I AM Part Four: The Door | Sunday, October 11, 2026

Well, good morning and welcome to Trinity.

My name is Mike, and I'm one of the pastors here.

And this morning I'd like to invite you to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

If you didn't bring a Bible, please don't hesitate to hop up and grab one from the hallway in the back.

You can find John 10 on page 840 in the church Bibles.

If you don't have a Bible of your own, we actually have a stack of them out in the hallway again, giveaways.

It's for you.

Please feel free to take one.

Our gift to you, all I ask is that you use it.

Now, this morning we're continuing in our series exploring Jesus' I am statements in the Gospel of John with the third of those statements.

It's part of a two-parter, part one of a two-parter.

In John 10, 7, and then again in verse 9, Jesus says, I am the door of the sheep.

Next week, for part two, we'll see Jesus declare in verse 11, I am the good shepherd.

Before we begin unpacking the 10 verses here for part one, we need to back up just a bit and set the context.

But first, let's pray.

Gracious God, thank you for this morning for the chance to gather, to sing, to pray, to hear from your word.

And I pray now, gracious God, that as my words line up with your words, that by the power of your Holy Spirit, they would fall on ears and hearts ready to receive them and respond.

Gracious God, if I say anything that isn't from you, I pray that those words would quickly be forgotten.

And I pray all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We're gonna start out by being just a little bit Bible nerdy, if that is okay with you.

The Bible is so cool.

Check this out.

Last week, we looked at John 8, 12, where Jesus declares, I am the light of the world.

We spent our entire time on just that one verse.

But that whole interaction Jesus has with the crowd, all the way up through verse 58 in John 8, is one part.

And it ends with Jesus saying, before Abraham was, I am.

Now, to say I am like that, it's blatant enough, it's a blatant enough claim to divinity that the crowd actually tries to kill Jesus for blasphemy.

That's John 8, 59, if you have a Bible open.

But he he manages to slip away from the furious crowd because John tells us it isn't yet time for him to die.

And as he goes, he sees a man who'd been blind from birth.

This is John chapter 9, verse 1.

John 9:1

He finds a man literally living in darkness.

A man who had spent his entire life living in darkness.

Jesus has just declared, I am the light of the world.

He said it.

And now he's going to show it by literally bringing a man who has only ever lived in darkness out of darkness into the light.

Teenagers, this is the correct and proper use of the word literally.

And so what Jesus does is he anoints the man's eyes with mud and he tells him to go wash.

And the blind man obeys.

This is chapter 9, and he comes back seeing.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Jesus brings him from darkness into light, and in doing so, he stirs up some controversy because, you see, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath.

Nobody was supposed to do anything on the Sabbath.

And so the blind man is brought to the Pharisees who proceed to interrogate this man who was once blind, even as they denigrate Jesus, who surely they argue could not possibly be from God, because he broke the law and healed on the Sabbath.

Despite the Pharisees' attempts to convince this healed man to denounce Jesus, the man who once had been blind refuses.

Instead, he continues to bear witness to Jesus, pointing the Pharisees and the crowd alike back to the one who healed him over and over and over again.

John chapter 9 is a living, breathing object lesson.

John 9 · chapter mention

John showing the thing he had just described.

English teachers everywhere rejoice.

The blind man who had once lived in darkness receives light and life because of his faith in Jesus.

While the Pharisees, because of their hardness of heart, are stuck in the dark.

The blind man sees, and the Pharisees are blind.

It's also a living, breathing object lesson for what immediately follows in chapter 10, which is a continuation of that same conversation with the Pharisees and the man who had once been blind.

And it starts like this John 10, verse 1.

John 10:1

Truly, truly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

Now we'll learn shortly that Jesus himself is the door.

The sheep in the sheepfold, it's the needy of people of God, the needy people of God, represented by the blind man in chapter 9.

Okay?

If anyone tries to get access to the sheep any other way than through the door, that man is a thief and a robber.

New Testament scholar Dale Bruner calls these thieves and robbers otherways.

They try to get into the sheepfold any other way.

The thief and the robber is anyone who seeks to lead people somewhere, heck, tries to lead people anywhere other than to Jesus.

In John 9, it's the Pharisees who continue to draw, taught to draw the man who had been blind and the crowds away from Jesus, insisting that Jesus could not truly be from God because he healed on the Sabbath.

John 9 is a living, breathing object lesson for John 8 on the one side and John 10 on the other.

Today the thieves and the robbers could be any number of people or parties or ideals or algorithms that lead one anywhere but to Jesus.

The thief and the robber, the otherwayer, is in sharp contrast with the shepherd.

Look at verse 2.

He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

Now, grammar nerds, it's worth noting that there is no definite article in the original Greek in front of shepherd here.

So it could just as rightfully be translated a shepherd.

He who enters by the door is shepherd of the sheep, is a shepherd, is the shepherd.

Any of those could work.

And I wonder if perhaps John is distinguishing here from the shepherd.

And verse 11 follows the good shepherd.

We'll get to that next week, I promise.

The shepherd enters through the door.

Continue in verse 3.

