One of the most common metaphors or images employed all through the pages of Scripture to describe us people is that of sheep. I don’t know about you but I’ve not been around sheep a whole lot in my life. But I’ve gathered some information about sheep that has really shed light on the image for me. I have discovered that sheep are about the dumbest and most vulnerable, defenseless, helpless animals on the face of the earth.
Sheep cannot survive on their own. Most domesticated animals – cats, dogs, birds, horses, pigs, even cows – if you set them loose in the wild they’ll get thin, they’ll get smart, and often they’ll get by. But not sheep. Sheep get eaten.
In the animal kingdom, when an animal senses an enemy there are four possible survival responses: fight, flight, posture, and submit. If we were in an armed conflict I can shoot you, I can run away, I can fire a warning shot to intimidate you, or I can surrender.
Well, fight is not a good option for sheep. Sheep have neither offensive nor defensive weapons. No fangs, no claws, no shell, no spray like a skunk, nothing. To make matters worse they come equipped with about eight pounds of Velcro all over their body, so you can grab them about anywhere and drag them to the ground.
Flight is not a great option for sheep either. They are slow. They have poor eyesight, little stamina and no sense of direction. Best of all, they have an over-active startle reflex, and they don’t blend into anything. So even if they run, they can’t hide.
Posturing is an attempt to intimidate; it’s looking big and tough without engaging the enemy. Dogs, for instance, bark. Cats hiss. Rattlesnakes rattle. Sheep… “baaaa.” That’s animal talk for, “Yeah, I got nothing.” Lots of animals make themselves appear bigger. Dogs raise the hair on the back of their necks. Cats arch their back. The peacock will spread out it’s feathers. But what can sheep do? How do you puff up when you’re already fluffy? Sheep haven’t anything for protection or intimidation. So sheep get eaten.
Also sheep have this tendency to wander and get themselves into hazardous situations. I came across a news article one time that said, I kid you not, “Hundreds of sheep followed their leader [that’s the sheep in front of them] off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 15 meters to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran, but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived [so the pile of dead sheep at the bottom of the ravine got large enough that the 1,100 sheep that kept coming over the cliff didn’t have as far to fall and a softer landing, so they survived]… Shepherds… neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000.”
You don’t see elk doing that. You don’t see horses doing that. But sheep will follow each other right off a cliff. Sheep are doomed without the provision and protection and guidance of a shepherd.
Now that we know a little about sheep, I have two points to make and then two questions to answer.
Point one…
You and I are sheep.
Psalm 95:7, “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 100:3, “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
When Scripture calls us sheep it doesn’t mean we are cute and cuddly. It doesn’t mean we are innocent. It means we have no chance at survival spiritually and no chance at real happiness and fulfillment without a shepherd. We have little sense of spiritual direction. None of us are smart enough, intelligent enough, learned enough to figure out, on our own, what really we ought to do in our lives. We are weak and defenseless against the forces of evil, and powerless to provide for ourselves what we need for life and godliness. We have no hope without a good shepherd to guide and protect and provide for us.
Isaiah 53:6, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way.” I Peter 2:25, written to some Christians who had finally come to know the Shepherd and Guardian of their souls, but referring to their lives before they knew the Shepherd, it says, “You were continually straying like sheep…” Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25, you see this proverb repeated twice, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Like those sheep in eastern Turkey, it seemed right to follow the sheep ahead of them, it’s where all the sheep were going, it must be the way to go, until off the cliff they went. People are that way as well. Jeremiah 10:23, the prophet Jeremiah said, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.” In other words, a man must have guidance from outside of himself or he’s in big trouble. People are sheep.
