The Shepherd, yeah we knew that, but the gate?

John 10

The Shepherd and His Flock

1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

So here we see 2 scenarios (I love these comparisons...) One: Thief and robber climb over the fence and te sheep run away. Two: Shepherd comes in through the gate, leads them out and there's total trust between the sheep and the Shepherd cos they recognize his voice. Pretty simple eh? Well, we can already start to guess...Jesus is the Shepherd right? Well, read on...

7Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.^[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Jesus is the gate??? Wow...i didn't see that one coming. But it makes sense. He is the channel in which the Shepherd comes to us and also the channel in which the shepherd leads us out. Go out...for what? To go to the pastures; life-giving pastures. Jesus, the gate, is the means to get life. Any person (or being, i guess) who doesn't come through him is a thief and only wants to destroy. Question for reflection: Do we always see Jesus as the gate to life or do we constantly get deceived by the world as to what really gives life?

11"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Hold up...so now he's the shepherd too? Not only is he the life-giving gate, he's the like-protecting shepherd. This shows his sheer love; who would lay their life down for an animal. The funny thing is that i can't see how this would make sense even in that day. We read that line about the shepherd laying his life down and it slides off our backs, but (and this is just speculation) did that really happen in that day? Cos I would think that since the sheep are there as a form of living, it would serve no purpose to end your life in order to preserve your form of living. It's as if I, being hungry, am willing to DIE for a sandwich, when there's other food around. Well, if you're dead, the sandwich serves no purpose. If i really wanted to die for the sandich, i must really really LOVE that sandwich. Sometimes we don't realize how much GOd loves each and every one of us. It's not like he ain't got no more sheep (verse 16). It's just mind blowing that he would sacrifice his life for just one sheep!! The life-protecting shepherd. In light of his great sacrificial love, the question is this: If he loves us that much, where should our security (when it comes to life in general and also to the depths of our souls) lie? Where does your security lie? Do we fully realize that he loves us THAT much...i know we can never imagine the magnitude of God's love (unless you're willing to give your life for a sandwich... you probably having serious issues, but then you probably know what intense sacrificial love is...just kidding), because that alone should make us feel secure in him. Do we fully, fully trust him?

14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

ok...i'm not too sure about this last part... (invitation for comments). HOwever, I do see one thing: Jesus lays his life on his accord...WILLINGLY...kinda magnifies the magnitude of the love of Christ, doesn't it?

19At these words the Jews were again divided. 20Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?"

21But others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

And yeah... in pure Jesus style, he leaves a wake of questions and ugly looks...I wish I could have that effect...not just becasue of how ugly my face is...lol...ZING!!!!

But jokes aside, we've seen 2 things today: the life-giving gate and the life-protecting shepherd. If we truly believe in these 2 things, then what's stopping us from becoming totally dependent on him?

What type of "blind" am I?

39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

-John 9: 39-41

What does Jesus mean in verse 39? This is how i see it: First, we're blind to our sin. Then Jesus removes that blindness and we see the muck of sin in our lives and then poof! it's gone and we can't see it anymore...we're blind to it (in a sense). Kinda weird, but kinda makes sense. The question we should prepetually be asking ourselves as Christians is this: In what sense are we blind? Are we the first blind, where we think we're the shizzle and that we're not very sinful people? I know in my head that that's wrong but in my subconscience, i know that i carry myself with a certain arrogance and hubris saying in my mind, "Yeah God, I'm a pretty good servant of yours. I don't sin. I'm good." Verse 41 says that if i could truly see, i'd feel "guilty of sin", but a lot of the time, i find myself ignorant of sin! That should NOT be. It is time we (namely I) humble ourselves daily and open our eyes, away from the blindness, and start to realize the muck of sin in our lives, because until we come to a point where we can see that dirt and feel the guilt that comes along with it, we can't attain the second blindness: the sheer joy of having a slate wiped clean by the Lord. This is the blindness I want; an inability to see my sin because Jesus has taken it away. Total reliance on him.

Peace...

Your Peace

Verse

A E D A E

Lord, I come into your presence

A E D A E

Into my quiet place where I can meet you

F#m D

And you come, here you come

Chorus

E F#m

Lord, your peace rushes through me

D E

Like a mighty river flowing to the sea

A E

And heaven opens its gates

D E

Then, the Spirit of the Lord descends like a dove

End

A

Like a dove

See Matt 6:6

I wrote this song a little after I came to Canada, when my spiritual life took a tumble. I started to get concerned about the big things of the present (well i guess it would technically be the past). I felt my hubris and and lived in a way where God was non-existent and just Santa-Claus who i'd ask stuff from. Eventually, I cracked. I couldn't take the coldness of the world and being on that edge...well...sucked. I felt alone, and totally stripped of pride in myself. I realized my total and utter dependence on The Lord's warm embrace and just knowing that he had everything under control was simply beautiful and put my heart at ease...an ease which i hadn't felt in a long time. I felt...His Peace.

