Sheep: Designed for Shepherding
Sheep have a bad rap. Well, yes, they are dumb as a box of rocks, they can't fight off anything more serious than rabbits, and they have no idea what's good for them. But where would we get that very useful material, wool, if not for sheep? And what else could God use to model human behavior? He had to make sheep for the metaphor.
There's a sort of pejorative component to discussions of sheep. All through the years people use sheep as examples, and this is accompanied by head-shaking and laughter.
Sheep can't really be faulted. Their design isn't baaaad, and they're woolly, woolly good at producing useful material. There's nothing like wool, in fact. It's naturally water-repellent, springy, tough, and without it the kilt never would have been invented. So, lay off sheep for a time, will ya? They were designed to be incompetent, so that they could be competent in other things.
Our lives are much more complex. We're more capable than sheep. For one thing, we've figured out how to get the wool off the sheep without killing it. Then we figured out how to weave it, dye it, sew it, and how to use it for that marvellous all-purpose protective garment, the Great Kilt, from which the modern kilt is descended. And yet, when it comes to matters of the spirit, we really are, like sheep, dumb as a box of rocks.
We might even be dumber, because we think we know what to do. We think we know God, when all we've done is listen to his patient knocking at the door and respond by saying, "Yah, I know you. Been there, done that, don't need it."
God gets a bad rap, too. He's banging away on the door, and none of us really knows what a shepherd is. I certainly didn't. God had to wait until I was so thoroughly entangled in brambles that even I, lordly manager of my own life for most of my years, had to yell for help or die. There are very few examples that we can look at to see how a shepherd behaves; we get lots of examples of God as the vengeful one, or God as the distant, disinterested manager, but when was the last time you heard Christians meeting to talk about how God continues to shepherd them through life? This is moderately embarrassing. We're supposed to outgrow the direct need for God, or at least not lean so hard on him.
We were designed to have a shepherd. We never were intended to make decisions on what's right and what's wrong. The daily need to make such decisions wears us out and makes life a long struggle with little reward.
Sheep may safely graze when they have a good shepherd, one who is watching out for the things the sheep were never designed to resist. If we just keep our eyes on our shepherd, his guidance will get us through all those sticky situations. He'll tell us where the brambles are, when I'm about to go over a cliff, but he has to have his way with me. I have to trust his guidance and learn to depend upon it. He sees farther than I do, in more detail, and in all its relationship to the rest of the world. He's a good shepherd, and has proven to be far better at guiding my life than I've ever been.
Is it possible for a sheep to feel pride? We'd say that they have little to be proud of, but why not? A really good sheep is being itself. In some regards, I'm a sheep, helpless to fight off the world's bad influences and subject to being tossed out the window or run over. I wasn't designed to resist. I was designed to live every second with God, the Holy Spirit guiding my steps, following Jesus on a path marked out before I was born, and knowing that whatever fight comes along the issue isn't in doubt. Doesn't matter how big the lion is, my shepherd is bigger. The lion is toast.
Jesus: the only way, the Good Shepherd
Here is a commentary on verses 1-19. Please read Eddie C’s post for today’s discussion.
Jesus: the only way, the Good Shepherd
John 10: 1-19
Chapter 10 is a continuation of Jesus’ dialog with the Pharisees. It is important to remember that the Pharisees did not understand the mission of Jesus and/or the nature of their own sin. (ref. 9:39-41 & 10:6). Starting in chapter 10, Jesus teaches that a man who attempts to enter though the back door, is a thief. That is to say, if you attempt to gain salvation by any other way then by the way God has provided, you will not be accepted. The Pharisees thought, as do many world religions do today, that one could attain salvation by performing “good works”. Of course, we understand that this is not the message of the Gospel. Rather, Jesus made a way for us - the only way. Nothing you can do will allow you into the gates of heaven. Sorry, there is no backdoor.
Q: Why do you think people reject Jesus, but still try to be “good” to gain God’s approval?
In this chapter we also see that Jesus makes use of a number if “I am” statements:
v. 7, 9 I am the Door.
v. 11, 14 I am the Good Shepherd.
v. 30 I and the Father are One.
v. 38 I am in the Father.
We know Jesus is the Great “I am” (God incarnate) because he is and can and did. Only He is able to save us. Proof given: death and resurrection. Only He is the way.
Q: How has Jesus (God) shown you that “He is”?
Again, Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Without Him we are lost. And, we know His voice. In fact this Good Shepherd laid down His life for us.
We are not sheep lead to the slaughter, but rather sheep lead to the Father.
Jesus is capable of laying His life down for us because He has demonstrated this in His sinnless life, brutal death and His glorious resurrection. And - He did it all without any help from us.
Q: Since Jesus laid His life down for us, how will you lay down you life for Him?
The truth of Jesus heals us from the blindness of sin. (John 9)
I spoke with James this morning and he said that he has prepared something for us this afternoon. He said that he was very thorough. I look forward to hearing what he has to share.
Never the less, as I usually do, I have done a homiletic on this chapter. Here it is for your benefit:
Title:The truth of Jesus heals us from the blindness of sin. (John 9)
1-12
Jesus gives new sight to a man born.Principles:We are all born blind - that is we are all born into sin.
If we live in sin, then we live in darkness. If we walk in the light, then we will see clearly.
Questions:From your experience, how were you blind? How did Jesus lift your blindness?
8-38
The once blind man gives God the glory for his healing but the Pharisees interrogate him and his neighbors, rejecting his testimony. Principles:If you want to know the truth, ask the right person. (The Pharisees were asking the wrong person.)
When you ask, ask in humility. (The Pharisees were asking to prove their point not to get at the truth.)
Questions:How can your testimony of your faith withstand interrogation?
35-38
Jesus reveals His true self and reproves the actions of the Pharisees.Principles:In the end, the truth will be revealed.
The purpose of Christ is to deliver us from the blindness of sin.
Those who harden their hearts to the message of salvation remain blind.
Questions:
How can we effectively share the new sight that we have received through Jesus with others?
Is there anyone that we can pray for so that they may be healed from the blindness of sin?
John 8:12-59: Light and Credibility
If anyone came up to you and said "I am the light of the world," you'd probably say he was nuts. We live in an age of skepticism.
Nobody really believes anything, at least not after it becomes inconvenient. Especially if it's true, and leads to nothing in the way of self-aggrandizement. So, of course the Pharisees, then and now, respond "You are making false claims about yourself."
How do we know Jesus is credible? Can I trust his light to guide my life? Will he really illuminate what I need to see, or is this just another of the many ways to mislead me? "Be wise as serpents," Paul says, regarding checking stories. The Bereans were known for this, searching the scriptures to find what was true.
Jesus says that his witness is true. Why? Because there are two witnesses: himself, and his Father. Now, on the face of it, this sounds like the good-ol'-boy system: "I'll back you up if you'll back me up, and we'll bamboozle the whole bunch and drag 'em down where we are."
Look at what Jesus did. "Go and sin no more," he said to a known prostitute. "Come and see," he said to some men who asked where he lived. Peter watched all of this from his rather extreme viewpoint, and when asked "Are you too wanting to go away?" said "Lord, who else should we go to? Your words have the ring of eternal life! And we believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God."
They had seen the light with their inner sight. The Holy Spirit had spoken to them, but even he couldn't make headway with the Pharisees who already knew everything. When you live within the cone of your own light, what need have you of more? The hardest thing for Jesus to do is get our attention.
So, what about all this of Jesus and his Father supporting each other? Depends on how you see the character of God. The disciples had lived with him long enough to get a piece of the true picture, and realized that the situation wasn't a mutual back-scratching session. Jesus and his father are the only reliable witnesses we have. Just because we've been burned by others who say they're reliable doesn't mean to reject this seeming self-reverence.
In our world, it's hard to recognize truth. TV, radio, movies, Blogs, all these words blaring forth, all of them claiming to be truth. We really do have to be wise as serpents, and use good tools to separate the great wad of chaff from the few grains of wheat.
Jesus said "If you are faithful to what I have said, you are truly my disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." We, echoing the Pharisees, say "We've never been in bondage to anyone." Oh, the bonds are soft and comfortable, and we've grown up with them. If all the trees on the mountain are twisted, no one knows the difference. Once one tries to stand up, however, rather than emulate this new freedom everyone else gangs up on the one who dared to be difference. Cut 'im off at the knees.
We grow up in a world so raddled by sin that we don't know anything else. It has become normal. We accept all the brutality of our modern world, thinking that this is the way life should be. But it isn't truth! And it sure as Hell isn't freedom.
We fight tooth and nail against freedom. Past broken promises, history, a whole long list of reasons. When Jesus comes along and we begin to scent freedom, well, who knows what will happen? Churches try to tame this impulse, to make it fit in with their system, but Jesus says nothing about systems. He talks much of community.
"Before there was an Abraham, I AM!" Jesus said. Jesus made Abraham, and Abraham was overjoyed at Jesus' coming. He saw the freedom, saw the ending of the old, law-based covenant and the coming of the new. He thought "This is where it's at! Where everything I did was leading! Oh, come the day when all this turmoil is ended. Yay, Jesus!"
Light, folks. That's where it's at. "In the beginning was the word was with God and the word was God. In him appeared life and this life was the light of mankind. This light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out."
Satan and the Pharisees have no chance. Go where the light is.
