New Thoughts (02/10/09-02/18/09)
Character Study (02/11/09-02/12/09)
Before I begin to look at the parable which Jesus speaks on this occasion, it seems there is a great deal to be learned simply by considering His audience. This audience could be broken up into roughly three categories. First, there are His disciples, the ones He has been training directly for some time now. Second, there are the infamous, the cast-offs, expelled from the synagogue and shunned on the streets. Third, we have the pillars of the synagogue, the most righteous and wise of reputation, the largely self-appointed arbiters of religion. These three very disparate groups are come together before the Teacher, each for their own reasons. But, each of these three groups, we shall find, is being spoken to by the parable that our Teacher speaks.
Taking these in order, the disciples, we know are something of a mixed group in themselves. Indeed, there is at least one in their ranks who has come out of just the sort of life for which those of the second group are shunned. It’s entirely possible that one or more could have been candidates for membership in that third group before Jesus got hold of them. But, in large part, they are commoners, men of no great distinction either for wealth or for poverty, either for righteousness or for sinfulness. They are average, run of the mill people, just plain folks. They are not perfect, or even somehow better than the members of either of those other groups. Their sole distinction is that Jesus has chosen them to be His disciples.
From their stories, we know that some among them were looking for such a teacher as Jesus, at least in some regard. Really, it wasn’t a teacher they were seeking, but Messiah, and, as we are beginning to see more clearly in their behavior, a Messiah after their own heroic sense of the office. So, yes, we have seen some of them out listening to the Forerunner, and meeting this Jesus. Yet, having done all that, they returned to their previous life, as they would do again when the Teacher had been crucified. Gone fishing. It’s what they knew.
Others, so far as we know, weren’t looking at all. Really, of all the stories we have of the Twelve and their calling, it is always just that: a calling. Jesus calls and, seemingly without time for thought, they drop their present activities – they drop their lives, really – and go with Him. No promises given, no indication of what lies ahead, nothing! Just that simple, “Follow Me”. And they did.
As further proof that these are, in the end, just ordinary men with the ordinary weaknesses and foibles of men, we have their more recent history. We have just watched them in their typical male competitiveness, debating who was doing the best at this whole disciple business. We see them vying for the place of honor when this Messiah of theirs, whose plans they still fail to understand being too busy with their own dreams for Him, comes into His own. We see, in John’s most recent antics, a certain jealousy of privilege arising in them, a sense of exclusive access to Messiah, as if they were to become the arbiters between Him and His kingdom. Indeed, for them, this parable comes as something of a cap to all Jesus has already been saying to them by way of correcting their erroneous perspective.
Now, consider that second group: society’s off-scourings. What has brought them to their present state? For some, maybe it was a mistake made early in life, a sin committed once which seemed so hideous to themselves that they could imagine no way back to grace. For others, desperation was doubtless the driving force. A person must needs do what a person must do to survive. With no income, no family, no roof over their heads, what choices were available? Joining the competition for the alms of those better off? Well, they had no particular disability, and that would leave them at a severe disadvantage when it came to eliciting sympathy from the alms-givers. More likely to draw scornful anger, and questions about why they weren’t out working for a living. So, work they did, but not at the sorts of jobs decent people would consider. Some worked the streets. Some saw their physical salvation in working for the Romans. Some, having accepted on themselves the label of criminal for whatever initial sin they may have committed, now committed themselves to a lifestyle befitting that label.
Having gone into this downward spiral, they would find no help from their moral betters. Not at all! The synagogue would not welcome such as they. Even their money was rejected, if they sought to make offerings of their own. They were welcome nowhere in polite society, or even in the earthier society of the commoners. The only fellowship they could expect from here on out was with those as fallen from public grace as they. These were people with no hope, no chance of recovery, however much they might cry at night, wishing their lives might have turned out differently. Then, they caught wind of this Jesus, and His willingness to talk even to such as themselves. What were those words I heard from Martin Luther King the other night? “The stars shine brightest in the darkest night.” I think that’s how it went. Well, here in the starless blackness of their future shone one lone, incredible Star, the very same those magi from the east had followed. Those who saw this Star in such bleak darkness knew their chance, their last chance, had come. They weren’t about to miss it. These will hear this parable and recognize in its story that hope is not lost after all. They are lost, but not destroyed. Repentance and return are still possible.
Finally comes that group composed of the scribes and the Pharisees. Here are the experts on the requirements of holiness, so certain of their own compliance with the Law that they actually deem themselves fit to judge how others are doing. If there was pride in the minds of the disciples, there was far more in the minds of these men. These scribes: they had devoted themselves to understanding Torah. They had dedicated themselves to wrestling with Talmud. They had debated the fine points, helped determine which rabbis had the right of it, and which the wrong. They were the ones that were called in to resolve whatever question might arise on matters of theology and life. When the Sadducees and the Pharisees disagreed, who was called upon to resolve it? Why, the scribes!
