Bulletins
Jesus, the Loving Shepherd
In John 10:11, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus often used sheep and shepherds to illustrate spiritual truths. One passage in which He did so is John 10:1-18. In this passage, Jesus described Himself as both the door to the sheep fold and the good shepherd.
To appreciate Jesus’ role as our shepherd, we must recognize our need for a shepherd. This involves accepting that we are, spiritually speaking, sheep.
Without a shepherd, sheep cannot take care of themselves. Without a shepherd, it likely won’t be long before sheep are devoured by predators.
Though we may not like comparing ourselves to sheep, we are like sheep, needing a trustworthy shepherd to lead us to spiritual security and safety.
This ties in with Jesus’ point that He is the door to the sheep fold (John 10:7). In verse 9, Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.”
As the hymn Jesus, the Loving Shepherd says, “without is danger,” but in Christ, one is in “the fold of safety.” In Christ, we are spiritually provided for.
By referring to Himself as both the door to the sheep fold and the good shepherd, Jesus shows us that not only is He the One in whom we have safety, but He is also the One who leads us to safety.
Notice John 10:3-4: The gatekeeper opens the gate for [the shepherd], and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
These verses show us two ways in which our shepherd leads us.
He leads us, for one, by His voice. As Jesus said, “the sheep listen to [the shepherd’s] voice.” We must obey the commands Jesus speaks through His word, looking to Him as our leader.
Jesus is contrasted with the false shepherds (“strangers”) John 10:5 refers to. Jesus’ followers must approach spiritual matters with the right heart to properly distinguish between the deceiving “voice” of strangers and the voice of the true shepherd.
Like an earthly shepherd, though, Jesus also leads by going before us (John 10:4). He’s left us a perfect example to follow. Like sheep literally follow the steps of their shepherd, we must walk in the steps of our Savior (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21; 1 John 2:6).
In describing Himself as the good shepherd, Jesus also expressed the care He has for His sheep.
While the “thief” of John 10 only has selfish, greedy desires toward the sheep (verse 10) and the “hired hand” puts his own interests ahead of the sheep’s (verses 12-13), the good shepherd is different, laying down His very life for the sheep (verses 11, 15).
John 10:17-18 emphasizes Christ’s willingness to lay down His life. As Jesus implied in Matthew 26:53, He could have been sent more than twelve legions of angels to stop His enemies from crucifying Him, but He chose to go to the cross so that we might be saved.
We couldn’t ask anything more of our great Shepherd. We should appreciate our Shepherd’s protection, provision, and willingness to sacrifice Himself.
Furthermore, we should accept His provision by following Him with full trust that He knows what’s best for us.
When we do so, we can trust that we will be spiritually secure in the “fold of safety.” We can trust that no matter what persecutions or trials come our way, spiritual predators are nothing in comparison to our great Shepherd.
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