Or, What Makes Sacrifice So Good
Scripture: John 10:11
Date: February 10, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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It’s good to be a sheep when your shepherd is Jesus. God was first to use the shepherd/sheep illustration and Jesus secured it in the church’s thinking in John 10.
Jesus introduced the picture at the start of the chapter in response to the Pharisees’ question about being blind. He didn’t identify the characters (verses 1-5) and the Pharisees didn’t follow (verse 6). So Jesus began to tease out the tangles in verse 7. We saw Jesus say twice, “I am the door of the sheep.” Since the Pharisees didn’t recognize Jesus, they were getting to the flock another way and that meant that they were thieves and robbers, not true shepherds. For all the sheep who enter through Jesus, they are saved, they are led in and out and brought to pasture. He gives His sheep abundant life.
That life comes at a cost. The life for the sheep comes at the cost of the Shepherd’s life. Normally we’d think that would be bad for the sheep. If the shepherd is dead, who will care for the sheep? Who will protect them from the wolves? Who will lead them to new pasture and guard them from future dangers? But in this case, the sacrifice of the Shepherd for His sheep is only good.
The good shepherd discussion starts in verse 11 and continues in context through verse 18. Many of the same themes are repeated in the section but, for this morning, we’re going to consider verse 11. This is not a surprise for those with eyes to see, but Jesus names Himself as the good shepherd.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11, ESV)
Here is the fourth metaphorical “I am” in the Gospel of John. It follows after “I am the door” in verses 7-10. The good shepherd theme is one of the most famous and encouraging analogies in God’s revelation. Even the pattern of the adjective stands out emphasizing the absolute goodness of this shepherd. A wooden translation would be: “I am the shepherd the good.” The position of the adjective makes it unmistakable that Jesus isn’t merely saying that He is a good shepherd instead of a bad one, as if He said “the shepherd is good.” He’s saying that He is the good shepherd, the shepherd above all shepherds, the standard of what makes a shepherd good.
There isn’t another shepherd like Him even if there are, as there should be, shepherds who imitate His work. Jesus is still the shepherd. Good isn’t as much a moral quality but an absolute one. It is similar to Jesus being called the true light (1:9) and the true bread (John 6:55).
He was the true bread because He is food that endures to eternal life. The enduring satisfaction of Himself as bread is greater than grain and seed that gives satisfaction for the afternoon. He gives sustenance forever. So here, He does not call Himself the good shepherd without explanation. He is the good shepherd because of His character.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . He repeats the description and tags on what makes it so: His willing sacrifice for the sheep.
There are four things that make the sacrifice of the Shepherd so good.
He lays down his life . That’s different than having His life taken by someone else. This shepherd does not get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He does not get drawn into danger that he isn’t suspecting. He is not merely willing to risk His life. He lays down His life. He says it again in verse 15. “I lay down my life.” He says it again in verses 17-18: “I lay down my life…No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord…This charge I have received from my Father.”
He was the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is the Shepherd-Lamb, the shepherd who sacrifices Himself for the sheep not the shepherd who sacrifices the sheep for himself.
To “lay down” is to purposefully put in a particular place, to choose to give up the “soul” or life . The life of the good shepherd is appointed for death. If you lay down your cash, you give it up for sake of payment. If you lay down your pride, you give it up for sake of not using it anymore. The purpose of the good shepherd is to make sacrifice. That’s why He came (John 12:27).
The sacrifice is also a replacement. That is, it is in place of someone else. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . It begins to get at the significance if we start by saying that the shepherd dies instead of the sheep or rather than the sheep. His death is not first about an example (though it does provide that, 1 John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:21). He dies so that the sheep won’t die. But for means even more than instead of. For means in their place and on their behalf. For means not only that they don’t die but also that they will have life. This is substitution and it is definite: for the sheep.
Almost twenty years ago I was visiting a friend at his university. He was leading a campus Bible study and they had a regularly scheduled meeting one of the days I was there. They were studying through the book of John that year and had arrived at chapter 10. I remember telling him before the meeting began that I wasn’t going to say anything. I was glad to be there and glad to participate by listening. I did really well…until the very end. We were about ready to shut the book and pray when my friend asked if there were any other questions. I sheepishly raised my hand and he called on me (so that really makes it his fault, right?). I asked: If the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, does that mean that He does not lay down His life for the non-sheep?
It took everyone a minute to settle into shock, to really appreciate the crash of theological plates and silverware after my failure to pull out the tablecloth smoothly. It took the rest of the semester for my friend to get the wheels back on. His group dropped from 12 to two. He got calls from angry parents and criticisms from friends. But I think he would say, looking back, that it was a question worth considering.
In John 10 we’ve met sheep, a shepherd, thieves and robbers, a gatekeeper and strangers. We’ve come to a door and, in the next verses, we’ll see a hired hand and wolves. Keeping in mind that Jesus uses different parts of the picture to illustrate different things, we always get back to some sort of contrast between the true shepherd and His sheep and everyone else, whether they are trying to harm the sheep or simply aren’t a part of the shepherd’s flock. So does the good shepherd lay down His life for everyone? For all of the characters, for the thieves and wolves, too, or for His sheep alone?
The particular relationship between the shepherd and His sheep stands out from the beginning of the chapter. “The sheep hear [the shepherd’s] voice and he calls his own by name and leads them out” (verse 3). “[The shepherd] goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for their know his voice” (verse 4).
The relationship between the shepherd and sheep is as established and personal and unbreakable as the relationship between the Father and the Son. “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; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (verses 14-15).
This is the same group that the Father gave to the Son in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me.” And, “This is the will of Him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me but raise it up on the last day” (verse 39). This is the same group mentioned in 10:28-29, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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.” This is a group different from the one’s not listening. “You do not believe because you are not among my sheep” (verse 26).
The Son came to save the ones that His Father gave Him. The Son came to call and gather His sheep. They are His sheep before He calls but, if they are His sheep, they will follow when they hear His voice. That’s part of the point in verse 16. “I have other sheep that I must bring and they will listen.” It’s all the same group of people, the same flock of sheep in God’s mind. They are identifiable and as certainly known as the Trinity’s own relationships.
The Shepherd’s sacrifice is a substitute for the sheep. We are talking about the “atonement.” When the Bible talks about the atonement of Christ’s death it means that He paid the penalty for sin, His death satisfied God’s wrath and provided forgiveness for all who would ever believe, for all His sheep.
The third good thing about the Shepherd’s sacrifice is that it is personal. It is particular and based on His care. Note the contrast between the shepherd and the hired hand. The hired hand won’t sacrifice himself. Watching the sheep is just a job to him. He’ll do the work as long as it doesn’t put himself in danger and he gets his paycheck. He’s present but it’s not personal. He doesn’t care. “He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (verse 13). He is “not concerned” (NAS) about them. The sheep “don’t matter to him” (MSG). The hired hand is self-serving not self-sacrificing.
The sheep belong to the shepherd. He calls them by name (10:3). He has a relationship with them because the Father gave them to Him and because He loves them. They matter to Him. He cares about them. Thats why Jesus went and found the man who He gave sight to. Jesus doesn’t run away when things get hard or when His sheep are in trouble. He loves them just as the Father and Son love each other. It’s personal to Him.
The sacrifice is good because it is effective. The death of the good shepherd secures life for the sheep. There is no hesitancy or uncertainty or wishing from the Good Shepherd. He declares what He is doing and what it accomplishes. He lays down His life and purchases eternal and abundant life. It provides food and drink for them. It brings forgiveness. It keeps them from death. They are protected from guilt and blindness and wandering and wolves and thieves.
His death is effective to save to and make the flock. Consider John 11:47-53, especially Caiaphas’ prophecy and John’s explanation.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. (John 11:49–52, ESV)
“Jesus would die to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” It’s not merely a possibility, it’s His purpose. In chapter 10, “I must bring them…they will listen to my voice. There will be one flock, one shepherd” (10:16). All that the Father gives the Son will come to Him (6:37). The Father will draw them (6:44) because the Son gave His life for them. The sacrifice of the Shepherd is effective for it’s purpose.
The sacrifice of the shepherd is so good because it is intentional, substitutionary, personal, and effective. Or if you prefer alliteration: purposeful, particular, personal, and potent. Potent means powerful not possible. Potential means ready to go, potent means going. Omnipotent doesn’t mean unlimited maybe-ness. There is unlimited power/efficacy in Jesus’ sacrifice.
There is NO great comfort or confidence in believing that Jesus as the good shepherd laid down His life for those who are now in hell. The good shepherd did not lay down His life so that some of the sheep would be ravaged by wolves and devoured by thieves. He came to save His sheep.
Crown Him with Many Crowns:
Crown Him with many crowns
The Lamb upon His throne
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own
Awake my soul and sing
Of Him who died for thee
And hail Him as Thy matchless King
Through all eternity
Crown Him the Lord of life
Who triumphed o’er the grave
And rose victorious to the strife
For those He came to save
His glories now we sing
Who died and rose on high
Who died eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die
It is the eternal plan of the Trinity. The Son sacrificed so that all His own would have abundant and eternal life. Christ’s work on the cross guarantees it for those He came to save. Charles Spurgeon said,
If Christ has died for you, you can never be lost.
That is something not just to defend, but to celebrate! He died for everyone who will ever believe. That means if you believe, your sins are atoned for.
Christ didn’t die and write us a check, hoping that we would sign it. He died and paid His Father directly in the currency of His blood. Our sins are paid for. It is finished. God is not waiting for the possibility that we will accept forgiveness, He only waits for His timing to apply forgiveness already purchased. Christ’s work on the cross does not depend on our faith to make it effective, rather His work on the cross is effective to make us depend on Him in faith. That is good!