Sheep and Shepherds

When people call me “Pastor” they are using the Latin word for “Shepherd.”  My daily prayer is that I will care for the flock of God in a loving, caring, spiritually protective way. Sometimes, when the pain of another overwhelms my heart, I do remind myself, “Jerry, you are not the Savior, you are the pastor.”  My calling is to watch over God’s people, to love them, to lead and teach, and to care.   

We all need people who care for us. Life gets turbulent, challenges multiply, spiritual challenges arise. It is a real comfort to know that there is someone who is looking out for our interests, who is ready to care for our soul.  Most important, we can be secure when we know the Good Shepherd.

Jesus saw the needs of people and it touched His heart. Matthew tells us that He traveled through the towns and villages, teaching about the arrival of the Kingdom of God. He was not a tourist, seeing the sights. He was a Shepherd, seeing the human needs. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:36-38, NIV)

Some of our modern pundits like to mock ordinary people by calling them, ‘sheeple’ in the most derogatory way, arrogantly dismissing those who are struggling, who are not able to claim ‘self-sufficiency,’ who need help  - as weak. In fact, we are much like sheep, needing to be cared for.  Domestic sheep, if left alone on the open range without a shepherd, will invariably come to a terrible end! Predators will kill them off. Their wool will grow, becoming a mess of tangles, infested with parasites. They will over-graze the land, exhausting their food supply.  But, a well-shepherded flock thrives.

How are things in your life today?  Are you, in some way, feeling ‘harassed and helpless?’  Our cultural ideal of individualism, of needing no one, is a myth. People who try to live that way end up alone, usually miserable. There is no shame in admitting we need care, that we want to know that we are loved.  Yes, there are evil people who exploit that need and use others to serve their own agenda. Sometimes even ‘religious’ leaders abuse the flock of God. So before we entrust our soul and heart to another, we need to be discerning.

There is a Good Shepherd that loves you! His name is Jesus. He invites us to - "Come, follow me. ... I am the Good Shepherd." In John’s Gospel, He enlarges the idea, speaking of the sheep-fold that the shepherd prepared for his flock at night. There they were safe, gathered in under care.  He tells us that He is "the Gate for the sheep. ... Anyone who goes through me will be cared for-will freely go in and out, and find pasture. ... I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary." (John 10:7-11, The Message)

"Come, follow me." Will you take Jesus up on His invitation?  It's an invitation to adventure, to life that is purposeful and meaningful, and - best of all - to a relationship! He promises that if we follow Him, He will never leave us. He does not promise that we will never be attacked by wolves, go through violent storms, or experience difficult days! But, He promises we won't face those challenges alone. "I'll be there," He says, "caring for you."  

Follow the Good Shepherd. Serve Him. Worship Him. Listen to Him. And, you will 'have real and eternal life, more and better life than you ever dreamed.' That's the truth.

Here’s a familiar word from the Word. Don’t rush through it!  Savor the promise.

The Lord is MY shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23, NIV)

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Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us
(An older recording of this song by 4Him)

Savior like a shepherd lead us

Much we need thy tender care

In thy pleasant pastures feed us

For our use thy folds prepare

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Thou hast bought us thine we are

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Thou hast bought us thine we are

We are thine do thou befriend us

Be the guardian of our way

Keep thy flock from sin defend us

Seek us when we go astray

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Hear O hear us when we pray

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Hear O hear us when we pray

Early let us seek thy favor

Early let us do thy will

Blessed Lord and only Savior

With thy love our beings fill

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Thou hast loved us love us still

Blessed Jesus blessed Jesus

Thou hast loved us love us still

Dorothy Ann Thrupp | William Batchelder Bradbury

© Words: Public Domain

Closer Than You Know

There is an old story, true or not I’m not sure, about a man who strung a tight-rope across Niagara Falls to show his skills. To the gathered crowd he asked, “Who believes I can push this wheelbarrow to the other side on that rope?” A great cheer went up, universal agreement that he could do the amazing feat.  “Ok, who will ride in the wheelbarrow?” he asked, to a now silent crowd!

