I haven’t mentioned the theme yet, but
in case you haven’t noticed, we are in the third week of looking at Jesus’ “I
AM” statements from the book of John. Last week we talked about Jesus as the
light of the world, and the week before we talked bout Jesus as the bread of
life. And this week if you look at the sermon title we are talking about Jesus
as the gate for his sheep.
But first I want to tell you a little
bit of a story. So about a month ago I had just woken up and I’m downstairs
pouring myself a cup of coffee when the phone rings. I answer the phone and
say, “Hello,” and the voice on the other end says, “Hey Dan, how are you?” I
say, “…fine.” The voice says, “I didn’t wake you up did I?” I say, “…no.” And
this person on the other end keeps on talking like this and asking some really
random questions. I could tell it was an older lady, but I had no idea who it
was. Apparently, she just assumed that I would know it was her. She had wanted
to know if I knew someone she had read about in the paper, and I did know them,
and finally she said goodbye and hung up.
And Holly came in the room and said,
“Who was on the phone?” And I said, “You know, I’m not sure.” It turns out it
was an obscure older relative that I hadn’t seen…probably in months, if not
over a year. But apparently she assumed that she had talked to me enough that I
would just recognize her voice on the other end of the phone.
Don’t you hate that? When people call
and they just say, “Hey, it’s me.” Like from those three little syllables you
should be able to tell who it is. I only use the “hey it’s me,” with Holly, and
sometimes with my parents. When I call my brother, I usually make some
derogatory comment about how ugly he is, which he returns with an insult to my
intelligence. All in good fun. But I always know it’s him when he answers like
that. These are the people I talk to enough to assume that they will recognize
my voice when I call.
If you are someone who liberally uses
the “hey, it’s me” phrase, I’m asking you right now to stop it. You have to
realize, millions of dollars have been spent to combat the use of the “hey it’s
me” phrase. That is the purpose of the invention of caller ID. So that when
someone tries to use the hey it’s me phrase, you can say, I know it’s you, your
name came up on my phone. But for those of us who don’t have caller ID, the hey
it’s me phrase is still a constant threat.
OK, there is a purpose to my
ramblings, I promise. In this passage of scripture, Jesus gives himself a very
strange name for himself. He says, I am the gate for my sheep. Now you may have
heard this before, but in order to understand this metaphor, you have to
understand a little bit about shepherding in Jesus’ time. It wasn’t the kind of
job where you clocked in when you got there in the morning and then clocked out
at night. No, you basically lived with your sheep, which in all likelihood
weren’t your sheep, but your master’s sheep. But you stayed with them 24/7.
During the day you would take them out grazing on the hillsides, and then in
the evening, around the countryside there would be sheep folds. They would be
pretty big sheepfolds with stacked stone walls and they would be big enough for
several flocks.
The stone walls would completely
surround the sheep except for at the opening, at the gate. But really, there
wasn’t a gate, just a gap in the wall. There wasn’t like a wooden gate on
hinges or anything, just an opening. So after the sheep would all go in, the
shepherd would literally be the gate for the sheep, he would lay in the gap in
the wall so that nothing could come in or out without going through him. So any
thieves that would come couldn’t just pick the lock, if they wanted to steal a
sheep, they’d have to jump the wall, pick up a sheep, throw the sheep over the
wall, then jump back over the wall, pick up the sheep, and run away. As you can
imagine, the likelihood of that happening was pretty slim.
Now since sheep seem to almost all
look alike, you’d think it would be hard to separate the flocks in the morning,
they’d be all mixed together. But the sheep and the shepherds had spent so much
time together, that when it was time for the shepherd to gather his sheep in
the morning, he could just call out to them, and they would recognize his
voice. And he had been around them enough that he knew which were his.
So it is with all of this in mind that
Jesus speaks in John chapter 10. And he says, “Anyone who comes in to the
sheepfold by jumping the wall is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by
the gate is the shepherd.” Jesus is saying there is only one way to enter the
sheepfold, and it is through the gate, anyone who claims to have another way is
dishonest or lying or up to no good somehow. In the same way, Jesus is alluding
to the fact that there is only one way to heaven, you have to pass through the
gate. The narrow path. Anyone who claims to have another way to heaven is a
thief and a robber. They are a liar. There is only one way.
He goes on to say, “HIS sheep will
follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger. In fact,
they will run away from a stranger.” Again Jesus is sticking with this
sheepfold metaphor and he is saying that sheep who have been hanging around
their shepherd day in and day out for months and even years know their
shepherd’s voice. They are comforted by their shepherd’s voice. They trust
their shepherd’s voice. Any other voice is foreign to them and even scary and
they do everything they can to avoid the stranger.
In the same way, again, Jesus is
saying that those who follow him, those who have been hanging around him and
listening to him know his voice. More than that, they know the truth he is
teaching, and they trust in him. And they are able to discern now between what
is true and what is untrue, what is of God, and what is not of God. And they
run towards what is of God, and they avoid what is not of God.
Finally, Jesus reveals to the crowd he
is preaching to, he explains the metaphor he has been using by saying, “I AM
the gate for my sheep. Anyone who came before me were thieves and robbers.”
