Shepherds and Sheep

Good morning, church!

It is so good to be back with you this morning! I appreciate you allowing me to preach at our sending church at Wayne st a few weeks ago and again last week at Lynnville Baptist.

I really enjoy teaching at other congregations and helping out our sister churches when they need help, but there is something great about being here with you, my church family again this morning.

I want to thank Anthony and Mac for sharing from their hearts what the Lord inspired them to teach our church! I pray that you were challenged like I was by their words.

I’m looking forward to getting back into the routine with you each week and continuing our study into the church.

We have more to discuss in asking the question, Why church?

I have a 4 answers to that question that I see in scripture that we have yet to address and I almost started those 4 this morning but there has been a topic that the Lord has continued to pour into my heart and spirit that I believe is the right message for this morning.

I want to give you a visual that the Lord gave me about our church body and church leadership and I pray that it makes sense.

Let’s pray.

The title of the message is Shepherds and Sheep. and how does that answer the question Why church?

Or maybe specifically “How Church?

This analogy of shepherds and sheep is all throughout the Bible.

A lot of the leadership in the OT were shepherds at some point in their lives.

Abel was shepherd out of the garden.

Abraham and Issac were nomadic shepherds roaming the countryside.

Moses was shepherding his sheep when our Lord through a burning bush told him to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt.

David was called in from watching over the family sheep when he was called into the house and anointed as God’s chosen king of Israel by Samuel.

But also, all throughout the Psalms and prophecies, Isreal and its leaders are described as shepherds and sheep. Its got to be one of the top analogies to describe the Lord and those who are His people.

Jesus continued this throughout His teachings in the gospels in multiple places.

John chapter 10 is one of the most obvious examples of this. He says things like,

John 10:2–4 ESV

But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

This is where Jesus makes one of His “I Am” statements.

John 10:10–11 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Here Jesus claims the position and authority given to Him by the Father to lead, guide, protect and feed God’s people or sheep.

He is essentially stating that He is who Psalm 23 prophesied about.

Psalm 23:1–3 (ESV)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Here we see a part of the job description of the Shepherd.

To meet the needs of the sheep. Specifically the greatest need, salvation.

To lead the sheep to green fields to be fed.

To lead the sheep to places of fresh, clean, still waters.

To bring restoration to tired and exhausted souls.

To lead the sheep down paths of right living and Christlikeness.

For the glory of the name of our God.

Now, in the NT, Jesus as the Great Shepherd of the church, or as I said a couple of weeks ago, YOU, US each member of the church, is also described as the Head of the church body.

Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Jesus is the head over ALL THINGS to the church!

Last week, at Lynnville Baptist, I preached a message from 1 Corinthians 3 and we talking about building the Church or the temple of the Living God. We talking about Jesus being the foundation, the Cornerstone, the walls, the roof. Jesus is every part of the Church and everything that we do should be based off Christ and Him crucified. That that is the only way that we build anything that will survive, rust, moths, thieves, and judgement fire.

The fullness of all of Him is in all things! Its all about Jesus as the Great Shepherd and everything that we do is for Him and through Him.

And as our Great Shepherd, He not only leads us to the places to feed us, He IS also our nourishment, He IS the spiritual food that is meant to sustain and fulfill us! He and the Spirit are also the water that we need to be satisfied within us.

John 6:35 ESV

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 4:13–14 ESV

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

So, the Lord is my Shepherd, He leads me to Himself to be the bread of my life and the living water that wells up to eternal life!

He is the green pastures that nourishes our lives!

He leads us to the Holy Spirit and is the living Water that brings knowledge and relationship with the Living God!

Eternal life is this, knowing the Father and who He sent, Jesus Christ!

Church, if you haven’t figured it out yet, its ALL about Jesus! Everything is centered around Him and from Him and points to Him and is FOR Him!

One of the best names for a church would be the Church of Jesus Christ because is accurately describes that the Church is His, He is the head and Great Shepherd of the Church. He is the Bread of our lives and He leads us beside the still waters of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus goes a bit further and tells us how to be filled with His bread of life.

John 4:34 ESV

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy in the desert when the enemy tempts Him.

Satan tried to get Jesus to eat bread that was not from the Father, but to create from Himself bread that was from Him.

Jesus responds in Matthew 4:4

Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Jesus tells us the Bread of Life that, He is for us, is being obedient to every word that comes from God.

Obedience to the commands of God is what is meant to be what sustains us in this life.

Did you hear that? The words of our God and obedience to His commands are the bread of of lives that are meant to sustain us. And once again, who did that perfectly that we can imitate? Jesus!

So, let’s review in light of the specifics of the Church, us.

Jesus is the Great Shepherd of the Church. He is also called the Head of the Church of Body of Christ.

Jesus leads us to places that we can hear and obey the words of God. He is the perfect example of that in this world. He only did what His Father told Him to. When He spoke, He spoke scripture from the Father and He was perfectly obedient.

Jesus leads us to hear the Word of God and to be obedient to His Word because that is the spiritual bread that sustains us.

And Jesus leads us to the Holy Spirit to be the Living Water that satisfies and restores our souls.

Now, do we understand and agree with that?

I do! I believe that Jesus is the head of CCR, He is the foundation, the walls, the roof, the Bread and Living Water that is meant to satisfy our souls.

Now, in the question why church? Why do we have the assembly of the church? Why do we gather? Why are we here together on a Sunday morning?

I want to address, why is there a pastor? and why does scripture call me as your pastor, a shepherd?

I fact, the Greek calls me an undershepherd. Wanna see that?

1 Peter 5:1–5 ESV

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

This passage is one of the job descriptions of being a pastor or undershepherd over the flock or the body of Christ.

