Good morning to you all. I pray that you are well and ready to worship.
One of the things I have had to revisit time and time again throughout my journey with Jesus is; I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full. At times, that abundancy can eluded us. This morning we will be looking at John Ch10; The shepherd and his flock. We will be looking at the one who gives life in abundance. I invite you all to share fellowship with me as we praise The One True God.
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Let’s worship together. Then Sings my soul. My Saviour God to thee.
Please turn with me to John Ch10:1-21
The good shepherd and his sheep
‘Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.’ 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. 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 sheepfold. 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.’ 19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, ‘He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?’
21 But others said, ‘These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’
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Prayer is a vital part of having that fulness of life Jesus spoke about. If we do not take time to pray, to commune with our shepherd, how can we experience his presence.
As we journey into prayer let us sing King of kings Majesty.
Let us pray
Dear Father in heaven, thank You that You are my God and my Shepherd and that You lead me beside still waters. Thank You, that You restore my soul and thank You that in You I have lacked no good thing. Forgive me for the times when my faith in Your gracious provision wears thin and I start to take control for my own needs instead of resting on you.
Thank You that when my faith does start to tremble at the knees, You remain faithful to me, for You are a good and a gracious God and I love You. Lord, You know the difficult circumstances that we face today and at times faith does feel flimsy, for, although we know that You can provide for all of us, at times, little seeds of doubt keep flooding our minds.
Father, we cast all our cares on You. All the concerns that currently face us, Lord, we cast everyone at Your feet. We confess that there is a part of within us, that just does not know what to do through theses difficult times. Nevertheless, you have promised in Your Word to supply all our needs and necessities according to the riches of Your grace. So, we cast all our worries on you. Thank You that You are a God that hears the cries of Your children and thank You for the answer that I know is speeding on its way. Help us not to miss Your answer, knowing that You so often surprise us with an answer that we do not expect. And so, to You be all the praise and honour due, in Jesus' name, Amen.
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Jesus is our saviour, friend, helper and guide. When we look at our world, when we look up into the heavens everything declares his glory. Let’s sing, All heaven declares.
Some of you I know love to sing the “descant” please do.
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The Address: Abundant Life
Let me ask you, do you believe in the Bible? If you do, what about one specific verse, let’s say John 10:10; The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; but I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Now let me ask, do you believe that this promise is for you?
As we race through life day after day, one of the things that happens is that we somehow get conned into the great lie of our times: if you earn lots of money and you spend it on this and that, then you are going to be happy. If you go out and pursue all the desires of you heart, then you are going to be happy. Many spend their whole lives chasing happiness, only to be disappointed at every turn. And before you know it, they are looking back on a wasted life. How tragic is that?
What is the answer? What is life all about? What is my life all about? Am I going to be happy? So many of us have spent so much of our lives chasing happiness – me included. Many of us have said I just want to be happy, yet we don’t really know what happiness is, therefore, we go looking for it in the wrong places. Jesus promised something outrageous to His disciples. He promised it to anyone who follows Him. He promised abundant life. In fact, a super-abundant life! Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? What does that mean, an abundant life?’ What does it look like?
Let’s just take another look at what Jesus said. Reading from John 10:v1 onwards.
Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep then follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again, Jesus said, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.
‘The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. But I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
‘The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.’
This is a truly interesting passage. Its a beautiful picture of a shepherd and his flock. Let me explain the job of a shepherd. The shepherd normally had a small number of sheep, fifty or so and he literally knew each of them by name. So, when the shepherd calls them and they hear him, they follow this voice; he leads them; he goes ahead of them and finds them pasture and water and keep them safe. The shepherd who owned the sheep would literally protect the sheep with his life from wild animals and robbers. During winter months the shepherd would bring them into the sheep fold, into the town or village. At night time all the different shepherd’s sheep would be in one pen. When the morning came, each shepherd in turn would come and call his sheep. The shepherd had a personal relationship with them – the sheep knew his voice and so they would follow just their shepherd, not anyone else’s shepherd, just their shepherd and they trusted him and they felt safe with him. isn't that amazing.
So, this is the picture that the people had in their minds in the first century as Jesus was telling this story. This picture of the lonely shepherd tending his flock, protecting them with his life – that’s what Jesus was drawing on in this story. But let us notice something, the disciples didn’t understand what He was saying. Verse 6 of John chapter 10 says:
Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them.
You and I, we wander through some difficult places in life – we truly do. When we are young, we think we are invincible; we think we can conquer every mountain, but life soon teaches us that we are like a small boat on a great big, mighty ocean. Storms will come, thieves will come and try to steal our joy. Bad things will happen. Illnesses will come. Is there any one of us who does not have something going on in our lives right now that hurts – something we wish wasn’t there? Jesus never, ever, ever promised His disciples a comfortable ride – in fact, quite to the contrary. He said to them, at a time when their county was unstable, when they all lived in fear for their lives because of Roman occupation, Jesus said this in John chapter 16, verse 33:
I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will face persecution but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.
