I AM the good shepherd

I AM the good shepherd

I am the Good Shepherd.

These are the words of Jesus in John 10:11 & again in v 14.

Let’s explore the implications of Jesus as the Good Shepherd in light of the Biblical context.

Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.  A shepherd is one who herds sheep.  Is that what Jesus did?  Was his profession to herd those white fluffy animals?  Mark 6:3 implies that he was a carpenter.  Jesus didn’t literally herd sheep.  Just as Jesus wasn’t literally made out of flour, yeast, butter and salt though He is the bread of life.  Nor did Jesus have literal roots that fixated him into the dirt as he photosynthesized though he is the true vine.  Nor did Jesus literally illuminate his area, making things optically visible, though he is the light of the world.  Nor does Jesus swing on hinges though he is the gate.  Jesus uses these metaphors in order to communicate spiritual realities.  

Today we want to explore what spiritual realities are communicated by Jesus’ statement, I AM the good Shepherd.

As I said earlier, a shepherd herds sheep.  Have you ever noticed that most other animals don’t have a human that follows them around, herding them?  Where’s the lion herder?  What about the anteater herder?  No one is putting forth this much effort to tend to other animals; why is it that they do so with sheep?  

WHY A SHEPHERD?

SHEEP ARE MISERABLE CREATURES – A POOR EXCUSE FOR AN ANIMAL!

• Sheep are fearful, timid, stupid and stubborn
• Startle easy, but don’t have a good sense of danger, could nibble self off of a cliff
• They make mistakes and don’t learn from them; they repeat them
• Wander off, get lost, can’t find way home even when pen is in plain sight
• Sheep require endless attention and meticulous care 

THEY NEED A SHEPHERD (one who herds the shep/sheep – a SHEP HERD)

• When sheep are thirsty, they become restless and begin to search for water. They will drink any water they can find – even polluted water that can cause disease – so a shepherd must lead them to clean, refreshing water that can satisfy them and keep them healthy.  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD
• If a sheep is turned over on its back it cannot get up again.  In this case a sheep will die unless its shepherd gets to it in time to “right it.”  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD
• Sheep are defenseless animals (no claws like cat, no needles like porcupine, scent like skunk, teeth like lion). Thus, they are in constant need of protection, shepherds protect them.  SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD

ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, GOD’S PEOPLE ARE SHEEP.  Over and over, the Bible compares God’s people to these fearful, timid, stupid, stubborn animals who require endless attention and meticulous care.

• Psalm 79:13  Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Psalm 100:3  Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.  It’s no different in the NT…
• Matthew 7:15  "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Matthew 10:6  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.
• Matthew 25:32-33 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Unpack.  In the Bible God’s people are sheep.

LET’S FACE IT; WE CAN BE JUST LIKE SHEEP.  

• Like sheep, we can be fearful, timid, stupid & stubborn.  
• Just like sheep, we can nibble at something, making our way towards a cliff (not literally, but figuratively speaking in regards to sin we can make our way to the edge of a cliff and nibble, nibble, over the edge).  
• Just like a sheep we make mistakes and don’t learn from them.  
• Just like sheep we wander off.  
• Just like sheep we require endless attention and meticulous care.  
• Just like sheep, we will drink from dirty water rather than drinking from streams of living water.  
• Just like sheep we can fall on our backs and feel like we can never get up and are thus in need of a shepherd to “right us.”

JUST LIKE SHEEP, WE NEED A SHEPHERD.  

We need someone to:

• tend us
• herd us
• keep us safe
• protect us from danger
• protect us from ourselves

AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD, WE, THE SHEEP NEED A SHEPHERD.

The good news is: WE HAVE ONE.  The REALLY GOOD NEWS is we have a GOOD SHEPHERD!  As new covenant believers in Jesus, we, the true people of God, the true Jews, the real Israel, have a good shepherd.

However, UNDER THE OC, the Law of Moses, ethnic Israel, as the people of God as sheep looked to their leaders as their shepherds, the priests, the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  THE SHEPHERDS OF THE OC PEOPLE WERE BAD SHEPHERDS.  

Open your Bibles to Jeremiah 23.

