I AM, Part 2: I Am the Good Shepherd

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

The Church of the Lookout is all in Colorado.

Growing in its family and living on its mission to transform the world with all its firing love.

Visit us online at the lookout.church.

Thank you.

Oh, you don't need this.

Okay.

Thank you, Tiana.

And thank you, Larry.

We appreciate Larry.

I told him this morning, hey, when you bring that podium up, could you lower it for me?

I'm short.

I'm 5'1.

And every time I've come up to preach, it's like up here usually.

And I'm like, so my notes say.

So we appreciate you, Larry.

Thank you.

And if you haven't met me again, my name is Piper Keppen.

I'm the worship pastor here at The Lookout.

And I mess that up every time I practiced it.

So let's just cheer that we made it.

I said the right name.

If you don't know, if you're new with us, we've just recently changed our name from Vine Life Church to the Lookout, the Church of the Lookout.

And we've been having some trouble.

We keep tripping up our ourselves, getting back into old habits.

So we're glad to have you guys here.

And I'm so excited to come share with you this morning.

Let's take a second, let's just pray.

Okay.

Jesus, we love you.

Jesus, we love you.

Jesus, I love you.

And I'm so thankful for who you are.

And I'm so thankful for your word.

And the way that you bring it to life for us.

The ways that you invite us to explore it with you.

To learn about you, to know you, and the ways that you love us through it.

And Lord, as we come into your word this morning, I just pray that you would speak to our inmost being.

Lord, give us ears to hear and hearts to understand.

Have your way here, Jesus.

We love you, Lord.

Amen.

So before I start, I just want to say thank you to our good friend Blake Bush.

Big thank you to you.

As I mentioned before, I'm the worship pastor here, so typically I will be over there leading worship from behind those keys.

But this morning, since I was speaking, I reached out to Blake, who is my personal dear friend and also a good friend of this house.

And he has served us so many times with such grace and such love and such encouragement for us as a family.

And so we just love you, Blake.

Thank you for coming and leading us in worship and allowing me to not pull double duty this morning.

We appreciate it.

All right.

So, Pastor Luke is in Hawaii with his beautiful wife, Megan, right now, celebrating his 40th birthday.

So as you see him over the next few weeks, make sure that you tell him that you love him, tell him happy birthday, and tell him he looks old.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

Don't say that.

Don't say that.

Then he'll just throw it back on me because I'm a year older than he is.

So don't do that.

But do love on him, tell him how much you appreciate him.

We are really blessed to have Luke as our lead pastor in this house.

And he'll be back next week.

And uh we'll keep going with this series, but we're gonna jump back in.

Luke started us last week in a series that we're calling the I Am series.

And what we're doing with this series is we're exploring the seven I am statements that are found in the book of John.

Now, when you read the book of John, there's something that we just need to pay attention to because the context matters.

Right?

Can you say that with me?

Context matters.

Okay, thank you.

Because I'm gonna give a fair amount of context this morning because it matters.

When we're reading scripture, we can tend to be a little bit disengaged from the cultural reality of when the scripture was written, from the reality of the time that Jesus lived in and the people that he spoke to and the language that he used.

And it can tend to be a little bit shallow if we don't understand some of the deeper context.

And this word is life.

Amen.

It is power, it is so good, it is so full of rich, glorious, beautiful things that the Lord has told us.

But when we dive in and we study, if we learn the context in which the stories that we read, the interactions that are recounted of Jesus, when we understand the context, it brings a whole nother level, a whole nother layer of life to it.

Because context matters.

So when you're reading the book of John, one thing that you need to know is that he wrote with a very specific purpose.

A lot of the books that we read, we read them as a recount of stories.

And John is similar in the way that it does recount interactions that Jesus had in his life and his ministry here on earth.

But when you read this book, can I encourage you, read it, understanding the purpose in which it was written?

And the way that you know that purpose is that he actually tells us, which is so nice, right?

So in John 20, verse 31, he says this.

John 20:31

But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

This word life in Greek is the word Zoe.

And what it means, directly translated, excuse me if I have to clear my throat or drink water, you guys have been battling some throat stuff.

But what it means when it's directly translated in the English, it just simply means eternal life.

However, like many other words that are translated from one language to another, you lose a little bit of the depth, a little bit of the substance of that word in the translation, right?

So in this, in the original language, this word doesn't just mean eternal life as in a duration of time.

It actually means both a duration of time and a quality and a substance of living.

So when John says this here, so that you may believe in Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

He's not just talking about being able to live for all eternity in heaven with Jesus, although that too.

But he's actually talking about a substance and a quality of life.

And when you study this language, you find that the substance and the quality he's talking about, the words that they use to describe this, are one with no short, no shortage and no defect.

So what he's saying in essence is, I want you to know Jesus because in knowing him, there is an elimination of the shortage and the defect that comes in our natural living.

What he's saying is there's something richer and deeper for you than just what you'll know on this earth in your daily living.

