John 10:1 – 10                                       Calvary 041308
In 2001 I was in South Africa on mission trip in a small village in the mountains. One day as we were hiking to another village we come across a large flat field and we stopped to rest. That field was full of Sheep grazing while the shepherds gathered. While we were sitting there the shepherds were done with whatever they were talking about and each of them started walking towards his village. A few hundred feet away they each stopped and turned towards the sheep, each making a different sound. One yelled, another whistled, there was one who had a strange looking instrument and started playing it and one made this clicking noise with his lips. Suddenly this field that looked like one big sheet of wool began breaking up into groups as each sheep started heading towards its own shepherd. It was amazing to see. Then each shepherd quickly glanced at his flock, then turned around and began to walk as the sheep followed.
I was surprised, I would have thought that one of the sheep would make a new friend and go with it, or that a male would find a good looking female and follow her instead, but no, they each recognized the specific call of its shepherd and immediately went to him. And The shepherds, they didn’t count or take much time making sure they were all there, it was with one quick glance that they knew that they were all their and that they were all their own.
I immediately thought of this story when I read the text for this morning. In this particular Jesus helps us identify and understand his relationship to us and our connection to Him in this allegory or proverb of the shepherd and the sheep, which would have been easy to visualize and understand for people in first century Palestine, since many of them worked as shepherds. But it is also simple enough for us to see and comprehend today.
He tells them the shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…. And the sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

In this text there are 3 major characters, along with three important actions, or responses. There’s the shepherd, the sheep, and the thief.

The shepherd has the major role, which is coming to the sheep, calling them by name, and leading them.
In the world today there are always things that come to us, things that call us or draws us in, which can then lead and dominate our lives.
Think of all the things that come to us through regular mail, through e-mail, through TV or even through people that come knocking on our doors. There is always a better house to buy, nicer car to own, better place to live or visit, which means that we are always under the temptation to give in to these things that we see, causing us to never be satisfied with what we have or what we see. But remember the words of Ecclesiastes “vanity of vanities, all is vanity and a chasing after the wind.”
We know deep down inside that these things will never satisfy us instead will just lead us to want more and never feel fulfilled.

This story in the Gospel of John comes after Jesus had given a man born blind, his sight back and the Pharisees found this man and questioned him and when they didn’t like his answer they expelled him, which means that they probably denied him the right to come into the Synagogue which was a huge deal for people.
Later on Jesus finds this man and tells him, “Do you believe in the Son of man” and the man answers, “Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus tells him you have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he. The man immediately responds, “Lord, I believe” and the text tells us that he worshiped him.

So Jesus looks at the crowd and says, “I came so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Well, the Pharisees heard him and said, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus replies, “if you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “we See, your sin remains.

Jesus was saying to them if you didn’t claim to have all the knowledge and the answers and see yourselves as superior to everyone else you would not have sin within you, but because you claim all these things, your sin remains. Their exclusive claim to the knowledge of the will of God, their fancy clothing and rituals blinded them from seeing that Jesus was doing the will of God and was sent by God.

Jesus says that they are like thieves and bandits who are trying to enter the kingdom of God through ways other than through the will of God, through Christ Jesus. They were trying to claim salvation and faith through their status, they wore pretty fancy looking robes and hats, they took the law that was supposed to help people find God and turned it into a way to restrict and limit the work of God in people’s lives, by judging people, and gave themselves the right to expel people from entering the synagogue.

What is distracting you and blinding you today from seeing God’s will for your life? What is holding back your relationship with God from growing? Is it your Job? Is it your friends, perhaps it’s not something physical. It may be your own mind or your own feelings. Don’t let the world distract you from growing in your walk with Christ, don’t let your thoughts and your feelings limit God’s power and ability in your life. Seek out a deeper walk with God and trust that everything else will be taken care of. Remember Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Jesus as the Shepherd comes to us, calls us by name, and Leads us. As a child one of the verses that I was taught in Sunday school was Psalm 32:8 which says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
As a kid I didn’t really understand most of the words in these verses, I didn’t know what it means to instruct, or to counsel, and what in the world is to keep God’s eye upon me? I remember at one point thinking great, so God is always going to be watching me, that’s worse than my parents, at least them I can hide from.