Sometimes I think our faith in Jesus is similar to the ‘belief’ in that crowd. We think He can do what He says, but we are not quite willing to entrust our lives to Him. We not quite ready to be radically committed to His way as a disciple. We hope for eternal life through Christ, but that is out on the horizon, in a realm over which we know we have no control, so why not? What’s to lose? Living for Him today is, for some, an entirely different proposition. Will we do what He teaches, even when it challenges our personal comfort? Will we pursue His will, even when it means abandoning some cherished goal of our own?

Our continued reading in Matthew tells us three short stories about faith, times when Jesus challenged the people standing around to believe. "Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment." (Matthew 9:20-22, NIV)  "As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored.” (Matthew 9:27-30, NIV)

Faith! How do I believe? Is my faith strong, shaping my choices, or just part of the background in my life, a faith whisper, a tradition summoned for times of crisis only? Before we throw up our mental defenses, arguing that it was a different time, or that the era of miracles is over, or that we would believe if only Jesus were standing there alongside of us, let’s look at the sacred text and ask the Spirit what He is saying. The best commentary on Jesus’ words come from Hebrews: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6, NIV)

The baseline for knowing God and His best for us is faith; that assurance, matched with trust, that causes us to shape our lives around His promise and His plan.  Some make Jesus’ words mean that ‘if we believe enough’ we can make miracles happen at our command. I do not believe that, for this reason. Miracles are in God’s hands, not mine. I can’t force them to occur by saying the right words, working up the right emotions, or quoting the Bible loudly enough.

But, if I refuse to trust God with an active faith, I will not experience His power and provision for my life. Oh yes, He is always active, but without faith I will not see His work. How many times are we like those first disciples who prayed for the release of Peter from prison but when he showed up at their door, knocking to get in, they didn’t open it, fearing that it was his ghost. (Acts 12) Their faith was deficient, they did not, apparently, expect God to secure Peter’s freedom.  I have done that, too. After praying for someone or something, when my prayers are answered, sometimes I fail to thank God, chalking the results up to coincidence or good fortune. What a failure of faith.

Two words come to mind for me when I think about faulty faith – one is presumptive; the other is gullible. Faith that is not God-centered will lead us to a place where we mistakenly think that we are in charge of God’s power to heal, to restore, to enrich. No, we are not. We are partners with God in faith, but He never surrenders His right to rule to us. Many are the sad Christians who have been deceived by quacks and false prophets who speak persuasively, who tell grand stories, which lead to false expectations and disappointment because the ‘faith’ of which they speak is not centered on God.

Genuine faith is powerful because it is the connection between God and me. Faith allows me to put my life, my concerns, my fears, my hopes under His care. Knowing that He is a loving Father, a good God, I can radically trust Him. That is faith. And, as He speaks and leads, I can cooperate with Him to see His power brought to our human experience.  Deep and real faith bridges the gap between Heaven and earth in ways that defy my complete understanding. If I could understand it all, if I could reduce it to explanations I could fully grasp, then it would no longer be faith. Most everything we are taught in our present world argues against faith, teaching us that seeing is believing, that only what can be verified by rationale argument is to be trusted. But, what if our natural is too limited, our natural senses insufficient to see and know the living God?  Ah, yes, that is the beginning of faith.

Faith is both a choice and a gift. We invite God, the Spirit, to stir faith in us; and we respond with surrender – heart, soul, mind, and strength – to Him. Faith is primarily relational. Ask the Lord to make this word from the Word alive to you, to meet your doubts with His faith and to transform you into a disciple that knows the joy of being truly Fathered.  “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:9-13, NLT)

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Closer Than You Know

I tempered the storm though your faith was small

I prayed while you slept and the night waged war

We stood in the fire and we walked on sea

And we drank of the wine that was made of Me

Don't turn your eyes (away) from Me

For My love won't be undone

Don't hide your face from Me

For My light has surely come

Surely come surely come oh

I carried that cross and I felt your pain

I took up your crown and I wore your shame

And death was a fire and its teeth were grim

But I left it behind along with all your sin

Lift up your eyes and see

Heaven is closer than you know

(Know I'll never leave you)

