Sermon Tone Analysis

Have you ever had a person in your life who you felt like just didn’t get you?

I don’t mean someone you didn’t like and couldn’t get along with.

Someone you wanted to have meaningful relationship with, and it just never clicked?

Maybe it was someone you had a crush on, and you tried to get into their friend group or to get them into yours, but no matter what you did, it never worked out?

They always took your overtures in a different way than you meant them?

You ask them on a date and they figure it’s a group thing and bring a couple of friends along?

Or you’re just inviting someone to a group thing, and they get all excited, thinking you’re asking them on a date?

Any kind of relationship with other people can be tricky.

It requires vulnerability—usually more vulnerability than we want to offer!

People do all kinds of funny and crazy things to try to navigate relationships.

We laughed awkwardly and asked her what a friend-crush was.

She explained “you know, it’s when you spend time in the same circles as people you haven’t met yet, but they seem really cool, and you know you want to be friends with them!”

And sometimes, it seems like no matter what you do, people won’t relate to you the way you want them to.

We thought that was so funny, but I think there was some genius to her directness.

Relationships are complicated, and Selina had figured out that if she had a “friend-crush” on somebody, the best way to get that was to tell them “I want to be your friend!”

So this year is my 9th year of working with College Students.

Before getting this job, I worked as a Resident Director at two different Christian Colleges.

If you don’t know what that is, I always like to tell people that the RD role is part life-coach, part traffic cop.

The job exists at pretty much every college that have students who live on campus, because the college needs somebody who can be there 24 hours a day to make sure the students are safe, and don’t do anything too crazy.

The parts I loved about my job are the parts of love about this job!

I get to build relationships with young adults, and have awesome conversations about how to figure this life out, what’s important, who to marry, and what the Bible has to say about all of that.

As much as I could I tried to get along with all the students, to have good relationships with them, to build trust with them so we’d have a platform to have the important life conversations they needed to have to navigate college well.

But there were some students, no matter how I tried, I couldn’t ever have relationship with them.

It wasn’t because they didn’t like my personality or anything like that, it was because enforcing the college’s community standards, was a part of my job.

And no matter how I tried to reach out to them, I couldn’t change the fact that whenever I’d enter the room they were in, their reaction was always, “Oh, the rule-guy is here.

Stop having fun.”

Don’t get me wrong, helping the students learn to keep the school’s community standards was a part of my job—but do you really think that’s why I took that job?

To them, all I was was the traffic-cop.

That was the thing that defined me.

But that’s not who I was!

We’ve all experienced the complications of trying to relate to people, and had those moments where we just feel like people are completely missing us, and tonight we’re going to studying , where Jesus gives us significant insight into who He is, and how He wants to relate to us, to a crowd of people who just keep missing it.

Keep in mind, the whole book of John was written for this very reason: Jesus has come, healed people, done miracles, died on the cross, and risen from the dead, but there are still people who are on the fence.

They might have even seen Jesus perform a miracle, but still hadn’t decided to give their lives to him!

So John writes the gospel to say “look, this Jesus guy isn’t just another bible teacher or inspirational speaker—he’s the Messiah!

The Savior!”

Let’s read , starting in verse 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.

3 To him the gatekeeper opens.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

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.

SLIDE

“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.

3 To him the gatekeeper opens.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

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.

So just in these five verses, Jesus uses this figure of speech about sheep and Shepherd’s to teach a group of Jews some important truths about him, but as verse 6 tells us, they didn’t understand what he meant.

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Here’s the stuff they would have understood about this story: In 1st Century Israel, raising sheep was a common way of life.

In the small country towns, people would build a courtyard outside of their house, with 5 or 6 ft.

walls, and only one way out.

During they day, they would lead the sheep out of town into the countryside to graze, and then during the evening , they would bring the sheep back into the pen to keep them safe from predators and thieves.

Jesus makes a pretty common sense point here: If you see someone climbing over the fence into your courtyard, instead of using the gate, it’s safe to assume they don’t belong there.

If you’re someone who belongs there—the shepherd, You enter by the gate.

Pretty obvious stuff for the Jews.

Jesus then goes on to talk about how the sheep relate to their shepherd.

Now in our day, if you’ve seen how shepherds work, they usually use dogs, and when you’re moving sheep from place to place, we call it “driving the herd.” the Shepherd stands behind the sheep and uses a stick and the dogs to push the sheep to or from pasture.

But in the first century, the shepherd would actually walk in front of his sheep, calling for them to follow him—and the sheep would quickly learn the voice of their shepherd, and follow willingly.

Since there was no running water in that day, the places they would water the sheep would often be used by multiple shepherds at the same time.

Can you imagine the madness?

Trying to keep all of your sheep straight, and not losing sheep or taking home extra?

But here’s what’s amazing: the sheep knew their shepherd’s voice, and would only respond when their shepherd would call for them to follow.

So Jesus is teaching them using another picture we already know: “we get it Jesus.

If the shepherd calls for his sheep, they follow him.

If a strangers calls to them, it scares them.

They don’t follow him.

Duh.

What’s the point?”

They get the sheep stuff, they just don’t see how it connects to Jesus.

Fortunately for us and them, Jesus explains what he means, starting in verse 7:

SLIDE

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.

16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

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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.

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As we’ve been studying through John, we’ve been continually asking “who is Jesus?”

Here in verses 7 and 9, Jesus directly gives a word picture to help us understand who He is.

Twice he tells this crowd of Jews, “I am the door.”

We don’t have to wonder what this means: he tells us in verse 9: