“Feed my sheep”
What sheep? Who are the sheep? I’m to busy to feed your sheep! Don’t you have special people to do that for you?
All good questions, let’s see what God’s Word says.
In the Second Testament, Jesus often talked about feeding His sheep. It doesn’t show anywhere where He said feed them if you have time or aren’t to busy; He said feed my sheep, period. It’s not just a shepherds job to feed the sheep, it’s part of the two greatest commandments: love others. (Mark 12:29-31) Jesus called His followers sheep, and He was the shepherd to His sheep. While on earth, He took great joy in caring for His flock to make sure they had truth and followed Him to eternity.
He invited everyone to follow Him, but many were not willing to give up everything to follow. There were a remnant of people that chose to follow Him, and hungered for a relationship and truth that He shared with them. Jesus loved all and invited all to listen to truth so that none should die not knowing His peace. He went to the poor and needy and invited them to follow; many He healed and then they followed Him. Most successful people with much wealth would not listen to Him; they were not willing to give up everything they had to follow Him. He said it’s easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into Heaven. (Matthew 19:24)
Jesus walked with sinners but He did not walk with “unrepentant” sinners. His followers consisted of sinners that repented, left everything behind and followed Him in all ways. Those He invited to follow Him, who would not repent and turn from their wicked ways, He kept moving on because out of His grace He gives us a choice to follow Him. He will not force us to love Him. He longs for us to choose Him over the world. (Deuteronomy 5:29)
An example of unrepentant ones that followed Him were the Pharisees that were trying to find fault with Him to have Him executed. He would try to speak truth to them but they wouldn’t listen. Regardless of their scrutiny, He kept moving to save the lost who would listen and follow. The Pharisees followed out of evilness.
Which one are you? Are you wholeheartedly following Jesus, or are you still trying to figure out if He’s for real?
Learning from our mistakes
Jesus loves us tenderly and wholeheartedly. His relationship with Peter is a great example for us. Jesus loves all His disciples; some He expects more from than others. With Peter, they had a deeper friendship and with his natural ability to lead, Peter stepped into the role of leader of the disciples that followed Jesus. When Jesus tells them the time has come for Him to go be with His Heavenly Father, Peter says he wants to go with Him. He professes his love by saying he would even die for Him. Jesus responds by saying, before the rooster crows you will deny me three times. (John 13)
Thought to consider: was Jesus saying this to humble Peter and teach him a valuable lesson to stretch his faith and grow His character? In reading the whole story, it appears that Peter had become prideful out of fear of losing Jesus and began doing things His way in an attempt to “protect” Jesus. What Peter didn’t understand was that this was all part of God’s plan, Jesus didn’t need protection from the evil of the world. He came to face the evil head-on.
Even though Jesus had prepared the disciples for His departure from the earth, they didn’t quite understand the meaning. (John 16:18) When Jesus was arrested, Peter panicked and went into defense mode. He grabbed his sword and cut off an ear of one of the guards that was seizing Jesus. In that moment, Jesus rebukes the prideful spirit that sprung up in Peter, then heals the mans ear. (John 18:10-11) The disciples watched in horror as their Teacher was arrested and lead away, then out of fear they scattered as Jesus told them would happen. (John 16:32)
As Jesus has prophesied, Peter denies knowing Jesus three times. After the third denial of knowing Jesus, Peter then hears the rooster crow and realizes his sin; the prophetic Word from Jesus had come true. (John 18:25-27) Jesus knew this would happen and He also knew how Peter would react. This was a teaching lesson for Peter. After the event, Peter was inconsolable; beating himself up for his sin.
Can you relate to beating yourself up for your mistakes? I grew up always saying that others didn’t have to berate me when I made a mistake , I did plenty of that on my own. While repentance is key when we make mistakes, it’s also important to remember to forgive yourself. Healing begins after repentance and forgiveness. God forgives us so we must forgive ourselves also. He forgives us but allows us to remember our mistakes so that we don’t make them again. (Ezekiel 20:43)
The gift of the humbled state of mind
There is no condemnation in relationship with Jesus. (Romans 8:1) When Believers beat themselves up for sinning against Jesus, He knows their repentant heart. It is then that He sets them upright into a (metaphorical) humbled kneeling position and encourages them to stay in that position as He continues to teach them. (Pray everyday for Him to keep you in that humble state of mind position)
Consider this thought: It’s when we get off our knees and stand, that it’s easier to run off and leave Jesus behind. Remaining in the state of mind of a humbled kneeling position, it’s there that we can be still and listen. (Psalms 46:10)
After Jesus is resurrected, He visits His disciples again to encourage and further prepare them for their purpose and for what is to come, the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Beginning in John 20:15) Jesus knew that there were certain things that He would teach them after His resurrection in order for them to better understand and believe. It was then that Jesus lifted Peter’s spirits and set him upright into a humbled kneeling position state of mind. Peter was then encouraged and hungry to do whatever Jesus wanted him to do. He had learned His lesson, forgiven himself and accepted forgiveness from Jesus. It was then that he was able to receive the comfort and hope that Jesus gives to His Believers that restores the soul.
