Jesus Is the Gate

We live in a distracted, and distracting, world.  People become confused by all the conflicting voices clambering for attention. Unfortunately, many of the voices are not based in truth, and therefore, mislead, misguide, and mistreat many people. So how does a person discern a truthful voice from an untruthful one?

For a follower of Jesus, there is a sure first step towards answering this question. In John 10, Jesus is teaching his disciples on this topic. “Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.  I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.  A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:7-10). Surrendering our whole heart to God’s order of things, and Christ’s teaching specifically, is the only way to know truth (John 8:31-32).

Jesus uses the example of tending sheep because it was a very common practice in the time he lived on earth. Sheep are interesting animals. They flock together, and they respond only to one person as their shepherd. The only way they will make a move from one place (field or pen) to another, is by following the lead of their known shepherd. Without their shepherd they are lost and unable to function.

Jesus likens sheep to people. Left to their own devices, people will become lost and directionless. Jesus speaks of himself as a shepherd and a gate when he says, ““Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.  The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.  They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers”  (John 10:1-6).

So how do we hear the voice of Jesus in the midst of all the other voices in the world?  God speaks through his Holy Spirit. We must first, listen for his voice. Listening is a skill that can be developed. Listening can be hard work. Resisting the temptation to assume we already have heard what we need to hear (and know what we need to know), can cause us to miss a necessary directive from God. Hearing from God begins with what he has already spoken in the Bible. The Bible is God’s voice, and listening to what it says means we believe and obey it without exception. The entire Bible is written to reveal who Jesus is, and how we should respond to him.

If we are truly in the “sheep fold” of Jesus, we surrender to his authority as the Gate. We yield to his leadership (shepherding and gate keeping).  He calls the shots.  He tells us where to “graze.”  That is, allow our body, mind, and soul to only feed on things that are wholesome and healthy. Behaviors the Bible condemns, we condemn. Behaviors and people the Bible honors, we honor. Abundant blessings accompany this kind of lifestyle.

We recognize however that the “thief” (the devil and evil in the world) is a real opponent. The aim of evil is to “kill, steal, and destroy” as the verse above warns us.  Evil presents in many voices. Failing to listen for, and hear God’s voice, leaves us vulnerable to going through the wrong gate. Not following God’s ways also makes us vulnerable to being destroyed by the thief’s evil ways.

Following the voice of Jesus puts us on the correct path. Jesus is our Shepherd. Jesus is the Gate to open and close opportunities for good or evil to triumph. The Gate governs our “coming and going” (spoken of in the verses above), and is the everyday activities of life being run through the filter of obedience to the Bible as the Word of God. The Gate guides us into refuge and protects us from the thief’s destruction. May we thank and praise Jesus the Gate, for his saving power. He died on the cross to save us from our sin condition, and was resurrected from death to life so we can have an eternal life in communion with God.

I need Jesus to be my Gate every day, and I pray that all reading this will recognize and yield to his gate-keeping as well.

 by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

A Packed Lunch

           The Bible doesn’t have much to say about the Jesus before his public ministry started in adulthood. But, like any other person, Jesus grew from the womb, to boyhood, to manhood. Early in his ministry he chose 12 other men to train and become the first disciples who would train other disciples and spread the Good News of the Messiah’s arrival on earth.

            Jesus taught with stories using everyday experiences as illustrations. Sometimes he made these stories literally come alive with miraculous power to demonstrate his point. As a boy myself, I grew up hearing the story of Jesus feeding a whole crowd of people from a child attendee’s packed lunch. Recently while reading it again in John 6, some insights struck me that can help us on our own journeys in following Jesus.  

            The story begins by explaining how a crowd was forming because many people were hearing of the “signs” (miracles) and healing of sick people. A Jewish holiday feast was an occasion that brought even more people on this particular day.  Jesus always followed Father God’s instructions, and wasn’t solely driven by the needs of the people. In fact, John records that even while they saw people assembling (specifically seeking Jesus out), he took his 12 trainees aside and had a special session with them. He had a really cool plan to teach them a lesson in followership so they wouldn’t forget.

            Jesus starts with a bit of a trick question of Philip, ““Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” (John 6:5).  In his natural mind, Philip isn’t even ready to think about “where” to buy, but “how” to buy with no money. He knows they don’t have any funds, yet a quick crunch of the numbers in his mind tells him this is an impossible situation. He answers Jesus (perhaps with a bit of sarcasm) that even one person’s salary for many years wouldn’t even provide a snack for everyone. Then another “smart remark” from another disciple, Andrew, is spoken. He mentions that he saw a lad 5 pieces of break and 2 fish sticks that he brought for his lunch. I think he was probably joking when he asked Jesus, “but what are these for so many people?” (John 6:9). 

