Faith to Face Change

State Fair ended just a few weeks ago, and until I married a man who came from a ranch, it never really affected my life much. Ever since then, we have been at the State Fair with his parents. They usually bring down a flock of sheep to show, and I have learned so much about sheep in the last twelve years that I had never anticipated learning before. Now that we have children who are old enough to help out and be a part of 4H, we have found ourselves to be the proud caretakers of a few sheep every summer.

I am not a shepherd, I know very basic things about sheep, but not enough to be qualified as anything other than a 4H mom who gets way to attached to my kids’ projects. I just think they are so darn cute. One thing I do know about sheep is they do not like change. They like to stay in a place where they’re comfortable. Where they know food will be brought out to them, where they can find fresh water. Whenever you attempt to move a flock, it takes quite a bit of coercing to get them through a gate and into a new pasture.

In the Bible, we will find a lot of references to sheep. We will also find that the authors of the bible often refer to people as sheep. I know these are dangerous words today. We hear people using the term sheep in a very derogatory manner, this is not my purpose. My purpose today is to see how people, like sheep, tend to dig in their heels when it comes to a change in their environment, their relationships, or their routine.

If we look at the role of the shepherd in biblical times, we will see that they were very intimately involved in the lives of their sheep. They lived with their flocks taking on the role of provider, protector, and physician. The sheep knew their shepherd. This is the term that David chose to use when he describes God in Psalm 23.

Psalm 23:1-4,

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk

through the darkest valley, a

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

David had spent his childhood as a shepherd so he understood the ins and outs of this vocation. In other Psalms, David used words like king, deliverer, rock and shield to describe God. All of which feel impersonal and distant. Then we read this beautiful Psalm, and we can imagine ourselves as sheep, following the shepherd, laying down on green pastures, drinking fresh water, and being led with tenderness and steadfastness.

A few weeks ago I had a moment of revelation. I could see a flock of sheep heading towards a gate, which would lead them into a new pasture. As the shepherd gently led them along, they began to panic. They were trying to turn around and stay in the old pasture. They were afraid to cross the threshold of the new pasture because it was different. These sheep knew their old pasture by heart. They knew where to bed down at night, where to get water, and where to graze. They had become very comfortable in this pasture and they didn’t see a need to leave.

But the shepherd kept gently coercing the flock through the gate because he knew what was on the other side. The grazing would be so much better, the reservoir had fresh water flowing into it from the mountain springs above, the fences were more secure and he knew the sheep would prosper in this new territory. But so many of the sheep refused to go, so they were left behind in the old pasture.

How many of you can identify with this flock? You stand at the precipice of something new, and everything inside of you wants to turn around. You have heard the Shepherd speak to your heart and tell you to take a step forward, to trust Him, to move into a new place. But you dig your heels in and try to turn around and run the opposite direction.

Today, I believe that we are at this point as a nation, and as the church.

Our faith has always been marked by migration, since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve moved out of Eden, Abraham was told to leave his people and go to an unknown place where God would make him the father of a great nation. Moses walked through the Red Sea on dry ground as he led the Israelites on a 40 year journey through the wilderness. After those 40 years, Joshua led the people into the promised land. Then God’s people were taken to Babylon, then they moved back.

God had always been the shepherd of His people. He had led them faithfully, He protected and provided for them. There is no way they could have gone through all of these changes without His watch care over them. Then came Jesus.

At the very beginning of the New Testament we meet Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. During this time, it just so happens that God reveals His plans to a group of shepherds who were watching over their flocks by night. Then, within the first years of Jesus’ life his parents took him to Egypt to escape King Herod. Then his parents moved him back to Nazareth, where he grew into a man. Once he began his ministry, He was always on the move. You can read through the Gospels and find him walking from town to town as He carried out His ministry.

While on one of his many journeys to Jerusalem and the surrounding towns, Jesus and His disciples were met by a group of Pharisees, the religious leaders of their day. He had just healed a blind man and they had questioned His authority. After He confronts them on their spiritual blindness, He launches into a beautiful description of His God-given role as the Good shepherd.

John 10:1-10, “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. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 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. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

The Pharisees had become very comfortable in their pasture. They believed that they were the holy ones because of the way they dressed, and how they held to the Jewish traditions. They were respected, even revered. They held power, which had corrupted them. They no longer cared for the flocks God had entrusted to them, instead they used and abused their flocks. They thought that they had control over the people under them, but Jesus exposed their faulty beliefs and their unethical behavior. They had held so tightly to their laws and regulations, that they had lost sight of God. They had just exposed their true character while dealing with the blind man Jesus had healed. Instead of rejoicing in the great miracle the blind man had received, they interrogated him and shamed him. Jesus basically said that this is not the way a shepherd should treat his sheep.

Jesus refers to them as thieves and robbers because of what they had done to their people, the sheep in their care. Then He reveals Himself as the Good shepherd. And the first thing that the Good Shepherd does is give people abundant life. Here on earth as well as in eternity.

