I Found The Thief

1 Peter 5:1 ESV

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:

1 Peter 5:2–3 ESV

shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Peter encourages the elders to shepherd the flock of God that is among you!

Be a watchmen over them

Exercise oversight

to serve in the office of overseer; watch over, direct, care, and be accountable for (an assembly of believers).

Not under compulsion - You should not be forced to do it

But willingly!

Not shameful gain

No for the money or the social status

but eagerly

eagerly adv. — in a manner showing keen interest or intense desire (to do something).

Not domineering but being examples to the flock

1 Peter 5:4 ESV

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

The Bible calls The Elder in charge a Shepherd but Jesus is the Chief Shepherd!

Let’s be clear I am a Shepherd but I am not the Chief Shepherd!

It’s interesting to note that the same one that encourages the elder is the same one that Jesus said three times...

If you love me, feed my sheep!

If you love me, tend to my sheep!

If you love me, feed my sheep!

News flash.... You are not my sheep! I am taking care of His sheep…

But...... As the Shepherd over HIs sheep… We are still left with a thief trying to steal / kill / and destroy sheep!

John chapter 9

There was a man born blind from birth

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 9:2–3

The disciples faced a theological problem. Believing that sin directly caused all suffering, how could a person be born with a handicap? Therefore either this man … sinned in his mother’s womb (Ezek. 18:4) or his parents sinned (Ex. 20:5). Jesus therefore answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned. These words do not contradict the universal sinfulness of man (cf. Rom. 3:9–20, 23). Instead Jesus meant that this man’s blindness was not caused by some specific sin. Instead the problem existed so that … God could display His glory in the midst of seeming tragedy

John 9:3 ESV

Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Jesus spits on the ground

He anoints his eyes and sends him to wash in the pool of Siloam…

And the man came back seeing!!!

But I’m looking for the thief!!!!!

I need you to see this triad of trouble that’s about to take place.

John 9:8 ESV

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”

John 9:9 ESV

Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”

So they said to him, how were your eyes opened?

He explained to them…

The neighbors didn’t care about him being healed..

They just wanted to know how he was healed

Second level of the triad

John 9:13 ESV

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.

The Pharisees said to him, the same thing that the neighbors said!

How were your eyes opened?

He told them the same story!

John 9:16 ESV

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

They still didn’t believe him.

So they called his parents… The parents said hey this is are son and he was born blind…

How he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes…

Remember they were in fear of the Jews because they already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ he was to be put out of the synagogue.

The third level of the triad

John 9:24 ESV

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

The man became frustrated

They asked him again, How did he open your eyes?

The man told them. “Why do you want to hear it again?” Do you want to be his disciples?

John 9:28 ESV

And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

The became verbally abusive

John 9:29 ESV

We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

The man to the best of his ability tries to defend Jesus…

Stating if this man was not from God, He couldn’t do nothing

John 9:34 ESV

They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

Jesus heard they cast Him out…

He asked him do you believe in the Son of Man?

The man asked Him, who is He, that I may believe in Him?

Jesus said I am the one you are speaking to!

The man said Lord I believe!

The man had physical sight but he needed spiritual sight.

John 9:39 ESV

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

John 9:40 ESV

Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

John 9:41 ESV

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

John 10:1 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

John: An Introduction and Commentary (2nd Ed.) i. The Parable of the Sheepfold (10:1–6)

Addressing these Pharisees, Jesus said: anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. He implies that, far from being true shepherds of Israel, they are thieves and robbers who do not care for the sheep, something all too evident in their treatment of the man born blind.

They didn’t understand this figure of speech

so Jesus tells them… I am the door of the sheep

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them..

John: An Introduction and Commentary (2nd Ed.) ii. Jesus, the Gate for the Sheep (10:7–10)

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers. There may be an allusion here to Old Testament passages such as Jeremiah 23:1–8 and Ezekiel 34 in which these prophets pronounced judgment upon the shepherds of Israel for their failure to care for the people. Jesus may also have had in mind messianic pretenders (cf. Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:22), but most likely he was referring to those who had treated the man born blind so badly. Of such leaders Jesus said, the sheep have not listened to them. The man born blind certainly did not listen to them. Those who belong to Jesus, the true shepherd, do not respond to voices such as theirs.

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The thief is not the DEVIL

John: An Introduction and Commentary (2nd Ed.) ii. Jesus, the Gate for the Sheep (10:7–10)

Jesus added: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. He depicted those Pharisees as sheep-stealers who had no thought for the well-being of the people—they came only to kill and destroy. They were like the wicked shepherds of Israel denounced by Jeremiah and Ezekiel (see commentary on 10:8). Contrasting his own ministry with theirs, Jesus said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. The imagery is that of a shepherd ensuring that his sheep are well cared for and contented.

The thief is the legalistic

Self Righteous

John 10:11 ESV

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.