But now when I think about these words I appreciate them more. God is saying I’m not just going to point to you the way from a distance and let you go, or send you an instruction manual and let you figure things out on your own. NO, God is saying I will teach you and instruct you in all the things I want you to know. not only that but you’re important enough to me that I will council you meaning I will walk with you, you won’t have to go through anything alone, I will be right there with you.

God will even go a step further. God is not just going to be a silent companion, someone who’s just there, no, God says I will keep my eye on you. Now some of you may be thinking yea right, where was God when I lost my job, when I lost a loved one or when I was struggling. God was right there talking to you, helping you, giving you strength to make it through the difficult times, sometimes in a direct way if you were paying attention, but also in and through your friends, your family, sometimes even in strangers. God is an active companion in our lives. If we just pay more attention we’d find that His presence is much more evident than we think. It’s because we’re distracted that we don’t notice it, not because God has walked away but rather we did.

And so how do we notice Gods presence more in our lives? We’re given the answers in what the sheep do. There are 3 things that we’re told the sheep do in response to the Shepherd’s coming to them, calling them by name and leading them.
They hear His voice, they follow Him, and they do not follow a stranger, but rather run away from him.

If you’ve ever seen a flock of sheep, you’ll notice that they are noisy. They’re usually all squeezed in close to one another trying to get the good grass they make lots noise, and they are out in the open where there may by other animals or things going on that may distract them or muffle any outside noise. And so in order for them to be able to hear the Shepherds call from a far they have to be listening for it. They are busy doing their own thing, mingling and eating but always have an ear out actively listening for their shepherds call.

Same thing with us we have to be actively listening for God’s call in our life. God doesn’t want us to stop living, rather wants us to be tuned in to hearing his voice in the midst of our busy lives. We’re not supposed to give up our jobs, our family and our friends and do nothing but sit all day long waiting for God to speak to us. God speaks to us often through our every day activity. Look for God’s love in the world around you, seek out his will for you to serve him and be an active part in God’s ministry to the church and the world.

And then follow with all your heart, not just part of it. Listening to God is great but if we do not respond by following then listening won’t do us any good. Trust that God’s plan for your life is better than you can ever make it yourself, Believe in the power of Christ in your life and don’t let anything make you doubt, not your situation not your struggles. Let every part of your life be willing to let go and let God.

Finally,  don’t follow things that distract and take away from your walk with Christ, in fact the text says that the sheep RUN AWAY from strangers. We too must turn away from things that pull us away from growing in our walk with God.

Don’t wait till it’s too late, rather we need to learn and practice recognizing when we’re heading in the wrong direction. We need to recognize the danger before we actually get there, surround yourself with people who can support you, get involved with church and community programs that will help you grow in your relationship with God, and trust that Christ is the Good Shepherd, the one that comes to us out of look, calls us and knows us each by name, and leads us to a life that is full of his presence and peace. Amen.

In 2001 I was on a mission trip in South Africa in a place pretty fare up in the mountains in a village called Hattabo, very primitive communities and villages. One of the common things that many did was to tend sheep and cattle. One day on one of our hicks from one village to another we stopped in a pretty large flat field of grace to grab something to eat, and while there we were looking at a field full of sheep that was grazing, while the shepherds were gathered talking and sharing a meal together.
At first I thought they were one big group and that these shepherds were all together, but when the shepherds were done talking, each of them started walking in a different direction. They each went a distance of a couple of hundred feet and then stopped and turned around towards the large field filled with hundreds of sheep. What happened next, I thought was incredible, one Shepherd whistled, while the other yelled out with a laud voice, another had an instrument in his hand and began playing it, and a fourth started making this clicking sound with his lips. And suddenly what looked like one big field of wool, all of a sudden began breaking apart and started shifting into smaller groups each group moving towards its shepherd. Once they all were gathered each shepherd quickly glanced at his stoke, then turned around and began to walk as the sheep followed.

We often hear people say, “I knew if I went to that place or spent time with those people or took that first step in that direction that the outcome wouldn’t be good.” Or sometimes people will say that they got to the point where “the temptation was so strong and they couldn’t resist.”