Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, died at the age of 80.  We're told that he died in peaceful serenity surrounded by a great host of followers who had embraced his philosophy.

Confucius died at the age of 72.  Though he had suffered many setbacks during the rest of his life, at the end he returned to his own home city of Lu having triumphed over all his opponents and having successfully organized a large group of noble disciples who were to continue his work.

Mohammed died at the age of 62.  He had thoroughly enjoyed his last years as political ruler of a united Arabia.  He died, appropriately enough, at his harem in Mecca in the arms of his favorite wife.

Often I hear people say that the origin of all world religions is basically the same.  People point us to founders of dynamic personality who discover some great moral or spiritual truth and dedicate their lives to teaching it, finally succeeding in gaining followers and changing their society.  As far as Buddhism, Confucianism, or Islam are concerned, there's an obvious degree of truth in that opinion.  All these were founded by men who died in ripe old age, after a lifetime of teaching, amidst vast popular acclaim, and with the successful future of their movement virtually guaranteed.

In the whole spectrum of world religions, it really is only the Christian faith that is different. Jesus died at the age of only 33, after a teaching ministry of, at the very most, three years.  His countrymen had ostracized him.  He'd been betrayed and denied by his own supporters.  He'd been mocked and ridiculed by his opponents.  Everyone had forsaken him; even, he felt, his heavenly Father.  And finally, he'd suffered one of the most atrocious, ignominious, agonizing forms of public execution that the cruel human imagination has ever devised.

Jesus died prematurely, tragically, violently, lonely‑‑on a cross. 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… He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter…  (Isaiah 53:3,7)

How did one who lived and died that way become the founder of a faith that millions have embraced?  Jesus died on a cross and, ironically, far from his followers trying to hush that up, his death on a cross has become the very center of the Christian message for these two millennia.  Apart from this gruesome public crucifixion, there would be no Christian faith at all.  Paul declared, "We preach Christ crucified.  That may be a scandal to Jews.  It may be foolishness to Greeks.  But to us it the very power of God."

What on earth is that all about?  Look at what we say in our SOF Article 5:

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

God’s gospel is accomplished through the work of Jesus Christ

So the question I want us to look at is simply, "Why?"  Why did Jesus die?  There is probably no question that could be asked of our faith that is quite as important as that.  I want to ask the question in two ways:  First, what was the motive behind the death? What was in his heart when he died?  And then second, what was the purpose of the death?  In other words, what did he achieve through it?  Jesus takes up this why-question personally in a talk with his disciples in John 10:11‑18.

Question 1:  What was the motive behind Jesus’ death?

The answer is quite simply and profoundly: Jesus died because He loves us.  Love motivated Jesus’ death.  This is seen in at least two statements in Jesus' teaching.  Look first at vv.12‑14a.

#1:  Jesus’ loving character is indicated by the word “good”.

That word "good" could mean several things.  We speak of a good car... if it runs.  Or we speak of a good person... if he's moral or honest.  But the word used Jesus used in v.14 (kalos) means neither of those.  It doesn't refer to efficiency as in a good car.  And it doesn't usually refer to moral uprightness.  Instead, this word has the distinct overtone of meaning attractiveness.  It refers to the kind of people who have the kinds of qualities that draw people to themselves ‑‑ qualities of caring, empathy, and compassion.  The good person is the kind of person to whom simple animals, like sheep, are drawn without fear for they somehow intuit that he means the best for them.

And that's what Jesus is like.  This goodness is why, I think, that young children are almost always drawn to love Jesus.  They may not understand much about the Trinity or about justification by faith, etc. but they know there is something welcoming and forgiving and loving about this man.  And this is also why most of us haven’t usually been drawn to Jesus simply by intellectual debate or by ad campaigns.  No, most of us are drawn first to Jesus by the beauty of his personal character.    We read about him, hear about him, and say, "I want to know that man.  I want to be like him."

And Jesus’ goodness and love are nowhere on display more fully than in his death.  If Jesus had to die to prove his love, he was going to do it because he has a real and genuine compassion for us.

Of course, there are many things or people in the world that pretend to be good shepherds but are really just hirelings – that’s a point Jesus makes in this text.  There are things like drugs and illicit pleasure or even good things like material success that promise so much if you'll give them certain place in your life.  But they don't carry through.  In fact, they rob you ‑‑ destroy you.

And, let's face it, there are people who pretend to care, to have your best interests in mind, but only want you for their benefit ‑‑ to help their company succeed, to bring your offering to their church.  How many religious leaders constantly beg for what you can give them ‑‑ seeking power and prestige?  They're not there for others but for themselves.

It's not that way with Jesus.  Jesus came to die so that we might live life to the full (10:10).  He's the good shepherd.  He wants those he loves to experience abundant life.

1 John 4:9-10: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).

#2:  Jesus’ love is shown by the fact that his was a planned death.

No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again (John 10:18).

William Barclay tells the story of a young man in WWI who was wounded in an enemy attack that everyone knew was coming.  The medic who then came to treat him had to tell him, "I'm sorry, soldier, you've lost your arm."  And the young man replied, "Doc, I didn't lose it.  I gave it."  In other words, I knew what I was doing.  I did it for my country and for freedom.

Jesus is saying something similar though stronger.  He's not just saying that he came into the world willing to die if necessary ‑‑ like a soldier going into a battle.  He's saying he came into this world knowing his death would be necessary.  His death was essential to his eternal mission.  He knew that.  Repeatedly he said, “I have come to die.  It is necessary for me to die.” But he was willing to do it motivated by his love.

