Thursday, May 30,
2013, 5:45 a.m. – When I awoke this morning, the Lord Jesus put the song “That Man” in my mind. Speak, Lord, for
your servant is listening. I read John
10:1-30 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010&version=NIV
“Very
truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the
gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who
enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate
for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and
leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them,
and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never
follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not
recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the
Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
Therefore
Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who
have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to
them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in
and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
“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. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares
nothing for the sheep.
“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. 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.”
The
Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is
demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
But
others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a
demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Then
came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in
the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews who were there
gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are
the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus
answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my
Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my
sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 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.”
Three Characters
In reading John 10 this time through, what stood out to me
is that there are three main characters spoken of here: 1) The false shepherds,
2) The true shepherd, and 3) the sheep. So, this morning I believe the Lord
Jesus would have me take a look at the characteristic traits of each one of
these roles described here in this passage of scripture, and how they interrelate
with one another.
False Shepherds
Jesus was talking with the Pharisees. He had just healed a
man who was blind from birth, and the Pharisees took issue with both the man
who had been healed and with Jesus who had healed the man on the Sabbath. Some
of the Pharisees claimed that Jesus could not be from God because, in their opinion,
he did not keep the Sabbath. Others wondered how he could heal a man blind from
birth if he was not from God, so they were divided. The Pharisees insulted the
man who had been healed, and they threw him out of the temple. Jesus came to
the man, told him who he was, and the man worshiped him. Jesus told the
Pharisees that they were guilty, not because they were blind, but because they
thought they could see, and thus they would not humble themselves before God as
did this man.
Then, he continued by telling them that if they did not come
to God through faith in his Son, the true Shepherd, but if they entered into
the fold of God through another way, perhaps through self-righteousness, pride,
hypocrisy, institutional religion, and/or political gain, then they were just
thieves and robbers. The thief, namely Satan, who works through human beings,
comes into the fold only to steal and kill and destroy. In some cases, this is
literal, i.e. there are false shepherds within our churches who are there to
spy on true believers in Christ in order to hand them over to the authorities
to be killed, or to destroy the work of God in and through their lives, i.e. to
kill their testimonies for Jesus Christ, and/or to try to rob from them their
joy and their victories in Christ. Others are there to destroy the gospel
through dilution and manipulation of truth, to steal the life and fruit of the
Spirit of God from the church through man-made religion, and to get rid of
anyone who opposes them.
False shepherds are merely hired hands, so they have no
sense of care or obligation or responsibility for the sheep. When these “hired
hands” see the enemy (a wolf, in this case) approaching, they abandon the sheep
and run away. It could be because they work for the wolf and the intention all
along was and is to hand the sheep over to the wolf (the antichrist or the
beast, perhaps). They may abandon the sheep physically and literally, yet I
believe these false shepherds of the sheep desert the sheep spiritually on a
daily basis when they dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ, when they put
humanistic “Band-Aids” over serious sin, and when they lead their people (their
flocks) to be followers of men more than followers of God/Christ. Much of this
is so subtle and has taken place within the church over such a long period of
time that most of the “sheep” don’t even know they’ve been duped by master manipulators,
liars and deceivers (the attacks of the wolf).
The True Shepherd
In contrast to the self-serving false shepherds of the
people (both in our governments and in our institutional churches) is the true
shepherd, who laid his life down for the sheep. He is the gate (the way, the
truth and the life) into God’s eternal kingdom, and he enters through the gate
(the true way), i.e. he came from God, was called, sent and commissioned of
God, and was and is divine, and has divine authority to be the true shepherd of
the people.
The true shepherd calls his own sheep by name and he leads
them out. He has an intimate and personal relationship with his sheep (his true
followers). He knows each of us, and he cares about our individual needs. He
speaks his words to our hearts, and he leads and guides us in the direction we
should go. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will never placate our sin
or give us the impression that our sin doesn’t matter, but he will always provide
a way out from underneath temptation to sin, and he will always forgive us when
we come to him in humility, confessing and repenting of our sin. After all, he
went to the cross so we could be free from the control of, and slavery to, and
the eternal punishment of sin, so he has a lot invested in our freedom from sin.
His grace freed us, not to continue in sin, but to walk in righteousness and in
the light of his love and truth.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one enters
heaven with God except through him. He is the ONLY way! And, true faith in him
is the ONLY way. We cannot get to heaven through good works, through following
a set of rules, or through our own self-righteousness and self-efforts. Jesus
Christ paid the price for our sins, and it is only through faith in him that we
can be saved from our sins and have eternal life. Jesus said that if anyone
would come after him, he must deny (disallow) himself (his self-life) and take
up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him (Luke
9:23-25). Paul said that the way in which we come to know Christ is through forsaking
our lives of sin, by being transformed in heart and mind (of the Spirit), and
by putting on our new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:17-24). And, John said that if we say we
have fellowship with God, and yet we still walk (lifestyle) in sin, or if we
say we love God and yet do not obey him, that we are liars and we do not live
by the truth (see 1 John).
The Sheep
There is a personal relationship between the shepherd and
his sheep (his followers). Following Christ is not following a religion, creed,
doctrine, forms, practices, rituals, and/or traditions of men. It is not
joining a social club or a religious institution. It is a relationship, just
like we have with people in our lives in the flesh, only not in the flesh and
much, much better! We can talk with our Lord just like we talk with our best
friends or with our spouses, only he understands us completely, inside and out,
and he does not judge us by human standards, for which I am very thankful! He
is to be our first love, and we are to treat him just like we would treat a
first love. We should want to share everything with him. He ought to be
uppermost on our minds and hearts. And, we should desire to please him in all
we do and say. We ought to look forward to our times with him each day, and we need
to be much more passionate about wanting to sit at his feet and to learn from
him each day than we are about the other “loves” of our lives who or which
capture our attention and time.
When we are in intimate relationship with him, and our
desire is to hear from him, then he can lead us in the way we should go. Christ’s
true sheep listen to his voice, he knows them and they follow him. And no one
will snatch them out of God’s hand. What this is saying is that if we are truly
his sheep, we will desire to, and we will listen - not just with our ears, but
with our hearts and minds and with the full intention of heeding what we hear -
to Jesus speaking his words to our hearts. And, we won’t just listen, but we
will follow through with obedience to what he shows us (what he teaches us)
through his word. And, if we are doing that, then no robber should be able to
snatch us away from pure devotion to our Lord or be able to deceive our minds
with their lies and manipulations, but we will, in fact, run away from
strangers. In other words, we should not sit week after week listening to the
false shepherds of the sheep, but many do, to their shame. If we truly know
Jesus, and we are truly in intimate relationship with him, listening to his
voice and obeying what he teaches us, then we should not recognize the voice of
strangers, but only the voice of our Savior.
That Man / An
Original Work / May 23, 2013
Based off John 3:22-36
An argument between
some men
Erupted out of
resentment.
They came to John and
said,
“That man is baptizing
everyone.
They’re going to Him.”
So, John replied, “A
man can
Only receive what is
given him.
You yourselves can
testify that
I said, ‘I am not the
Christ.
I’m sent before Him.’”
The bride belongs to
the bridegroom.
His friends await and
watch for Him.
They are full of joy
when they hear
His voice speaking
words to them.
That now is our joy!
Jesus, the One who
comes from heav’n –
He testifies of
forgiveness.
Yet, so many do not
trust in
His words, and do not
repent.
They will face
judgment.
The one who trusts in Jesus
Christ
Has certified that God
is truth.
Jesus Christ speaks
the words of God.
Those who put their
faith in Him,
Eternal life gain!
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