And now if you will turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 10 verse 11.
And this morning and for the next several Sundays we're going to be looking at the I am statements of Jesus Christ.
Now previous Sundays we've looked at the glory of Jesus but now we're going to look at what Jesus says about himself.
This morning we're going to look at one of the most familiar of those I am statements, one that is I think appropriate for the Lord's Supper.
And you will find it in chapter 10 of John's Gospel verse 11.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Let's pray.
Jesus you are the good shepherd and you are leading us at this moment in time and history.
Show yourself to us as our good shepherd. Be with us now on this communion Sunday and lead us into the way everlasting.
I make this prayer in his name. Amen.
Who do you think Jesus is?
Imagine that if you went out on the streets of Pensacola and you ask perhaps the average person who does not go to church or does not care a thing about who Jesus Christ is, he would probably say, well, he's just a man.
If you go to other people who are supposedly Christian, they're in mainline denominations and you ask them who is Jesus Christ, they would probably say to you, he's a political liberator.
You may think that's far-fetched but let me tell you, this weekend I was looking at a preaching book and it was written by a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary.
And as I was reading the book here is the gist of it.
This woman wanted to have a post-colonial view of preaching that works with calypso music.
I'm thinking to myself, how the heck is that going to work?
But notice post-colonial theology, post-colonial biblical interpretation.
I can tell you they're seeing Jesus as the one who's out to overcome the powers in politics, the traditional powers.
Now, it's no different than what went on in Jesus' day because Jesus specifically asked his disciples, who do the crowds say that I am?
And they said, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah, some say you are a prophet.
So there's always been this view of who is Jesus.
You go back to the Old Testament.
People wanted to know who God was.
And Moses has the unenviable task of being the leader for Israel.
And he asked God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers had sent me to you.
And they asked me, what is his name?
And you shall say to them, I am.
People want to know who God is.
And I would say to you in our era, there is certainly a need for us to know who Jesus Christ is according to his word.
And identity, who we are, tells us and tells others what kind of people we are.
So for example, my wife knows me by my characteristics.
And I know her by her characteristics.
And it's the same with any relationship.
Well today, what we want to look at is what Jesus says about himself.
So we understand who exactly Jesus Christ is.
And in the I am statements, he tells us such things as,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but through me.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the door for the sheep.
And this morning in very pictorial language, she tells us, I am the good shepherd.
And when he uses that name, that metaphor, it's designed to do more than just give us an intellectual comprehension of who Jesus Christ is.
It's designed to move our hearts towards Christ.
So let's see what the Bible says here.
Let's see what it says about the good shepherd who is Jesus Christ.
And to understand the idea here of a shepherd, we've got to go back into the Bible.
Now if you went back into the Old Testament, sheep and shepherds were everywhere, especially for the Israelites.
A lot of the Israelites had sheep and they needed shepherds.
And sheep would provide clothing, probably meat, and other things that God's people needed to survive.
And it wasn't just for Israel, it was other societies too.
And sheep were sort of a helpless animal.
They wouldn't know what to do if a predator came along.
I guess they would just eat some grass and bow away while the predator destroyed them.
They're not exactly the smartest animals on earth.
Yes, they're cute and adorable.
Yes, they provide wool, but they are really helpless animals.
And they needed a good shepherd.
And if you looked in the Bible, the leaders of Israel were often shepherds, such as Moses, David, Amos,
and after a while a good leader in the Bible was known as a shepherd who would take care of God's people, like King David.
That idea of being a shepherd was not only applied to humans and human leaders, but also to the God of the Bible.
And when we go back in the Old Testament, the first time God is called a shepherd is in Genesis chapter 48.
And Jacob says to his son this about his life and the God he followed.
May the God before whom my father Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.
Now I want you to think of what Jacob went through, all the twists and turns of his life dealing with Laban, dealing with Aesod,
dealing with the debates among his wives.
And he was suffering through a famine and he's got to go to Egypt.
And what does he say after all of that as he reflects on his life?
God has been my shepherd.
We can move on to the prophets and one of the most moving lines in the Old Testament is found in Isaiah chapter 40.
And I want you to listen to how it describes God. He tended his flock, which is referring to Israel, like a shepherd.
He gathers the lamb in his arms and carried them close to his heart.
He gently leads those who have young.
If you see what the biblical authors want us to know about who this God is that we follow, they may have had questions.
You may have questions about God. Is he cruel? Is he mean? Is he absent? Does he care? Does he care for you personally?
And what do you think the answer would be when he is described as a shepherd?
He is a God who protects his people.
He is a God who provides for his people.
He is a God who cares for his people as a group, but as individuals.
So in the Bible, when we think of God, yes, God is God of judgment and wrath. Yes, God is all powerful.
But what he wants you to know him as also is a shepherd who is there to bring comfort to his people.
God is there to care for you. And that very image of a shepherd is what Jesus applies to himself.
He first of all says, I am.
Now in the Bible, I am would be one way we could say Yahweh. I am.
He's basically using the Old Testament words to describe himself. But then he goes on and says, I am the good shepherd.
And if you look at the other verses, look at what it says. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep.
And my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Just as the Heavenly Father knows the sheep, Jesus says, I also know the people that God has given me.
I also am taking care of them because I am the good shepherd.
And in Revelation, what do we hear? It said of Christ, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.
You have a Savior who is a shepherd. And the great danger is for all of us to forget who Jesus Christ is.
Because if you forget that Christ is the good shepherd, you're going to start having mean thoughts about our God and our Savior.
