The Lord is my Shepherd- how do I know? John 10:1-21 March 16th 2014 By Pastor Ken Keyte

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From Jacob wrestling for God’s blessing, to Elijah’s encounter with the God who whispers his presence, to King David the tough guy who wrote poetry about his encounters with God, we’ve been looking at how different Kingdom builders of the Bible encountered God in all sorts of ways. Which I hope is helping us to understand how everyone is called to be a kingdom builder, empowered through fresh encounters with God everyday- which is a word from the Lord for our church this year. Last Sunday we looked at how King David the tough guy who wrote poetry described his encounter with God while seeking forgiveness from sin in Psalm 51.

But it’s Psalm 23 that’s undoubtedly King David’s most well known Psalm, in which he describes his relationship with God as being like that of a sheep under the care of the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters He restores my sole He guides me in paths of righteousness for his names sake – you know how the rest goes. God as the shepherd of Israel was a well recognised image of God’s relationship with Israel, when David wrote this Psalm, but no-one had ever described their relationship with God as personally and intimately as this before. David was ahead of his time in describing the Lord as his shepherd, in the kind of intimate relationship Jesus would make possible one thousand years after David wrote Psalm 23! But then Jesus interpreted the shepherding motif even more radically than King David had by applying the shepherding metaphor to himself as the good shepherd of the flock! The Lord is my Shepherd- so Psalm 23 saysbut how do I know? 1a The shepherding illustration Jesus used to describe himself in John 10:1-23, helps us answer that question.

I’d like to read it to you. 2

come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 4

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“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. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 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. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 3

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Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have

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“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 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. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 5

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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. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. :18 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.” 6

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival that remembers how Judas Maccabeus recaptured and rededicated the temple of Jerusalem in 165 BC. Israel was ruled by the Greek empire ever since the conquest of Alexander the Great 150 years earlier, and under their influence many Jews had begun compromising their faith with pagan practices. In light of this, Hanukkah had become a festival when hard questions about failed leadership and false shepherds were asked. During the week when Jesus gave his good shepherd sermon, synagogues all around Israel would’ve been reading prophetic critiques of Israel’s leadership.

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The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” 21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of someone possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Jesus gave this teaching immediately before the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah (also known as the Festival of Dedication)- it says in the next verse. Which is a crucial piece of information that helps us understand the significance of what Jesus has just preached.

Much more than just a cute little parable about the sheep and the shepherd and our relationship with God, Jesus was critiquing the false leadership of that time against his divinely authorised leadership as the good shepherd of the flock. Reading Jesus’ Good Shepherd sermon today, gives us an opportunity to do something similar by critiquing the people and things who hold sway over our lifeas we answer the question- The Lord is my shepherdbut how do I know?

The Lord is my shepherd how do I know? He enters through the gate. 7

Jesus was critiquing the Pharisees and religious leaders of Israel who assumed they acting under God’s authority as shepherds of the flock, when actually they were thieves and robbers who were out to steal the sheep! If Jesus was concerned about these false leaders back then, what would he say about the means by which false leaders can influence our minds today?

Back in biblical times, at nightfall, sheep would be herded into enclosures made out of waste high stone walls, topped with thorny branches. One narrow opening in the wall, just wide enough for a sheep to pass through, served as the only entrance and exit to the enclosure. Whenever the shepherd had to leave his sheep for some reason, a night watchman would be stationed at the entrance of the sheep pen. The only person the night watchmen would allow entry to, was the shepherd when he returned. A flock of sheep bunkered up in their pen for the night was a prime target for sheep rustlers, but the only other way they could get into the pen to steal a sheep was to climb over the stony, thorn capped wall. Jesus was likening God to the night watchman stationed at the entrance of the sheep pen, who had granted him access because Jesus is the divinely authorized shepherd of the flock. Anyone else assuming that kind of leadership role must’ve climbed in over the wall and is therefore a thief and a robber!