Oh, what power they had! They could make or break a career by their resolution to such arguments. They could call down the weight of history to support this one or to undermine that one. Granted, they had no official power, nothing that they could lay claim to based on the Torah and the Talmud that they knew so well. But, they had some understanding of the real world, too. Oh, yes, they had power. And this, sadly, the knew even better than the texts that gave them the power. Power, in the end, was what mattered to them, not the righteousness they were called upon to measure.
Then, we have the Pharisees, their partners. These were the ones who had taken the words of the scribes to heart, and done their utmost to put it into practice. Indeed, it had been at their behest that the scribes had begun their efforts. Explain to us the Law, and let us together determine to lay out the rules of life by which a man can stay well clear of transgressions against that Law! Oh, they had such great intentions at the start. As they proceeded, they never even noticed that they were not guarding themselves from sin at all, only redefining sin to exclude their own foibles. It was such a perfect setup! Why, they were by very definition righteous. Everybody knew it. They had made pretty sure of that. The people could see their dedication to righteousness. If they could have gotten away with it, they would doubtless have worn a sign upon their brow declaring their holiness to the Lord, as the high priest did.
As that was not an option, they would just settle for larger phylacteries than anybody else, longer tassels on their robes. They would make a point of praying loudly and proudly wherever they might be. They would make absolutely certain that they were never found in company with anybody less devoted to the pure life than themselves, even another Pharisee that was, perhaps, a bit less dedicated. Dead bodies? Let somebody else bury them. A Pharisee was not to be made unclean by such work, even for a moment. As for the likes of these people listening to Jesus today? Unthinkable that they would ever associate with such as those! Why, even His regular disciples were beneath contempt in their eyes! Jesus, Himself was not the sort that any self-respecting Pharisee would have to dinner. Who ever heard of a Pharisee dining with a non-Pharisee? It just isn’t done!
With that as their mindset, it was bound to be offensive to find Jesus not only speaking with these well-known sinners from around Capernaum, but actually inviting them in, and accepting their invitations! And He calls Himself a teacher? He thinks Himself a holy man? If He’s so holy, what’s He doing with the likes of these? Clearly, this man is a fraud! You’d never find us taken in by His fancy words. No, no. We’re too wise, to pure for that!
And yes, the message Jesus has in this parable is for them, as well as for His own. Indeed, by His parable, we shall see that He is making these Pharisees a parable for His students as well. You see, by the time this parable has registered on the thinking of His audience, the Pharisees will have immediately self-identified with the shepherd, for their understanding of the holy writings makes that association clear. The sinners seated ‘round will just as instantly recognized themselves in that sheep that had wandered off and couldn’t find a way back. The disciples? I suspect they find themselves in both sheep and shepherd at this point, but perhaps not. Perhaps they are more inclined to see themselves, at least at first hearing, as the ones safe in the fold, the ninety and nine. But, when Jesus makes His point clear, they will realize, I suspect, that they are lost sheep who are being promoted to the shepherd’s role. It may be awhile yet before this sinks in, but sink in it will.
It is getting a bit ahead of myself to turn to the message heard at this point, yet I think I shall do so anyway. I will doubtless return to these points as I proceed, but it’s worth touching on now. I am mindful of that one view I had read of Jesus’ parables, particularly as they involved the Pharisees in the audience. By that theory, these were not innocent lessons designed to go over their heads, but rather verbal assault weapons trained on their position with lethal precision. I can certainly see that in this seemingly innocent story.
On the surface, Jesus is just talking about another common-man scene. Here is a shepherd. He’s not a particularly well to do shepherd, but he’s not destitute. He’s doing well enough, but not so well that he is not a careful man, and watchful over his possessions. What such a man will do when a sheep goes missing is so obvious, so certain, that not one person hearing the story has any doubt about the outcome. Of course that man is going to go look for his sheep. Of course he will not rest until he is certain of that poor sheep’s safety, or else that said sheep has already been killed and is therefore beyond recovery. The whole point of the parable, after all, is to lead to just so obvious a conclusion, leave no room for an alternative outcome.
When Jesus nails that conclusion: Just so, heaven’s God and His lost people; why, those Pharisees and scribes who have been complaining of these sinners Jesus welcomes, who have been promoting themselves as the leaders of the nation of Israel, God’s people, must nearly feel the physical slap to their face! That those who lead God’s people are associated with shepherds over His flock is a given. What student of the Scriptures could miss it? Of course they were the shepherds! Who else was fit to point the sheep in the right direction if not they? Of course, on the other hand, such as they had probably never actually been a real shepherd dealing with real sheep. And, while they might understand the natural impulse of such a shepherd, they certainly hadn’t been displaying towards the sheep they claimed to lead.
