5/1/22 John 10:1-10 “Pay Attention to the Quiet Voice!”

29 Apr 5/1/22 John 10:1-10 “Pay Attention to the Quiet Voice!”

5/1/22   John 10:1-10       “Pay Attention to the Quiet Voice!”

I think that it is amazing how many different languages we speak and we still get along with each other.  I’m not talking about English or Spanish or French.  I’m talking about farming and construction and artsy talk.  I had nice memory a few years ago when I met up with a high school friend who I hadn’t seen in 30 years.  He was a mechanic and he proceeded to tell me in detail about some engine he was working on.  But after about 10 minutes of this I said, “I think we should talk about something else because I don’t have a clue what you are saying.”  Language is important. I remember one time attending a pastoral meeting when one of the pastors began to talk about how he tells the congregation about repentance and being born again.  Another pastor said that they didn’t like that type of language and said that they liked to talk about living our baptism.  This could have been the beginning of a major disagreement.  So I said that I didn’t like to use either of these languages but preferred to talk of a better life and a personal relationship with Jesus.  Then I said that if we went around the table we would probably find that every pastor had a little different language that they used.  All these pastors have been lifelong Christians and I was the only one who wasn’t brought up in the church.  I was the only one who had a dramatic conversion experience.  So, I told them, “If you had talked to me before I became a Christian like you talk to your congregations about how we can achieve salvation, I would not have had a clue as to what you were talking about!”  Language is important.  Today, we are going to talk about the language of sheep and shepherds.  Hopefully we will have a better understanding of who we are with Jesus when we get done.

Erick Butterworth tells the story of a college sociology class that went into the slums of Baltimore to get the case histories of 200 young boys.  The students were then to evaluate each boy’s future.  Every one of the evaluations said, “This boy doesn’t have a chance.”  25 years later another sociology professor happened across this study.  He decided to follow up on these 200 boys who were now men.  His students couldn’t find 20 of the boys for whatever reason but they found 180.  176 out of 180 of these boys were now successful lawyers, doctors or businessmen.  These men were asked how they achieved success against such long odds.  Each one of them said that there had been a special teacher.

The teacher was still alive and in the area so the professor went to her and asked her if she had a special formula that took these slum kids and launched them successfully into the world.  The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile.  “It’s really very simple,” she said.  “I loved those boys.”  Their success was because of the love of one teacher.

You can have all the success in the world if you just follow our one great teacher, Jesus Christ.  We have often talked of the relationship that you should have with Jesus.  It is crucial to who you are.  I also want you to understand the relationship that God has with you.  In this passage we find that Jesus is the great shepherd and we are the sheep.  This is referred to many times in the Bible and we all kind of know what this is all about.  Today, I would like us to understand our role in this.

To begin with we have to understand that we are the sheep.  During the time of Jesus flocks of sheep were a little different than what we think of today.  When we think of a flock of sheep today, we think in terms of hundreds, maybe even thousands of sheep.  If someone had 100 sheep in the days of Jesus, they had a huge flock.  Usually a herd had 10, 20 or 30 sheep in it.  They were small.  This is one of the reasons that the sheep would know the voice of the shepherd so well.

Sheep are also pretty defenseless.  About the only natural protection they have is their wool when it gets long.  Otherwise they are at the mercy of any predator.  They are probably not the brightest bulb in the marquee either.

Some of you might know that my dad raised a few sheep when I was young.  I suppose that we had 75-100 sheep which would have been huge in the ancient times.  I was about 10 years old when we had these critters.  I remember how cute the lambs were in the springtime.  I also remember how they would get stuck in the fence or some other place and we had to get them out.  It seems that they do not go backwards so once they got in a mess like this, they only wanted to go forward.  This was not always the brightest thing to do.

I also remember how they would follow each other.  If you could get one sheep to go where you wanted it to go, then all the rest would follow which made herding a lot easier.  However, most of the time, it was pretty hard to get the first one to do anything.  I was reading an article as I prepared for this sermon about a sheep rancher who had something like 1500 sheep. One day one of the sheep was spooked by something and he ran off a cliff.  The next thing the rancher knew, the whole flock ran off the cliff.  There were about 400 dead sheep and the rest survived because they fell on top of the first ones.  As I said, they are not the smartest creatures in the world.

I would guess that most pastors would not make this comparison but I think I will.  We are a lot like sheep.  We are rather defenseless and we are not the smartest creatures around.  Our biggest defense against danger is our brain.  We can figure things out so that we can get ourselves out of physical danger.  We have done a pretty good job defending ourselves from the physical perils of this world.

But, what about the threats of the spiritual world?  There is not a person here today who can defend themselves against Satan, not one!  When he attacks, he will beat us 100 times out of 100 tries.  We are totally defenseless against him.  The only way we can beat Satan is if we call on Jesus for help.  He is our shepherd.  He will protect us if we call on Him.

Also notice that He is the gate.  In those days they didn’t have corrals and things like we do now.  At night they would herd their sheep into an area where there was only one way out.  This could be inside some rocks or heavy brush.  Then the shepherd would lie down at the entrance to the natural corral.  If something dangerous came along, the shepherd was the first line of defense.  He would lay his life down for his sheep.  This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He rose again from the dead will always be there if we just call on Him.

