March 23 - Easter Sunday - I Have Authority

He is Risen Indeed

March 23, 2008 Easter Sunday

John 10:11-18

Today’s Scripture passage is the same one we studied last week. Last week, we emphasized Jesus’ authority and power to  lay down His life (the story of Good Friday) and today we will look at His authority and power to take up His life (the story of Easter and the empty tomb). Turn with we now to the book of John. We’re going to look at chapter 10, verses 11 through 18.

 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father.”

The interest rates on home loans are low, prices are higher  than they have been in years and so the housing market is hot (for Cut Knife, that is). One of the things people think about when houses are selling around them is not just who will live next door, but will they be renters or owners? Will the owner of the house next door be an absentee landlord, or will he be a homesteader?

Now why does that matter? It matters because, statistically,  homesteaders tend to take better care of their property than renters. It's not a good commentary on human nature, but in general it's true.

Our standards for our own homes and our own car and our own toys and our own tools is higher than our standards for the things of others. That's not good. It's one of the things Jesus came into the world to change. We state this as the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you have your Bible handy, please turn now to Philippians 2:3–5 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”

But that's the way human nature is apart from the transforming grace of God through Jesus Christ. And Jesus knew it and used it to contrast his commitment to his own sheep with the commitment of hired help.

He pictures himself in our key text as a shepherd. And he pictures his people as the sheep that he owns and cares about. And in verses 12–13 he contrasts the way the owner responds to wolves and the way the hired help responds.

He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep.

To the hireling sheep-tending is just a job. (It's just rental property, not a homestead.) They don't really care about the sheep. They are doing this to earn a living, not because they love sheep. And so they say, "No job is worth your life. If you're just working for a living, then you sure don't need a job that might kill you."

But the reason Jesus mentions these hired hands is to show that he's not like that. He's not a hired hand. He's the and the owner of the sheep. Verse 14: "I am the good shepherd; and I know my own, and my own know me."

The difference is that the hired hand loves his life more than the sheep, but Jesus loves his sheep more than his life. Four times in this passage Jesus says he lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 15b: "I lay down my life for the sheep." Verse 17: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life." Verse 18: "No one has taken [my life] away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative."

So Jesus is not a hired hand, because the sheep belong to him and because he loves the sheep more than he loves his own life.

When he sees the wolves coming, he does not leave the sheep to be destroyed. He fights the wolves and saves the sheep. And in doing it, he lays down his life for the sheep.

If we are the sheep that he loves, what are the wolves? What is it that threatens to destroy us?

There are at least three things—three destroying wolves—mentioned in the gospel of John. Three wolves that Jesus lays down his life to save us from.

First there is the wolf of sin: John 1:29 says of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." Sin is a wolf that destroys the world and cuts us off from God. And Jesus came into the world to draw the wolf of sin off the world onto himself, and to die in the place of his sheep. When the good shepherd sacrifices himself for the flock, he becomes like a Lamb and bears the sin of many (Isaiah 53:6).

The second and third wolves are death and the following divine judgment. Death is a great destroyer. It attacks and destroys everyone, great and small, rich and poor, men and women, every race, every creed. It is an omnivorous wolf of destruction. And after death comes judgment: "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Death does not destroy by ending what we had planned life and leading to nothingness. It destroys by ending what we had planned in this life and leading us into the courtroom of God Almighty whose law we have broken and whose glory we have fallen short of (Romans 3:23).

But Jesus is not a weak shepherd. When those three wolves threaten his sheep, he lays down his life to destroy them and to save us from them. He says in John 5:24,

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

When Jesus laid down his life for the sheep, he saved us from those three destroying wolves I just mentioned: sin and death and judgment. He saw them coming; he went out to meet them; he drew them away from the flock and gave his life to take away their power so that they could not destroy the flock.

But now, if the story ended here, there would be a great problem. You can see it coming can’t you? If a flock of sheep lose their shepherd because he laid down his life to save them from a pack of wolves, they are now shepherdless. And even if no more wolves come, the sheep will sooner or later run out of green pasture and wander away into the desert or the valleys of death and perish. And in the end they will not be saved. And the death of the shepherd will have been in vain.

But the story doesn't end with a mangled shepherd lying dead among three dead wolves, with sheep scattered thirsting and starving in the desert. Verse 18 tells us why:

No one has taken [my life] away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father. We sheep are not shepherdless because our Great Shepherd had the authority and power to take up His life again. Only God has the authority and power to take up His life from death. If you have never given much thought to resurrection power, do it now. Think of this: Can you bring the dead back to life? Do you know anyone who can? Only Jesus! Once a flower is picked, it cannot be unpicked. Once life leaves our bodies, it will not return. The resurrection of Jesus was the most amazing occurance since creation. The resurrection is one of the cardinal facts and doctrines of the gospel. The Good News – Jesus died according to the Scriptures, was buried according to the Scriptures, and rose again on the third day, and that is the gospel I preach. Our faith is built on the fact we serve a risen Savior, isn’t it? The whole New Testament rests on the historical fact of Jesus resurrection. Jesus clearly prophesied His resurrection (Matt. 20:19; Mark 9:9; Luke 18:33; John 2:19-22). Paul states it clearly, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith also is empty” (1 Cor 15:14) All four gospel writers attest to the resurrection. Jesus told us to remember His death and resurrection. And this is what we celebrate today. HE IS RISEN (response: HE IS RISEN INDEED) The Scriptures tell us of eleven different appearances of our risen Lord – all recorded in the New Testament” first, to Mary Magdalene (Jn. 20:11-18), then to the other Mary, Salome, Joanna, and other women (Matt. 28:1-10), the to Simon Peter (Luke 24:34), then to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-25), then to the disciples (without Thomas) (John 20:19-24), then to the disciples with Thomas (Mark 16:14-18; Luke 24: 33-34; John 20:26-28).  Then to the disciples as they fished ( John 21:1-23), then to 500 brethren in Galilee (Matt. 28:16-20), then to James (1 Cor. 15:7), then to the apostles at Jesus ascension (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50-52). It is worthy also to note that as wellas been seen, the Lord Jesus afforded His disciples the opportunity to touch Him and converse with Him face to face (Matt 28:9, Luke 24:39; John 20:27). The resurrection is FACT! HE IS RISEN        .  

