The Good Shepherd
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
Psalm 23.
Prayer
Good morning, again.
If we haven’t met before, my name is Chris Lumsden...
This morning we’re progressing in our year-long sermon series “The Year of Biblical Exploration” where we are walking through the entirety of the Bible, seeing how it is a library of texts, both divine and human, with a unified story that leads to knowing Jesus and growing in Jesus.
There are 52 Sundays in a year and 66 books in the Bible, so the math doesn’t work out for us to talk about every book, but we’ve touched down in many books of Bible, seeing how each contributes to the beautiful tapestry that is the biblical story.
And the goal of this year is not to get more Bible into your life, like trying to fit in a workout in your schedule, but the goal is to get more of our lives in the Bible. To see our entire lives through the lens of Scripture.
Why would that be the goal? Because that’s how Jesus lived. And we are followers of Jesus, we view him as the main focus of the whole Bible, and so we want to adore the Bible like he did.
I am currently a student at Western Seminary, on track to graduate in the summer of 2024 when gas prices will be higher than my tuition. And the class I’m taking now involves watching video lectures by Josh Mathews, who is the brother of our own elder of Gateway Chapel, Mike Mathews.
And for me, that means it literally feels like I’m watching videos by Mike because Josh is nearly identical. Here he is!
And I don’t have a video clip to share his voice with you cuz that might be copyright infringement or something, but his voice sounds just like Mike. Mike, say something! He sounds just like that.
But Josh said something this week that made me think about our sermon series that we’re in right now…PAUSE
where we’re asking, “Who is Jesus?”
We’re in our fourth week of this series and we’ve said that, “Who is Jesus” is the most important question anyone will ever answer.
But maybe you’re thinking, “Chris, I’ve been in the church my whole life. I don’t remember a time before Jesus. I’ve answered this question. I know who Jesus is. Maybe this is for someone else.”
In his video lecture, Josh who looks and sounds like Mike, quoted from scholar George Guthrie, who said this:
“Your perseverance in the Christian faith will be in direct proportion to the clarity with which you see who Jesus is and what he has accomplished on your behalf. If you and I become fuzzy about our thinking about who Jesus is, it is going to affect our perseverance in the faith.” - George Guthrie, The Structure of Hebrews
Burn out is a hot topic these days, isn’t it. In nearly every industry, people are talking about it. And I think it applies to the Christian life, too. It’s been hard, hasn’t it? So how do we keep going? We have to be clear on who Jesus is.
So who is he? In John’s gospel, Jesus tells us. Seven times Jesus says, “I am ______________.” It’s like his name tag.
He says
The bread of life
The light of the world
The gate for the sheep
The good shepherd
The resurrection and the life
The way, the truth, and the life
The true vine
And today we’re looking at John 10:11-21 where Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” The most important question in life is, “Who is Jesus?” And our longevity following Jesus is directly tied to us seeing him clearly. And he says, “I am the good shepherd.” What does that mean?
Pray
We’re in the gospel of John, and John is very clear about why he wrote this text about Jesus.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Every word is intentionally chosen to guide us to life through belief in Jesus.
And so the last few weeks we’ve read how Jesus is the bread of life, he’s the light of the world, he’s the gate for the sheep. And this week in John 10:11-21 we read Jesus say, “I am the good shepherd.”
Even though we’re 7 days removed from last week’s sermon, Jesus is still in this text in the same context from last week’s text when he said, “I am the gate.” We’ve broken this into two sermons, but it was really one train of thought in response to one situation. And that situation was that Jesus had just healed a blind man, but he had done it on the Sabbath which greatly upset the religious leaders of the day. In John 9 we read of Jesus healing a man born blind and how this man came to faith. But the religious leaders were so upset that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, a day when they believed you could do no work at all, they held this inquisition of the blind man and threatened to kick him out of the community.
So Jesus contrasted his leadership with the Jewish religious leaders by talking about sheep, and gates, pastures, and shepherds.
And that leads us into our text today as Jesus continues his dialogue.
John 10:11 (ESV)
11 I am the good shepherd.
What does Jesus mean by good?
I was taught from an early age that good is not the best word.
If you’re a writer, and you write, “One day the man awoke to a good sunrise and had a good day.” You probably won’t make it as a writer.
If you leave a review on Yelp for a restaurant and say, “It was good.” What’s that, 3.5 stars? Maybe 4?
Why doesn’t Jesus say “GREAT” or “FANTASTIC” or “THE BEST”?
The image of being good or goodness is at the core of God’s identity. God is good, creates good, and does good.
Like God himself, goodness is a mysteriously vast well from which comes everything pleasant, life-giving, delightful, and lovely in our world.
And yet, God’s goodness is one of the first things we doubt when things go bad.
If God is so good, why is my marriage so bad?
If God is so good, why is our world such a mess?
If God is so good, why do bad things happen to good people?
Those are real concerns.
But Jesus says even though there is darkness in the world, I am good, I am connected to the fountain of all that is right, and pure. In a sense, Jesus is saying I am the ideal shepherd.
But if Jesus wanted to show his superiority, his divinity and power, why say I’m a good SHEPHERD? Why not a king or warrior?
For one, shepherding and sheep was a common staple of the economy. He’s borrowing a common image they were very familiar with to make his point. It’d be like Jesus saying, “I am the good real estate agent.”
Additionally, shepherding and sheep was an image the Old Testament used for God and his people. Jesus likely had Ezekiel 34 on his mind.
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.
Are these shepherds good or bad? So Jesus is contrasting himself with those leaders.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.
23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
By talking about shepherds Jesus is implicitly identifying as the promised shepherd in this text.
Finally, people expect him to say he’s the king. People hope he calls himself a general, a warrior, a chief who will use impressive military force to destroy God’s enemies. But Jesus had his eyes set on a greater enemy, one that couldn’t be killed with a semi-automatic rifle.
And shepherds aren’t weak. Maybe you think of shepherds like this.
That shepherd wears a lot of makeup.
Shepherding was an exhausting, rough, and sometimes dangerous profession. Jesus isn’t the nice shepherd, he’s the good shepherd.
So what makes Jesus the good shepherd?
The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself.
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.
Jesus emphasizes his willingness to lay down his life for the sheep. He says the phrase 5 times in our text.
A good shepherd doesn’t see danger and go, “Whoa, I didn’t sign up for this! I’m out!”
“Hey I got a message on LinkedIn from a recruiter and they’re offering more money to be fishermen so I’m gonna leave. Peace!”
The good shepherd is for the sheep, enough so that He will die for them.
That obviously doesn’t mean the shepherd finds the nearest cliff, jumps off and says, “See how much I love yoooooou!”
The inference is the sheep are in danger and need immediate action. The shepherd is single mindedly focused on the good of the sheep, willing to put their own protection aside to save them.
King David was a man after God’s own heart. And David was a shepherd. And it says in 1 Sam.
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.
David proves his ability to fight in battle by asking Saul to look at his reference as…a shepherd.
Jesus’ self-denial places his shepherding above others.
Peter talks a big game about his willingness to die for Jesus.
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
But Jesus eventually dies for Peter, and asks him to be a shepherd in John 21 and feed the sheep.
Jesus risked his own life to care for his friend Lazarus, which we will read about next week. Lazarus was ill and died, but Jesus wanted to go revive him. But this meant going towards Jerusalem which posed great danger to Jesus.
8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
Like a firefighter running into a burning building, or a shepherd drawing the attention of a hungry bear, Jesus’ resuscitation of Lazarus put a target on his back that would eventually lead to his hands and feet nailed to a cross.
My job is lead pastor. Pastor is directly connected to the word shepherd.
Reflecting on this passage this week I realized how great of a pastor Jesus is, and how mercy I need.
How much am I willing to sacrifice for you all? I don’t know…definitely not as much as Jesus.
No one’s motives for anything are perfectly pure. If we waited to have the perfect motivation to do something, we’d never do it.
My main job continues to be not pointing you to myself, but pointing you to Jesus.
Jesus’ motives for you are pure. He would die for you again. He would lay down his life again. He is for you, Gateway Chapel.
The second reason Jesus is the good shepherd is because...
The Good Shepherd knows each and every 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. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
Jesus also said earlier in John 10...
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.”
Ancient sheep pens had multiple flocks of sheep. Each flock would have a different shepherd and in the morning the shepherd would come and call his sheep through some unique call, coming to different points around the pen so the sheep could hear them. The sheep would know who their shepherd was by the sound of his voice. And the shepherd would know each sheep by name, “Hey there’s fluffy, scar, slow-poke, chubster, baby face” and would know if they were all accounted for or if someone was missing.
There is mutual knowledge. The sheep know the shepherd and the shepherd knows them. Jesus says it’s actually just like he knows the Father and the Father knows him. So Jesus’ depth of knowledge and intimacy with the first member of the trinity is the same as his knowledge and intimacy with his own people.
And the Jews would say, “Amen!” to this because they were God’s sheep, as we read in Ezekiel 34. But Jesus says, “Actually, there are more sheep not in this pen. I have to go get them, too.” Who’s he talking about? Us! The Gentiles!
And this is beautifully prophesied in Revelation.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
The Shepherd knows each and every sheep. He knows your name. He speaks to you. And those who listen to him and respond he calls his sheep.
A shepherd has a good understanding of their sheep’s capabilities. A bad shepherd would expect too much of their sheep.
No good shepherd would yell at their sheep for failing to fight back against a wolf. No good shepherd would be mad at their sheep for being tired after hiking up a hill. No good shepherd would be shocked that their sheep did something dumb. They’re sheep.
Jesus knows you and I are weak.
And that actually doesn’t deter him from loving us. Our weakness is not a hindrance to him being for us, it is the exact reason he graciously bends down to carry us.
Jesus is not shocked that you get impatient....Jesus knows your dark thoughts. Jesus knows you are tired. In the same way that he knows the greatness of God the Father and is fully motivated to see you and I grow in the goodness that reflects his character.
But Jesus’ knowledge goes deeper because this good shepherd actually became a sheep.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
There would be things you could share today with someone that would surprise them. Jesus isn’t surprised. He knows you and he wants you to listen to his voice. What might he be saying to you today?
