As a pastor, I’ve done a lot of funerals over the years.  Funerals are sacred moments, moments of remembrance, reflection, celebration, worship, and proclamation. Every funeral is a little bit different since every person is a little bit different, and yet every funeral has certain things in common. For instance, in the vast majority of funerals I’ve done, one particular text comes up time and time again. Not always, but often enough where it has made a powerful impression on me. Here is the text:

¹ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

There it is. I bet many of you guessed it before I read it! These are the words people turn to time and again in their greatest moments of loss and tragedy: “The Lord is my shepherd…”

It is a powerful and unexpected image of God. God as a shepherd certainly evoked very definite ideas in the ancient world, but it does so no less in our world today. Even in our culture (which has a bit of a distance between ourselves and shepherds) we understand that the word speaks of leadership, protection, care, provision, guidance, and even love.

It is, as I say, a powerful idea. Its power is amplified by the fact that the Lord Jesus applied the term to Himself in John 10, giving a poignant explanation of the image in the process. Let us consider, then, Jesus the shepherd.

To begin, Jesus contrasts Himself with false shepherds that sought to do the people of God harm.

¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Jesus is the true shepherd against all false shepherds. Jesus stands always and ever against all counterfeit shepherds who seek to harm, mislead, and wound the flock of God. Jesus lists their many attributes:

·        False shepherds seek to steal, take from, and profit from the flock of God. (v.1)

·        False shepherds are not truly of the people of God. They are strangers. (v.5)

·        The true people of God will not go after false shepherds. (v.8)

·        False shepherds ultimately wish to destroy the people of God. (v.10)

Indeed, the church’s experience over the last two thousand years has confirmed the truth of this. Many are the false shepherds who seek to prey on the flock of God! Peter warned the early Christians of the same in 2 Peter 2:

¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Jude likewise spoke of these false shepherds:

¹² These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Not all who claim to be shepherds truly care for the flock of God. Over and against these false shepherds, Jesus sets Himself. He describes His own attributes as the Good Shepherd:

·        Jesus is given authority over the people of God. (v.3a)

·        Jesus’ voice is the voice of truth. (v.3b)

·        Jesus is the true leader of the people of God. (v.3c)

·        Jesus goes before the people of God, and we follow Him. (v.4)

·        Jesus is the way into the flock, the family of God. (v.7)

·        Jesus is the salvation of the sheep. (v.9)

·        Jesus gives life abundant to the sheep. (v.10)

You might ask, “But how can I tell when a shepherd is true or false?” Jesus answered this in Matthew 7:

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

False shepherds can be amazingly persuasive and seductive in the way that they seek to mislead the people of God, but what they cannot do is be Christ to the people of God. I would ask you if you are following after a false shepherd: Can he care for you like Christ can? Can he love you as Christ loves you? Can he save you as Christ can save you?

Of course, not even a true minister or undershepherd can be Christ, but a true minister will lead you to Christ and not to himself. A true undershepherd has only one desire: to bring you into an encounter with the risen Christ. The fruit of his ministry is nothing less than your own relationship with Christ.

Not so a false shepherd, a false minister. A false shepherd seeks to bring you only to himself. He seeks his own glory. He promises more than he can deliver. He seeks to replace Christ, but he cannot. He cannot be Christ to you. Only Jesus can be Jesus to you. The false shepherd does not bear the fruit of God. Jesus bore nothing but the fruit of God.

The false shepherd comes in disguise. He is not a shepherd at all. He is, as Jesus said, a “ravenous wolf.” Beware the wolves, church! Cling tightly to the shepherd!

Verse 3 speaks this of the true shepherd: “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name…” Here is the difference between the true shepherd and all false shepherds. The true shepherd knows His sheep by name.

Just a few nights ago, as you know, I was sitting in the hospital room with my dad. He had a terrible accident last Sunday in which he suffered a serious head injury. That night I sat with him, staying awake and watching him. About four in the morning, my dad had a serious seizure. It was a terrifying ordeal. As I cried out to the nurses for help, I could do nothing but pray and beg God to help my dad.

An army of nurses and doctors rushed into the room as my dad convulsed. One of them began loudly to call out his name: “Mr. Ewards,” she cried, “Mr Edwards!” I had been sent into the hall but I watched through the door: “Mr. Edwards,” she cried again.

