Wednesday in the Word...John 10:1-6...and a new friend!

The man speaking at this old time camp meeting is Aaron.  He pastors a church in the area and has done so for 12 years while providing for his family through the roofing trade.  His message last night on the Lord's Supper was great.  "Took, blessed, broke," and "gave" were the verbs he focused in from Matthew 26:26-29.

In this area, Aaron is the norm.  Every pastor I have met so far holds down one or two jobs or is retired and still working while leading a local body of believers and some even two!  The man sitting in front of me with the white shirt and hair is Gary and he pastors two congregations and is an electrician by trade with his own work van. 

This is the extreme opposite from the situation I was previously in and I feel very blessed to focus solely on this church but also a little behind to the men who have the benefit of being constantly around others in the world.  Having been in both situations I see the benefits of both.  I am thankful that God can give the minister a sermon from His word in an air conditioned office or on the steaming hot rooftop.   

Wednesday in the Word moves us into a new chapter of John.  We are in chapter 10 and covering verses 1 through 6 this morning.  Verse 1 says,...

v.1 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber."

Jesus is continuing to speak and starts with another "truly, truly" statement.  The "truly, truly" comes before something uttered by Jesus figuratively "craved in stone."  It is a truth statement that is true and doubly true for Him to say "truly" twice.  What is this truth statement?

The shepherd is going to come to his sheep by the door of the fold.  Jesus is telling His disciples that He will come a certain way and the certain way He will come will be told by Him to them.  If someone comes by a different way or tells them something different than what He has told them is someone other than Him.  The imposter is not the shepherd but a thief and robber.  

How many ways are there to God?  The world would tell you that there are many but Jesus is saying there is only one and it is how He says it is.  There is no other Shepherd.  There is no other Savior.  There is no other Sacrifice.  There is a proper way, through the fold of the sheep pen, that the shepherd will come.  He will not hop over the fence.  He will not come from the back side of the fold.  He will approach the door and come in the way he says he will come in.  This is the truth that Jesus wants His disciples to hear, proclaim, and hold to when other "so called" shepherds hop the fence into the pen and claim they have "another way."  

The thief and the robber have the motive to steal 

while the motive of the shepherd is to care for and lead.

v.2, 3 - "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

The Shepherd is going to come by the door.  Jesus is going to come a certain way.  While He is gone, doorkeepers, or under shepherds are in care of the flock.  These doorkeepers, under shepherds, keep presenting the Shepherd to the flock.  They keep speaking the Shepherd's words.  They keep sharing of what the Shepherd has done.  They keep showing what the Shepherd is like by their very lives being an example.  

It is not the voice of the under shepherd that the sheep hear but the voice of the Shepherd.  The under shepherds, the doorkeepers, don't save the sheep but only the Shepherd, Jesus.  They have a very important role to play to keep the Shepherd the focal point of the fold and not some intruder from another way but it is limited because the under shepherd is like the sheep also in need of the Shepherd.

The voice of the Shepherd is a "calling" voice and the "leading" of the Shepherd is not from behind like we do in our western culture but from ahead.  We, as sheep, follow our Shepherd.  We are not driven by Him.  Maybe you see that western movie in your mind with the cowboys on horses "pushing" the herd.  The scene is very different here.  Jesus, the Shepherd, is out in front of us, doing what we could not do for ourselves, providing the necessary requirements to go where we are going, and we follow wherever He leads us.  

Jesus is leading us somewhere and who He leads he knows by name.  We not only know His voice but He knows our names.  Do we pause at this moment and find ourselves on our knees before Him?  Buzz Aldrin, astronaut on Apollo 11, said on the return trip to earth from the moon, 

"This has been far more than three men on a mission to the moon. 

Personally, and reflecting on the events of the past several days, 

a verse from Psalms comes to mind: 

'When I consider the heavens, 

the work of Thy fingers and the moon 

and the stars which Thou hast ordained, 

what is man that Thou art mindful of him?'"

Do you quote Psalm 8:3, 4 when you read that the Shepherd came, called, and led you by name to where He has been so you can be with Him forever?  Or echo the works of the Casting Crown song, "Who Am I?"

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt?

Who am I, that the bright and morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart?

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are

v.4, 5 - "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.  A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."

Stranger Danger!  We teach this to our children but many times we allow strangers to influence the direction that we go spiritually.  True sheep run from the strangers.  They simply will not follow them.  They are so in tune with the Shepherds voice that they recognize immediately that the voice of the stranger is not the voice of the Shepherd.  

They don't debate the stranger who has the motive to do harm but they flee from him.  The doorkeeper, the under shepherd, steps in with the words of the Shepherd for those are the only words that hold true authority and protect the flock of the Shepherd with His very words.  The under shepherds are to do as 1 Timothy 4:12 instructs and also 1 Peter 5:1-3.

"Let no one look down on your youthfulness,

but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity,

show yourself an example of those who believe."

"Therefore, I exhort the elders among you,

as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ,

and a partaker also of the glory what is to be revealed,

shepherd the flock of God among you,

exercising oversight not under compulsion,

but voluntarily, according to the will of God;

and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

not yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge,

but proving to be examples to the flock."

v.6 - This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.

Jesus gave them this beautiful picture of being their Shepherd, patterned much after the imagery of Psalm 23 but they didn't grasp the fullness of it.  Jesus would continue to explain and display the full extent of His love for them and for us.  He would "unpack" this metaphor and continue to give the invitation to them to "hear His voice" calling them into salvation with Him that will come through His sacrifice on the cross.  Jesus will lead them to the cross.  Jesus will show the Shepherd giving His very life for His sheep.  

It is a lot to grasp in the beginning.  Maybe at the start of salvation all we get are the basics but Jesus wants us to know how deep this love is that He has for us.  He continues to sanctify us to be aware of His leading over every area of our lives.  This responding to His call requires us to sit at His feet to listen to everything He has to say.  Does the Shepherd have that place in your life?  Instead of "making room" for Jesus in your schedule, have you given your schedule over to Him to perfect so you can know His voice?  Let us pray.

"Heavenly Father, may we hear Your voice.  May we heed to Your words.  May we flee from those who have another message and hop over the fence and not through the door You have provided.  May we continue to be amazed at the extent of Your love for us and becoming ever aware that our knowledge of it is growing to the fullness of what You have done.  Amen."

Pastor Adam