CrossPointe Community Church

Month: March 2017

  • I Am the Good Shepherd

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    John 10:11-30

    A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt. The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Rolex wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie, gets out and asks the shepherd: “If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?”
    The shepherd looks at the young man, and then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep and replies: “Okay.”
    The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to his mobile, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and finally prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer. He turns to the shepherd and says, “You have exactly 1,586 sheep here.”
    Rather surprised the shepherd replies, “That’s correct, you can have your sheep.”
    The young man takes an animal and puts it in the back of his Porsche.
    Just as the man is about to drive off, the shepherd asks him: “If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?”
    The young man always up for gamesmanship answers, “Sure, why not?”
    The shepherd says, “You are an IT consultant.”
    “How did you know?” asks the young man.
    “Very simple,” answers the shepherd. “Firstly, you came here without being called, secondly, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and thirdly, you don’t understand anything about my business. Now please can I have my dog back?”

    One of the most loved sayings of Jesus is “I am the good shepherd.” In the Old Testament, God is often pictured as the shepherd and the people as his flock. Six Psalms display this imagery; epitomized by everyone’s favorite, the 23rd: “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want” (23:1). In the Old Testament, God’s Messiah is also pictured as the shepherd of the sheep: “He will feed His flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in His arms, and will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11).

    This picture passes over into the New Testament. Both Matthew (9:36) and Mark (6:34) inform us that Jesus had compassion for the people because they are as sheep without a shepherd. According to both Matthew and Luke, Jesus is the shepherd who will risk his life to seek and to save the one straying sheep (Matthew 18:12; Luke 15:4). Luke tells us Jesus referred to His disciples as His ‘little flock’ (Luke 12:32). And according to Peter’s first letter, Jesus is the shepherd of the souls of men (2:25).

    Jesus is the ‘good shepherd.’ (more…)

  • I Am the Door of the Sheep

    John 10:1-10

    There are 2 “I am” sayings embedded in John 10. Today we’ll tackle “I am the door of the sheep;” and next Sunday we’ll address, “I am the good shepherd.”

    But before we read it, it would be helpful to know that in the first century, there were two kinds of sheepfolds. One was the ‘communal sheepfold’ located in the villages and towns. During the winter, shepherds wouldn’t take the sheep very far from the villages and each night they would bring their sheep back into the village and they would enter these communal sheepfolds. It was a place with a strong door, and that door had a doorkeeper. Only the doorkeeper had a key to the door, no one could enter the sheepfold except a shepherd known by the doorkeeper. That’s the kind of fold Jesus was talking about in the first part of the text. 1

    “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice” (John 10:1-5).

    Now, during the warm season, the shepherds would take the sheep out to range for weeks at a time, and at night they would enclose the sheep in folds that were simply walls about 4 feet high that enclosed a space with an open entrance. There was no door to that entrance. Once all the sheep were in the fold, the shepherd himself would lay down across the opening and thus was the door. And for the sheep to enter or depart from the sheepfold, they had to pass over the shepherd’s body. It was that kind of sheepfold Jesus is talking about in this next section where he refers to Himself as the door. 2

    “Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: ‘I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life’” (John 10:6-10). (more…)

  • I Am the Light of the World

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    John 8:12, 31-59; 9:1-7

    In Mark Twain’s story, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom and Becky Thatcher join some classmates for a game of hide and seek in a cave. But when Tom and Becky wander off the marked path, they get lost. They stumble around in that dark dungeon for several days and slowly lose hope as their flickering candle finally goes out, leaving them in the darkness. They can’t see a thing; not even their hands held close to their faces. Tom begins to crawl about, but Becky is afraid she might fall in a hole. Finally Tom catches a glimpse of daylight through a crevice, makes his way back to get Becky, takes her by the hand and leads her out of the darkness of the cave and into the bright light of the day. Hurray!

    Reminds us of that famous proclamation of the prophet from Jerusalem Isaiah, “The people who wander in darkness will see,” what, not just a glimmer of light but a “great light” (9:2 NLT). If even the smallest glimmer of light can be a marvelous source of hope, guidance and direction as it was for Tom and Becky, just imagine what a bright light can do for anyone wandering in darkness, especially spiritual darkness.

    750 years after Isaiah, along comes the prophet from Nazareth to boldly proclaim: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

    Let’s consider the context of this great ‘I am’ saying. (more…)

  • Hungry Hearts

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    John 6:22-59
    Ephesians 2:4-9

    Every time I read John 6, which features Jesus first offering bread to satisfy hunger and then offering the bread of life to satisfy spiritual hunger, I think of Bruce Springsteen’s song, Hungry Heart:

    Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
    I went out for a ride and I never went back
    Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing
    I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
    Everybody’s got a hungry heart
    Everybody’s got a hungry heart
    Lay down your money and you play your part
    Everybody’s got a hungry heart

    Both Springsteen and Jesus acknowledge a fundamental truth about human beings: that we possess a deep desire to seek and find that something in life that will truly satisfy.

    In His ‘bread of life’ sermon, Jesus not only acknowledges this need to discover satisfaction but also attempts to derail two of the most common philosophies that falsely promise to deliver. (more…)