After this third time I could contain myself no more. I put my head in the door and interjected, “It’s Mr. Richardson!” She immediately apologized and began to call him by his right name. It is terrifying enough to have a seizure, but to be called by a different name in the midst of it must add greatly to the confusion, and I did not want my dad to fear.

Church, your shepherd never calls you by the wrong name. He knows your name, for He is the true shepherd! False shepherds do not know the names of God’s sheep, for they do not care for the flock of God.

The ultimate fruit, of course, is Jesus’ giving of Himself for the sheep.

¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² 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. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

And again in verses 17-18:

¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may 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 I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

Five times Jesus says that He lays down His life for His sheep (v.11,15,17,18). He lays it down because it is His commission from the Father to do so. Earlier, in verse 7, Jesus announced, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” These two ideas (Jesus laying down His life for the sheep and Jesus as the door of the sheep) are related.

R. Kent Hughes has passed on an interesting story about the late G. Campbell Morgan, a powerful preacher and Christian from some years back. On a boat crossing the Atlantic, Morgan encountered Sir George Adam Smith, a famous Old Testament scholar. While conversing, Sir George told Morgan an interesting story.

He was one day traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him. The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Sir George said to him, “That is where they go at night?” “Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.” “But there is no door,” said Sir George. “I am the door,” said the shepherd. He was not a Christian man, he was not speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from the Arab shepherd’s standpoint. Sir George looked at him and said, “What do you mean by the door?” Said the shepherd, “When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”[1]

Ah, what an amazing image! In the Middle East, shepherds become the door for the sheep as they lay their bodies down. As they lay across the open space, they become the physical barrier of entry and exit.

Jesus, then, draws on this wonderful image in announcing Himself as the door who lays down His life for His sheep. But Jesus means so much more than the idea of becoming a mere physical barrier. He means that He lays down His body on the cross of Calvary to purchase all who will come to Him. He means that His life becomes the door into the family of God. We enter the flock and family of God only and always as we come to the Father through the crucified and resurrected Son. Jesus is the shepherd who gives His life. Jesus is the door, the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father except through this door that is Jesus.

Many shepherds have an affection for their sheep. They are concerned about their well-being. They wish them no harm. They will protect their sheep. They will even put themselves in harm’s way for the sake of their sheep. But how many shepherds will willingly take on death for their flocks? How many will take the sins of their sheep into themselves? How many will take on sin, death, and hell, dying a miserable death on a cruel cross for the sake of their sheep?

Ours is the self-giving shepherd who gives everything, His very life, for His sheep!

In laying down His life for the sheep, our shepherd calls all who will come into the fold.

¹⁶ 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.

To be sure, every deviant cult group on the religious horizon has claimed to be these sheep who “are not of this fold.” But Jesus is speaking here of the Gentiles, those who the Jews would have seen as outside and beyond the flock of God. To these the voice of Jesus calls. Notice that Jesus (a) brings these sheep, (b) calls them and (c) makes them a part of the one flock of God.

Our shepherd does not show favoritism. He is not content to have merely the ninety-and-the-nine! In Luke 15 Jesus tells this parable:

⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Our shepherd is the shepherd who goes out into the world gathering lost sheep into the fold. He calls and opens the way for all who will come! More than that, He uses His sheep to call others into the flock.

What a grand privilege this is! It is a privilege because we have experienced and know the wondrous love of the self-giving, inviting, flock-building shepherd. It is a privilege because He has laid down His life for us, and for the whole world. It is a privilege to call those outside the flock of God into the fold, into relationship with the living God.

Our God is the shepherd God. He is the shepherd who becomes a sheep who becomes the lamb of God offered as a sacrifice for the world. Our shepherd/lamb God is the calling, wooing, winning God. He is the saving, redeeming, protecting, life-giving God. Our God knows His sheep and we know His voice. He speaks to us and tells us that He loves us. He calls us to new life in His kingdom!

Then, through us, He calls out to the world: “Come! Come under the safety of the shepherd God! Come to the shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep! Come and see! Come and live! Come and dwell under My rod and My staff! Come unto Me, dear sheep! Come unto Me weary sheep! Come unto Me, heavy-laden sheep! Come unto Me, and I will give you rest. Come one, come all…and live!”

---