‘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. 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.
So have you heard the one about the shepherd who was told to go out and round up 37 sheep? He came back with 40. Later he got sacked for never cutting the sheep’s wool. Shear laziness.
Well, I don’t know what you made of Jesus’ sheep and sheepfold figures of speech in that reading –if you were confused by them – don’t worry – just remember v6 – no one understood then either. So let’s try to work it out.
In the first five verses, Jesus talks about a sheepfold and some sheep. The sheep are God’s people. The sheepfold is Israel. The gatekeeper might be John the Baptist, but we’re not sure. The robbers and thieves are the Pharisees. And rather confusingly, Jesus is two different types of good shepherd. You have to read the rest of chapter 10 to begin to make sense of that.
And Jesus must have seen them looking confused, So v7, he tells them about a different sheepfold. Again we’ve got some sheep –God’s people. And they’re under attack from robbers and thieves –the Pharisees. And to keep them safe – God protects them with a sheepfold. And there’s only one way in and out of this safe place – a gate. And Jesus says,
I am the gate.”
because in those days a shepherd would sleep across the gate of his sheepfold to protect the flock. So there you are, you’ve passed sheep farming 101. Here’s your certificate. And its got a rather extravagant promise on it. Do you see it there, At the end of the passage, v10, Jesus says,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.”
Life in all its fullness.
I don’t know about you, but lockdown feels a bit like being in a sheep pen, so if Jesus is telling me I can have life to the full, even while penned up , I want to know about it.
So let’s start by thinking what life to the full means: and to do that I want to tell you a story about Olivia, or rather she’s gonna tell her story. This is Olivia Ong she’s a Singaporean singer, and I think she’s got a lovely way of explaining what Jesus means by life in all its fullness.
You see another way of expressing that idea of “life to the full” is to ask yourself, what’s God’s story for your life? Not your past story, you understand, I’m wondering what’s your story for today, and for the future? What’s your God-given role for today. Who is God calling you to be in lockdown? And as we discover that, that’s when we’ll begin to walk into life in all its fullness. So who is God calling us to be in lockdown?
1) God is calling us to keep Jesus at the centre
When it comes down to it, if you want to boil Christianity down to one thing, then forget the buildings, let’s not got bogged down in doctrine either (well not yet anyway), let’s park our differences about which type of church music and service we like a None of those is the main thing. The main thing is knowing Jesus. He’s the one at the very centre of our faith. Its all about him. The clue’s in the name isn’t it? Christ-ianity.
Look at how Jesus puts it in our reading, v9,
I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.”
And Jesus uses that “I am” phrase seven times in John’s gospel, and each one is a different way of telling us its all about him.
- “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) – because he’s the only one who can satisfy our spiritual hunger.
- “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) because he’s the only one who can lead us out of the darkness.
- “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11) because he’s the only who leads and protects us.
- “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25) because he’s the only one who can lead us through death into new life.
- Then from our passage today, “I am the gate” (John 10:9)– because he’s the only way into the Kingdom of God.
- “I am the true vine” (John 15:1), because he’s the one who holds the kingdom of God together.
- And then there’s sort of a summary statement, which takes all of those and boils them down into one phrase: “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
The point is, Jesus is central to everything. If you don’t have him, you don’t have anything.You can have all the treasure in the world the most beautiful house, the most brilliant singing voice, the most beautiful clothes, the best car, but if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything.
You see Jesus is God giving himself to us, to bring us back to himself. Which is extraordinary when you think about it. God takes on human flesh, comes and lives among us, faces all the temptations and challenges we face, but does it without messing up. And then the respectable moral religious people of his day, kill him for it. And God treats his death as a ransom payment to buy our freedom. Here’s how the Old Testament prophet Isaiah puts it,
We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Which given we’re thinking about sheep and sheepfolds today – is rather a handy way of reminding us that Jesus is the centre of life in all its fullness.
But what does that life look like? Well here’s the 2nd thing God calls us to:
2) God calls us to three-dimensional living.
