The Good Shepherd – Part 1

Introduction
I want to begin this morning by considering power. One of the ways of looking at history is by observing the construction and destruction of power. There are periods of history where power is consolidated and then other periods of history where power is dispersed. There’s this constant ebb and flow.

And the cycle works like this: First there is a very small, very powerful group of leaders who begin to abuse their power. And the people who suffer, chafe at it. And they say the problem is that this group of people has too much power. Power is the problem. We need to destroy these power structures through policy, war, or revolution.

It’s what drives people today to raise their fist and say, “Tax the rich.” They have too much power. Currently, it’s the driving force behind critical theory. The claim is that there are segments of society that have too much power and privilege. So we need to tear down these power structures. It could be economic, racial, gender, social, intellectual. But it needs to be destroyed. It’s what’s behind the maxim: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But what happens when these revolutionary forces get their way? It’s chaos. Do you want to live in a society where it’s every man for himself? The lowest point in the OT is described in the book of Judges, “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” How in the world can you survive in a society where we don’t give power to road builders, law makers, law enforcement officers? If you don’t all agree to give a small group power to make decisions on behalf of the whole you will be reduced to complete madness.

So, in a world where chaos reigns there begins to be this sense that leadership is now needed.

It’s what gave Hitler power. Post WWI Germany was struggling, and Hitler promised great things if the nation would just give him power. Every politician preys on the leadership deficits that society senses.

This is what many bemoaned during the pandemic. Give us the power to make international mandates and we can stop this virus.

And so you have this historical yo-yo. Consolidation and dispersion of power. Back and forth. What can we learn from this?

From a purely theoretical level, is the problem power? Answer: no. Power is NOT what created the problem. Corruption did. It’s not a matter of power. It’s a matter of morality. What destroys societies is not power given to a man. It’s a man who uses that power incorrectly. Does power corrupt? No. Power simply reveals the corruption that was already there. And absolute power merely reveals the depth of the dormant absolute corruption that was always there.

What we need is an absolute monarch, a sovereign who is pure, others-oriented, filled with love and will use his ultimate power for our good. The more power you give him, the more of the dormant goodness that was already there is revealed.

What we need is a good shepherd. And that is exactly what we find in our passage today. So turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 10.
Review
Today we are returning to our study of the gospel of John. And since we’ve taken a three week break from the study, I’d like to do a quick overview of where we are in the book.

Remember that John has a very specific purpose as he writes. These things are written that YOU might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God and that by believing you might have life in his name.

Who is Jesus? John is here to answer that question. John wants to reveal Jesus SO THAT you would believe in him. One of the ways John does that is through the I AM statements of Jesus.

And let me illustrate this. If you were to ask me a question, “Jason, who are you?” What grammatical construction must I use to answer that question? I am ______. I am a father. I am a pastor. I am an American. I am a man. Those are identity statements.

In John’s gospel, Jesus gives us 7 I am statements.

So far we’ve run across two of them. After feeding the 5000 he said, I am the bread of life. Just as bread feeds the body, I am the one who feeds your soul. That’s who I am. At the feast of tabernacles he said, “I am the light of the world.” Just as light gives you the ability to see physical reality, I am the light that enables you to see spiritual reality. That’s who I am.

Jesus is claiming to be the spiritual food and spiritual light of mankind. And today we come to two more of the I AM statements of Jesus. I am the door. I am the good shepherd.

These I AM revelations in John chapter 10 are thematically connected to the story of the blind man healed in John chapter 9. It’s easy to forget this. It’s been a couple weeks. There’s a chapter break. But there’s an important connection. Remember, John 9 was this awesome story of the man born blind. Why was this man born blind? So that the works of God might be displayed in him. And when the works of God were displayed in him, what happened? The religious leaders, the ‘shepherds of Israel’ cast him out. The shepherds of Israel were harsh, unfair, and brutal.