If you know him, there's more, there's more to this living.

There's a quality of life and a substance of life that is beautiful.

One of the um trans, or sorry, one of the um descriptions that I read that I really appreciated said, Zoe is the divine, is the divine, eternal life, perfect and complete, made manifest to us.

It's the divine life that we can touch.

And I loved that because I think a lot of the time as Christians, we can tend to live our lives assuming like someday in this eternal day, something beautiful is gonna happen, and I just gotta hold on till then, right?

Like I'm just gonna white-knuckle it till we get there, right?

And it's there's truth to that.

There's a there's a reality that this isn't a life that just pops up the second you give Jesus your heart, but it is a life that we move into, grow into as we know him.

It's the more we know him, the better quality and substance of this living we can attain in our daily.

Okay?

So as we're reading through the book of John, as we're talking about these seven I am statements, pay attention because the purpose in which John wrote these is so that you could find these keys to unlock that quality and substance that Jesus died to give us and rose from the grave to afford us on this earth.

Amen?

All right, so that was a side note.

All right, in the book of John, make sure you pay attention to that as you read and as we go through the seven eyes I am statements, lean into that.

Today, we are going to go after this I am statement found in John 10, where Jesus says of himself, I am the good shepherd.

We're gonna just jump right in.

Let's turn to 10.

John 10.

We're gonna start at verse 1.

And Jesus says, 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.

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he c he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he is brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

The figure of speech Jesus used with them, this figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep do not listen to them.

I am the door.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life, and that's that same Zoe life, and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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.

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, I lay down my life for the sheep.

Now, what did we start out with saying?

Context matters.

Thank you.

Okay.

We're gonna get engaged.

I'm gonna ask you guys to engage with me a little bit here.

I'm a verbal processor, so I need the interaction, okay?

So context matters.

Good.

One of the things we can pay attention to as we drop into this in into this section of scripture.

It's a little strange, honestly.

If you're reading along before this, you'll find yourself reading along, and then suddenly Jesus is talking about sheep, and it seems like it came out of nowhere.

The cultural context of this moment is that the Jewish people in this season were celebrating the Passover, and they would celebrate three feasts within the Passover.

And this moment takes place during the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths.

And this feast was when they would take time to remember the goodness, the faithfulness of God to lead them out of slavery in Egypt, to lead them by pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, and to provide miraculously for them all the food and the water and the nourishment that they needed as they did their wilderness wanderings through the desert.

So culturally, this moment, the Jews have forefront of mind, their story of exodus from slavery and the miraculous provision of God through the wilderness.

The present moment that we drop into here, context, is Jesus and his disciples, being in Jerusalem to celebrate this feast, are walking near the temple and they pass by a blind man.

And Jesus moved in compassion, heals this blind man.

But the problem is the Pharisees, who were religious leaders of the time, they hated Jesus.

And they took every opportunity they could to undermine him or to create question or suspicion of him.

So culturally, they're all thinking of walking, being set free from slavery in Egypt.

They're in a moment where they're remembering the goodness and the faithfulness of God to lead them in the in wandering and to provide for them miraculously.

And Jesus is walking along, heals this blind man, and then the religious leaders start accusing Jesus of having operated out of a demonic spirit to heal him.

Okay?

The other thing that matters, the other context that I want to make us aware of as we unpack this is that Jesus not only was aware of this cultural season at the Feast of Tabernacles, he was also present in the moment with this blind man who had just been healed and the accusations coming at him from the Pharisees, but he knew what language to speak to speak to the people so that they could join him in a moment as he brought a revelation of himself.

See, Jesus always knew how to say just what needed to be said, in what moment need it needed to be said, in order for people to see him and know him and see something new about him.

He had this unique gift.

Shepherding was a very common practice and a necessary practice among the Jews.

Even those who were not shepherds had or had not been raised by a shepherd's family would know the implications and the correlations of what Jesus of that Jesus was making.

And not only was he speaking their language, but he was speaking to their season, right?

See, we're at a disadvantage when we read this because how many of you in here are shepherds by trade?

Yeah, none of us.

How many of you have ever known a shepherd had been raised in a shepherding family?

A couple of us.

How many of you have known the Middle Eastern culture and traditions of shepherds right now, and you're aware of all the details and the correlation that happens there?

Yeah, none of us, right?

So we start reading this and we're like, okay, cool, they're in this feast, that's cool.

Oh, cool, he healed a blind man, that's cool.

What?

We're talking about sheep?

Right?

And it even says in this in this moment, it says, Jesus used this in response to the accusations coming to him, and they did not get it the first time through.

So then he goes back and he says it again, but just a little differently.

And they're sitting there, I can imagine, going, okay, I'm seeing what you're doing there.

And you'll see as you at the end of this section, they actually do have revelation and it creates controversy, controversy among them.

But Jesus had this way of knowing what was significant in a moment to reach the hearts of the people, to bring down the walls of the people.

