I am the Gate

I am.  That’s what Jesus said. “I am.”  Since June we have been looking at the various times that Jesus used the phrase “I am” to metaphorically describe himself.  “I am the Way”, “I am the truth”, “I am the resurrection”, “I am the life”, “I am the bread of life”, “I am the light of the world”, “I am the Good Shepherd.”   And on one occasion he simply stated “I AM’, a statement of existence that goes clear back to the Old Testament when God declared to Moses Exodus 3:14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

It is interesting that only John records these words of Jesus.  It’s not that Jesus doesn’t use the words “I am” anywhere else in the Gospels, he does.  As a friend of mine from Australia used to say “He’s not backwards about coming forward” at least not in sense of defining who he was and what he was like Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

When the high priest demanded that Jesus answer their question in Mark 14:61 Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”   He answered and said Mark 14:62 Jesus said, “I AM.”

And on different occasions Jesus said very clearly “I am the Messiah”.  But it is only in the book of John that Jesus’ uses these metaphors to describe himself.  Now Jesus didn’t use similes because as you are all aware a simile uses the word “like” make that comparison.  Jesus didn’t say “I am like a gate”  or “I am like a shepherd”  he said “I am the gate” and “I am the shepherd.”  A metaphor is much more forceful than a simile. But you knew that already.

But maybe you are wondering why John mentions these words but Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t?  After giving it much thought my answer would be:  “just because they didn’t”. 

If four of you chose to follow me around for the next three years, from now until August 2015 and then each of you wrote an account of what I did and what I said each of you would attribute importance to different parts of the story.  In the gospels we have concise accounts of Jesus’ ministry, if we had every word and every action that he did written down it would literally take up volumes of space.  Which John echoes in John 21:25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

And so the fact that only John recorded the times that Jesus used these metaphors probably isn’t all that surprising. Perhaps they struck a chord with John; maybe he was the only one who noticed the pattern. 

When we moved back from Australia we noticed how many people were using the word “Paradigm”.  Or for those of you who are hooked on Phoneics “Par-a-dig-m” I’m sure the word was used in Oz but just not in the circles that we ran in. And so we moved back and here was this new word being bandied around willy nilly and I had no idea what it meant.  All I knew was that if I was going to accomplish anything in this new church it would only happen after I strategically analysed and shifted my paradigm while maximizing and leveraging our synergy.  If you aren’t sure what a Paradigm is, don’t feel bad I’m not sure that the dictionary does either. 

par·a·digm  [par-uh-dahym, -dim] noun

1. a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, especially the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.

It wasn’t long after we were back that Angela and I were at a conference and one of the key-note speakers seemed to have fallen in love with word.  But when I mentioned it to another pastor he said he hadn’t noticed.  In a half an hour the speaker used the word “Paradigm” almost a dozen times, I know because every time he used the word we made a tic in our notes, until he caught us.

So perhaps it was only John who attached particular importance to these words that Jesus spoke, that he was the one who saw the pattern.  

Last week we looked at the second part of this chapter and the phrase “I am the Good Shepherd”  this morning we are looking back to the beginning of his teaching here.  We had commented at how often Jesus used the everyday to illustrate the eternal.  The everyday activities of farmers, fishermen and house wives because opportunities for Jesus to illustrate the Kingdom of God.  .

In this case it was the village sheepfold that caught the attention of Jesus.  Historically we while the sheep would be led into the hills surrounding the villages to graze during the day at night they would be brought back to the village and would be housed in a sheepfold.  These were just pens, or corrals to contain and protect the sheep at night.  Sometimes they were more permanent structures made out of stone and sometimes they were just temporary ones made out of brush.  But the concept was the same, they were a sheep high enclosure with an opening for the sheep to go in and go out through. 

So maybe Jesus and the apostles had come across a sheepfold and Jesus says John 10:1 “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!  And then he says John 10:7 so Jesus explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.” And then he reiterates that thought in John 10:9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

Those of you who were here last week might be thinking, “I thought Jesus was the shepherd.  How can he be the shepherd and the gate both?” 

