The Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18)
I once conducted a funeral for a man who absolutely loved to fish. And Richard told me a bunch of fishing stories, but my favorite was about when he was out fishing on the bank one afternoon when a woman came over and started shouting at him. She kept shouting that the fish felt a lot of pain when they bit a hook and Richard should be ashamed of himself harming animals that way. Richard picked up a fish he had caught, squeezed its blood and guts out all over his hand and arm, looked at that woman, and said, “Lady, did you hear him scream?”
I have never enjoyed fishing, but I know some of you do. Others of you love the company of animals. Maybe you have a dog who is your faithful buddy. Or maybe you have a cat who likes to climb up your shelves but doesn’t give you the time of day. Maybe you enjoy watching the Kentucky Derby and seeing those majestic Thoroughbreds run for the roses.
Jesus loves animals. After all, animals are a huge part of his creation. And Jesus compared himself to a shepherd ready to die for his sheep. This morning, we want to think about Jesus as “The Good Shepherd” and learn: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Scripture (John 10:11-18)
verse 11:
Jesus compared himself to the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Shepherds weren’t highly regarded by the Pharisees—shepherds worked among smelly animals that often had insects buzzing around them; aristocrats considered shepherds to be vulgar lower-class workers. But Jesus, in his humility, figuratively said that he cared for stinky animals. In fact, he cared for those stinky animals enough to die for them.
verses 12-13:
The one who is simply hired to watch the sheep doesn’t care a thing about those sheep. Under the Old Testament, a hired hand wasn’t responsible if an animal in his care died (Ex 22:13); therefore, even a pious Israelite wouldn’t lose anything if he ran away and allowed a beast to devour a flock.
verses 14-15:
Jesus, on the other hand, knows his own and his own know him. The verb “know” here indicates intimacy; the idea is that Jesus and his sheep have a deep relationship. The relationship Jesus has with his sheep is modeled after the the relationship the Father has with the Son.
verse 16:
Jesus had other sheep “not of this fold” to bring in. The Lord here likely referred to Gentiles.
verse 17:
The Father loves Jesus because he lays down his life for the sheep so that he can take up his life again.
verse 18:
No one forced Jesus to lay down his life, but he did so of his own volition.
Application
“The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” When you go to work tomorrow morning or you’re on your morning walk or having your coffee or going to the grocery store, how should that truth impact your life? Honestly, since Jesus laid down his life for you, you should desire to lay down your life for him. How could you ever express thanksgiving to the Creator who became a man and died for you? You don’t have anything he needs or anything he wants—except you yourself.
Jesus called upon his people to lay down their lives for him. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:24-25). “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26). “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:33).
The good shepherd who laid down his life for you doesn’t call you to a happy life. He doesn’t call you to a comfortable life. He doesn’t call you to a life where you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones. He calls you to a life of sacrifice; he calls on you to lay down your life for him.
How do you lay down your life for Jesus, the good shepherd? Well, maybe you need a:
New Course
The only way Saul of Tarsus could lay down his life for Jesus was to plot a New Course for his life. When Saul first appeared on the scene, he was a murderer: “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Paul himself said: Acts 26:9-11.
However, as Paul traveled to Damascus to persecute Christians, he had an encounter with the Risen Christ, and Saul chose a New Course for his life: Philippians 3:7-8.
Do you need a New Course? When you were baptized into Jesus’s death, your life was forever changed: “We were buried . . . with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Do you need that “newness of life”—a New Course—this morning?
New Contrition
Some Ephesians laid down their lives for Jesus with a New Contrition by repenting of their sins: Acts 19:18-19. These folks had been involved in the “magic arts,” but, having been brought to Christ, they repented.
The Corinthians also demonstrated New Contrition: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The Corinthians had been “unrighteous.” They had been cleansed through Jesus’s blood. However, they were no longer living an unrighteous life; otherwise, Paul could never have said, “And such were some of you” (1 Cor 6:11).
You must repent to follow Jesus. “Repent . . . and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Do you need a New Contrition?
New Circle
Many believers need to find a New Circle of friends and family. When Jesus called James and John, “they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him” (Mk 1:20). Jesus promised great things for the one who leaves his family: Luke 18:29-30.
Solomon could have used different wives: “When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Ki 11:4). Ahab could have used a different wife: “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited” (1 Ki 21:25).
Here’s the real question: Do you friends and family make it easier or harder to serve Jesus? God must always come before family and obedience to him must always matter more than worrying about offending family and friends. James put it like this: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Js 4:4). Where is your loyalty? Do you need a New Circle this morning?
Conclusion
Jesus promised big things to the one who lays down his life for him: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matt 19:29). Will you inherit eternal life, or do you still need to lay down your life for the good shepherd?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.