In vv.14b‑15, we see the goal of this planned death, i.e., too bring His sheep into the fold. I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for my sheep.

These are such remarkable words that I don't want you to miss them.  Jesus is claiming that as he looked out into the world, his eyes were able to penetrate through time and space.  Though his death was at hand, he was able to see that beyond that point of his death, there was a group of people who, in some very intimate way, belonged to him

"My sheep."  In some very special way they were his.  "I know my followers.  They're not a faceless multitude to me."  In fact, he says, "There are other sheep outside this sheep pen.  I have to bring them in too."  Almost certainly he is speaking of that huge number outside Israel, so often called God's flock in the Old Testament, who would belong to this new flock of God.

Think of it:  Jesus himself is saying of the four corners of the world, "I have sheep there too.  I have people who belong to me throughout this world.  It's for them I am dying‑‑for my sheep."  He is seeing that in 2011 Southern California that there are people here he loves – and will die for.

Now, it's true that Jesus died for the world‑‑the Bible says that too.  But here it is clear that Jesus knew for whom he was dying.  He died for me.  He died for you.  He had our faces in his mind as he was on the cross.  That’s what Jesus is claiming.  He knew the sins in our lives but he loved us anyway.

I keep hearing from medical sources that there is a shortage of vital organs in our world to be used surgically for healing.  But that's not the case at all.  The problem is that most of these organs are still inside of people using them.  Many of us could easily donate a kidney ‑‑ but we don't.  We think it’s too risky – too much of a sacrifice for us. We would only make that kind of sacrifice for someone we loved deeply.  I mean, there are limits, aren't there?  And (we might be expected to think), dying goes beyond the limit ‑‑ especially for someone who is rather unworthy and unattractive to us.

But Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners.  Why?  Because he loved us.  He loved us to his death.

Question 2:  What was the purpose of Jesus’ death?

Let’s focus on the phrase found both in v.11 & v.15.  Jesus died "for the sheep."

Theologians have debated a great deal in recent years about what this means.  Some just hate the idea of Jesus having to die in our place.  It seems gruesome.  They don’t like the idea of God demanding death of his Son – one calling it “cosmic child abuse.”   Of course, one problem with this is understanding the cross in the light of our first article of faith, i.e., that God is one.  Paul would put it this way in 2 Cor. 5:19 – God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.  At the cross, we see God engaging in self-sacrifice for us.

But it is challenging to understand so, it has become quite common just to say that Jesus died to show how much he loved us – and to leave it at that.  He was showing us what unselfish love looks like.  And that’s true as far as it goes.  Others have said he died to show us how serious sin is in God’s eyes – so serious he will die because of it.  And that is also true.  Yet others say that Jesus died so that he could experience what we experience and then demonstrate his power over death – his triumph over all powers in this world.  And that’s true too.

But, I’m quite sure there is something that is more basic to what Jesus achieved through his death than those thoughts can capture.  Let me try to explain it to you.  Someone volunteering to die certainly is proof of unselfishness and love.  But it makes no sense to say that the purpose of such a death was to set an example of love.  Single women: What would you do if some man said, "Tiffany, I love you and to prove it I'm going to jump over this cliff."  So, he jumps to his death to prove his love.

Would you say, "Wow!  Now, that's the kind of love I need.  I hope I learn to love that way!"  Of course, not!  You'd say, "What a nut!  What good did it do for him to jump over the cliff?"

The only way that it would make sense to choose to die would be if there would be some benefit for the one loved -- if the one loved were in danger and the only way that she could be kept safe was through the death of the one who loves.  Similarly, the only way it would make any sense for a shepherd to die for his sheep is if there is a danger around ‑‑ like a wolf.  If he dies to save the sheep from the wolf, then there is love involved.  The loving death only makes sense if it is a love that desires the salvation of the sheep from enemies.

And that's why Jesus talks about the wolf in v.12.  He’s saying there is a wolf near each of us in this world.  Jesus knew it.  That wolf is that sinful people like you and me will die one day.  And after we die we will have to face a holy God ‑‑ and we're not ready in and of ourselves to stand before God.  This is the consistent message of the Bible about our human condition.  All of us have sinned and the wages of sin is death ‑‑ separation from a holy God.  And we know it ‑‑ though we usually try to ignore it.  That wolf called death comes for each of us and when he comes, robs us of all we live for ‑‑ our wealth, our homes, our friends.

Have you ever seen a flock of sheep when an enemy is nearby ‑‑ even an unknown dog?  They rush around.  They're wild and helpless.  And that's our human condition.  We are doomed to die and that knowledge haunts us every day of our lives.  We try to ignore it in our younger years but it becomes harder and harder to do so.

The wolf is coming!  It's appointed to us all to die and after that, the judgment.  That's why we need a shepherd ‑‑ a good shepherd.  We need someone who is willing to take death and judgment from our midst and bear it himself.

The reason why most people don't realize why Jesus had to die for them is that they don't realize what danger they're in.  It's as simple as that.  "Why does God ask for this death?" they ask.  Why doesn't he just wave a wand and forget the sin?  Say a few words and it's over."  But we find it difficult to accept how serious our sin is.  Forgiveness of our sin is very difficult for God because it is so serious.  The one who engages in a sin over and over grows callous to it.  But God is not callous to sin.  He is holy and knows that evil must be dealt with in a moral world.  And we've all engaged in evil.  As Tim Keller puts it, “We are more wicked than we ever dare to imagine – but we are also more loved than we ever dare to hope.”