Sunday Sermon Manuscript for April 26

John 10:1-10

"Do You Know This Voice?"

A Familiar Passage That Feels Unfamiliar

1. Today's passage is one we've heard before. The Good Shepherd, the gate for the sheep, abundant life. These are stories anyone who has spent time in church has encountered at least once. Yet as I prepared this passage, I found myself realizing that what I thought was familiar had never truly sunk in — it had simply felt comfortable. I want to share with you today how directly this passage speaks to the very concrete reality of our lives.

What Is Happening Right Here in Berkeley

2. Not long ago, I received a warning. There are many cults operating near UC Berkeley. These aren't obviously strange fringe groups. Some of them carry names you would recognize. They hold worship services, read the Bible, sing praise songs. At first, they are extraordinarily warm and welcoming.

3. They especially reach out to international students who have come here alone, and to young people who are longing for community. But as time goes on, things gradually shift. Demands begin to emerge. Relationships become controlled. The group starts to look different from what it was in the beginning.

4. Most of these groups share certain characteristics: strong control, discouragement of questions, and above all, a fierce exclusivity. They will openly tell you that anyone outside their group cannot be saved. They pressure members to cut off relationships with family and friends outside the group.

5. The reason I bring this up is that today's passage is speaking directly to this reality. The words Jesus spoke two thousand years ago align precisely with what we are encountering right here in Berkeley today.

Connected to Chapter 9 — People Who Think They See, But Cannot

4. Before reading John chapter 10, we need to understand and connect it to chapter 9. The very first line of today's passage — "Very truly I tell you" — functions in John's Gospel somewhat like the word "therefore." It picks up what has just happened in chapter 9 and carries it forward.

5. In chapter 9, a man who was born blind appears. Jesus heals him. But the Pharisees who witness this miracle respond with anger rather than joy. Their first objection is that Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Their second problem runs deeper — in their legalistic worldview, blindness was considered a consequence of sin. If the man's sight was restored, it meant his sin had been removed. And that raised a deeply unsettling question for them: who has the authority to forgive sin? The miracle threw their entire framework into confusion.

6. The pivotal moment in chapter 9 comes when Jesus tells these Pharisees directly that they themselves are the ones who are spiritually blind. That is what ignites their fury. They watched a blind man receive his sight, yet they remained blind. Jesus says at the end of that chapter: "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

7. It is after all of this that today's passage begins. Keep that in mind as you read chapter 10. In many ways, this passage is addressed to leaders who appear to see but in fact cannot.

8. At the same time, it is a declaration about who the true shepherd is. The false shepherds acted in the name of God, yet they crushed people underfoot. And it is to them that Jesus says: "Anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber."

9. This was not an abstract statement. Jesus was speaking about something happening right in front of everyone's eyes. And he is speaking about what is happening right in front of our eyes today.

10. Here is what troubles me when I read this. Thieves and robbers do not think of themselves as thieves and robbers when they enter. They believe they are acting for the good of the sheep. They believe they are following God's will.

11. Cults are no different. They do not introduce themselves by saying, "We are a cult." They read Scripture, they pray, they emphasize community. From the outside, you cannot tell the difference. So what are we supposed to do?

Where Does the Power to Discern Come From?

7. Jesus gives us the answer. Look at verses 3 and 4. "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." And then verse 5: "But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

8. This is the key. The sheep do not run from the stranger because his voice sounds obviously evil. They run because they know the shepherd's voice — and this other voice sounds different. The basis of discernment is not knowledge of what is false. It is intimacy with what is true.

9. I believe this is the most important word for us today. If you want to avoid cults, learning about cults is not the first step. Knowing the voice of Jesus more deeply is. Knowing the real thing intimately is a stronger protection than studying the counterfeit.

10. So what does it mean to know Jesus' voice? There is a story about an elderly shepherd who had kept sheep for decades. One day his grandson came along and decided to try calling the sheep himself. He called out their names, whistled, clapped his hands.

11. The sheep paid no attention. They just kept grazing. Then the grandfather spoke a single word in a quiet voice, and the entire flock lifted their heads and moved toward him. The grandson asked, "Grandpa, why won't they come when I call?" The grandfather replied, "Son, the sheep know my voice because I've come every morning to feed them. They didn't know it from the beginning."

12. Coming to know the voice of Jesus works the same way. It is not an ability that appears suddenly one day. It is something that gets written into you, slowly, through daily reading of Scripture, through prayer, through worship. When that time accumulates, something in you begins to register when a different voice enters. You sense it before you can even explain it.

Our Reality — Is Sunday Once a Week Enough?

11. At this point, I need to be honest about where we are. We gather on Sundays. Around a hundred people most weeks, closer to a hundred and thirty when you include the children and young adults. And I find myself genuinely asking: within this community, how do we hear the voice of Jesus sufficiently?

12. Can one Sunday service carry the weight of an entire week of other voices? In a world that floods us with competing messages, is gathering once a week really enough to keep us equipped? I'll be honest — there are times I'm not sure it is.

13. But here is something in this passage that holds me. The sheep do not avoid the stranger's voice because they held a meeting and voted on it. Each sheep runs because each sheep individually knows the shepherd's voice. Discernment ultimately happens in each person's own life.

