John 10 verses 1 to 10

This week we’re continuing our series on Jesus I am sayings in John’s gospel and looking at Jesus’ claim to be the gate for the sheep which you’ll find in verses 7 and 9 of today’s gospel reading.

Firstly in order to understand these verses its helpful to know a bit about Jewish sheep farming.

Initially sheep were kept in large folds along with several other flocks. The Gatekeeper mentioned in verse 3 was the person in charge of this fold.

The Gatekeeper obviously knew the shepherds of the different flocks and allowed them access to the fold to collect their flock.

Unlike in this country shepherds didn’t drive their sheep but called them.

The sheep learnt to recognise their shepherd’s distinctive call and then followed them.

So if the shepherd wanted to lead his own flock off to some pasture he’d call them out of the fold from among all the other sheep, and recognising his call they’d scurry off after him.

Sheep were often kept for milk and wool production so they tended to live a lot longer than they do in this country today, and over time would develop a close bond with their shepherd, who would name them individually.

At night the sheep would sleep in a stone enclosure with no roof which was open to the elements. The shepherd would lie down and sleep across the entrance to the enclosure thus becoming the gate.

Obviously if someone tried to climb over the wall of the enclosure they were up to no good.

Having become experts in Jewish sheep farming we can now look at the passage.

Firstly this teaching of Jesus comes immediately after he has healed a man who had been blind from birth.

This man has been hauled in for questioning by the Pharisees, and has told them that Jesus is the one who has healed him and that he couldn’t have done this unless God was with him.

The Pharisees take exception to this and throw him out of the temple.

This man finds Jesus and tells him what happened and then comes to believe in him.

Some Pharisees watch the man’s encounter with Jesus and Jesus then addresses this teaching partly to them.

The Pharisees as religious leaders were meant to look after God’s flock but they weren’t doing a very good job, and it is the Pharisees and religious leaders that Jesus is calling thieves and bandits.

They were robbing the Jewish people of the spiritual care and direction that they deserved and which it was their job to provide.

They have just expelled this man who used to be blind from the temple when in fact he is a child of Abraham – one of the very sheep they should be looking after.

Now this shepherd and sheep imagery that Jesus uses is extremely significant.

God himself is portrayed as a shepherd in the Old Testament.

The most obvious example of this is the 23^rd Psalm which we all know – the Lord is my shepherd.

David describes God as a shepherd who leads him and cares for all his needs.

There is another passage in Ezekiel chapter 34 where God says; “As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep... I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down declares the Sovereign Lord.”

So, by portraying himself as a shepherd Jesus is again using the language and imagery of God himself.

In verse 6 of today’s reading John tells us “Jesus used this figure of speech with them but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

The Pharisees and those listening don’t understand that Jesus is claiming to be the Shepherd spoken of in the Old Testament so from verses 7 to 18 he spells out clearly what he is saying

Initially in verse 7 he tells them that he is the Gate for the sheep and then of course in verse 11, which Mike will look at next week, he tells them plainly that He is the Good Shepherd.

But what does Jesus mean when he says he is the Gate for the sheep?

Basically he is saying that he is the only way into the kingdom of God.

The only way we can become one of God’s sheep and gain entry into his flock and his kingdom is through Jesus.

Now why is this? Well the reason is quite simple and its because we all need a saviour – someone who can save us from our sins – and Jesus is the only one who can do this.

Mankind’s fundamental problem is sin. We all sin – we all do things we know we shouldn’t and we all don’t do things we know we should.

We fall short as in an arrow falling short of a target.

We have a tendency to lie, to cheat and to steal. We can hate others and can hurt others by our words and actions.

No person apart from Jesus has lead a sinless life.

Because we sin we are cut off from God who is perfect.

One day we’d like to go to heaven – a perfect place – but if God was to let imperfect people into heaven it wouldn’t stay perfect very long.

Jesus took our sins upon himself on the cross and paid the debt we owe for hurting others and offending God.

On the cross he did everything necessary for us to be put right with God and one day to be made perfect – just as God is perfect.

As we come to acknowledge that we do sin and that we do therefore in fact need a saviour – we should come to Jesus, to acknowledge our need for forgiveness and to invite him wholeheartedly into our lives.

If we do this sincerely we become one of his sheep and enter into his sheepfold.

Jesus is the gate for the sheep because it is only through his death and resurrection that we can be reconciled to God.