I cannot but think that as they listened to this message, they heard the darker messages of many prophets echoing in their ears. How many woes had been pronounced against the shepherds of Israel who had shown no care for the sheep? Is it truly possible that not one of these religious elites listening felt a spark of repentance at such a clear rebuke of their failure? Yes, I know it is. Pride is an incredibly powerful thing, able to block such sparks lest they catch fire and we be saved from our own foolishness. Yet, the power of God is greater!
Turning to those whom the Pharisees were so shocked to find in this Man’s company, well! If there had been a spark of hope lit in their lives that drew them to come listen, that spark was fanned to full flame now! The real shepherd, the real religious leader, doesn’t give up on the lost! No way! He will go look for that one who has departed from the way of righteousness and he won’t give up until he’s brought that one back. There is no being so far gone that God can’t bring you back! What great good news for those who had given up! Incredible to think that even now, after all these years of sin, after all the degradation, in spite of all these superior folks who had shunned them, forced them to keep company with sin; even then, there was hope! Even then, God was willing to take them back, if only they will leave all that behind.
For those who had left them to wallow in their sins, the words of this message are searing. You see, He is telling them, they haven’t wandered because they are so determined to be sinners. They have gone astray because somebody deceived them. Some imposter of a shepherd pointed them in that direction, and said, “Go!” As Nathan said to David, “You, sirs, are that fraud! You have been the ones tossing these sheep at the wolves. You have been living off their misery, and leading them into futility.” With the conviction come the woes. Woe to these shepherds who have eaten My flock instead of guard it. Woe to shepherds that make My sheep a prey. I will fire them and send them from My folds. I will bring in My own Shepherd, Who will truly guard and feed My sheep, and He shall have their place.
It is, really, no wonder that these false shepherds became violent in their opposition to the One destined to replace them. No man takes a threat to his job, his livelihood, his reputation lightly. No man with any shred of self-worth is going to take that laying down. Right or wrong, he will defend himself and his lifestyle. And there is the very sin of the Pharisee, which he could never see in himself. It was, by this time, never about God. It was about me, me, me. Just so long as I look good. Just so long as I have respect. God can go fend for Himself.
Those sheep, on the other hand, might have heard something new, something marvelously reassuring in this very condemnation. It was not some uncorrectable flaw in themselves that had brought them here. It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that they could neither contest nor combat. They had been led into error. They had been duped into that sense of hopelessness that left them marinating in their sins. The very ones who shunned them, forced them into a fellowship of sinners were, in truth, the greatest sinners of all! The real Shepherd cared too much to leave them in that state. He would come find them. He would come clean them up and see to it that they were not abandoned to their doom, but restored to His grace! Wow!
The disciples, with a bit of help from the Spirit, would look at what the Pharisees had become and see the seeds of that same fall in their own recent behavior. They would listen to the Shepherd speaking of His deep love for His sheep, even the lost ones, particularly the lost ones, and they would begin to understand that this was the attitude He wanted in His servants. This is where He was going with that point about the greatest of them becoming a servant to all. It wasn’t just each other they were to serve. In fact, it’s entirely likely that He wasn’t thinking about them serving each other at all. No, it was these sheep. It was these lost souls that everybody else had given up on but Jesus. These were where their service lay. To be a true shepherd in God’s sight, it was not at all as they had been raised to understand. It wasn’t about knowing the Scriptures, it was about understanding them, applying them.
Hadn’t Jesus said just such a thing on other occasions? “Go learn the meaning of this: ‘I desire compassion, not sacrifice’” (Mt 9:13). Where was that compassion, John, when you chased off that man who was trying to serve Me? Where is that compassion when you are arguing for position amongst yourselves? Where, indeed, My disciples, is your own concern for the lost? I came to call them, to heal them, to serve them. Why are you here? Learn from this. Learn from these you see around us listening. Learn from Me.
And yet, we must ever balance the message. That we shall reach out to the lost does not in any way suggest that we ought to leave them to their lost ways and call them saved. Nor does it provide us with cover for our own sins. You know how it is. We hear things like this message, we hear how we ought not look down upon the sinner, and our attention quickly turns to our own situation. We’re yet sinners, after all, however true that our sins have been paid for. And, the very fact that this payment is already made has a terrible tendency to leave us feeling free to sin. This idea of love and compassion towards the sinner can have the same effect on us, equally evil: that we figure we should start by showing that love and compassion towards our own sins. In fact, we practice that so well that pretty soon we don’t call them sins any more.
