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We talk a lot about life on Easter, don't we?
New life, eternal life, abundant life.
But what is the good life after all?
It's a really important question, isn't it?
What's the good life?
Maybe you come to a church like this on Easter and you conclude that the good life that Christians have to offer involves wearing pastels even when they're uncomfortable,
gathering plastic eggs, and listening to a long monologue from one of many people pretending to be holier than he is.
And you would understandably want out of that.
Just as much as you don't want the good life to be endlessly floating on a cloud with a harp.
What comes to mind for you when I say the good life?
Is it security?
Community?
Health?
Purpose?
Comfort?
Peace?
A lot of things probably.
Maybe jot a couple things down if you want to this morning.
For me as a kid, the good life was being a professional baseball player.
That was it.
And all the success and the fame and the fun that would come with that.
And it was all about being a professional baseball player.
And then I got injured.
And then I got older.
And now I just hope that I can make it through one game of pickleball without pulling a hamstring or tearing a rotator cuff.
The good life for me has always included everyone getting along.
Peaceful relationships all around me.
Oh, it makes me feel so good.
But man, y'all relationships are hard.
Life is messy.
Maybe, I've thought more often than I'd like to admit, maybe I can just, I can't give all the relationships, but I can just make everyone love me.
And think I'm wonderful.
And I've performed for that.
I've exhausted myself trying to please everyone.
And then I became the father of teenagers and I just gave up on that dream altogether.
Love you.
Even wildly successful quarterback Tom Brady, after reaching the pinnacle of sport and for many life, said it's not all it's cracked up to be.
It was longing for something more.
Maybe you've known that same struggle with the things that are on your list, even if they're different.
You long to have the good life.
But you're going to need something that fixes the brokenness you see around you.
That fills the emptiness that you feel inside you.
No matter how hard we try or how much success we have achieving the good life, it seems to elude our grasp.
See if you can write down a few words that describe the good life in your mind.
And then let's see what kind of life Jesus offers.
In John chapter 10, Jesus is telling us that he comes to give abundant life.
The good life.
But his may be different from our idea of it.
It may also answer some of the same longings that you and I have in an even better way.
Let's read beginning at verse 10.
What Jesus has to say about who he is and what he offers.
Hear now the most important part of the sermon.
The very word of God.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
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.
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
I must bring them also and they will listen to my voice.
So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.
This charge I have received from my Father.
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
Many of them said, he has a demon and is insane.
Why listen to him?
Others said, these are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon.
And can a demon open the eyes of the blind?
Jesus, we ask for your help this morning.
Would you help us to see you clearly for who you say you are?
Would you by your spirit open eyes?
Give hope to hurting hearts?
Enflame hearts that have grown cold?
Show us, Jesus, who you are in the life that you give.
We ask in your name.
Amen.
Jesus uses here in this chapter the imagery of the sheepfold and the sheep and the shepherd
to talk about our relationship with God.
And that should be striking right off the bat because of the close relationship that sheep
and shepherds have.
More involved with one another than any other animal and caregiver at that time.
It was a unique, striking relationship.
The coming and the going.
The morning and the evening.
The sleeping and the eating.
Together.
All the time.
And this is part of the abundant life.
The good life that Jesus is describing is that he, as the good shepherd, knows his sheep
and they know him.
In fact, they know each other, he says, as intimately as the Father and the Son from all eternity.
That kind of close relationship is what Jesus has in mind.
One key aspect of the good life, Jesus says, is being fully known.
Earlier in the chapter, Jesus says the shepherd of the sheep enters the sheepfold and he calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Personally.
Individually called and led.
What would happen in Jesus' day is that several flocks of sheep would be kept overnight in the same
sheepfold.
And that way, one shepherd could keep them and sleep there with them.
But then in the morning, out would come the separate shepherds and the first one who would
show up would come and call in his own unique voice.
And out of that entire group of sheep, his sheep would come out and follow him.
Only his sheep would come.
See, he knows them and they know him.
That's actually what makes them a flock is that they have the same shepherd.
That's what Jesus means in verse 16 when he talks about calling other sheep that are not of this
fold.
They will listen to his voice.
And as they do, otherwise, unconnected sheep will become one flock.
Why?
Because they all follow the voice of one shepherd.
Jesus is speaking particularly of Jews and Gentiles.
But think in that context of the most extreme enemies, people of diverse backgrounds brought
into relationship because they all know and are personally known by Jesus.
What great community, right?
In the flock of the good shepherd with young and old, rich and poor, black and white, sharing
in common the most important relationship in all of life.
It can be a wonderful thing to be known truly, fully.
To have someone who knows the blemishes outside and inside.
The struggles you face each day.
The place you really belong.