A couple of thoughts here, some scholars tell us that some folds, in particular the temporary ones didn’t actually have a gate that closed the opening in the fold.  And so once the sheep were inside the shepherd would lay across the opening to keep the sheep in place.  Anyone who has ever chaperoned a youth lock in or sleep over understand the concept, at least in separating the rams and the ewes. 

And so those scholars would tell us that Jesus was trying to convey that he was both the gate and the shepherd.  Sometimes I think we over analysis things.  I don’t think this was a mixed metaphor as much as it was two separate metaphors.   You know what a mixed metaphor is right?  When you jumble up different concepts in one thought. 

Once in Futurama Zapp Brannigan stated "If we can hit that bull’s-eye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate."   I have a friend who used to do that all the time, once while he was preaching he challenged the congregation to “Grab life by the teeth”. 

Let’s not try and twist our head around how Jesus can be both the shepherd and the gate, instead let’s just assume that they were two different thoughts.  We don’t wonder how Jesus could be the vine and the bread, or the Shepherd and the light.  Jesus was using different metaphors to illustrate his different characteristics so let’s not mix them up. 

Last week we looked at Jesus’ words “I am the Good Shepherd.”  That was last week.  New thought for this week John 10:9 Jesus said “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

So there are three thoughts here.  1) There is One Gate We don’t see a lot of gates around the HRM, but 2000 years ago in the middle east gates were everywhere.  You protected your sheep with gates, you protected your towns with gates, you protected your family with gates.  The people who heard Jesus that day knew exactly what he meant when he talked about Gates. In Jesus’ day there were ten different gates placed in the walls of Jerusalem.  There were big gates and little gates, fancy gates and plain gates.  And there were all opened during the day and they were all closed at night.

During the day the elders gathered at the gates and it was there they held court.  The city and village gates acted as meeting spots and gathering places  Actually in the original language the word translated gate can also be translated “Tim Hortons”

On my first teaching trip to Africa I marveled at the number of gates there were.  Our hotel had a wall and a gate.  All the homes we visited had walls and gates.  To get to some of the restaurants we ate at you had to go through gates and even the church properties were gated. Some neighbourhoods were gated and often on main roads there would be gates set up with armed troops checking people’s IDs.  I commented to the folks who were hosting us and asked if crime was really that serious of a problem and they said no but what if you left your property open and someone came and stole your clothes while they were hanging out to dry?  There seemed to be a culture of fear.  Which might explain all the gated communities you see in places like Florida.  

But the main purpose of a gate was that it provided an entrance and exit.  And those who had legitimate business there entered via the gate, which is why Jesus said John 10:1 “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!”

And there are times that we want to think that there are several different gates that people can go through on their way to God.  But that isn’t the reality of what Jesus taught.  In the same way that Jesus said John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”  And not “I am one way and I am one truth”  Jesus said John 10:9 Jesus said “Yes, I am the gate.” Not “I am one gate” but “I am the gate”.  And he is the gate not because he was a good teacher and not because he was a great prophet and not because he was a righteous man.  He is the gate to God because He is God.

And while that might seem a little narrow and a little limiting that is the reality of the Kingdom.  Jesus himself said in the book of Matthew 7:13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.”

So what is on the other side of the Gate?  John 10:9 Jesus said “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

2. It is a Gate to the There and Then  Those who come in through me will be saved.  When I was in Bible College we had a drama group called “Redemption Road” and they travelled to churches to represent the college.  And in one of the sketches they had a young man trying to talk to his friend about Jesus but he kept using Christian phrases and Christian clichés that his friend wasn’t familiar with.  One of those was “Are you saved?”  To which his friend replied “What?” And so his friend asked again  “Are you saved?”  “Once I was in a canoe in the middle of the river that flipped over, so yeah I guess I was.” 

And we need to be careful that when we use words and concepts like “being saved” with people who aren’t familiar with “Christianise” but that doesn’t negate the value or the truth of those particular words.  It seems that most people are familiar with the phrase “Born again” especially during a US election year.  But only once do we find that phrase in Bible.  And it is an important reference in John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” But it is only one statement.  The New Testament is rife with the word and the concept of being saved. 

