A PASTORAL SCENE FOR PREPARATION TO THE
LORD’S SUPPER
John 10: 5, 14, 15
Sermon by:
Rev. H.A. Bergsma
Published by the
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(November 2003)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 268
Law of God
Scripture: John 10: 1 – 18
Text: John 10: 5, 14, 15
Psalter 52
Congregational Prayer
Offering
Psalter 1
Sermon
Psalter 220: 1, 6
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 69: 1, 2, 7
Benediction
Doxology: Psalter 413
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Congregation of the Lord,
Pastoral scenes were common in Palestine in Jesus’ days.
Shepherds leading their sheep could be seen wherever you looked in the countryside.
And yet, when Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd and the door of the Sheepfold,
and His people the sheep of His pasture, His listeners had no clue as to what He was
talking about.
They could not understand the spiritual significance of it.
Perhaps they did not want to understand it.
At any rate, we have a pastoral scene before us in our text, which I trust, will be helpful
for us in our self-examination and preparation to the Lord’s Supper.
Let us look at it by the following theme and division …
A PASTORAL SCENE FOR PREPARATION TO THE LORD’S SUPPER
1. The Danger Of Strangers
2. The Need To Be A Sheep
3. The Greatness Of The Shepherd
Congregation,
Our text sets a sheepfold before us.
It is nighttime, and the sheep are inside the sheepfold, asleep.
Now, a sheepfold is a fenced-off area, out in the open somewhere, fenced-off by stones
piled up 5 or 6 feet high.
The only way to get into this enclosure is by a door, which is manned by a shepherd.
Often such a shepherd would sit down or lie across the doorway, becoming, so to speak,
the door of the sheepfold himself.
But then there are those strangers to the sheepfold.
Who are they?
Well, in our text-chapter they are called by different names.
They are called thieves and robbers.
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They try to get into the sheepfold, not through the doorway, but by climbing up some
other way.
They want to get into the sheepfold, but not through the doorway.
And once they are in the sheepfold they will turn the whole pastoral setting upside-down.
A stranger in a sheepfold will invariably cause unrest among sheep, and even if the
stranger is caught and thrown out, it will take much time for the sheep to settle down
again.
Peace and rest do not come easily to sheep.
A stranger in the sheepfold could often leave long lingering after effects.
And of course, a stranger left in the sheepfold, and left to do as he pleases, could have
disastrous after-effects, even to stealing, killing and destruction.
Now, from this parable, what is the significance of strangers in the sheepfold?
The Church is that fenced-off area out in the open world.
The Church, as you see it here on earth, faithful to God’s Word, faithful in the
Sacraments, and faithful in its discipline, is what may be called a sheepfold.
Strangers, however, are a danger to the sheepfold.
Strangers! Now, this is no reference to guests and visitors who worship with us.
I certainly would not want to leave the impression that they are a danger.
This was not the meaning of Jesus either.
When Jesus refers to strangers here, He refers to those who could be called “hypocrites”
by our Confession, article 29, where it speaks about “Hypocrites, who are mixed in the
Church with the good, yet are not of the Church, though externally in it.”
What then makes it possible that strangers come into the sheepfold, and that hypocrites
can be found in the Church?
Well, we read in our text-chapter that they have entered in by the wrong way; that they
have climbed-in some other way, and have not come through the proper doorway.
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We know that the proper doorway of the sheepfold and of the Church is the same Person
who calls himself the Door of the sheepfold … Jesus Christ … and we’ll hear more of
Him in a few minutes.
But for now, strangers are people who have not come through the door, Jesus Christ.
Strangers are those who think they can be members of the Church without coming
through Jesus Christ.
However, strangers cannot participate of the Lord’s Supper.
Without coming through Jesus Christ you cannot celebrate the Lord’s Supper, even
though you are in the sheepfold, and outwardly a member of the Church.
“Why not?” Let me explain.
In our parable, strangers pose a real threat to the sheepfold.
Strangers are liable to unsettle the sheep.
Strangers can lead sheep astray.
More yet! Strangers can steal and kill and destroy, if God would not prevent such things!
See the danger of a stranger?
We need a pastoral setting for this celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
And in such a pastoral setting, strangers, hypocrites, may have no place at the Table of
the Lord.
