““I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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.” John 10:11-12
In John chapter 10, Jesus likens himself to two different things. He says, ‘I am the gate’ (v.7 & 9) and, ‘I am the good shepherd’ (v.11 & 14). Two weeks ago, we considered this chapter. I said that Jesus paints us three pictures with his words. We looked at the first two pictures where Jesus, firstly, calls his people out of the world by his voice – ‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out’ (John 10:3), then, secondly, where he becomes ‘the gate’. Jesus is the only way into God’s Kingdom. He is the only ‘gate’ through which we ‘must’ (Acts 4:12) go if we want to become true followers of God.
This is true whatever our background. We read of this in Ephesians 1, where Paul is speaking of the ‘dividing wall’ (v.14) that the Old Testament made between Jew and non-Jew. Christ removes that barrier to relationship with God. Paul says (v.18), ‘through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.’ In John 10, Jesus forecasts this happening. In verse 16, the ‘other sheep’ he mentions, are non-Jews, those who previously were ‘foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world’ (Ephesians 1:12).
Jesus says, ‘I have other sheep that are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.’ The third picture is found in verses 11 -21. It begins with Jesus’ declaration, ‘I am the good shepherd’. In pictures one and two, that we considered last time, Jesus mentions ‘thieves and robbers’ (v.8 & v.1). These are background characters, but they are important. Jesus is using contrast. He paints these people in dark shades, along with someone referred to as a ‘hired hand’ in verses 12 & 13. These figures look very different to the form of ‘the good shepherd’, who is painted in much brighter hues.
Jesus believes that, in order for us to understand what he is, we need to understand what he is not. Jesus is not a thief or a robber. Jesus is not a hired hand. Sheep are an asset. An asset is a useful or valuable thing. To the hired hand, the sheep were an asset. They paid for his wages. He looked after the flock for the owner and, in return, he received money. However, he did not attribute actual value to the sheep. This caused an issue when trouble came.
In this picture, it is when a wild animal threatens the flock. What happens? Well, in the NLT, verse 13 reads, ‘The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.’ The hired hand does not care enough – about the sheep, or about the owner of the sheep. His own life is more important to him than the task he has agreed to do. He stands in sharp contrast to the good shepherd who ‘lays down his life for the sheep’. What about the thieves? Well, they also saw the sheep as an asset. If they could steal them, then they could make a tidy profit. They didn’t want the sheep because they loved the sheep. They just loved personal gain.
Jesus loved the sheep. People, which is what the sheep represent, have an inherent value in the mind of Jesus. We see this in Mark 6:34, where we read, ‘When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.’ Jesus wanted to give. He brought truth into people’s lives. A ‘robber’ is a particular type of thief. This word that Jesus uses is significant. A robber, like all thieves, takes things that belong to others. But they do not steal secretly, when no one is looking. A robber steals by force. A robber gets up close, violating personal space, to get what they want.
One dictionary definition is this. ‘Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by putting the victim in fear’. Jesus is using weighty language, as he often did in these situations. His words were directed towards the religious leaders. Some of them were in that day’s audience. In verse 1 he says, 'Very truly I tell you Pharisees...’ These were members of a particularly strict, religious sect of Judaism. They tried to control people with harsh rules. They had power and influence. People were afraid of going up against them. They put their victims in fear! In Matthew 23:13, Jesus says this,‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.’ Jesus is pointing directly at the false teachers of his time.
He also pointing back to the past. In verse 8, he talks of ‘before’. ‘All who have come before me are thieves and robbers’. We see this throughout Israel’s history. God, through the Old Testament writings, describes Israel’s rulers as ‘shepherds’ (see 2 Samuel 7:7). The vast majority of the leaders of that nation were shambolic. We can say that about its civil rulers, its kings. We can say the same of so many of its priests, its spiritual leaders. Isaiah 56:10-11, tells us that ‘Israel’s watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge... they are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain.’
Ezekiel 34:2-5, is even harsher in its judgement. ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed those who are ill or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.’
Most of Israel’s so called shepherds were like this. King David seems to be one of the rare exceptions to this rule. Indeed, David is a fine example in much of his life. Sadly, David’s life also serves as a warning. When David was a youth, he was employed as a real shepherd. He mentioned his job when speaking about the giant Philistine called Goliath, to Saul, who was King of Israel. David had volunteered to fight Goliath on behalf of Israel. Saul said to David, in effect, ‘You are too young and inexperienced.’ David’s response was extra-ordinary. ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God’ (1 Samuel 17:34-36). Why did David not flee from those threatening animals? Because he valued the sheep. They belonged to his father. He was willing to risk his own life to protect them from harm. Why did David volunteer to stand up to Goliath? Because he valued God’s people, Israel. Because they belonged to the Lord.