Jesus uses the word, Paul uses the word, Peter uses the word, James uses the word.  Even angels used the word.

Listen to how the story of Jesus begins, Mary has broken the news to Joseph that she is pregnant, and he knows he’s not the father.  He decides he must break of the engagement but that night as he struggles to find peace in sleep we read Matthew 1:20-21 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

When Jesus was explaining why he had come he tells his Apostles in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

And after Jesus had died on the cross and had rose from the dead, in one of his last conversation with his followers he told them Mark 16:16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.

The bible is very clear that we are all sinners, as much as we try to not sin we do sin. Romans 3:23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

And the bible is equally clear that the consequences of that sin is spiritual death.  That is what the Bible calls Hell, or Hades or Sheol.  And through the years it has been described with flames and fire and torment.  And we don’t know what hell will look like or what hell will feel like but we do know this, it will be a separation from God and from all that is good.  From love, from peace from joy.  It won’t be a party to get reacquainted with old friends, it will be hell.  Hebrews 10:39 But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.

And the Bible clear that is why Jesus came and offered himself as a sacrifice, to do what we could not do on our own.  To save us from the consequences of our sins.  Paul writes and tells us in Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.

 But there has to be more than being saved from tomorrow.

John 10:9 Jesus said “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” 

3. It is a Gate to the Here and Now Jesus wasn’t promising his followers good grazing.  The phrase “They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”  is a Hebraic Euphemism, you know what a Hebraic Euphemism is right?  Yes that’s right a Euphemism in Hebrew. William Barclay tells us “To describe something of what that entrance to God means, Jesus uses a well-known Hebrew phrase. He says that through him we can go in and come out. To be able to come and go unmolested was the Jewish way of describing a life that is absolutely secure and safe.”

 Do you remember the opening lines of the 23^rd Psalm?  Psalm 23:1-2 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

In the 23^rd Psalm David was saying that God would provide all he needed.  Let’s be careful to understand that all we need and all we want may be two very different things.  For the sheep they needed food for today, they didn’t need to own the pasture. 

The other day on the news they were talking about the need to have emergency savings, equal to 3 months of what we needed to survive.  And they talked about our mortgage payments, and car payments and groceries and . . .internet access. 

The pastures that Jesus brings us to are the fulfilment of our physical needs, and our emotional needs and our spiritual needs.  And it’s not simply him waving a magical wand.  It is when we follow his teaching and his example.  His death and resurrection saves us from our sin and his teaching and his example lead us into our new life. 

Not very much further along in John 10 we read John 10:10 . . . My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. In some of the older versions we read John 10:10 . . . I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  Sometimes Christians live like they don’t deserve much in life, that they have to live on the fringe but that wasn’t the promise of Jesus.  He promised us a life that would be rich and satisfying, an abundant life, a full life and a new life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

 And what that means for you and how that works out in your life is up to you and God, what is a full and satisfying life for you might not do anything for me at all.  If you are going to enter into the life that God has for you and wants for you, in the here and now and in the there and then there is only one entrance, only one gate.  And the only person who can decide whether or not you will go through that gate is you.  Not even God can force you through the gate, but he will hold it open for you.

I am the Good Shepherd

“I am”.  Over the past eight weeks we have been looking at the various times that Jesus describes himself using the phrase “I am”.  And so we have examined Jesus words and meaning when he said “I am the way”, “I am the truth”, “I am the life”, “I am the resurrection”, “I am the bread of life”, “I am the vine” and “I am the light of the world”.  And these all lead back to the message we began with in John 8:58 where in a debate with the Jewish religious leaders Jesus simply identifies himself simply as “I AM”.   And while for us that may seem a little vague the Jews knew exactly what he was saying, which explains their reaction in John 8:59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him.

Why? Why would they want to throw rocks at Jesus? Because of his superior debating skills?  No. Because he was claiming to be over 1500 years old?  No.   It wasn’t about when Jesus claimed to be but instead it was all about who Jesus claimed to be.