They were already living in fear. Jesus never said, that will soon end. What he did say was, “in this world you will always face trouble”. But through all this pain and hardship Jesus promised an abundant life. And this abundant life comes to us in the context of the rough and tumble of life. It comes to us in the context of a shepherd leading his sheep through a rocky dangerous plateau in order to find a safe pasture. As we live our lives under the protection and the safety and the sacrificial love of this One True Shepherd, Jesus, then He says to us, “I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.” And that abundant life was purchased for you and me at a price, at a very great price.
Let me ask, “Is there anybody here this morning, or whenever you read this, that doesn’t have at least one thing going on in their lives that hurts? One thing that they wish was not there. One thing that they want God to heal or to change or to solve or to take away? I would say, especially at this present moment, that all of us have something going in our lives that we pray for God to heal or sort out. And each of us are people who believe. We are people who have heard Jesus say: John chapter 10, verse 10, that:
The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. We have all heard the promise of Jesus; to give us abundant life.
Yet, all of us have something going on in our lives that is troubling us. Its like this, your whole body can be healthy, but you jam your finger in a door and the excruciating pain in that one finger is all that you can think about. The fact that the rest of your life is simply fine at that point, is pretty much irrelevant. Its all about the bit that hurts – that’s what we focus on. Isn’t that true? Its so easy to live our lives, focusing on that one bit in our life that hurts. That difficult relationship, that financial pressure, that problem at work, the worry about what other people are thinking about us, the loss of a loved one. Its different for each one of us. But when we have that one thing, or perhaps even two or three, that we wish would just go away – then it can consume us. It robs us of life in all its fulness.
But look with me again, at what Jesus says about Himself:
“Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come and go and find pasture.
Let’s go back to the shepherd for a while. In summer, the shepherds would stay out overnight with their sheep. By night, the shepherds would lead his sheep into a makeshift pen. But those pens had no gate, so he would sleep across the opening, in effect, the shepherd became the gate. To keep the sheep in overnight, to keep them safe and sound so that none would wander off and to keep the thieves and the wild animals out. The shepherd became the gate. He would fight with anything that tried to steal his sheep. He would fight with his staff and with his rod. He was the gate. He was their safety, so that they could come and go in peace. He gave them protection, safety and peace. And that is Jesus in our lives today, my friends. Make no mistake about it. The thief will come to steal and to kill and try to destroy you. He will try to rob you of the abundant life that Jesus has planned for you. The wild animals will come to tear us apart. And yes, we can wander off in our own directions, but out there on our own, we are sitting ducks. The place of safety is with Jesus. The place of safety is close to our Shepherd – the one true Shepherd who would lay down His life for His sheep.
There are going to be struggles in our lives, and when they come, when things hurt, the place to go is Jesus – the One True Shepherd, the One who lays down His life for His sheep. He is our refuge. He can and He will protect us. What a pity that so many suffer through things alone when all along Jesus is waiting for them. The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. “I came,” said Jesus, “that you might have life and have it abundantly.”
There will always be something in life that will take the shine or the gloss off life. The Apostle Paul found that too. He had a thorn in his flesh. Now, we are not quite sure whether that was a physical ailment or a spiritual ailment, the Holy Spirit in His wisdom chose not to tell us that. Good thinking too! But have a listen to Paul. Second Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 7:
To keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’. So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
This is from the great Apostle Paul, the guy who wrote almost half the books in the New Testament! See, there is always something, isn’t there? And I wonder if that isn’t God’s plan. I wonder, if everything was always going swimmingly for us, whether we would even bother seeking God out at all! Jesus gives us this abundant life amidst the story of our struggles. Just like the struggle of a shepherd to protect and feed his sheep.
I once read a story about a young man whose father was a shepherd. Once the young boy was watching the sheep standing and grazing but as soon as his father, the shepherd would go into the field, they would often lie down. The boy asked his dad why that was. His father said, “the sheep only lie down when they feel safe and that’s when the shepherd is close. They know that they are safe, which is why they will often take that opportunity to lie down and have a rest. Wow. Brings the 23rd psalm to life don't you think.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me by still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk into the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Even though you and I can end up in the valley of the shadow of death, we do not have to fear any evil because God is with us – His rod and His staff comfort us. You see, an abundant life is not about being taken out of the difficult circumstances of life. It’s about experiencing the peace and the protection of Jesus – that One True Shepherd – right there; right in the middle of the difficulties of life; right there, smack, bang in that valley of the shadow of death. And the incredible power of that is this: if we choose that sort of abundance of life, the one that Jesus has to offer – the true one, not the imposters, not the false shepherds, not the ones that come to rob and to kill and destroy. If we choose the TRUE life, with the TRUE Shepherd, then it doesn’t matter what our circumstances are – good, bad, up, down, positive, negative – it doesn’t matter, because even though we may walk through the darkest valley, we fear no evil because He is with us. Amen.
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As we conclude our time of worship this morning let us meditate up this beautiful song by ISS, entitled, "Father Creator."
The lyrics to this song say’s.
Father creator thank you for saving me. Lord of the universe I’m kneeling before you now to confess you are Lord over me.
Let us live a life, knowing that Jesus is Lord over us.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
And be gracious unto thee
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee
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