MESSAGES
Demands of Commitment-Part III
From Egypt to the Promised Land
Overcoming Obstacles part - II
Overcoming Obstacles Part -III
Receiving the Promises of God -I
Receiving the Promises of God - II
Reformation: Going Beyond the Obvious
Well Done is Better Than Well Said
When the Church is Gone - Part II
When the Church is Gone - Part III
When the Church is Gone - Part IV
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THE SHEEP’S TESTIMONY JOHN 10:1-18 In
this passage of scripture we have two types of shepherds depicted;
the Good shepherd and the hireling.
A hireling is a person who is paid to do a job.
He could contract his services out for a year, a month,
a week or simply one day. As
a hireling shepherd the sheep do not belong to him.
He does not love and care for the sheep.
He is simply a paid baby sitter.
Thus Jesus explains in the 12th verse that when danger
comes, the hireling leaves the sheep. Why? They don’t really belong to him. He has no vested interest in them. He is tending the sheep with another motive
in mind. He wants to get
paid. There is little benefit to the sheep when they
are being kept by a hireling. The
good shepherd on the other hand is the owner of the sheep. The sheep belong to him and thus he loves and
cares for them. You see
in a land full of shepherds, the reputation of the shepherd is
established by the quality of sheep he breeds.
The good shepherd works hard, and his sheep benefit from
his hard labor. He establishes a relationship with his sheep. He nurtures and care for them. They are his and he loves each of them. His sheep follow him, because they know and
trust him. But let’s
hear it from the sheep. The title of
today’s message is “The Testimony of the Good Shepherds
Sheep”. Psalms 23 :
Now I want you to use your imagination just
a little bit with me today. Imagine
two sheep in two separate fields divided by a fence. Sheep A with his head all up in the air and
his coat of wool all thick and pretty prances up to the fence
and calls sheep B. Psst,
Psst, come hear he says. Sheep B comes up to the fence and Sheep A making
polite conversation says, “hey what’s your shepherds’
name”. Sheep B says, “I don’t know; he is
just some old hireling. Sheep
A, with a bit of boasting in his voice says proudly, “The
Lord is my shepherd. Man
he takes care of all of my need”.
Oh yeah says Sheep B. “Yeah”
sheep A continues, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures”. Now as the narrator I need to help you paint
a better picture of what sheep A is saying.
See immediately, if we are using our imaginations, we see
the nice green pasture. But
of equal importance as the green pasture is the fact that the
sheep can lie down. Four things are required before sheep can lie
down and be restful. First
they must be free from fear. Sheep
by nature are very timid animals.
They are so fearful that even a jackrabbit or a field mouse
can cause a whole herd to stampede. In the midst of the stampede many of the sheep
never even know why they are running.
They are in a panic for unknown reasons.
In
many ways we humans are just like sheep.
We get startled by the unexpected and panicked by the unknown
and like sheep, our first instinct is to flee.
But when the sheep know that the shepherd is in the field,
they are less fearful. For
their protector is present to ward off any danger.
Likewise for the Christian our freedom from fear comes
with recognizing that our shepherd is always present.
He takes an active part in our affairs.
Though our enemy goes to and for, up and down in the earth
(Job 1:7), and is prancing about like a fierce lion (I Pet.5:8),
our shepherd neither sleeps nor slumbers (Ps. 121:4) Ps 4:8 - Our confidence in the abiding
care of Jesus will dispel the fear and panic associated with both
the known and the unknown. Second,
in order for the sheep to lie down and rest they must be free
from any tension and friction within the fold.
Among the sheep there is rivalry and competition.
This causes friction within the flock.
Among the animal kingdom, as with humans, there is a fight
for dominance, or status (chickens--pecking order, cattle--horning
order, sheep--butting order).
A domineering older ewe will be boss over a bunch of weaker
sheep. She maintains her dominance by butting and driving
the other sheep away from the best grazing and bedding ground. Other sheep then also establish and maintain
their position by butting and thrusting at those who are weaker. This fight for territory means that the sheep
can not lie down and rest in contentment.
They must stand guard, ready to defend their rights; to
contest the challenge of any intruder.
Rivalry and jealously flows from one being discontent.
One sheep wants the space that another is occupying and
the sad part is, that in the good shepherd’s field, all of
the field is good for grazing and bedding.
Isn’t that so much like man.
We seem to be caught in this fight for dominance, power,
self-recognition, and status. We are always looking to see what the next person
has; never being content with what we have, always pulling and
clawing trying to keep up with and even pull ahead of our neighbor. But with the sheep, when the shepherd enters
the field, the rivalries and fighting stop.
The sheep can lie
down and rest, knowing that the shepherd will not allow this butting
and thrusting. All must be content with the space they are
occupying or move on to unoccupied space.