But people think they know best. They think they’re smart enough to know the way to go in life on their own. Some think travel is the way to go. They think that would be the greatest, if they could just travel all over the world and be constantly seeing and experiencing new things. So what they live for is to see and experience new things. Others think athletic championship is the greenest pasture, and so that’s what they’re after. Every day they’re training and sticking to their diet. If the sport is swimming or running, they spend hours every day trying to shave fractions of a second off of the time it takes them to get from point A to point B, so that for a moment they can be better than the others and stand a step above all the others on a podium. They think that would be the best. Others pursue wealth like that rich guy Jesus told a parable about in Luke 12, who tore down his old barns and built bigger barns and amassed a fortune so he could take his ease, eat, drink and be merry. Wealth was his priority in life. And that’s how it is with many. Others pursue positions of power and authority. Some take up hobbies, like fishing and golf, and indulge in them to the fullest. Others drink pleasures and indulge in drugs and alcohol and sexual adventures. They think “that’s what’s best for me. That’s what’s going to bring me the most happiness and fulfillment.”
But as people get way down these various roads, they still find themselves empty, unfulfilled, and they’re saying “So what?!” “So I was a hundredth of a second faster than these other guys in the race and got to stand for a moment a step above them, so what?” “My house has more square footage than most houses, I have marble counter tops, leather seats in my car,… so what?” Or, “I had some brief highs and moments of pleasure, which has fried my brain, ruined my health and relationships, and made me ashamed of myself.” They get down these roads and find they’re still empty and approaching a very dark place, to which we are all headed, without hope.
Mark 6:34 says Jesus came to shore in a boat with His disciples and “saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.” People are like sheep without a shepherd. And it stirred the Lord to compassion, because that is a sad hopeless condition for people to be in.
Here’s point number two…
God has sent us the Shepherd we desperately need.
He told us He would. Micah 5:2-4, for instance, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.”
Ezekiel 34, the chapter that denounces the worthless shepherds of Israel, the Jewish leaders who were supposed to be seeing to the welfare of the sheep of Israel, but instead they had merely fed and clothed themselves at the expense of the sheep, so the sheep had been scattered into foreign lands, because they had these worthless shepherds. God promised in Ezekiel 34:22, “I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey… 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. 25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations.”
These OT promises are what Jesus claimed to fulfill when He proclaimed, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). In other words, “I am the One that God promised to send. I am the One that gives the guidance and protection and provision every soul desperately needs. Without Me you have no hope. But with Me you will be taken care of.”
And it’s not at all a baseless claim. Jesus fits perfectly the prophetic description of the good shepherd God would send – born of the right lineage (a descendant of Abraham and David), in the right town (Bethlehem Ephrathah), at the right time of history (before the “scepter” and “rulers staff” departs from Judah), and so forth. He fits the prophetic description. Also, His miracles confirmed His claims.
But then there was also this to back up His claim: John 10:11, “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.” He proved that He has the concern for us sheep to be the good shepherd, because He laid down His life for us. The gospel account bears witness that along the way to Jerusalem for the last time Jesus was telling His disciples what would happen to them there, about His suffering and death, but He continued on His way to it. In the Garden of Gethsamene, as He wept and prayed, He knew they were coming for Him, but He didn’t run. Those wicked men who arrested Him, it really wasn’t them that made Him stay put while they spit in His face and they mocked Him and beat Him with their fists. It wasn’t the ropes around his wrists that held him to that post while the soldiers brutally flogged Him. It was not the nails that held Him to that cross. He did not have to allow any of that. John 10:17, He said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 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.” You remember when Peter wanted to fight for Him, He told Peter, “Put your sword away. Don’t you know I can appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” No shepherd who loves His sheep that much, that He would lay down His life for them, would ever neglect their needs or leave them for the wolves or lead them somewhere that wasn’t good for them. So He proved it to us. God truly has sent us the good shepherd.
Now for our two questions. First…
How good of a shepherd is He?
To answer that, let’s notice a couple other statements here in John 10 and then a probably familiar passage in the Psalms.
