Names of Jesus-Shepherd

I’m sure most of us have been lost at one time or another. You know how it is, you’re driving in a strange city, you take a wrong turn, and for whatever reason, three left turns don’t make a right. You think you’ve circled the block, but the block got really big, and you’re not where you expected to be.

If you were a guy, you wouldn’t dream of phoning for directions, stopping for directions, or asking for any other kind of help.

This is why women invented GPS. They figured guys wouldn’t use anything helpful unless made it out of flashy electronics. So, they figured out a way to get a map into a tiny screen, figured out how to show guys where they are on that map, and even recorded their voices into the machine, so that, when selected, a wonderful, calm female voice speaks directions.

You wouldn’t get a guy to listen to his wife’s directions, but put a stranger into an electronic box, and he’ll never get lost again!

These GPS things really are great. You’re driving along, you have your destination programmed into the thing, and it’ll tell you, “Turn left in 200 meters. Turn left now.” And if, for some reason, you miss your turn, it’ll quickly recalculate the directions for you.

But even more helpful than that would be a GPS unit for the Christian life. Instead of Global Positioning System, it would be a Godly Positioning System. It would alert you whenever you deviated from God’s path. Though it might scare you to hear someone suddenly say, “In two minutes hold open the door for the person following you.” Or, “Recalculating, Please turn away from that temptation and read your Bible instead.”

Wouldn’t that be helpful? I mean, it’s hard to be Godly isn’t it? We make mistakes all the time. The Heidelberg Catechism is brutally honest in saying, we add to our guilt everyday. Sometimes we fall into temptation, we desire strongly, we lust after something, and we sin.

What’s the solution? Are we doomed to live a life that is constantly up and down? Are we doomed to failure, no matter how hard we try? If we can’t go out and buy a Godly Positioning System, will we ever be able to walk as Christians? Well, I don’t really think so.

Our passage identifies Jesus as our shepherd. He called himself the good shepherd. He knows his sheep, and his sheep know him. He leads them, he guides them, and he makes them lie down in green pastures. He makes sure they don’t have any urgent needs. But is Christ like a GPS unit?

How do we follow Christ? What is it like? Does Christ follow after us, and hit us with a stick, when we refuse to go the way he wants us to go? For three years, I was a farmhand at a dairy operation. I had to deal with several stubborn cows. Sometimes it took quite a bit of prodding to get them up and out of their stalls in order to milk them. It was frustrating.

So, is Christ like a farmhand, beating on us with spiritual sticks in order to get us up out of our comfort zones? The Bible says He is the good shepherd. Does he lead us, by going before us, or does he guide us by following behind? I’m not quite sure how shepherds lead, and I don’t really think it matters, though some have developed a complex theology based on how we should interpret this passage.

Some people picture the journey through life as riding on a tandem bike, with us up front, steering, and Jesus is in the back. What we need to do, they say, is let Jesus go up front, let him steer, and then the adventure really begins, flying down steep hills, racing around sharp corners, and all is well because Jesus is in control, Jesus is steering our lives for us.

It is a nice idea, but it isn’t quite right. God created us, and He calls us to be holy. Notice that he declares, “Be holy as I am holy.” He’s calling us to action. He’s calling us to make an effort. He’s telling us that life isn’t like riding a tandem bike with Jesus at the controls.

Instead, we’re on our own bike, we’re riding along the path of life, and we’re in control.

Now, the difference is this. Riding right beside us, is Jesus. He’s beside us shouting words of encouragement. He’s in front of us giving warnings about danger, at times creating a draft so that we can coast along. He’s behind us, pushing us up hills. He’s gone on ahead, and if you watch him, he’ll point down at the road, identifying potholes.

But if you look around you, you’ll see that it isn’t just Jesus who is with you. The entire congregation is around you. There are other Christians riding alongside, doing what Jesus is doing, warning, encouraging, helping, and sharing.

And, even when we can’t see our friends, Jesus is always there, he’s our good shepherd. He leads us to where we need to go.

But, we’re stubborn people right? We think we can do life on our own. We think we can find our own way. So, we ignore Bible Study. We ignore the teachings from Church; we don’t listen to sermons. We think we know the way, we think we’ve heard it all before.