This is no new problem. It is as old as the Gospel. That does not make it more acceptable, though. Just consider what Paul, who was the loudest proponent of the Gospel of grace apart from works, has to say to the church in Corinth. “I told you not to associate with that so-called brother who continues to be immoral, covetous, idolatrous, or even a drunkard. Don’t even eat with such a one” (1Co 5:11). What? Paul, what happened to the love? Where’s your compassion? Well, when it comes to the lost and the blind, those who have not heard the possibility of freedom from sin, of God’s forgiveness and His power to renew and repair us, Paul’s got all the compassion in the world! He will do anything, adopt any custom, if by doing so he can be used of God to rescue a lost sheep. But, the key here is that he’s not talking about a lost sheep anymore. He’s talking about a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Look at the connection Paul is establishing here: This is no brother. This is no sheep of God’s fold. This is a poseur, an imposter trying to hide amongst the true family of God. How can we tell? Quite simply: He has not set aside his former ways, no even made the attempt. He is what we would often call a ‘social Christian’. If I followed the style of some of our more political friends, we might call him a CINO: Christian in name only. In other words, he seeks the social benefits that might accrue from hanging out with the Christians. After all, they’re a pretty trusting bunch, particular amongst themselves. Might be good for business. Really, just hanging out with them might be enough to convince some folks that I’m trustworthy, too. But, what this one doesn’t want is the lifestyle of the True Believer. He doesn’t have any intention of dying to self, of curbing the fleshly appetites. No, no. That’s for the weak.
If such a one hears such a message as this of the lost sheep, and assuming he can see himself in that lost sheep, all he’s going to hear is that he’s ok. However far he manages to bury himself in the muck of his sins, the Shepherd will be along to rescue him. So, why worry? Just so adept is our sinful nature at making the most wonderful of Truths an evil beyond measure! Don’t let this be your story. God! Don’t let this be my story! It is too easy for a man to fool himself into thinking himself saved when indeed he is of that latter class, the sneaky wolf. Human nature is such that the first one fooled by the wolf is often the wolf itself. But, God, is able not only to transform wolf to sheep as He sees fit, but to open the eyes of a man to see himself in his real condition. God is able not only to see through the deceits of the human heart, but to help the owner of that heart to see through it as well. Let us, then, not be fooled into thinking our sins are ok, that God is winking at our little foibles because we are His children. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Nothing could be more dangerous to our souls.
Corrective for the church (02/12/09-02/13/09)
This parable is such as needs to be heard on many different levels. I have considered it to some degree on the historical level, as it was most immediately heard at its delivery. But, the lessons are ageless. They are not of a nature that only applied to the Middle East under Roman domination, nor solely to the Jews, or any such thing. Whatever characters and classes we see in that parable continue in one type or form in our own day. The most obvious parallel to draw is between the Pharisees and the Church. In each case, the role of shepherd in God’s fields is applicable, and in both cases the same issues and warnings apply.
The complaint that Jesus makes of the Pharisees’ lack of value in the role of shepherd ought to come to the Church as a warning. What are we doing? Are we looking for that one lost sheep, or are we busy partying with the ninety-nine? Now, bear it clearly in your mind that I am talking about the Church, not just the Pastor, not just the leadership; the Church, the whole body of believers. You may choose to hear me on the level of a particular congregation, on the level of the denomination to which that congregation belongs, or even the worldwide community of believers. So long as you hear me with an ear to the fact that you are part of that body, no matter which level you choose. What say you, then? Inasmuch as it lies with you, personally, where has the body focus been?
Now, I know a lot of churches are regularly issuing the altar calls to give the newcomer an opportunity to publicly accept salvation. What then? Oh, we may clap and shout, because we’ve read this passage. We know the angels celebrate so we figure we’d better do the same. But, after the clapping? Do we just add a tick to our ‘saved’ column, and move on? Is anybody laying hold of that newcomer and looking to the task of discipling him or her? Will anybody even be bothered to make contact, see if this conversion we witnessed was conversion in truth, or just an emotional display, or worse still, just a reprobate’s amusement?
The truth is (and there really can be no denying it) that overall, the modern Church is far more interested in hanging out with the ninety-nine. If this were not so, then we would not be wringing our hands over the statistics of church life. We would not be urging the body with news that only 20% of the body is actively engaged in the work of ministry. Immediately, that sets 80% in the hanging out category. Of that 80%, I can almost guarantee that the larger portion are really lost sheep themselves, and just haven’t realized it yet.
But, now let’s look at the 20%. They serve the ministry, but how? Well, there are those who tend to the house of God. There are those who provide the music for services. These are good and necessary functions, I admit, but where’s the lost sheep in it? If they’re lost, unless they’re part of that 80%, they’re not in the house to approve of its neatness or appreciate its musical talents. If they are part of that 80%, they may approve and appreciate, but are they being pointed back to the fold of God’s arms? Or has the neatness become an end in itself? Has the worship become just a talent show? We shall know, I suppose by the fruits of our efforts, and those fruits must be measured by something greater than formulaic conversions.