It can free you up, can't it?
Not only from having to be left out, but it can free you up from having to pretend.
From having to hide.
The shepherd knows you too well to think that you can blend in with another flock and not
be noticed.
The piano tuner was here this week helping us get ready for today.
And as I was talking to him about the piano, whenever he talked about it, he talked about
it like a close friend.
He talked about her, in fact.
He had been part of the rebuilding of this piano years ago when that was needed.
He knows it inside and out.
What it should sound like.
How it needs to be tuned up when something's off, right?
Friends, God was part of your building.
He knows you by name.
Even more thoroughly than the piano tuner, which can be a wonderful thing, right?
God knows you.
Unless you're afraid of being fully known.
Unless you know your blemishes enough to feel shame.
Unless you've experienced what usually happens when someone sees all your flaws and all your
failures.
One of the remarkably hopeful realities that Jesus offers here is abundant life where you
are both fully known and fully loved.
What happens when Jesus gets the full view of us?
When he's aware of all our failures?
When he knows us completely?
He says it twice.
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Isn't that amazing?
Just ponder that for a minute.
Isn't it amazing that knowing us and everything about us, he decides to die for us?
What incredible love.
Jesus will later say greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for
his friends.
Paul marvels in Romans that it's hard to imagine dying even for a really good person, right?
And that wasn't us.
We weren't really good people.
We're weak.
We're ungodly.
While we were yet sinners, what?
Christ died for us.
God, knowing our worst, gave us his best, fully known and fully loved, exposed and embraced.
How?
How does that happen?
How does God protect us from the consequences of our weaknesses and failures?
Jesus says, I lay down my life for the sheep.
I step into harm's way, as we talked about with the kids, to defend you from the dangerous
attack, right?
Sheep have many predators.
We've only talked about wolves.
There's bears and lions.
Shepherds would have to fight them off.
In the case of sinful people, we are facing sin and Satan and death.
Those are the enemies we need protection from.
So our good shepherd will have to lay down his life to protect us from those enemies.
The preposition for there is one of substitution.
Yes, for our good, but particularly I lay down my life in the place of the sheep.
In other words, the sheep who are rightfully afraid, right?
They're afraid that they're going to get the rejection that they deserve from God, are protected
only by someone else who deserves something different, who deserves acceptance, being willing to trade
places with them.
Isaiah 53 says it this way,
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep, interesting, have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The good shepherd, in this case, in this image, becomes a lamb, right?
Sacrificing his life in our place so that we are welcomed into his place in God's family.
Some of you have heard me recount the documentary on sheep that has a little orphan lamb.
A ewe lamb has died giving birth.
And her little orphan keeps being kicked away by all the other ewe lambs because they know and will only feed and care for their own lambs.
The narrator tells us that certainly this little orphan lamb is facing death soon.
The vision comes, the picture rolls to the lamb being kicked away, and he's rolling away from the flock in the dirt.
And then the narrator says,
Ah, but the shepherd knows best.
What does the shepherd do?
He pulls aside one of the little lambs that's feeding from his mother,
and he shears his coat.
And he takes that coat, and one leg at a time,
he puts it over the little orphan lamb that he's holding in his arms,
and then he bends down and he sends it running right back to that ewe lamb
who bends over and sniffs it
and eagerly welcomes it in and cares for it and nourishes it as her own.
That's what our good shepherd has done for us as the lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world,
covering us instead of our sin with his perfection
so that we can be welcomed in and cared for in the family of God.
Isn't that wonderful?
Can you imagine living at work in a context
where you don't have the pressure of making budget?
In fact, if you made a mistake that cost the company a billion dollars,
you wouldn't be run off for that.
In fact, you worked at a place where if that happened,
the boss would say, I'm going to take care of it.
Let me cover the cost.
In fact, let's throw a party.
Employee of the year.
Wouldn't it be great if that was the real world?
Listen, it is the realest world that you'll ever know.
If Jesus is your good shepherd,
the fear of failure,
the shame of disappointment can be gone in his embrace.
He cares for you.
He protects you.
He pays your debt and lays down his life for you.
Contrast that with anything else,
with the hired hand.
What happens when there's danger coming towards the sheep?
What does the hired hand do?
He runs away from danger and from the sheep.
So they're left exposed
and facing harm on their own.
Listen, friends,
your money will not lay down its life for you.
It won't.
Your success,
your comfort
won't lay down its life for you.
But Jesus,
your good shepherd,
will and has.
He will keep loving you.
You are fully loved.
You can live adventurously
and never lose.
You can live confidently
and never fear.
Hey, with a life like that,
you may actually
not want it to end.
Ever.
That's a life worth living, isn't it?
Wouldn't you love to be freed up
to live like that every day?
To know that kind of joy
and confidence
and purpose
and freedom?
We long to live
fully known
and fully loved
forever.
Just think about it.
If you're wondering,
is that really what I long for?
Think about it this way.
Most of us
in here
have lost someone
who for us
was an absolutely fundamental part
of the good life.
Right?
For us,
a longed-for child
many years ago.
More recently,
beloved family members
and friends.
And now you live
and even the best moments,
the best experiences
that we have,
the good things
in this life
are not quite complete
without them,
are they?
without being able
to share it with them,
it just is not
completely good.
See,
we long not merely
for existence
after death,
but personal life
and relationships
and love
that continues.
That's what we want
and only Jesus
offers that.
No money,
no success,
nothing that I often
live for
brings my loved ones
back,
does it?
Look at what's so unique
about Jesus.
We get distracted,
understandably,
by the glorious reality
that our good shepherd
lays down his life
for the sheep.
But you know,
that's not really
the most surprising part
of what Jesus says here.
I can lay down my life,
right?
You can lay down
your life.
Only Jesus can say,
I lay down my life
that I may
take it up
again.
I have authority
to lay it down
and authority
to take it up again.
Aha!
We finally made it to Easter.
Some of you were wondering.
Some of you weren't sure
I was going to get there.
It's the good shepherd
who doesn't just die
and that's the end.
What happens to the sheep
then?
No.
The sheep would be
left unattended.
If he's not alive,
some of the broken parts
of the good life
can never be fixed.
If he's not alive,
the pain that Holly shared
and the struggles
that she's having
are real
and there's no real hope
for change.
If only for this life
we have hope in Christ,
we are of all people
most to be pitied.
But,
Jesus has more to say.
Jesus is the author
of life.
Jesus is the Lord
of life.
Jesus is the giver
of life.
So,
when life is painful here,
he lives
to weep
with us.
When life is
disappointing here,
he lives
to offer us
a new life
to come.
When life is confusing
or scary here,
he lives
to hold us
and to say,
no one
can snatch you
out of my hand.
My Father
is greater than all.
no one
is able
to snatch you
out of my Father's hand.
That's security,
friends.
That's the safety
and the life
that we long for.
Fully known,
fully loved,
fully protected
in his hand
no matter what
comes
because he lives.
Jesus' resurrection
also frees us up
from one of the most
difficult parts
of this life.
the uncertainty
and pressure
of running
out of time.
Boy,
we fight
Father time
every way
we know how,
don't we?
We want to get
everything we can
out of life
while we have
the chance.
It feels to me
like we've got
a one day pass
to Disney World
and we've got
to wake up early
and stay late
and run full speed
wire to wire
to get to everything
we can.
Our version
of the good life
has us finding purpose
by rushing around
to see how many
states or countries
we can check off
our list
to skydive
to drive
the coolest cars
to experience it all
before we run
out of time.
When Jesus offers us
an eternal extension
of all of our bucket lists,
I love this.
Kelly was sharing
about this insight
earlier this week.
It's so helpful.
Abundant life
means I'll keep
enjoying these things
forever
so I can slow down
now and actually
enjoy them
and savor moments
with the grandkids
and linger over
conversations with
friends
and neighbors
and rest
in prayer
with God
because I'm not
running out
of time.
Think with me,
how much more
enjoyable
will that trip
be if you don't
have to rush
back home
before you're ready?
Wouldn't that be nice?
Wouldn't that trip
have been better?
Listen,
I want you to imagine
how much more
memorable
will those moments
that you look forward
to be
when you share
moments like that
with those you love
that you miss
in your life
right now?
How much more
sweet will they be
when you share
them together?
Now,
I want you to stretch
a little bit
on this one.
I want you to dream
if you possibly can
how much more
glorious
will your tour
of the universe
be
when you're
given it
by the one
who flung out
the planets
and then threw
the stars
over there
beyond what
we've been able
to find yet
who crafted
the mountains
and the beaches
who painted
the flowers
and the rainbows
and he's going
to walk with you
and give you
that tour
and enjoy it
with you?
Isn't Jesus
amazing?
Isn't he awesome?
Won't that be
glorious?
Jesus offers
the good life
without the
uncertainties
of the future
fully secure
eternally free
because he
always lives
and listen
because he lives
he brings his
sheep
who hear his
voice
and follow him
to live with him
forever
if the shepherd
after the worst
attack
from the most
dangerous enemies
if he lives
so
do
the sheep
if the good
shepherd
is alive
you
will live
with him
forever
that's good news
if you hear that
and it sounds
crazy
it sounds
too good
to be true
you're not alone
in fact
the crowds
listening to Jesus
say it
were starkly
divided
listen
verse 19
there was again
a division
among the Jews
because of these
words
many of them
said
he has a
demon
and is insane
why listen
to him
others said
I don't know
these are not
the words
of one who's
oppressed
by a demon
can a demon
open the eyes
of the blind
two options
right
either he's
crazy
possessed
not worth
listening to
at all
go on with
your life
or
he's really
the Christ
the
divine
Messiah
it's his
comment about
authority to take
up his own
life that pushes
them there
isn't it
you can talk
about laying
your own
life down
fine
anybody can
say that
but don't
tell us
that you're
in charge
of taking
it back
up
only God
can
yep
Jesus
leaves the
crowd with
limited options
doesn't he
demonic
or divine
we're
still left
there
and notice
what many
begin to say
as they
wrestle in
that tension
they begin
to realize
both his
words and
his works
argue
for the
latter
this guy
doesn't talk
like the
demonic
people we've
known
his words
make sense
he speaks
with authority
his imagery
is understandable
it's right
from our
world
he seems
to be
speaking
for the
good of
others
and on top
of that
his works
the way
he lives
I mean
he's not
getting rich
off these
wild claims
he's humble
poor
he's not
living for
himself
or even
using these
powerful miracles
for his
own ends
he's feeding
other people
he's healing
other people
like this
blind man
that's not
demonic
perhaps
divine
maybe there's
something to
this Jesus
wouldn't it be
great if there
was
just
hypothetically
wouldn't it
be great
if there
was someone
who could
fix the
brokenness
who could
fill the
emptiness
that we
all know
too well
friends
this is
Jesus
this is
who he's
telling you
he is
he's offering
us the
good life
fully known
fully loved
forever
and he's
telling us
that that
life is
really all
about him
right
the good
life is
with the
good shepherd
you can't
have it any
other way
can you
because he's
ultimately good
he is
what is
best
see for our
versions of
the good
life Jesus
didn't have
to come
he doesn't
need to come
for me to be
a famous
wealthy
professional
baseball player
who has
peaceful
relationships
and everybody
loves him
and thinks
he's wonderful
Jesus
didn't come
so that we
could avoid
struggles
always be
healthy
make gobs
of money
impress all
our friends
fit in with
the cool
kids and wear
ourselves out
along the
way
it's not
why he
came
no
Jesus
came
he tells
us
and died
and rose
love
that we
might have
abundant
life
the true
good
life
in deep
relationships
with true
purpose
to shine
the glory
of the good
shepherd
everywhere
in a renewed
world of
justice
and peace
and hope
to everyone
life in
secure love
that never
fails
and never
lets us
down
no matter
what we
walk through
how often
we stumble
how bad
we mess
it up
in life
with him
that never
ends
where we
never stop
marveling
at his
grace
where we
never see
the end
of the
impact
of our
lives
with him
where we
never
plumb the
depths
of his
perfection
or run
out of
reasons
to praise
him
for his
goodness
Jesus
lives
he lives
to invite
you into
that life
today
if you've
never trusted
him before
would you
come and
talk to
him about
that
would you
come and
ask him
to give you
the life
that he
promises
right now
in the
midst of
whatever
you're
dealing
with
wherever
you are
don't
clean up
first
no no
pastels
not required
don't
go run
for those
in fact
perfection
not allowed
unless it's
his
so you
don't actually
get to do
the work
you just
come to
him
he's eager
to receive
you he invites
you right
where you
are
he gives
that life
right here
in this
struggle
and forever
in glory
I also
suspect there
are a bunch
of us
in here
who have
come to
Jesus
who have
tasted
that life
that he
offers
but who
are struggling
to think
of their
life as
abundant
right now
perhaps
even on
Easter
maybe
especially
on Easter
we need
to come
to Jesus
too
don't we
listen
to his
voice
he's the
good shepherd
ask him
and nothing
else
to give you
the life
that he
promises
he says
I am
the good
shepherd
I lay
down my
life
for the
sheep
no one
takes it
from me
but I lay
it down
of my own
accord
I have
authority
to lay
it down
and authority
to take
it up
again
I give
my sheep
eternal
life
and they
will never
perish
and no one
will snatch
them out
of my
hand
I came
that they
might have
life
and have
it abundantly
let's pray
Jesus
would you
indeed give
us
such life
free us
from the
places that
we are
frantically
running
trying to
make our
life good
bring us
back to
you
show us
the hope
the purpose
the joy
that we can
know in
relationship
with you
thank you
for meeting
with us
this morning
thank you
that you're
alive
that gives
us hope
and so
would you
meet us
even now
as you
work in
our hearts
help us
to hear
your voice
to know
your love
to rest
in your
care
amen
for more
information
visit us
online
at
southwood.org
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