SERMON: I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD

 

Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

      -- turn in Bibles to Exodus 3:13-15

 

Exodus 3:13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

 

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

 

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

 

“This is my name forever,

    the name you shall call me

    from generation to generation.

 

      -- What is the value of a name? -- that is the very question that sportswriter Jason Gray asked as he looked at an old baseball card sitting on display on the table before him -- it looked like an ordinary, unexceptional, very old baseball card -- no different from the hundreds of cards on display around it -- but undoubtably this card was special -- you knew that because of the armed guard who was sitting on a stool next to its display case -- but what made it special?

      -- it wasn’t the paper it was printed on -- or the size -- or even the year it was printed -- it wasn’t even the fact that there were only 10 of this particular card known to exist -- no, it was the name that made this card so special -- it was the first known card depicting the famous Babe Ruth

      -- Jason had the opportunity to view the card before an unprecedented auction -- this was the first time an original first edition Babe Ruth baseball card had been available for sale in over 10 years, and people had gathered from around the world all for the chance to bid on this card because of the name

      -- the auction began November 16, 2023 -- within hours, bidding had hit $5.25 million -- the card was eventually sold for $7.2 million -- making it one of the most valuable baseball cards in the world¹

      -- this card was valuable because of the name on the card -- but there is another name that is even more valuable -- the name of Jesus Christ -- His name means everything -- and His name is worth infinitely more than any name in heaven or on earth

 

      -- this morning, we are continuing in our Lenten sermon series on the name of Jesus, focusing on the question that Jesus asked His disciples during Holy Week -- “But who do you say I am?”

      -- as we talked about last week, the world has many opinions of Jesus -- but who the world thinks Jesus is does not matter -- what matters is who you say He is -- who He is to you -- and that is the focus of our messages as we remember Jesus and remind ourselves of who He is and what He means to us as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Easter again this year

      -- for the next seven weeks, we are going to be looking at the seven statements from the Book of John where Jesus tells us who He is -- the “I Am” statements

 

      -- Let me share with you all seven of these “I Am” statements now so you have them in mind -- and then we’ll be going over one every week up through Easter

 

      -- I Am the Bread of Life

      -- I Am the Light of the World

      -- I Am the Gate of the Sheepfold

      -- I Am the Good Shepherd

      -- I Am the Resurrection and the Life

      -- I Am the Way, Truth, and Life

      -- I Am the True Vine

 

II.  Context of the "I Am" Statements

      -- now to us today, these declarations seem like no more than just poetic illustrations or metaphors that Jesus was using to make a point in His sermon -- but to the people of Jesus' day -- in the cultural context of a Jewish society steeped in Old Testament knowledge -- these declarations meant a whole lot more

      -- in each of these statements, Jesus is telling the Jews who He really is and why He has come -- He is declaring Himself as the promised Messiah -- as God Himself

      -- to understand how Jesus’ audience would have heard and received these names, we’re going to have to go back to the Old Testament for some context

 

            -- look back at Exodus 3:13-15 again

 

Exodus 3:13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

 

14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

 

15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

 

“This is my name forever,

    the name you shall call me

    from generation to generation.

 

            -- these verses are set in the familiar story of Moses and the burning bush -- as you probably know, Moses had been living in the wilderness of Midian for about 40 years at this point -- he had fled Egypt and his privileged life in Pharoah’s court because he was afraid of being charged with killing an Egyptian overseer

-- one day, as Moses is tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, he sees a bush burning in the distance -- and he is curious because the bush is not being consumed by the fire, so he goes over to investigate, and God speaks to Moses from the burning bush -- giving him the mission to leave Midian and to return to Egypt to set God’s people free

-- in this exchange between God and Moses at the burning bush, Moses asks God what he is to say when the Israelites ask him what God has sent him to them -- so, in verse 13, Moses asks God, "Who do I say sent me? -- What is your name?"

            -- and God replies, giving Moses two names by which He was known to the Israelites -- in verse 15, He tells Moses His name is "Yahweh" -- Y - A - H - W - E - H -- our Bibles typically translate this as "LORD" -- usually in all capital letters -- when you see the word Lord written in your Bibles in all caps, know that this stands for Yahweh

            -- Yahweh was the sacred name of God -- the name that the Jewish people so revered that they wouldn't speak it out loud -- and when they wrote it down, in Scriptures such as these, they would only write down the consonants and leave the vowels out so that people wouldn't even be able to read God’s name and think it or say it to themselves in their minds as they read it

 

            -- just as an aside, some Bible translations substitute the name "Jehovah" in this passage or similar passages instead of Yahweh or Lord in all caps -- this comes from a fairly modern mistranslation and mispronunciation of the Hebrew name

            -- as I told you, when the Jewish scribes wrote the name of God down in the Bible they would leave out the vowels -- but so the person reading the scriptures out loud in the synagogues would have something to say when they got to that word in the scriptures instead of the actual name of God, they would often write the name "Adonai" above it -- Adonai is a Hebrew word that means Master or Lord

            -- when the Bible was being translated from Hebrew into English in 1278 AD, a monk misunderstood what was going on -- he thought the word he was translating was just shifted -- and that all the letters should be put together in his translation

-- so, this monk added the vowels from Adonai to the consonants YHWH -- when further translation work was done by the Germans -- who substitute "J" for "Y" and sometimes use "V" for "W" -- the translators eventually came up with the name "Jehovah" -- I gave you a handout before church that shows you all this, so you can see how this name of Jehovah came to be in some Bible translations

-- so, you will see Jehovah in some Bibles and you will hear some people use "Jehovah" as the name of God -- that's perfectly fine, but when you see the name Jehovah in your Bible, understand that it is the combination of the name Yahweh with the vowels from Adonai, and not a name that God gave us Himself

 

            -- going back to our study about the context of Jesus’ “I Am” statements, we see here that the first name that God gave Moses to describe Himself was Yahweh -- but there was one more name that God gave Moses, and this is the name that we are going to be focusing on over the next several weeks

-- we see it in verse 14 -- when Moses asks God what he is to say when the Israelites ask him who sent him to Egypt -- what the name of the God who sent him to them was -- God replies in verse 14 by telling Moses  -- "tell them I AM WHO I AM -- tell them I AM has sent me to you"

            -- this name of God -- "I AM" -- ego eimi  in the Greek -- was the name that God chose to use to reveal Himself to Moses and the Israelite people in a special way -- it refers to God's nature and character and existence -- when God calls Himself, "I AM," He is telling us about Himself -- He is telling us that He is eternal, unchanging, self-existent and self-sufficient -- in other words, God is and always has been and ever more will be

            -- there has never been a time when God was not -- and there never will be a time when God is not there -- He is always present -- always with us -- always there -- He is I Am

            -- and once the Jewish people learned of this special name of God, they revered it and kept it holy, just as they did with the name Yahweh -- they would not use the name I Am in regular, everyday speech -- in fact, to use the phrase ego eimi -- "I Am" -- would be tantamount to claiming yourself God or equal to God

 

            -- but when you look at the gospels, we see Jesus doing just that -- in the Bible, Jesus used two main terms to describe Himself during His time on earth -- the first was the Son of Man -- and the second was "I Am" -- ego eimi -- both of which were declarations of His deity

            -- for instance, in John 8, Jesus was teaching in the temple courts when he was confronted by the Pharisees -- they questioned His authority -- they questioned what right He had to teach and to do what He was doing  

            -- in John 8:24, Jesus tells the Pharisees "you will die in their sins, unless you believe that I am" -- and, in John 8:28, Jesus says "when the Son of Man is lifted up, then you will know that I am"

            -- finally, in John 8:58, after the Pharisees questioned how Jesus could be older than Abraham, Jesus replied, "before Abraham was, I Am" -- using the words ego eimi

-- to us that phrase "I Am" sounds so innocuous -- but to the Pharisees, it was blasphemy because to use that name and to claim that name for yourself was the same thing as claiming to be God -- when they heard Jesus call Himself, “I Am,” they picked up stones and tried to kill Jesus on the spot

            -- this is why it's important to know context and to have a good working knowledge of Scripture -- all Scripture -- not just the New Testament -- you have to understand what was being said in the context of the time and the audience to which it was written before you can apply it to your own life

            -- I've had people tell me Jesus never said He was God -- and in one sense, you could agree with them -- Jesus never did come out and just say "I Am God" in a way we would understand it today -- but if you understand the context -- if you understand the meaning behind the words He was using here -- you can clearly see that He does -- and it was calling Himself, “I Am,” that caused the Pharisees to get upset and try to kill Him -- just using that phrase meant Jesus was calling Himself God and that's exactly how the people of His day would have understood it

 

III.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18)

      -- with that background, let’s look now at the first “I Am” statement in our series

      -- please turn over in your Bibles to John Chapter 10 and let's get started -- as you’re doing that and as we study this passage, I want you to remember to look for two things in each of the passages where we find these statements:

      -- first, we are going to see Jesus declare Himself to be divine by using the reserved phrase, "I Am" -- ego eimi -- we know that when Jesus used those words, He was declaring to the world, "I Am God"

      -- and, secondly, we're going to see in these statements a revelation of certain aspects of Jesus' nature and character -- the intrinsic qualities that will help us better understand and relate to Him as our Lord and Savior -- to know Him in a real and personal way so that we can answer the question that Jesus asked His disciples, “But who do you say I am?”