I have seen real fruit, and I have seen what only appeared to be fruit. There is a radical difference, but only when you’ve taken the time to find it. Both might look to be the same on the surface. You may find both singing the songs, praying along with the corporate prayers, waving hands and saying the amen. But, all of that is, in the end just show – window dressing. It means nothing without having something else to give it meaning. The meaning is in the change one observes in the real fruit as time progresses. The meaning is found in the habits of an old lifestyle that are slowly but surely being set aside and done away with. The meaning is found in the one who doesn’t just gripe about how he needs to change, but has actually gotten proactive about it as the Spirit of the Living God lays hold.
Listen, the worst, most thoroughly and truly beyond redemption, sinner in the midst of his sins knows he really ought to change his ways. He knows it. He may complain of it. He may have a whole list of reasons why he can’t, or he may simply count himself too far gone. Whatever the case, he will never be bothered to do anything about actually changing. He will continually find yet another excuse not to act. He may even couch it in wonderfully religious terms. “Oh, in God’s time, I’ll get better. When He chooses to act, this old habit of death will be taken from me. But, until then, I guess I’ll just give in to it. See, it’s His fault! He hasn’t fixed that sin in me yet. How can I expect to do anything about it?”
It is up to us, the brothers and sisters of the body, the ones who understand the Truth of God, to break through that deceit. If this one is truly a lost sheep, then surely God is able to give us the words that will break through all that self-deception and turn that sheep back towards home. If not, and we are not as a rule given to know with any certainty one way or the other, perhaps that same effort would be the thing to break through and start a new believer on the road to purification. If we were assured of that outcome, would we withhold our efforts? Well, why should we expend any less effort just because the outcome is not so certain? Shouldn’t that rather give us more reason to try harder?
What is even more unfortunate is that for a growing part of the population, the mega-churches and televangelists are becoming the recognized face of the Church. Of the two, I am marginally more concerned about the televangelists, but I have to admit to a fair amount of suspicion or skepticism with regards those monster churches as well. I find it rather unlikely that they grew so large by being concerned for the Truth of God. The Truth of God has a tendency to offend the lost, unless and until they are the called. Admittedly, it’s possible that they are teaching the True Gospel and getting a real response to it from the community, but if it were so, I suspect we’d hear a lot more about the great revival transpiring there, and not just from the revivalists. If there were that real a move of God happening in those places, with that much publicity, I dare say even the most staid and orthodox of denominations would be making much of it. Contrary to what some might think, I really don’t suppose these older denominations are so committed to their own view of things as to reject a real and certain move of God.
It seems to me, and I’d be happy to discover myself wrong about this, that these huge facilities have gotten there by becoming profit-driven prophets. They would seem to be places trying to cash in on God’s name and God’s reputation. So, they put on a veneer of Christianese, but what they peddle from their pulpits is pure pop psychology with a bit of modern business practices folded in. They are not so much pastors as salesmen, and they thrive on pitching their brand. Just look on the shelves of the Christian Bookstore any more: How many of the best sellers are variations on a one hit theme?
We had the Purpose Driven Life, which has had rave reviews and still spurs all sorts of kudos from many a believer at its merest mention. Fine. Maybe it’s even got some solid points to make. Maybe it’s something more than a sermon that’s been padded out to a length satisfactory to the publisher. But, then, there’s the whole series of Purpose Driven Add-ons. That’s no longer anything real, folks. That’s marketing. That’s Barbie for the Believers. I see the same deal with the whole Five Languages thing. Somebody’s hit a formula, and by gum, they’re gonna milk it for all it’s worth. But, however helpful some of these may be, it’s really just world-based pop psychology with a few Scriptures thrown in to give it legitimacy with the God crowd. And the fact that there are so many flavors of Five Languages out there is clear indication that we’re dealing with pure marketing again. Fine, so we’ve identified that there are (at least) five languages by which folks express or recognize love. Cool. But, it’s certainly a tad suspect to ‘discover’ by years of painstaking research that there’s also five languages by which folks express or recognize apology. Why not six? What, I ask, would have been the impact of one of these latter books if the author and publisher had not chosen to bang away on that five languages meme? Well, if the stuff’s legit, and the author’s points are sound, it should theoretically do just as well.
My point (and it’s something of an old point for me) is that the Church is becoming more and more a profit driven trade; the more so, the more national or international the scope of its reach. Willow Creek is no longer a church. It’s not even a denomination. It’s a brand, and the owners of that brand are trading hard on its value, riding it while it lasts. In some degree, the same must be said for Vineyard and Hillsong. While they have managed to maintain a semblance of ministry focus, at least, the powerful lure of that worship music sales bin on their profit and loss statement cannot help but influence their decisions going forward. They have become a brand, and the brand must be protected. But, Jesus says we cannot serve both God and mammon, does He not? I fear these become cases in point.
