Smelly Sheep

Good Morning!

There are a number of different word pictures used in the Bible to refer to Christians or the church. We are called the Bride of Christ and the body of Christ. He says we are like fish that are to be caught as he calls disciples to fish for men. In one parable we are soil, rocky, stony ground or good soil that is cultivated and ready to receive the seed of the Word of God. But did you ever think about why we are referred to as sheep? This is probably the most common.

Sometime back the Washington Post reported that shepherds eating breakfast outside the town of Gevas, Turkey, were surprised to see a lone sheep jump off of a nearby cliff and fall to its death.

Then they sat in stunned silence as the rest of the nearly 1,500 sheep in the herd followed, each leaping off of the same cliff. When it was all over, 450 of the sheep died; the last two thirds of the herd were saved only because the pile of carcasses grew high enough to cushion the fall of the others.

The loss to the families of this small Turkish farming community was devastating, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue in a country where the average person earns less than $3,000 annually.

What made them jump? That's what sheep do; they're not analytical, they're incapable of considering consequences, they just tend to do what they see the other sheep do. Now do you wonder why we are likened to sheep? It certainly doesn’t appear to be a complimentary thing or certainly not flattery.

I guess this shows why. Sheep don't think well for themselves. It's why they need a shepherd. It's why we need a shepherd. That’s why Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. David says in Psalm 100 that we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Isaiah said, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...” Isaiah 53:6 (NIV)

"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things." (Mark 6:34)

Why did 1500 sheep all jump off a cliff without hesitation? Because they had no shepherd. Jesus said in John 10 that sheep know there shepherds voice and they will not follow another... shepherd that is. But they will follow another sheep if they don’t have the higher voice of the shepherd they recognize to be responsive to. It is through hearing, believing, and following the teachings of Jesus that we become less like "sheep without a shepherd" and more like shepherds who have the heart of the Good Shepherd to rescue the lost sheep of this world from themselves with the good news that they don’t have to follow the rest of the lost sheep over the cliff’s edge to pain and disaster, but they can have an abundant, full life.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 (NIV) The word for” full” or “abundant” here is the Greek word “Perissos.” According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance iIt means “super abundant in quantity and superior in quality. By implication it means excessive or violent.” The word “violent” isn’t in the negative sense. In old English there were words like that which don’t just communicate well with us today. It’s like when David danced and Michal, his wife, mocked him David said, “I will yet be more vile...” in 2 Samuel 6:22. He meant more passionate not more evil. A better word for “violent” would be “outrageous.” It is the same word used for “immeasurably more” in Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...”

We are His sheep. It’s why I believe in the local church. Sheep need a shepherd. The word for “pastor” in the Bible is the word for “shepherd.” A shepherd or pastor cares for the souls of the sheep and desires for them the superabundant, superior life in Jesus Christ, His outrageous love. That’s what I want for the sheep entrusted to my care as a pastor.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I listen for Your voice today to do Your will and follow Your directions for my life. Give me the courage to follow Your voice and not the rest of the sheep. And Lord, thank you for a superabundant, superior life. Thank you for your outrageous love. AMEN.

Blessings!
Pastor Roger