1. We can trust Jesus to lead us into a new place because we know that He gives us abundant life wherever He leads.

Living a full life, being in relationship with God, enjoying His presence, finding contentment in whatever pasture or season you might find yourself in, is a very fundamental desire for every human being. But there is a difference between being comfortable and being content. Being comfortable requires everything to be just the way we want it to be. Extrinsic factors create our comfort. We don’t want to adjust to anything new or different. We want our comfortable table here at church, where we always sit. We want everything to stay the same so we aren’t in an uncomfortable position.

Being contented means we can be in any situation and be content because we know that our Good Shepherd will lead us through whatever we face. Paul says it this way in Philippians 4:11-13, “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Being content is an intrinsic manifestation when we are living in Christ.

Jesus then goes on to say in John 10:11-13, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 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. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”

Jesus promises to protect us and stay with us in whatever pasture He leads us to. He has so much invested in us. Just as a hired hand doesn’t care as intently for a flock that isn’t their own, the Pharisees hadn’t cared for the flock they had been given. They didn’t lay down their lives for the people they were supposed to serve and love. But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is so invested in our lives that He was willing to lay down His life on the cross to ensure our salvation.

2. We can trust Jesus to protect us when we follow Him into a new place.

When we are standing at the gate of a new pasture, we can trust our Good Shepherd to lead us into that pasture because He will not send us somewhere He is not willing to go first.

Jesus wraps up His analogy of being the good shepherd by saying, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 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. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 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.”

3. We can trust Jesus to lead us into a new place because He knows us.

The word Jesus uses here doesn’t just mean that he knows us as an acquaintance. It means that He knows us as a close friend. He knows what makes our hearts leap for joy and what causes us to crumble with fear.

Psalm 139:1-6 explains it best,

You have searched me, LORD,

and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you, LORD, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.”

If our Good Shepherd knows us that well, we can trust that wherever He is leading us will ultimately be good. It will look different. It will feel different. It might all be completely different, but we have Jesus right there with us.

So, what kind of pasture might the Good Shepherd be leading you into?

Going back to Psalm 23, sometimes He leads us into green pastures with quiet waters where we can lay down and be refreshed. Even when the pasture looks perfect, we often resist moving forward into a different pasture because we don’t trust our shepherd enough. Sometimes the most refreshing moments in life come when we least expect them. And in places we would never have thought to go.

Most of us would like to stay in quiet, green pastures right? That sounds so nice and calm. But we’re also told that we will sometimes have to go through pastures that are dark and scary. We can be sure that sometimes Jesus will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death.

There are times in our lives that we go through the darkest moments of despair. We feel like we’ve been abandoned by people and by God. We can’t see past these places because we are so consumed with fear. We know that in the darkest valley we could face the loss of a loved one, the destruction of a marriage, the loss of a job, the feeling like we might be completely losing our minds. We might face a cancer diagnosis, or a friend who has ruined our reputation. We might face death. These dark moments aren’t meant to destroy us. We can’t rush through them, we must faithfully follow the One who will lead us to the other side. Sometimes it’s taking one small step at a time as you hear the voice of Jesus call you forward. The Good Shepherd promised us that He would never abandon us in these moments. And we know that another pasture is coming, we just have to keep moving.

A passage in Revelation has gripped my heart this week. As John was welcomed into the Throne Room of God, He received a vision of angels and elders worshiping around the throne. Then, one of the elders asked him, “Who are those in white robes who are worshiping and where did they come from? John replies

Revelation 7:14-17, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne

will shelter them with his presence.

16 ‘Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat down on them,’

nor any scorching heat.

17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will be their shepherd;

‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ v

‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Those who have come out of the great tribulation, meaning people who have had to endure persecution, and those who have had to go through constant tribulation of life which was the result of evil’s warring against God. These were those who were redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. They experience abundant life before the throne of God. They allowed the Good Shepherd to guide them through the valley of the shadow of death, and they still trust their Shepherd who now sits on the throne. What an awe inspiring picture. This is what builds my faith up and allows me to face change with courage and joy because I know my Shepherd is Good and He will never leave me nor forsake me.

The Christian faith is about movement. Just like a shepherd moves his flocks around in order to provide the best food, water, and protection for them, our Shepherd moves us through different pastures so we can continue to grow as we trust Him more and more.

We may not know what the next pasture looks like, but we trust the One who is leading us. When we hear other shepherds telling sheep to stay put and remain in the same place, we know that that is not our Shepherd. Because Jesus’ first words to His disciples were “Come, follow me.” And His last words He spoke before ascending to Heaven were, “Go and make disciples.”

As sheep being led by Jesus we know that the next pasture will bring us abundant life. We don’t have to fear evil, because our Shepherd has already laid down His life so that we might truly live.

The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 139:1–6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 10:14–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 10:11–13). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 10:7–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 10:1–6). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

In John 10:14-15, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 10:14–15). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 23:1–4). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.