The Good Shepherd

What is a shepherd?

A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep.

In Jesus’ time, it was a rough job, and it still is. Sheep must be herded and protected, they’re pretty low on the food chain if the shepherd doesn’t care for them.

A shepherd has to bring them to food, needs to pen them up at night, to protect them from predators, etc.

It’s also a pretty thankless job!

Shepherds in Jesus’ time especially were unclean and considered gross and despicable, and even now it’s considered a job for the lower class.

And yet, God calls Himself a shepherd multiple times.

Isaiah 40:10–11 (ESV)

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

And so, we’re going to talk about when Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd.

John 10:1–42 ““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. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundant…”

With this passage, we’re essentially going to talk about who Jesus says He is and who He says we are.

I AM

Jesus tells us who He is by using the phrase, “I AM,” which you might remember is one of the ways that God identifies Himself when He talks to Moses in the burning bush He calls Himself I AM.

So what does Jesus call Himself first?

I AM… the Gate

Vs. vs. 7 and 9

Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t first mention how He is the good shepherd, He calls Himself the gate.

What does a gate do?

Jesus says that as the gate He

Keeps sheep safe

Jesus has keeps and sustains you. He protects you as only he can!

Does that mean that you can’t get hurt, that nothing will go wrong in your life? NO!

Don’t jump off a building because you think you can fly, that won’t work.

Jesus provides you protection in a different way. He doesn’t take away any pain, but He experiences it with you. He keeps you from turning your back on God because things get too hard. He sustains you through His suffering on the cross.

Provides a full life

Jesus gives you a life that is full and good and right.

But, what is a full life for a sheep?

Is it the same as a full life for an insect, or a lion?

No, if a sheep tried to be a mosquito or a cheetah, they couldn’t have a full life in that way.

In the same way, Jesus provides you a full life in the way that you were created to have a full life, not the way culture or your family or school or friends might tell you to.

You might never get six pack abs.

You might never have a high paying job

You may never have children or a house or an apartment in New York or whatever it is you think success looks like.

But, if you follow Jesus, you can have a life that is full in the way that Jesus’ life was full.

Full of joy at serving the Lord, full of love of God and others, full of friendship. A life that is truly full, not fake.

I AM … The Good Shepherd.

Then He moves on to talking about being the good shepherd!

Jesus says that the good shepherd does a few things

He gives His life for the sheep

Is known by the sheep

Gathers the sheep

Gives His life for the sheep ( 11-13)

Jesus as the Good Shepherd gives up His life for the sheep.

Someone who really cares for His flock will do anything to protect them, even giving up their own life for them.

We see that in the gospel story!

Jesus gave His life for us so that we might be His people, His flock. He gave His life even though we gave nothing for it!

Is known by the sheep. (14-15, 27)

Sheep are pretty smart creatures, despite what you might think.

They can recognize faces for a long time, and they know voices, so that they would actually come to their own shepherd.

In the 1980’s an army took over a town in the Middle East and penned all of the sheep in the village.

A widow told the general of the army that she needed her sheep because that was the only way she could make any money.

The general told her that she could try, but only because there were hundreds of sheep all together in a pen, he didn’t think she could find them.

Then, her son produced a little flute and played a tune, and suddenly, sheep started moving and popping up in the group, and that group of 25 sheep followed the boy and his mother home.

In the same way, Jesus is known by His sheep. He is close with His sheep so that He knows them. He’s close with us in such a way that we can know Him.

Jesus isn’t a far off God that we can’t possibly get close to, He’s near. He’s with you in a much deeper way than you think.

Gathers the sheep.

The last thing Jesus says that He does is He gathers the sheep.

He calls all of His sheep, and they listen to Him, even when it looks like they belong to someone else.

So maybe you’re someone who feels like God would never call you to Him.

Maybe you just don’t like religion, or you think Christianity is dumb you’re here for a girl or the games, or maybe you think God could never love you, but He’s calling to you.

You might feel like you don’t belong, but in Christ, we all belong together. You have a place, you have a home, and it’s found in Jesus.

So now, we know what Jesus tells us that He is, but in that He also tells us some of what we are.

We are… Sheep

This whole time, we’ve been called sheep.

Not in a mean way, not in a negative way, but we are sheep, and Jesus says that there are two types of sheep.

In the flock.

Not in the flock

In the flock.

Sheep that are in the flock are Christians. They “know” Jesus’ voice. They know who He is.

They will follow the shepherd, they may mess up (we’re still sheep) but they know their master.

These are the people who believe in Jesus. You are a Christian, maybe you’ve been one for a long time.

Outside of the flock.

These are those of us who don’t believe in Jesus. Maybe you think like how I mentioned earlier. Maybe you just feel like you don’t belong anywhere let alone with God.

But we have to know that we definitely belong to something.

Oh, we might not belong to God, but we belong to money or popularity or sports or relationships; we’re in that flock.

But one day we will realize that this flock isn’t working for us. Maybe we can realize that another shepherd, a better One, is calling.

But either way, you have a couple of questions to ask yourself if we believe that Jesus is the good shepherd and that we are sheep.

Who do I belong to?

What am I going to do about it?

Questions:

What are you most looking forward to this year?

Why do you think Jesus would call Himself a shepherd if it was such a negatively viewed job?

What are the different, “flocks” that people can belong to?

What do you think it feels like for Jesus to call you to His flock?