The Gatekeeper

November 8, 2015  NOTES NOT EDITED

The Gatekeeper

John 10:1-21

SIS— We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who stand guard at the gates of our freedom modeling the character of the Lord Jesus Christ Who stands guard at the gate of our soul.

War is an ugly thing.  I’m not talking about the sanitized version of war that crosses your screen for a few seconds of “nightly news.”  For most people, the only contact we have had with Iraq or Afghanistan are in political debates.  Modern wars come and go without even the least disruption of American life. 

World War II played out much differently.  Our entire nation sprang to action from Rosie the Riveter to the rationing of food, metal, tires, clothing and nearly everything else.  The whole country mustered to fight that war.  Some of you may remember the “ration books.”  Every American felt the bitter bite of World War II, not just those in combat.

We have become accustomed to having our wars without any attending inconvenience.  We did not go to bed last night worried that a mortar may tear through our tents and end our lives.  Yet, many Americans did go to bed last night in that very situation. We slept peacefully in our beds because the “gatekeepers” in our military stood watch, some in very hostile environments.  In a quote often attributed to George Orwell we read this reminder of the “gatekeepers” who provide the peace we enjoy, and often take for granted.  That quote reminds us why we can go to sleep at night without fear:   “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

That’s the essence of our military.  They are the gatekeepers.  They lay their lives on the line at the gates to our freedom to assure that our freedom will never be taken away.  In ancient Israel, as we will see, the shepherd was a gatekeeper.  He literally placed his body across the gateway into the sheep fold-there was only one--so that no wolf or predator could attack the sheep.  This is the essence of the verse that says, “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).  Over six thousand members of our military have given their lives lying across the gate in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Hundreds of thousands have served as gatekeepers in these wars, and other wars before.  Our plague in the back honors those related to our congregation who have served or are serving.  One of those named—Marine Lance Corporal, Anthony C. Melia—gave his life in Iraq.  President Reagan once said that a service member who dies in action gives two lives.  He gives up the life he was living, and the life he would have lived had he or she come home.  Being a gatekeeper poses tremendous risks to life and limb. 

The very foundation of our faith turns on the identity of Jesus Christ as THE “gatekeeper.”  He not only is the gatekeeper, but He is the gateway, the door.  Jesus is the model for the gatekeepers in our armed services.  Let’s read together what the Bible says about Jesus as the Gatekeeper.  John 10:1-18.

This metaphor, parable or allegory depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd had an enormous impact upon those to whom the Lord first spoke.  Time and differences in culture have robbed modern readers of much of the meaning of this teaching.  Few of us have seen sheep outside of a petting zoo.  Ancient Israel’s economy hinged on raising sheep to provide wool.  Sheep and shepherds played a very important role in the life of Israel.  The life of a shepherd in Israel was not only extremely hard, it was very dangerous.  The land was rocky and pasture lands were sparse.  Sheep would wander looking for fresh patches to graze on.  The shepherd had to be extremely vigilante. Deep ravines also crisscrossed the landscape and sheep could easily wander over a clift.  Wild animals, especially wolves, constantly threatened the flock.  There were also thieves and robbers willing to kill the shepherd to steal the sheep.  A shepherd’s job was hard and dangerous.  Years ago, a bible scholar visiting Israel described the shepherd of Israel, “On some high moor, across which at night the hyenas howl, when you meet the shepherd, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, leaning on his staff, and looking out over his scattered sheep . . . you understand why the shepherd of Judea sprang to the front in people’s minds.  Contant vigilance, fearless courage, and patient love for his flock, were the necessary characteristics of the shepherd.” (Barclay, 53).

Constant vigilance, fearless courage, and love for others also describe a soldier, our modern day gatekeepers.  These qualities and more, such as faithfulness, sacrifice, and selflessness are shared by shepherds of old and the modern soldier.  All the virtues that make a great shepherd or a great soldier flow from the virtuous character of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the quintessential “gatekeeper.”  He is the Eternal Gatekeeper.  He “laid down His life as a sacrifice so that you and I could have eternal life—if we turn from our sins and accept the gift the Good Shepherd provides.

Jesus is not only the “Gatekeeper” protecting the flock by laying His life between His flock and the Evil One that would come to “steal and kill” (v 10), but Jesus is the very “gate” of life itself.  Look again in verse 7:   I am  the door of the sheep.  The NIV says, I am the gate for the sheep.  As the “gate, gatekeeper, or door” for the sheep Jesus exhibits three primary qualities.

