In our last post, we began exploring the attributes of sheep. When the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples in John 21, He told Peter to feed His lambs, tend His sheep, and feed His sheep. He wanted the disciples to see His followers, the church, as lambs and sheep. We are told in Ephesians 4 that He appoints pastors or shepherds to lead and guide God’s flock, with Him as Chief Shepherd. In today’s post, we will continue to explore the attributes of sheep and what the Lord Jesus expects of His sheep and shepherds. Sheep have the following characteristics:
- Sheep band together in large groups or sheepfolds for protection but run from what frightens them
- Sheep are very gentle animals and have a strong instinct to follow
- Sheep have excellent eyesight with a wide field of vision but have poor depth perception
- Sheep have great memory and recognition skills
- Sheep become highly disturbed, frightened, and agitated if separated from the rest of the flock and show signs of depression when they experience stress or isolation
We explored the first attribute in Scattered and Devoured by the Shepherd!? Today, we will look at the second attribute: Sheep are very gentle animals and have a strong instinct to follow.
Sheep are gentle and easy to handle. They are peaceful and tame, not rough or violent. Sheep are natural born followers. They do not have to be taught how to follow. They will follow each other. They will follow a shepherd. When calling His first disciples, the Lord Jesus simply told them, “Follow Me.” He said in John 10:4-5, “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” So, the Lord Jesus expects His sheep to know His voice and to follow Him only. The attributes of a gentle, tame sheep or the fruit of the Spirit should be seen in the sheep’s walk: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
When following a shepherd that is under the Chief Shepherd’s voice, the entrusted sheep will be well-fed, protected, guided, and watched over. This is beautifully affirmed in Psalm 23:1,“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” In Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, want (h2637) means “to lack, fail, diminish, decrease, be without, or have need.” In John 10:10, the Lord Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” The promise of “shall not want” sounds like abundant life, while “want” sounds like something has been stolen, killed, or destroyed.
Since the Lord Jesus expects His sheep to flee from a stranger that does not sound like Him, what is evident in your life: the leading of a shepherd or the aftermath of a thief?
First and foremost, any voice speaking in the name of Jesus that is not full of grace and truth is distorted as we discussed in The Good Shepherd and “All Others”: Grace and Truth. Secondly , in John 6:63, the Lord Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Also, 1 Corinthians 15:45 referring to the Lord Jesus says, “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” The Bible further says, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]” (Hebrews 4:12 AMPC). If the words being spoken into your life in the name of Jesus are not producing life within, those words are not from God, period! Lastly, in praying to the Father in John 17:13, the Lord Jesus said, “But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” If joy is not abounding, the Good Shepherd is not present. With this being said, these five characteristics must be tangible within the sheepfold as proof that the Shepherd’s voice is leading the flock:
- Grace
- Truth
- Spirit
- Life
- Joy
If these five qualities of His presence are absent, we as sheep are open to being scattered and devoured, by the shepherd in some cases. In trusting pastoral leadership blindly, we may ignore, dismiss, underestimate, trivialize, or even be oblivious to insidious or obvious signs that a strange voice is leading us into false doctrine. We discussed how the Lord Jesus feels about this in The Root Cause of Unhealthy Sheepfolds. We cannot blindly follow pastoral leadership into error. We must follow by instinct, but also think. As sheep, we can examine our sheepfold experience by answering the questions below to gauge and identify whether we are being shepherded or misled:
- When it’s time to go to church, do you feel excitement or dread? Peace or anxiety?
- When you leave a church service, do you feel built up or torn down? Energetic or drained?
- When the word of God is taught or preached, do you have clarity about the Lord and His will for your life according to His written word or are you confused or unsettled?
- Do you have joy in your relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit or do you feel distressed, depressed, or dejected? Do you feel like He is not for you?
- Are you sure of your salvation by grace through faith, or do you feel like you have to do something to earn salvation?
If your experience in a sheepfold has been riddled with dread, anxiety, confusion, mistrust, uncertainty, depletion, and doing works to be saved, you are following a thief that is teaching false doctrine. The pastoral leadership has distorted the voice of the Shepherd, and the Lord Jesus doesn’t even know them because He said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” So, not everyone in a pastoral leadership position is operating under the Holy Spirt.
When it comes to sheep, the old saying “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” is not true. We must know the Shepherd’s voice and recognize when someone speaking in His name does not sound like Him. He warns us that there are strange voices calling His sheep. More injurious are those who were called and equipped by God to be shepherds, but along the way, begin distorting the Shepherd’s voice and dominating the sheep they are supposed to be leading. Because of their own selfish reasons, they lead the sheep into want. We discussed their deceitful motives in Scattered and Devoured by the Shepherd!?
As followers of Jesus Christ, we should not be in want of peace, joy, edification, faith, knowledge, or confidence in His will, ways, or word. All of these are part of the abundant life He came to give us, and we have the Holy Spirit within us. As sheep, we have the instinct to know who to follow and who to flee from. We must always follow the Shepherd’s voice by instinct, but also think!
In our next post, we will continue exploring more attributes of sheep and what the Lord Jesus expects of His sheep and shepherds.
Disclaimer: Before making decisions or changes that affect your spiritual life and well-being, always personally seek God for His perfect will for your life and always follow peace.
Scripture quotation taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. lockman.org”
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is public domain.