From childhood every Jew had been taught the story of how Moses had been called of God to deliver the children of Abraham from the slavery of Egypt.  They all knew the details and they knew that when God called Moses while he was in the wilderness that he didn’t want to go, and when Moses finally gave in he had one final question for God and that question is found in Exodus 3:13 But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”   And that is a good question?  It’s something that I would want to know. “Why should the people believe me?  Whose authority am I coming in?”  And God’s response is found in the next verse Exodus 3:14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”   

And so when Jesus told the people who had gathered that day John 8:58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!” They knew exactly what he was saying and exactly who he was claiming to be.  And when someone claimed to be God, for the Jews that was blasphemy and the penalty for blasphemy was stoning.  You might be thinking “Well how did Jesus escape?”  Well . . . we don’t really have all the details.  What the bible tells us in John 8:59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.   And we don’t know if Jesus simply disappeared or if his disciples crowded around him and snuck him out or what.  All we know is that the plans of the people to kill Jesus didn’t come to fruition that day. 

In the book of John there are several instances where Jesus uses the phrase “I am”  times in the book of John that Jesus said “I am”.  And for those who care there are 22 separate instances where Jesus is recorded as saying “I am” in the gospel of John.  In John 8:58 we see Jesus use “I AM” as a statement of existence.  The statement lacks an object after the verb.  In the other twenty one instances when Jesus says “I am” he means he is something, a predicate nominative follows the verb.  Not in this case, he isn’t saying he is something, he is simply stating that he is.

Another ten of those instances are self-identification, times when Jesus said “I am” to identify himself.  An example of that is found in John 18:4-5 when Jesus is arrested in the garden,  Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I AM he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.)

In another 11 instances the statements are metaphorical, that is that Jesus describes himself by comparing himself to something else.  And that is where we’ve parked this summer. 

In the scripture that was read for us this morning we hear Jesus say not once but twice “I am the Good Shepherd.” So the question has to be: Why a Shepherd?  Probably a couple of different reasons.  If you read through the gospels you discover that Jesus was a genius at taking the everyday and using it to illustrate the eternal.  The Kingdom of God is like:  a man working in a field, a woman making bread, a fisherman casting his net into the water.  So perhaps on this day as Jesus and his followers were making their way along the roads of Palestine they were interrupted by a shepherd and his flock of sheep crossing the road.  Or maybe it wasn’t a spontaneous teaching but something he had planned and crafted.  We don’t think of Jesus’ teaching in that light do we?  We don’t think of him writing a sermon or preparing his thoughts in advance but we just assume that it was a natural outflow of who he was.  I can’t speak for other preachers but I spend hours writing and molding what you hear on Sunday mornings, sometimes that may be hard to believe but it is the truth. 

So maybe Jesus had stayed up late the night before wondering how he would convey these specific thoughts to those who followed him and decided on the analogy of a shepherd and sheep.  After all 2000 years ago in Israel everyone knew what a shepherd looked like and what a shepherd did.   Their greatest king had been a shepherd.  When the birth of Jesus was announced it was to shepherds.  When David was looking for a description for God that everyone would understand he said “The Lord is my shepherd’ and that was just one of a number of times that David would refer to God as a shepherd over the people of Israel. 

And that fact that the bible sometimes uses sheep as an analogy for God’s people isn’t always a compliment.  People who don’t know sheep think they are soft, fluffy docile animals but that isn’t always the truth. 2000 years ago the Roman poet Sextus Propertius wrote “The seaman tells stories of winds, the ploughman of bulls; the soldier details his wounds, the shepherd his sheep.”

But what does it mean to us today, August 19 2012?  Sheep and shepherds are not a common sight along our roads.  The other day when we were driving back from NB we saw sheep but they were penned in a field and there wasn’t a shepherd anywhere to be seen.  Very few if any of us know a shepherd or have even met a shepherd.  It would be like speaking to someone in Australia and using a snowplough operator as an illustration. 

