SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/2/2016 10:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Good Shepherd Dies for His Sheep
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 10:11-13
Message of the verses: “11 “I am the good shepherd; the good
shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12
"He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner
of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 “He flees because he is a hired hand
and is not concerned about the sheep.”
We begin
the next main section from John MacArthur’s commentary on John 10:1-21, which
is the second of three main points in this chapter in which he entitles “The
Good Shepherd.” I want to quote his
short introductory paragraph on this second main point. “This section reveals three blessings the
Good Shepherd gives to His sheep because He is genuinely concerned for them
(cf. v. 13): He dies for them, loves them, and unites them.” We look at the first sub-section “He dies for
them” in our SD for today.
This
statement of “I am the good shepherd” goes back to what we talked about in
verses 2-5 “2 "But he who enters by
the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the
sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4
“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow
him because they know his voice. 5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but
will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."” This also is the fourth “I AM” statement that
is found in the gospel of John, as these statements go back to the book of
Exodus when Moses asked the Lord who it was that was sending him to the
children of Israel and His answer was “I AM that I AM.” Whenever you see the word “LORD” in all caps
you know that it means “I AM” is who it refers to, and in our English
translations we see the word “Jehovah” which also means “I AM” which comes from
the Hebrew name for God “YAWHA.”
John MacArthur
explains how this 11th verse should be written as it comes from the
Greek: “The Greek text literally reads, ‘the
shepherd, the good one,” setting Christ the Good Shepherd apart from all other
shepherds. Kalos (‘good’) refers to His noble character (cf. 1 Tim. 3:7; 4:6;
2 Tim. 2:3; 1 Peter 4:10); He is the perfect authentic Shepherd; in a class by
Himself; preeminent above all others.”
As Jesus is
using a simile that people in this day were very familiar with He states that a
good shepherd will die for their sheep.
The shepherd in that day and I suppose it is similar to those who are
still around in that part of the world today faced many dangers. In that day there were bears, lions, and
other wild creatures who were looking for a meal and the shepherds had to kill
them to keep their sheep safe, and would in some cases loose to those animals,
thus losing their lives for the sheep.
Robbers were also around trying to steal the sheep. So Jesus is saying that He is going to lay
down His life in order to save the sheep, something that we know He did as He
died on the cross to pay for the sins of all His sheep. MacArthur adds “The phrase ‘lays doe His life’
is unique to John’s writings and always refers to a voluntary, sacrificial
death (vv. 15, 17-18; 13:37-38; 15:13; 1 John 3:16). Jesus gave His life for His sheep, because
they were chosen to become part of His flock.
The preposition huper (‘for’)
is frequently used in the New Testament to refer to Christ’s substitutionary
atonement for the elect…His death was an actual atonement to provide propitiation
for the sins of all who would believe, as they were called and regenerated by
the Spirit, because they were chosen by the Father.”
Now we see
how the Greek was written in eleven and so we must then look at who the other
shepherds, the bad ones were, as they are talked about by our Lord in verses
12-13. Now as we go back to chapter
eight and also chapter nine we see who these unworthy shepherds, or better yet
these false shepherds were as they were trying to kill Jesus at least three
times because they were blinded to the truth, they did not want to hear the
truth that Jesus was telling them. These
are the leaders of Israel at that time who were leading the people astray,
these are the leaders who were extorting them as “they were mercenaries, doing
ministry not for love of souls of men or even love for the truth, but for money
(Titus 1:1011).” So at the first sign
of trouble they would run and hide, not caring for what will happen to their
sheep. MacArthur adds “The overriding
priority is self-preservation, and the last thing they care to do is to
sacrifice themselves for anyone.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Yesterday in this section I was talking about
preparing myself for the participation of the Lord’s Table or communion, and
before doing this SD this morning I listened to John MacArthur’s sermon on this
section of John. In that sermon he
talked about the word “life” that Jesus was willing to give His life for His
sheep. He said that there are three Greek
words for life and the one used here speaks of our souls. There are some that have taught that because
Jesus is God come in a human body that this was no big deal for Him to die, to
give up the life of His body, but this is not what that word means. Somehow in the incarnation we see that
because of this word life “ψυχη psuche psoo-khay’” that Jesus was giving up His
soul for the sheep of which I am one of them, and this means much more to me
since I have learned this. By doing this
act of dying on the cross we see the most important event that has ever
happened on planet earth take place, and for that I am so very thankful and
full of awe.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to be ready to take
communion this coming week.
Memory verses for the week:
(Romans 6:5-6) “5. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection; 6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body
of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin;”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “God your way, your son lives” (John 4:50).
Today’s Bible question:
“Who said ‘Thou art the man’?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/2/2016 10:57 AM
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