And we have got to tell ourselves and preach to ourselves over and over again, our Savior is the good shepherd who's taking care of us one way or another.
That Jesus was sent by God to shepherd you and your souls.
And here's really what I think that imagery is trying to get across to us.
He is the good shepherd who cares.
Now let me tell you why this is important. It's what's going on right before this.
There was a man who was born blind in chapter 9 of John's Gospel.
And the disciples were asking, why is he blind? But Jesus goes on and cures this man.
But then the Pharisees come on the scene and they interrogate the family of the man saying, surely Jesus didn't do this miracle?
Surely he wasn't blind since birth. The family of the man is scared that they're going to be put out of the synagogue.
So then they go to the young man who was cured and he says, I was healed.
But then they rejected him and they did kick him out of the synagogue apparently.
The Pharisees, those leaders, those people who were supposed to be caring for God's people did not care.
But Jesus did.
And here in chapter 10, I want you to notice the dichotomy he's making.
If you look in verse 12 of chapter 10, he says, the hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep.
So he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
He is referring to the religious leaders of Israel who really did not care, to take care of the flock.
They were in it for prestige or for money.
And we can say, well that is back then. No, no, no.
It happens today where you can have religious leaders who are more interested in making a buck,
increasing their reputations than caring for God's people.
But that's not Jesus.
The truth is he cares for the sheep.
And he knows the sheep as verse 14 and 15 says.
He knows their strengths. He knows their weaknesses.
Showing that Christ cares for you.
And so Jesus is the good shepherd.
He is the one who cares for you.
Do not ever forget that.
Because if you forget that he is a good shepherd who cares for you, then what have you got left?
A savior who really doesn't care for you.
And in modern day society we really need to know that.
Let me tell you why we need to know that.
You know why?
Because the powers that be really don't care for you.
What do I mean by that? Are they out to get you?
No, you're nothing but a number.
Try to number.
So for example, where I work, there's lots of teachers, but I'm really just a number.
I have an employee code and one day when I retire and go away, that number will go away.
I'm just a number and there's a lot of people. They don't know me.
To the government of the United States, what are you?
Your social security number.
Just a number. Just a number.
And that's the way life is for a lot of people.
Just a number.
And when that number expires, that's it.
But here we find Jesus Christ.
He knows us not as a number, but as a sheep who needs to be cared for.
You forget that, then you've got nothing but a deistic Jesus who's out there somewhere
who doesn't care, who's not involved in your life, who is not leading you.
But we have a Christ who is the good shepherd, who knows you, who is leading you,
and most important of all, he cares enough for you to lay down his life for you.
I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
Shepherds, back then the false shepherds, they didn't do that.
But Jesus says in verse 11, we can go down to verse 16,
He says, I have other sheep referring to Gentiles 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.
And the reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord.
Jesus is telling us that he willing lays down his life for you.
That is the greatest sign that Christ loves you.
And in John chapter 15, a verse we should all memorize,
greater love has no more than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.
You are the friends of Christ and Christ gave his life for you.
He went to the cross for you.
We deserve the judgment that he faced.
We deserve the damnation, but Christ, the good shepherd, went in our stead.
And when we want to know, does Jesus love us?
We always go back to the fact that he laid down his life.
And here's what happens in your thinking.
Bad events happen to Christians.
And when those bad events happen, whether it be cancer or you get fired or you're misunderstood,
where do our thoughts turn?
We say, Christ doesn't care.
God doesn't care because I'm suffering.
And at that point, we often forget the great mark of the love of Christ for you.
Yes, you may be suffering, but Christ died for you.
Now, there's lots of objections, especially from our conservative circles,
about talking about the love of Jesus Christ for his people.
And they will say, well, it's liberalism, liberalism, liberalism.
No, it's not liberalism. It's in the Bible.
And what we've got to remember as conservative Christians is that there's a lot of hurting people.
There's a lot because life is cruel,
but the Christian message is that there is a God who cares.
And Christ cares for you enough to lay down his life for you.
When no one else would, this life is full of spills and chills and pills.
We go through cataracts and cancer. We deal with loneliness and lymphoma.
But we also have a Savior who is guiding us and has us by the hand.
And one day we will be in a position like Wilma DeVio, where that life is running out.
Do you think the good shepherd has abandoned her and will abandon you?
No, that good shepherd is going to be there right with you till the very end.
And one of the things we need to teach our children is, yes, Jesus is that good.
You may think this is a bit foolish, but it is a true story that I heard when I was in seminary.
And the professor was trying to tell everyone, you should not underestimate the power of our loving Savior when we pray.
Even when children seem to pray for trivial things.
So for example, there was this one child who wanted a dog.
Parents didn't want her to have a dog.
Oh, we can't get a dog, but she prayed and she prayed and she prayed.
Guess what happened? She got the puppy because she prayed.
Was that an act of our loving shepherd? Yes, it was.
Don't ever think that our good shepherd cannot take care of the little things and the big things such as death and disease.
We come to the table to see our shepherd and to remember the great words that we have just read.
I am the good shepherd who lays down my life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd who cares for you.
Let's pray and then turn to the table.
Our Heavenly Father, we ask now that you will be with us as we come to your table.
No matter what sins we have, nor matter what we are suffering, we come now to this table to enjoy the presence of the good shepherd.
And one day in the new heavens and the new earth will be with him at the wedding supper of the Lamb.
Bless your people now with confidence in the Lord. Amen.