From the very earliest examples of literature, we find the use of anthropomorphic allegories or similitudes used to illustrate various types of human behavior. Even today, much of our perceptions of human behavior is influenced by tales of animals who talk, and think as we do. And so it is not surprising that we find in the Bible uses such analogies from time to time as a means of teaching certain principles.
Today we come to one such allegory, that of the church, or the people of God, presented as sheep, and Christ as the shepherd of the sheep. Also in this allegory, Christ portrays false religious leaders as wolves who prey on the sheep. Most of us can appreciate this type of teaching mechanism. We understand, at least in some fashion, the picture of a shepherd and his sheep.
But I suppose that this allegory is not as clear to us in this modern industrialized world as it would have been to listeners in Jesus’ day. Because even though we are familiar with the idea of shepherding, most of us probably have never spent much time around sheep. The Israelites though were sheepherders by heritage, going back to the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When the Israelites moved into Egypt during the time of Joseph they settled in the land of Goshen. They lived separately from the Egyptians because they were shepherds, and that was a loathsome profession to the Egyptians. So historically, the Israelites were shepherds, and as such the people listening in Jesus’ day would have been very familiar with this type of allegory.
However for us folks living today, we may have a vague picture of Jesus carrying a lamb on His shoulders tucked away somewhere in the photo bank of our memory, but that’s about the extent of our knowledge about the subject. Such anthropomorphic stories might be much more understandable for us if they were about dogs. My kids grew up on Disney tales like 101 Dalmatians, or the Fox and the Hound. We have had several dogs as pets at our house. So most of us can relate to dogs. We like to imagine that they have certain human attributes. Some of us even treat our dogs like humans, sometimes we treat them better than humans.
But Jesus in His wisdom did not use dogs in allegories as teaching entities. To be frank, dogs are much more intelligent than sheep. In fact, in some cases, dogs seem to be more intelligent than people sometimes. But to illustrate humans, Jesus used sheep. And before we can really appreciate this passage, I think we need to first of all recognize that Jesus is symbolizing His people as sheep.
Popular perceptions about sheep are actually not all that accurate. Sheep are often considered symbols of innocence, meekness, submission, and patience. Or at least that’s the common perception. But I read a number of articles written by experts on sheep and shepherding, and I have to say that those attributes were not really highlighted. What we perceive to be innocence of meekness or patience they call just being dumb. Sheep are actually very stupid creatures. One writer listed 12 characteristics of sheep that I will just briefly run through, just so that we might get a more accurate picture of what the Bible says we are like.
First of all, he said sheep are very foolish. Out of all animal IQ’s, sheep would have to be at the bottom of the list. 2. Sheep are slow to learn. You don’t see sheep performing tricks in a circus for good reason. 3. Contrary to idyllic pictures that we might have seen somewhere, sheep aren’t all that attractive. They are dirty, smelly, actually kind of ugly up close.4. Sheep are demanding. They always want to eat, and will turn a grassy field into a mud patch in no time, eating the even the roots of the plants. They constantly need new pastures to satisfy their insatiable appetites. 5. They are extremely stubborn. They are almost impossible to herd. Perhaps that’s why shepherds are described as leading the sheep. Because if sheep don’t want to go somewhere, you can’t hardly make them. 6. Sheep are stronger than they look. They are physically strong. 7. Sheep are prone to straying. They have little sense of direction. They get lost easily. Perhaps because they are always looking down. They will wander away without supervision. 8. Sheep are unpredictable. They do foolish things without any sense of reason. 9. Sheep are followers. If one starts running, others will run as well. If one wanders away, others will follow them. 10. Sheep are restless. For sheep to lie down they need freedom from fear, freedom from friction with others, freedom from hunger, and freedom from pests and parasites. That is a rare combination. 11. Sheep are dependent. Without a shepherd for protection, sheep would die from starvation, from thirst or from predators. 12. Though sheep may look differently in different countries, in nature all sheep are the same. That’s an unflattering picture of sheep, and yet that is the picture of sheep that those Jews listening to Jesus would have had.
Now to be fair, the Bible does not paint quite such a dismal picture of sheep. But it does emphasize their nature to stray as their primary characteristic. One of the best known verses is Isaiah 53:6, which says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” That verse emphasizes the nature of sheep to go astray, to wander from the fold, to become ensnared in trouble.