Church...what's the deal?

The question that i've heard so many kids ask is this: Why do we have to go to church when we can just sit at home and watch a church service? Well, the typical answer is this: fellowship. And yes, i whole-heartedly agree with that answer. Hebrews 10:24 confirms it. ("24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.")

So the statement of the day is this: we go to church for fellowship because the spiritual food and worshiping God with songs of praise can be done within your own time, really. The crux of the whole church idea is for FELLOWSHIP.

So what's the deal with the church services nowadays? You go in, maybe get greeted by an usher, sit through the service and leave. Is that really God's idea for fellowship?

We're supposed to "encourage one another" when we meet up, but how often does that really happen. I live in suburbia and the sunday church experience for me is filled with small talk and people with facades. I hardly see or hear people talking about their spiritual struggles and praying for each other. How can encouragement occur if we as Christians refuse to get deep into the lives of our brothers and sisters?

God designed us to grow into the fullness of Christ together. If you read Ephesians 4:1 - 16, it says that we as a church have the goal to "become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." We're as a church are called to "grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." How can this done when we wear a "mask" whenever we see our Christian siblings? Our Christian brothers and sisters should be the last people we want to hide things from. So how has the typical portrayal of church reached this point of mistrust?

Of course i'm only speaking from one perspective and i'm not condemning the churches of the world by what they are doing, for they are glorifying God. However, what i am definitely saying is this: we as Chritians have a responsibility to care for one another, and spur one another towards love and good deeds. If we don't want to have fellowship as God had planned it to be, going to church becomes a pointless country club gathering, with a couple of songs and a keynote speaker.

Brothers and sisters, we must...MUST...reach out to each other on a regular basis. Fellowship isn't just spending time together with another person. A wise man once defined fellowship as "fellows in the same ship, looking towards the same goal". Take a moment to examine how you've allowed God to work through you to simply be a brother or sister to another one of God's children. I know i've fallen short of this calling so many times, and that's why we have grace. Let us be united in faith.

To Love or Not to Love?

What is God's standard towards serving others in love? We (the highschool fellowship and I) have looked into this pretty far, and have a question to ponder: is indifference the same as hate in GOd's eyes? In Matthew 25:31 - 46, we see the story of the sheep and the goats. God told those who didn't serve others in love by catering to their needs (hunger, thirst, belonging, clothing, care and comfort in verses 35-36) to "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Later on, it was confirmed that "they will go away to eternal punishment".

From the outset, the typical Christians say, "Yeah, that makes sense...what's wrong with that? God punished them for their sin." Exactly, but what implications does it have on us? This passage shows that indifference to the needs of others is sin. I'm gonna make a really bold statement: If we are indifferent to the needs of others, we are hating them. 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." There is NO middle ground!! We're either in the light or in the darkness! Either we love our neighbours, or we don't!! In the eyes of God, those who did not love their neighbour in Matt 25 suffered the worst punishment thinkable: eternal punishment. It doesn't get any lower than that. So if indifference leads to such severe punishment, how is that any different from actually hating your neighbour?

It is black or white. You love, or you don't. John puts it this way: "9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him^[c] to make him stumble." You're either in the light or in the darkness.

So how should we react? Well, personally, i'm ashamed because i've often been so indifferent. I used to think that if i loved other people i was an obedient, good Christian, but if i didn't do the "extra-curriculars", i was still an OK Christian, as long as i didn't sin too much. But what God says is this: If you call yourself a Christian, not only must you stay pure, you must...MUST...love your neighbour, because anything short of that and it's the same as the darkness of hate.

For a stormy day

God hears cries

written by Andrew Chia

Verse 1

G C Dsus D

Hear my cry, O Lord

Listen to my prayer

From the ends of the earth I call to you

C D G C Em D

I call as my heart grows faint

Life is getting tough

It’s harder than what I thought it would be

I have no idea as to what to do

Hear my cry, O Lord

Chorus

G C

God hears cries

G D

God will hear yours

G C

He’s standing there

D C G

Right beside you

Verse 2

Satan is firing his arrows

They’re headed straight for me

I cry to Jesus as my shield

Hear my cry, O Lord

Chorus

Bridge

Am G D

Lord you are my Rock and Shelter

I’ve got nothing to fear because…

Chorus

This was written a little before perhaps the lowest time of my spiritual life. i didn't know where God was leading when i wrote it, until i hit rock-bottom. Just the comfort of knowing that he's with us is enough to hold on. enjoy.