Such people, as the Form for the Lord’s Supper says it so soberly … “Will eat and drink
judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
In other words, strangers will defile the Lord’s Table and dishonor the Lord’s body.
So much about the danger of strangers.
Now, in the second place, let me say something about the need to be a sheep, and
examine ourselves if we are sheep indeed.
The Bible, at various times, uses the analogy of sheep to describe the Lord’s people.
In our text, Jesus gives a rather favorable description of sheep.
Sheep will not follow a stranger but will flee from him; “for they know not the voice of
strangers”, Jesus says.
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This is a characteristic that we should look for in ourselves.
How do we react to strangers and to the voice of strangers?
We have just learned what a stranger is.
How do I as a sheep, react to such strangers?
Do I follow them?
Do I as Psalm 1 hints at … not walk in the counsel of the ungodly; nor stand in the way
of sinners; nor sit in the seat of the scornful?
Do I resist following a stranger?
If so, I have the characteristic of a sheep.
Or, do I listen to the voice of strangers?
Do I allow them to persuade me, allure me, entice me to sin, and draw me away from the
good?
This is what you might call “knowing the voice of strangers.”
If this is the case with me, then I cannot call myself a sheep of the sheepfold, because
according to Jesus’ word, sheep do not follow strangers, and sheep do not know the voice
of strangers.
Instead, sheep will flee from the stranger.
Am I a sheep of the Good Shepherd?
The spiritual significance of this is great.
People who have come to know Jesus Christ savingly, do not follow the ungodly in their
ways anymore.
The ways of the world are not their ways any more.
The ways of sin are not a pleasure and a delight to them anymore.
“And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him.”
This is characteristic of sheep, as described by Jesus … they are the fleeing kind; they
won’t stick around where sin is celebrated; they won’t stick around when temptations
allure; they flee from it.
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This is what Paul means when he makes those strong exhortations in his letters to the
Christian churches …
“Flee fornication!”(1 Corinthians 6:18)
“Flee from idolatry!” (1 Corinthians 10:14)
“Flee also youthful lusts!” ( 2 Timothy 2:22)
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds … and the love of money … thou man of
God, flee these things!” (1 Timothy 6)
Do you see the need to be a sheep?
Can this characteristic be found with you and me … always in need to flee from evil?
This is one of the strengths of a sheep; one of the positive things that you can say of a
sheep … perhaps not a very complimentary strength, but a strength nevertheless.
It is true, many weaknesses can be listed of sheep as well; they get lost easily simply by
wandering off; they do not have that “homing-instinct” that other animals, like dogs or
pigeons have, for instance; they often get themselves in trouble and then won’t know how
to get themselves out of trouble again; they are often restless, and are quick to tire-out;
they cannot put up much of a defense, and they are often vulnerable to all sorts of attacks.
All negative characteristics that keep the shepherd busy and give him much work to do.
Sheep have many weaknesses, and also those weaknesses have spiritual significance.
I leave this for you to apply to your own life.
One thing is certain: Jesus does not call His people “sheep” for nothing.
Their weaknesses do keep Him busy.
But the positive part, the strength of His sheep is that they do not follow strangers.
They flee from them, “For they do not know the voice of strangers.”
I hope this helps our process of self-examination.
Can you and I, with all the weakness of being a sheep, still confess to this strength: “I do
not follow strangers, I flee from them; their voice I do not know, and do not listen to”?
This is part of being a sheep of the Good Shepherd.
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There is something else yet about being a sheep, and this brings me closer to my last
point already … sheep know the shepherd.
They follow him; they know and recognize his voice, and they perk up when they hear
him.
We need to be such sheep … sheep that follow Jesus the Shepherd and who know the
voice of Jesus the Shepherd.
It’s important to be aware of this for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
But now in the third place, something about the greatness of the Shepherd?
Let us listen to what Jesus himself has to say, because there is no better way to prepare
for the Lord’s Supper then by listening to Him.
He tells us in our text, “I am the Good Shepherd.”
Here is where the people of Israel failed to understand what Jesus was getting at.
They knew all about sheepfolds and strangers; they knew all about sheep and about
shepherds.
They lived right in the midst of such pastoral settings.
But with all that, they failed to understand that Jesus was the Good Shepherd.
And why can Jesus call Himself the Good Shepherd?
