I am the Good Shepherd

John 10:1-18

Rev. Dan Whang

Jesus is making incredible claims.

He came during a time where Israel was lost. They were under Roman rule. They were being judged for not following God. There were people who were supposed to shepherd the people. But they cared only themselves. Ezekiel 34:11-12;15-16 speaks of the shepherd of God. The true shepherd.

What is Jesus saying?

This is the most personal statement. He is claiming that He is a personal God. He is also claiming us as his sheep. Shepherds are not ranchers or pet owners. Sheep are their life and dictate their lifestyle. Jesus was telling the people that he is knowable and loving.

Why is the claim meaningful?

He knows us perfectly, we cannot hide anything from him. The shepherd knows everything about his shepherd.

Sheep are not the brightest animals. It is a bit of an insult. They cannot defend themselves. They follow other sheep, but they don't know how to get home. This is how Christ sees us. Isiah 53:6 tells us how we are. At the best of times, we see how stupid we've been...but only on hindsight. God sees us in the present as sheep.

He is telling us that he will lay down his life for us. He is not seeing sheep as wealth. He is not a hired hand. He loves and cares for his sheep more than his own life.

Shepherds never leave or abandon their sheep. Jesus will seek us out even when we stray. He will find the lost sheep and bring us back.

How should we respond?

Lay your idols aside and follow your Shepherd in everything.  We all have our idols. None of us are innocent of this.

Follow the shepherd through good times and bad. God leads us through good times and bad. We may find ourselves in the valley of death, but God is still with us. Psalm 23 talks of this.

Lets point people outside of our flock to the Good shepherd. Jesus is seeking the lost sheep. We should follow Jesus in this as well.

We should worship and adore him.

Mercy and Justice: The call to serve our city

Luke 10:25-37 - The parable of the good Samaritan

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The immense need in the city could fill an entire sermon. Alot of my thoughts and views are from a book... In alot of my sermon, you will find echos of this book.

Ministries of mercy - Tim Keller

The necessity of mercy

The law of God can be summed in two things: loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves. There are two kinds of responses. One is okay,i follow the law... I don't murder, steal, etc. The other is...utterly hopeless. We fail to fully love God as we ought. We fail to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are left humbled. The teacher of the law tries to justify himself... He asks Jesus to clarify the law, to try to whittle down the law of God to something manageable and doable. But this is not what Jesus does. Instead he tells a parable. The story of one who risks his life, provides for his needs, and gives sacrificially.

What is the point of this?
It is the way to salvation. To provide for tangible needs, that is how we know that we are saved. It does not save us, but it shows that we are saved...it is the fruit of the Spirit. This is a mark of genuine faith. It is not optional. It is not solely for those with a gift of mercy. It is for all christians.

The nature of mercy

We usually try to limit the scope of mercy. There are three ways we try to do this.

Who: we try to avoid people who are different. Class, race, social, economic, etc. We are called to love even those we hate.

When: we feel like we should not give mercy to those who don't deserve it. Those who made poor choices... This is not dismissing wisdom, but we should remember that we are undeserving of God's mercy.

How much: The Samaritan shows us how much. He risks his life. He gets dirty, tired, and poorer to love his neighbor. He takes on the sorrow of his neighbor. It takes sacrifice.

Motivation of mercy

How are we supposed to do this?
Guilt is not enough. How about obligation? That is ultimately not enough. The law cannot provide us the motivation. It only tells us that we should. We don't have the power to do it. We are not generous enough to show mercy like that. We can only be this radically merciful when we see that we were the one who was bloodied, beaten, and dying hopeless...lying on that road. And Jesus came and saved us in all those ways.

Method of mercy

Practical thoughts

First we need to see. We cannot just walk by it. We have to see it and engage. We cannot just see it and walk by like the priest and the Levite.

We are not called to help everything and everyone. We need to be wise about it. We need to do it in community. Evangelism should be done in community; same for mercy. We should provide mercy in a targeted, deliberate, and organized way.

We should work with churches. It would be arrogant to think we can serve the city as individual churches. We should make strategic partnerships with other churches who are already providing mercy. Our name does not need to be on it. We are doing this for the kingdom, not so that our church would be known.

Serve in mercy not because of guilt or obligation, but because of God's mercy.

Seeking the Heavenly City to come

(Hebrew 11:13-16; 13:12-16)

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed hto be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

{Dwight Yoo}

To be a Christian is to be a resident alien.

Abraham left his homeland for Canaan. But the canaanites still lived there. So Abraham lived as an alien in this place. But even so, it was more than just a nationalistic sense. They are not of this place, but rather a heavenly place. We are to live as one seeking to go home.

Those who live for the heavenly city, do the most for their current city.

If we forget our alien status, we start to live like residents. We take on the values and desires of the place we live in. We look the same and act the same. We have no power in Christ. If we forget our resident status, we act like we are passing through. Christ sent us into the world. (Jeremiah 29:4-7) We are called to love and minister to those around us.

Our greatest motivation to live like this is Christ

Jesus came to us from the heavenly city. He came for us. He was taken out of the city for us. So that we would be welcome in the heavenly city.