See, he starts talking about himself as a shepherd when the forefront of mind is how Jesus is how God, like a shepherd leads his sheep, had led the Israelites through the wilderness.

They also were in a moment watching him interact as he was being accused of operating in a demonic spirit to heal someone, but what was widely accepted at that time, their theology that was widely accepted, is that no evil spirit could heal the eyes of the blind.

So Jesus knowing forefront of mind is how they've been led by the goodness of the Father.

Forefront of mind is how I'm being accused of something that could not be true, according to our cultural custom and our theology.

And he says, this is the moment that they're ready to hear.

And he says, I am the good shepherd.

And he speaks a language that for them would carry such depth and rich understanding that we lose today because we don't know the tradition and the culture.

But for them, it was a tangible, real connection to their real life in that present moment.

Jesus knew the obstacles that were standing in the way of their belief, and he spoke to their cultural season, to their present moment, and used a common language to tear down the walls that allowed them to see.

He always knew just what to say and when to say it.

Now, for us, reading this, like I said, we're at that disadvantage, and not just because we don't know a lot about sheep and shepherds, but also because our cultural narrative about sheep is not super pleasant.

Right?

Like what we know about sheep is like they're stupid, they're naive, they follow blindly, and we have all of these things, especially in our political world, where they say, hey, don't be a sheep, don't follow blindly, don't be stupid, don't be uninformed.

And we have this context, it's only the negatives of what it means to be a sheep.

So when we try to relate to God as the good shepherd, it's feels difficult, at least it did for me when I first heard this, because I was like, well, I don't want to, that feels like an insult.

It's a little bit of a back-handed compliment to me.

Like, God's like, I'm the good shepherd.

I'm like, what are you saying about me?

Okay, cool, right?

And it's fair because sheep really, really don't have the most flattering attributes.

They can tend to wander, they can be stubborn, they're easily distracted, they're skittish.

And when there's no present, when there's no shepherd present, they're known to follow one another blindly, even to their own demise.

They will literally, hundreds of sheep will literally follow one sheep off the cliff and they'll all die.

Because they just follow.

And of course, they tend to be a bit forgetful of the ruts and the dangers and the ditches that they found themselves snagged in, and often run back into those same traps that they've fallen into previously.

Now, I would not be a good pastor if I didn't use this clip that we have found on YouTube that has been used every time we talk about sheep in the church, right?

I'd be failing you if I didn't use this clip.

So we're gonna bring this clip up.

This is the reality of sheep, and sadly the reality of us a lot of the time.

Yep.

And then there he goes, right back in.

It's sad and it's funny because we relate.

Right?

Come on, be honest.

You're laughing because you're like, ooh, okay, been there, right?

As I was studying and preparing for this message, I read this book.

Um, there's actually a series of books, but it's a book by Philip Keller.

He was a Middle Eastern shepherd by trade, and he um came to know the Lord as he was getting older and as he would read scripture about Jesus as the Lamb that was slain, or about us being called the sheep, or about the God being called the good shepherd, he began to have such revelation, such life started springing forth for him because he lived the daily life of a shepherd and he knew all the context of what was being said to him.

And he would start sharing this with people, and people wouldn't get it.

So he decided to write some books, and he has um written a trilogy of books that are really beautiful, but the one I want to, the one I really studied for this specific message is called A Shepherd's Look at the Good Shepherd.

And in it he wrote, It is no mere whim on God's part to call us sheep.

Our behavior patterns and life habits are so much like that of sheep that it's well nigh embarrassing.

And it's true, we can be really like sheep.

We can be really like all those negative attributes that we can that we can relate to.

But can I tell you that this scripture, it's not our relationship to sheep, it's not our connection to sheep or similarities to sheep that brings the most revelation.

It is the relationship of the good shepherd to Jesus.

It's who he is that brings the greatest revelation.

See, in Jesus' time, and still true today, there's an understanding that shepherding is not just an occupation, but it's a lifestyle, it's a way of being, it's a skill that must be mastered.

Over time and through a life of experience.

And as I studied the lives of these shepherds, I found four qualities that just kept coming to the forefront for me.

And I just want to share those with you today.

And maybe they'll help us understand a little bit more about what it means when Jesus says of himself, I'm the good shepherd.

The first quality I found was mastery.

When someone was referred to as a good shepherd, it was acknowledging a level of mastery on their part.

Good shepherds know exactly what is required to care for, to protect, to provide for their sheep.

He knows the best time of day to lead them out and to bring them back in to protect them from the predators and to protect them from the cool of the night and the heat of the day.

He knows how to defend his flock, not only from the animal predators, but also from thieves and robbers that would come to steal them and take them away.

He knows by heart the best paths to take that will provide the greatest quality of nourishment for his flock.

He knows just which healthy grasses to lead them to for grazing.

He knows just which parts of the stream to stop by that will flow fast enough that the water stays fresh, but the depth is not dangerous.

