“So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. 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.’
John 10:7–11
If you listened to this past Sunday’s message, I hope you remember Marc’s description of the image that Jesus is referencing in this text. Marc described how what Jesus is talking about is how when a shepherd is travelling with the herd, he will build a temporary enclosure for them to keep them safe from thieves and predators. Marc noted that the point of Jesus saying he is the “gate” is that in these temporary enclosures, the shepherd would lay down in the doorway to protect the sheep, but then also the shepherd would be able to manage who or what enters or does not enter the safe space for the sheep.
This image that Jesus calls upon is very similar to some things that we are discussing in my Jude and 2 Peter course. Jude and 2 Peter are letters in the New Testament that are often overlooked because they have some odd (to us) references to material outside of the Bible. The letters are often studied together because they address very similar issues, if not the exact same issue from different geographical locations.
The main concern of the letters is a philosophy that viewed God as inactive in judgment, salvation, and provision. Essentially, people believing that God is idle, asleep, or does not exist. In both letters, there are discussions about how God is faithful and just to judge and save. The concern Jude and Peter have for the congregations that they’re writing to is that they might “pervert the grace of God into license to sin. (Jude 4)” 2 Peter puts it this way about the false teachers, “(they) deny the Master who set them free, and many will follow in their license to sin through which, the way of truth will be blasphemed. (2 Pet 2:1–2)” Both of these letters consider this to be denying Jesus as Lord.
Later on, Jude encourages the audience with this, “you must keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life. . . (Jude 21)” Now, I call you to think back to the image that Marc described about the enclosure and Jesus being the gate that keeps this enclosure safe. Jude is telling the audience of this letter, “Stay in the enclosure! Stay with the shepherd!” To stay with Jesus, to keep ourselves in his love, we must follow him in trusting obedience. Salvation is a sure thing in Jesus. We are saved “by grace, through faith.”
Grace through faith is not just about salvation for after we die. We talk about making decisions and asking Jesus to come into our hearts, and these are good things that help us orient our lives to trusting Jesus. But the goal is to actually trust Jesus in such a way that it alters how we think, feel, believe, and live. This is a really interesting part of the study of Jude and 2 Peter because they have some strong and harsh words about the false teachers who deny, even likening these people to some of the most cataclysmic judgments in Scripture (Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, rebels in Exodus). However, the instruction to the believers is to not issue judgment themselves. Both letters point out that trusting God, for both angels and humans, is to leave accusations to God. If someone is giving divisive and selfish teaching, leave them alone and trust God to take care of their souls. We lighten the load of our hearts by practicing an offering .
This issue of trust is the primary issue of these letters. In trusting God, we believe he is actively caring for us, as Jesus is the one laying his life down at the gate. When we trust God to save us from judgement and be gracious toward us, we also trust him to be faithfully just in his judgement of false teachers, not taking the matter into our own hands. This does not mean we do not address sin, in fact, Jude suggests otherwise, that we “show mercy, snatching some from the fire.” But the idea here is that both judgment and grace are imminent and present. This should cause us to pause and reflect on the nature of our lives. Do we hear our Shepherd's voice? Do we follow him in his gracious care? Or are we struggling to choose the way in which we live?
We know that once in the enclosure, Jesus is faithful to guard our hearts. Afterall, we know his voice. Although maybe we are not always listening. As Paul says, “run the race to make your election sure.” This does not mean your faith is questionable, but what it means to live in such a way that it becomes obvious that we follow Jesus. As we discussed in the "light of the world" discussion, our ultimate mission is to display God’s goodness. So, in following Jesus well, we make our election sure to the world, making it clear that our love for one another and love for the world are evidence of our following Jesus.
This might be a challenging message and so I ask that you engage me or the elders with any questions. It is important that thriving in Christ means truly trusting him. The mistake the false teachers make in these letters is to assume that God is not acting in the world at this very moment. It leads to a lukewarmness in our hearts, where we become unaware of God’s work in the world, and thus, the world becomes unaware of his work as well.
I leave you with the benediction of Jude’s letter to assure us of Jesus’ faithfulness over our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies:
“Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Jude 24–25
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