14. Sunday worship is the place where we check in with that discernment and refill it. But hearing the shepherd's voice — that happens throughout the week, in each person's own place. That part is not something I can do for you. It has to happen in your life.

Jesus as the Gate — Protection That Does Not Imprison

13. Beginning in verse 7, Jesus speaks more directly: "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep." What is interesting here is that earlier he seemed to be describing the shepherd, and now he is calling himself the gate. How can the same person be both shepherd and gate?

14. If you try to press the details too hard, the analogy becomes confusing. But reading it more carefully, you find that the entire parable is pointing toward one thing: who is for the sheep, and who saves the sheep. Jesus being both shepherd and gate means he is the one who knows and leads us, and at the same time he is the entrance itself — the standard by which everything is measured.

15. Verse 9 shows us the gate's two functions: "Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture." One function is protection. The other is passage. The gate does not lock the sheep inside. It guards them from what would harm them, while opening the way for them to go out to pasture.

16. I think these are the two axes of the life of faith: being protected and going forward. If we emphasize only protection — if the idea becomes that we are only safe inside the church — then the gate that leads into the world disappears. But if we only talk about moving freely in and out, the things that need to be guarded become treated as unimportant. The gate Jesus describes does both at once. A gate that protects and opens. That is what Jesus is for us.

The Difference Between the Thief and Jesus — Taking or Giving?

15. And finally, verse 10: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

16. The difference between the thief and Jesus comes down to purpose. The thief takes something from the sheep. Jesus gives something to the sheep. When you look at what cults do, they ultimately take from the people in them. They take time. They take relationships. They take the ability to think for oneself. In severe cases, they take money and family. That is what makes them thieves.

17. What Jesus gives, on the other hand, is abundant life. The word translated "to the full" is the Greek word perisson — it means overflowing, more than enough. This image of abundance runs throughout John's Gospel. The wine at the wedding in Cana. The bread and fish on the hillside in Galilee. What Jesus gives is always more than what is needed. And that abundance does not come by taking from your life. It comes by helping you live more fully as yourself.

18. Honestly, I know this does not always match our experience. Some of you come to church and your life does not feel abundant. You feel tired, worn out, and your prayers feel like they are hitting a ceiling. Some of you are carrying the question inside: where is this abundant life, exactly?

19. I don't have an easy answer to that question. But what I found coming back to this passage is that abundant life is not a reward given when certain conditions are met. It begins in the relationship itself — in coming and going through the gate who is Jesus. Abundance is not a question of circumstances. It is a question of relationship.

20. The blind man in chapter 9 is thrown out of his community after his sight is restored. His circumstances did not improve. And yet he meets Jesus and confesses him as Lord. That was where abundant life began for him. Not a resolution of his situation. The beginning of a relationship.

Walking with Jesus 24 Hours a Day — The Spiritual Journal Seminar

19. With all of this in mind, I want to propose something. On the last Saturday and Sunday of May, we are going to hold a Spiritual Journal Seminar together. A spiritual journal is not simply a diary of your day. It is a practice of walking with Jesus for 24 hours. It involves writing down, at the end of each day, the moments when you were aware of Jesus — the moments when you were pulled toward a different voice — the moments when a word of Scripture came to mind.

20. I'll be transparent with you: this does not come naturally to me. Honestly, it is not a style that fits me well. Writing things down does not feel intuitive, and in the middle of a busy day, it can feel like one more thing to manage. And yet I believe this matters.

21. Because just as sheep follow the shepherd by recognizing his voice and his presence, we too need to make a sustained effort to hear the words of Jesus, to reflect on them, and to write them into our hearts. Not once a week, but walking with Jesus for 24 hours each day. Hearing that voice not only in the sanctuary, but at school, at work, alone in your room, when someone invites you somewhere new — in all of those moments. The spiritual journal is a practice for training exactly that.

22. There is a phrase in verse 4 that keeps coming back to me: "He goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him." Following Jesus who goes ahead of us is not something that only happens during worship.

23. On Monday morning, on Wednesday afternoon, on Friday night — he goes ahead, and we follow. The spiritual journal is a practice for staying in that current. Looking back at the end of each day and asking: where did I follow him today, and where did I lose the thread?

Take One Thing Home With You Today

22. I am not going to promise you this will be easy. It is unfamiliar to me too, and I think we will need to learn it together as we go. But one thing I am certain of: if we want to grow into more mature people of faith, Sunday once a week is not enough. We need a concrete practice of walking with Jesus in ordinary life. The spiritual journal is one such practice. The goal is not to do it perfectly. The goal is to know his voice a little better, day by day.

23. There are moments when being a small community feels like a weakness. But perhaps it is the opposite. In a large congregation, someone can be drifting and no one notices. Because we know each other, we can tell when someone starts being drawn somewhere strange. A community where we know each other's names and know each other's lives — that is actually the sheep pen this passage is describing. Small, but a community where we can call each other by name.

24. Take one thing home with you today: a person who knows the voice of Jesus is not easily shaken by other voices. I hope you will spend this coming week drawing a little closer to that voice. And through the Spiritual Journal Seminar we will do together soon, my deep hope is that we become people who hear the shepherd's voice not just on Sunday, but throughout the whole week.