You will remember the parable that Jesus told about a lost sheep who went astray in Matthew 18:12-14. "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”
So it’s important then that we understand what Jesus is talking about when He speaks in this passage to the religious leaders of the Jews and says that He is the Shepherd of the sheep. We cannot understand this allegory while holding onto some idealistic picture of sheep, if we are to understand the simile correctly. Sheep are a picture of people, of the human condition, and His sheep represents those sheep that belong to Christ. That means they are the church. They are followers of Christ. As Jesus said in verse 9, "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” He said in vs.4, “the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” And in vs.10, He said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” So to be the sheep of Christ is to be the church of Christ. We are the ones who go astray, we’re the ones who are foolish, who follow our appetites to the point of ruining our life, who will perish at the hands of false teachers if not for our shepherd who defends us. Our well being is completely dependent upon Him and His under shepherds.
So that’s our characteristics as sheep. Now let’s look at those of the good Shepherd for a moment. Jesus said in vs.11, “I am the good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” Jesus describes first His nature, and then His purpose. First let’s consider His nature. The word Jesus uses for good is the Greek word “kalos”. There is another Greek word commonly used for good. That’s the word “agathos”. That word means morally good. But the word “kalos” is different. It literally means beautiful. But it’s not referring to physical beauty, but to being excellent, magnificent, admirable, noble, praiseworthy. I would add to that desirable.
Not only is He presenting the nobility of His character, but He is contrasting between Himself and the aforementioned thieves and robbers who enter into the fold to take advantage of the sheep. He is the Shepherd of excellent character. One who comes with a noble calling to take care of the sheep, to give the sheep abundant life, to lead them to pasture. So He is making a contrast between the true shepherd and the hirelings of verse 12, who haven’t got the best interests of the sheep in mind, but are in it for money. We can trust that the Lord is good, that His desire for us is for our best interests. This is the failure of our faith many times, that we doubt the Lord’s goodness. We don’t surrender our will to Him because we doubt that His will is for our best. We need to trust in the Lord’s goodness towards us and follow Him.
And then He presents His purpose as evidence of His goodness. He said He gives His life for the sheep. Four times Jesus repeats this phrase that He lays down HIs life for the sheep. This willingness to give His life for the sheep is the ultimate attestation of the nobility of His character. It shows His love for the sheep. Jesus said in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” That’s the standard of love that God has given to us to emulate. But I dare say Jesus went even beyond this exalted standard. Because Jesus did not just die for those who were His friends, but for those who were HIs enemies. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Even when we were in rebellion against God, Christ laid down His life for us.
This is the reason that Christ came to earth; to give His life as a ransom for sinners. He says in another place, that He came to seek and to save those that were lost. And the only way that God could bring about the salvation of lost sheep, to save sinners, of which we all are partakers, is by dying in our place. Because God’s law is unchangeable. In the Garden of Eden God declared that if you eat of the tree you will die. Death is the divine punishment for sin that passed from Adam to all men because all have sinned. Romans 3:23 says, the wages of sin is death. But God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son to be our substitute. The Shepherd offers His life in exchange for the sheep. This is the doctrine of atonement; that Jesus paid the penalty that we deserved, by offering Himself as our substitute.
2 Cor.5:21 says that God made Jesus who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That is why Jesus came. Not just to be a great teacher about life, not just to be the supreme example of how we are to live. Those things are true, but secondary to the primary reason which is to save us from the penalty of death by offering up Himself as our substitute.
Then in verses 12 and 13, Jesus further defines His ministry by contrasting that of the hirelings. These are those false shepherds who are only doing it for the monetary or political gain or social gain that they might get from their position. When trouble comes, when the wolf comes, they flee and leave the sheep to fend for themselves. The point being that the distinguishing feature of a true shepherd as opposed to a false one is that he loves the sheep enough to lay down his life for them. That’s a distinguishing feature of a true under shepherd as well. He may not become a literal martyr for the sheep, but he will give up his life for the sake of the sheep. A true pastor will give up his life for the sake of the church. He will give up whatever career he might have, what riches he might enjoy, what benefits he might have in this world, for the sake of the church. That’s why when I see these television evangelists sitting in lavish studios wearing $1000 dollar suits, and flying around the country in their private jets, I am skeptical of whether or not they are true shepherds. A hireling is someone who assumes the position of a shepherd but is only interested in the financial rewards.
The next point that Jesus makes in this allegory is the relationship between the true Shepherd and His sheep. In vs.14-15 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” Notice that Jesus says that the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep is the same as the relationship between the Father and the Son. That is a tremendous statement. The relationship between the church and Jesus, is the same as the relationship between the Father and Christ. Now what kind of relationship is that? Well, I would suggest that it’s a relationship of intimacy, of fellowship, of communion. We could summarize it by saying it is a relationship based on love.