It is interesting to note that this is one of only two times where Jesus using an analogy to describe himself and then expects others to emulate that analogy.  Last week Pastor Ben spoke on Jesus’ words from John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” And perhaps you will recall Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount when he told his followers Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.”  But nowhere do you see Jesus commanding those who would follow him to be a vine, or a gate or bread or the Way.

And so in John 10 Jesus says “I am the good Shepherd”  and in one of Jesus’ last interactions with his disciples we read this account in John 21:15-17 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.

When Paul was giving direction to the elders of the church in Ephesus he tells them Acts 20:28 “So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders.”

And when we read in Ephesians 4:11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  The word that is used for Pastor is the Greek word ποιμήν (poimēn) which is used 18 times in the New Testament and the other 17 times is translated shepherd.

And so I don’t think I’m being presumptuous when I say that the characteristics that apply to Jesus as the “Good Shepherd” should also apply to those to whom  he entrusts his flock  today.

 So what are those characteristics?  I would suspect when Jesus said “I am your Shepherd”  that many of those listening would have immediately thought of David’s psalm, which we now call the 23^rd Psalm and would have thought about how the Great Shepherd was described there.

So firstly this morning let’s look at what a Shepherd is supposed to do.

Psalm 23:1-2 The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.  A Shepherd Leads the Sheep to Food In the arid Palestinian country side good grazing was a moving target, if sheep were allowed to graze too long at one spot they would destroy the grass and so the shepherd had to move them from area to area, firstly so they would have enough to eat and secondly so they wouldn’t overgraze and render that spot barren.  If you grew up watching westerns or reading Louise Lamour novels you are probably familiar with the term Cattle drive and you can almost picture in your minds the whooping cowboys driving the herd of cattle from point “A” to point “B”.  But here it says the shepherd leads the sheep.  Take a look at this (video of sheep following shepherd)

From all I’ve read sheep aren’t the brightest of animals but they do trust their shepherd.  Jesus tells us in John 10:3-4 The sheep recognize the shepherd’s voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

The sheep know the shepherd’s voice because they hear it all the time, they understand that if they follow that voice that good things will happen, they will be led to food and water.

In our daily life as Christ followers we are supposed to follow Christ. That should be a no-brainer.  The Sheep trust that the shepherd is concerned about their well-being and that he will take them to where they can find both food and water.  If we follow Christ, his words, his teaching and his example then we will be provided for spiritually.  And like sheep if we are familiar with his voice we will find it easier to follow his voice.  That’s why we read the gospels, to become familiar with Jesus so we will know his voice. In the same way Jesus continues on in  John 10:5 “They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”   So when you are familiar with the voice of Jesus when you hear something that just doesn’t jive with that voice you know better.  Even if that voice comes from a pulpit.

  It’s when we decide that as sheep we know better than the shepherd and we go our own way that we get into trouble. 

At different times in the gospels Jesus talks about sheep that get lost, those are sheep who came to the conclusion that they knew more than the shepherd and stopped following the one who was leading them and decided to go their own way.  The scriptures warn us, Proverbs 14:12 There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

As your Pastor, your shepherd, my responsibility is to lead you where God would have you to go, to direct you to where you can be fed spiritually. 

Psalm 23:4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. Some scriptures are just best in the King James version Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The Shepherd Protects the Sheep  How many people here are fans of the Bugs Bunny show?  Truly the cream of the intellectual crop aren’t we.  Out of all my favourites the one cartoon I enjoy most is the one with the Ralph the wolf and Sam the sheep dog.  You remember, they clock into work together each morning, “Morning Ralph, morning Sam”, spend the day doing what they do best.  The wolf trying his hardest to steal a sheep and the sheepdog preventing him from stealing said sheep. 

Remember sheep weren’t raised in town, they were roamed the hills where the wild animals also roamed.  And there were times as they were looking for something to eat that predators in the same area were looking for something to eat as well. And although sheep had a number of natural enemies they had no natural defences.  They can’t run that fast, they are herbivores so their teeth really aren’t designed to bite in defence, although most pastors have discovered that sheep can bite.  Sheep really are helpless.  And it is up to the shepherd to defend them against wild animals.