What gets me thinking on these things is the reason these Pharisees and scribes had for so despising the tax-gatherers. It’s actually rather natural to us, I suppose, to have a rather low opinion of these folks. Even in our own day, the IRS representative is in many ways loathed at least as much as feared. Yet, much like the tax-gatherers of Jesus’ day, a lot of the folks working there are just trying to make a living. Indeed, having worked upstairs from the IRS for awhile, I have to say that the people I saw going in and out of their offices on a daily basis weren’t getting rich at their day jobs by a long stretch. I can also recall, from an earlier time, a few college students who worked for the IRS for no other purpose than to keep food on the table and a roof overhead while they continued their studies. These are hardly mercenaries or extortionists.
Yet, the system that Rome set up actually invited a mercenary approach to the task of tax collecting. At the top were men who paid Rome a flat fee for the privilege of collecting the taxes in one province or another. Anything more than that flat fee was, of course, profit for the one who paid the fee, so what do you suppose they did? Of course, they sought to collect whatever they could. They hired men who understood such motivation to be their local managers of collection, and these in turn hired men who were not likely to let compassion or pity stand in the way of their work. Doubtless, the same basic arrangements were made at each level, either by official rules of work, or by the nature of those employed. Hmm, I owe the boss X, but if I collect X+Y, who’s going to tell him? X to the house, and Y to me, thank you very much.
What’s my point here? These tax-gatherers and the whole system that employed them was profit-driven, and therefore naturally inclined towards the temptation of collecting more than was legally required. Otherwise, what was the point for any of these men to be in the business? This inherent dishonesty in the profession contributed to the way the professionals were detested by the Jews. Detested may be too weak a word for it. They were refused at the synagogue, banned from polite society. Even their money was seen as too polluted by sin to be accepted, even as alms. But, it is that simple point that such a profit-driven trade was bound to promote sinfulness in its ranks. Might as well look for a pure and altruistic pimp. It’s just not going to happen.
What scares me is that today, that same description of profit-driven describes so much of the Church, and where it describes the Church, the same issue applies. The temptation to make profit more critical than mission, to make profit the mission, is almost certain to prove irresistible. In some ways, the Pharisees were already in the same place, although they thought themselves above it. What, after all, had led Jesus to clear the courts of the Temple? It was no longer doing God’s business, it was doing business by preying on God’s people. Sure, and the Temple only accepts true shekels, don’t you know. He would never accept any of those heathen coins in His coffers. Yes, we can make the exchange, but of course, you’ll need to pay us a bit extra to cover, ahem, operating expenses. Oh, you didn’t want to try and bring one of your own sheep for the sacrifice? Afraid maybe it would develop a blemish along the way? Well, that’s fine. We can take care of you. Got a fine sheep right here, guaranteed free of all injury. It’s gonna cost, but then convenience always does, doesn’t it?
On the surface, maybe it sounds like they’re doing a service for God’s people. The fact is that they’re doing a number on God’s people, and getting fat off the deal. These are exactly the sort of shepherds that God rails against in the books of the Prophets. Is it any wonder His Son didn’t take a shine to them when He saw their business plan? Can we suppose that He’s any happier with the Profit Driven Life of so many of His supposed representatives today? What have any of these to do with lost sheep? If they’re encountering lost sheep at all, they’re not doing anything to get them back to the right fold. They’re acquiring them to themselves, just like the rustlers of the Old West. They’re preying on other shepherds, snagging membership from whatever flock they can. Who cares about the lost? If they come, fine. If not, got plenty of believers here ready to fleece.
If we can’t see the tendency towards Pharisaism in ourselves, if we can’t see the same problems playing out in our own day, we are in deep trouble! It was the blindness to their own condition that was the greatest, most life-threatening problem for the Pharisees, and it is that same blindness that will be our own undoing. Oh! That we might learn from the Scriptures that God has given for our edification! Why do you suppose we are shown so many of the failings of God’s people? It’s not so we can pity them and then pat ourselves on the back for having come so far from what they were. It’s so we might realize our own danger, and how terribly little things have actually changed in a world of fallen men, in a faith community composed of fallen men.
By comparison, these tax-gatherers that were come to hear Jesus recognized full well their condition, and had come because they were determined to do something about it. Look! Do you suppose these men had departed the synagogue by choice? Some, perhaps, but not all. Some just needed to do whatever they could to survive. But, having come to this, official religion had no room for them, no road by which they might hope to be reconciled. Yet, these most abhorrent of sinners were most honest about their sins. They had never denied them, really. They just hadn’t had any way to do much about them, and whatever they might have done, those who liked to pretend they were sinless made sure to remove. Weren’t they trying to do just that here? Look! Jesus is giving those sinners hope! We can’t have that. Better discredit Him. Better destroy Him, lest they find their way back to God. But, the sinners understood. The sinners, having longed for hope these many years, knew hope when they saw it, and they would do what hope required to make that hope reality. Confess my sins? No problem! Everybody knows about it anyway. Repent? I’d love to. I don’t want this life I’ve been leading. I’ve been left no choice in the matter, no hope of redemption. Show me a way out, and I’m with You all the way.