1.  A STRONG Gate (14-18)

Before I read the verse that speaks of the “absolute power” of Jesus Christ as the Gate, or Gatekeeper, let me remind you of what we have already spoken about the life of a shepherd.  Being a shepherd was a hard, dangerous life with many significant challenges.  As such, the faint of heart need not apply for this position.  In this story the “helplessness and total dependence” of the sheep is contrasted by the “absolute power” of the shepherd.  It takes a “strong, courageous man to risk his life for others.”  As I said earlier, both soldiers and shepherds were positions requiring great courage and strength.

Verses 14 through 18, especially verse 18, describe the “absolute power and strength” of Jesus Christ:

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me, ¹⁵ as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father.  I lay down My life  for the sheep. ¹⁶ But I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.  ¹⁷ This is why the Father loves Me,  because I am laying down My life  so I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father.”

This passage alone could easily occupy a whole sermon, or even a series of sermons.  You will quickly note the numerous references to God, the Father.  Jesus asserts His special relationship with the Father.  In short, Jesus is asserting His deity.  The pious Jews in the crowd got the message and reacted negatively as we see in v19:

¹⁹ Again a division  took place among the Jews
because of these words. 

Numerous times Jesus had clashed with the Jews over the words He spoke, particularly when He spoke directly about His identity as God, the Son.  Notice chapter 8, verses 57-59:

⁵⁷ The Jews replied, “You aren’t 50 years old yet, and You’ve seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Before Abraham was, I am.”  ⁵⁹ At that, they picked up stones to throw at Him.

Those words of Jesus, “I am,” [ἐγώ (I) εἰμί (I am)] stung the hearts of the Jewish leaders like a bee.  Jesus spoke the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name for God, “Yaweh” – and used an emphatic form for, well, emphasis.  So, they were going to stone Him for blasphemy.

The Gospel of John is different from the other three.  It has a much narrower purpose:  to declare that Jesus is completely human and at the same time completely divine.  Jesus gets into conflict with the Jews over His assertion of deity.  Keep that in mind and go back to verse 18:   No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again.

Bible translators are faced with a difficult task as to how to translate the word, translated in the HCSB, as “right.”  Most modern translations render the word as “right” or “authority.”  The KJV renders the word, exousia (ἐξουσία), as “power.” Both translations are technically correct, and both are technically incomplete.  The more commonly expected word if the translation were to be “power,” would be dunamis, which refers to an “innate ability” to accomplish a task.  For example, a weight lifter would have the “power” to lift several hundreds of pounds and a canary would have the “power” to fly.  Exousia more technically refers to the “right or authority” to perform an action—like the right of a king to declare a new law.  However, most scholars understand that one who possesses the authority to do something, also possesses the power to carry out the action.  Exousia  can be viewed as “absolute power,” or “divine power.”  One scholarly authority describes it as, Jesus’ “divinely given power and authority to act” (TDNT).

Jesus is a STRONG gate.  His power extends even to the power of life and death—that’s the key principle to understanding this entire allegory.

2.  He is an OPEN Gate (vv 9-11)

One always has to be careful not to read into a text more than the text will support.  In an allegorical passage like this one--or perhaps better to call it an “extended parable” (paroimia, παροιμία)—there is always a greater danger to “over-spiritualize” the story.  In this case, I think the idea that as the “Gate to the Sheepfold,” Jesus is an OPEN gate.  That is, as the Good Shepherd (this story mixes the metaphors of Jesus being the Gate, the Good Shepherd, and the Gatekeeper), Jesus cares meticulously for the needs of the sheep He loves.  Verses 9-11 say,

I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal  and to kill and to destroy.  I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus contrasts Himself as the Good Shepherd with those of a “hired hand” who only cares about what he can get out of sheep, and thieves (steal without violence) and robbers (steal with violence) who want to misuse and abuse the sheep.  As with most of the passages in John, I will leave out sufficient information for a series of sermons. 

The point I want to make is the loving, abundant care that Jesus provides for us as His sheep.  We have free access to God the Father through Jesus the Son and everything that belongs to the Son is shared by those who follow the Son.  Romans 8:14-17:

All those led by God’s Spirit  are God’s sons.  ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption,  by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”  ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, ¹⁷ and if children, also heirs —heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that  we suffer with Him  so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Jesus provides full and unrestricted access to all that God, the Father, has to give.  We are not slaves consigned to simply till the soil outside the palace to provide for the care and comfort of the king.  We are “joint-heirs, sons and daughters” of God Almighty that have OPEN access to the Father through the Son.  I love what Hebrews 4:16 teaches:  Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

Jesus, as the Gatekeeper and Shepherd, leads us out into rich pastures to gorge ourselves on the goodness of God.  The Shepherd’s Psalm declares:  ¹ The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. ² He lets me lie down in green pastures;  He leads me beside quiet waters.

