The Heart of the Good Shepherd

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 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. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (John 10: 7-13).

Like sheep blindly following a shepherd, many in the crowd were blindly following Jesus. They knew little about who He really was or about the challenging and exciting life of discipleship He was calling them to. As we have noted before, the crowd followed Jesus for many reasons. Some recognized and responded to His words and His signs by stepping away from the crowd of followers and into a closer, more intimate walk with Christ as His disciple. But unless those who followed Him were earnest truth seekers, they were vulnerable to being led astray by others who wanted to steal them away from Christ to build a following of their own. Those whose motives were impure, who were driven by selfishness, and who were blinded by self-righteousness were false shepherds whom Jesus described as “thieves and robbers” that came “only to steal and kill and destroy”. Because He cared for His followers so much and because He so earnestly wanted them to enjoy the blessed life of being His disciples, Jesus used a parable here to reveal the heart of the Good Shepherd.

God knows that we are followers. Even after becoming a disciple of Christ we need someone to lead us. That’s why His Spirit has appointed some to be overseers for local churches within His greater Church… “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). We call these overseers pastors or elders… “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23). The Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to admonish elders to imitate Christ by leading the local church as a good shepherd… “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:1-3). But how do we know if we are following the right shepherd? How might we discern if our shepherd is a true or a false shepherd?

In His teaching Jesus identified Himself as “the door of the sheep” and “the good shepherd”. He described His primary work as making and growing disciples… “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture”. With these words He described His mission as leading people to His father… “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) and caring for and nurturing disciples in their spiritual walk… “I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 34:14). Pastors and elders that imitate Christ, the Good Shepherd, are consumed with a burden for the lost. In word and deed they are always inviting others to Christ and challenging their flock to do the same. A sign that you are following the right shepherd is a community that engages the world with the gospel and the presence of invitations to Christ in most every gathering of the flock. The Christ-like pastor will exhort the flock to grow in Christ by feeding them the precious word of God and equipping them to use their spiritual gifts in building each other up and fulfilling the great commission.

As we grow up into Christ we are blessed if we are following a local shepherd who is a reflection of…

The Heart of the Good Shepherd.