Know the Shepherd's Voice

In our last few posts, 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. He Himself would choose pastors or shepherds to oversee God’s flock, with Him as the Chief Shepherd. In today’s post, we will continue to look at the attributes of sheep and what the Lord Jesus expects of His sheep and shepherds. To recap, 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 three attributes in the following posts:

Today, we will look at the fourth attribute: Sheep have great memory and recognition skills.

Good Memory and Recognition

Sheep can remember and recognize. They know other sheep as well as human voices and faces. They can distinguish between numerous people based on their facial features and the sound of their voices. Sheep remember and recognize whom they are supposed to follow, and readily follow the shepherd who protects, provides, and cares for them.

Because of their great memory and recognition skills, sheep are teachable. Not only can sheep learn, but they can build upon what they’ve learned. They recognize when their shepherd or an unknown voice is speaking to them. If the voice calling the sheep is not the familiar, trusted voice of their shepherd, they don’t respond and know when to run. Sheep continue to learn and grow as more sheep are added to the sheepfold and other faces and voices are introduced to them.

We’re sheep under the Good Shepherd. We have the capacity to remember, recognize, and follow a shepherd. We have the ability to learn, retain, and apply what we’re taught. These expectations to learn, remember, and recognize are prominent in Scripture. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” He also promised the disciples in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” In 2 Peter 3:17-18, speaking about the coming day of the Lord, the apostle Peter said, “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

We must steadfastly learn from Him and grow in the knowledge of Him. This is critical because the first part of Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” The book of Hosea was written to the children of Israel at a time when they were being unfaithful to God by worshipping idols and going their own way. In their case, they rejected knowledge and because of their willful rejection, they were open to destruction by what they did not know. Because they didn’t know Him or had a lack of knowledge about Him, God could not bless them as He desired. To ensure His body has knowledge of Him and qualify for the abundant life He came to give us, the Lord Jesus gave some to be pastors and teachers for this purpose:

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16)

With these expectations clearly stated by the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sheep are simply to follow, eat, and grow up in all things into Him. Shepherds are to serve as overseers. They are to guide, guard, protect, and feed the sheep under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Shepherds must equip (supply what’s necessary to prepare or complete) and edify (to build up) the sheep with words of life, while the sheep must commit to the maturing process. Shepherds should be able to lead with joy, and the sheep should be able to trust their overseer. Hebrews 13:16-17 beautifully depicts this God-ordained trusting relationship:

“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

Recognize Pastoral Sabotage

While this is God’s will, there are some shepherds who choose not to honor this relationship. They do not equip and edify the sheep because of their own agenda. Why would a shepherd that is called and anointed by God not want the sheep entrusted to them to grow and prosper in their walk the Good Shepherd? Why would pastoral leadership not want the sheep to mature or grow up like the Lord Jesus intends? Why would any shepherd want the body of Christ under their voice to remain children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine? What’s their end game? One word: sabotage (to destroy or damage deliberately for advantage)

As we discussed in The Root Cause of Unhealthy Sheepfolds, somewhere in their walk, pastoral leadership with selfish motives begin to degrade the word of God by injecting their own beliefs and personalities into the word of truth. They distort the Shepherd’s voice by teaching false doctrine. They mislead the sheep by teaching Scripture out of context to fit their own beliefs or opinions. More insidious, they teach the same elementary doctrine over and over, which causes the sheep to have little or no growth and therefore not progress in their knowledge of God. From a practical standpoint, the sheep are made to feel like they have to start over with basic salvation and repentance every Sunday, so they remain as malnourished children. Hebrews 6:1-3 addresses this –

“Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ (the Messiah), advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity. Let us not again be laying the foundation of repentance and abandonment of dead works (dead formalism) and of the faith [by which you turned] to God, With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. [These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long ago.] If indeed God permits, we will [now] proceed [to advanced teaching].” (Hebrews 6:1-3 AMPC)

By failing to advance in teaching the sheep as the Holy Spirit leads, the shepherd causes the sheep to remain spiritually immature. That shepherd is actually teaching that which is dead because the Holy Spirit gives life to the the word. By this disobedience, they deliberately and willfully destroy, damage, or obstruct the sheepfold by not handling the word of God correctly. So, why this sabotage of what is ultimately the will of the Lord Jesus who chose them? Why sabotage His plan for His body? Because this thief masquerading as a shepherd who wants the title and position of a leader in the name of Jesus, but they don’t want the responsibility of helping the sheep to mature God’s way. In fact, they can’t tolerate growth within the sheepfold. Below are four reasons why a shepherd knowingly sabotages the sheep –

To cover up their own lack of knowledge and immaturity because they are not willing to grow and don’t want anybody to outshine them because of their own insecurities
To dominate and manipulate immature sheep for their own personal gain
To keep unsuspecting sheep vulnerable and open to attack in an effort to maintain their perceived sense of spiritual superiority
To feed on the sheep to satisfy their own foul appetite

Either of the above reasons will ultimately lead to practices and beliefs rooted in idolatry and immorality as we discussed in detail in previous posts. A shepherd that feels threatened by a sheep simply because that sheep is maturing will eventually mislead, misuse, and abuse that sheep.

Remember and Recognize the Shepherd’s Voice

So how can we as sheep identify, escape, and be restored from the sabotage of pastoral leadership? First, we must know the Shepherd’s voice and take the responsibility for ensuring we’re being taught the word of God. We must recognize if we being fed from the Good Shepherd’s table or from the enemy’s table. We must ensure that the shepherd we’re following is rightly dividing the word of truth and not distorted the voice of the Chief Shepherd. We must read and study the Bible for ourselves or risk being misled. We must remember that the Good Shepherd only speaks spirit and life and recognize when pastoral leadership does not sound like Him.

Secondly, we must assess if we’re growing or not, whether we’re progressing and advancing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. We should always be learning and growing steadfastly. We must steadfastly walk in what we’ve been taught. We must be a diligent doer of the word. The apostle Paul said, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained” (Philippians 3:16 ERV).

Lastly, we must examine the shepherd we’re are following, to see if their words and deeds display the fruit of the Spirit. We must recognize when pastoral leadership is distorting the Shepherd’s voice through manipulation for their own selfish motives. We must recognize and flee any strange voice or ungodly behavior that is hindering our spiritual maturity and remove ourselves from all sabotaging, distracting influences.

We know that the Lord Jesus did great works during His earthly walk. He expects us to do greater! So the goal of the sheep and shepherd should simply be to do greater, not lesser and not lower. We should be diligent in learning and building upon what we’ve been taught because our Shepherd is providing greater! He said in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

In conclusion, the Lord Jesus is not threatened by the advancement of His flock and neither are shepherds leading under His voice. He expects us to remember, recognize, and maximize everything He has provided for us as His faithful sheep.

In our next post, we will explore the last attribute 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.

Good Memory and Recognition

Recognize Pastoral Sabotage

Remember and Recognize the Shepherd’s Voice

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