our materialism, we are often treating symptoms, too. When they are stripped away in times of crisis, then we are reminded of our need for the shepherd. Then we turn to him and follow him.
Jesus continues in our text, saying, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This is directly linked to his statement of giving us life. It was not uncommon for shepherds, especially those with large flocks, to employ helpers to tend the sheep. These hired hands earned their wages not from the sheep but from the owners of the sheep. They did not have too much of a vested interest in the company. If you’re looking for clear, contemporary parallels, you’ll find them behind the registers of fast food chains and department stores all around us. When a problem arises, these ones will likely put themselves before the company. In the same way, a hired hand was not very likely to risk his life defending the sheep from a lion’s attack. I might want to agree with them, because I’d rather the lion eat a sheep than me. It might even put me in the mood for lamb chops! But Jesus laid his life down for the sheep. As a matter of fact, he mentions four times in our text that he will give his life for the sheep. This is because Jesus knows his sheep.
As a shepherd, his relationship with the sheep is intimate, as verse 14 indicates. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” Mid-eastern shepherds did not keep sheep for their meat. Although they may be killed for sacrifice or for a guest, the main purpose in keeping them was for their wool, milk, or offspring. 5 So close relationships were developed between them. For the sake of efficiency, our society has become quite adept at reducing people to little more than a number. Your social security number, driver’s license number, credit card number, and bank account number all point to this. If you forget your Giant Bonus Card, do they ask for your name? No, they want your phone number!
Isn’t it comforting to know that with God you aren’t just a number? He will never get your name confused because it belongs to someone else and put your on a terror alert list. That’s because he knows you. I never would have thought that shepherds actually knew their sheep, but it’s true. And Jesus actually knows you. The imagery he uses supersedes a person’s status, whether he is on the right list or not; it is intimate knowledge, a true relationship.
As Jesus draws his flock from the nation of Israel, he mentions another flock in verse 16. He says, “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.” In this text he emphasized his plan to draw not just the nation of Israel but also the Gentiles into his flock. We may tend to gloss over this point, but it is the reason why we are here. As a church of mostly non-Jewish members, we would not be Christians if it weren’t for God’s plan to reach the Gentiles with the Gospel of Christ.
His Jewish audience did not appreciate his comments about bringing in Gentiles into the flock, nor did they like his many references to laying down and taking up his life as a command from the Father. Their response was divided. Some claimed he was a crazed, demon-possessed man, while others countered that his teaching and healing could not come from demon possession. I take great comfort in the fact that Jesus’ opposition could not simply call him crazy. They knew that explanation wouldn’t stick. His teachings may have been hard, but they were too compelling to come from a man who was off his rocker. So while the crowd was divided, they at least seemed to agree that this was not simply the work of an ordinary man.
So in this first half of the chapter, Jesus announced that he was the door and the shepherd. These are two of the great “I AM” statements found in the book of John. As the door he is our access point for salvation and true living. As the shepherd he is the one who cares for and leads us. We looked at two points earlier, our responsibility as the sheep to know the shepherd’s voice and follow him. Before we move on, however, we need to emphasize one more quick but important point: Jesus’ sheep have eternal life and will never perish. Remember Jesus’ words that he came for his sheep to “have life, and have it to the full.” He is in the business of giving life.
One of the most memorable Christmas presentations I saw depicted the infant Jesus being placed in the manger. Behind that manger was a silhouette of the cross. Jesus’ mission always involved going to the cross. He died for us in order to give us life.
Jesus continued his shepherd metaphor further in the chapter at the Feast of Dedication. This feast – Hanukkah, as we now know it – celebrated the Maccabean conquest of 165 B. C. Judas Maccabeus had delivered the Jewish people, restored temple worship, and was a true political leader, or shepherd to them. 6 With him in mind, the Jews asked if he was the Christ, their expected deliverer. The Jews continually looked for a political, rather than spiritual, savior, especially now that they were under Roman rule.
Christ the Son of God
When this still divided crowd asked him if he was the Messiah, his response was that they hadn’t been listening, because he had already told them. His clear, strong words begin in verse 24:
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one." – (John 10:24-30 NIV)
Verses 27 and 28 are constructed in a special way to draw the reader’s attention to each point made. 7 The entire passage can be interpreted through the lens of these two verses, which is the way we have examined the chapter today. The final point that we need to cover to complete the list of powerful truths is that Jesus’ sheep can never be snatched from his flock.
These words remind us that if we do belong to Jesus’ flock – if we are true followers of Christ – then we can be sure of our eternal status as his. Peter calls it our “inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade” (1 Pet. 1:4). The word picture Jesus uses pictures his hand underneath us and God’s hand covering us, keeping us secure.
I sometimes marvel at shipping and packaging companies. Entire industries are in business simply because people want goods to safely reach their destinations. By boxes and bubble wrap, we want to keep our items safe during transport. When Karen and I moved here to Redland, we used those PODS to load up our things and have them delivered for unpacking when we were ready. The whole process was positive, and it was really fun to watch the specialized trucks haul away and deliver our storage containers. We learned that insurance was offered for our storage items, because things can, and do, get damaged during the moving process. While these companies do a great job and have a pretty good success rate in shipping items safely, they cannot compare to God’s perfection in safely guaranteeing his followers safe passage to heaven. As a matter of fact, God doesn’t offer insurance because there is none needed! We have assurance of our salvation through Christ.