Jer 23:1-5 1Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD. 3I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD. 5“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David (or up from David’s line) a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”

In this passage, we see that God says 4 things:

• the shepherds in the OC are bad (v1 – woe to the shepherds)
• God will remove them as shepherds (v2 – I will bestow punishment on you)
• God, Himself will shepherd His people (v3 – I myself will gather the remnant of my flock)
• God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people (v5)

Turn with me now to Ez 34.  In Ezekiel we will read about those very same bad shepherds.  And we see those same 4 elements.  We find the fulfillment of this prophecy in Christ.  

Read with me Ezekiel 34:1-24.   

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; (OC shepherds are bad shepherds) prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.  ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.  (bad shepherds)

 ⁷ " 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD : ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I WILL REMOVE THEM FROM TENDING THE FLOCK  so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

 ¹¹ " 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I MYSELF will search for my sheep and look after them.   ¹² AS A SHEPHERD looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, SO WILL I LOOK AFTER MY SHEEP. (God, Himself will shepherd His people) I WILL RESCUE THEM from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

 ¹⁷ " 'As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

 ²⁰ " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, ²² I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will place over them ONE shepherd, MY SERVANT DAVID, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.  (God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people)

Again, we see the same 4 elements:

• the shepherds in the OC are bad (v2)
• God will remove them as shepherds (v10)
• God, Himself will shepherd His people (v11-16)
• God will raise up one from the line of King David who will oversee His people (v23-24)

QUICK SUMMARY: IN CONJUNCTION WITH NC

God says that shepherds of his people under the OC are bad shepherds.  They were selfish shepherds, that didn’t care for the sheep, but only themselves.  But God told them that one day, in conjunction with a New Covenant, He would remove these bad shepherds, and place over them ONE SHEPHERD, David.  And yet, at the same time, he says that He, himself will look after his sheep.  

WHICH IS IT?  (God or David?) Is it God who will shepherd his flock or will it be a descendent of David?  YES!

Flip with me to John 10:11-18 

What we are about to look at in John’s gospel is that JESUS IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS PROPHECY.  JESUS IS THE ONE SHEPHERD WHO DESCENDED FROM DAVID (WHO IS ALSO GOD).

John 10:11-18 ¹¹"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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. ¹³The 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— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I 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. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. ¹⁸No 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."

He begins by contrasting Himself with the leaders of old.  

UNDER THE OC, THE LEADERS OF HIS PEOPLE WERE BAD SHEPHERDS.

Jesus, on the other hand comes on the scene and claims, ¹¹"I am the good shepherd.  Those who have been tending the flock are bad shepherds.  I’m not like them; I am the good shepherd, Jesus says.

He continues in v11 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. THE SHEPHERDS OF OLD, THE BAD SHEPHERDS WERE TOTALLY SELFISH.  The shepherds of old only took care of themselves, not the flock.  However, Jesus, the Good Shepherd is totally SELFLESS.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old ate the curds, clothed themselves with the wool and slaughtered the choice animals.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not take care of the flock.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not strengthen the weak or heal the sick or bind up the injured.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old did not bring back the strays or search for the lost.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  

The shepherds of old ruled them harshly and brutally.  However, The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, not one of the bad shepherds of the OC.  I am the good shepherd, the SELFLESS shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, not one of the SELFISH shepherds of the OC.

Continuing in John 10:12, ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  Hey, I’ll pay you to watch my sheep.  Okay, I’ll watch your sheep.  I’ll come out there and play video games on my contraption.  This is good stuff, getting paid to look after some sheep, this is cake, easy money.  Oh, wait, what’s that?  A wolf is coming.  I ain’t sticking around to get torn up.  I’m out of here.  That is the mentality of the hired hand.  He’s not the shepherd who owns the sheep.  They don’t belong to him.  He doesn’t care about those sheep as the shepherd who owns them does.  

¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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. ¹³The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Jesus is implying here that the shepherds of old, the BAD SHEPHERDS UNDER THE OLD COVENANT WERE AS THE HIRED HAND.  God had entrusted to them the flock.  God trusted them to shepherd his people, lead them, guide them, love them.  But they didn’t.  They were a hired hand who cared nothing for the sheep.  However, on the other hand, Jesus is not the hired hand, he is the one to whom the sheep belong, the one who truly cares for the sheep.  If a wolf attacked His sheep, he would go all out to protect them; he would lay down his life for the sheep.  Greater love has no one than this that he would lay down his life.  

