Jesus’ voice will lead you to where the path is actually greener — John 10:1–10

Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by 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 the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:1–10

Jesus’ voice leads you to where the grass is actually greener.

I. Many voices claim to be your guide.

II. Only one voice claims to be your guide and your door.

There’s a respected book in the marketing world called StoryBrand. The idea behind the book is that each person sees themselves living out their own story. And in every good story, there’s a point in which the main character realizes something in their life isn’t as good as it could be. And then the main character meets a guide. And the guide walks them along through a journey until they achieve the good life at the end. The marketer’s job, so says StoryBrand, is to make sure that their marketing messaging positions their customer where they want to be, as the main character in their story, and positions the company as the guide, providing the product or service that will usher the customer into the place where the grass is greener, into their vision of the good life. Their job is to convince people to think that this product or service will make the difference in bringing them the good life.

And after I read about that marketing tactic, of course now I see it everywhere. In our big city of Chicago, I see it most often in this way: many people think that the thing they need most that will get them to the good life is connections with other people. And so there’s all these advertisements of a product enabling people to have a blast with their friends and they think, oh my grass would be greener if I just had more friendships like that. And so companies go all in on this. From yoga studios to coffee shops to chambers of commerce to cell phone stores to I don’t know, insert a business, I bet there’s some part of their marketing strategy aimed at positioning themselves as a guide to connecting people with other people.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with this at all. In fact, if you’re perceptive, you’ve read the Crossroads mission statement on the back of our bulletin that says “Crossroads connects you to Jesus and other Chicagoans.” We are positioning ourselves as the guide to bring people into a community full of people who are deeply connected to Christ and to one another.

So are we just the next marketers, no different from any other business? Absolutely not. You could argue that the reason StoryBrand works well is because it is built on Christian principles, though it probably doesn’t realize it. It’s built on the Christian principles that our life in this world isn’t as it should be, we want our lives to be as they should be, and we instinctively know that we need a guide to help us get there.

But that is where the similarities end between secular marketing and the voice of Jesus. Because there is only one guide who can bring us to the good life that we desire, and because so many companies have clued into this truth about us humans, they’re all trying to use his marketing strategy, so to speak. There are many different voices promising to guide you to greener grass. And they’re all incredibly convincing. And many of them have the potential to be incredibly damaging to your life.

As we turn to our reading today, we will see how Jesus helps us identify which voices clamoring for your attention are thieves and robbers who come to kill and destroy, and which voice is actually the voice of your Good Shepherd. He will show us a foolproof test to discern which voice is his: that although other voices may seem to be using the same strategy and same language as Jesus, in reality he offers you something that is the exact opposite from what they do: when you follow his voice, he will guide you to where the grass is actually greener.

I. Many voices claim to be your guide

The context of this reading is really important to understanding why Jesus is speaking as he is. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders. They had positioned themselves as the voices of truth in their society. You want to get closer to God? You want God to make your life better? You went to talk to a Pharisee, and he could give you the checklist to accomplish. He could give be the guide to show not just one product but a whole list of things that you could do so that you could confidently enter the temple and worship God. The temple at that time was often called the “sheep pen.”

So Jesus is speaking to these Pharisees, and he commandeers the sheep imagery to combat the Pharisees. He talks about the sheep pen in literal terms, in terms of an actual sheep pen, something that the people would’ve been very familiar with. Sheep pens were open air, often brick walls with one gate, and Jesus talks about a night watchman who would guard the gate at night. The night watchman’s job was to make sure that only one kind of person could go through the gate—the shepherd who wants what is best for the sheep. Everyone else who wants to get at the sheep would have to try to jump the walls under the cover of darkness.

Jesus paints the Pharisees as those thieves and robbers, and anyone who leads people in his way as shepherds. He says that the Pharisees claim to be the voice of truth, the guides to greener grass with God, but actually they destroy people’s faith. But he says that people know are actually sheep will never fall for it. They’ll never follow their lies, they’ll listen to the voice of their shepherd. True believers in Jesus will only listen to his voice and only follow where he leads, they will not be deterred one way or another.

And we hear Jesus say that and we think, uh oh. We think through the past few years, we think through the past few months, we think through this morning, and we can come up with dozens of examples when we’ve listened to another voice other than Jesus’. Whose voice do you allow to influence you? Whose voice do you allow to be your guide? Which voices do you look to to take you to where the grass is greener? Is it the advertisements on your phone, tailored to be specifically appealing to you? Is it the voice of the professionals in a given sphere, whether it’s talking heads, whether it’s a podcast guest? Is it the voice of your friends, that say, yes Jesus has some good things to say but some of it doesn’t apply today? Is it the voice of your family members, maybe not even said out loud, but still communicating that if you do such and such you will finally make me proud?