Do you remember the story, from the Old Testament, of David the shepherd boy and the giant Goliath?  David volunteers to go up against Goliath and the King says “Don’t be ridiculous, you are just a boy”  and David counters with these words 1 Samuel 17:34-35 But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.

If we follow Jesus’ voice he not only leads us but he protects us.  Time and time again in the New Testament false teachers are portrayed as wolves that want to prey on God’s sheep.  Part of my responsibility as your pastor, your shepherd is to protect you from those false teachings.  To counter them and point people in the right direction.  And remember the best way to be know what is false teaching is to be immersed in the truth.

The third thing a Shepherd does may sound a little strange and perhaps cruel Ecclesiastes 12:11 The words of the wise are like cattle prods—painful but helpful. Their collected sayings are like a nail-studded stick with which a shepherd drives the sheep. When Necessary The Shepherd Disciplines The Sheep  Apparently there were times that sheep just wouldn’t do what they were supposed to do, they would wander away and not stay with the flock.  So there were three options, you could let them be eaten by something, you could eat them yourself or you could discipline them. 

I have read accounts that purport to be true although I can’t vouch for it myself.  The story goes that sometimes a shepherd would find himself with a particular young headstrong sheep who seemed to have natural leadership abilities, apparently sheep must be like people in that account, those two characteristics often go together along with youth. 

When the Atlantic district and I were in the courtship phase about starting Cornerstone I had to take a personality profile test, I forget which one it was.  But the report came back and they told me, “We like the fact that you think outside the box but have some concerns that you might be a bit of a loose cannon.”   No really? 

Anyway, back to the story.  We are told that sometimes this individualistic sheep would lead the other sheep away from where they were supposed to be and into danger.  If the shepherd couldn’t stop this behaviour he would resort to drastic measures.  He would break one of the sheep’s legs and then set it.  He would then carry the sheep with him and the sheep would become dependent on the shepherd for his food and water and would get used to being around the shepherd so when the leg finally healed he would no longer be a danger to himself or to the other sheep.  You ever wonder about the paintings with Jesus and lamb around his neck?  Of course if that didn’t work the shepherd would eat the sheep, but they don’t tell you that.

Now I have a confession to make.   I don’t like discipline.  Didn’t like it as a child, didn’t like it  as teen don’t like it as an adult.  But it is part of life and part of accountability.  But listen to the words of Bible in Hebrews 12:5-7 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?

Angela and I came across an interesting scripture the other day in 1 Corinthians.  It was about a man in the church who was involved in sinful behaviour.  And I know in 2012 we are told not to judge, to accept people as they are and love them where they are at. But this is what Paul tells the Shepherds of the Corinthian Church to do with this individual.  1 Corinthians 5:5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan and that sounds really harsh, but let’s keep reading to find the result.  so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

At some point there needs to be discipline and a clear statement of: this is right and this is wrong and often times the discipline on this side of eternity will make a difference on the other side of eternity.  

Finally there are a couple things that a shepherd can’t do.

A Shepherd Can’t Have Baby Sheep.  This might sound silly but often times in the church if there is no growth and the flock isn’t growing the sheep blame the shepherd.  But the reality is that the shepherd is to provide a safe healthy place for the sheep and in that environment they are supposed to reproduce.

A Shepherd Can’t Eat For His Sheep  I’m sure that you have all heard the old adage “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.”  Well you can lead the sheep to food but you can’t make them eat. 

If the sheep are going to grow and stay healthy then they have to eat but the shepherd can’t force them to eat.  If Christ Followers are going to grow and stay healthy then they have to eat but the shepherd can’t force them to eat.  And if you aren’t feeding on the word of God through the week and you are weak spiritually don’t blame me.  Too many people blame the pastor saying “Well I’m just not being fed on Sunday” What would happen if you only ate food on Sunday? You’d starve to death, eventually, some of us it would take a while. My prayer when someone tells me that is “Lord teach them to eat.” 

Let me close with the words of Peter, remember this is the Peter that Jesus commanded to feed his sheep.  1 Peter 2:25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.