guidance

“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray and turned them loose in the mountains. They have lost their way and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold.” (Jer. 50:6)

Jeremiah in his prophecy begins once again to lambaste the spiritual leaders of his day for misleading and abandoning God’s people. These men are supposed to be men who knew the truth and knew the right way yet still misled the people of God. They have the people of God so twisted up in knots that they don’t even know how to get back to the sheepfold or where a true fellowship is. A true place of fellowship is that group of people that has Christ as their center who believes in the power of God and its application to every need and they teach the scriptures incessantly. But like them we have lost our way.

People today really rely on navigation. GPS in the car we drive (Global Positioning System) is very popular whether installed by the manufacturer or after market devices. Being a glorified car jockey for a while I saw that this is a nice selling point. It’s a great invention and is a tool. Now practically all cars have navigation. I don’t think it will be that far in the future that our cars will practically drive themselves. People don’t see the need for a paper map anymore.

I don’t want to betray my age complaining about “the way things used to be” but a whole generation is being raised up that wouldn’t know North from South or East from West. It used to be that you had the map out when you were traveling long distance and figure out those routes before you even began to travel. Not so now. You just enter your address and there you go. But having a actual sense of direction I think is gone. We just don’t want to have to think about how to get to where were going. We would rather someone else do that for us or in this case some “thing.” I’m wondering what would happen to a person who has no sense of direction if they got lost in another state or God forbid in another country. Maybe a person can figure out that the sun rises in the east and sets in the West but I wonder-what would they do they got really lost and were unable to rely on the technology of today? It would be pathetic.

A growing number of Christians have no sense of direction. I don’t care on how much they insist that they are led by the Spirit. They would much rather have someone do the thinking about directions when it comes to any of the challenges that they face in life. They would rather go to church and hear a person give them instructions on what to do about their marriage, finances, parenting, employment and spiritual life rather than read the Bible for themselves. They will insist once again that it needs to be practical and relevant, when truth is always practical and it is always relevant. Now, there is much to be said about good teachers of the word of God. How much in this day in our do we need people who stick to chapter and verse of the scripture. Without it we have lost our way.

People are lost in the sense of being disoriented. How can I say that? Have you ever listened to an average Sunday with men and women preaching. it always seems that they have “the message. ” It’s gotten worse and worse. Not that there are not great preachers. It just seems that they are all saying something different. But I cannot blame them. I think the people who listen to them are far more culpable. We criticize people for going to church is that has priests but it seems that we ourselves instead of relying upon our great high priest Jesus we have people in between us and him. We have a third-party relationship. When God himself has blessed us with his word. No one denies the gift of solid teaching both ancient and contemporary. But those who lead have a solemn responsibility to lead us to Christ.

The Bible is the word of God, the Bible is God’s voice to us God speaks to us and tells us what to do. The Scripture seems to indicate that when a person lives right, when they guard their hearts and they take captive their thoughts by pondering, studying and seeking to apply the holy Scriptures- that in of itself provides direction and guidance. I do not think this is an oversimplification.

But we are not immersed in the word of God. We have sinned in this matter. It’s a great sin. I see whole groups fighting to keep the public display of the 10 Commandments and yet the Christian of today seems to have a poor relationship with the Scriptures. We want so much to know God’s will but we don’t want to make the effort in reading his word. We have every excuse possible. We excuse ourselves from studying the word then complain about our losing our way. I think we deserve to be lost. It’s our nature to drift, our propensity to get off track. We have lost our way.

People say, “I try to be good.” But what’s the test of that goodness? Doing good and doing the right thing is always tainted by our own selfishness pride and evil desires. That is why we need the word of God. It tells us that the only way that we can deal with that base nature is first through trusting in Christ. Complete and total trust reliance and dependency upon Jesus. Without that we have nothing. Without that we are lost.

One time Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them. He told them they knew where he was going. Thomas disagreed. He did not think that he knew where Jesus was going. I have heard people praise Thomas for his question. People tell me there’s no such that is a stupid question. I don’t mean to be crass but I think Thomas Estes stupid question. But you have to give them credit for not being a hypocrite.

Why in the world would Jesus think they knew where he was going? Why because in some way shape or form he must have told them. Jesus has taught them that he would be betrayed he would be crucified and he would be raised from the dead. Jesus believed they knew. Why? He made it clear. Jesus insisted, “I am the Way the Truth and the Life.” now I know we take that Scripture and we plaster it in the faces of people who are of other religions who believe that there are other ways and other truths and another life. We insist on the definite article “the” way and “the” truth and “the” life. But the bottom line is is he are only way our only truth and our only life.

