Welcome to the daily disciple podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Good morning everyone and welcome to the Together on Mission daily podcast where we start a conversation with Jesus in the morning and then we continue that conversation with Jesus throughout the rest of the day. This morning we're going to be in John chapter 10. Yes, John chapter 10, one of the best chapters ever pinned in the history of literature and we will be there in just a moment.
The title of the podcast this morning is safe. And the question is, do you feel safe? Do you feel secure? Do you feel like you're going to be taken care of?
And often we don't feel safe. Now we don't say it, we don't necessarily talk about it, we don't post it, but we often don't feel safe or secure or like we're going to be taken care of. Now let me ask a few other questions. Are you safe?
And that's a different question. Then do you feel safe? Are you secure? And that's a different question.
Do you feel secure? And will you be taken care of? Is a different question than do you feel like you're going to be taken care of? Often we don't feel secure or safe or like we're going to be taken care of, but that doesn't mean that's true.
What if you are safe? What if you are totally secure? And what if you will be taken care of indefinitely? That would change everything.
And what I'm about to do, what we're about to do together is go to John chapter 10 and I'm going to read some of the best lines in the Gospel of John, some of the best quotes from the mouth of Jesus, lines that may be familiar to some of you. Lines that are going to provide answers to some of the questions I asked just a moment ago. And before we go to some of those incredible Jesus quotes, I just think that we need to ponder the fact that when we don't feel safe or feel secure or feel like we're going to be taken care of, all kinds of things tend to go wrong in our heart and in our mind and in our body like we worry about tomorrow. We have trouble resting and enjoying the moment.
We're easily offended and we're defensive and we're ready to fight or we're ready to run, you know, or we are always searching for security and things and in people. Sometimes things go wrong in our body, headaches or stomach aches or whatever. When we don't feel safe or secure like we're going to be taken care of, there's all kinds of symptoms and the list could go on. So quick question, when you feel unsafe or like you're not secure or like you're not going to be taken care of, what happens to you?
What happens to you? What are those symptoms? And I think we'll find that we have these symptoms often because we often don't feel safe and secure. And so in John chapter 10, Jesus is speaking, you know, the Gospel of John is about teaching and discourse where the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are about parables.
And so we get uniquely in the Gospel of John, this incredible teaching. And so John chapter 10, verse 11, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 14, Jesus says again, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep, my sheep know me. Just as a father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Down in verse 28, I give my sheep eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will be able to snatch them out of my hands.
My father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch my sheep out of my father's hands where I and the father are one. Now, I could go on. That's the language of John chapter 10. It is so, so good.
You may not know this. John who wrote this book is into sevens because seven was the number of completion in Jewish numerology. So there are seven I am statements, and this is one of them. I am the good shepherd.
And shepherd is one who takes care of the sheep. He's one who makes the sheep secure. He makes sure they're okay indefinitely. He cares for them, leads them to pasture, fights for them, protects them.
That's why he has a rod and a staff. That's the image. And furthermore, I love the imagery that Jesus gets to in verse 28 and 29. Nobody can snatch my sheep out of my hands.
And if that's not secure enough, my father, who is greater than all, no one can snatch my sheep out of my father's hands. So you just have this image of the sheep and hands of Jesus and in the hands of God and as we meditate on his passage and the truth, this passage, regardless of how we feel, as we meditate on the truth of this passage, regardless of how we feel, we are safe. We are secure. We will be okay because Jesus says I am the good shepherd.
And I just want to repeat that regardless of how we feel because circumstances and people in this world and all kinds of things can make us feel like we're not safe or secure or like we're not going to be okay. And honestly, I think one of the signs of maturity in general and spiritual maturity in particular is the ability to subordinate a feeling to a truth if the two of them don't line up. Now, sometimes the truth and our feelings line up nicely and isn't that great? That's wonderful.
But what about when our feelings and the truth don't line up? Again, I think maturity and spiritual maturity is to be able to subordinate a feeling to a truth when the two don't line up. And that's what we get to do is we meditate on this passage. The truth is that Jesus is your good shepherd and he has said you are secure, you are safe, you are going to be okay.
And that's such good news because, you know, when we begin to worry about tomorrow, right, or have trouble resting in today or when we find ourselves revving up with offense and being defensive or when we find ourselves searching for security in things and in people. And we know that is hard and as long as you search their security and safety won't be found like when we find ourselves in that place and the symptoms are just coming out of our lives. We're going to focus on the good shepherd, the truth of safety and security that is in the good shepherd fixing our eyes on Jesus. We're going to find that worry about tomorrow will dissipate, that defensive reactions will subside.
And we'll find ourselves free from using things and using other people to make us feel safe and secure because honestly that's climbing up a ladder that's going to lean on the wrong wall. And this is a wonderful vision for life and the people around you are going to be very grateful for this as well because, you know, as you have to tolerate them with their symptoms, they've got to tolerate you with your symptoms. And I think that Jesus is saying in John 10 that this is one of the most important truths to grasp in all truth. This passage is at the heart of the Gospel of John, it's the center.
And Jesus is later going to say, hey, abide in me, abide in me and you'll learn this truth and then you'll know the truth and the truth is going to set you free. So let's ponder John 10 this morning, the good shepherd, the safety and the security being in the hands of Jesus. And if that's not enough, which it should be, the hands of the Father as well. And let's just think and read.
And if our feeling goes along the lines of I don't feel safe, I don't feel secure, I don't feel like I'm going to be okay. Let's find the power of the Spirit subordinate that feeling to the truth. You are secure. You are safe.
And you are going to be okay. So let's spend a little bit of time talking with Jesus this morning, talking with him throughout the day. And let's enjoy the one whose hands were in the good shepherd. And we'll talk to him.
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