For Want of a Shepherd, the Sheep are lost

Introduction

For want of a nail the shoe was lost For want of a shoe the horse was lost For want of a horse the rider was lost For want of a rider the battle was lost For want of a battle the kingdom was lost And all for the want of a horseshoe nail

I’m sure you’ve all heard this little proverb.

And for those of you who haven’t, it’s meaning is that the smallest detail overlooked can lead to the greatest catastrophes

If any of you recall the loss in April 1963 of the USS Thrresher during diving tests, it sank because one or more of the welds in the boat’s piping failed under pressure, which caused water to be sprayed on the electrical system, which caused the control systems for the nuclear powered drive system to shut down and the ballast tanks to fail to work properly. In addition, the crew was young and not trained well on how to handle this kind of emergency, and the ship flooded and fell below crush depth.

The same kinds of things can happen in the spiritual life, where seemingly little things can make shipwreck of someone’s faith.

For Want of a Shepherd—What happens to the sheep

This is especially true if a Christian or a group of Christians has no shepherd—For want of a shepherd, the sheep are lost.

Sheep without a shepherd are in the wild;

they are chaotic and disorganized;

they are under constant threat.

They have no protector.

In this modern progressive world, are in the wild and susceptible to “wild” thoughts about what constitutes the Christian faith.

They are chaotic and disorganized to the extent that there is no regulation or limit upon those “wild” thoughts

The y can be seduced into giving money and time to “ministries” that are not truly Christian.

My favorite example of this is so many parents who teach their children nothing about Christ or Christianity growing up because “they want them to make up their own mind” about what religion they want to be

This Happened in the Bible

The book of Judges: They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Then there were the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem who failed to teach the people the Torah.

There were false kings and false prophets who led the people away from God rather than towards him. this is what Jeremiah is talking about

They were unfaithful to the call Yahweh had placed on their lives

Yahweh Comes to Shepherd His people

Jeremiah reading:

Jesus sees the people chasing after Him because they are sheep without a shepherd.... lost, vulnerable, deceived, lonely

And He taught them “many things”

He fed them

So also today

Notice what Jesus says when the disciples come to him and report that the people are hungry....

“You feed them”

“What? Me?

Because there are a lot of people right now who:

are in the wild;

they are chaotic and disorganized;

they are under constant threat.

They have no protector.

They are in your life right now.

Before you get nervous about ministering to them, or leading them to Jesus is that it is HIS power that is doing so

We have that power in us, His Holy Spirit In us and his promise to go with us wherever He calls us to minister.

You may not be the greatest orator in the world, but you can Pray for them—invoking all the powers of heaven to bring miraculous things into their lives by the power of the True Shepherd

You might not be the wisest counselor in the world, but you can take His words and use them to counsel.

You might not be the greatest spiritual warfighter in the world, but you can invoke God’s Holy Angels to protect them.

And it might be just that one sentence, that one detailed word or that one detailed prayer about Gods love for that man or woman or friend or coworker, or schoolmate

When you do that—you’re bringing the true shepherd into their lives.... just point to Him.