 

      -- we're going to start this study with Jesus' declaration, "I am the Good Shepherd"

 

      -- look with me at verse 11

 

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

      -- in this verse, Jesus gives us two declarations of divinity -- the first, of course, is "I Am" -- "ego eimi"

      -- the second, is a little less obvious -- notice what Jesus says here in this verse -- "I am the good shepherd" -- not "a" shepherd -- not just "I am the shepherd" -- but "I am the GOOD shepherd"

      -- by using this term, Jesus was claiming Himself divine

 

      -- hold your place here and flip back over to Mark 10 and look at verses 17-18

 

Mark 10:17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.

 

      -- in these verses, we see a man coming up to Jesus and wanting to know how to inherit eternal life -- He cries out to Jesus, "Good teacher" -- and notice what Jesus' response is, "Why do you call me good? -- no one is good, except God alone" -- Jesus gets to the heart of the matter -- to be good is to be God -- and if the young man wanted to inherit eternal life -- if he wanted to enter into God's kingdom, then he had to recognize Jesus as being more than just an upstanding moral teacher -- a man who knew God -- he had to recognize that Jesus was God -- that Jesus was good and therefore was God

 

      -- turn back over to John 10 -- in the same way, here in verse 11, Jesus is saying He is more than just a shepherd -- the word "shepherd" can also be translated as "pastor" -- the Pharisees could say they were shepherds -- they were the pastors -- the leaders --of the church and the temple in Jesus' day

      -- but the difference was they were not and could not be "the good shepherd" -- only God is good -- and only Jesus, as the God Man, was the good shepherd

 

      -- Jesus makes that point very clear in verses 12-13 -- look at verse 12-13

 

John 10:12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

 

      -- the Pharisees and the other shepherds in the church were not "the good shepherd" -- they were merely hired hands -- they didn’t own the sheep -- they were hired to just look after them for the owner

      -- and, as a result, they failed to take care of the sheep as they should have -- when trouble came their way, they turned and ran, leaving the people of Israel to their fate

      -- in the Book of Ezekiel, God pronounces judgment on these false shepherds -- these leaders who don't take care of His people

      -- in Ezekiel 34:1-4, we read: "The word of the LORD came to me: -- Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel -- prophesy and say to them: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says -- Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?

      -- You eat the curds -- clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals -- but you do not take care of the flock -- You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured -- You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost -- You have ruled them harshly and brutally."

      -- God says that because these false shepherds -- these hired men -- have refused to take care of the sheep, God is going to remove the flock from their care

      -- in Ezekiel 34:15-16, God says: "I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice."

      -- in other words, God is saying, I will be the Good Shepherd -- and here in John 10, we see Jesus proclaiming to the Jews that He is the promised Good Shepherd

 

      -- verse 14-16

 

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

 

      -- in Isaiah 40:11, we see a touching picture of Jehovah Roeh -- Jehovah the Shepherd -- Isaiah writes, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."

      -- Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd who relates to us in this way -- He cares for us as a shepherd cares for his flock -- as a shepherd takes care of the health and well-being of the sheep in his care

      -- there is a relationship there -- the good shepherd knows His sheep, and they know Him -- and for those of us who are in a right relationship with God, that means that He knows us and we know Him -- this word "know" that Jesus uses in these verses doesn't mean just head knowledge, it means heart knowledge

      -- when we hear the word "know," we tend to think of head knowledge alone -- but you can know facts about someone -- you can know all the intimate details of their lives -- but still not know them as a person

      -- for example, think  about how a lot of people know celebrities -- if we’re watching a movie and Brooke is in the room, I guarantee you that she will eventually say, “I know them -- they were in this other movie or tv show or something similar” -- she knows a lot about actors and  how old they are and what other shows they’ve been in and who they are dating and all about them -- but she doesn’t really know them because she’s never met them -- she doesn’t know who they are as a person

      -- so, when Jesus says that He knows His sheep and they know Him, He's talking about more than head knowledge -- He's talking about heart knowledge

      -- the Greek word that is translated as "know" here means more than just factual knowledge -- it means knowledge gained by experience -- it means knowing with the head and the heart -- it means knowing intimately -- knowing as a husband knows a wife and a wife knows her husband -- or as a Father knows His Son -- that's how Jesus as the good shepherd knows us and we know Him

 

      -- notice that Jesus says that everyone who is in His sheep pen belongs to His flock -- that’s the thing about Jesus’ sheep pen -- it’s big enough for everybody -- as Audio Adrenaline sang, God’s house is a “big, big house with lots and lots of room” -- there’s room for everyone and it doesn't matter if you are Jew or Gentile -- male or female -- American or European -- African or Asian -- if you know Jesus as your Good Shepherd, you are part of Jesus' flock

      -- as it says in the familiar children's song, "black and yellow, red and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world" -- once you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are in His flock -- and there is only one flock and one shepherd -- the good shepherd

      -- just as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:4-6, "There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

      -- all of us who have entered in through the gate of Christ are in His flock together -- and I think that’s something that we need to remind ourselves of with all the divisions and animosity towards other ethnic and political groups in our country today

 

      -- look back at the second part of verse 15 again

 

John 10:15b I lay down my life for the sheep.