To him, the gatekeeper opens.

Most commentators, it seems like, think the gatekeeper is the Holy Spirit.

The sheep hear the shepherd's voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

Now, what's described here, he who enters the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

The sheep hear his voice, he calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out.

What's described here is the sort of familiarity that comes from proximity and time and trust.

Sheep who recognize the voice of a shepherd.

A shepherd who knows the sheep by name.

I had a conversation this past week with a friend who's in grad school studying to be a pastor.

He's in seminary.

He's currently taking a class discussing the role of technology in ministry.

And he had a assignment to interview a pastor about how their church uses or doesn't use technology.

And so we spent an hour, Thursday morning, talking about online church and using social media for evangelism and discipleship, use of AI for ministry.

And I shared with him that we have basically no online ministry at Trinity.

There's we have some social media presence, but not a whole lot.

There's no live stream.

Matt and I basically only use AI to clean up handouts for work we've already done together.

Our only real online ministry is an active church-wide messages group on Church Center.

It's not that I'm opposed to the use of technology in church or technology from ministry.

Heck, I still have a Bible study YouTube channel up on Bible study from the pandemic.

You can find it if you search me.

I'm personally still somewhat active on Instagram, but the sort of relationship described here in verse three requires proximity and time and trust that's hard to be developed solely online.

The people who watch my old YouTube Bible studies, they know my voice, and they watch my face on their laptop, and every once in a while I respond to their comments, but I don't know their names.

I haven't met their kids.

They haven't met mine.

We haven't sat in each other's living rooms.

We haven't run into each other, a giant or Starbucks.

We haven't walked a lap of Burke Lake together.

It's awfully hard to develop that sort of relationship with a talking head on a screen.

Or a podcast host or a live stream.

When we planted Trinity three years ago, we intentionally set out to plant a neighborhood church.

The type of place where we recognize each other's voices, where we know each other's names, where proximity and time allow two-way trust to grow.

And we've always said that when we grow to the size where it's unreasonable for us to know the names of those in the room, that it'll be time for us to plant another church so that more people can find a home in a church where their voice will be recognized and their name will be known by those called as shepherds.

Now look, the Pharisees in chapter 9 were not interested in the blind man.

They did not care about him at all.

They don't know him, they don't know his name.

What they're interested in is proving a point, and they're interested in being right.

And in doing so, they completely miss Jesus.

They're supposed to be spiritual leaders, shepherds.

Instead, they prove themselves to be thieves and robbers.

Otherways.

A shepherd, though, look at verse 4 and 5.

When the shepherd has brought out all his known, he goes before them.

The sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

A shepherd knows his sheep, his sheep know him.

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

He's saying the same sort of thing a second time here, isn't he?

Friends, not every voice can be trusted.

So we need to be wise, discerning.

We need to listen well.

These verses are a sharp warning both for the flock of Christ and for those who would be shepherds.

It's certainly a warning for me to be the sort of shepherd that can be trusted.

And for all of us, to be cautious about how much trust and influence we give to those who do not know us by name.

A recent Barna study revealed that 34% of practicing Christians agree that spiritual advice from an artificial intelligence is just as trustworthy as advice from a pastor.

And 30% of US adults as a whole agree that AI can match a pastor for spiritual guidance.

The stats aren't all that different when it comes to the role of online content creators and spiritual influencers.

We are awfully quick to look to influencers and podcasters.

And I don't want to say that all of that is necessarily bad.

And I realize that this conversation may seem self-seeking.

Okay?

I recognize the tension here.

I'm standing up here with a little bit of trepidation as I say these things.

I'm not seeking to defend the role of the local pastor here.

I'm not trying to browbeat or guilt or any of that.

I am worried, I am worried that we place far too much trust and give far too much influence to talking heads and artificial intelligence.

Too many Christians are being discipled by Instagram reels and chat GPT.

Now I know I've had wonderful conversations with many of you who've sent me a reel.

Pastor Mike, what do you think?

Or I was doing my Bible study, I came across this thing I didn't understand.

I asked ChatGPT.

That's different, I think, than how the kids use chat.

I try to keep up, it's challenging.

I asked ChatGPT about this.

Is that correct?

And I've had some wonderful conversations with some of you about that.

I I'm not anti all of that all the way.

What I'm suggesting here with as much, I with as much humility as I can muster, is that we ought to be cautious about how much trust and influence we give to those who don't know us by name.

And that we ought to seek guidance, especially when it comes to spiritual matters, from those whose voices we know and who know our names and our contexts.

And maybe that's me or Matt or any other number of really wise, godly people in this room, right?

Friends, let's be the sort of people that turn quickly and readily to those who know us.

To those who know us.

Trust takes time, proximity, and the promise of technology is easy everywhere immediately.

But the algorithm or your favorite podcaster doesn't actually care about you.

The crowds here in chapters 9 and 10 found themselves influenced by the Pharisees who didn't care about them.

Instead, they cared about power and about being right.

It's meant, it's meant to be a sharp contrast with the man who had been blind, who kept pointing anyone who asked him right back to Jesus.

And that's ultimately the point here.