 Commercial advertising influences our mind to make us think we need all sorts of things to waste our money on.  The internet influences our mind, attracting us to absorb ourselves in all sorts of entertainment, information, and social media, to occupy our time.  Xbox and Play Station baby sit our kids.  Book authors offer all sorts of advice on everything you could possibly ever need help with in order to live a successful and fulfilling life  Block buster movies tell stories about the bad and the good.  Politicians make speeches aimed at gleaning our vote  While TV programmes numb our minds!  And if you’ve got any spare time left over after all that- how about going along to a seminar being run by an expert that’s visiting our town! If the Lord is my Shepherd how do I know whether it’s really the Lord who’s influencing me or someone or something else?

A good question for critiquing what we allow to influence our life is this: Has it entered by the gate or climbed over the wall? 7a i.e. Has what we’ve been allowing to influence our life been authorised by God, or by someone else?!!! Has it entered by the gate or climbed over the wall? The Lord is my Shepherd how do I know? He calls me & leads me out by name? 8

Undeterred she asked the officer, if she could separate them herself would he allow her to then take her sheep home? Which the officer agreed to. A soldier opened the gate to the pen and the woman sent her son in who began playing a simple tune on a little reed flute. At the sound of the flute sheep began popping up their heads all across the pen. All the while, the shepherd boy kept playing the tune and then began walking for home, followed by his flock of 25 sheep. The Lord is my Shepherd- how do I know? He calls me and leads me out to a tune I knowthe sound of him calling my name.

Palestinian Shepherds are well known for knowing their sheep personally. During the Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s the Israeli army empounded all the animals owned by farmers and shepherds near Bethlehem for not paying their taxes. A few days after the confiscation of their animals a woman approached the officer in charge begging him to release her flock because as a widow they were her only source of livelihood. Pointing to the noisy, smelly pen containing hundreds of animals he quipped it would be impossible to find which ones were hers!

In the noisy chaos of life, the sound that should catch our attention above everything else, is the sound of Jesus calling yours and my name. Maybe not in an audible way, but in a very personal, very familiar, very intimate way. Upon hearing the Shepherd calling your name, what do we do? Just like the sheep following the shepherd boy home, we follow the Shepherd out to wherever he leads us to go. But if it’s a stranger’s voice you hear? Then what do we do?

Once again, we follow the example of the sheep, who never, ever follow a stranger’s voice! Like sheep we run away from the stranger because we do not recognize the stranger’s voice! Another good question for critiquing what we allow to hold sway over our life is this: Am I listening to the Shepherd’s or a stranger’s voice? 8a The Lord is my Shepherd how do I know? He’s the gateway to life and green pastures, who makes me whole. 9

Unlike our lush New Zealand sheep farms with green grass for most of the year- (except when there’s a drought!), it was on the edge of a desert that shepherds kept their flocks back in Jesus’ time. From October to March after a good rain the desert suddenly blooms with a surprising variety of plants that are great feed for the sheep. But for most of the year the desert is inhospitable to life. Water is scarce, food is rare, the terrain is treacherous and there’s dangerous predators everywhere!

Psalm 23 offers a shepherd’s eye perspective of the skills needed for shepherding in this difficult desert environment. A good shepherd finds green pastures and still waters to feed and water the sheep, and will do so by leading them along safe mountain paths, while protecting them from the ever present predators who enemies of the sheep. But then Jesus switches metaphors on us by saying that not only is he the Shepherd, he’s also the gate at the entrance and exit of the sheep pen. At night the sheep would enter through the gate for safe refuge, and by day they would to be led out to green pasture through the gate. Jesus is saying, not only is he our good Shepherd, he’s also the gateway through which we enter and are saved and go out to green pasture where we are made whole. By contrast the thief whom Jesus is comparing to the false leaders of Israel, he comes to steal, kill and destroy. The Lord is my shepherd- how do I know? By entering into eternal life through the gateway of Jesus Christ! And by going out through the gateway of Jesus to your home, your church, your schools, your university, your work-place, your sports team, your community group,

to wherever the Shepherd leads you, where he grows us into kingdom builders, for which we’re made whole! So another couple of good questions for critiquing the places we enter and go out to in life are thess:  Is Jesus the gateway through which I’ve entered and been saved?  And is Jesus the gateway I go out through to live, work, study and play?  Or am going via some other way forged by those who steal, kill and destroy? The Lord is my Shepherd how do I know? He laid his life down for me so that I might live 10

