KNOWING JESUS

John 10:14-21

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…

Is it possible to get to know Jesus? After all, hasn’t it been nearly 2,000 years since Jesus lived on the earth?

How is it possible now – as He says – to know Him?

The key is to listen to Him.

Here using the comparison of a shepherd to his flock, Jesus speaks of others who in the future will join Him.

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.

What brings someone into this Shepherd’s flock is the desire and ability to listen to His voice.Deciding to become a student of this Teacher is how one gets to know Him. Enters into a personal daily relationship with Him!

Then by degrees Jesus reveals Himself more fully. Shepherding our lives in the positive direction of becoming more like Him in heart and life.

In fact, a student’s relationship with this Teacher can become such an intimate friendship that Jesus compares it to His own knowledge of His Heavenly Father.

I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father…

Knowing Jesus! This is what being a student of Jesus is all about.

ABUNDANT LIFE

John 10:7-13

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Here Jesus claims the life He offers is quite different from a life apart from Him.
So, what is life without Him?

On the surface, a life without Jesus appears to work fairly well for some people. But living apart from Jesus always leads to the cultivation of a personality based on our own human nature.

At the worst we become terribly enslaved to the destructive habits of sin and are destroyed. At the best, we manage by human effort to keep the worst of our nature suppressed and live a socially acceptable life.

In either case, we must come to the end of our days only to die without hope.

So what does the Teacher mean when he talks about the full life – the abundant life?

Jesus is talking about a real and lasting life – the very life of God shared with those who follow Him.

It is a life that is eternal, one that lasts forever. If this is so, then the life Jesus offers must be of benefit in both the present and the future.

In the present, students follow Jesus and with the aid of the Holy Spirit actually overcome the negative tendencies of human nature by becoming more like the Teacher. Developing a character more like Jesus is the real and present difference between the full life with Jesus and a life without Him.

And when the time comes to die there is the future resurrection to life. Living forever in the world He is preparing for those who follow Him!

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

SHEPHERD'S VOICE

John 9:40-10:6

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

The Shepherd and His flock. What an attractive description of the relationship between the Teacher and His students.

The Teacher is on a first name basis with His students. He has a personal relationship with each one.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

In Jesus’ time it was common practice for the shepherds to bring their sheep in from the fields at the end of the day. The sheep were placed in a guarded enclosure at night.

There all the flocks were mixed up together. But in the morning the shepherds would come and call their sheep. Knowing the voice of their own shepherd, each flock was easily re-grouped for the day.

Today, Jesus is assembling His flock.

His voice, His teaching is calling out. And all who belong to Him hear His voice and follow Him. And He leads them.

What an appropriate description of the Teacher-student relationship. Students of Jesus have learned to listen to His voice every day. They seek to go where He leads.

Listening, paying attention to the voice of Jesus is what identifies and separates His flock from those who are listening to someone or something else.

Do we begin each new day listening for the Shepherd’s voice?

THE DRAMA

John 9:35-39

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

What does Jesus do when He hears how the religious leaders have shunned the man whom He had healed?

Jesus goes looking for Him. He healed his blind eyes and now He will bring healing and life to his broken spirit.

Finding him, Jesus asks - Do you believe in the Son of Man?

The man wants to know more and Jesus reveals Himself to him.

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

This is such a beautiful story. For it contains elements of every person’s need and Jesus’ compassion and power to respond.

Jesus opens the man’s eyes. And for the first time in his life he is able to see the beauty of the earth. To look at the face of his parents!

Here is a look into the very heart of Jesus as He seeks out one lonely person and establishes a relationship with him. This is a drama re-enacted in the life of every student of Jesus.

He comes to us with power to open our eyes. And we see for the first time the beauty of God’s eternal kingdom. We look into the face of Jesus and see our Heavenly Father.

We follow Jesus – believe in Him and worship Him - because He loves us and cares about what is going on in our lives too.

We come to understand His power. To open our eyes, change us, and lead us to become more like Him.

We each have our part to play in Heaven’s Drama. Jesus, the Teacher and we, His daily students.

OPEN EYES

John 9:13-34

Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.

The religious leaders were skeptical when word reached them. Surely there must be some mistake here. No one can open the eyes of a man blind from birth.

So they called the formerly blind man to their counsel and asked him if it was true. They didn’t believe the man even when he affirmed Jesus had healed him. So they called his parents.

One can only imagine the parent’s fear at being summoned in such a way. They were afraid to answer, except to confirm this was their son and he was indeed born blind and to suggest they talk to him about it.

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

How sad when religion is held together by control and fear tactics. How different the respect and freedom in the true teaching from God!

Calling the man in for a second time, the leaders attempt to coerce him to agree with them that Jesus is a sinner and to deny Jesus’ part in the miracle.

The man’s reply - Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!

Their reaction? An attempt to ridicule that, as it turns out, is the highest compliment that can be given - You are this fellow's disciple! And they threw him out!

Students of the Teacher identify with this man, for their eyes too have been opened to His power to transform their lives.

Our challenge before a disbelieving world? To also be guilty of the charge – You are this fellow’s disciple!

LIFE’S WORK

John 9:1-12

As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

The Teacher gives the priority of a student’s life. To display by actions the work God is doing in the world.

Doesn’t this perfectly describe the life of our Teacher? His days were filled with serving others. His life’s work: Ministering to the sick, reaching out to the poor and teaching God’s Word.

This is the life work for every student of this Teacher. This is what it means to follow Him.

The Teacher said that He must work while it is day for the night is coming when no one can work.

Day represents our lifetime and night signals the end of life when it is too late to do God’s Will.

Here Jesus heals a man blind from birth. As He provides the tremendous gift of sight to this man, he explains the reason - so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

This is the life work of every student of Jesus. To display in their own changed life and by service to others the work of God in this world.

Some mistakenly think that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day and has been distant and aloof from the earth since that time.

But Jesus explains God is still working. Working through Him and working in and through His students.

Students of Jesus have various occupations in life to earn a living, but they all have one constant employment every day. To follow the Teacher’s example by doing the work of God in their lives!

PUZZLING PROMISE

John 8:48-59

I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

Here the Teacher makes an astounding promise. It certainly confused his enemies - Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?

They accused Jesus of being demon-possessed to make such an obviously outrageous claim. But Jesus didn’t say faith in Him would prevent the natural process of physical death.

The key to understanding what Jesus meant is in the condition He gives – if anyone keeps my word…

Jesus is claiming the power to give everlasting life when this life is over. For those who follow Jesus, death is not the end. Even physical death is but a door that opens to a never ending new life.

Jesus is actually claiming to be the source of all life. To have the power to give eternal life! To make such a promise is to make the claim to be God Himself!

“I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!”

I AM is the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush when He sent him to Pharaoh to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. When Moses inquired of God, whom shall I say sent me? God said…tell the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.

When Jesus says, I AM, He is claiming to be God. I AM – the One who has life in Himself.

Jesus’ power over death is not impossible if He is God. For He would then be the One who created life in the first place! He could as easily then re-create life out of death.

Life in place of death! A promise well worth keeping the words of this Teacher! Because becoming a student of Jesus is the difference between life and death.