Tasting the Gruel of Love

The Shepherd’s Voice

Dr. Larry Thorson
January 24, 2010

John 10:3b

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

This winter at Forest Home Winter Camps for youth they have a game for the students called “So You Think You Can Do It Better.” It goes like this: they’ll play a You Tube video of someone like a baby crying in a high pitched voice or someone singing in a real raspy voice. Then they choose two contestants at a time to take their turn at imitating the voice they heard on the video. With rare exceptions, very few can perfectly imitate the voice of someone else. My favorite was the guy who tried to imitate every single note on a piano. He would play a note and then try to imitate it. It was hilarious listening to middle school students with their changing voices try that.

Everybody’s voice is unique, so unique that even sheep can tell the difference between their shepherd’s voice and someone else’s voice. Today in our series Why We Need a Good Shepherd, we’re going to look at how we can tell the difference between God’s voice and all the other voices we’re hearing.

Before we start, I want to say that when I think of shepherds I usually think of them as being men. But in my devotions this week I came across Genesis 29:9 which begins the story of how Jacob found his two wives. 9 While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was their shepherd. So yes, women were and still are shepherds. The same is true for spiritual shepherds.

Now getting back to a shepherd’s voice John 10:2 says He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Calling a sheep by its name is significant. Besides your unique voice, your name is also unique. Annie Weems, our college student intern working with the children was so surprised to arrive at Forest Home last week and discover an Annie Weems on the Forest Home staff. I took a picture of the two of them. Believe it or not there are actually two Rev. Larry Thorsons in this country according to the internet. The other one is the senior pastor of the River Valley Alliance Church in Watertown, Wisconsin.

By and large our name is unique to us. Imagine this, that a good shepherd knows the name of everyone of her sheep. That wouldn’t be such a big thing if you only had five, ten, maybe 20 sheep but what if you had 200 sheep or more? Could you come up with enough names and remember the names of so many sheep?

I read a description of Shetland sheep on the website for the Maple Ridge Sheep Farm in Vermont: “Shetland sheep love attention! When people visit their pasture, Shetlands run over for a kind word, maybe a scratch under the chin (they wag their tails) or a big hug. The ewes are friendly, but the rams are pussy cats! They look so regal with their great curved horns that you may be surprised at how affectionate they are.”[1]

A good shepherd knows the individual personalities as well as the names of his sheep. Philip Keller in his book A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd and his Sheep says that if you greet a shepherd in the Middle East or Africa “the order of greeting and salutation is first to ask how the owner himself is faring. Then one inquires after the health of his sheep and cattle. Following that one asks about his children, then lastly his wife or wives.”[2]

Keller says that the names given the sheep are not simple names like “Fluffy” or “Spot” as we might think. Rather, the names have some bearing on the history of the animal. For example, a ewe might be called: “The one born in the dry river bed,” or “The beautiful lamb for which I traded two pots of honey.” Two hundred of those kinds of names would be hard to remember. But a good shepherd knows the name of her sheep.

Jesus the Good Shepherd knows your name. Jesus knows your unique personality. Jesus knows your unique ways of dealing with life. Jesus knows whether you’re grumpy or happy, whether you’re an introvert or extravert, whether you’re athletic or klutzy. Jesus knows your unique voice. But the question is do you know his voice?

When John wrote that Jesus calls his sheep out of their sheep pen that means he calls them out by his voice. No one else can call them out with their voice because they only trust that voice. Remember, sheep can’t understand the meaning of words spoken by the shepherds. When the shepherd says “Beautiful lamb for which I traded two pots of honey, (the sheep’s name) we’re going to cross the vale and go up the narrow trail to the left” the sheep only hear “wonk, wonk, wonk…wonk, wonk, wonk.” But wonk to them means “let’s go”. Go to them always means something good because they know their shepherd loves them.

I know that when I get to speak the great truths about God from the Bible to our middle school or high school students what they usually hear is “wonk, wonk, wonk.” Or try talking to someone about God who doesn’t believe much about God. What they first hear are the wonk wonks.

