Rev Gideon Lee
The Shepherd and His Flock
1 “I tell you the truth, the man 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 man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman 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.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He 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.
I want to give you some background regarding this passage of scripture. Jesus said "I tell you the truth". Jesus wanted to emphasised something important that he wanted to say.
Jesus said the one that came in though the gate is the real owner. The one that climbed over the fence is a thief. In those days the pen are stacked stones and is not very high. The pen only has one entrance and in the evening when the sheep comes back the shepherd will stand at the door as the sheep passes by. He will examine and count his sheep to make sure they are not hurt or injured.
The sheep pen are often shared and sheep from other shepherds are there too. But Jesus said His sheep will know His voice. The sheep will recognise it's shepherd's voice and not that of another shepherd.
The shepherd loves his sheep so much he will sleep by the gate because there is an entrance but no gates. After verse 10 Jesus said He love His sheep so much He is willing to lay down His life for His sheep.
The sheep is not designed to protect itself, they have no horns unlike goats. They cannot protect themselves so they need the shepherd. By nature they are docile and helpless, not very flattering considering that we are like sheep.
Jesus decides who gets in and gets out. He guards His sheep. He says those that do not enter by the gate is a thief. The enemy's agenda is to steal, to kill and to destroy. But Jesus says He comes to give life and life abundantly.
We sometimes misunderstand this verse. We think abundant life is a life of abundance. This cannot be taken to support materialism. I think it's okay to have nice things but if your life is spent pursuing these stuff, then we've got it all wrong.
In America, there is so many shopping mall and it's the same here. It's been said that our house is no longer just a roof over our heads but is to store all our stuff. When we run out of space, we buy a bigger house.
So how do we have this abundant life? Let me give you some examples from scripture what it means to have abundant life.
1. Listening to the voice of the shepherd.
The prerequisite to having abundant life is to have Jesus as your saviour. You have to first be a child of God.
2. My sheep hears my voice.
All of us have the capacity to hear from God. We all as a child of God can hear from our heavenly father. How many of you remember the transistor radio? To listen, we have to put up the antenna. Our spiritual antenna is the same. How? When we spend time alone with God. Do we have our quiet time. Is our quiet time too quiet. We are so busy we do not set apart a time. I need to put up my antenna. Many things fight for your attention so you need to set apart time. Next, we need to tune in. Nowadays you don't need that as we can just press search. Or some come pre-programmed. Are we tuned in to God? Are we searching for God. How? Fasting. I want to talk about prayer. We need to tune in to communicate with God. Are we tuned in to the correct station? We need to hear what is He saying to us? Are you listening? It is very important to listen. Here is a joke that illustrates this.
A school principal told his assistant principal the following:
Next Thursday at 10.30 a.m. Halley’s Comet will appear over this area. This is an event which occurs only once every 76 years. Call the school principals and have them assemble their teachers and classes on their athletic fields and explain this phenomenon to them. If it rains, then cancel the day’s observation and have the classes meet in the auditorium to see a film about the comet.
Assistant principal to school principals:
By order of the principal of Schools, next Thursday at 10.30, Halley’s Comet will appear over your athletic field. If it rains, then cancel the day’s classes and report to the auditorium with your teachers and students where you will be shown films, a phenomenal event which occurs only once every 76 years.
Principals to teachers:
By order of the phenomenal principal of Schools, at 10.30 next Thursday, Halley’s Comet will appear in the auditorium. In case of rain over the athletic field the principal will give another order, something which occurs once every 76 years.
Teachers to students:
Next Thursday at 10.30, the principal of Schools will appear in our school audiotorium with Halley’s Comet, something which occurs every 76 years. If it rains the principal will cancel the Comet and order us all out to our phenomenal athletic field.
Students to parents:
When it rains next Thursday at 10.30 over the school athletic field, the phenomenal 76-year-old principal of Schools will cancel all classes and appear before the whole school in the auditorium accompanied by Bill Haley and the Comets.
We played this game before where we pass a message from one to another and at the end the message changes. We have the capacity to hear direct from God.
3. We need to not just hear but to follow him.
When the shepherd call out to his sheep, they follow him. As the good shepherd He calls out to His sheep and they response by following Him. Are we following what God says to us? Often God doesn't ask us to do easy stuff. Often He ask us to do things for our benefit. Let me give you an illustration from my own life.
At one point of time, I backslided and as I was coming back to God and started to serve and attend church, God called me to do something unusual. I was working at The Edge and God asked me to talk to my boss's secretary. I asked God, what for? I mean we often talk about business but why talk to her about God? So in obedience I just went up to her and I just said "God wants me to talk to you" and she just started to cry. It is odd and took me by surprise, as it is in the office, so I said "can we go to the conference room" where she started to sob. And she just said that she had been so far from God has been so disappointed with God and didn't want to have anything to God anymore. I just told her God is asking me to tell her God loves her. After that day, she started to go back to church.
You may say pastor, what if you are wrong? I would rather be a fool for Christ than to disobey God. He has put me often in these circumstances.
Last but not least is this.
4. We need to live our life for others.
Here is the paradox. The more we live our life selfishly the more dissatisfied you'll become. This was what Jesus did. He came for us and that is why we can call God, Abba our Father.
Are you living your life for your own? If yes, then we don't need this tagline, blessed to be a blessing. Let's be a church that is blessed to be a blessing. That others may know about the Lord.
Let's have this abundant life that He promised us. Our good shepherd lay down His life for us that we may have this abundant life He promised. That's why He is the GOOD shepherd.
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| Bro Terrence leading at the worship service for the first time. Praise God for talented young lives being used by God. |
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