I have often thought about the many thousands or maybe millions of hurting souls who started out as Christians, only to be hurt deeply by the legalistic, or authoritative church leadership whom they were trusting to guide them to deeper paths in their spiritual walk with their God. Where are they today?
Of course there are the big name preachers who have fallen from grace and a few of them have been restored to some type of ministry, but many disappear off the radar. But what about all the ordinary Joes, and all the ordinary Marys? They are out there somewhere with deep spirit wounds that they have had to nurse on their own, while they live with guilt, shame, and fear of returning to a trusting relationship with a church, less they be hurt even worse the next time.
Where are you Joe?
Where are you Mary?
Did you know that even Jesus was wounded in the house of His friends? (Zech. 13:6)
John chapter ten shows us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. When He returned to His Father, He appointed Apostles to spread His message throughout the world. The apostles were to appoint Pastors, teachers, and overseers for each local assembly who in turned would be a shepherd to their flock of sheep.
Even as you read the Epistles, you see that they had to deal with false apostles and false teachers who had crept into the congregations spreading antichrist teachings about their Lord and twisting what He had taught to their own advantage. The sheep were left confused, abused and hurt requiring the apostles to write trying to bring healing to the sheep and clarity to the teachings of the Gospel.
There are few spiritual hospitals in Christianity and fewer still spiritual doctors and nurses who are willing and able to tend to the deep wounds of a wounded sheep. Yet, the Bible teaches restoring those who have fallen and gone astray, while refusing to fellowship with, and partake of the sins of those who refuse to repent.
This leaves the wounded sheep having to bandage their own wounds the best they can with what they have at hand, which usually ends up being the things of this world.
But hear what God says about His wounded sheep in Ezekiel 34:11-16.
“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”
God says in the last days when He restores all things to what He originally had intended for them to be, that He will personally seek out His sheep that have strayed, that have been injured, that are weak, and make them lie down with good pasture as He lies down beside them!
God’s heart is the heart of a shepherd, a Good Shepherd, as Jesus Christ demonstrated during His brief time here on earth.
Jesus says He gives eternal life unto His sheep and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of His hand. (John 10:28) Jesus will never stop seeking His lost sheep until they totally refuse to answer the call of His voice in their hearts. Since we can’t see into the hearts of humans, we cannot know for sure whether they have made their peace with God at death’s door or not, unless they tell us. So we need to leave the judgment of souls being saved or lost with God and Him alone.
When my dad died, my uncle also died. My cousin made a comment to me how one was in heaven and one was in hell; meaning my dad was in heaven and my uncle was in hell. He was judging them by their lifestyles. I rebuked him, saying that he had no way of knowing the heart of my uncle and whether he had made peace with his God or not. Only God knows the heart and only He is judge of all flesh. Let’s leave the judgement of souls and their eternal destiny to Him alone.
Pastors are to shepherd the flock of God’s sheep with humility, and following the example of Christ, yet many times the Pastor has his priorities set on salary, building projects, attendance, pleasing the people with the right sermons etc. Many pastors use their authority to tolerate no discussion of what he has said, and many times using the sword of the Word to butcher instead of to heal. The sheep which are wounded soon become very sick and leave the flock. Very few pastors make phone calls or personal visits to see what has become of them. Why? Where is the heart of the shepherd?
One of the favorite scriptures quoted by pastors when their sheep quit coming to their meetings is found in I John 2:19, “These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.”
Psalm 23 is the Shepherds’ Psalm and a favorite among so many simply because it addresses the perfect treatment of the sheep by the shepherd. Every need of the sheep is provided for in this psalm by the good shepherd. The sheep have nothing to do but bask in the safety, security, protection, provision and love of their shepherd.
Isn’t this the picture that God gave of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Isn’t this the cry of all mankind today as they seek greener pastures and peaceful surroundings as they make trips to beautiful areas of our country and world for a few minutes of the serene?
Think about sheep for a moment.
- Sheep are very vulnerable to attacks of the enemy by themselves. Sheep can’t fight, can’t run away and can’t scare away their attackers. Sheep without a shepherd are completely defenseless.
- Sheep are meant to follow and ewes encourage their lambs to follow from birth.
- In Turkey hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff, plunging to their deaths while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 50 feet to their deaths in a ravine but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived. Shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free.
- Sheep become highly agitated when separated from the flock.
- Sheep are frightened by sudden loud noises, yelling, and barking.
- Sheep need a quiet, gentle voice to respond to being herded to safety and rich pastures.
- Sheep show their health by their appetite.
- A sheep that is reluctant to get up is probably in pain.
- A sheep takes a long time to lay down is probably in pain.
- A sheep that cannot relax is under stress. Teeth grinding is another common sign of pain in sheep.
- Sheep have a strong instinct to herd together running from what frightens them.
- Sheep are not survivors, they are not proud hunters.
- Sheep are natural wanderers. Even in a perfect pasture with all their needs met. They will just wander off.
- Sheep are defenseless and cannot be reintroduced into the wild. They need a shepherd.
Like sheep, we have the tendency to follow.
Like sheep, we often confuse true leadership with the kind offered by hired hands (shepherds who are in it for the wrong reason).
Like sheep, we are endangered by those who prey on our vulnerability, the spiritual wolves.
Like sheep, we are perhaps most vulnerable to ourselves and our tendency to wander away from the care of the shepherd and the safety of the flock.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd that is always with us and who will never forsake us even unto the end of this age. He is always reaching for the affections of our hearts with the oil and the wine ready to heal our wounds; those inflicted onto us by others, and those we have caused our own selves by our own wrong choices. He will never be content until He restores us to His fold as His wandering sheep, as His prodigal sons and daughters, as His wounded Samaritan, and He has prayed for each one as He prayed for Peter that faith will not fail. The only thing that can separate us from the Love of God is our own will to choose to not allow Him to love us and heal us. No Man shall pluck them from His hand. No demon shall remove them from His Love.
Guilt, shame, embarrassment, are used by God to draw us back to Him. Others use it to condemn us even more than we already are. Jesus is the one we turn to when we sin and all men, whether they be saint or sinner have sinned and will sin again and again, requiring us all to need the same High Priest who is always making intercession for us.
While the earthly shepherds are busy with the local church agendas, and while the tongues of many heap condemnation upon those who have been hurt and have left the church, Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to visit and reassure that He loves us even when we sin and will restore us to His fold as we are willing to ask for His help to forsake our sin.
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” (Romans 8:38)