“The sheep follow him (the shepherd), because they know his voice” John 10:4
The world we live in is full of voices. Positive voices and negative voices. It is necessary for the Christian to be able to make a difference and learn to listen to the voice of the Lord.
What voices do you listen to? This is a question that must be asked. A few years ago in one of the churches where I had the honor of pastoring, one of the members constantly said: “God told me…”. Almost every five sentences he repeated this. He seemed like he was listening to God’s voice all the time. Likewise, I was in Canada, and a servant of God said publicly: “I am a prophet, prophets always hear the voice of God and can declare it to people at all times. » But is this really true?
One day when I was about to preach in a church in the Netherlands, the pastor’s son said to me: “Pastor Donato, a prophet came last week, and he prophesied about me that I am a man of joy “. I answered him: “You don’t have to be a prophet to know that you are a man of joy, you smile and laugh all the time! » It is not because this man was a prophet that everything that came out of his mouth was de facto Word of God.
We must have the intellectual honesty to admit that we do not always and consistently hear God’s voice.
There are so many voices around us; and we have to sort it out. We must clearly differentiate between what comes from God, what comes from us, what comes from others, what comes from the world and what comes from the enemy. A true Christian will receive the Word of God, the Voice of God, and reject every other voice that comes beyond that voice. The sheep do not listen to the voice of the stranger.
John 10:1-6
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth in by the other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Read more
In this text, several voices are mentioned, namely: the good shepherd, the thieves and bandits, the thief, the mercenary and finally the stranger. Let’s try to define them together.
The voice of the good shepherd
First of all, Jesus speaks in the voice of the good shepherd. It is clear from the context that this is the Voice of Jesus, a voice that is always in agreement with the Word of God. The Good Shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep, therefore his sheep listen to him. They know his voice, and listen to it because they have experienced over the course of their lives how many times their shepherd has invested personally so that they are protected, safeguarded, healthy and safe. When predators came, the shepherd – often, at the risk of his life – would protect them and when necessary, save them from certain death. There it is, the main voice that every sheep must listen to, that we must listen to. In our Christian life, apart from the voice of Jesus, one of the most preponderant voices that we must listen to is the voice of our spiritual shepherd, our pastor; the one God has placed in our lives to lead the church we find ourselves in; here, the church is like the sheep’s fold.
The voice of the bandits
Then Jesus speaks of thieves and bandits – note immediately that this is not the devil. We will find him further away. The thieves and robbers, Jesus says, are those who went before him (John 10:8). Who are those who preceded him? Everyone who claimed to be the truth but wasn’t. Jesus is referring here to all religions which claim to bring man to God, but which lead nowhere. There are many religious voices in our world. Many false doctrines, many false paths, but only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Jesus says of them that they are thieves and robbers; that is, they rob people of the eternal life that only Jesus can bring. Like the sheep of the good shepherd, do not listen to these voices.
The voice of the devil
He continues talking about the thief, we know here that the thief is the devil.
John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I have come that the sheep may have life and abundance.
Who is the one who steals? The devil. Don’t listen to his voice. Notice that the first way he flies is through his voice. To Eve he said: “Did God really say it? » The devil began to place doubt in Eve’s thinking. Nothing the enemy says is good or positive. He speaks to destroy, to kill and to steal. It is he who steals a child from his parents, a mother from her daughter, health from a person, a job from a worker and so on. And most of the time, it all starts with a voice: it speaks and sows lies in our lives. Jesus says, don’t listen to this voice.
The voice of the mercenary
Jesus does not stop there. He adds that there is another voice, that of the hireling (John 10.12-13). The latter represents someone who does the “work” of the shepherd, but with motivations and a commitment contrary to that of the good shepherd. So, once the storm comes, adversity – here Jesus speaks of a wolf – he leaves the sheepfold and abandons it. Don’t listen to the voice of someone who is not ready to invest in your lives; who “does not worry for the sheep” (v13). Every Christian has the right to have a pastor in his life who gives his all for him; who invests her time, her life and her passion for him. It is only after having invested so much in his sheep that the adversary – the wolf – arrives, it is then that the shepherd will defend them, prevent the wolves from devouring the fruit of their labor. Some exercise the ministry as a job, others, like true shepherds, exercise it as a heavenly vocation and have only one objective: to feed, grow and bring to maturity the “sheep” that the Lord gives them. confided.
The voice of the stranger
Finally, there is a fifth character who is also a voice. Which voice do you listen to, is the question we ask you. Jesus speaks of the “stranger” and says that his sheep “know not the voice of strangers” (v.5). Who are these strangers? Probably in this term he places the other characters described above, but I would allow myself to add another possibility. It seems that the stranger is also another servant of God, however good he may be, but who is not your pastor. There are good pastors all over the world, but not every pastor is your pastor. It is not a sin to listen to other pastors preach the gospel, but we cannot give the same weight to others as we give to our pastor. It is not others who will come to visit you if you are sick; or who will celebrate your wedding; or who will present your child to the Lord when he is born. And they are certainly not the ones who will do your funeral when you leave this world. It’s not others who invest in you every day, every week and all year long either. It is clear that we cannot listen to all the voices around us in the same way. And Jesus tells us here, that the sheep do not listen to the voice of strangers.
When you need to make an important decision, go to your pastor. Let him advise you. He knows you, he knows the Lord and above all: he wants your good, which cannot be the case for others, since they are “foreigners”. There is a time in life when it is important to grasp the greatness of the local church and the need to cling to your church and your pastor.
Whose voice will you listen to?
During the Six Day War, Israel had to mobilize a lot of reservists and among them there were many shepherds. While they were on their mission, something had to be done to look after their sheep. They carried them all into large sheepfolds and the sheep were mixed with the others. But at the end of the war, when the shepherds returned to take their sheep, people wondered how they were going to sort them. But there was no difficulty. Every shepherd raised his voice and called his sheep, and the sheep listened to the voice of their shepherd. They knew the voice of their shepherd.
Whose voice are you listening to? Learn to listen primarily to the voice of the Great Shepherd, Jesus, and do not hesitate to listen to the voice of your shepherd, your pastor.
source: teachme
author:Donato Anzalone
