The Church as the Flock
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We learn much about the nature of the church from the pictures that Jesus gives us of the church. One very important picture of the church is that of a Flock.
The image of the Flock is taught by Jesus in John 10. But in order to understand John 10 and the teaching of the Flock you must understand the context of John 9.
There is no break between chapter 9 & 10. They flow together and depend upon each other.
John 9 & 10- Jesus “leads them out”
John 9 & 10- Jesus “leads them out”
John 9 is all about Jesus healing the man who was born blind.
1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
How did Jesus choose to heal the blind man?
6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud
7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
Why did Jesus choose to heal the blind man in this manner?
8 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?”
9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.”
10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.”
12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
Why bring the man to the Pharisees? What is the big deal?
14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
Did Jesus know it was the Sabbath day?
Did Jesus know this would aggravate the Pharisees?
So why did Jesus choose to heal the blind man in this manner?
15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
16 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.
17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
What does the blind man believe about Jesus in 9:17? Why?
18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight
19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
What is odd about the response of the parents?
John 9:22 (ESV)
22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)
What does “put out of the synagogue” in 9:22 mean?
To be put out of the synagogue was akin to being cast out of Judaism itself.
His parents are terrified of this.
23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 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.”
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”
28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
John 9:34 (ESV)
34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
What did the Pharisees do to the man in 9:34?
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
Textual Variant: some manuscripts have Son of God.
The external support for ἀνθρώπου (𝔓66, א B D W syrs copsa, , , al) is so weighty, and the improbability of θεοῦ being altered to ἀνθρώπου is so great, that the Committee regarded the reading adopted for the text as virtually certain.
Do you know why the title Son of Man is important?
13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Son of man is a messianic title and this Jewish man would have known exactly what Jesus was claiming.
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
1 “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.
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Who are the thieves and robbers in 10:1?
Pharisees are the thieves!
John 10:3 (ESV)
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
How does Jesus contradict the thinking of the Pharisees in 10:3?
John 9:34 (ESV)
34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
John 10:3 (ESV)
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
The Pharisees thought they had kicked the blind man out of the synagogue (out of Israel / from being a Jew), but Jesus contradicts them and says that He led the blind man out of the fold.
Why did Jesus heal the man with mud? To pick a fight with the Pharisees? Why did Jesus want that? So that the Pharisees would cast the man out of the synagogue and excommunicate him from being a Jew. Why did Jesus want that? To lead this man to faith in himself and to form him into something new.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:16 (NASB95)
16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
What kind of sheep make up the one flock of 10:16?
Textual variant: KJV reads “one fold, one shepherd.”
All known witnesses except the Latin Vulgate read “one flock.” Jerome’s erroneous rendering unum ovile (“one fold”) was followed by Wycliff and the translators of Cromwell’s Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishops’ Bible, the Rheims-Douay Bible, and the Authorized or King James Bible.
The Gospel according to John c. Expansion (10:7–18)
The AV’s ‘one fold’ instead of ‘one flock’ is based on the Latin Vulgate’s error, unum ovile.
Church as Flock Illustration
Theological Conclusions
Theological Conclusions
1. Nature of unity- new entity containing both Jews & Gentiles will be ONE FLOCK = NT Church.
1. Nature of unity- new entity containing both Jews & Gentiles will be ONE FLOCK = NT Church.
2. The unity of the church is an organic unity in Christ alone.
2. The unity of the church is an organic unity in Christ alone.
“Here is a unity, then, that not only goes beyond the bounds of the local church and beyond denominational barriers, but it also transcends all external organizational unity and finds its organic unity in Christ alone.” Radmacher, 300.
Contrary to the teaching of the Catholic church which holds not an organic unity but an external organizational unity to the universal church.
3. The unity of the flock is determined by a common following of the one Shepherd not external measures.
3. The unity of the flock is determined by a common following of the one Shepherd not external measures.
What does the unity of the flock teach us about local church ministry?
The primary way we maintain functional unity within the church is by everyone following the One Shepherd. If we are all following Jesus to the best of our ability, we will find unity with one another.
Functional Unity Illustration:
How would teaching this to a less mature believer in your church help the ministry of your church?
How do we know the ONE FLOCK is the same thing as the NT church?
How do we know the ONE FLOCK is the same thing as the NT church?
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Gentiles were outside the commonwealth of Israel - outside the fold.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Gentiles now brought near by Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Notice the switch from “you” to “we” — “our peace.” God made peace between Jew & Gentile and made them one.
Ephesians 2:15 (ESV)
15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
He made this one new man, one new humanity, one new race by abolishing the Sinai Code. There are still Jews, still Gentiles, not you have a new humanity a third race. What is this new humanity? This new man?
Ephesians 2:16 (ESV)
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
Paul now connects the one new man with the one body of Christ. What is the one body of Christ? It’s the church! How do we know for sure?
Ephesians 1:22–23 (ESV)
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 2:18 (ESV)
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
One Spirit terminology will be important in our study of the church!
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Paul now switches back to “you” language.
Who are the saints? OT saints— Paul is looking forward to the coming kingdom and he hints at a unity among all the saints of God. Israel is still Israel and the church is still the church, but all saints are looking forward to the coming kingdom.
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
Here Paul again switches the picture- now the church is a building.
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
What is unusual about the church as a building? It grows! He puts the building and body metaphor together. The whole structure grows.
What kind of building is the church? A holy temple! The place where God places his presence in a unique way.
What is the purpose of a temple?
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Flock, body, temple, humanity all the same thing and there are only ONE of these.