Scholar, Elmer Towns writes that this is “One of the key texts in Scripture emphasizing the security of the believer…John here uses a double negative, which although poor English grammar is an emphatic way of stating the case in Greek. The Lord’s emphasis is ‘They will certainly never ever perish.’” 8
Of course, we get to look at a fuller picture than Jesus’ original audience in the passage. We find comfort in it now, but the crowd was none too comfortable with the level of familiarity Jesus put himself on with God. They heard him say that he and the Father are one, and their response was to pick up stones to stone him. Their explanation in verse 33 is unmistakable: “You, a mere man, claim to be God.” Their charge was blasphemy. I believe that Jesus could have gone through his ministry wowing people at every turn with amazing miracles and thought-provoking teaching. His mission, however, involved making the bold, controversial claims – claims that would force people to choose what to do with him.
If someone tries to tell you that Jesus did not claim to be God, this is a great passage to point them to. It can be a bit confusing, however, because Jesus’ defense can be misunderstood. I remember speaking with a Jehovah’s Witness about this passage, and he was quick to point out what Jesus said next:
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came – and the Scripture cannot be broken – what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? – (John 10:34-36 NIV)
The man I spoke with said that Jesus’ point was in a sense that we are all gods of some sort, and that’s why it was okay for Jesus to call himself God. From that standpoint, it would preserve the JW’s belief that Jehovah alone is the one true God, and not even Jesus compares. If this is true, then I also think it’s important to add that Jesus was employing some form of biblical backpeddling, distancing himself from his comment that he and the Father are one.
Jesus could not have meant this. The Scripture he quoted comes from Psalm 82:6, which references wicked rulers and pronounces judgment upon them. The word, “gods,” or elohim, was not an uncommon reference for leaders as ones appointed by God to rule. The precedent for referring to people as gods in Scripture was used by Jesus to momentarily gain their attention, but that was not Jesus’ ultimate point. His point was that those rulers were mere recipients of God’s word. If the people accepted that reference to those recipients, then they should accept the more exalted title for the one who was actually sent from God.
So Jesus was not watering down his heavenly title at all. He was making a case that it should be accepted. That’s why he says, “What about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?” Jesus often called himself the Son of God, and it is sometimes difficult for us to see this as a divine title. For me it conjures up images of children of the mythical Greek gods – people like Hercules, better known as Kevin Sorbo, or like Percy Jackson in the recent book and film series. These people are depicted as being something more than human, but something less than god.
That is not how Jesus used the term “Son of God,” and it is not how the people understood it. The term in this passage directly ties into his statement that he and the Father are one, and the people’s understanding that he was claiming to be God, and their desire to stone him for blasphemy. This passage doesn’t end with the people saying, “Oh – Son of God. Never mind. Thanks for clarifying. You’re right, there’s a precedence. Perhaps we got a little carried away. We thought you were claiming to be God.” No, the passage ends with the people still angry, trying to arrest him, drag him outside the temple area, and stone him. As a matter of fact, Jesus left Jerusalem after that, only to return a week before his crucifixion.
The timeliness of these truths helps us to appreciate the Christmas story without forgetting the ultimate mission of Jesus. His plan was to call his sheep, giving them eternal, abundant life, so that they can never perish or be stolen away from him. As comforting as those truths are, as we move into a time of invitation, I ask you to consider your role as his sheep. Perhaps all of the competing voices have been a little too easy to listen to lately, compromising your ability to listen to the shepherd’s voice. The New Year is coming, and it is a great time to resolve to spending daily time in the word, hearing from God. Perhaps following Christ is something you have been effective at in a few, but not all, areas of your life. Let me encourage you to renew that commitment. You may be here and recognize that you wouldn’t label yourself as one of Jesus’ sheep. His invitation to you still stands, offering you true, abundant, fulfilling life. Whether publicly or privately, by coming forward to pray with me or by talking to the shepherd from your seat, I invite you to consider these things. Let’s pray.
Dear Jesus, you are the shepherd who laid down his life for us, your sheep. Continue to give us a fuller, deeper understanding of the life to which you have called us. We ask that you would be glorified by our response now, in this invitation time, and in our lives, as we follow you wholeheartedly. Amen.
Works Cited
Bullinger, E. W. Figures of Speech used in the Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1968.
International Bible Society. The Holy Bible, New International Version. Zondervan, 1984.
Towns, Elmer. The Gospel of John. Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2002.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Alive. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1986.
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. n.d.
1 Shepherd, Door, Son of God outline is adapted from Warren Wiersbe’s outline. (Wiersbe 1986, 154-165)
2 All Scripture quotations come from the NIV. (International Bible Society 1984)
3 (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible n.d.) Accessed 12/22/10 through GloBible program. Search term, “shepherd.”
4 (Wiersbe 1986, 154)
5 (Wiersbe 1986, 157)
6 (Towns 2002, 101)
7 (Bullinger 1968, 208, 223) Bullinger explains that the Greek construction is a “polysyndeton,” meaning “many ands.” The clauses strung together with ands forces the reader to pause and consider each point.
8 (Towns 2002, 102)