John 10:14, “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me“. He knows His sheep. And He knows not just who His sheep are, but everything about them. In fact He knows His sheep better than any shepherd ever knew his sheep. He became one of us sheep. He gave up the prerogatives of being God, He emptied Himself of the power, the infinite knowledge and wisdom and presence. He became for a while lower than the angels, like us, a weak vulnerable human being with all our limitations. He experienced all that we experience. He was tempted in all things as we are. He saw everything from our perspective. So He knows not just who His sheep are, He knows how we feel, He knows how we think, He knows what we’re going through. He knows what we need and He knows how to help us.
How good of a shepherd is He? Notice also John 10:28, “I give them [that is “My sheep, those in My fold”] eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” He’s such a shepherd that His sheep have eternal life. Folks, that’s life without end and life that soon will transcend the quality of life that we experience here. Don’t you love life? Don’t you love life especially with one another? Hasn’t this been a good day? Just being with people you love and people who love God like you do. It’s a small taste of the life His sheep have without end. And they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of His hand.
How good of a shepherd is He? Let’s turn to Psalm 23 if you don’t already know it by heart. Remember, Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” This says to me Jesus is all the shepherdthe heavenly Father is; it says to me we’re right in applying the words of Psalm 23 to what Jesus does for His sheep.
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want“.
If Jesus is your shepherd, if you are in His fold, and you really understand the kind of shepherd He is, then you want nothing more than where you are and what you have in following Him. All the money some people have, all the excitement some people seem to enjoy, the easy circumstances some seem to have, you don’t envy any of that, if you’re following the good shepherd and you understand the kind of shepherd He is; because you know where He leads you and what He allots to you is what is best for you. You may not see how having less money than some or having difficult circumstances, could be for the best, but that’s because you’re a sheep and you don’t know near what the shepherd knows.
You know, if my kids got what they thought was best all the time, they would never eat vegetables, they would eat cake and cookies every meal, they would never be strapped in a car seat. I doubt they would ever brush their teeth or change their clothes. They’d watch cartoons and play video games until their brains were mush. So I don’t let them have what they think is best because I know a lot of stuff they don’t know and I’m seeing to their best interest. And if they understood that about me, they would be content even when they don’t get their way.
If we really understood the kind of shepherd we’re following, how He loves us, how He knows better, how powerful He is to provide, we’d be satisfied with where we are and what we have.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”
There are basically two things sheep need – green grass and quiet waters. Sheep need quiet waters because they at least have enough sense to be afraid of rushing waters and they won’t drink from them. But if a sheep has green grass and quiet water, that sheep is taken care of. We have a shepherd who provides for our needs, our real needs, our need for forgiveness, our need for a sense of meaning and significance, our need for strength and encouragement and motivation at times, for help in overcoming temptation and staying faithful. We have a shepherd who provides for our needs.
And I love this part…
“He restores my soul.”
Sheep can become what shepherds call “cast” or “cast down.” You see, sheep are not smart, nor athletic. And this happens especially with big fat sheep. Sometimes they will lie down and roll on their side slightly to stretch out or relax, and if they’re lying in a little hollow or depression in the ground, they might accidently roll just a bit far to where their feet are no longer touching the ground. Then a sense of panic sets in and they start to paw frantically and that usually just makes it worse and they end up rolling until they are flat on their back and their feet are straight up in the air. They kick and lash about, but they’re stuck. That’s what they call a cast sheep. It’s a dangerous situation for a sheep, because when they’re flipped over the digestive juices go in the wrong place, and gases build up, and it inhibits blood flow and air flow and if it’s hot weather they might only survive like that for a few hours.
A man by the name of Philip Keller wrote a book called “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23”. He was a shepherd himself and talks about a lot of his experiences as a shepherd. He says often he would spend hours searching for a single sheep that was missing, and more often than not he would see her at a distance, down on her back, lying helpless. He would run as fast as he could to her knowing time is of the essence. As soon as he’d get to her, he’d roll her over. Then he’d massage her legs because their legs become numb when they’re flipped over for a while and they need to get the circulation going again. And while he massaged her legs, he’d talk to her gently. “I’m so glad I found you in time – you little rascal! I was getting worried about you. You should probably watch out for those little hollows in the ground, and stay with the rest of the crowd.” He would restore the sheep.