 

-- now look down at verse 17-18

 

John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

 

      -- Jesus is the Good Shepherd, but He is also our Savior -- as the Good Shepherd, Jesus lays down His life for the sheep -- it is a choice -- it is something that He willingly does

      -- it is not something that was forced on Him -- it is something that He willingly chose to do because of His great love for us

      -- the crowd may have said "Crucify" -- Pilate may have pronounced the judgment and sent Him to Golgotha -- but it was not their choice or any human decision that put Jesus on the cross -- it was His own free will

      -- do you remember the movie, "The Passion of the Christ?" -- one of the most compelling scenes in this movie that really stuck with me was at the crucifixion of Jesus -- Jesus has collapsed on the ground at Golgotha -- on Mount Calvary

      -- the cross is laying on the ground where Simon has dropped it at the direction of the Romans -- and as the Romans move to put Jesus on the cross, He stirs Himself up and crawls onto the cross Himself, spreading His arms on the crosspiece and placing his legs on the cross

      -- in this act -- as Jesus puts Himself on the cross -- there is no doubt -- it was Jesus' choice to be on the cross

      -- as it says here in verse 18, "I lay my life down of my own accord" -- Just as it was Adam and Eve's free will that allowed them to take the forbidden fruit and eat it and bring sin into the world -- it was Jesus' free will that allowed Him to go to the cross and lay His own life down in place of ours to take the punishment for our sin and replace it with His righteousness

 

      -- notice, too, in verse 18 that His death was not the end -- it was merely the first step in God's great plan to bring us back into a relationship with Him -- Jesus willingly laid His life down for us -- but Jesus also took up His life again -- He emerged from the cold, darkness of the tomb triumphantly alive

      -- and in doing so, Jesus became the reconciler between God and man -- the redeemer of all the sheep of the flock

      -- that is what a Shepherd does -- that is what a Savior does -- that is what our God does

 

V.  CLOSING

      -- In what is probably the best-known Psalm of all -- Psalm 23 -- King David wrote:

 

      The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

     

      -- Philip Keller, a sheep rancher, shared some thoughts about this Psalm in his book, "A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-third Psalm." -- Keller says that sheep require more attention than any other type of livestock -- they just can’t take care of themselves.

      -- Unless their shepherd makes them move on, sheep will actually ruin a pasture -- eating every blade of grass -- until finally a fertile pasture is nothing but barren soil

      -- Sheep are near-sighted and very stubborn, but easily frightened -- Keller says an entire flock can be stampeded by a jackrabbit

      -- on top of that, they have little means of defense -- domestic sheep are timid, feeble creatures -- their only recourse is to run if no shepherd is there to protect them, but they have no homing instincts -- when they run, they run blindly, and will never make their home on their own            -- Keller says the over-riding principle of Psalm 23 is that sheep can’t make it without a shepherd -- we can't make it without a shepherd²

 

      -- as I close this morning, let us celebrate the fact that we don't have to try to do this life alone -- we have a shepherd to lead us -- a good shepherd -- Jesus tells us here that He is our good shepherd and He takes care of us

      -- as our good shepherd, Jesus directs our lives -- He leads us down paths of righteousness -- when we go through our day, Jesus is there -- pointing us in the right direction -- speaking into our hearts and leading us beside the still waters -- keeping us away from danger -- helping us to choose what is right and turn from what is wrong

      -- and as we reflect this week on what it means for us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd, let us celebrate the wonderful truth that Jesus laid down His life for us -- that He willingly gave Himself over to the cross of Calvary so He might lead us -- His sheep -- safely home to the Father

      -- this week, I want to encourage you to spend some time thinking about what it means for Jesus to be your Good Shepherd -- listen for His voice -- let Him lead you and guide you -- and I pray that you may come to know Him in a new and real way as we hear Jesus proclaim to us, “I Am the Good Shepherd”

 

      -- let us pray

 

 

1 Modified from Jason Gay, “This Baseball Card Could Be Worth $10 Million. Or Much More.” The Wall Street Journal (11-16-23)

2 Modified from Melvin Newland in "The Lord Is My Shepherd" on www.sermoncentral.com.