In John 10 Jesus shares two pictures of who He is. Jesus also shares with us that there is one who would do us harm. In presenting us with who He is and with the fact that there is one who would harm us, Jesus gives us a choice - Who Will I Follow?
John 10:1-2
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Anyone who attempts to get to the sheep by any means but the door is a thief.
The word thief means one who steals by having a specific plan.
The thief, we are told in John 10:10, wants to:
Steal - take something away
Kill - to slay something till it is dead
Destroy - to put an end to something or to make something useless
Jesus offers something very different.
John 10:7
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you I am the door of the sheep.”
Jesus says that He is The Door.
John 10:9
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus as The Door promises us three things.
First, He says we will be saved. He promises us salvation if we enter through Him.
The thief only gives death and destruction.
Jesus, according to verse 10, gives life, and life abundantly.
The word life in this verse is the Greek word Zoë. It means life to the fullest, a vitality of living. It is living, not just surviving. It is the life of God.
God is offering us a quality of life that is eternal and complete.
Second, He says we will go in and out. He promises us liberty or freedom.
The thief only wants trap and enslave us.
Jesus wants to free us to be who He created us to be, our true selves.
John 8:36 says that if the Sons set us free, we are really free.
The word free means to liberate or exempt from moral, ceremonial, or mortal liability.
Jesus, by His death, paid the penalty of our sin.
We are freed from the:
Penalty of Sin
Power of Sin
and
Eventuality the Presence of Sin
It is not that we have done everything right or can ever do anything to deserve Jesus’ gift of His life, but that out of grace Jesus gave Himself for us.
It is also not that we are not responsible for how we live. But because of the grace of Jesus we don’t have to always be looking over our shoulders wondering when our sin will catch up with us. Jesus has dealt with our sin - It Is Finished.
We are truly free.
Third, He says we will find pasture. He promises spiritual food.
When the Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years God fed them with manna.
In 1 Corinthians 10:3 Paul says that they all ate the same spiritual food. It was that spiritual food that gave them the strength day after day to follow God.
In John 4:34 Jesus says that His food is to do the will of the Father. Our food, that which gives us daily strength, should be the desire to do God’s will.
The thief only wants to take from us.
Jesus wants to give to us whatever we need to follow Him.
Life is the choice between yielding our lives to Jesus as The Door or having it stolen from us or killed or destroyed by the thief.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is entering and living life with Jesus as The Door.
John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 10:14
I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me.
Jesus is The Good Shepherd.
Jesus is not just a shepherd.
Jesus is The - one and only - Shepherd.
Jesus is The Good - beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable - Shepherd.
Jesus as The Good Shepherd promises us five things.
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.
First, Jesus promises that He knows us by name.
Isaiah 43:1
But now says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
Think about the sovereign, supreme, all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of everything knowing each of us by name.
The most famous and powerful people on earth don’t know my name, but God (who is more powerful and famous them all of them) does.
I will use one of my granddaughter’s favorite words to describe that fact - AWESOME!
John 10:4
When He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.
Second, Jesus promises to lead us and go before us.
Just as God provided the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire to lead the Israelites, Jesus is the one who goes before us and shows us how to live in obedience to the Father.
It is not just anyone leading us, it is one who claims us as his own. It is the One who we intimately know.
We don’t follow a stranger. We follow One with whom we have a love relationship.
In John 10:11 Jesus says that as The Good Shepherd He lays down His life for the sheep.
Third, Jesus promises to give His life for our good.
Jesus died on the cross not for any wrong or sin that He had committed. Jesus is the sinless perfect One.
Jesus died on the cross for the wrongs we have done and the sins we have committed.
The predators who the shepherd protected the sheep from were there to get the sheep, not the shepherd. But it was the shepherd who put his life on the line for the sheep.
Jesus gave His life so we could live.
John 10:14b-15
I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Fourth, Jesus promises a unity among us as His people with Him and the Father.
In John 17 four times Jesus prays that we as His people will be one with Him as He and the Father are one.
Jesus wants to manifest Himself through us as the Father manifested Himself through Jesus. We are the body of Christ.
In Philippians 3:10 Paul says he wants to know Jesus, to experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection, to fellowship in shared sufferings with Jesus, and to be conformed to Jesus’ death.
Paul wants what we as Jesus followers are to want: to be in complete unity with Jesus and the Father.
John 10:16
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.
Fifth, Jesus promises to remove the barriers between His people.
We as the church need to allow Jesus to remove barriers that keep us from coming together as brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Barriers like:
Church Structure
Worship Styles
Bible Translations
Worship Dress
Generational Differences
Social Standing
Financial Status
Race
The world needs to see a diverse people united by their love and passion for Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is following Jesus as The Good Shepherd.
When you come to the end of this passage in John 10:19-21 what do we find? We find people making an eternal decision.
One group said Jesus was crazy and demon possessed.
One group said look at His teachings and what he does because they are not the words and actions of a crazy demon possessed person.
You have to decide who Jesus. If He is The Door and The Good Shepherd then we need to:
Yield ourselves to Him
Submit our lives to Him
Surrender everything to Him.
Entering The Door and Following The Good Shepherd to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls,
Joe
No comments:
Post a Comment