Just looking at our text, we may draw out two things about Him.
One, He knows His sheep.
Two, He has laid down His life for His sheep.
As Shepherd, Jesus knows His sheep.
I have said something about the weakness of sheep already, that they are prone to
wander, and can get themselves lost without trying; that they are temperamental and
stubborn; that they are often in trouble and always vulnerable to attacks.
And being such sheep, we should acknowledge this and humble ourselves for it and
confess it to the Lord.
Saved people are by no means perfect people!
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But we may never use our weakness and vulnerability and imperfection as an excuse to
sin.
We must confess and repent of our sheep-like-weaknesses, whether that is a wandering
spirit or temperament or stubbornness or whatever.
And not only repent of it, but mend our ways.
This is part of preparing for the Lord’s Supper.
But this may be our comfort … Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He knows His sheep, and
He knows that we are like sheep and that we act like sheep.
It does not surprise Him in the least.
This is why He presents Himself as Shepherd.
As Good Shepherd, He knows the quirks and the temperaments and the character-habits
and the weaknesses of His sheep.
He knows what kind of persons we are, and He will match His Shepherd-abilities exactly
to the very kind of person that we are.
Are any of us bad-tempered for instance?
Well, He has a shepherd rod that He may want to use on you.
Are you easily distracted from contemplating Him?
He has a shepherd voice by which He will call attention to Himself.
Are you tempted by one particular sin?
He will use His shepherd staff to pull you back.
As he says, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep.”
Believing this should greatly help us in preparing for the Lord’s Supper.
And as the Good Shepherd, He knows that we, His sheep, need feeding and rest.
This is why we need to participate of the sacrament next Sunday, because there is where
we are offered food and rest.
And as Good Shepherd, He doesn’t want us to look for an excuse not to partake of the
sacrament.
As good Shepherd, He wants us to be there, because He knows that it will do us good.
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep!
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But without a shadow of a doubt, the greatest thing that I may say about this Shepherd is,
as Jesus Himself says in our text … “And I lay down my life for the sheep.”
This is precisely what has happened.
Some two thousand years ago, Jesus died the death of the cross.
He did not die simply as a martyr for a good cause.
He did not simply die as a victim of some horrible circumstances.
He died as a Shepherd, laying down His life for the sheep.
This is what makes this Shepherd so attractive.
In the history of shepherding there have been shepherds who have risked their very life
for the safety and the well-being of their sheep.
Think only of David!
He took-on the wolf and the bear and the lion and slew them to protect his sheep.
But Jesus, the Good Shepherd did not simply die due to taking a risk.
He purposely laid down His life for the sheep.
That is, He voluntarily sacrificed His life for the sheep.
This is what we must remember as we prepare to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.
It was a voluntary, sacrificial, Shepherd-death, which He died.
This makes Him the great Good Shepherd.
Far beyond any shepherd that the world has ever known, is Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of
His sheep.
He laid down, He sacrificed His life for the sheep.
He did this because He knows the needs of His sheep.
He knows that they need correction, and guidance, and feeding and drinking, and
encouragement, and rest.
And all of this, we, His sheep, may receive by way of the sacrament.
But He knows that we, in order to be His sheep, need the sacrifice of His life.
Therefore He laid down His life, so that people, even those who were once strangers and
hypocrites, could become His sheep.
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Are you perhaps still a stranger in the sheepfold?
Do you perhaps still feel yourself to be like a hypocrite in the Church?
My friend! Such awareness and feelings are the work of the Word and the Holy Spirit.
But you cannot leave it at that!
It’s a good start to be aware that you are a stranger, or have the feelings within you that
you might still be a hypocrite.
However, the Word and Holy Spirit want you further; they want you now at the place
where the Good Shepherd has laid down His life for the sheep ... at the cross.
On that cross, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for the sheep.
There He sacrificed Himself for people like us.
There also, does the door to the sheepfold open up to us.
Next Sunday, the Lord willing, it will be Lord’s Supper.
But the path to the Lord’s Supper is by way of the cross.
First the cross, then the Lord’s Supper.
First the Good Shepherd, and then the sheep.
Amen
(At this time, it would be fitting to read the first part of the Form for the Celebration of
the Lord’s Supper, as it pertains to self-examination)
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