And he knows just how to set his voice to call them and how to set a pace in which they can follow.

See, a good shepherd, not just a hired hand, like we read about in the scripture, but a good shepherd.

A good shepherd owns his sheep and knows them so well, and not only knows them, but he knows where he's leading them.

He's been there, he's traversed that lay that uh land already many times himself.

He's gone out, he's checked it out, he's scoped it out, and he's discovered the best path, the best possible way to lead them.

Sheep need a very specific diet of certain grains and grasses and things in their diet.

And shepherds know exactly how to lead them up around and through and under and over in order to get them the greatest quality of nourishment for their benefit.

To be a good shepherd, you have to have a level of mastery in your leadership.

John 10, 27 says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

One thing we may have already heard about sheep is that sheep legitimately will hear the voice of their shepherd and know that voice distinct from any other voice, and they won't follow any other voice.

They'll only follow the voice of their shepherd.

Even when you use the same language, the same call, the same whistle, the same song, they know their shepherd distinct from anyone else.

And they'll only follow the shepherd.

The second quality that I found in my study of shepherds was diligence.

A shepherd has to be diligent in his care for his sheep because they're completely dependent upon a shepherd.

See, sheep are a rare animal that really literally cannot exist in health and thrive without human interaction.

They must be cared for by a shepherd.

In fact, sheep without a shepherd die for lack of care because they're so incapable of tending to their own needs.

When a sheep gets separated from its herd or wanders alone without a shepherd, they will most often either fall victim to predators, thieves, and robbers, because they do not have the ability to defend themselves.

They'll die of thirst or starvation because sheep actually do not have the instinct to be able to tell what is good grazing and what is polluted grazing.

Or they'll wander into terrain that their bodies are not fit to scale, and they end up wounding themselves or even falling off a cliff to their death.

Now, there is a rare occasion that they will find a sheep that has wandered away from his shepherd, and they will discover him having wandered along.

And in that occasion, the sheep becomes so overgrown that the weight of his own fleece bears down on him, making it hard for him to move, and even begins to cover his eyes so he can't see.

This is Barwick.

Poor Barak.

He's so large.

And he's been wandering for, I think they said something like three years or maybe seven years.

There were a couple of them.

But it's rare to find sheep in the wilderness that have actually survived.

So when they do, they tend to throw them on YouTube.

So this is Barak.

And he had a hard time with his feet, and he had a hard time seeing because he had so overgrown.

Because when sheep wander without their shepherd, they become almost consumed in themselves, literally.

A good shepherd knows he must care for his sheep tenderly because they're skittish and they're easily frightened.

In fact, a shepherd, when they approach the sheepfold, which is the pin in which they keep the sheep during at night or during storms, when the shepherd approaches the sheepfold, they will knock gently across the door, or they'll rattle the latch, or sometimes they'll whistle a tune that's familiar to the sheep, or they'll sing a little song that's familiar to the sheep, just to let them know, hey, I'm here and I'm coming.

I intend to enter in.

It's me.

You're safe.

John 10, 2 through 4 says, But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

To him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own by name and leads them out.

After the shepherd has come to the gate, he'll open the gate, and then he will step outside of the sheepfold, and he'll call each one by name.

And the sheep know their name because they've learned it from hearing it from the shepherd's voice.

So that sheep will come out, wander out to the shepherd, and they'll come right to him, and they'll position himself in front of him.

And because of the tenderness of the shepherd, he will lean down and he'll check their head and he'll put his hands over their fleece and check their legs, looking for any wounds or any damage that needs to be tended to, just wanting to make sure that all is well before he leads them into pasture.

There's a tenderness in the care of the shepherd for his sheep.

He knows each one and he checks each one, both when he brings them out and also before he takes them back in.

He checks them, he watches watches over them.

And the fourth quality that I found in good shepherding was benevolence.

In John 10, 10 through 15, it says this the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life, Zoe, and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

But 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.

I lay my life down for the sheep.

Now I have a confession to make.

As I was looking over, studying, and finding these qualities, the first three qualities were fairly easy to identify.

I saw it repeated over and over and over again.

But this fourth one, I had a hard time finding a name for it.

Because when I read that scripture, I see this loving interaction between a father and the son, where he talks about the father knows me and I know him.

And I see this love between Jesus, the self-sacrificing nature of Jesus toward the sheep.

And benevolence in English just doesn't quite encompass the tender-hearted love, self-sacrificing love.

But I chose that word anyway because it does hone in on something that I think that we miss often, and that's the heart intent that's required of a good shepherd.

Benevolence means to have a disposition to do good or to live for the good of another.

Just like mastery and diligence and tenderness are required to care sufficiently for the provision and the protection and the health of the sheep, benevolence is what's required to remain a masterful, diligent, tender shepherd.

Without his heart intent on their good, the shepherd would operate like this hired hand that we just read about.

He wouldn't put his life on the line.

But when you're the owner, like the good shepherd, your whole life now becomes oriented toward the good of your sheep.