Continuing in John 10:14  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  Again, Jesus is not just a hired hand who doesn’t know the sheep.  Jesus is the good shepherd who knows the sheep.  And the sheep know him.  Goats don’t know him; wolves in sheep’s clothing don’t know him, but the sheep know him.  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—Those who were truly sheep, those who truly belonged to Him recognized him.  Remember, they knew Ezekiel 34.  They expected the day when God would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel, which according to Ez 34:25 would be a covenant of peace.  

It would be a covenant in which there would be ONE SHEPHERD, DAVID (v23).  God would REMOVE THE SHEPHERDS OF OLD (v10) and GOD WOULD SHEPHERD THEM (vv11-16).  Jesus is the good shepherd.  He knows his sheep and the sheep know Him.  Those who truly belonged to Him, the sheep, knew Jesus, responded to Jesus.  However, those who were WOLVES IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING did not recognize Jesus as shepherd, but rejected Him.  Those who were not sheep but GOATS, those unbelieving Jews rejected him, they did not know him.  ¹⁴"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. Now this is referring to our brothers, the Mormons.  That was a joke   Jesus was speaking to Jews.  At that point in human history, when Jesus came on the scene, God’s people were ethnic Israelites.  The idea of Gentiles being part of the people of God was a foreign idea to the Jews.  Jesus is telling Jews in the first century that He will be bringing OTHER sheep into the sheep pen.  Jesus is foretelling of the inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God.  THIS IS YOU & ME!!!

¹⁶I 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.   There shall be ONE FLOCK.  There’s only one flock of God’s people.  There isn’t 2 different people groups that God has.  He has one flock made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, not one group of ethnic Jews that belong to him and one group of believers in Christ.  One flock made up of believing Jews and Gentiles.  One olive tree where unbelieving branches were cut off and unnatural branches were grafted in.  One olive tree, not 2.  One body of believers, not 2.  One flock.  

There shall be one flock and ONE SHEPHERD.  This is a direct reference to the prophecy in Ezekiel 34:23-24 ²³ I will place over them ONE SHEPHERD, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.  Jesus, God in the flesh, is the one shepherd.  The shepherds of old have been removed in the destruction of Jerusalem by Roman armies in 70 AD in the sweeping away of the OC and replaced by one shepherd, Jesus, who is a descendant of David and who is God in the flesh.

They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

This one shepherd is Jesus.  He is the image of the invisible God who was to come to shepherd them; He was the descendant of David who was to come to shepherd them.  One shepherd, Jesus – THE GOOD SHEPHERD.  

• The shepherds of OC were bad shepherds.  
• God removed them and 
• placed over his people one shepherd, 
• the descendent of David, Jesus, who is God.  

We see in this 2 of our themes that have been present throughout these I AM statements: Jesus is God and Jesus is the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus says.

Continuing in v17 - ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life Jesus keeps saying this.  This is the 3rd time since v11 Jesus says that he lays down His life.  I don’t think his original audience caught the power of what He was saying.  Not only is Jesus simply a good shepherd who would go all out for his sheep in danger, he is literally about to die for his sheep. ¹⁷The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life —only to take it up again.  Not only will Jesus lay down his life, he will also take it up again.  Not only did he go to the grave, he conquered the grave; he rose on the 3rd day.

¹⁸No 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 crucifixion of Jesus Christ was no accident.  Nobody took his life.  He laid it down of His own accord.  At his command ten thousand angels could have come to his rescue, but was led like a lamb to the slaughter.  Christ, doing the will of His Father, laid down His life of His own accord.

The Good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep.  That’s how good He is.

Oh, how good is our shepherd!  We who are believers are the sheep of His flock.  As sheep, we are fearful, timid, stupid and stubborn.  We make mistakes and don’t learn from them; we repeat them.  We wander off.  We require endless attention and meticulous care.  

WE NEED A SHEPHERD.  We need a shepherd to: 

• lead us to clean water (to living water)
• right us when we are cast down
• protect us

• tend us
• herd us
• keep us safe
• protect us from danger
• protect us from ourselves

And we have one!!!  DO WE EVER HAVE A GOOD SHEPHERD, THE LORD!

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  ² He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³ he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  ⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.