So wonderful is this example of David that we see within it a picture of Jesus Christ himself. Jehovah God’s people belong to him. The Father gave them over to the safe keeping of his Son, Jesus (see John 17:6). Jesus does not just risk his life for those that belong to his Father. He ‘lays down his life’ for them. In future years, David becomes King of Israel. In 2 Samuel 5:2, the Israelite tribes come to David, imploring him to be their leader. They say, ‘the Lord said to you, “You shall shepherd my people Israel, and you shall become their ruler.”’ The apostle Paul referred to David in a sermon that he gave at the local Jewish synagogue in a place called Pisidian Antioch. He reminded his audience of words found in 1 Samuel 13:14, where God describes David as ‘a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’ (Acts 13:22).
But, although the record of David’s life has some really good, stand-out things, it also has others that stand out for all the wrong reasons. David did much that the Lord wanted him to do. And then he did things that the Lord did not want him to do. In later years, David, against good advice, took a census. David decided to count all the men of fighting age. David should have known better. Psalm 21 is a beautiful poem that David once wrote. In it, he says this, ‘The king rejoices in your strength, Lord. How great is his joy in the victories you give!’ But, now, this man described as ‘the sweet psalmist of Israel’ (2 Samuel 23:1 (AV)), decides that the strength of his current position lies in numbers of people. As a result of this moment of madness, seventy thousand people are killed in a plague. David confesses his sin and his culpability, ‘I have sinned; I, the shepherd,have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done?’ he says (2 Samuel 24:17).
David also stole the wife of another man. He desired something for himself, and he just went and took it. The Lord sends Nathan the prophet to David. He tells David a parallel story, in order that David’s judgement in that matter would convince David of his own sin. David’s words convict himself. Nathan’s illustration is a story about sheep stealing! (see 2 Samuel 11 & 12). Why do I mention these things – these depressing stories? Because they serve as a warning to us. Even good men, like David, who truly grasped the reality of God’s wonderful truth, were fundamentally flawed. And most of the leaders that Israel had were miles worse than he was. Israel's history is littered with those that did not shepherd in the way that God intended. They served themselves, not the people. And Israel‘s history is also littered with false prophets, and the religious elite who looked after their own interests and valued their own reputations.
These things are depressing, but it is vital that we take notice. Some may argue differently. They may point to the fact that these things happened in a different age, where God’s people, the nation of Israel, lived under the rules of a very different covenant. They may say that this will rarely, if ever, happen in the New Testament church. But could it? Not only could it, but it will. The apostle Peter tells us so, in 2 Peter 2:1. He says this to the church, ‘But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you’. ‘There will be’. It is a certainty. Consequently, the church should be continually on its guard. In verse 27 of John 10, Jesus says, ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.’ It is the word of the good shepherd that leads us out of the world (v.3). It is that same voice that we must always listen to and follow its command.
When the church has a choice to make, which at times, ‘there will be’, between following the philosophy of men, or following the truth of Jesus Christ, then we must choose wisely, we must ‘stand firm’. Peter gives this instruction to the church in 1 Peter 5:8-9. ‘Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith...’ These words are found within a chapter where Peter is also giving instruction to church elders, those given the responsibility for leading and teaching the local church body.
Peter tells them (v.2-3), ‘be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.’ It is so important that the church gets these things right. It is vital. Life, spiritual life, is at stake. The perils of the Christian life are real, but we should not be discouraged. Despite the dangers that surround us, we can still have ‘the full assurance that faith brings’ (Hebrews 10:22). In fact, what boundless encouragement for our faith is found in today’s chapter? Look at verses 28 to 30. If we listen to the voice of Jesus and follow him then we are surrounded with promise that should give us abundant hope. Jesus comes with a guarantee. He says, of his sheep, ‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’ We may be weak but our God is anything but. These verses are talking of almighty power. Paul touches upon this in Ephesians 1:18-19. ‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.’
Like his people, Jesus walked a path of temptation (see Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus stood firm. Hebrews 2 refers to this and gives us the implication to our lives. ‘Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted’ (Hebrews 2:18). In that chapter we also read about power. There we read of the power of the devil being broken. It was broken when the good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep, when he suffered and died on Calvary’s cross. We are told that Jesus ‘shared in their (that is his people’s) humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil...’
Are we convinced? The apostle Paul was. He said, ‘I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:38-39). Ezekiel 34 is so critical of those self-serving shepherds in Old Testament Israel. But it ends with some of the fullest, fattest promises contained in God’s word. I urge you to read it through. It finishes with the very reason why those precious promises are true. ‘You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ David, amidst the evident failures of his life, could rest in this truth. He walked through dark and difficult times, often as a result of his own weakness.
His most famous piece of poetry is what we refer to as Psalm 23 – ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’. In it, he talks about passing through ‘the darkest valley.’ It really was. Other translations call it ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ (AV). David says, ‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley,I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ I will finish with the final two verses (5 & 6) of that Psalm. Its end is a promise. It’s a promise about the end of David, and about the end of every man, and women, and child, that puts their hope in Jesus, the good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep. ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.’
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