Shepherds know our names and relentlessly point us back to Jesus.

Of course, the crowd and the Pharisees don't get it.

Look at verse 6.

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

So Jesus tries again.

He's so patient.

Look at verse 7 and following.

Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it's the same opening, you notice that as verse 1.

Jesus saying, Listen, really, please, listen, I'm telling you the truth.

I am the door of the sheep.

He says it explicitly.

This is the I am statement.

If you have a Bible, open your lap, circle it.

I am the door.

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

Now there's a subtext here.

Do you hear it?

Both for Jesus' audience and for us as John's audience today.

Will you listen to the thieves and the robbers?

Are you sheep in the sheepfold?

Who do you listen to?

Which voice do you trust?

He says it again.

I am the door.

Verse 9.

Anytime there's repetition in the Bible, we ought to pay attention.

Jesus says it in verse 7, hints that you ought not listen to anyone who points you away from himself and then repeats himself, I am the door, before explaining what he means by that.

This is what he says.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

And will go in and out and find pasture.

And if you hear nothing else this morning, this is the most important part.

First, Jesus is the only means of salvation.

If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, Jesus said.

He is the only source of light and life and looking for whatever it is you might be looking for in life.

Any other place will only lead to darkness.

And second, this is the pattern of the Christian life.

This is why I brought up the whiteboard here.

I tried to write this out on the screen using like arrows and words, but it didn't quite work.

You've got the sheepfold.

Throughout church history, that's often been considered the church.

You go in there to learn, to grow.

It's supposed to be safe with others.

And then you've got the door.

Oh man, I chose the one that didn't work.

Door.

And who's the door?

Jesus.

And then you go out to pasture.

That says pasture.

Pasture is the world.

Alright?

And then you come back in through the door.

And who's the door?

Jesus.

Back into the sheepfold.

You're imagining how I wrote it right there.

We're gonna look at this.

This one's gonna turn up great on the podcast for all these people who are influenced by us.

Okay.

Sheepfold, door, pasture, door, sheepfold.

This is the pattern right here of the Christian life.

Into the sheepfold, that is the church, to be fed.

Rested, and then back out to pasture, back out into the world to be a blessing, to love your neighbors, to point the lost back to Jesus.

And always, always, always back through the door, into the sheepfold by way of Jesus.

Out into the world by way of Jesus.

Back into the sheepfold by way of Jesus.

Back into the world by way of Jesus.

And the job of the shepherd is to make sure and walk with and alongside the people of God in this pattern.

Our life together, marked and formed and protected and guided by Jesus.

Sending back out into the world, marked and formed and protected and guided by Jesus.

Probably doesn't surprise you that there's symbolism and intentionality in most every aspect of our Sunday morning worship service together.

And what's described here by Jesus, who describes himself as the door, is demonstrated for us each week as we gather together.

What is it that leads us into worship?

What do we walk behind as we're sent back out into the world?

This is why every week we have a crucifer, someone who carries a cross, right?

We come in, the beginning of worship behind the cross.

We're led here to the table, right?

And then after church, we're led back out into the world.

And what goes first?

The cross.

We're led back out those doors into the world behind the cross.

We follow the cross into the gathered worship as the body.

We follow the cross back out into the world as the sent and scattered people of God.

And in the between in between, we gather around the cross, which points us right back to the crucified Christ as we worship and hear from his word and are fed by him at his table.

Christ before us and behind us, among us, all around us, Christ the only way in, and the only and best way back out.

The one who ought to orient our days and our life together and our worship.

This is what Jesus says when he says, I am the door.

Always back in and back out by Jesus.

Always led through Jesus and always led to Jesus.

Friends, hear me when I say this.

Anyone or anything who offers you life or light or purpose or rest without pointing you towards Christ is climbing the fence and lead you right to death.

This is verse 10.

For the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

It was Edwin Clement Hoskins who wrote around the turn of the 19th century: every claim in the past or the present to give life except through Jesus is destructive of life.

All who make that claim have been and are thieves and robbers whom the true servants of God have never followed.

We learned last week that Christ is the only true source of light and life.

Next week we'll learn that Jesus is the good shepherd, which is such good news.

And this week we're offered a warning about who to trust.

A declaration that the people of God, whether they're going into the sheepfold or back out to pasture, ought to always be led back to and through Jesus Christ.

And oh, it is my prayer that Christ's Spirit would form us into this sort of church.

The sort of church that provides safety and rest and provision as we follow Jesus into the sheepfold to be fed by him.

The sort of church that heads faithfully back out to pasture, always and ever through Christ, the door that leads to life abundant.

And it's my prayer that we would be the sort of church where we patiently learn one another's names, love one another well, and relentlessly point one another back to Jesus.

Will you stand and pray with me?

Oh gracious God, we need your help to do all of this.

And so I pray, come Holy Spirit.

Would you draw us to you?

Would you guide us?

We pray.

Would you help us to love one another?

To learn names and voices.

Oh and gracious God, I pray that by your Spirit you would form us to be this sort of church that's always heading back in and out through Christ and Christ alone.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.