Sometimes even following the good shepherd we can get downcast, can’t we? For all kinds of reasons. Sometimes we go through times of struggle and pain and can’t see why the Shepherd is having us go through it. Sometimes we make mistakes and we’re ashamed and feel like failures. Sometimes we try so hard to help people and influence them for good, and it can seem it’s all been for nothing. People take advantage of you and don’t change. And we get downcast, and can be in danger of giving up.
David, as a sheep in the Lord’s fold, had been there. But he writes “He restores my soul.” He doesn’t ignore His downcast sheep. He works in our lives to bring us the encouragement and motivation and things we need to get back up on our feet and get going again.
Read I Kings 19 sometime where God’s servant Elijah was downcast and sitting under that juniper tree and throwing a pity party for himself and saying, “I’m the only person left in Israel that’s doing anything good anymore. I’m so tired. I’m so sick of this. I don’t want to be a prophet anymore. I’ve had enough. I just want to die.” And you read of how the Lord did not let his servant just wallow there and quit. He worked to bring His servant through that. Jesus is that kind of shepherd.
“He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
He will never guide where we shouldn’t be. As long as we follow Him we will be on paths of righteousness, paths that please God and are really best for us and best for our families, best for everyone.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
You have nothing at all to be afraid of if you understand the kind of shepherd you’re following, not even death itself.
So we’re sheep in desperate need of a shepherd. And Jesus is the good GOOD Shepherd. Here’s our second and last question…
Who are His sheep?
Who is receiving His guidance, protection and provision? Because it’s not everybody. Most people who read Psalm 23 think it’s talking about what the Lord does for them. But those are benefits only for His sheep, only for those in His fold. Not everybody has the Lord as their shepherd.
We’ll notice just one verse for this, back in John 10, John 10:27. There are primarily two conditions to be one of the Lord’s sheep. John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”. Pretty simple, isn’t it? His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. Those are present tense verbs. They are ongoing actions, not one-time things. They’re not something you just do one day and check off and be done with them. His sheep continue to hear His voice and continue to follow Him.
And of course His voice doesn’t come to us audibly out of the air (at least in the majority of cases). It is heard through the Scriptures. It is heard when you read your Bible. It is heard through faithful teachers and preachers. And it’s heard when you recall what you’ve learned from the Scriptures. Is it a regular ongoing part of your life, hearing the voice of the Shepherd?
And are you following Him? What’s that mean? It means when you wake up in the morning and you determine what you’re going to do and how you are going to behave that day, you base your decisions on the life and teachings of Jesus.
And when you come upon somebody in need and you have the means to help them, you don’t base your decision on questions like, “Do they deserve my help? What’s in it for me? Would they help me if I was in their circumstances?” Rather you base your decision on what you’ve heard and seen from the shepherd – His command that you “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you”, His story of the Good Samaritan, His teaching about loving your enemies, and His example, the lengths He went to meet our need when we didn’t love Him – and you base your decision on that.
When you’re thinking, “I want to quit church. I’m tired of these other sheep. We’re always butting heads and it smells around here. Some of these sheep stink. I don’t want to be around them anymore.” You remember the voice of the Shepherd through His servant Paul in Ephesians 4, “with humility and gentleness with patience, put up with one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And you follow His voice, you patiently put up with the other sheep in love.
When you’re offered a higher paying job, more money, but you’ll have to work every Sunday and there’s these rules that you can’t speak of your faith to anyone at work and you’ll have to move your spiritually struggling family away from a good church family to what looks like Sodom and Gomorrah, then you base your decision not on money, but on what you’ve heard from the shepherd; that you should put treasures in heaven over treasures on earth, spiritual matters over earthly things.
Are we hearing His voice? Are we following Him? Is that how we make our decisions and go about life? That’s what it means to be one of His sheep. And if we are, we would not want a thing more if we saw how well He’s taking care of us, and we will never perish, we have eternal life and no one can snatch us out of His hand.
– James Williams