After leading us “out” into green pastures, as the Good Shepherd, Jesus leads us back into the safety of the fold; and then, as the Gatekeeper, He lies across the only entry into the fold and protects us with His might and power.

Jesus is an OPEN gate to God’s blessings.  He gives us free, unrestricted access to the Father.  I don’t think most Christians really comprehend what it means that Jesus is an “open door to the Father.”  Life is hard, but without access to God Jesus, it is downright impossible.  Makes me think of an ad in a paper for a lost dog:

      “Lost—One dog.  Brown hair with several bald spots.  Right leg
        broken in car accident.  Left hip injured.  Right eye missing.  Left
        ear bitten off in a dog fight.  Answers to the name, “Lucky.”

Life is hard and “being lucky” isn’t enough to provide you with the “abundant life.”  Jesus said, “I am the door . . . I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance” (verse 10).

Jesus is a STRONG gate with both the authority and power to protect you and to give you the assurance that if you accept Him as the Lord, you WILL have eternal life.  Jesus is and OPEN gate.  He loves you and He wants to give you complete and unrestricted access to the very “treasure chest of heaven.”  Jesus is also the

3.  ONLY Gate (v 1)

I assure you: Anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

Linger a moment on those words, “Some other way.”  . . . . . . . . . .

This is the same Apostle John who would record the words of Jesus Christ just a few chapters later saying,  “I am THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. No one comes to the Father except through me!” (14:6).  

Luke would declare:  ^{Acts 4:12} There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.

Perhaps no doctrine in the Bible gets more maligned by critics, or mismanaged by well-meaning but errant Christian teachers than the fact that Jesus Christ is the Only Way of Salvation and Christianity is, indeed, an “exclusive” religion.

Many Muslims are “good” people (as we use that term colloquially in our common language); but, Muslims who do not “exclusively” declare allegiance to Jesus Christ as the Only Way, will go straight to hell when they die.  Islam is “some other way.”  I’ve know more than a few Hindus who were “good” people; but if a Hindu does not forsake the esoteric ways of the gurus and embrace Jesus Christ as the Only Way to salvation, they will go straight to hell when they die.  The same can be said for Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, and yes, even some Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and Pentacostals.   Anyone who does not forsake in hope in “religion” or “some other way” other than complete and exclusive trust in Jesus Christ, that person will go straight to hell when they die.

People in our pluralistic, everything-is-relative, universalistic culture recoil at strong preaching that declares Jesus is the Only Way to salvation.  The truth remains, however, being good won’t save you (in fact, being good is impossible without being saved), and being religious, not matter how sincere one might be, WILL NOT SAVE YOU!  Jesus is the ONLY gate through which one can pass into eternal life.

Few people listening to Frank Sinatra imagined that the philosophy in one of his songs almost four decades ago would become the prevailing religion of our culture today.  That song, adapted from a French song and written by Paul Anka became Sinatra’s signature song, “My Way.”  This has become the theme of American religion, everybody is pursuing salvation or fulfillment their “own way.”  People are nearly as “anti-religious” as they are “overly religious,” seeking to “cover all the bases” so to speak.

A decade or so, maybe a little more, a woman by the name of Ema Drouillard in San Francisco began over “baptism-style ceremonies” in which God is never mentioned.  The intent is to “initiate” one’s children into a world of “all faiths.”  She has expanded into weddings offering several special packages such as, “The I Love You Package,” or the “Loves Sonnet Package,” or the “Simple Happiness Package.”  One couple using her “baptism services” remarked, “We just wanted a larger spirit to guide our daughter, but we didn’t want to get specific.  I wanted all her bases covered . . . for our baby who believes in angels, and fairies, leprechauns and Santa Claus.”

I admit that is a little funny to me, but I restrain myself from poking fun or laughing because the consequences of “some other way” are devastating—eternally devastating.  There is not “some other way, or ways,” but there is only One Way, that is through Jesus Christ, the Door or the Gate.

Perhaps it seems a little contrived to weave a message on Jesus Christ as the Gate, the Door, or the Good Shepherd with the idea of a person serving in the military.  The common denominator is that both the soldier and Our Savior stand guard at the door of our lives protecting and preserving our freedom.  The soldier does it for our physical freedom and physical way of life.  The Savior serves as the Gatekeeper over our spiritual freedom and eternal life.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who stand guard at the gates of our freedom modeling the character of the Lord Jesus Christ Who stands guard at the gate of our soul. 

This is a lesson we would do well to think deeply about.