            Then comes the response from Jesus that really struck me reading the story this time.  “Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.  Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted” (John 6:10-11). Jesus didn’t chastise his trainees for having little faith (not this time at least), but he gave them a task to do. Before he could perform the miracle of multiplying the bread and fish, he needed the disciples to create a functional distribution system to carry it out. The Bible doesn’t record the methods, but some strategic planning and logistics would have been necessary for several thousand people to eat their fill in one sitting.

            Executing Jesus’ order to “have the people sit down” was no small task. Do you think they did it buffet style or special delivery with volunteers? What did they do for drinks?  There was no bottled water in those days. What about the mood of the people? I’m sure such a huge group of hungry and thirsty people showed some impatience and ungratefulness. Besides the crowd control, Jesus’ helpers might have had to handle emergencies and run other errands. John records part of the cleanup duties which included gathering up all the leftovers.

            In looking at how this story unfolds, what impresses me the most is the response of Jesus’ first 12 disciples. There may have been some reluctance at first, but even so, when Jesus gave the instruction to prepare the people for a large feast, they sprang into action. Although they initially saw no means to pull off a mass feeding, they stayed the course. They may even have had some fear that people would retaliate if they were told their dinner is on its way, but it never arrives. It took some faith to ask thousands of people to be seated and prepare to eat, when all that was in the kitchen was 5 pieces of bread and 2 fish. But Jesus needed their obedience before he could do his part. After the preparations were made, THEN he took the one packed lunch and turned it into a lunch for each person in the packed crowd. The disciples had one lunch in their hand, and Jesus turned it into thousands of lunches. Jesus took what was “in their hand” and used it to supply a multitude of people.

            That’s the kind of God we serve. When we obey his instructions with what we find “in our hands,” he is released to do his miraculous work. In this way, God receives all the glory, and we are not as tempted to take credit for the good results. God deserves the glory. Our desire should be to make his name great, and not our own.

            In a similar way that we need food for nourishment to feed our physical body, we need spiritual food to nourish our soul. The spiritual part of our being is fed through revelation from God himself. Our personal spirit needs a continuous flow of new input from God to sustain our spiritual life. This happens through the process of transformation and sanctification. As we surrender our hearts to God and receive his spiritual “food,” we change from the inside out, and grow into the spiritual persons we were created to become.

            As Jesus commanded to “have the people sit down” to prepare for the physical food God was about to provide, so God direct us to “wait” on him for spiritual feedling. Numerous are the exhortations in the Bible to “wait on the Lord.” For example, Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.” The prophet Isaiah declares, “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength” (Isaiah 40:31).  The book of Acts records the instructions of Jesus to the twelve apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the promised revealing of the Holy Spirit’s work.  He specifically said “to wait for what the Father had promised” (Acts 1:4),

As we “wait” (actively listen), God speaks in many ways. It may be directly through revelation in the Scripture, or it may be through the message spoken by another person or form of media. The creation itself speaks of the wonders of God (see Romans 1:20). Sometimes the “word” (message) we hear may seem insignificant (like the lad’s lunch in the story). But God always provides the amount of revelation needed for the task at hand. He wants us to believe in his ability to provide.

            Answering a few questions might help us receive more spiritual nutrition from the One who will never allow us to go hungry (see John 6:35). What important message(s) might I have missed (be missing) because I failed to “wait” for God’s answer (or complete answer)? How might I better position myself to prepare to feed on God’s truth? (eg. scheduling in things like prayer and Bible feeding). Is my heart truly open to whomever and whatever God chooses to use to speak truth into my life and learn my lessons through it?

            We are called his disciples for a reason. We must obey before we see the results. We must “prepare the way” for the feeding (for ourselves and others). We are disciples not just for our food, but to help feed others. Our inner journey of transforming the soul becomes the food for Jesus working through us in transforming the world!

 by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Esteeming Jesus

To esteem is to attach worth or value to something.  For  followers of Jesus reading this, I have a question, “How much of your life demonstrates the value of what Jesus did for mankind?”  This article identifies some ways to show greater esteem for the King of Kings.  

First, let’s look at the response of his very first followers when he came to the earth.  Yes, even though they had about three years hanging out with Jesus face-to-face, saw the raw miracles with their eyes, and with their own ears, heard Jesus explaining the prophetic wrtings (from the Book), they were unable to understand and value the Kingdom of God unfolding in their midst.  Near the end of Jesus’ time with them Luke records, “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.  He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him;  they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about”” (Luke 18:31-34; NIV).  They could not accept the idea of a “suffering Messiah,” even when the Messiah himself told them plainly part of his reason for coming is to take on himself the pain of the world.  Jesus came to redeem the guilt of sin and pain of consequences (for every person who believes in him) and restore sonship with Father God.  