The third and final aspect of Jesus as the good shepherd is...
The Good Shepherd is powerful.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
An experienced shepherd would know what to do when a pack of wolves attack. Even though it looks out of control, a good shepherd would be powerful enough to take charge and care for the sheep.
There is no greater power than the power over life and death.
The word John uses for authority is primarily interpreted as authority, but also as right, or jurisdiction, or freedom, but also power. Jesus is saying that his death and resurrection are within his God-given authority and power.
Jesus is powerful and in control even when it looks like he isn’t.
"You must utterly believe that the circumstances of your life, that is, every minute of your life, as well as the whole course of your life—anything, yes, everything that happens—have all come to you by His will and by His permission. You must utterly believe that everything that has happened to you is from God and is exactly what you need.” - Jeanne Guyon, Experiencing the Depths of Jesus
Really? Mental illness? Disease? Death itself?
Jesus’ power often doesn’t look like we expect. And this is seen through the lens of the cross.
Jesus freely chose to save Lazarus, knowing full well it would bring him within range of his murderous enemies. The wolves surrounded Jesus and it looked hopeless. The Pharisees crafted a plan that brought Jesus on trial before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
On the surface, Pilate had much more power than Jesus. Jesus, you’re the king? You and what army? All your disciples abandoned you!
Jesus’ version of power looked like weakness. But it was actually true power in action as Jesus was fulfilling his role as the good shepherd, laying down his life for the sheep.
In Acts, the early church prayed to this effect...
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
God gave the power of life and death to Jesus so that through his predestined life, death, and resurrection, he might find a way to save the sheep. So now we who hear his voice and follow him are invited to view every situation within our lives, even the ones that look like death, as invitations to step into his power.
If I had a dollar for every time a plan changed in the last two years, I could fill up my gas tank. And my knee jerk answer when someone tells me, “This is what happened totally out of the blue” is “MAN THAT’S AWFUL!”
And it’s good to empathize, absolutely.
And also, if we trust Jesus’ power was seen most clearly on the cross…maybe an additional comment is, “I wonder what God is up to.”
We invite our own souls and those of our friends and family to look through the lens of the cross, that the Good Shepherd is powerful.
Our text concludes in verses 19-21...
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Josh McDowell coined the phrase that Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or he is Lord. And it’s true because Jesus saying I’m the good shepherd forces us to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?” So ask yourself, who do you say that Jesus is?
But again, maybe you’re saying, “Chris I’ve been praying Psalm 23 for a long time, I know Jesus is the good shepherd. I’ve checked that box.”
Why does this matter to me?
I think it goes back to what we said at the outset…the degree to which we see Jesus as the Good Shepherd clearly is the degree to which we will trust Him.
The degree to which we see Jesus as the Good Shepherd is the degree to which we will walk by faith.
It’s the entire message of the book of Hebrews! Elevating Jesus in order that we may be encouraged to be faithful husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, employees, employers, retired people, neighbors, friends, voters, etc.
The degree to which you view Jesus as for you, is the degree to which you’ll follow him. If you feel the weight of the Son of God dying for your benefit, that changes how you parent, how you feel fulfillment in your work, how you feel compelled to love your spouse.
The degree to which we view Jesus knowing you, unsurprised by your weaknesses but yet pursuing you in love…is the degree to which you will be motivated to know and pursue him, it’s the degree to which you’ll want to open up to him in prayer.
The degree to which we view Jesus as powerful even when situations look insane, is the degree to which you can persevere when life is hard.
How do we see Jesus more clearly?
We need to hear his voice. Consider grabbing hold of Psalm 23 this week. Find a way that works for you to meditate on this Psalm. Write it down. Put it on a card. Set it as your screen saver. Put an alarm on your phone to have Psalm 23.
Write down on the sermon notes one way you could see Jesus as your shepherd this week.
Communion
Announcements
Baptism Sunday! Give directions to Colemans.
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Baptisms
Good afternoon everybody!
Welcome to Steve and Shari Coleman’s house, Coleman Point. Thanks for hosting us!
Why are we here?
We’re here because of Jesus. We are here to celebrate with Shari Coleman, Jim Watson, Micheal and Landyn Whitson as they respond to Jesus.
They’re taking a big step today, it’s not easy to do this in front of all of you, there’s a lot of nervous energy.
But we’re here because Jesus took the first step. Jesus came to the world and died in our place for our sins, and was raised to new life and now through faith in him we can experience true life.
And baptism is a symbol of uniting with Jesus by going under the water you’re uniting yourself with him in his death for you, and coming out of the water you’re identifying in his resurrection. And Jesus commanded all his followers to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit as a way of publically identifying with him.
So what we’re going to do is I’m going to get in the water. Mike is going to help me because in general you want him around.
And these guys, starting with Jim, are going to share their stories of why they’re following Jesus into baptism, and then we’re going to baptize them. And when they come out your job is to make as much noise as possible. And then we’ll keep eating and hanging out.
The payoff for all of you is you get to hear different ways God is working in your church family. To get to know each other better and celebrate God’s work in our lives.