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"I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD" |
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Sheep are needy animals; they need a shepherd. Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” In saying this, Jesus is not trying to communicate his love for sheep. He is trying to communicate his love for us. As a sheep needs a shepherd, we need Jesus. Consider: We are very needy people. We easily get lost from God, and we need him to work in our hearts and draw us back to him. Without Jesus, we’d feed on spiritual junk food; we need him to draw us into his Word and feed us spiritual milk and spiritual meat. We are like sheep because we need protection from evil and the evil one, who according to 1Peter 5:8 is like a “roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” We need Jesus to clean us; we need him to forgive us and purify us or sin will continue to suck the life right out of us. And we need him to anoint our wounds with his love so that we can heal and be whole again. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. We are like sheep, and he is our shepherd. Let’s watch John chapter 10, verses 1-21. This is word for word scripture, straight from the Good News translation. (VIDEO) What a great passage! There is so much here. But this morning we are going to focus just on the latter half of this passage, verses 11-18. In these verses, we’ll see how Jesus is the all satisfying God, the great I AM. If you haven’t already, please open your Bibles to John 10:11-18. In these verses, we will see four ways that Jesus satisfies our need for a Shepherd. Jesus satisfies our need for a Shepherd, first, because he: Laid down his life for us In verse 11, we read: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Sheep were easy targets for hungry wild animals. A good shepherd would protect his sheep from these wild animals. Jesus says that he is The Good Shepherd because he loves his sheep so much that he lays down his life for them to protect them. It is interesting to note that when Jesus says “the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” the Greek word here that is translated as “life” does not simply mean “physical existence”; it includes personality and is more often translated as “soul”. In other words, Jesus does not simply give up his physical existence for his sheep, he gives his total self. Now is there any doubt that Jesus, in laying down his life for us, satisfies a great need that we have? God is the giver of life. He made us and gives us every breath we take. But we have walked away from Him. We have turned to our own way. We are in deep and dire need of a savior. We have wandered away from our God, the Shepherd of our souls. Our sin has separated us from God. But God, in his great love for us, humbled himself and became a man – God in the flesh – and died, taking our sins upon himself, suffering and dying in our place to pay the penalty of death on our behalf! God, the Great I AM, the eternal God, creator of heaven and earth – He loves you and me. So much that he became flesh in Jesus Christ and offered himself on the cross so that we could be forgiven from sin and live in the freedom of a relationship with Him, forever. Jesus is the great I AM who satisfies our need for a Shepherd. Why? Because in our great need for a savior, He died for us. Do you realize your need for a savior? Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ to forgive your sins? He lived a perfect life in you place – trust that he did this for you, and you will be declared righteous in God’s eyes! He died on the cross, taking upon himself, in your place, the punishment for your sins! Trust him – trust that he paid the penalty on the cross for your sins, and you will be forgiven. And Jesus rose again! He is victorious over death! And he promises that if you will trust Him, you will rise to life forever as well – life with Him! If you have never trusted Christ, trust Him now! Tell him that you trust Him and that you’ll follow Him and give you life to Him. Without trusting Jesus, you die. But if you trust in Jesus, you live. Don’t wait any longer, give yourself over to him now. He is, after all, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for you! The second way that Jesus satisfies our need for a Shepherd is this: He… Owns us We read in verses 12-13: "The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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." Why does Jesus, the Good Shepherd, sacrifice his life for us, his sheep? Because he owns us. The hired hand will abandon the sheep when things get dangerous, and the sheep will in turn be attacked and scattered, and devoured. The hired hand “cares nothing for the sheep.” Why? Because he does not own them. He is the hired hand. Why is he ‘caring’ for the sheep? So he can get paid! Jesus is here making a big statement about the religious leaders of the day. Were they good shepherds for the people? No! Why not? Because they did it just to get paid. They did not care about the people. Being a religious leader was just a way to live the comfortable, well-to-do life that they wanted to live – at the expense of the sheep! They were the hired hands. They didn’t own the sheep! They didn’t care about the welfare of the sheep! But Jesus is different. He owns us. We are His people. He loves us. And therefore, he protects us and lays down his life in order to protect us. What does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus lays down his life for us and protects us? It means that Jesus wants us to be safe. It means that Jesus wants us to live. It means that Jesus wants us to make good decisions. It means that Jesus wants what is best for us. Question: How are you trusting Jesus these days? How are you living a life trusting Him that he wants what is best for you? Are you reading the Word? Are you obeying it, knowing that Jesus only wants what is best for you? Are you trusting Jesus that when he says, “Go and make disciples of all nations” that he is telling you to do that for your own good? Are you trusting that Jesus commands you to share your faith because sharing your faith will help you experience the abundant life that God wants for you? Or are there certain habits that you have – secret sins in your life – that you know God