Our Good Shepherd

Intro

Last week I said that you follow what your fix your eyes on, and I told you that if I could come up here and say two words it would be follow Jesus. fix your eyes on him so you follow him. Today I want to give you a reason why you should follow him. I could give you a hundred reasons but today I want to focus on just one, and unpack what it means. That reason is, that Jesus is our good shepherd. You might think what does that even mean I’m not a sheep. In John chapter 10 Jesus lays out for us what it means to be a good shepherd and why he fulfills that role for us, and once you see what it means for Jesus to be your shepherd my prayer is that you are going to want to be a sheep if it means you get Jesus as your shepherd.

John 10:1–6 NIV

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Looking at how Jesus starts out his description of himself as the good shepherd. We see that Jesus points out how the sheep know the voice of the shepherd. They can pick out the voice of their shepherd over the voices of stranger because they know him.

1. The Good Shepherd has a Distinct Voice.

A good shepherd’s voice is distinctive to him and only him. and the sheep follow it because they know him. If you were to travel to Jerusalem today, which I have not been able to yet but is a dream of mine. If you go that city and you go to the Jaffa gate. You would see this beautiful old stone gate through the walls of the city. You would also see shepherds walking their flocks. dozens of sheep following a single shepherd. You know what you would also see around this old historic stone gate. A busy road with loud cars and mopeds with backfiring engines zooming by near where the shepherd is walking his sheep. and yet the sheep do not wander into the road. Why? I have trouble keeping 2 kids out of the road how does one shepherd keep dozens of sheep out of the road. Because the shepherds are singing, and each flock knows to follow the distinct voice of their good shepherd that is leading them to water and not towards harm.

Jesus is our good shepherd. And he has a distinct voice. The most distinct voice of any leader we could follow. It is a voice that was distinctive in the culture of Judah 2000 years ago, and it is a voice that is distinctive in the culture of America today. The voice of Jesus stands out because every other voice we hear comes from people. But the voice of Jesus is the voice of God. That is the voice that we get follow.

How can we know its the voice of Jesus we are following? the same I know if its Alysa calling for me in the other room. The same way I know if its my daughters calling out needing my help. Because I know them. I recognize their voice because I know them. Jesus says in verse that his sheep follow him because they know his voice. He goes on to say they will never follow a stranger they will run from them.

If you know Jesus you know his voice. and you can tell the difference between his voice and the voices of strangers that will try to lead you astray. The way we know is not by our experiences or feelings. It is by the Bible. The voice of Jesus is distinct. It is distinctly Biblical. He gave us the bible so we would know his voice we could test his voice. We experience him and we get to know him so well that even on the side of a busy highway we can hear the distinct voice of our savior so we can follow him as he leads us away from danger and towards Him.

John 10:7–13 NIV

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

In this section Jesus contrasts the good shepherd against two other people. The thief and the hired hand. Both are a threat one from the outside and one from the inside. One obvious and one not so obvious. but both are not aligned with the shepherd and are set against the well being of the sheep.

What separates the good shepherd from the thief and the hired hand.

2. The Good Shepherd Cares Too Much to Leave.

Being a shepherd in the east is way different than we think of it here. We think of sheep being herded by dogs. That is not how it was where Jesus lived. A good shepherd was personal with his sheep. it says in verse four that he knows their names. the shepherd was most likely the very first thing they saw when they were born and theres a bond there. The sheep follow his voice because his voice is what they have heard since the moment they were born. The shepherd knows and cares for the sheep personally and intimately.

The thief and the hired hand do not have the personal connection to the sheep. they want to take from the sheep not care for the sheep. The thief does this aggressively but the hired hand pretends to care for the sheep until things get difficult because he does not have that personal connection with the sheep it is just a job for him. and honestly I get where he’s coming from cause if a wolf came into your workplace what would you do. are you going to fight it? I know I wouldn’t. If a wolf came into Dolly Parton’s Stampede when I worked there. I would be out of there. throwing stuff at the wolf to distract it. I am throwing chickens, apple turnovers, card board cutouts of dolly parton whatever I got do to get out of there, i got paid $2.25 an hour i’m not fighting a wolf for that.

our good shepherd doesnt run and leave us to the wolves, he steps between us and the wolves. He isn’t there to take from us, kill us, or destroy us like the thief, he is there to give us a life that is full. He cares for us too much to leave.

The word we translate full from verse 10 where he says I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. That word full means “that which goes way beyond necessity.” Jesus is a good shepherd because he gives us way more than what is necessary. the gift Jesus gives us is life beyond our wildest dreams. Because he cares for us personally. He cares for you in deeply personal way. he knows your name, he knows everything there is to know about you, he has been with you since before you were born and seen you grow up, he’s seen every single one of your failures even the ones that keep you up at night and he still says I want you to have life and have it to the full.

That’s our good shepherd.

and it gets even more beautiful.

John 10:14–18 NIV

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Our good shepherd who knows us. Who has known us before the foundations of the earth. Our failures, defiencies, sins and all chose to lay his life down for us. He didn’t choose to put it at risk, he chose to lay it down.

3. The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life

Jesus. Our good Shepherd has a distinct voice for us to follow, he knows us personally, and he is also strong. Nothing could have killed him, no lion, no bear, no pharisee, no Roman emperor, Jesus was not killed. He chose to lay his life down. Why? because it was the only way our sins could be forgiven and us as his sheep could experience that full and abundant life that he wants to give us.

Our Shepherd made it possible by sacrificing himself. He’s not just our good shepherd he is our great savior. Every other power over you serves you to get something from you. Your boss does workers appreciation so you feel valued so you don’t leave and they get production out of you, politicians try to give a preception that they are serving you so that they can get your vote, Rarely will you see those over you sacrifice time, convenience, or money for you. We as people naturally weigh will I get back what I sacrifice for someone else in one form or another.

Jesus our good shepherd, and our creator chose to sacrifice for us. Chose to lay his life down. Even though we have nothing of value to give Him. He doesn’t need our production, he doesn’t need our votes. And yet he chose to lay his life down for you. forget being a good Shepherd that is a great shepherd, a great savior, and a great God.

He’s so strong no one could take his life, he had to choose to lay it down. He’s so strong that not only could no one force him to lay his life down. No one could keep him down. The enemy that seeks to kill steal and destroy couldn’t keep him down, The grave could not hold him down, death itself could not hold our great shepherd down. He is alive today and forever more.

That is a shepherd that we can trust. That is a shepherd that no matter where he leads I want to follow and it is my prayer that it is a shepherd you want to follow too.

Conclusion

Today I want to encourage you if you know him be confident he knows you. He hasn’t just given you a number. He knows your name. He knows everything there is about you. Even the things you keep hidden and he still wants you in his flock. We have a shepherd who not only knows you personally, but wants the best for you and knows whats best for you even better than you do.

If you believe that, If you believe In Jesus you have entered his flock my question to you to consider today is are following his distinct voice? Are you following the distinct voice of you shepherd that wants to give you a life that is good and full in ways you cant even comprehend. or are you following the voice of the thief, are you following the voice, of people who seem like they care like the hired servant but are really out for themselves? are you following the voice of a social media algorythim, a politician, or what the culture says to follow.

Follow the distinct voice of your shepherd. He will never lead you astray. if you are following his voice even though the world around you gets chaotic, and the danger of the busy highway is right there you will never be led astray if you follow the distinctly holy perfect voice of your shepherd. Take some time today examining what voices you are following.

Lastly today. Ultimately what makes Jesus not just good but great shepherd is that he loves his sheep. He loves us. and he proved that love through the action of laying down his life for us. Today we get to participate in remembering that sacrifice through communion.

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 NIV

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”