Message: In John 10 Jesus describes himself as
the good shepherd who lays his life down for his sheep. His sheep recognize his
voice and follow him. He describes the thief and robber as those who hop the
wall of the sheep pen, but the sheep don’t recognize the voice of a stranger
and won’t follow him. He also mentions other sheep that are not yet in the fold
that he must bring in. He says that they will recognize his voice and they will
be one flock. I believe the sheep he was talking about here were the Jews that
received him. They recognized him as the Messiah while others were questioning
whether he was demonic. I believe the “other sheep” he mentioned here were the
gentiles (which would be us). At that point he was only with the Jews. They
were his chosen people, and the ones that were promised a Messiah, but they
were also the ones who would reject him. After his resurrection he would send
his disciples out to the gentiles to bring them in.
Command: Obey the voice of God and reject any
other voice.
Promise: Jesus is a good shepherd and he cares
for us and lays down his life.
Warning: A stranger will sacrifice the sheep
to save himself because he doesn’t really care about the sheep.
Application: As I read this it occurred to me that
all of the sheep in his flock knew him and recognized his authority. The flock
in the pen were obedient and they followed their shepherd. The sheep outside
the pen were scattered sheep without a shepherd that were vulnerable to any
voice that called to them. Including the thief and the robber. The sheep
outside the fold were unprotected and vulnerable to predators. What you don’t
see in this example are sheep in the pen that are doing their own thing, aren’t
listening, or are kind of following. They are either in the fold listening to
the shepherd, or they are scattered sheep without a shepherd. There is no in
between. What I see in this is that we can’t say we are sheep in his flock but
choose to do our own thing, or obey only some of the time.We are either
his sheep and are following him, or we are scattered sheep listening to any
voice out there.