And this man might be tempted to look at these powerful religious leaders and say, “Forget you.” You guys are all the same. The more power you give them, the more corrupt they become. The temple courts are filled with them. The synagogues are filled with them. Rome is filled with them.

And he might be tempted at this point to join fists with every other revolutionary fist that has ever been raised to heaven and demand that the monuments of power be roped and pulled to the earth.

Jesus corrects this rebellious attitude, latent in all of us. You want to destroy the concept of a shepherd. That leads only to chaos. You don’t need to destroy the power structure of shepherds. What you need is a good shepherd. These men are thieves and robbers who destroy the sheep; the good shepherd loves his sheep.

Now this kind of leader is so rare, such an impossible gem that we need help identifying him. So let’s try to identify him in our outline this morning: Who is the good Shepherd?

This might seem like an obvious point, but in God’s economy the true shepherd is the good shepherd. Observe how the point is made:

Here’s what he’s getting at: the thief and the true shepherd both claim to be legitimate but only one can be. So who is it? The test, it turns out, is the method of entry. If you can determine how they got in, that will determine who is the true shepherd.

To illustrate, let’s put this in our modern context. In our modern age, we’ve replaced gatekeepers with machines. When you go to a storage unit, you are greeted with a gate. What’s the point of that gate? The point is to separate owners from thieves. Only those who can prove their identity as owners are allowed in. If you punch in your code, that proves you own the stuff, the gate will open to you. A robber knows he will be rejected at the gate. So he has to go around another way. He cuts a hole through the fence. He skirts the security cameras and pulls the tin off the roof and sneaks in to steal what is not his.

That’s the simple idea here. It’s an issue of ownership.

When a shepherd approaches the gatekeeper, he can go straight in through the gate and ask for them. And the gatekeeper will see his ID, he will recognize his face and say, “Good to see you again, your sheep are in stall #3.” He has that right because why? Because he owns them.

The shepherd owns them by virtue of the fact that he was there when the little baby lamb was born. He carried it on his shoulders. He fed it from a bottle. Every day he led it to pasture. He bound up its wounds. He led it to water. That sheep is his. The shepherd is the owner and the owner is the shepherd.

And in the same way, Jesus owns us. Jesus, because he is God, formed us in our mother’s womb, created all food, oxygen, material for shelter to sustain us and keep us alive physically, and opened our hearts to receive the gospel and keep us alive spiritually. By any conceivable metric, he owns us. We are the sheep that are part of his flock and he has the right to lead us. That’s the picture.

Now this has a very practical application for all of us. Jesus owns us. Jesus has the right to lead us. Jesus has the right to look at your life and command you stop, to scare you in the right direction, to prevent you from wandering, to rebuke your foolishness, to say, ‘I know you think good pasture is over there, but I want you to follow me over here where there is better pasture.’

Jesus Christ. He has the RIGHT to do that because he owns you. Ownership is not a function of the will. A sheep doesn’t decide if he wants to be owned by the shepherd. A sheep is owned. It’s an established, objective reality that transcends consciousness, consent, or agreement. But in the case of the good shepherd, the sheep recognize this reality. They happily and gladly consent. That’s our second point.

How do the sheep know the shepherd? Well, in fact, it’s all they have ever known. That baby lamb that was carried and hand fed has learned to trust that this shepherd cares for me and helps me. From a very early age, he learns to associate safety with the shepherd.

Now what you need to picture here is a community sheepfold on the outskirts of a city. You have maybe a stone wall that surrounds a pen and on top of that stone wall you have some thorny plants and bushes. And this sheep pen was large enough to hold several flocks of sheep. At the end of the day, all these sheep come back into town, and flock by flock they enter into this giant cage.

So to my untrained eye, I look at this and see a horrible disaster. Why would you mix all these sheep together? You’ve got 4 flocks of sheep and they are commingling. How are you ever going to separate them back out? But it’s no problem at all. All the shepherd has to do is step through the gate and call to his sheep.