Jesus' Authority and Jesus' Triumph

When Jesus came into the world to save his sheep from sin and death and judgment, he came with a commandment from his Father in heaven. The commandment was that he should die for sinners and rise again. And with the commandment came the authority to do it. "I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it up again."

As we saw last week, He decided by his own authority when he would give himself into the jaws of sin and death and judgment. And after he had lain among the slain for three days, he alone had the authority to take back his life again.

And when he did, it became clear for all who would see that the battle had not been a draw: with sin and death and judgment just as triumphant as Jesus—with them dead and him dead, even-steven. No. He alone had authority as the Son of God to take back his life. And therefore he alone was triumphant. Sin and death and judgment can never again destroy the sheep of Jesus.

But not only that; the sheep now have a powerful living shepherd. Christianity is not merely being saved from sin and death and judgment; it also means having a living shepherd to guide you and feed you and heal you and protect you and help you love. The words of verse 14 are astonishing, if you've ever dreamed of a deep, deep, love relationship, hear this: "I know  my own, and my own know me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father." Jesus took his life back from death so that he might have that kind of personal love relationship with all his sheep: "I know them and they know me; and the relationship that we enjoy is like the relationship between God the Son and God the Father." And there is no deeper, nor more satisfying, relationship in the world than the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

But there is more. He took back his life from sin and death and judgment not only to prove that he, and not they, was triumphant, and not only to give himself to his sheep in the deepest personal love relationship, but also because he now has a worldwide mission to fulfill with the very authority with which he rose from the dead. Verse 16:

And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.

Jesus didn't come into the world to lay down his life only for a few Jewish disciples in Palestine. He has other sheep that are not of that fold. He has sheep in Antioch, and Athens, and Rome, and Cairo, and London, and New York, and Mexico City, and Sao Paulo, and Tokyo, and Manila, and Sydney, and Singapore, and Jakarta, and Beijing, and Calcutta, and Kabul, and Tehran, and Moscow, and Cut Knife.

And he is not in the grave waiting to see if there might be enough recruits to bring him out. He is the living Shepherd, triumphant over death, and with authority over all the world to gather his own sheep from all the peoples of the world. After his resurrection he said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18–19). The most powerful sign of all is that Jesus is who He claims to be is the resurrection (Rom 1:4).

And because he moves now through the world with the very authority that raised him from the dead, he cannot be defeated. His sheep will hear his voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. The Christian movement began with a dozen blue-collar men filled with the love and the Spirit of the risen Christ, and today 1.3 billion people from every country of the world give some kind of allegiance to Jesus Christ. And we are perhaps only a few years away from seeing sheep gathered from every one of the 24,000 people groups in the world. The risen Christ cannot fail. He reigns by virtue of an indestructible life, a resurrected life with absolute authority over every created reality.

And so the utterly crucial question for each of us this morning is this: Are we his sheep? Are you one of Christ's sheep today? That is, do you hear his voice? Do you follow him? Do you trust in his resurrection power, His saving work and His promise of new life? This is what it means to be his sheep. John 10:27–28,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

I plead with every one of you this morning: Listen to the voice of Jesus, and follow him when he calls you to trust him. And I promise you, you will not come into judgment but will pass from death into life (John 5:24). How can I make such a promise? I can promise this because HE IS RISEN (response)

Now, I’d like to leave you with this to think about through the coming week. It’s from Henry Blackaby’s “Experiencing God Day-by-Day” devotional from March 13. “We have a natural tendency to find our "comfort zone" and then position ourselves firmly in place. If you are in a sit­uation or lifestyle where you are perfectly capable of handling everything, you have stopped growing in your understanding of God. God's desire is to take you from where you are to where He wants you to be. You will always be one step of obedience away from the next truth God wants you to learn about Him. You may experience a restlessness whereby you sense that there is far more you should be learning and experiencing about the Father. At times, this will mean that you should move to a new location or take a new job. It could indicate that you need a deeper dimen­sion added to your prayer life. Perhaps you need to trust God to a degree you never have before.

The fishermen could not remain in their fishing boats and become apostles of Jesus Christ. Abraham was seventy-five years old when God gave him his major life assignment. These men had to disrupt their comfortable routine in order to reach new heights in their relationship with their Lord. Likewise, in order to experience God to the degree He wants you to, there will be adjustments He will ask of you. Are you prepared for Christ to reveal Himself to you in dimensions that will change your life? Are you willing to abandon that which makes you comfortable?”