I’m just finishing the reading of a new book by Bill Hybels called Just Walk Across the Room. It is one of the best books I have ever read about how to talk to someone about God. Hybels talks about how Jesus most profoundly influenced his disciples by doing life with them.[3] Their most life-changing events happened during their mundane, everyday times with the Lord. He calls it the “be with” factor. People will listen to us only when they trust us after we’ve been with them for awhile. But also after we’ve been with someone for awhile we’ll probably or hopefully know what to say to them that will be more relevant to them.

I’ll never forget the Night of Champions event last year at Asuza Pacific University sponsored by the college and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. They had a whole range of star athletes share testimonies of how they came to Christ. They were all excellent speakers with riveting stories. But the youth wouldn’t be quiet to listen except when a 16 year old cancer survivor came to the mic and shared his story of defeat and victory in Jesus. You could hear a pin drop in the arena that night when he spoke because the kids perceived this boy to be one of them. He was cool and relevant.

I can’t be 18 years old again in my dress, look or behavior. I can’t expect kids to listen to me because I’m the pastor. That only comes after we’ve been together and they know my voice. Camp helps them get to know my voice better.

Jesus knows you and is calling your name. But what voice are you hearing? My voice? The voice of your mother? A friend? How do you discern one voice from the other? The same way you get to know anyone’s voice; by spending time together.

Think about the last time you sat down alone with Jesus. For me when I sit down with Jesus my mind is filled with all the things I need or want to do that day. I’m reviewing all the struggles of that day or the day before. Maybe a news story or plot line from something I saw on television runs through my head. Something in the room may bring back a memory and then my mind runs down memory lane. Then I get sleepy and wish I was asleep.

But Jesus knows me and is calling my name out of the sheep pen. It’s time for me to do something but what? What are you saying Jesus? I read 10 minutes of Scripture a day so I can read the entire Bible in a year. I took a break from that for about 9 months last year but what I found was that while I may not hear anything specific for me in the Bible reading, it managed to redirect my thoughts in a God direction from the struggles or news stories running through my head.

Next I have to sit quietly for at least 10 minutes without going to sleep. Sometimes I “dump” all my problems for that day on the Lord during this time. Sometimes I just sit there.

In our verse today it says the Good Shepherd calls his sheep and leads them out. That means leads them out of the sheep pen. This is where it gets difficult. The sheep pen is the Lazy Boy recliner. I remember when we first moved to Hemet there was a Lazy Boy store on Florida and thought “oh boy, we’ve got our work cut out for us getting people out of their Lazy Boys.

There’s nothing wrong with Lazy Boy recliners that I can see but God called us to leave the sheep pen and become productive. If the sheep stayed in their Lazy Boy sheep pen the shepherd would have to bring all the grass to them or they’d starve. That’s not how God designed sheep or humans.

The problem often with Christians is they expect to stay in their Lazy Boy recliners while someone brings the Word of God to them. But the Good Shepherd calls his sheep by name out of the sheep pen. If you want to hear Jesus, you have to get used to being quiet before the Lord and then you have to be willing to get off your Lazy Boy recliner and go where he leads.

We presently have a shortage of elders, Sunday school teachers, after school tutors and homeless lunch volunteers. That doesn’t make sense because the Good Shepherd always calls his sheep out of the sheep pen. So what voice are we hearing if we’re not hearing a voice calling us out of the sheep pen?

I want to challenge all of us to make a new commitment to spend a minimum of ten minutes everyday quiet before the Lord after at least 5 minutes of Bible reading. Second, I want to challenge us to make a commitment to get out of the recliner and believe that God is calling us specifically to do something for Jesus this year that we’re presently not doing. Some of you have already done that and are doing a lot. For you, make sure that the work doesn’t replace the voice of God. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

[2] A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shpeherd and his Sheep p. 301

[3] Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room, p.100