Now when you look at the text you don’t see the word love mentioned anywhere in it. But love we have already determined was the reason that Christ gave HIs life for the church. We know that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to save them, to become His church. But the word that Jesus uses in the Greek is “ginōskō”, which is translated “know”. But He isn’t talking about knowing as just knowing information. He is using a term that indicated intimacy. Sometimes it was used to indicate sexual intimacy. In Jewish terminology, they spoke of sexual intimacy as to know one’s wife as in Genesis 4:1 when Adam knew Eve or Matthew 1:25 where Joseph did not know Mary when she was with child.
And notice that further proof of that is that the word “knows” of vs. 15 is explained in vs.17 as “loves”. God loves Christ in vs.15, and that is explained in vs.17 as God loves Christ. That same type of relationship between God and the Son is to also be between Christ and the church. That love that we have with Christ is the love of intimacy pictured in Ephesians as the love of Christ for His church. Listen to Ephesians 5:25, “ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Here it is again, this concept of love being that Christ gave Himself up, that is, He gave up His life for the church. And that love consummated becomes the basis for a communion that can best be illustrated by the marriage of a husband and wife. Ephesians 5:31-32 “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”
This relationship between the church and Christ is based on the same love between the Father and the Son. Jesus said in John 3:35 "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.” And in John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing.” So that intimate relationship between the Father and the Son is to be mirrored between Christ and His bride, that is the church.
Then notice how that love is manifested between Christ and the Father. Jesus said in vs. 18, "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” So that love between the Father and the Son is characterized by the Son’s obedience to the Father. He was obedient to the Father’s command. Phil. 2:8 says concerning Christ, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” And also look at Heb. 5:8 “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” So though Jesus was the Son of God, the very God in flesh, yet He humbled Himself to be obedient to the Father because He loved the Father.
Now as Christ was obedient to the Father as evidence of His love, so also Jesus said we are to be to Him. We are to know Him even as He knew the Father. So our relationship to Christ then is based on love, which is based on obedience, even as was Christ to the Father. Let’s look again at that reference which we quoted earlier, John 15:13, Jesus said “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” But what’s the next verse say? “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” There it is. The correlation of love to obedience. You cannot have one without the other.
Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” That is the way love is expressed. That is the way love is expressed by Christ to God, and that is the way we as the church express our love to Christ. That’s the way the sheep show that they know the good Shepherd. They follow Him. They go where He tells them to go. They answer Him when He calls. In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked, Why do you say to Me “Lord, Lord,” and don’t do the things which I say? But the one who hears HIs word and acts on His word will show that He knows the Lord.
And then that obedience brings about the next characteristic that Jesus teaches, and that is the unity of the church is mirrored by the unity of the Father and the Son. Jesus says in John 10:16-18 "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Those other sheep that Jesus had which are not of this fold are none other than the Gentiles, that is you and I. We were not a part of the fold of the Israelites. But Jesus came to save the world, all nations, all tribes, of all tongues. The fact that He is the Savior of the world means that He draws all men to Himself. Where there was once division between the Jews and the Gentiles, He has made into one church, one kingdom, one people.
In Jesus’ high priestly prayer, He prays for the unity of the church to be even as the unity that He had with the Father. I’ll give you just a few verses from His prayer which illustrate that. In John 17:11, 20-23 Jesus prayed, "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. ... 20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
Why is that unity so important? So that the world might know who Jesus is. The church is to be unified by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, that they may do the works of Christ. We can know Him intimately because He is in us. And because He is in us, we do HIs work. So that the world might know Him as they see Him operating in us. So then the gospel is not the exclusive domain of Christians in America. The gospel is not the exclusive domain of the nation of Israel. But it is the domain of Christ, the Savior of the world, who desires all men to be saved and to know the truth of salvation. That can only be realized when the church goes into all the world and preaches the gospel to every living creature.
Now there is a final aspect of that relationship with Christ to the world. And that is found in the last three verses we are looking at this morning. Vs.19-21 “A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?’”
So the relationship with the world will be characterized not only by unity with His church, but by division. He came He said in Matt. 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He said in Luke 12:51 "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.” Listen, the truth of God is dividing. It causes division on purpose. He came to divide between the sheep and the goats. Between the light and the darkness. Between truth and a lie. Between life and death. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings division. Unity is to be unified to the truth. We are not to be unified to the world. James 4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
This division that Jesus brings causes people to have to make a decision. Will they listen to the voice of Christ? Will they recognize the truth of God? And then what will be their response to it? How about you? You have heard the voice of the good Shepherd today. Is there a response in your soul to the truth? Do you recognize that you are a sheep that has gone astray, and you’re in need of the shepherd of your soul? If the Holy Spirit has so convicted you and called you today, I pray that you will heed the voice of the Shepherd and answer Him, and follow Him. He has paid the penalty for your sin and if you will but surrender to Him as Lord, He promises to be your Shepherd and to lead you into the path of life. I pray that today you will answer that call.
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