(So) Lift up your voice and sing

Know that My love won't let you go

(And I won't forsake you)

(And My light has surely come)

Surely come surely come

And I'm closer than you know

And I'm closer than you know

Lord I hear You I know You're there

Closer now than my skin and bones could dare

Breathing deep within me

You are always with me

I can see You where eyes can't stare

Brighter now than the sun could ever dare

Breathing all around me

(God I know You're with me here)

(God I know that You are here)

For I'm Yours and You are mine

And my soul knows well

You are here You are here

And my soul will praise You

And my soul will praise Your name

Singing holy is Your name

Jesus oh Jesus

Joel Houston | Matt Crocker | Michael Guy Chislett

© 2015 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Responsive to Him?

At my age there is a real possibility of becoming ‘set in my ways.’  The ways I 'do life,' the foods I like, the patterns I follow, are comfortable, like a pair of old shoes. And that’s just fine. A real problem arises if I confuse what is ‘comfortable’ for me with what is ‘right’ for everybody. I want to remain a learner, a person who can adapt to new things, new ways, new ideas. Most of all, I want an experience with God that is alive, that has not abandoned the passion of my first love for Jesus.

Matthew records an encounter that Jesus in which some people asked why the disciples were not following some of the ‘old’ ways. Take a look. "Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:14-17, NIV)

Devout Jews of the time sought to please God by fasting and other practices of self-denial. In themselves, such acts of devotion are not bad and they can serve a good purpose; helping a person to focus on God, to listen for the voice of the Spirit intently. However, Jesus tells those inquirers that God is doing a new thing in the world and that they needed to be responsive to Him. The message of the Kingdom Come was bigger than fasts and feasts. The ‘new wine’ of the Spirit was going to poured into people whose hearts were soft and tender before the Lord so that the message of God’s reconciliation of humanity to Himself through Christ Jesus could go out to the whole earth. That Gospel could not be bottled up in the ‘old wineskins’ of Judaism, could not be expressed through rigid observance of the Law of Moses.

Using simple illustrations, He spoke of the importance of being responsive to what God is doing beyond what is comfortable, familiar, even traditional.  Was Jesus erasing our connection to the Old Testament or to practices of the Spiritual disciplines? Not at all! He says that when ‘the bridegroom is taken,’ in other words when He has gone back to Heaven having established the Kingdom by His death and Resurrection, His disciples would fast, too.  But, they would practice their devotion outside of the old patterns of the Law, without the need for further sacrifice for sin.

His word remains an important lesson for you and me! Each generation risks becoming rigid, exalting their own traditions to the place of sacred law. If we do, we will miss out on what God is doing, refusing to be responsive. A word of clarification here is critical. Jesus is not praising fads, novelty, or ‘relevance.’  Those things become a trap spiritually, too. Seeking some new thing because we are bored, wanting some excitement to relieve the tedium of daily life, can lead us to throw out good and desirable things in the name of revival and/or renewal. Jesus calls us to listen to the Holy Spirit. That asks for mature discernment, for a readiness to spend time listening before we announce God’s ‘next best thing’ to the world.

Has your faith become rigid, your spiritual life without a tender desire for God? He makes us new, even those of us who are old!

The word from the Word is Paul’s prayer for God’s people. Make his words your prayer, too. I do for you, for me. "Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people." (Ephesians 1:15-18, NLT)

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Abba, I humbly bow in Your Presence.

My prayer is that my mind will be clear, my heart will be tender.

Keep me from loving the safe, the familiar, the ‘tried and true’ so much

that I will not hear the Spirit’s invitation.

I pray for a discerning heart that can separate the merely novel

from the work of the Spirit in bringing the Kingdom to this time.

Teach me, renew my love. Preserve me from a living death

so that I will please and honor You for all my days.

In the Holy Name of Jesus.  Amen