Jesus is referring to messages foretold hundreds of years prior like this one in Isaiah,

“Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.”  (Isaiah 53:1-6)

The phrase in verse 3 “and we held him in low esteem” is worth taking a closer look.  Obviously the people who were bent on killing Jesus held him in low esteem, but the 12 disciples he was talking to in the Luke verses above, also failed to esteem Jesus.  Luke says, “they did not know what he was talking about” (Luke 18:34).  They were not able to fully comprehend the message Jesus was sharing with them at least in part because of the earthly mindset (belief system) of how things should turn out.  They thought, for example, the Messiah (whomever that was) would be the one to deliver them from the oppression of the Roman government.  The Romans were the ruling power over the Jews, and all the first believers in Jesus were of Jewish origin.  For a Messiah to redeem the Jewish people, they were looking for a literal overthrow of the regime.  But that was not in God’s plan.  God’s plan was laid out in the verses of Isaiah above.  Even after these verses were fulfilled and the grusome trauma of the crucifixion of Jesus took place, the disciples still didn’t understand.  In the days following his resurrection, the Bible records a number of times that Jesus appeared to his disciples to encourage them and give them the Holy Spirit and their great commission before he ascended to the Father (see Luke 24:36-49).  

When Jesus appeared to 2 of them on the road to Emmaus, for example (Luke 24:36-49), they were clearly not in a state to bring esteem to what Jesus had endured on their behalf.  They were downcast, depressed, and likely a bit taumatized.  They were likely guilt-ridden for not being able to protect Jesus from the cruel and unjust treatment he received.  One of their members betrayed Jesus.  In betraying Jesus, Judas also betrayed each of the disciples as team members.  They were all scattered, alone, fearing for their own lives, with their leader dead (or so they thought), and no purpose to continue what had consumed the last three years of their lives.   Their pain was too great to bear, and Jesus had to appear to them to bring them back from their strayed condition.  

Like the first disciples who had suffered great loss and needed to be reminded that Jesus came to bear their grief and pain, we too have a similar opportunity to show that we value what Jesus did on the cross to bear our sin and pain.   Jesus didn’t only die to wash away the guilt of our sin, but also was tortured to bear the pain of the consequences of sin.  The pain may be from an accident with no one at fault (ie. a natural disaster, financial,  illness, or physical problem).  It may be inflicted on you by someone else intentionally or unintentionally (ie. prejudgment, misjudgment, mistreatment, slander, rejection, betrayal, abuse,  injustice, etc.).  Or, pain may be self-imposed (ie. shame, self-condemnation, self-rejection,  bitterness, resentment, etc.).  

Whatever the source of emotional pain may be, we (like the very first disciples onward) fail to esteem Jesus when we fail to give Jesus our pain.  You may ask, “What does it mean to give Jesus our pain?”  Inner hurts and wounds from past and present are common.  Acknowleging hurt and offense is the first step to allowing Jesus to bear it for you.  After that, it is  responding  to his invitation to come’   “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).  It seems too simple to be true.  Yoking up with Jesus makes all the difference.  The “yoke” as mentioned here is a term for the instrument that controls a team of work horses enabling them to work together to accomplish a task.  Relief from the pain of an unrested soul, comes through surrender of control.  No matter how good we think we are at controlling things, God always does better.

This surrender continues the rest of our lives, so that greater and greater degrees of control are yielded to God.  As we “draw near” to God (see Hebrews 10:19-31), his power changes us in a way that goes beyond our natural abilities to change ourselves.  We esteem Jesus by surrendering to this on going change process.  Instead of “going astray” and “turning to our own way” (as described in Isaiah 53:6 above), we allow God to satisfy our deepest longings and needs.  Instead of depending on “self” to determine our fate, we cooperate with God’s plan and ways of doing things.  Or, instead of turning to a counterfeit like alcohol, drugs, porn, work-o-holism, etc,. we permit our hearts to be contented in gratitude for what Jesus has done to accomplish our rescue.  

How much of your struggles, disappointments, failed expectations, disagreements, concerns, criticisms, conflicts, etc.do you quickly take to Jesus for him to bear?  The more you take to him and the quicker you respond demonstrates the degree to which you truly value (esteem) Jesus.  And if you feel like you struggle to value Jesus, no condemnation.  Another problem will come your way before you know it, and you’ll have another chance!   Do not listen to the enemy of your soul who tells you things like “you’re all alone,” “no one cares,” or “you’re beyond hope.”   Perhaps you need some help from a counselor to sort out the effects of some very difficult events in your life.  

Sometimes I find it a challenge to practice this myself.  Over the years I have found that music helps me refocus sometimes in a way that points me to God.  One such song that goes way back is called  “Lay Your Burden Down” by Chuck Girard.  Here is a link to hear the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrI9mFDbmXY 

May you be found faithful in esteemng Jesus.  May God grant you the rest your soul craves.  May you be freed to help others find their freedom in Christ Jesus.   And may God be glorified and greatly esteemed!  

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry