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MARKING THE GOOD SHEPHERD - Laying It Down Series 003
John 10:11, KJV
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
There's one sure way to mark the "good shepherd", it's to measure if he can lay down his life for the sheep. You can claim to be a parent but if you're not living as a responsible one, we quickly decipher what sort of parent you are. You are not a good parent. We aren't arguing that you are a parent but the distinction is that you aren't "a good one."
That verse was spoken by Jesus Himself. He said, "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." It is the heart of sacrifice and the readiness to even sacrifice Himself (even unto yielding up His life or risking it for the sheep) that makes Him the good shepherd and sets Him apart from the hireling.
While Jesus died for the sins of the whole world by risking His life and laying it down, the hireling flees from that. The religious leaders of Jesus' days are living in pretence and great hypocrisy. Many times, they'll command a thing and not even lift it with a finger themselves. There's nothing sacrificial about their lives. Nothing motivational about their lives. Sorry to say that there are many leaders today who are hirelings and not the good shepherds. How do you mark them? Just by gauging their love for the sheep or those they claim to pastor. Instead of feeding the sheep, they fleece it. They see the sheep as a business center to take from than souls to feed and groom into their destinies. For these reasons of withdrawing to sacrifice a bit, Jesus called those hirelings. They are hired hands.
John 10:12, KJV
"But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep."
The hireling cannot risk his life for the sheep. In hard times, the hireling pastor withdraws. When it's over, he can then show up. Anything that'll make him break a sweat, he doesn't embrace or do on behalf of the sheep. Jesus prayed until the thickness of His sweat was described as blood. He broke a sweat both because of the sins of the world laid on Him as our sacrificial lamb and for the anticipation of the death on the cross (Luke 22:44). An hireling will not surrender to the Father's will. Where Jesus said, "okay, let Your will be done", a hireling would flee and escape. His life is always too precious for him. That's why hirelings don't give birth to children. They only abide alone. Why? They're not ready to "die" or fall to the ground as a corn of wheat (John 12:24). Those who'll sow or seed themselves will receive themselves back in other people. The Bible says of Jesus.
John 12:32, KJV
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
Consider David while he was with the sheep in the wilderness. He was a good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. David said when hosts of wild animals come after his sheep and picks any, he goes after them, smite such and deliver his sheep from them. That's risking one's life. Imagine a young boy with the good shepherd's heart pursuing a bear and a lion (I Samuel 17:34-36). That's sincerely suicidal! No wonder, on the Goliath Project, it was not easy for him to back down. That same heart of a good shepherd who sacrifices or risks his life to protect or get others out of danger was yet speaking. While the likes of Saul and other soldiers fled when they heard Goliath's terrorizing words, He rushed towards that assignment.
What makes a good shepherd is calling. Unless you're called for a life and an assignment there, you cannot be sacrificial with it. You'll always see yourself as a hired hand and not give your best. Jesus was called to die for the sins of the whole world and though He still had to make a choice whether to die for the sins of the whole world or let it alone, He eventually succumbed to carrying the weight. Calling makes you fit for what others flee from. May you have the heart for the task - a heart of sacrifice.
PRAYER: Pray for pastors and every minister in God's vineyard to have a renewed shepherd's heart.
BIBLE IN A YEAR
I Cor. 14; Psalms 84-85
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