And whatever they are doing, they will hear his voice, their little ears will twitch and turn, they will recognize that voice and they will stop what they are doing and turn and follow. And unlike almost any other animal, only those who are his will follow him. The other sheep will stay. They won’t follow the voice of a stranger.

And the metaphor is beautiful. The sheep knows their master. As a son knows his father, as a daughter knows her mother, the sheep knows the shepherd. It’s an instinct. If you were to ask the sheep, prove to me that the voice of that man is your shepherd, he couldn’t do it. He just knows. It’s a self-authenticating reality.

And so it is with a believer’s ability to identify the voice of his father. As believers, we can discern a fake. We know when something sounds off.

There’s a sense in which every believer is tuned to hear the voice of God. And I mean this in a very subjective, almost mystical sense. Have you ever been in a scenario where a spiritual leader in your life does something and you instantly recoil?

Intimidation: Everyone stays quiet when something is not right because they know that it’s not okay to disagree. False Accusations: Labeling a person with genuine questions as disobedient, rebellious, lacking faith. Manipulation: God gave everything for you, so you should give to him. Why don’t you give to our building program?

Barf.

Sheep are not smart creatures. They get a lot of things wrong. But one thing they NEVER get wrong is the voice of their shepherd. The sheep know. You can’t trick a sheep. “I don’t know what that was, but that doesn’t seem right to me. That’s not the voice of my good shepherd.” And they dig in and refuse to move.

That’s what I’m talking about. They know the voice. How did Jesus lead? Jesus didn’t goad people with sharp sticks. He didn’t guilt or intimidate. Jesus led them and they followed. People were attracted to him so they followed. How do you know if you are a leader? Turn around and look if people are following! If nobody is following you aren’t a leader. If people don’t want to follow, maybe the problem isn’t the sheep. Yes, individual sheep wander. Yes, individual sheep need correction. But as a general rule, the flock will follow the voice of their shepherd.

Now in the context here Jesus is arguing, “You want to know why I am the good shepherd? Because people follow me. People hear what I have to say, and they recognize it. It’s attractive to them and it resonates with the divine imprint left on their soul. They recognize my voice and they identify in me the voice of their master. They recognize in me, the very voice of God.”

Now let’s pause for a moment at the end of these first two points. If you were to diagram the power dynamic between a shepherd and his sheep, how would you do it? How is the power distributed in this relationship? Here’s how it basically works: owner 100%. sheep 0%. That’s very scary. How will that shepherd use his power? And that’s the next point.

Years ago they gave out Darwin awards for people who did really dumb things. People who die by strapping jet engines to cars, drinking coke and mentos… that sort of thing. Do you remember these? The average person looks at these decisions and says, if you do that it will kill you. Why would you do that? But these people apparently lack the common sense necessary to keep them alive.

Now if you had to apply the Darwin award to the animal kingdom, sheep would definitely win. Apparently these animals are incredibly dumb. Most animals, if you release them into the wild, will immediately sense their freedom and thrive in their natural state. But not so with sheep. A wild sheep is a dead sheep. It will get stuck. It will get lost. It will wander into dangerous places. Here’s how unfit for survival a sheep is. Do you realize that if a sheep falls so that it ends up on its back it will die? His center of gravity is so lopsided that he just gets stuck with his feet straight up in the air. I mean what kind of animal is that? They are creatures of habit so they will find grass in a certain area and they will just return there time and time again until the entire area is decimated. Even if a whole field of grass is just over the hill they will be simply unable to find it. A sheep is 100% defenseless. If something wants to eat it, all it has to do is walk up and start chewing.

And you might be asking the question, “Why in the world, would God create such a dumb animal?” I assure you, you wish you would have never asked that question. I think the honest answer is that God needed some material to work with as a metaphor for the human race. To be clear, when Jesus calls us sheep it’s not a very flattering commentary on our condition.

