4/30/23 John 10:11-18 “Herding Sheep”

23 Apr 4/30/23 John 10:11-18 “Herding Sheep”

4/30/23      John 10:11-18         “Herding Sheep”

I think that there are many great aspects of working with young people, our students, that I miss.  They have ideas that I have never thought about.  They have more energy than I can ever remember having.  They have questions about things that I have taken for granted for many years and they have questions about things that I know nothing about.  I love questions where I don’t know the answer because we can discover the answers together.  But probably the best part of being with our young people is I get to see all the roles they try.  They ask themselves ‘who am I?’  Sometimes they see someone and they try to be like them or they will try to be like a hero or some not so hero like.  When we would break from confirmation and youth groups for the summer, I would not always know what role they might be trying when we get back together in the fall.  And this is ok.  This is how they learn about who they are.  Some young people learn right away who they are and others, well it takes a little more time.  And no matter what, we will always love you.  You always have a home here with us.  Last week we asked the question, “Who is Jesus?”  Today we will continue to explore this question as we look to what the Apostle John has to say about it.  By the way, what he says is good for all of us not just young people.

Today, we are going to be talking about shepherds and, of course, they herd sheep.  Therefore, we have to know a little about these animals.  We have talked a little about them before.  I think we all remember that if they are tipped over on their back, they cannot get back up again.  Joseph Rodgers reminds us that if they get their wool dirty, there is no way for them to clean it.  Most animals will shed their hair but not the sheep.  Also a sheep has absolutely no way of defending itself.  So far they are dirty and defenseless, and they are also dependent.  These animals require more attention than any other animal.  Finally, they are, what I consider to be, dumb.  If they are left to themselves they will soon destroy themselves.  We used to raise a few head of sheep when I was young and I always thought that they were the dumbest animal ever created but that is just a personal opinion.  Anyway, I hope that you can begin to see that sheep need someone to take care of them.  They need a shepherd.

The first thing that Jesus tells us in our reading is, “I am the good shepherd.”  To us in modern America, this seems like a pretty simple straight forward remark.  But to the Pharisees and people listening to this, this statement was blasphemous.  You see the term “I am” was the term used by God to refer to himself.  We read about this in Exodus 3:14 when God is talking to Moses.  In other words, Jesus is referring to himself as God.  Not only that but He refers to himself as God three times in just a few sentences.  Whenever something gets repeated 3 times, it is very important that we pay attention.  As a matter of fact, in verse 30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.”  I mean, it really doesn’t get much clearer than that.

There are many places where Jesus refers to himself as God and He does it in a variety of ways.  This is one of the places where He comes flat out and tells his listeners that He is the great I AM and He tells us that He and the Father are the same.  It is very important for us to understand that Jesus is God and not just some sort of warm fuzzy thought.  He is real and He is forever.

We have to remember this because this is getting to be quite a country.  I don’t know what it’s going to be like when our children get to be my age.  Even right now, I have a hard time to share my faith with people without some sort of interference.  People will tell me that I can’t say this or I can’t say that.  They tell me that I have to be sensitive to all sinners and not tell them that they are sinning.  By the time our kids get to their 60’s & 70’s, people will probably be put in jail in this country for their beliefs.  When all these things happen, and they are beginning now, remember that Jesus is the great I AM.  He is God.  Turn to Him for any and all things.  He has won the war and we just have to weather these battles.

He is also good.  Jesus refers to himself as being the good shepherd.  In Matthew 19:17 Jesus says that only God the Father is good.  All good comes from Him.  If Jesus is referring to himself as being good, then He is once again saying that He is God.  He says all this in one sentence.  This has to almost incite a riot with the Pharisees.  They had to be ready to kill Jesus right on the spot.

Have you ever noticed how angry people get when you bring up Jesus as God?  I have had people who have refused to ever talk to me again because I love Jesus and I talk about it.  Mostly this has happened before I became a pastor.  However, this has also happened in our community and in our churches.  People have left because I talk about Jesus as God and not some piece of putty that you can mold into whatever you want God to be.  Jesus is the real deal and He won’t be changed just because we pass a few laws or make changes in our churches to what we think is right.  Jesus is always right and we will always, always find the truth in the Bible.

Finally I get to the last word in the first sentence, shepherd.  This could be one of those services where I could just go on and on.  Anyway, we really don’t have shepherds in America.  It is really hard to know what this is all about.  This was an occupation where these men would watch the flocks of sheep all the time, 24-7.  They lived with the sheep.  I have already mentioned some of the things they had to do in order to keep the sheep safe.

So sheep need a shepherd.  Then the question becomes why in the world are we referred to as sheep and Jesus as our Good Shepherd?  I mean look at us.  We are intelligent.  Humans have come a long way in discoveries in medicine, mechanics and just about everything except emotions.  Emotionally, I don’t feel that we have advanced at all since the time of Jesus.  And besides all of that, if we get tipped over on our backs, we can get up again.  Really, there is no comparison between us and sheep.  Or is there?

