Shepherd Talk

John 10   Shepherd Talk

 

    Not having been raised on a farm or in a rural setting I cannot say I know much about sheep, but I have been looking at the stories of people that are Shepherds and reading about sheep as well.  You Tube has a wonderful video of a Shepherd in the hills calling his sheep in what looks like fog and they respond after he calls them repeatedly.  I learned that herding sheep is not so easy.  They have to be led to the pens with care, and be protected from poisonous plants and wolves or other predators as well as get routine medicine and vaccinations.  Shepherds also have herding dogs much like the border collie or perhaps even like the dogs we have, “welsh corgies” to get the sheep and herd them from one place to another.  It seems that it can be a very messy business but very rewarding.

 

    Sheep are able to see color but have poor depth perception and their peripheral vision is 320 degrees.  They have excellent hearing and band together as a flock .  I had always thought they were stupid but not so! They rank just below the pig and cattle I read.

 

     Jesus is a good Shepherd which means good or true or genuine.  He does not flee when the wolf comes. He stays with us and cares for us as a good Shepherd who cares for the sheep.  “ I am the good Shepherd”  v. 27
“ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they shall follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”   Jesus knows us as a good Shepherd and we know Him as our Shepherd. Vs. 14   “ The LORD is my Shepherd.  I shall not want. He leads and guides me.

 

    Despite the seeming bad things that happen to us and those whom we love, we can always trust that no-one shall pluck us out of the Father’s hand, and we shall never be lost.  This does not depend on us.  It is because He is dependable we can trust in Him as our Chief Shepherd ( Peter).  Sickness, death, loss of hope, family and purpose are all included. God’s love in the Good Shepherd will always lead us home, never astray.  The Good Shepherd never fails His own.

 

    As His body of the Church we are under-Shepherds taking care of each other, watching and seeing what needs are there.  We should be as our mission statement says “ living examples of Christian love, truth, honesty, integrity and excellence in all we do.”

   Secondly, Christ feeds the sheep.  The thief does not do that. Vs 10 “ the thief comes not but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  The thief or robber did not come into the sheepfold by the door.  The Pharisees were like that.  They did not show others the Door which was the only way into the sheepfold, that is Jesus who said , “ I am the Door”  vs. 7 “ Verily, verily, I say to you, ‘ I am the door of the sheep’ “.   True Shepherds point to Jesus as the way.  How can the sheep be fed?  Psalm 23 “ He leads me beside the still waters”  Jeremiah 3:15, “ I will give you Shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.”  The Apostle Paul said in Acts 20 “ For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood.”

 

     “Garbage in, garbage out”, a pastor who I worked with used to say and I wondered what he meant when he said it.  I asked and he told me.  What we put into our minds, our eyes and our hearts is either profitable or not for us.  Dwell on Christ and His Word where the milk of the Word is there for us to grow thereby. 

 

    Thirdly, the True Shepherd protects the sheep.  10:12, “ the hireling, whose own the sheep are not , seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.  “ The hireling is not there for any purpose other than a temporal one.  A Jewish tradition said that the shepherd for hire was responsible for damage done by wild beasts to the flock.  “ Thy rod and Thy staff---they comfort me.”  Psalm 23.  Hebrews 13:7, “ your leaders…they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give account.”  Ezekiel tells us what the true shepherd does:” I , even , I will both search my sheep, and seek them out.  I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.  And I will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers…..I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick….” 34:11

 

    Lastly, the True/Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 

10:15 “ I lay down my life for the sheep”  “ Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.”  His life down makes life possible for the sheep. 

 

    Conclusion-these are the qualities of the true authentic Shepherd.  Our Lord Jesus Christ is such a Shepherd.  His love calls us by name, and never lets us perish.  No one shall pluck us out of His hand, based upon the Holy Scripture by which we are continually fed.  He is a Shepherd who watches for souls, in a spirit of voluntary sacrifice and suffering.  Let us then all pursue godliness as we walk under the guidance of Christ---the true, the genuine, the good Shepherd.