And the primary emphasis of the metaphor is need. We need a shepherd for two reasons: to protect us and provide for us. Without a shepherd we are very vulnerable.

You can break down the responsibilities of a shepherd into two parts: Protect and Provide. What makes a good shepherd good is that he does both of these.

First, he protects. We read here the second I am statement, “I am the door.” If a shepherd was a long way from the city, sometimes he would just make a crude little stick fence structure to hem in the sheep and there would be a little opening and he would lay right across that opening. He was literally the door. He represented the barrier between safety and danger. He was the threshold over which danger must cross. If you are going to harm these sheep you are going to have to come through me first.

So he protects, but he also provides. To Jesus’ listeners, “Good shepherd” almost certainly brought to mind Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. Psalm 23 is among the most well-loved, well-known portions of the OT and even of the entire Bible. It’s quoted in movies. It’s recited over and over at funerals and never fails to comfort and bring hope.

Why? What aspect of having a good shepherd appeals to us? Here’s the answer: it describes the perfect leader we’ve never had. It describes the good leader who uses his strength and power to provide for our needs, protect us, and bring us pleasantness. And this Psalm just drips with it.

What’s the point of this Psalm? The point is, I’m surrounded by the shepherding care of God. The Lord is my shepherd. And because that is true, I shall not want. And the rest of the Psalm is explaining how you are absolutely surrounded by the shepherding care of your GOOD shepherd. And if you pay attention, it’s almost as if Psalm 23 is a video shot in first person point of view through the eyes of a sheep. You as a sheep look beneath you and you see green pastures. You can look beside you and you see still waters. You can look within you and find a restored soul. You can look ahead of you and see that he is leading me in paths that are right for his name’s sake. He doesn’t take wrong turns. I can look around me and see all that is against me, even the valley of the shadow of death, but I will fear no evil because my shepherd is with me. I look behind me and I don’t fear that the next bad thing is going to overtake me. I see goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life. I look all the way ahead of me and know that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The structure of the Psalm allows you to feel surrounded by the shepherding care of God. That’s the main point of the Psalm.

Now step back for a moment and consider the implication. Who is the good shepherd in Psalm 23? “The LORD, YHWH, is my shepherd.” Jesus comes along and says, “I am the good shepherd.” It’s yet another way in which Jesus is claiming authority.

Now, Jesus is going to kick it up a notch further. If you notice, everything is building to a crescendo and climaxing. Let’s just stand back and look at our points.

You can see the escalation here.

It starts with just objective data. Who owns the creature? The Good Shepherd owns the sheep. Then it moves to self-authenticating evidence. Who can testify to this ownership? The sheep can. The good shepherd is known by the sheep. Then it moves to evidence of duty. If he is a good shepherd he will take care of his sheep. The good shepherd provides for his sheep. But finally it moves to sacrifice.

Now the way this self-sacrifice is illustrated is through contrast. Jesus is going to contrast the good shepherd with the selfish shepherd.

If Psalm 23 is the image of the good shepherd, then Ezekiel 34 is the polar opposite image of the bad shepherd, and it’s worth it to just let the Word of God itself define bad shepherding. Now in this chapter God is rebuking the powerful leaders of Israel, the shepherds. He does not rebuke them for having power. He rebukes them for the way they use their power.

So God is about to unload a truckload of condemnation against the leaders, the shepherds of Israel. And it’s not going to be pretty. God says of these evil shepherds:

Wow what a condemnation. To couch this is the language of Psalm 23, the leaders of Israel are my shepherd, and I am starving. They maketh me to lie down in piles of dust while they eat my friends. They lead me beside polluted water and they shave off my fur. They suck the life out of my soul. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, my shepherd has run from his life and left me alone. Surely suffering and danger will haunt me all the days of my life and I will one day end up lamb chops.