It addresses that Jesus is Chief Shepherd. Everything that we said before is still true and applies.

However, Jesus structures His flock to have shepherds under His shepherding to shepherd the flock.

HAHA!

As, your undershepherd, I am to exercise oversight over the flock. I am not be domineering and attempting to trick you into following me.

I am supposed to be an example to you. Clothed in humility towards one another.

Now when Jesus was calling Peter to be the pastor of the first NT church, He stuck to the shepherd and sheep analogy.

John 21:15–17 ESV

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Jesus tells Peter to feed the immature lambs, to tend the sheep to care for them and guide them, and to feed the more mature sheep.

And of course, what did we say earlier?

What are pastors, undershepherds supposed to feed the sheep?

Jesus Christ! He is the bread of life! He leads us to the Holy Spirit and wells us springs of Living Water leading to eternal life of knowing God!

Pastors are meant to lead the sheep to every word that comes from the Father and to being obedient to His commands!

That is the bread of life! That is the spiritual food that satisfies and restores the soul!

And Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, calls undershepherd to lead His body to Himself, the bread of life and to living waters.

A little over a month ago, the Lord gave a vision about how this is to look.

Imagine if you will a large valley.

Imagine a large valley, with streams and an abundance of grass and food. Its safe, the weather is good and there is plenty to eat and drink. But it is vast!

Of course, we know from what we have been talking about that Jesus is the living water and bread or grass. So, Jesus, His Word and His Spirit are everywhere!

Now, this valley is full of sheep! Thousand and thousands of sheep.

Now, imagine Jesus as the Chief Shepherd keeping watch over it all, over the whole flock. So, Jesus is everything in this valley! He is the Great Shepherd, He is the substance that we eat and drink as the sheep of His flock. Everything is from Him and for Him.

Now, imagine those sheep being in smaller clumps or smaller flocks. They are still apart of the larger flock but they are led my little shepherds or undershepherds.

And Jesus gives this little shepherd instructions to take this smaller flock to this section of the valley and eat this area of food and drink this area of water. And we go over there under the leadership of the Chief Shepherd to feast of this part of the valley and drink from this part specifically.

Church, this is an example of how Jesus sets structure to His flock.

He gives pastors, undershepherds, instructions to take this smaller flock to these Words of the Lord to understand and apply to their lives. He gives the pastor instructions on what specifics to focus on being obedient to during this season or this time. He directs us to study and apply this truth or this passage, or this topic and then work on applying those truths to our lives. Because its not just hearing the Word, its keeping the Word.

And you, as the church body, have to choose whether or not you trust the undershepherd to lead you to the places that the Chief Shepherd is leading you to.

You have to trust that I am asking, seeking and praying to the Chief Shepherd about what His flock needs to hear, what do we need to be obedient to, how do you want us to grow, where are you leading us and how do you want us to get there.

You have to trust that when I prepare a message for Sunday morning that I have sought the Chief Shepherd before I say a word up here and that the word that I bring you might be the word that the Lord wants you to eat and apply to your life.

You also have to trust when I put other leaders or other undershepherds in place, over Kid’s ministry, over Youth Ministry, over Worship and Tech ministry, over Men’s and Women’s ministry, that I have sought the direction and guidance of the Chief Shepherd to put the people in place the HE desires to lead. And likewise, those leaders are seeking the Great Shepherd’s will for their specific ministry and flock!

We must all of us, be humble to the the Lord and each other.

1 Peter 5:5 (ESV)

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Look, I know that trust is not always an easy thing to give. I know that trust can be broken and will have to be reearned.

It my roles, in my callings, as husband, father, pastor, son I have not always lead correctly.

I know that there are some in the room now, and some that may watch this later, that their trust in me, in any of those roles has been shaken, strained or broken.

There are ways that I have failed as a husband, as a father and as a pastor. There are times that I have acted or reacted in my flesh and not under the direction of the Chief Shepherd.

I confess that to you.

I know that trust is earned but it can also be given by choice.

Those who I have hurt, most of you that I know about, we have had our side conversations and apologizes. I pray that you are restoring your trust in my shepherding.

Those who are new here or are still working on trusting me, I pray that you continue to give me your trust.

But not blindly!

I am not asking for blind trust because I am not worthy of that.

I am asking for your prayers...

I am asking for your prayers for my leadership to be taken from the Great Shepherd...

I am asking for you to pray for your ministry leaders… For Jennifer, for Anthony, for Maggie, for Bryson, for Candace, for Josh, for Ashleigh.

I am asking you to pray that we would constantly be seeking the will of the the Great Shepherd.

I am asking that you take notes of the areas of the Word that we are taking you to and study them, keep them accountable to the Word, test the Spirits, and if they come back grounded in truth, trust that maybe that message came from the Great Shepherd for you to be fed from! For you to learn, study, meditate on and obey in your life, not because they come from me but that they come from the Great Shepherd!

I’m asking you to come to the ministries that we partner with not because I ask you to but because you trust that the Lord has led us to partner with RFD to feed the hungry in Giles County, to serve foster children in our area through the Wrap Closet and help unwed mothers make good choices about their babies and help their needs to be met!

Look, I believe that I am not smart enough and wise enough to be a good husband or father, or lead a church body, but I believe that this system of Him being the Chief Shepherd and Him choosing me to be the undershepherd is the structure that He put in place.

And if we communally seek the will of Jesus Christ and pray for one another and our leaders and cloth ourselves in humility, then we can see Him feed us through His Word. We can experience the Holy Spirit well up springs of Living Waters, and we will have spiritual food and our souls satisfied and restored.