We live in the information age. There have never been more voices clambering over the wall. And so there are so many more opportunities to listen. To buy in, to think yes, this product, this service, this lifestyle, this earned respect is my ticket to the good life. And we have fallen, and we continue to fall. We have at many times left our shepherd’s voice and turned away from his path to follow a thief and a robber. Why do we do this? Because they make their voices sound so similar to Jesus. Jesus offers salvation that you will fully realize someday, they say they offer salvation that you can have just around the corner. Jesus offers you a life of total commitment to him, they offer you a life of commitment, but a little bit less, a little bit more attainable than a full 100% commitment. They claim to offer to guide you to where the grass is greener, but when you follow them you find it was a mirage. Because when you listen, you find that you’re still seeking just as much as you were before, you’re still in need of something more, you still haven’t achieved the good life.

So how can we tell the difference? How can we know whether a voice is a shepherd who wants to enter through the gate and want what’s best for us, or a theif that has to jump the wall to spread ideas that will damage us? How can we know when clicking the ad we see on our phone for the knew gym membership is going to pull us away from Jesus or is a good way to serve him? How can we know where the line is when we listen to a political commentator, where is the line between trusting in them too much and not trusting Jesus to guide it all? How can we know when friends or family members give us advice, whether this advice is in line with what our shepherd would want for us or would lead us straight into the hands of forces who only seek our spiritual harm? How can we know when every voice that comes at you promises to lead you to where the grass is greener?

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Jesus knows you better than any social media advertisement algorithm, better than any of your friends, even better than any of your family. The products they would sell you or the advice they would offer you are valuable only as far as they agree with what Jesus knows about you. Jesus knows your name. He’s known your name since before the creation of the world, and he knows exactly what you need. He knows all the times you have strayed by following another voice. He knows that you do not just need a guide to help you into the good life. He knows that you are so destitute, so helpless, so sheep-like, that you cannot do anything beneficial for your eternal welfare on your own at all. He knows that you need something, someone more than theguides StoryBrands wants to provide. And he came to be that someone for you.

II. Only one voice claims to be your guide and your door

In the last few verses of our reading, Jesus changes the metaphor just a bit to make his point clearer. He calls himself the gate of the pen. This too would’ve been a familiar picture for the people back then, as some shepherds would lie down and sleep in the gate at night, so that no predator could cross over them and get at their flock.

And here is the full picture of the difference between Jesus’ voice and other voices. Other voices would have you believe that they are just the guide; it is you and your skills and abilities and personality and ambition that is really getting somewhere. They want to convince you that you can work your way into the good life. The Pharisees wanted to convince people that they could work their way onto God’s good side if they would just obey to a list of commands. The voices that surround you today want to convince you that you have what it takes to work your way to greener grass if you would just do x, y, z.

But Jesus says to you that he is more than your guide. He is also your gate. He is the only way into the pen. He is the only way into God’s grace. You cannot achieve God’s grace, even with 99% Jesus and 1% of your effort; he is the only way. Other voices tell you, “you can do it,” Jesus’ voice tells you, “you cannot do it, but have no fear, I have done it for you. It is done already, it is finished. He says: you—yes you—you are saved. In God’s pen, there are only sinless saints, and I, the shepherd, have laid down my life, so that you, the sheep—my sheep—could enter. All other voices offer salvation by striving; his voice alone gives you salvation by certainty.

And just like Jesus says, once you hear his voice, once he shows how his voice is different than all the thieves and robbers who want to convince you that you can do it on your own, you have no need to follow another voice again. You will go in and out only through the gate; in other words, you will live your life according to Jesus’ words that you are saved only in him. You will be able to discern other voices, which voices are leading you along Jesus’ path ever closer to him, and which voices will tear you away. You will be able to listen to advice from friends or family or advertisers or experts and carefully consider them without being captured by them. You don’t need to chase after them to achieve God’s good graces, because your Shepherd has already spoken your name, claimed you as his own, and given you God’s grace.

That’s what Jesus means when he says that you will have life and have it to the full. He doesn’t just guide you to what you think you want. He died to give you what he knows you actually need: the unconditional love of your God. And so, you will have life and have it to the full because you will live not being influenced by all kinds of different voices who may not have your best interests at heart. Instead, you are completely aware who your Shepherd is and where your Gate lies. You know that he has your best interests at heart because he gave up his life for yours. Jesus leads you to grass that is actually greener because his voice alone leads you in a life full of the certainty of his love for you. His grass is actually greener because in him you are fully satisfied.