These leaders don’t care about their sheep. They use their privileged position of power as a shepherd to serve themselves. Is this not one of the most hated and despised elements of bad leaders? Ancient history is bloated with examples of this. How many stories can you call to mind of the peasants starving in the dust, dying of thirst while the king is banqueting on fine delicacies and bathing in the bathhouses. Modern history is bloated with examples of this. How many CEO’s of companies get involved in some scandalous money scheme, destroy everyone’s pensions, destroy the company, and then walk away with millions of dollars. Forget ancient or modern history, all you have to do is look to the cubicle next to you to see examples of this. All you have to do is look in your own home. All you have to do is look at yourself. It is human nature to abuse the position of leadership for your own advantage.

A good shepherd, who can find?

The choice of a leader is always, will I use that position of authority and privilege to serve those who are under my leadership or will I use that position of authority to serve myself?

And God looks at the leaders of Israel and says, “you worthless shepherds. You take all the advantages I have given you as a shepherd and you funnel them into your own comfort. You guys are supposed to be feeding the sheep but instead you’re feeding off of them. You’re using their wool. Eating their fat. They are starving in the dust and you are well banqueted. You’re terrible!”

Jesus is the opposite. You cannot get more opposite. Jesus not only cares for the sheep, not only provides for the sheep, but in a chilling foreshadowing, he dies for the sheep. At the ultimate cost to himself, he uses all his power for the sake of the ones he leads. It’s one thing to provide for a sheep when it costs you nothing. In fact you might even get paid. I am paid to lead this animal to grass that I didn’t grow and watch it graze. It’s another thing to provide when it costs you everything. The true test comes when you have to choose between your own life and the life of the beast.

And in an incredible foreshadowing of what is to come, Jesus says, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Application
Now I want to address two groups of people.

First of all, there are some here who do not follow Jesus as their shepherd. So I ask you, do you now want to? I hope that by hearing his voice today, it will attract you. You would identify in the good shepherd something you have always wanted. You identify goodness and rightness in that voice. You may have been wandering your whole life, never even realizing you were looking for your good shepherd. But maybe today, you hear his voice, and you recognize it.

So follow him. How? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. What that means is that you follow him instead of yourself and you will be led to safety. He will save you from yourself and others and provide for every one of your needs.

But you have to surrender all. You cannot follow yourself and him. Why? Because he is going in the opposite direction. You have to give it all up. You have to abandon what you think is right and follow completely what Jesus says. What he says about marriage, gender, roles, money, family, how you dress, how you eat, what you watch, what you give, what you do with your time. The good shepherd, because he owns you, has the right to all of that. That scares the snot out of a lot of people. What will he do if I give him the keys to every area of my life?

Remember. He’s the good shepherd. What he will do is lead you to green pastures. He will give you life abundantly.

So if you haven’t submitted to Jesus as the good shepherd, now is the time.

Now there’s a second group, I’d like to address. Those of us who confess Jesus as our shepherd.

If Jesus is your good shepherd, if you know that he will always lead you into good places, if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is always going to use his power for your good, if you know that he will protect you all the way to the point of his own death, then what should you do? Follow him. Listen to his VOICE. Look right into his eye and never break eye contact. Follow this shepherd.

How do you follow him? You obey what he says. You listen to his Words. This book contains the WORDS of the good shepherd. Let’s all do some homework this week. Can we do that?

Here’s the homework:

I’m going to make up a list of 7 major spheres of life.

If Jesus is our shepherd, where is he leading you in these areas? Ask yourself two simple questions about every one of these areas.

“Am I willing to obey everything I know God wants me to do in this area?”
“Am I willing to thank him for whatever he is bringing into this area?”

If you can’t say yes to those questions, you’re really denying his shepherding and guidance. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

God used all of his power to give to you every good thing. He surrendered all of his power to become a man and die for you to give you every good thing. Will you surrender your power and control for a God like that? Let us obey the good shepherd. He is leading us into good places.