We have a distorted view of God when we view God as the all you can eat buffet instead of the single minded shepherd...

This week, we have been addressing another distorted view of God as the all you can eat buffet. To do that, we have been looking at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of John.  Jesus responded to being confronted by this group of religious legalists by telling a parable. In a parable, Jesus revealed the reality that there was only one entry way, or door, to God, and that was through the shepherd, who would lead the people through the door. And it is in this context that Jesus identifies Himself as being the good shepherd.

Jesus explained that as the good shepherd, Jesus lays down His life for the sheep. As the good shepherd, Jesus has total ownership and total commitment to His sheep. Jesus is the Co-Creator of the universe. And as our creator and Lord, Jesus loves us and is willing to sacrifice His life for us. Jesus then revealed the reality that as the good shepherd, Jesus has intimate knowledge of His sheep.

Jesus point is that, as the good shepherd, Jesus has a mutual and intimate relationship with His sheep. Jesus does not have a superficial relationship with His sheep; instead Jesus cares, feeds, and leads His sheep. Today, we will see John reveal how the self righteous religious leaders, and the crowds that had gathered around this conversation, responded to Jesus referring to Himself as the good shepherd, in John 10:19:

 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" ²¹ Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?" ²² At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; ²³  it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. ²⁴ The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."

John tells us there was a division among the self righteous religious leaders of the day. You see, Jesus always divides people. Jesus is not the type of person that one remains on the fence about.

Many of  the self righteous religious leaders of the day responded to Jesus  referring to Himself as the good shepherd by viewing Jesus as being demon possessed and mentally unhinged.

Others, however, could not understand how someone who was demon possessed and mentally unhinged could perform a miracle that only God could do. John then tells us that this event from history occurred during the Feat of Dedication.  Actually, the Feast of Dedication is still celebrated today by Jewish people throughout the world as the celebration of Hanukkah.

The Feat of Dedication, or Hanukah, celebrates an event from history when the temple at Jerusalem was cleansed and rededicated after the Maccabean revolt from Antiochus Epiphanies in 168 BC. This revolt was the last great deliverance that the Jewish people had known from foreign occupiers.

And now, once again, the Jewish people were a conquered people who were living under the rule of the Roman Empire. And because of that reality, those who opposed Jesus continued their confrontation by asking Jesus a very direct question: "How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly." John records Jesus response in verse 25:

 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. ²⁶ "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. ²⁷ "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. ³⁰ "I and the Father are one."

John tells us that Jesus responded to the direct question by basically saying “I have told you who I am and the miracles that I have done have provided the proof of who I am. I mean I just miraculously healed a man who was born blind. And the man who had been born blind, the man who never had an opportunity to study the Bible, responded to my activity in His life by believing in Me, but you will never believe and trust in Me. And the reason you will never believe in Me is because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Now to fully understand Jesus answer here, we first must understand something else about sheep. Earlier this week, we discovered that sheep are some of the dumbest animals on the planet.  Sheep are so dumb that they cannot even play fetch. With a dog, you can say to a dog, go lay down, and a dog will go lay down. However, if you tell a sheep to go lay down, they just stand there. A sheep will never go anywhere on their own.

Instead, a shepherd would always have to go before the sheep, so that the sheep would follow the shepherd. So what would happen in the first century Jewish agrarian desert culture, where there was not a great deal of food for sheep, is that many flock of sheep would inhabit a same feeding area. When it was time to move, each shepherd would call out to his sheep; here sheep. The sheep would hear and recognize their shepherd’s voice and would follow that voice to where the shepherd was leading them. The sheep would not respond to a command to go somewhere that the shepherd was not at. The sheep would only go to where the shepherd was at and was leading them to.

That is the word picture that Jesus was painting to the self righteous religious leaders of His day who were confronting Him. As the good shepherd, Jesus knows His sheep and His sheep know Jesus. And because of the reality, when His sheep hear His voice they will respond by trusting that voice and by following that voice. If you do not know the shepherd, you will not trust the voice or follow the voice of the shepherd.

Now if that did not anger this group of self righteous religious people, Jesus then explained, that as the good shepherd, Jesus alone provides eternal life. Eternal life is not simply living forever. You see, everyone lives forever, humanity was created as eternal beings. The question is not whether or not you are going to live forever, the question is where are you going to live forever. When Jesus uses this phrase, He is revealing that, as the good shepherd, those who follow Jesus will not be separated from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, but will experience forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that we were created for.

And that relationship with God, Jesus explained, cannot be taken away or lost. That relationship with God cannot be taken or lost, because nothing can take the sheep from the good shepherd’s grasp.  That relationship with God cannot be taken or lost, because God the Father, has given the good shepherd the sheep that follow Him as shepherd. And nothing and no one can take them out of God the Father’s hand.

Jesus then made a statement that resulted in this group of self righteous religious leaders losing their collective minds:  "I and the Father are one." Jesus had the audacity to call God His Father. Jesus had the audacity to claim that He was equal to God. Jesus had the audacity to claim He was God.

And it is here, in this event from history that we discover a timeless and true view of God given to us by Jesus that can enable us to rid ourselves of the distorted view of God as the all you can eat buffet. And that timeless truth is this: We have a distorted view of God when we view God as the all you can eat buffet instead of the single minded shepherd. 

The timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as the all you can eat buffet that we can customize your to avoid what we do not like so that we can double up on the things that we do like. We have a distorted view of God when we view God as the all you can eat buffet that we can customize around our preferences, our wants, our desires.

However, when we see God as the all you can eat buffet, just like continually eating at an all you can eat buffet, we can end up spending our whole lives filling our plates with our favorite parts about God, while our soul slowly starves from the Divine malnourishment that we really need and is necessary, but that we continually avoid, about God. And the timeless reality is that God is inseparably whole and cannot be divided and portioned out into the parts we find most palatable.

However, unlike the all you can eat buffet, a more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd. A more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd who knows each sheep. A more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd who does not settle for a superficial relationship with His sheep but instead cares, feeds, and leads His sheep.

A more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd whose love for His sheep would cause Him to do anything for the sheep. We see this revealed for us in a part of a parable that Jesus told that is recorded for us in a section of another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Let’s look at this section together, which is in Luke 15:3-6:

So He told them this parable, saying, ⁴ "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

You see, a more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd who displays a single minded devotion to His sheep: A single minded devotion to search for His sheep when they are lost; a single minded devotion that rejoices when they are found. A more accurate view of God is that of the single minded shepherd that recognizes that not only can we be found by God, but we can be lifted up out of the mess we get ourselves in and placed on the safe and strong soldiers of God.

So here is a question to consider: Which of these two views describe how you view God? Do you view God as the all you can eat buffet? Do you view God as the as the all you can eat buffet that you can customize your to avoid what you do not like so that you can double up on the things that you do like? Do you view God as the all you can eat buffet that you can customize around your preferences, your wants, your desires? Are you spending your life filling your plate with your favorite parts about God, only to be slowly starving your soul from the Divine malnourishment that you really need from God?

Or do you view God as the single minded shepherd?  Do you view God as single minded shepherd who knows you, who does not settle for a superficial relationship with you but who instead desires to care, feed, and lead you into the life you were created for?

Because the timeless reality is that we have a distorted view of God when we view God as the all you can eat buffet instead of the single minded shepherd...