This is the part where we find that we are like the sheep and not all that bright.  Now before you get all upset with me, hear me out.  As people in general, I don’t think humans are all that smart.  Jesus Christ has shown us the way.  He cares for us and loves us.  He made this world for us and everything in it.  He has given us a 100,000 times more proof than we need that He is the way to eternal life. And what do we do with all of this.  We reject Him by the thousands, by the millions.  As a group, humans are about as smart as a flock of sheep.

Now there is nothing wrong with this as long as we realize it.  We need to realize it and go to the shepherd.  So far in this sermon I have been talking like most people talk.  I have been talking about us.  If you are ever in a conversation where you want to impress someone, direct the conversation to be about the person you want to impress.  We like to talk about ourselves and I think that is quite natural.  But we need to know that this topic isn’t about ourselves.  It is about Jesus and only Jesus.

So let’s talk about the shepherd.  Why is the shepherd so important?  I could talk about this all day.  One reason is that he watches over the flock day and night.  They are always under his care and protection.  We like to think that we do it all and we just have God around to do some of the little things in life.  If you take a look at truly successful, happy people, they don’t think like this at all.  They not only take the big things to Jesus in prayer but also the little things.  They can be walking down the street and talking to God at the same time.  Some have been known to drive a car and be talking to God.  We have to remember that He is with you all the time.  He is with you here today in our worship.  He is with you as you go to work and as you work during the week.  He is with you as you get ready in the morning.  He is with you at 3 AM.  He is always with you and watching over you, caring for you.

In other places it tells us that this great shepherd will search for one lost sheep.  He may still have 99 sheep but He will search for the one that is lost.  This may not seem like that big a deal for many of you who have been raised in the faith.  But I wallowed around in lostness, in lostivity for many years.  And yes, I did just make up these two words.  What I mean is that I didn’t have a clue about life.  But Jesus never gave up on me and He is the only reason that I am here today.  He came after me when I was lost.

This means that He will come after you also, or a loved one, or a friend.  If you feel a little tug on your heart, this is Jesus asking you to let Him into your life.  It is like the picture we see of Jesus knocking on the door which has not handle.  So, if you have that little bit of emptiness, the feeling that there has to be more in life, that strange feeling that you are unfamiliar with, it is Jesus and He wants you to invite Him into your life today.  He wants you to open that door.

I also want you to notice how this shepherd will guard against the night time attack.  Evil will try to come over the walls where the flock is sleeping.  Anyone who the shepherd does not allow in is the enemy.  This is one of the hardest things for us to see.  We seem to understand it but it is hard for us to see because Satan is so good at disguises.

When Satan dresses up as a sheep, he doesn’t look like the wolf that he is.  This is not the cartoons where his wolf nose is hanging out or maybe in this case it would be his evil horns hanging out.  Satan is an expert and he looks just like us when he is in disguise.  He sneaks over the walls and tells us that he has the best way of life, (evil laugh) a fun way of life.  It isn’t long before we find how empty it is.  He is the king liar of all liars.  Everything he tells us is false.  But when you call on the shepherd, He will get rid of all the terrible things that Satan has been trying to get you to do.  He will protect you as long as you call to Him when you are in trouble.

I cannot begin to do justice in trying to describe this great shepherd of ours.  So, I’m going to end by telling you a little more about His being the gate.  I have already mentioned how the shepherd lays down in the mouth or opening of the sheep’s natural corral.  This is where the shepherd sleeps.  If something comes along they have to get through the shepherd first.  He would lay down his life for His sheep.

This is exactly what Jesus did for us.  This is why we celebrate Easter.  We have a God who loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to walk amongst us, to teach us and to finally die for us as the sacrificial lamb for all humankind.  And Jesus was willing to do all of this as He took on the sin load of the world.  He carried every sin that has ever been and ever will be.  Then God raised Him from the dead and in that mighty act, Satan was defeated forever.  Satan is a defeated loser and I refuse to follow him anymore.  Give me Jesus any day.  Give me Jesus every day.  Give me Jesus and let me live.

So our job is to listen for this quiet voice of our wonderful shepherd.  This is how it works.  I remember a few years ago, I was getting ready for the day like I usually do.  The time had come and I was finally ready for a shirt.  As I looked at the shirts I had hung up, I noticed one that a friend had given me.  It was a special shirt, a nice shirt and I had only worn it once.  I thought of this friend and something prompted me to wear that shirt that day and then I would try to see my friend later.  So I did.  A little later in the morning I heard that my friend’s younger brother had died unexpectedly that morning.  I called up my friend and offered whatever comfort I could.  This was definitely a God moment when He whispered softly in my ear to think of this man on this day.  And I know that Jesus was able to comfort this family as they went through those hard times.

This is our shepherd at work.  I have had many other instances like this where I suddenly thought of another person and I prayed for their good health or safety.  I ask you today to be aware of this still, quiet voice.  It may be just a feeling or something strange.  Pay attention to this as it maybe Jesus talking to you.  Listen for His language.  He loves you so much that He wants to send you to help and comfort others.  This is part of the beauty of knowing Jesus.  He allows us to be His hands and feet in this broken world and then He rewards us.  I praise Jesus that He loves all of us here today.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.