There is peace in the field when the shepherd is there. With
the Christian, our place of peace is found when we keep our eyes
on Jesus and not on others around us or even the circumstances
of life. Is. 26:3 says Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee; because he trusts in thee”.
And though we are compelled to work while on this earth,
and we all have the desire to succeed and be the best in our careers,
we must not fight for self recognition and status. Ps 75:6-7 Third
in order for sheep to lie down and rest they must be free from
torment and aggravation of pest.
Flies, ticks and other insects that are commonly found
in fields can drive sheep crazy. The shepherd must take extra care to make sure
that these pests are not aggravating the sheep. This means that the shepherd must be constantly
with the sheep. However,
the shepherd can not rid the field of flies (sheep = Manure =
flies). He must find a way to find relief for the sheep
even among the flies and pest.
To give comfort to the sheep he applies a special ointment.
As Christians and humans, we like sheep, have
many small irritations. There
will always be situations, circumstances, people, and problems
that bug us. These things often frustrate us to the point
of hindering our walk with the Lord.
These aggravations are not going to go away. But Jesus, our good shepherd found a way to
give us comfort even in the midst of these irritations. He left us a comforter, the Holy Ghost. When we are filled with the Holy Ghost and are
walking in the Spirit the frustrations and irritations of this
life will not shake us. The
Spirit of God allows us to react to the stresses and aggravations
of this life with a Christ-like attitude:
with quietness and calmness. Fourth,
before sheep can lie down and rest, they must be free from hunger. Most sheep herding countries are dry, semi-arid
areas, and do not have naturally occurring green pastures. Yet the sheep said in verse 2 that he was made
to lie down in green pastures.
A shepherd must work hard to produce green pastures. He must clear rough, rocky land; tear up brush,
roots and stumps. He must plow deep to get to good soil; plant
special grains, and be constantly irrigating and pulling up poisonous
weeds. The shepherd must do all this work while still
attending to his sheep. So
to hear sheep A speaking of lying down in green pastures testifies
of the care, concern, faithfulness and diligence of the shepherd. Sheep
B responds, “my shepherd does none of this for me. He is but a hireling”. Sheep A responds, “my shepherd does even
more. He leads me beside still waters.”
When sheep get thirsty they will wonder off in search of
water. If not led by the shepherd to a good clean water
supply, they will end up drinking from polluted pot holes and
become diseased. Good clean
water for the sheep is found in three sources.
First, in the dew on the grass.
But the shepherd must have the sheep up grazing in the
early morning, just before dawn, when the vegetation is drenched
with dew. Likewise for
the Christian, it is in the early morning, before the stresses
of life invade our day, that we
should meet our Lord and refresh our spirits. Sheep can go for months without actually drinking
water if they are satisfied with the refreshing dew of early morning.
A believer can find strength to carry him joyously through
each day if we will go
each morning to the Lord to be refreshed. The
second water source is a deep well.
But the shepherd must first dig these wells and then serve
this water to the sheep. Third
the sheep can drink water from the streams which run through the
mountains. The shepherd must first search out these streams
and prepare a path for the sheep.
But sheep because they are so timid do not drink well from
running water. So the shepherd
must dig small trenches off from the stream and using small stones
make little pools of water from which the sheep drink.
So to hear Sheep A speaking of having his thirst quenched
speaks of the great lengths that the shepherd goes to care for
his sheep. Now sheep are
dumb creatures. They don’t
think to consider how those small pools get there, or where the
well came from. They don’t
understand that in order to get them in the field by Sheep
A says to sheep B, “by the way I didn’t see you out
early this morning”. Sheep B responds “the hireling sleeps late”.
“How then have you quenched your thirst?”
Sheep B drops his head and points to a muddy pothole, polluted
and swarming with flies. Sheep
A continues, “my shepherd
even restores my soul”.
“ What sheep B exclaims.
I do not understand.” The soul that needs restoring is one that is
cast down. It is fallen
from it’s position and needs restoration.
Sheep like people can become cast down.
A cast sheep is one that has turned over on its back and
can not get up again by itself.
The sheep lies on its back kicking and struggling to get
up until he is out of energy or the shepherd comes to rescue it.
Now the sheep never intended to get cast it just happens.
A heavy, pregnant, or long wooled sheep lays down in a
hollow or depression in the ground.
It may roll over on its side slightly to stretch out and
relax. Suddenly the center
of gravity of its body shifts so that it turns so far on its back
that its feet can no longer touch the ground. In a panic the sheep begins to kick frantically,
only making things worse. Now its feet are sticking straight up
in the air and it is impossible to get up.
Soon the blood circulation to the extremities is cut off. Depending on the weather conditions a cast sheep
could live for days or die in only a few hours. Buzzards seeing a cast sheep begin to gather
for they know that death is coming.