Once we become his sheep we are to follow him and the way we do this is by knowing his voice as it says in verse 4.

Knowing his voice involves both hearing and recognising his voice.

As Christians we can sometimes hear God’s voice but not always recognise that it is Him speaking to us.

Sometimes this can be because God’s voice is very loving and encouraging and we miss recognising it because we can’t believe that God can be that kind and generous and patient towards us.

Our own condemnatory voice which tells us we are hopeless or useless or we’ve messed up again, can drown out God’s gentle encouraging voice.

As we come to understand God’s love for us we are better able to recognise his voice as he speaks to us lovingly and positively, as a parent to his beloved child.

How does God speak to us? The answer is in all manner of ways.

He can speak to us through the bible. As we read a verse or passage we can see something in it that touches our own situation and speaks to our heart.

He can speak to us through our own thought voice, the voice we use when we speak to ourselves. He can speak to us through an inner conviction that we should do something or go and talk to someone.

He can speak to us through other people. Sometimes this can be in normal conversation when something someone says really strikes a chord in us.

Sometimes this can be when we pray with another Christian about a problem or situation we’re facing.

As two or three pray together God can give one of you some insight or a bible verse or a picture that throws some light on the situation.

I remember praying with a man I knew at my previous church. He was a lorry driver and he knew that God was calling him to some form of ministry.

He was desperate to know exactly what it was and he was becoming very frustrated that it was taking a while to find out.

As we prayed together I had a picture in my minds eye, of this man who was pushing with all his might against this huge wheel which was slowly moving along.

The man was exhausting himself as he pushed but the wheel wasn’t moving any quicker. 

Basically God was saying to him that his plan for his life was unfolding and all would be revealed in good time.

His straining to know what lay ahead wouldn’t make things go any quicker.

That man has been a church army minister in Scotland for about 10 years now and was recently ordained.

God can speak to us through dreams or visions, like he did to Peter or sometimes he can even speak to us audibly like he did when Samuel was a child.

The reason I ended up doing my Reader training was because God spoke to me very clearly and unexpectedly one evening about going to an Arrival Day which is the first step in Rochester 

Diocese towards some sort of ministry.

God can speak to us in all manner of ways to guide us, to encourage us, to deliver us from fear and to bless us, as we seek to love and bless those around us.

Our part is to step out in faith and obedience to what we believe he is asking us to do. As we seek to walk in obedience to him and follow him we will hear and learn to recognise his voice.

Of course there are other voices that do not belong to God and we need to be very wary of these because if we follow them we will be led astray and find our faith undermined.

If we read our bible and become familiar with what it says we can test whether what we are hearing is in accordance with the scriptures.

God also of course gives us his Holy Spirit who may cause us to feel uneasy if we hear something that doesn’t sound quite right.

Sheep can tend to be a bit dim and without a shepherd would find life very difficult. They are short sighted and totally defenceless against predators. They are prone to getting stuck in fences or wandering off and getting lost.

When this happens, all they can do is to bleat loudly and wait for their shepherd to come and help them.

The best thing a sheep can do therefore is to try and stay close to its shepherd who will lead it to fresh pastures and protect it from harm and predators, and who will care for its day to day needs.

I don’t know how you feel about being compared to a sheep but perhaps its not such a bad analogy.

We can’t see what the future holds or protect ourselves from what life may throw at us. We are prone to ending up in difficult situations or getting stuck in life, sometimes even addicted to things which we find very hard to break away from.

We all need the help of a shepherd when we’ve got big decisions to make and we don’t know which way to turn, and especially when life goes pear shaped and we can’t see our way out.

Jesus says in verse 10 of today’s reading that he came that we may have life, and have it abundantly.He is the one who will provide us with all that we need as we follow him.

Under his care and provision we can experience the best that life can offer.

Jesus alone can provide us with eternal security, perfect guidance and real purpose and meaning to our lives.He alone can truly set us free from addictions and fear and sickness.

If you haven’t yet put your life in his care and entered into the sheepfold through him and become one of his sheep and you want to, he is just a prayer away.

He is eager to welcome you into his flock if you will acknowledge your need for him and you are prepared to follow him.

Lets end with a few moments of quiet

Just close your eyes and express whatever is on your heart to Jesus and if you want to, invite him into your life to lead you and to be your shepherd. Amen