But reality cannot be further from the truth! We don’t know as much as we think we do! We’re not so great on our Bible knowledge.

It’s pretty dumb really! It’s as though we’re all a bunch of guys, refusing to read a map, refusing to listen to directions, refusing to turn around, until our compounded mistakes get us into an extremely embarrassing situation!

This book contains Jesus’ words for eternal life. Jesus is the only way to God the Father. He is the only way! We have to learn about Jesus from this book, read this book, and digest this book! We learn to hear Jesus’ voice.

Jesus is the good Shepherd. His sheep know his voice. Do you know Jesus’ voice? Do you?

Who can tell me where in the Bible it says, “Cleanliness is next to godliness?”

Who can tell me books of the Bible, in order?

Who can tell me how the Old Testament is organised, how the New Testament is organised?

Did you know that there is an organisation to the Bible? Take the New Testament; you have the four eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ ministry. You have the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the spread of early Christianity. Then, you have Paul’s letters, organised by letter length. Then you have Hebrews, for a long time assumed to be one of Paul’s letters, but now no one knows who wrote it, though I still think Paul could have written it. Then there are the Pastoral Epistles, and Revelation.

The Old Testament is chronological, but there are other books thrown in. Genesis describes history up to the exodus. Exodus describes that event. Leviticus describes all the laws and orders of things for tabernacle worship. Numbers is a list and an account of the 38 years between Exodus and Deuteronomy; Deuteronomy contains the laws, but also a description of the events up to the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land.

Joshua describes the conquest of the Promised Land. Judges shows what really happened, and it was the time when judges governed the Israelites. After Ruth’s history, you have the rise of the kings, told in 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings, and 1&2 Chronicles. You have some smaller stories, the Psalms and wisdom literature. Followed by the Major Prophets and then the Minor Prophets. But don’t be confused, major and minor don’t describe importance; rather those adjectives describe the size of the books.

But maybe you’re thinking, big deal, who cares? Well, knowing how the Bible is organised is useful. It’s the same as understanding how to read a map. I mean, if you can’t read a map, then you’ll always get lost. If you can’t read the Bible, if you don’t know how to live for Christ, then you’ll get lost on the path of Christ.

Christian living isn’t about guessing, stumbling your way through life, just trying to do your best. Do you remember Eddie the Eagle? He lacked the proper funding and skills but he tried his best at Olympic Ski Jumping. He finished last. Trying to our best will always result in failure.

Jesus told us how to live in the Bible. Can you imagine trying out for the Olympics without first reading the rules and regulations? We have to know what the Bible says. We have to read it. This is the infallible rule for life.

Yes, of course the Holy Spirit guides us through life. But Satan and other spirits are out there trying to lead us astray. They’ll present things like “cleanliness is next to godliness” which sounds like it should be in the Bible, but it isn’t. They’ll present things that sound close to the truth, but they aren’t the truth.

So, unless you know what the Bible says, how can you test the spirits? Unless you know Jesus’ voice, how can you distinguish it from the voice of Satan? Unless you know what’s true, how can you determine what’s false?

Cleanliness is not next to Godliness. In fact, I don’t know what’s next to godliness. Godliness, holiness, is what God has called us to be. “Be holy for I am holy.”

That means we can’t be whatever we want to be. We must be what God has created us to be, holy. Terms like liberal or conservative, contemporary or traditional are meaningless, because God calls us to be Christians. Our denomination doesn’t define us. Our political leanings don’t define us. Being Christians is what defines us. Following Christ our Shepherd defines us.

But how can we be Christians, if we don’t know Christ? How can we know Christ if we don’t read the Bible? Prayer, daily devotions aren’t things we check off in order to make us look good. There isn’t a formula like a diet to go by. The only way to know what God’s Word says is to read it.

Have you ever tried to read the Bible cover to cover, but got stuck in Leviticus? Have you ever just run out of steam? There are a couple of helpful tools. One is an online reading plan, you can use it to read the Bible in a year, or two years. Another is a Daily Devotional that might help you read the New Testament in a year. Another is to try reading a Chronological Bible. I’ve shared one on my Facebook page, so check it out!

In order to follow our shepherd, we need to know him. Get to know him through reading his Word! Amen.