Since sheep can so easily become cast, the shepherd is
always looking over his flock; counting his sheep.
If one is missing he immediately assumes that it is some
where cast and starts out in search of it.
He knows that the cast sheep will die soon if he does not
reach it. When the shepherd
finds the cast down sheep, his first impulse is to pick it up.
But, if the sheep has been down too long, it will not be
able to stand. So the shepherd
gently rolls the sheep over onto its side to relieve the internal
pressure and start the blood circulating to the legs. He then lifts the sheep to its feet and straddling
it with his legs the shepherd uses his own knees and legs to support
the sheep. He then begins
to rub the legs of the sheep until it can stand for itself. Even after a long period of working on the sheep
it might still stumble a few times when it tries to walk again. But the shepherd stands very close to the sheep,
coaxing it along and offering support when needed. The sheep in its cast down condition was on
the verge of death, but the shepherd has rescued it and restored
its soul. Most
of us though we belong to Christ and desire to be under His control,
do on occasion find ourselves cast down.
We stumble and fall. We
take our eyes off of Jesus
and become discontented and discouraged with life, we may even
turn away from Him after being deceived into believing the world
has something better to offer, we become too fat with possessions
or too weighted down with this world’s cares and before we
know it we are cast down. But
our shepherd, realizing that one of his sheep is missing, is out
searching to restore the cast down and bring it back to the fold. Wait
a minute Sheep B exclaims. “You
talk only about the good that your shepherd does.
I have heard that you shepherd forces you to leave your
lush green pastures and takes you high up in the mountains. He takes you along rough and rugged paths where
you can easily be hurt; up where the wolves and bears live and
where there is great danger. I
know that this is true because I have seen you leave with Him.” Yes Sheep A responds “I am led by the shepherd up into the high country, into the valley where the path is rough
and rugged. But the shepherd
is ever with me. As we
travel he speaks to us, sings to us and plays softly on his flute.
When the path becomes too rugged he carries each of us
to safe ground. Yes the wolves and bears live there, but the
shepherd fights with diligence and keeps a watchful eye over our
lives both night and day. The
shepherd takes us to high ground because he knows that the choice
clover of the mountain meadows, and the clear cool streams of
mountain water provide the best nourishment for the sheep.
He takes us there not to harm or punish us, but rather
to provide for us an abundant life. You see life is good here on the ranch, but
abundant life is found up in the high country.”
A good shepherd never takes his sheep where he himself
has never been before. Heb. 4:15 lets us know that we have a high priest who can sympathize with
our weaknesses, because He himself has lived in human form and
been tempted”. A
good shepherd knows where the rocks are loose; where the path
is narrow, where poison weed have infested the meadow, and where
predators lay in wait. He knows this because he travels the route through
the treacherous valley to the high country many times before taking
the sheep there. The good
shepherd is therefore fully prepared to safeguard his sheep. John In
our Christian life we often speak of wanting to go higher in God. We want a more intimate relationship with Him.
We want to move to higher ground.
Unfortunately we often act as if we expect to be air-lifted
to this elevated place. As it is with the sheep, the only way in our
Christian walk to reach higher ground is by climbing up through
the valley. The sheep say that they walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. They
do not die there. Under
the shepherds care, they pass through. Is. 43:1-7 - as we continue on this Christian
walk, there will certainly be valley experiences. The path will at times seem too rugged and too
steep. The air will seem
thin, the heat of the trial will feel like a raging furnace, and
the swarm of problems will feel like a massive flood.
At these times, listen for and follow the soft comforting
voice of the shepherd. Patiently wait for him to carry you over the
roughest places to safe ground.
Have confidence in the shepherd and trust that he will
not leave you or forsake you;
that he will not allow you to be over taken by the flood
or burned by the fire. He,
the good shepherd is taking you, his sheep, to higher ground that
he might give you abundant life. Yes
Sheep A says, “I have only told you of the good that my shepherd
does, but there is only good to tell.
I can only tell you of the countless times he has laid
his life on the line for me, how he care for and provides for
my every need. Yes he disciplines
me when it is needed, but even that is good. Once he even broke my leg, to teach me not to
stray away from him. For
he knew that if I continued to stray away, I would one day fall
prey to a deadly enemy. He shears my wool and I buck and kick, but I
have come to understand that even that is good.
He branded my ear to claim me as his own, and yes it hurt,
but I will dwell in the house of my lord forever.
Yes my testimony of my shepherd is all good, but what else
should it be, for he is the Good Shepherd.
What
say you of your shepherd Sheep B?
Sheep B with hung head and honesty replies.
“There is no provision from my shepherd, no care,
no comfort. There is no peace with my shepherd, no love
and no support during rough times.
I get none of this from my shepherd.
For he is only a hireling. |