When Jesus appears to the disciples He encourages them and then breathes the Holy Spirit on them, (John 20:22), transforming their hearts and lives. It wasn’t until later that we read of a personal interaction between Jesus and Peter. (John 21:15)
Thought to ponder: Why did Jesus wait so long to have a personal interaction with Peter? He knew Peter was unhappy with his behavior before the rooster crowed, struggling with letting Jesus down. Perhaps Jesus had a perfect reason for waiting. Scripture says His timing is perfect. (Habakkuk 2:3, Isaiah 40:31)
Are you beating yourself up for a mistake(s) you have made? Do you feel like Jesus won’t forgive you? He knows your pain. He hears your prayers. He holds your tears. He has a plan. Trust the process. Wait on the Lord.
The joy that comes in a repentant heart
After the resurrection, Peter was fishing with some of the disciples when He saw Jesus on the shore. He was so excited, that without hesitation, he jumped out of the boat and swam to shore to be with Him. (John 21:7) That’s the level of excitement He wants all of us to have when we see Him in our day to day lives. Rather than bring up Peter’s sin of pride and denial, Jesus feeds him. He encourages him and loves him as He gives him a new assignment, “feed my lambs, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. (John 21:15)
Interesting thought to ponder: the rooster crowed after Peter denied Jesus three times. Then Jesus asks Peter three times to feed His lamb and sheep. Throughout the Bible you will see the Trinity use the number “three” often. It’s a fun study all on its own to learn about how God uses numbers. There is fascinating meaning behind them.
In case you don’t know, sheep are under 12 months old, lambs are adults. Knowing this information, will help you better understand why Jesus said feed my lambs twice, and then also feed the sheep.
Jesus loves all of His children regardless of their age, and all need to hear His truth. He calls us all to have childlike faith regardless of our age. As adults, it is so much harder to have childlike faith, but take heart, He knows this about us. Because Jesus lived as a human, He experienced human pain. He knows our struggles, He knows our story, our past, and knows every one of our scars. If He is telling us as adults to have childlike faith, then that means it’s possible to attain. God says that it’s not too hard. (Deuteronomy 30:11) The Trinity would not ask us to do the impossible. If they tell us to do something that seems impossible to our fleshly eyes to obtain, then remember the promises in His Word. (Matthew 19:26) We can do all things with His help.
Jesus says in Matthew 18 that unless we change and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So regardless of our age, we must all have a childlike faith in order to believe His whole truth and enter into Heaven. Think about it, children don’t have a care in the world. They have no responsibilities or preconceived thoughts. They learn from those who teach them. Jesus wants us to be in a humbled state of mind so that we can listen and learn from Him with a childlike faith. It is in this humble, childlike state of mind, that His complete Shalom peace will envelope you. It’s in this place of His peace that you can weather any storm that life throws at you because He is with you, all your hope is in Him, and you have reached that level of Belief.
The reason we lose our childlike faith is because of the lies of the world and peer pressure to believe the ways of the world. Warning: in order to reclaim the childlike faith the Father has for you, you must be willing to be persecuted by your peers. Be prepared to be ridiculed, questioned, and harassed for your beliefs. This is part of Jesus testing and stretching your faith. Are you willing to give up everything; your family, friends, income, and things, to go back to that childlike faith? Those who do, find true peace, hope, and love everlasting while being persecuted. It’s hard to imagine having peace while being persecuted; but it’s for real. You must believe to receive this special gift from God. Jesus warned us to expect to be hated; He was hated, so shall we be if we follow Him wholeheartedly. Choose to be willing to take the temporary persecution in order to spend an eternity with Him.
One flock, one shepherd
In John 10, Jesus teaches that He is the one true shepherd. He explains that a true shepherd will lay down His life for His flock. Thereby setting an example of what His shepherds should do also. He shares a parable of sorts to alert them that He is going to be doing just that, laying down His life for those who are His. He was planning to send His Holy Spirit to teach further after He ascended but went on to warn about the “hired” shepherds that would try to deceive them. He warns them that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10) so that they would know to be aware that there would be hired shepherds that they couldn’t trust.
These words caused great confusion among the listeners. The unbelievers were going to continue not believing while the Believers were trying to make sense of His Words.
So how do we know who are the true shepherds serving God with a humble heart? And who are the ones who are deceiving the flock? How are we to know which ones are the wolves in sheep’s clothing? (Matthew 7:15)
Stay tuned for part 2 for those answers and the rest of the story.