“The Good Shepherd”
Acts 4:5-12 John 10:7-18
What does Jesus mean by referring to himself as the door or gate? When the British evangelist G. Campbell Morgan was traveling across the Atlantic on a steamer he noticed that among the passengers was Sir George Adam Smith, the most famous Old Testament scholar of the time. The greatest preacher of the day…Morgan…and the greatest Old Testament scholar…Smith…had a great time as they traveled together. Morgan said that of all the tales Sir George told of the East this was the one that he especially liked. He was one day traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him. The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Sir George said to him, “That is where they go at night?” “Yes”, said the shepherd. He was not a Christian, he was not speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from the Arab shepherd’s standpoint. Sir George looked at him and said, “What do you mean by the door?” Said the shepherd, “When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.” That is how Jesus meant it. Jesus was saying, “I am the living door. In order to go into the fold, you must go through me. Likewise, to go out to pasture, you must go through me. As the door I am the protector and I am the provider. When you come in the door, you are not only saved, but you are safe. When you go out through me, you go out to lush pasture. I am the provider. Nobody is coming through that door except the one who comes through me. In this passage Jesus was saying that through him the saved go in and out and find pasture, which leads to the life that they may have to the fullest. Christ provides abundant…full life for his sheep. What is abundant life? Many suppose it is an abundance of things. Not so! Money can buy many things—it can even buy a pasture, but it cannot buy the peace of salvation. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, the hired hand 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. In the same way…substitutes for Jesus leave us. “I am the good shepherd,” Jesus said. “I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” Because they know me they know I lay down my life for the sheep. Knowing…having a relationship with Jesus…as intimate as his relationship with the Father makes all the difference. In Matthew we read about Jesus having compassion because he saw his sheep scattered and cast down. The word translated “compassion” there conveys the idea that he felt it in his stomach. His stomach turned with compassion. Jesus is no hireling…no substitute, like some wannabe shepherds who come to us today. His heart was full of sacrificial love. Notice that four times this Scripture says that Christ laid down his life for the sheep. This is like a refrain from the Lord’s own personal song with each stanza ending, “I lay down my life for my sheep.” Such is the good shepherd’s heart. Christ devoted his whole life to us…to each of us…each day and finally gave it in an act of supreme sacrifice. He laid it down through his own initiative. The soldiers…with all their might…did not capture Jesus at Gethsemane. He could have called ten thousand angels if he had wanted. His very words cast them back, but he gave himself up. Remember how Scripture describes his death on the cross? “He gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30) Jesus says in verse eleven, “I am the good shepherd.” In verse 14 he repeats, “I am the good shepherd.” Two different Greek words are sometimes translated to good in English. One means good, morally and naturally. The other more closely means “beautiful.” So some translators render the two phrases “I am the shepherd, the beautiful shepherd.” Years ago the British theologian C. H. Spurgeon wrote it this way. “There is more in Jesus, the good Shepherd, than you can pack away in a shepherd. He is the good, the great, the chief Shepherd; but he is much more. Emblems to set him forth may be multiplied as the drops of the morning, but the whole multitude will fail to reflect all his brightness. Creation is too small a frame in which to hang his likeness. Human thought is too contracted, human speech too feeble, to set him forth to the full….He is inconceivably above our conceptions, unutterably above our utterances. “ Such is the shepherd we call our Lord. He is altogether lovely—this beautiful Jesus, our shepherd…the good shepherd. Why is he so good? Because of the way he relates to you and me…calls each of us by name…intimately knows us…and sees to our every need. Why is he so good? Because he is the door. When we go in through him we find protection and salvation. When we go out with him in the lead we find pasture and abundant life. Why is he so good? Because of his heart. Because he laid down his life for his sheep. And he offers us all a place with him…every day…and eternally. Jesus said, “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.” Before the foundation of the world, my name was in his book, and so was yours…the book of those for whom he wants to be the good shepherd…for whom he wants to be the gate and the door. When he laid down his life, he became the door of salvation and the door of abundant life…for each of us. Let us close today by reaffirming our faith that the good shepherd will guide and protect us…reaffirm our covenant with God. Please turn with me to page 51 in your hymnals.