Leading or Led?

Consider the Difference

between a cowboy and a shepherd

perhaps use your sermon notes to jot down some thoughts

As you’re doing that, I’m going to give a brief reminder that we are taking these six weeks to talk about what it means to be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ

Why?

We can always become a better follower

Our world wants something real to hang on to, and when they see authentic followers, they see that Jesus Christ is real

Last week, we learned that this means we know the voice of the shepherd

Today, we talk about following that voice

Cowboy v. Shepherd

It could be said that the cowboy is one of the images that makes up the fabric of American history and culture

Billy the Kid

Buffalo Bill

Butch Cassidy

George Scarborough

John Wayne

Clint Eastwood

rugged, independent, strong, knows how to drive cattle

We need to make sure that this isn’t the image that we have of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and us, the sheep

The imagery of shepherd and sheep spans the Bible, because God wanted to say something about our relationship

The Bible didn’t have cowboys, this is just the modern version

So what’s the difference?

Max Lucado highlights this in his book A Gentle Thunder

On the surface he appears similar to the cowboy. He, too, is rugged. He sleeps where the jackals howl and works where the wolves prowl. Never off duty. Always alert. Like the cowboy, he makes his roof the stars and the pasture his home.

But that is where the similarities end.

The shepherd loves his sheep. It’s not that the cowboy doesn’t appreciate the cow; it’s just that he doesn’t know the animal. He doesn’t even want to. Have you ever seen a picture of a cowboy caressing a cow? Have you ever seen a shepherd caring for a sheep? Why the difference?

Simple. The cowboy leads the cow to slaughter. The shepherd leads the sheep to be shorn. The cowboy wants the meat of the cow. The shepherd wants the wool of the sheep. And so they treat the animals differently.

The cowboy drives the cattle. The shepherd leads the sheep.

A herd has a dozen cowboys. A flock has one shepherd.

The cowboy wrestles, brands, herds, and ropes. The shepherd leads, guides, feeds, and anoints.

The cowboy knows the name of the trail hands. The shepherd knows the name of the sheep.

The cowboy whoops and hollers at the cows. The shepherd calls each sheep by name.

Aren’t we glad Christ didn’t call himself the Good Cowboy? But some do perceive God that way. A hard-faced, square-jawed ranch-hand from heaven who drives his church against its will to places it doesn’t want to go.

When we read Scripture, we Jesus as the Good Shepherd who leads us, not the Good Cowboy who drives us

The Gospels

The Letters

So what does this mean for how we live?

Leading or Led?

Edward Klink puts it this way: “The image of the sheep to the Shepherd is directive for the Christian. The sheep must respond to the Good Shepherd, and this response manifests itself in a life of submission and obedience. Having received grace, we must respond with gratitude, manifested in faith, hope, and love ().

Authentic followers are willing to be led.

We spend an awfully lot of time in our society trying to figure out who has power, who should have power, and how to get power - politics, economics, directing morals & values,

The life of an authentic follower of Jesus is spent listening and following - submission and obedience as Klink puts it

This means that the priorities and voice of the Shepherd takes precedence over our own

We can say this in easy times, but what about in difficult situations?

In family life, we are related to people we don’t relate to, yet I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Jesus has something that he’s saying about that person to us? Do we listen?

I was at a funeral yesterday for a friend who was one of the strongest believers I’ve known; one of the stories that her daughter told is of seeing her mother getting up early every morning to read the Bible and pray, cup of coffee in hand. Her daughter relayed that when there was someone difficult in her life, someone she didn’t like, her mother would spend that entire time in prayer—not for the person, but for herself, so that she might see that person as Jesus wanted her to see that person and to love them as Christ loves them. That’s a picture of being led, of putting yourself beneath the Shepherd, saying, “where are you taking me? what do you want me to do?”

It’s tempting in those moments to talk about what I’m going to do, how I’ve been hurt, how I’m angry, how I’ve given my time, my energy, my resources, forgetting that the person is someone for whom Christ died as well and who Christ wants to lead and who needs to see Christ

This is true for work, for family, for interactions at stores, malls, schools, airports, restaurants, or wherever the people of God go and are led.

It means that we shouldn’t expect the Shepherd to treat us like he’s a cowboy

As rough and hard of an image as the cowboy may be, sometimes we like it when it comes to Jesus

Rather than following Jesus by the sound of his voice, we’d rather be driven, clear as day to where we’re supposed to go

But that’s not his MO: he calls by name

This means we have to listen, and often that means we’re unclear about what he’s saying

Other voices

Our own voice

Need to work at listening for Jesus’ voice

Need others to listen, too