The good shepherd surrenders his life to the care of his sheep.

And it's because of this that the sheep learn over time that they can trust that wherever their good shepherd is leading them, it will be for their greatest benefit.

See, when we know our good shepherd, when we know that Jesus is masterful in his leadership of us, he knows the path better than we do.

He knows just what I need to be nourished.

He knows just where to lead me to be refreshed in water.

When we know his masterful, skillful leadership, when we know that he'll be diligent, he's not gonna look to the wayside or get distracted, he's gonna keep his eye on me and he's gonna tend to me.

When we know his tenderness, he's gonna be gentle with me, he's gonna check over me and not just ignore my wounds and lead me out to my own detriment, but he's gonna pause and he's gonna care for me.

When we know those things, we can trust that his heart is oriented toward my greatest benefit.

A lot of my life as a Christian, I have I lived believing that the call on my life was to live for the greatest benefit of the kingdom of God.

And the older I get and the more I serve in ministry and the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I'm realizing actually it has nothing to do with me living for his benefit.

It's about how he lived for mine.

Always.

Every moment of his life was for my benefit.

And I'm undeserving, but he is so good.

He's so good.

He oriented his life toward my greatest benefit.

And when I see this suddenly, nothing else makes sense but to willingly and joyfully surrender myself to his leadership.

I think a lot of the time when we find ourselves wandering and questioning and unsure, it's because we don't know the heart intent of our good shepherd.

It's because we've lost sight of his skill and his love and his devotion, his diligence, his tenderness, and his benevolence, his choice to orient himself toward our good.

Okay.

So I want to talk a little about these thieves and robbers, too.

In 10, 5.

Oh sorry, in 10.

My notes split in the wrong way for this, you guys.

In verse 10, 10 through 15, he talks about the thief that comes to steal or to destroy, to take from the sheep.

See, in their time in this time, it was very common for thieves and robbers to come and try to steal the sheep, but the thing about them is that they would not come through the gate because they wouldn't know how to come to signal their that their intent was to enter, and the sheep would know if the gate starts moving and I haven't heard that call or the knock or the rattling or the whistle or the song, if I haven't heard the intent of my shepherd to enter, but someone's trying to come in, it's probably not my shepherd, and I can't trust him.

So they'd run away from the gate.

So if somebody tried to enter the gate without the call, they'd run to the other side, they'd get stubborn and they wouldn't move.

But these thieves and robbers learned that if they would break in through a side gate, if they'd break in through the walls, if they'd come over the wall or break in through the side, it would create such ruckus, startled, frightened sheep that they'd run crazy and then go out the hole that was created.

So they wouldn't go in and out of the gate without being called, but they'd get frightened and move out the side door when something approaches that they didn't expect.

So thieves and robbers knew, we'll come in through the side.

And Jesus and the people that he was speaking to would know that this was a tendency of thieves and robbers.

So Jesus spoke to this.

The thieves knew that fear was the only way to herd these sheep.

Although they may follow each other somewhat blindly when the shepherd is missing, they will not follow the stranger's voice, even if the stranger uses their same calls.

10 5 actually speaks to that where he says, A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know his voice.

We may not have thieves and robbers the same way that are just breaking into our lives like, oh, I'm here to take you, right?

That's not exactly how the enemy comes in in our lives.

And let's be clear, you guys, there's only one thief in our world, right?

But he has a lot of subtle tact subtle tactics.

He may not come smashing in through the side gate, although sometimes a crisis happens, life happens, something terrifying, something really distraught happens, and he comes crashing in and uses fear to hurt us out.

But usually he'll come in more subtle than that.

Some of the tactics that I've seen personally the enemy using in our culture, in our generation, are things like spiritualism.

It's where we decide that spirituality is my shepherd.

When we believe that all forms of spirituality and devotion will lead to the same path, and there's no need to identify or surrender to the one good shepherd.

I can have many shepherds, they'll all take me the same way.

No, there's one.

There's one shepherd.

The other one is religionism.

This might be more familiar for some of us in the Christian faith.

Piety is my shepherd.

If I can live a life that is performance-based and just modify my behavior just enough, then I'll be fine.

Then that'll lead me the right way.

It's where we elevate the modified behavior and the religious practices above the personal relationship with the shepherd himself.

So my piety, my performance, my ability to do what is expected of me, that's what will lead me.

I'll give myself to that instead of I surrender myself to the leadership of my good shepherd.

Materialism, this is a big one in America, right?

Gain is my shepherd.

We find ourselves following whatever seems to lead towards success in our occupation, greater personal achievements, or financial or material gain.

If I just had more, then I'll be fine.

If I just chase that rabbit that'll lead me to something more, then I'll be good.

The more gets to be my shepherd.

The gain is my shepherd, instead of allowing my life to be filled by the one who knows how best to fill me.

Humanism.

This is very common in our world right now.

In fact, it's somewhat pervasive in our world right now.