doesn’t want you doing? Do you trust Jesus that when he says, “don’t do it!” he says it because he wants a better life for you? Are you trusting Jesus that that disobedience to him is a form of suicide? A way of slowly killing yourself? Are you trusting Jesus that when he says to you, “confess your sins and I will forgive you and purify you.” Jesus loves you. He wants what is best for you. And he wants it so badly that he made the ultimate sacrifice – he died for you. Why? Because he owns you. You are that special. Trust him. We have a need to be owned, and only Jesus can satisfy that need. We are valuable because he owns us. Jesus died for us because we are worth it – because he owns us. And how else does Jesus satisfy our need for a Shepherd? The third reason why Jesus satisfies our need for a Shepherd is this: He Values a relationship with us. In verses 14-16, we read: "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." Jesus says, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” Did you know that God made you for a relationship with himself? You have probably heard the famous quote from Pascal: “There is a god-shaped vacuum in every human heart that only God can fill.” You were made for a relationship with God, and there is nothing else that can satisfy that need than a relationship with Jesus, the Great I AM. Did you notice how Jesus describes the relationship that we are to have with him? "I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." According to Jesus, our relationship with Him is supposed to resemble the relationship that He has with the Father. Think of the intimacy that is involved in the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the Trinity! That is the kind of intimacy and love that Jesus wants with us! Isn’t it awesome that the One True God is interested in a relationship with you! Shepherds at the time of Jesus would generally have a small flock. So often times several flocks would be put in a sheep pen together at night. In the morning, when the shepherd would come to gather his sheep to take them out to get food and water, he would use a certain sheep-call that his sheep were familiar with. All of his sheep would come to him, and the other sheep in the sheep pen would simply ignore the call and wait for their own shepherd. Even if a different shepherd tried to call the sheep with the same sheep-call, the sheep would freak out because they would recognize that the voice was not the voice of their shepherd. There would be mass sheep-confusion! Our God is not some God who just gives us a bunch of rules to obey. Our God is a personal God. He wants a relationship with us. In fact, if we don’t have a relationship with Him, we are not his sheep! His sheep hear his voice. His sheep know his voice. His sheep listen to his voice. What does this mean? What does it mean to hear his voice? What does it mean to know God’s voice and to listen to it? The first step is to know his character. If you don’t know God’s character, you don’t know Him. Question: How are you growing in the knowledge of God’s character? How are you hearing his voice? How are you listening for his voice? There are two things that come to my mind when it comes to knowing God’s voice. First, we need to be people who know His Word. By prayerfully reading and studying the Bible, we come to understand his character. We learn more of who He is and how we are to live in a relationship with Him. If we want to hear God’s voice, after all, we would certainly want to hear what he says! And where are we going to find his words? In the Bible, His Word. And secondly, we need to obey. We can know about God by reading the Bible. But we can truly know Him, personally, by walking with him – by obeying Him. If we merely listen to the Bible and don’t act on it, we are just deceiving ourselves. But if we live it out, then we experience a relationship with God. How does Jesus satisfy our need for a Shepherd? By valuing a relationship with us. We need a relationship with Jesus, and we’ll never find fulfillment in life without a relationship with Him. And how can we know him? By knowing his Word and by obeying it. And how else does Jesus satisfy our need for a Shepherd? The fourth way he satisfies our need for a shepherd is this: He… Enjoys serving us. In verses 17-18, we read: "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." Have you ever thought of the fact that Jesus died on the cross because he wanted to? He didn’t want to suffer, but he wanted the results of the suffering so much that he chose to suffer. Jesus didn’t have to die. He chose to. Jesus said: "No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." You and I, we understand this because we deal with it every day. We make choices because we have a good understanding of consequences. Sometimes I do dishes after dinner. Why? Not because I love doing dishes. I want a clean kitchen! It is worth the pain of doing dishes so that I can have a clean kitchen. Some high school students do their homework. Why? Because it is worth it to them! They want the good grades… so they can get into a good college…. And get a good job. Most high school students don’t actually enjoy doing homework. I have never heard, “Wow, I can’t wait to do my homework tonight!” Or, “I can’t wait to spend five hours studying for my biology test!” But they do it anyway. Why? Because they want the grade. Janelle filled up the car with gas yesterday. Why? Because she loves spending money on gas? Nope. Because she so enjoys standing there at the gas station waiting for the gas tank to fill up? Nope! She did it because she didn’t want to have to spend three hours waiting for a tow truck! Jesus didn’t enjoy the cross. But Jesus wanted to die on the cross. Why? We read in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus ‘endured the cross’ for a reason: “for the joy set before him.” Jesus died on the cross for you and me because he wanted the result: he wanted to open a way for us to have a relationship with Him. Jesus enjoys serving us. When he satisfies our needs, it makes him happy. As the Good Shepherd, he serves us, his sheep. Why? Because he enjoys saving us. He enjoys owning us. He enjoys having a relationship with us. He enjoys serving us because he is LOVE. We have a need for a Shepherd, and he says, “I am.” Jesus is indeed the Great I AM. Let us pray… |