Meanwhile, there’s the shepherds, standing by and complaining. Oh, look at this so called prophet! He hangs around with lost sheep. He should be in the fold like us! He should be pure and holy like us. We would certainly never sully our fine robes by associating with these filthy outcasts. And these men had the audacity to promote themselves as the experts! These men had the chutzpah to claim they understood Torah better than any. These men wanted to be seen as the shepherds of Israel’s faith, but truth was they were afraid that the sheep might be contagious! Sheep were best avoided, so far as they were concerned.
Jesus, in this parable, has both directly and indirectly put the spotlight on the state of these miserable shepherds. Everybody knew where their concern ought to be directed. Everybody knew where it was directed instead. Maybe they hadn’t quite made the mental connection yet, but with this parable and its obvious answer to its own question – obvious only because anyone with half a brain would give the same answer – was making that connection very clear, particular with such an audience.
What is not said by Him, but seems to me to be implied by the setting in Matthew, is the gentle rebuke of a teachable moment when it came to His own disciples. Perhaps, He made Himself more perfectly clear later, when the crowds had dispersed once again. But, I can hear Him turning to John and saying, “See? The way these Pharisees look upon Me and My practices is really no different than how you looked upon that young man earlier, as he served on My authority.” You’ve tried to make yourselves the official arbiters of religion, but you are no more fit for that role than these Pharisees. Indeed, even this early in your ministry, you are making the exact same error as they. You, who would be shepherds, are acting more like the lost sheep you should be seeking to restore. You, too, will need to repent of your ways, and turn back to God’s ways.
Directive for the pastor (02/14/09-02/15/09)
What applies to the church at large applies that much more to the pastor of the church. As much as the Pharisees are a lesson for each one of us, more so they stand as the representatives of the pastorate. In every way, they satisfy the symbol of the shepherd as that symbol is expounded upon in Scripture. That this is equally true of the pastorate of our own day, and of every age, is clear. Indeed, many a pastor will make abundant use of that very image as describing their own character, and so it should. This is only amplified for us in the New Testament age, because our Lord and Savior has loudly proclaimed, “I AM the Good Shepherd” (Jn 10:11), and as such, He says, He lays down His life to protect His sheep. Then, too, there is that revelation that He is both Lamb and Shepherd (Rev 7:17).
In these ways our True High Priest reveals what each and every one of His appointed pastors should manifest. Yes, He says, I have appointed you as a shepherd over this flock of My sheep, but never lose sight of the truth that you are but a sheep, yourself. You will ever and always be one of them. Never seek to present yourself as somehow superior to your charges. Never allow yourself to think that the authority I have given you elevates you above your peers. You are still a sheep, as I AM still the Lamb. See to it, also that as a shepherd over My people, you shepherd them after My fashion.
Indeed, as we look at the ways of this shepherd of parable, we know (even though we have never been shepherds ourselves) that the behavior Jesus speaks of is the behavior that shepherd would manifest. Now, as other parables unfold, we also come to know that this behavior is only true of the real shepherd, the one who is watching over his own sheep. The hired gun is not the same. The real shepherd will indeed do all in his power to ensure that not one sheep is lost – whether to predation or its own foolishness. He will do anything, even to the point of severe injury to himself, to prevent that loss, because his sheep are his life. The hired hand has no such personal connection. He’s just there to make a living for himself. If a sheep is lost, well, what could he do, after all? That lion was too fierce and he was without any weapon. That sheep just wandered off. How was he supposed to know where its foolishness had taken it?
To all this, Jesus says, “if indeed you are a shepherd I have called, then be a shepherd after My model, God’s model”. And, in Jeremiah, we see just such a faithful shepherd. “As for me, I have not run off from being just such a shepherd as You desire, Lord” (Jer 17:16). Jeremiah: the most chronically depressed of all the prophets, given words nobody wanted to hear, and a burning in his soul that would not allow of silence, did not run from his assignment. That assignment, it must be noted, includes severe denunciation of the so-called shepherds around him. In those words he spoke from God, we hear a message that later prophets built upon, because the problem hadn’t gone away. The problem never truly goes away, because where there are true shepherds, there will also be imposters. Where there are trusting sheep, there will ever be those who are concerned for their safety, and those who only wish to fleece them.