I am my own shepherd.

How many of us have heard repeatedly through social media and through interactions with one another, have heard things like, just be true to yourself, just you do you.

Yeah?

Right?

Nothing defines anything, you define everything, it's fine, right?

I am my own shepherd.

It's when we orient ourselves to whatever feels true or feels right in a moment, without any foundation of biblical truth, a deeper belief, or greater conviction that something larger than myself just might exist and be worthy of me surrendering myself to it.

That's humanism.

Now, I'm gonna push on something here with us because in our charismatic streams, I have seen something happening that is really causing my heart to grieve.

And I'm calling it Christian humanism.

And that should be an oxymoron, right?

Because to be a Christian is to follow the self-sacrificing nature of Jesus, it's to lay myself down and follow him.

But what I'm seeing happening is that there's this form of Christian humanism that's starting to rise up in the church that's causing me to be really concerned for us, you guys, and we've really got to watch out for it.

Christian humanism is when we impose an undue desire for our feelings rather than our faith to be the substance of our Christian experience.

It's when I look at Jesus and I go, I'm gonna determine whether you're good or not, based on if I feel good right now.

Based on if following you has made me happy.

Right?

I'm going to judge you based on my experience instead of allowing who you are and my faith in who you are to redefine my experience.

As Christians, you guys, we cannot elevate our feelings above our faith.

Who he is does not change.

How we feel about him will.

So we have to orient, base ourselves, root ourselves in who he says he is, not in how I feel he's doing right now.

We see in part, not in whole.

There are things we can't see.

Sometimes our lives feel very disillusioned, very disappointing, very frustrating, very hard.

But when we can see that hardship in light of the good shepherd who knows exactly how to lead me through it, then we can surrender ourselves to the trust that he's got me, I'm gonna be okay.

My experience isn't defined, my Christian experience isn't defined on what it feels like in this moment.

It's defined on who he is and how he's gonna continue to lead me.

And I've got to let my faith go there, not here.

I've got to believe more in him than I do in my own feelings.

Right?

We've got to stop moving in this place where we judge Jesus based on our feelings and lose sight of who he is as our good shepherd.

This is happening all throughout the church.

It's especially pervasive in some of our younger generation.

And you guys, we have to help them see how to firmly root themselves in the word and on the truth of who God says he is.

We have to share our stories.

When I was um in my early 20s, Graham and I had been married only for a couple of years, and we had a little one-year-old Addie.

She's now 16 and just went to prom last night.

Oh, guys, talk about faith, faith testers is when you're like, sure, go to prom.

Oh Jesus, please, we just pray right now that you'd protect her, right?

So when she was just one year old, I became pregnant again and was excited and just ready to, okay, we're gonna do the baby thing.

I guess we're just gonna, we're just gonna have all the babies.

Let's do this thing.

And a few weeks into that pregnancy, I lost the baby.

And then, and my heart was devastated because I had decided, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm in for this.

And I had become excited and had begun praying over that baby.

A few months later, I became pregnant again and was excited.

Okay, here we go.

Baby number two on the way.

And a few months into that pregnancy, I lost that baby too.

And I sat with the Lord and I was just like, I don't get it.

Miscarriages hadn't been a thing in my family.

It wasn't something that was common, so I hadn't expected it, and it felt like it came out of nowhere.

And I would sit and I'd watch Addy play, and I just kind of had this moment where I was sitting with the sitting with Addy and I was watching her, and I just thought, well, maybe that's okay.

Maybe it's just Graham and I had always wanted a big family, had always talked about wanting to have five kids.

We only had four because God was good.

Um But we I would watch her and I just was okay.

Well maybe I just need to adjust my expectations.

Maybe I'm just a like a one, you know, one baby family, and that's okay.

That's okay for me, Lord, if that's what it is for me.

And he was like, Piper, can you talk to me though about your heart?

You're wanting to bypass your grief.

You're wanting to just shift over to this place where you can just say, Oh, it's fine, I'll be okay with it.

I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay, right?

And he was like, talk to me.

And I started dipping into the reality of my grief.

Jesus, I loved those babies.

Why didn't you save them?

Jesus, my heart is to be a mom of many, not just of one.

What's going on there?

And he started talking to me, and he's and he didn't give me answers, you guys.

He didn't tell me this is why I did that or this is what's going on.

He just said, I love you.

I'm hurting with you because I know your pain, but will you still say I'm good?

And I didn't know how to answer at first.

Because at first I wanted to go, well, you're good when you're not, you know, not answering my prayer to save my baby.

But he just said, But am I still good?

And for a few days I had to sit with that question, but am I still good?

But am I still good?

But am I still good?

And finally I surrendered myself, not because I felt like it, not because I decided that this was a good thing, but because I chose to believe that he was more than I was experiencing in the moment.

And I said, Yeah, God, I'm gonna choose that you are still good.

You are good.

And from that day forward, you guys, something has shifted in my spirit.