A good shepherd would ward off the attacking wolf and stay with his sheep, putting his own life at risk by doing so. (Think of David as a shepherd boy killing the lion with his sling shot) But a hired hand cared nothing for the flock and when a wolf attacked, was likely to run off and abandon the sheep. Once again Jesus was critiquing the character of Israel’s leaders whom he’s likening to the hired hand who cares nothing for the sheep. Whereas Jesus says, “I am the good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep.” The Lord is my shepherd - how do I know? He laid down his life for me so that I might live! One last question for critiquing the character of what we’ve been allowing to influence our life is this: Would they lay their life down for you?

Shepherding was a dangerous occupation back in Jesus day. Hungry wolves prowled at night threatening to attack the flock and scatter the sheep. How the shepherd responded to these threats revealed his true character.

I’ve just finished reading an amazing book lent to me by Barry Utting called Unbroken. It’s a biography about an American runner named Louis Zamperini who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic games (hence my interest in the book). When America entered the war after Pearl harbor was bombed, Louis became a bombardier in a B24 Bomber crew.

Their plane crashed while on a search rescue mission leaving Louis and his pilot floating on a life raft, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where Louie prayed to God, whom he’d never even thought about before that, “If you will save me, I will serve you forever!” For an incredibly 47 days they survived on their life raft, before being captured by the Japanese and and shipped to a Prisoner of War camp on mainland Japan. There Louie suffered horrific conditions, worst of all the brutality of a Japanese prison guard named Watanabe, who they nick named The Bird. Louie looked like a skeleton by the time the war with Japan was finally ended by the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and finally, Louie Zamperini returned home. But he was now a man tormented by the cruelty he’d suffered particularly at the hands of Watanabe who now tortured him night in his nightmares. Becoming obsessed with hatred for his tormentor, Louie fixated upon returning to Japan to take revenge! But he soon wasted his money on foolish ventures, turned to alcohol to sooth his troubled soul, and his marriage began falling apart. Eventually after much nagging from his worried wife Louie went along to hear an evangelist that was in town- Billy Graham was his name. Who preached about Jesus the Good shepherd who’d laid down his life so that he might live!

Remembering the prayer he’d prayed on the life raft, Louie finally realized who it was who’d kept him alive throughout his adversity. That night Louie Zampareni responded to the Good Shepherd’s made through Billy Graham the evangelist – it felt like he was being called by name. Later that evening while tipping out his alcohol stash at home, Louie realized that all the anger and hatred toward Watanabe his tormentor had melted away! Years later when Louie learned Watanabe was still alive he wrote him a letter which he ended with these words: ‘As you probably know, I returned to Japan in 1952 and was graciously allowed to speak to all the Japanese war criminals at Sugamo Prison…I asked about you, and was told that you probably had committed Hara Kiri, which I was sad to hear. At that moment, like the others, I also forgave you and now would hope that you also become a Christian.” Sadly Watanabe rejected Louis’ request to meet him as well as his invitation to accept Jesus as the Shepherd of his life. Watanabe died a few years later.  Is the Lord your shepherd who enters through the gate?

 Is the Lord your Shepherd who calls you and leads you out by name?  Is the Lord your gateway to life and green pastures, who makes you whole?  Is the Lord your Shepherd who’s laid his life down for you?  Does your critique of what’s been influencing your life reveal the Lord as your shepherd or someone else? The Lord wants to be your Shepherd, will you allow him to enter the gate and to lead you out into green pastures, and to make you whole?