You may not like all the comparisons that I’m about to make but bear with me.  First of all, like the sheep, when we get dirty, we have no way to clean ourselves.  People go about their lives sinning here and sinning there.  It isn’t too long before the sin begins to take over our lives.  It isn’t too long before we don’t view sin as sin any more.  It becomes a life style.  When it becomes a life style, we try to stay in it as much as we can.  When we stay in it as much as we can, we become buried in sin.  There is no way we can get clean by ourselves.

Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, comes along and will save you if you come to Him.  Sometimes or maybe I should say most of the time in our modern world, we have been buried too long and we don’t want a way out of our sin.  It doesn’t make any difference if you would be much happier with Jesus.  It doesn’t make any difference if you can have an infinitely better life with Jesus.  Satan has closed your eyes and ears to the truth of Jesus and people will not listen to the truth.  This is why I think we live in such a sad world.  For the most part we are dirty, we don’t even know it, and we like to live in our filth.

The next way we are like sheep is that we are defenseless.  You might think that I’m a little crazy here.  After all we have the strongest country in the world so we must have some sort of defense.  We have also been raising our children to be bigger, stronger and smarter than ever before.  We really don’t have problems anymore because we have a government who will take care of us.  As a matter of fact, our government wants to run every facet of our lives.  So, we are very strong and we have defenses.  But what happens when the outer part of us is strong and the inner parts of us are rotting away?  Have you ever stopped to think that the devil wants you to think that you are so strong?  This is his plan because he is the great deceiver.  You are only as strong as you are on the inside.

We can defend and take care of ourselves somewhat from other people.  However, there is no way we can defend ourselves against Satan.  He silently creeps into our lives and starts to take over.  It is only by calling on Jesus Christ that we can defeat him.  Satan is a monster that will devour you as if you are a little sheep in a pasture against a fierce wolf.  All our defenses rely on Jesus Christ.

The third thing we mentioned about sheep is how they are totally dependent on the shepherd.  The shepherd must provide food, water and shelter from enemies or the sheep will not survive.  In the same way we are totally dependent on Jesus for everything of this world.

Jesus provides us with abundant water.  All we have to do is figure out how we are going to use this water and we are set.  If we look around outside, God has provided all the plants and animals for our well-being.  All the various types of life are for us.  And if that isn’t enough for you, then just think about how all these things are interconnected.  This world is an amazing place where everything is interconnected to everything else, created by our God who loves us so much that all of this is for us.  Whether you want to admit it or not, you are totally dependent on God for everything that you have and do.

Finally we get to the 4^th thing that Joseph Rodgers said about sheep and this is that they are dumb.  He said that sheep will destroy themselves if left to their own devices.  Now I’m not going to stand up here and say that we are that dumb.  However, I do have to wonder just how smart we really are at times.

Remember how I said early how we have made many improvements in all areas except our emotions.  I think that it is our emotions that keep us from really using our brains.  One of our greatest feats that we brag about has been our ability to be able to kill everyone in the world a hundred times over.  What are we thinking!  Are we insane?  We have television shows that show us all kinds of truly weird ways of killing each other.  And then, and then we wonder why we have so much violence in our society.  We hold our legislators in high esteem if they can lie and cheat the rest of the country as they bring the bacon home to us.  Maybe I was wrong and we should use the word dumb here because it is very obvious that we are not that smart.

The only people who have a chance at happiness and survival are the people who know Jesus.  You can become smart if you go and pray to Jesus every day.  You can improve all parts of your life if you just read your Bibles every day.  Jesus made us so that we can be in contact with Him at all times.  This is the way to a better life.  This is the only way.

So far I have only talked about the first line of verse 11.  About the only thing I have time left to talk about today is that the shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep.  When the sheep get into trouble, it is the shepherd who saves them or fights their battles for them.

This is exactly what Jesus has done for us.  We are not deserving of anything that we have.  We are covered with dirt and are filthy.  Jesus tells his disciples that He will lay down his life for all of them and all of us.  He is the Good Shepherd and this is what He does.  We need to remember this as individuals and as a church.

One of the ways we have to remember all that Jesus has done for us is when we take communion.  Jesus told us at the last supper to do this.  This is what we do in remembrance of Him.  The next time you are taking Holy Communion, I would like you to take some time out and think about just how needy a person you really are.  Think about how much you depend on Jesus for all you have.  Then thank Him for your life and all that is in it.

You see Jesus didn’t do all these things so we could just remember.  He did these things so that we could go into the world and act like Him in every way.  You are to tell others about what He has done in your life.  This is your story.  Tell others about it.  This is about the only way I know of as to how we are ever going to change the world and get it back on the right track.

Jesus loves all of us but He especially loves you.  Come to Him and be faithful to Him.  He wants you to talk with Him all the time.  Go to Him now and talk and listen.  Jesus loves you, this I know.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.