Now you won’t find that sort of thinking in popular psychology . The sort of self-help stuff we get in our magazines and newspapers and TV shows – it tells us that life is all about you, and that you get the best out of life by focusing on the state of your own heart by being mindful and meditating and do breathing exercises, and eating healthy and getting lots of exercise and then sticking it all on Instagram. But that’s not life to the full. At best its navel gazing. At worst its narcissism. Self-obsession, the world revolving around you.
So here’s Jesus’ 3-dimensional recipe for life in all its fullness. Are you ready for this?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul mind and strength… and love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
Two commandments, but with three dimensions to them.
First Jesus calls us to focus upwards – towards God.
Then outwards to serving others.
And, as we focus upwards and outwards, God gets to work in the third dimension of our lives. The Inward dimension, our heart. As we focus on him and serve others in community, he works in us by his Holy Spirit. The Bible calls it SANCTIFICATION. There’s your big word for the day, and it’s a great word.
Upwards, Outwards, Inwards. So how are you doing in lockdown?
How’s that vertical dimension of your life? Are you making time to connect with God in prayer and in the scriptures? One of the things I really like about the video was how Olivia took her worries to God – and he healed the pain and transformed it in a really beautiful way to make a whole new beginning in her life. Maybe he wants to do that for you too?
And how’s outward dimension– serving others? One of the nice things about lockdown is the way that people are pulling together to serve each other. It’s been lovely to hear so many good news stories and I know that many of you have been involved in our local good news stories, helping out friends and neighbours. It’s good to serve others. And as we serve others, it changes us. Rather than diminishing us, it makes us stronger. Anne Frank put it this way,
No one has ever become poorer by giving.”
You probably all know that time in the gospels where Jesus is talking about how he’s gonna’ be crucified and James and John interrupt him with that typical squabble Christians have, about who is going to be in charge, and Jesus tells them –
The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve …” (Mark 10:45)
Life in all its fullness is a life lived for God, serving others. And that changes us forever. Upwards, Outwards, Inwards. God calls us to three dimensional living.
Final thought,
3) God calls us to beware thieves and robbers.
That sounds very dramatic doesn’t it? Especially in this rather tolerant society we live in. Now at one level tolerance is a very Jesus thing to do. He went to places religious people didn’t go, he loved and respected people that the religious people didn’t love or respect. But in doing that, he never compromised his integrity, and he never backed down from lovingly teaching the truth.
Which is why rather more often than we might imagine, he warns his followers that there are people around who want to shipwreck your faith. Remember those thieves in our passage, who come to steal and destroy? Well there are still religious thieves today. I don’t want to get into a list of who is a false teacher or not today, but I’m pretty sure Jesus would define a religious thief as anyone who is gonna’ tell you that there’s another way into the sheep pen apart from through the gate of Jesus.
You see there’s a lot of folk out there – some of whom hang around churches – and some even with theology degrees and dog collars – who think they know better than Jesus about this. They’ll put on a very pious humble face and say,
All religions lead to God. There are many roads up the mountain.”
But Jesus says,
no, there’s only one gate, and it’s me.”
And he knows. Because he’s the gate. So who are you gonna’ trust, Jesus? Or the thieves and robbers? Because the consequences are serious. Jesus isn’t just having a bit of fun when he mentions the thief coming to kill and destroy. He’s warning us that there are serious consequences if we ignore the gate into the sheep pen. If we don’t keep him and his words at the centre of everything the consequences are eternal. So beware thieves and robbers.
Because we get fullness of life only by keeping Jesus central. And we do that, by pursuing a three-dimensional life built on serving God and others. And, it all starts with Jesus, who is the gate to life in all its fullness.
I’m gonna stop there, except to say that, maybe you’re watching this to find out more of what this Christianity stuff is all about, and you’ve never really trusted in Jesus before. Lockdown is a great time to do that. A chance to have the story of your life renewed. A chance to wipe the slate clean, to get back to that blank sheet of paper and discover how the author of all life can fill in the blanks in your story. He really can do that. He’s done that for me, and countless others down the years. He can help you too. He’s the gate to fullness of life. Will you walk through it?If you’d like to know more, please get in touch.
Jesus said,
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Let’s pray