I have said this before, but I'll say it again. Leadership always sounds glamorous until you actually spend some time trying your hand at leading people. Good leaders cultivate a servant's heart because that's the essence of what real leadership is. If you've ever served in a role of leadership, I'm sure you can testify to the fact that there are seasons when criticism and complaints feel much more plentiful than compliments. But if you're doing what the Lord has called you to do, you press on anyway with a spirit of joy.
I was reminded of the difficult nature of leadership recently while speaking to a friend who teaches in a school for teens who have a history of violence and criminal activity. They also have a history of showing strong disrespect toward authority. In her context, weapons are regularly confiscated. Children are removed from classrooms because of violent and dangerous outbursts. Metal detectors scan everyone who enters the building, and real danger is often present.
But even in the midst of what would strike most people as a frightening context to operate in, her students have learned to love and trust her. She quickly realized that most of her students rarely felt loved, trusted, or appreciated in their normal daily contexts outside of school, so she decided to greet them by name, with a smile, at the metal detectors each morning. She also made the decision to be real with them instead of trying to convey a hard or aloof edge in her demeanor. In time, she has earned their love and respect, and her leadership is something they're grateful to have the privilege to experience on a daily basis.
Jesus is the ultimate leader who is worthy of our love, respect, and trust. In John 10:11-18, He refers to Himself as "the good shepherd", and He shows us how far He is willing to go in order to protect and care for the sheep who are His own.
I. Jesus lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ”
In multiple places in Scripture, the Messiah is portrayed as a shepherd. He is the one who rescues, leads, comforts, and cares for His sheep. He is the one who risks His life in order to grant and preserve their lives. Jesus was communicating with that kind of imagery in this passage. He was also demonstrating that He was set apart from less devoted leaders.
Jesus explained that He is the "good shepherd." It's one thing to reference yourself by this title verbally, but the sincerity of this claim can only be demonstrated by action, and Jesus explained the kind of action He was prepared to take. Jesus stated that the day would come when He would lay down His life for the sheep. A leader or a shepherd who would be willing to go to lengths like that to protect His sheep is certainly someone who has my admiration.
Life is precious. Throughout the course of my life, I have experienced the sorrow of family members that I was very close with, passing away. That's a pain that you can learn to adjust to, but it's also a pain that changes you. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about my mother and other close family members that have died. They died natural deaths like we all will, but they didn't die on my behalf. I'm confident they would have if the circumstances demanded it, but that's not what happened.
Yet Jesus did die for me. He literally experienced death on the deepest level possible, on my behalf, so that I could enjoy the privilege of experiencing life. The righteous penalty for sin is death, and we truly deserved to die, but He was nailed to a cross for me and for you. He had the blood drained from his tortured body for me and for you. He suffocated as His lungs filled with fluid while He was hanging on a cross for me and for you. Who would do this on behalf of someone else? Jesus did, and He did so because His love for His sheep is that thorough and complete.
Jesus didn't just speak these words casually. He backed them up with selfless and sacrificial action.
II. Jesus doesn't flee from the danger we face (John 10:12-13)
“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. ”
In this era when it seems like there's a camera recording just about everything we do, some interesting security videos have emerged. Admittedly, I have at times ventured down the rabbit trail of watching videos of some of the robbery attempts that have been recorded in recent years. If you've ever watched videos like that, you've probably noticed that store owners often respond with a different level of force than store employees. The person who is paid minimum wage to run the register is likely to react differently to theft than the person who owns the business.
The same is true in the shepherding profession. Jesus said that a hired hand would be likely to flee when he sees a wolf coming. He flees because he doesn't have a deep love for the sheep, or an emotional interest in their well-being. The wolf comes and scatters or devours the sheep, but the hired hand doesn't risk injury to protect them. Likewise, he certainly wouldn't lay down his life to preserve theirs.
Jesus mentioned this to make it clear that He wasn't like the hired hand. He's the exact opposite. When His sheep are threatened, He doesn't flee, He defends and protects. Christ laid His life down for those who are part of His sheepfold.
This is the type of passage that anyone who has aspirations to serve in church leadership should read and take to heart. In my years of ministry, I have learned that there are genuine pastors who love Christ's people that they have the privilege to "shepherd", and there are others who do what they do because they like titles or because they're offered a paycheck.
At present, I direct a mission board that needs to screen and hire pastors for struggling churches, and this is a distinction we're doing our best to sniff out. We want to know if an applicant is going to work like a hired hand who runs at the fist sign of trouble, or if he's going to stick with the church he's being called to shepherd, and defend them from wolves with the power Christ supplies.
This is also a passage that I think we should rejoice over when we're in the midst of seasons of pain and danger. When our trials are more than we can bear, or when we're experiencing seasons of spiritual attack, we can take heart in the reassurance that Christ won't abandon us in the midst of our difficulties and pain. As He demonstrated on the cross, Jesus remains with His sheep even at great personal cost to Himself.
III. Jesus knows and unites His family (John 10:14-16)
“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. ”
Thanksgiving is a big holiday for my wife's family. Everyone gets together for meals and social visits over the course of several days. One of those visits includes a stop for dinner at my wife's aunt's home. Her aunt has a very well behaved dog named Molly, and I've learned that I'm on the short list of Molly's favorite people. I was reminded of this again during our most recent visit. With many children running around, and all kinds of noise being made, when I said Molly's name, she always came to me and rested at my feet. She even seemed to sense when I was getting stressed out and walked over to me to offer her affection.
Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd, His sheep know Him, and they will listen to His voice. When He speaks, they can discern that it's Him speaking. By the way, this is one of the ways you can tell if you are one of Christ's sheep. Do you listen to His voice, or do you ignore Him when He speaks? Jesus knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him, in the same way that the Father and the Son know each other. This is a divinely ordained and divinely facilitated relationship.
The original audience Jesus was speaking to as He delivered these words was Jewish. But as we well know, there are many people of Gentile origin that have come to faith in Christ as well. This is what He was referring to when He spoke of His other sheep that were not of this fold. They too would listen to His voice, and He would unite His flock into one body with Him as the shepherd.
That body is the church. Jesus unites Jews and Gentiles into one body and tears down the dividing wall of hostility that once existed between the two.
““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” ”
IV. Jesus embraced His divine mission (John 10:17-18)
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.””
Jesus came to this earth with a mission to fulfill. He wasn't puzzled or confused about what His objective happened to be. He fully knew that He had come to lay down His life and take it up again. He would die on the cross, then rise from death. God the Father commissioned Christ to do this, and Christ did so willingly because He and the Father are one, and all aspects of their will are united.
Do you believe you have a divinely ordained mission as well? Does that feel like it's too big of a concept to fully grasp? Do you feel too insignificant for that to be true of you? If you have faith in Christ, consider these truths...
Jesus has called you unto Himself and you've responded to His voice. (John 10:16)
Jesus has commissioned you to make disciples, teach, and baptize. (Matt. 28:19-20)
You have been gifted by the Holy Spirit with specialized abilities. (1 Cor. 12:7)
You were born at a specific time in history, and live in a specific location because it fits with God's redemptive plan for humanity. (Acts 17:26)
Christ embraced His divine mission. Likewise, He has commissioned and gifted us, not so we can merely observe Him, but so we can join Him in what He's doing. He was obedient to the Father's will when He was sent into this world. Will we listen to His voice, and be obedient to His will as His "sent ones" who have been called, commissioned and gifted to glorify Him?
The redemptive mission of Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, is now your mission as well.
© John Stange, 2019
