All we, like sheep . . .

Sheep are not like cattle. When I was a teen, we often moved cattle from one farm to another (my uncles lived in the same community). They resisted and had to be driven. We used vehicles and horses to press them in the right direction. Sheep are not like that. If you try to drive them, they scatter. Instead, they must be led.

For a short time, I had some sheep. They are not easy animals to care for and leading them requires a ‘relationship’ — otherwise they did not know my voice. Because I didn’t have time to develop that intimacy with those critters, I was a stranger to them and they were always scattering. Eventually I gave up and sold the flock.

Jesus used sheep to illustrate His relationship with His people. Once that relationship is formed by grace through faith, we know His voice and follow Him:

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:3–5)

In New Testament times, all the sheep grazed together, but at night each shepherd called their flock and they followed him to a sheepfold where they were safe from wolves and other predators. Out of hundreds of other animals and dozens of shepherds, each sheep turned only to their own owner:

“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. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14–16)

In these verses, Jesus uses shepherding to explain how His people know His voice, but also to say that this relationship has several astonishing qualities. First, that intimacy between believers and Him is the same intimacy that characterizes the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. This is incredible and at first seems a bit of an exaggeration. However, Jesus tells the truth and this produces a desire in my heart to more deeply explore and enjoy this great intimacy.

Second, Jesus plainly says He lays down His life for the sheep. This is a present tense verb. I’m not a Greek scholar, but this seems to indicate more than His death on the Cross. My dictionary says laying down means “to give up or set aside” along with the idea of being prone. Could He be saying that Jesus gives His all for His sheep all the time? He died for us, yet He also lives for us and forever intercedes for us. Amazing.

Third, there are other sheep. They were not His at the time, but He said they will be. He is talking about Gentiles, yet in a larger sense, He indicates that more people will eventually join His flock and there will be one flock, one body of Christ, a church of those who are in relationship with Jesus. There will also be unity.

The people who crowded around Jesus were divided. Some asked Him to tell them plainly if He was their Messiah. He answered them:

“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:24–29)

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Jesus, with that, You said that we who are in an intimate relationship with You not only hear, know, and follow You, we also have eternal life (eternal means eternal) and no one can steal us away from You. We are safe in Your care. This is precious and blessed assurance, for me about myself, but also about those who have gone before me. All those who die believing in You are safe in Your care, safe as sheep in the care of a good, good shepherd.

A call to proclaim that death is not the end

A church building used to be called a sanctuary, a place of safety. Another shooting, this time during a church service in Texas, brings out the need for security and how some congregations have cameras and people watching for intruders.

My heart aches for those who suffer. At times, I’ve wondered what I would do if someone did that in our church. We want people to come, but attacks like this can certainly add to the qualms some already have about going to church.

Today’s Scripture reveal that this is not God’s intention. He says, “whosoever will may come” even in the Old Testament. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, were to bring this invitation to the world:

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.” (Isaiah 45:22–25)

God’s intention for redemption was never confined to the Jews only. Jesus said:

“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. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14–16)

Many NT passages confirm His plan to include all people, such as Ephesians 2:11–22 which says in part, that Gentiles were formerly “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility . . . that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone . . .  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

In the last book of the Bible, God says Jesus “was slain and His blood ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9) God intends that all are welcome in His family, despite the efforts of our spiritual enemy who tries to divide and destroy, to upset and split congregations, to sever relationships by stirring up strife and fear. No doubt he was involved in this latest horrible event, trying to ruin, divide, and destroy.

However, God is more powerful. Israel failed to welcome the nations, but now the Body of Christ is united in one Body. We all die, but we all live again because we are His and God tells us to act like it:

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace . . .” (Ephesians 4:1–6)

What does this have to do with Texas? God calls His family to display our unity and courage in Christ, to not allow Satan’s ploy to separate us, or to keep us from welcoming others — especially those fearful of being in a church on a Sunday morning. The good news is that anyone Satan ‘destroys’ is with Jesus in eternity, never again to suffer or be in danger!

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Jesus, this is God’s promise — to use all things for good in the lives of those who love You. The Christians who died on Sunday are with You. You took them home in a way that seems senseless and tragic to us, yet they are home and safe with You. May Your people stand united to support those who grieve. May we declare that this is not the end of their lives. Our invitation to come to Jesus stands firm because the power of redemption and the promises of God make death the beginning of a glorious forever with You.