See, up till then, I'm a pastor's kid who has gone through a lot of stuff with the church and through some hard things with the church and has had some beautiful things with the church.

And up until that day, I had always lived with a subtle question in my spirit of, I don't know if he's really that good.

But from that day forward, not because an angel showed up in my room, not because I had this like emotional download, miraculous moment, just because I aligned my heart and my spirit with the truth of who he says he is, and I said, God, I'm choosing that you are good.

And I said it with an honest heart in the face of my grief.

From that day forward, you guys, I can tell you right now, it's been 16 years, and I have never been tempted to question his goodness again.

I can't explain that, but it is true.

Something shifted when I chose to align my will and my faith with who he was and not just my experience.

All right, and the last subtlety that the enemy uses is politicism.

And that's power is my shepherd.

When we find ourselves devoting our loyalty to our political ideals in an effort to gain power over the desired freedoms that we have for our lives and for the lives of our children, rather than entrusting that our freedom is found solely in Christ and that where he leads will be unto freedom.

It is not wrong for us to be involved in politics.

Please hear me on that.

It's important actually that we are.

It is not wrong for us to vote for and align ourselves with what we believe will be best for our nation, but what is the problem is when we allow the political ideal to be our shepherd instead of Jesus to be our shepherd in the way that we choose to operate, in the way that we choose to speak to one another, in the way that we choose to interact with one another, in the way we choose to speak about leaders in our country, in the way that we choose to orient ourselves, our language and our thoughts.

If we are allowing our political ideal to be elevated above our trust and our faith that Christ is the place in which we find freedom, we've now shifted and politicism has become our shepherd instead of Jesus.

We have to be careful of that as we navigate the political reality of our nation.

Be involved, but keep it in order.

Okay?

As Americans, we celebrate and even idolize at times our own independence.

The thing we call the American dream is this image of the self-made man or woman that rises up from nothing and builds themselves an empire.

But in doing that, we live under this pressure to achieve some ever-expanding measure of an undefined success.

And the bar is constantly shifting and moving higher and higher with each accomplishment that we achieve, right?

So we end up wandering aimlessly and living lives disillusioned and barely holding up under the weight and under the pressure and the shame for the things that we think we should be or should have accomplished by now.

We make comparison, our measuring stick, and fear and shame then become our shepherd.

And we follow them, leading us to unattainable expectations, to disillusionment, and eventually that turns into apathy and self-loathing.

We destroy ourselves for the lack of our good shepherd.

His heart is trustworthy.

He is not self-seeking.

Jesus has never exploited anyone for his own benefit.

We can trust him.

We can follow him.

When we know that his life is oriented toward our good, we can be surrendered to him.

His mastery of leadership is unmatched.

And knowing just how to direct you along the path of your greatest nourishment, your greatest protection, and your great and his perfect timing for you.

See, Jesus, just like in the beginning, we found him choosing a very timely moment to bring a revelation of himself.

He also chooses to step right into your story, right where you are.

He'll talk to you using the cultural season, the present moment, and using your language.

You can trust him.

But we have to choose, just like I had to choose in that moment when I was facing the loss of two babies.

I had to decide that day.

I'm gonna trust you.

I'm going to trust you.

Okay, Lord, I choose to trust you.

You are good.

And I'm choosing to see everything that I'm experiencing in my life right now in light of your goodness instead of seeing your goodness in light of my experiences.

Lord, you are good.

You are good, and you are the good shepherd, and you're leading me.

The invitation that I feel like is before us today.

And I'm gonna close out with this, so Blake, you can come on up.

In Revelation 3.20, it says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.

I read this while I was in this study, and it totally shifted my perspective on that scripture.

I stand at the door and knock.

And I just had this picture of Jesus coming like the good shepherd comes to the sheepfold and gently tapping or singing a song or whistling a tune that's familiar, saying, Hey, I'd like to come in.

You're safe.

I'm coming.

It's me, I'm here.

And I felt like the Lord said, That's the invitation I have here.

I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking.

I've come gently.

I'm approaching you gently with love and with your best benefit in mind.

Will you let me in?

He's not gonna crash in through the side today.

He's coming in through the gate and he's inviting you to come meet him so that he can lead you out into pasture to places for nourishment and life.

The sheepfold is a place of safety, but it's not a beautiful place.

And if the sheep are to stay in the sheepfold for too long, for fear of going out and following the shepherd into the pasture, they actually will live in a dry, dirty, desolate space because the sheepfold isn't a really beautiful place.

It's just for their safety.

But that's why daily the shepherd comes and says, Come with me, let's go back into the pastures.

He's inviting us to come meet him at the gate today.

And some of the things that we talked about, these isms in our culture that we talked about: religionism, humanism, Christian humanism, materialism, spiritualism, all of these politicism, all of these things that I mentioned, they may be things that are at war right now against your trust and your following.

But I just invite you to take a minute and ask him, Lord, are any of those things moving in me?