Why, because they didn’t come through him. He is the only righteous way in and
out of the sheepfold, that is, the
And finally, he says what might be the
most important part of this passage. He says, “The thief has come to steal and
destroy, but I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Have it
to the full. The thief, the one that enters dishonestly by another means, the
one who claims to have another way into the sheepfold, is not trying to take
sheep because he cares about them. He is not trying to take sheep because he
thinks he can give them a better life. No, he is trying to take sheep for his
own gain, for his own profit. He doesn’t care about the sheep. He cares about
himself. But Jesus, the good shepherd, cares about his sheep. He cares about
his people. And he wants them to experience the best life possible. He desires
to take us to the greenest of pastures.
Now, here is the million dollar
question for all of you sheep out there: do you recognize the shepherd’s voice?
When Jesus calls to you and says, “Hey, it’s me,” have you talked to him enough
to recognize his voice by those three syllables? Because guess what: a caller
ID machine has not yet been invented to recognize the voice of Jesus for you
when he calls. The only way to know for sure that it is him is to spend enough
time with him that you know without a doubt who it is when he starts to speak.
How important is this? Jesus says he
is the only way, and if you can’t recognize the voice of the way, you are going
to be in trouble when it comes time to go. If you can’t recognize Jesus’ voice,
when all the chaos starts, when all the thieves and robbers and liars start
trying to lead you away, how are you going to know who wants to lead you to
abundant life, and who wants to steal you away to satisfy their own greed?
Remember, Jesus says that his sheep, those that belong to him and those who
spend their lives with him, they know his voice. And when he calls to them,
they recognize him and they come to him.
So Jesus gives us the solution to the
problem right there. Those who recognize his voice come to him. And they
recognize his voice because they have spent their lives with him. So if you do
not recognize his voice, the way to do so is simple: find him, and spend your
life with him.
So let me ask you this question: think
of a place that you go on a weekly basis. Maybe the bank. Maybe you go to the
bank once a week. And you have a certain teller that you trust, so you usually
go to her once a week to do your banking, then you go home. Later in the week,
the she calls you out of the blue with a question about your account, and she
says, “Hey, it’s me.” Do you recognize her voice? Do you say, “Ah, hello bank
teller. I’m glad you called.” No, 99.9% of the time, there’s no way you
recognize her voice, especially if you aren’t expecting her.
In the same way, if today, this
morning is your weekly appointment to talk to Jesus, if this is it, and this
week he calls you and says, “Hey, it’s me,” what are the chances you recognize
his voice? Pretty slim…pretty slim.
Friends, we are called to more than
that. We are called to spend our lives with the good shepherd. We are called to
let him lead us to the greener pastures and eventually into the sheepfold where
he guards and protects us with his life, a life that he has willingly
sacrificed for us. But you have to be able to recognize his voice to know where
he is calling you to, and that means spending more than an hour a week with
him. It means spending your life with him. And
not just as a means to an end, you know, not just so you can get to
heaven someday. But because every moment you spend with Jesus, you find a new
way to enjoy life to it’s fullest. He says, “I came that you may have life, and
have it to the full. Abundantly!” It has to be daily. It has to be hourly.
Moment by moment we should be listening to Jesus, talking to Jesus, coming to
know Jesus better.
We can’t be satisfied with being
acquainted with Jesus. We need to intimately know him. Think of all the people
who you call and say, “hey it’s me” to. You need to know Jesus as well, if not
better than you know these people.
I want you to know that this church
offers you several ways to help you get to know Jesus better. Our round table
Bible study, the women’s fellowship that meets on Wednesday nights, Sunday
school classes, our after school programs. These are other times when here at
the church you can be spending more time with Jesus.
But it can’t just be at the church,
although here you are with other sheep as well. It needs to be at home, too.
When no one else is around. In the morning when you wake up, all day while you
are at work or at home or whatever you are doing. In the evening, before you go
to bed. No matter where you are or what you are doing, you need to also be
spending time with Jesus. This whole idea of fitting Jesus into our schedule is
ludicrous. It has to be the other way around. We need to be fitting our
schedule around Jesus. We have to recognize what is ultimately important. We
can’t have this mindset that if I miss out on these things to do more churchy
stuff, more Jesus stuff, then I won’t have a full, well-rounded life. No, Jesus
is telling us that if we miss out on him, then there is no way that we will
have life to the full. Only he can give us fullness of life. Until then,
everything else is just filler. It’s just stuff. But Jesus can turn our stuff
into something more beautiful. Jesus makes our lives full! Jesus gives us life
ABUNDANTLY!
Guess what: I don’t care who you are,
what your life looks like, what your abilities are – Jesus is calling you. He’s
saying, “Hey it’s me.” If you can’t hear him, if you haven’t recognized his
voice, that call, then that’s a sign that you probably don’t know him as well
as you think you do. Jesus is calling. My prayer for you is that you spend
enough time walking and talking with the shepherd that you can recognize his
voice when he says “hey, it’s me.” And you can say, “Oh, Jesus! It’s you. I’m
so glad you called.” Amen.
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger