“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and Iknow the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” – John 10:14-15
We see it all over the country: Christians tend to think we’re the only ones who hear God. When I say “we,” I mean “Christians.” We have self-appointed our understanding of God as the only one there is.
Now, before you get all agitated, let’s get one thing straight: I am not saying that Jesus is not the only way, truth and life, but what I am saying is that your understanding of Him and my understanding of Him are only two perspectives, and I’m pretty sure if we sat down and compared notes, they’re two different perspectives.
In this passage, God tells us that there are other sheep. What does that mean? Some say He’s talking specifically in that time of the Gentiles, so they rule it out as already having been dealt with. But how does it apply now?
That question can be answered by asking, “Who are today’s Gentiles?” Certainly the easy and the physical answer is still, “Anyone who’s not a Jew,” but I think it goes farther than that.
Just as Jesus commissioned His disciples to go to all corners of the earth, and told them nowhere — no race, creed, or nationality — was off limits, He tells us that today. It’s not about the mission field as you may be thinking, though, not the overseas missions or the third-world countries.
Sometimes it’s those people you think you’d rather not go to. Let’s think in terms of that Super Bowl commercial that so divided us. Who were those people? They were people of different races, different religions, different socio-economic statuses, and the commercial implied that it’s ours to reach out and love them. Wash their feet.
Jesus talks about how “my sheep know my voice and they follow me.” Some of us He calls directly, and some He calls through others.
Did you realize that EVERY DAY you leave your home, you have the opportunity to be the voice of Jesus? Everything you say, every time you relate to another person, you may be the way that person is introduced to Jesus’s voice. They may begin to follow Him because you say something that their heart hears and recognizes as the truth.
His sheep hear His voice, but there are other sheep, not of this flock. Step around those blockades the modern church-persona has built between us and those we disagree with. In gentleness and love, care for others as He did, and watch as they hear His voice and follow Him.
Yelling? That’s not it. Condemnation? That’s not it. Judgement? That’s not it.
Why do they follow him? It’s in verse 15: “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Those meant to find that love know that love when they hear it. So BE that love, even to that end.
Greater love hath no man than this: That he would lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) ❤️