Am I interacting with you in a way that allows those things to steal from my faith and my trust in you as my good shepherd?

And I just want to invite you to take a minute and sit with the Lord and listen.

He says, I'm here, I'm at the gate, and I'm knocking.

Will you trust me?

Will you choose to trust me?

I am the Good Shepherd.

I am trustworthy.

Will you trust me?

Jesus, we love you.

Thank you, Cod, for your faithfulness.

Thank you, God, for the way that you lead us.

And Lord, this morning I do hear you at the door and I hear you knocking.

And Lord, my choice is, Lord, come in, come in, lead me.

I trust you, Lord.

Expose to me any of the things that would come to steal or kill or destroy in my life, Lord.

And help me to reorient myself back to you in any spaces that I've found myself wandering.

Make me aware of my tendency to go back to old ways, old patterns, to get stuck back in the same old ruts I've been in before.

And lead me, Lord, lead me, Lord, away from those things.

Lord, I choose you today.

And God, I pray for every person in this room today, Lord, that whatever part of this message relates to their story.

Jesus, would you give them ears to hear?

Lord, I pray that you'd give us eyes to see you with fresh revelation of you as a good shepherd and all that it means when you said that of yourself.

We love you, Jesus, and we're so thank you thankful for you for all the ways that you guide us, Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.

Yeah.

Blake has a word he's gonna share with us.

Before Piper was speaking, I just had the word injury, um, I'm sorry, infection come to my heart and mind like we want to pray uh through infection.

And you know, and then she began to speak about how the shepherd kind of comes to us and looks through our you know external things that we place around us, and in this case the the the fur of the sheep, looking for injury.

And I thought, oh, that's it, that's it.

That's it.

He wants to check and knows our injury and our hurt.

Because what happens with an injury, and I just began to think about this as she was speaking, that when there's injury, and that happens in this world, injury happens.

But what shouldn't happen is the infection that comes from the injury because that's a foreign entity that comes into that place of hurt and begins to be disruptive and painful.

And so I want to submit this to you that perhaps God is saying, No, I really am the good shepherd.

Like, what Piper is preaching and bringing to us is really true.

It's not a fiction, it's not a story, it's not something that we just kind of look at and think romantically of, and of like, oh yes, how how beautiful he's he's a good shepherd.

No, like he really is a shepherd.

And so I would just ask that um if we could take just a few more moments here, because I think we need to leave room for healing, that God wants to look at us, the sheep, and see what injury is in our soul, first of all.

And I'm just gonna ask that the Holy Spirit just begin to come and the spirit of the good shepherd uh heal the injury that has turned into infection.

And then I feel like there's a specific call for uh some physical healing, that there are people that are dealing with uh physical injury and infection.

And just closing off with an invitation that if that's you, uh I just want to pray for you.

So why don't you close your eyes really quick?

And uh Father, I thank you that this is not just a theory, this is something you really do, that you're the good shepherd.

And Father, I would ask that um you just examine our hearts right now and see if there is any injury or infection.

Father, I call out those that have been fired from their job that's caused injury, those that have been accused, those that have been rejected.

Those that have been disappointed by life, Father, I ask that you would just release just healing to the soul right now in the name of Jesus.

So let's just take about a minute here.

And if you feel like, you know, yeah, I have an injury in my soul, examine to see and let the Holy Spirit reveal if it's turned to infection.

And would you just surrender it to Jesus right now?

And ask him, the Good Shepherd, to heal.

Feel some faith in my heart to pray for those that are dealing with any type of infection, whether it's an eye infection, yeast infection, infection underneath your skin, all of those uh places that just seem to be hard to get the antibiotic to.

Just want to invite you that after we dismiss and close our time, that if you'll come forward, uh, I and some others would just love to pray for you, specifically uh for injury infection, and for God to pour out his healing power.

It's not limited to that, but I find that oftentimes God highlights something that will be more instantaneous and uh instead of just progressive, because he's always healing, he's always doing something.

But in particular, if you'll respond to this word of uh just praying for infections, or just believing God hears us and will move on our behalf.

Well, amen.

Can we stand?

It's been a rich deposit this morning.

I'd like to invite the prayer team to come forward and the elders.

Like said, if uh this is a time for you to receive prayer, this is a time for you to receive prayer.

So be sure to come.

We like you to always leave with a blessing.

And so uh, if you would close your eyes, I'd like you just to hear the words and not have all the visuals.

It's a real world out there, and you we go out into it, and now may the peace of God, which passes all our human understanding, guard your hearts, minds in Christ Jesus.

And as you leave this place, may you be the light, the life, and the love our Savior to all that you meet through this week.

Bless you in that.

Amen.

Amen.

So have a blessed week.

We'll see you next week for prayer.

Come this way, go rescue the teachers for your kids, and uh have a blessed Sunday.

Thank you.

How much more will he clothe you?

How much more will he clothe you if we watch his over?

How much more does he love?