The son of God would not have us lost. He is searching for people relentlessly as it were. His Father he said is seeking for worshipers. The Holy Spirit leads us in the direction that we need to go. God is not lost. We are the ones that get lost. Why? Because our focus is not on Christ. Our focus is not the word of God and I don’t mean some legalistic study of the word of God. I don’t refer to some method of man in how to study the word of God. I refer to the Scriptures as imbibing it like water consuming it like food. Just as Jesus said his words are spirit and life and that they are his flesh and blood. They must become our flesh and blood as we meditate upon the Scriptures. for without Christ being the sum total of all that we are, we will lose our way.

“Jesus saith unto him, ‘Feed my sheep.’ ” (John 21:17).

Christ’s command to Peter is pastoral. It is given as a true shepherd. The word “pastor” and shepherd” are words that are used interchangeably and rightfully so. It describes the role of a man who is responsible for the care and feeding of sheep. God declares that He takes sole responsibility for his sheep and despite the errors of men and churches- He tends them well. “The Prince of Pastors” (1 Peter 5:4DR) gives orders to Peter and all under-shepherds to care for his flock. We will speak of this in the next article. But for now we must see that Christ is concerned for the sheep. We fail to appreciate the pastoral role of Christ as the great Pastor of the sheep (Heb. 13:20).

Christ is the shepherd that cares (1 Pet. 5:7) for us and He says, “I myself will tend my sheep and give them a place to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign LORD.” (Isa. 34:15NIV). You are his, always and he will always care for you. Rev. Barnes says, “Friends on earth, the great, the frivilous, the noble, the rich, may forget you; God never will. Remember that you will never be entirely neglected. Father, mother, neighbor, friend, those whom you have loved, and those to whom you have done good, may neglect you, but God never will. You may become poor, and they may pass by you; you may lose your office, and flatterers may no longer throng your path; your beauty may fade, and your admirers may leave you; you may grow old, and be infirm, and appear to be useless in the world, and no one may seem to care for you; but it is not thus with the God whom you serve. When he loves, he always loves.” There is none like our shepherd Jesus.

Christ is the Good Pastor-Shepherd (John 10:11). The literal rendering is, “I am the shepherd, the good one.” I like that. In the Latin Vulgate it reads, “Ego sum pastor bonus bonus pastor…” Bonus is Latin for good and the Latin Vulgate emphasizes that he is good twice. He is the very Good Shepherd, his actions are good, he went about doing good and laying down his life for his sheep was good. There are many shepherds but he is the GOOD one! The word for good here is kalos, which in ancient writings refered to outward beauty. Thus Christ’s beauty is his character and nature as our Shepherd. Of Christ, the Holy Spirit says, “thou art fairer than the children of men.” (Psalm 45:2). Who is like this Good Shepherd? His beauty is seen in his generosity, as he gives a gift that words cannot describe (1 Cor 9:15) and he gives his life. He is the apex of all that is loveable and admirable and his sheep find they are irresistibly drawn to him (John 10: 26-27).

Jesus Christ takes up his rightful role in our lives and our Guide and Guardian. God claims sole ownership and care for his flock, his church. All others who are called pastors are inferior to him. Yes, men who are pastors are gifts from the Son of God to his church (Eph 4:8) but Christ is the Chief Shepherd and the Guardian of the souls of his people (1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4). When expecting a Lion John saw a bleeding Lamb (Rev. 5:6) and when expecting a shepherd we see a leading Lamb. Even in eternity Jesus Christ is, “the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.” (Rev. 7:17ESV). He is a Strong yet gentle Savior! But here is another proof that we are not only rescued in his grace but kept by his grace. Grace, love, mercy are not just some force, or element or virtue separate from God. It is Christ himself who in his grace, mercy and love guards and protects the souls of his flock.

Christ is always concerned with the welfare of his own people and desires to nourish their souls. That is the distinguishing mark of the Lord our Shepherd. The Bible says that, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” (Isa 40:11). Notice from that passage that Christ feeds, carries and leads his people as his vulnerable flock, his young lambs. He alone is the source of their nourishment and guidance. It says that he guides them with the wisdom of a shepherd, bearing them with his strong protective arm and gently bringing them close to his chest. Paul says, that “our life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 4:3).

He is the Lord is our Shepherd (Psa. 23:1). How often have we read Psalm 23 and failed to see Christ in whom all our needs are met. Christ is all (Col. 3:11), therefore all we need. God has ordained this so that as he says, “thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:14). There is none, we should not want because of him, we should want no other because of him. He makes us to rest and guides us into peace. He is the one who changes the direction of our lives into a paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even if the path leads through the valley of death’s shadow-not only the possibility but the eventuality of death, we do not need to fear because Christ bears us in his powerful hands all the way to the path of glory and heaven! Those that hate us even our enemies shall see the wonderful provision of the Lord for us, the oil of his presence in us. There will be such joy that our lives will overflow with goodness and mercy and we prepare in this life to spend eternity with our Shepherd.

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Feed My Sheep 2: Christ our Guardian and Guide