So God looks upon his true pastorate and, as He spoke to Peter He speaks to them. “If you truly love Me and honor Me, then guard My sheep, feed My sheep. Be a shepherd after My own model. Love them as I love them. Love them as yourself. Love them as more than yourself. Watch over them as if your very life depended upon their own security and health.”
There is something I wrote a paragraph or so back that rather immediately said to me that it needed further exploration. You may think it vanity that I would go back to my own words as somehow profound, and were that all it was, I’d agree. But, in these times, I know my God is speaking with me even as I write, and there are those occasions where the things I write in His presence are, to me at least, a direct communication from Him. This feels like one of those times.
As I was writing about that real shepherd, I said, “his sheep are his life”. This speaks of that love that Jesus has for His own. It also speaks of the love He tells us a husband ought have for his wife. In short, it speaks of love at its most powerful, at least as we are able to comprehend it. Very rarely, it seems, we meet a couple who have come to love each other to this degree, that each is very life to the other. We may not recognize the full of it until one has passed away, and the other, it seems, finds no worth in living without them. We sorrow over that. We worry, in our Christianese fashion, that maybe they had made idols of one another. I feel I must say emphatically, No! They have had exactly that sort of love God commands between husband and wife.
By extrapolation, this is also the same love He calls His shepherds to have for their sheep. Can you imagine? The pastor is to be so wholly consumed by his love for the sheep that were even one to be lost to him, it would pain him worse than his own death. Indeed, life would not be worth living under the circumstances. Now, I’m not sure that there has ever been a pastor that could truly measure up to that ideal. It’s rare enough, as I said, to find even a couple that have come to that point, and everyone knows that the more people there are involved, the lower the likelihood of good relations, let alone a love as true as all that.
But, for the pastor, the standard is to be just that: “his sheep are his life.” Unless he have that perspective in himself, he cannot hope to fulfill the role he has been assigned; not to the satisfaction of the One whose sheep he pastors. It is this perspective that will keep a shepherd in line, as it were. When I read of those shepherds that the prophets condemned, those who saw the flock only as a profit center, sheep to be fleeced, something to be devoured at leisure, it is clear that such so-called shepherds are not true to the title. Their sheep are not their life, don’t even touch their life. At most, they are their livelihood, but even that, as they see it, is only a temporary thing. The sheep are their livelihood only so long as there remains a few sheep to keep them fed. When this is no longer true, they’ll find some other means of support for themselves.
But, the real pastor sees the sheep as his life. The real Christian, I dare say, sees his fellows in the same light, for whether we bear the title and the office of pastor or, for that matter, any office or title within the Church, we are yet a priesthood by God’s own declaration. Every last one of us is declared a priest; indeed, a priest after the order of Melchezedek! Every one of us is under this prime directive: Look upon your brothers as your own life. Let their wellbeing mean as much to you, if not more than your own. If you would excel at your duties, then serve every one of them as if they were your superiors and yet your sheep and yourself. Count yourself as the least of the sheep, and you will have found the humility to shepherd them.
Turning my attention back to those representatives of the religious order who were so put off by Jesus, there is something to recognize in them that it might serve as a warning to ourselves. In them I find examples of the legalist and the intellectual wings of faith. The Pharisees were all about rules, and all about making certain anybody they associated with observed the same rules they did. It didn’t really matter that much whether the rules had any real basis in God’s Law. Their forebears had seen fit to live by these rules, and that was good enough.
The scribes were all about learning. They were the students of Scripture, the students of both Torah and Talmud, endlessly debating how best to understand this passage or that. In those arguments, they, too, liked to appeal to their intellectual forebears. Why, Rabbi so-and-so said… Where they ran into trouble was in putting these things into action, actually applying the Law of God to their own private lives.
Certainly there is nothing bad about obeying the law living within the legal bounds. Certainly, the goal of understanding Scripture is most commendable. Indeed, even Scripture itself commends it. “Meditate on this word always.” “Study to show yourself approved.” But, if one has truly done this second thing, and has sought not just intelligence, but wisdom in doing so, he can only come to the understanding that the former effort is impossible for man unaided. Indeed, the real student of the Word must necessarily reach the conclusion that not only is the Law impossible to keep, but it was designed with that very intent. It was never set out as a bunch of achievable measures by which a man could tell if he were still right with God, or whether a certain number of livestock needed butchering. It was intended to express to man the real standards by which a real God lives and by which He really measures His creatures.
What we have before us, though, is another case of good (or at least morally neutral) pursuits turned to evil outcome by the fallen state of man. The legalist is not satisfied with obeying the Law. He can’t be because he can’t obey. Yet, he must have his respect, his image. So, he establishes rules he can keep, and then keeps them. Still, that respect isn’t there. For these rules to signify anything, society around him must be made to at least accept the rules as valid, even if they won’t live by them. But, the legalist has no such power in himself to establish new laws.
Enter the scribes. The scribes, who pursued knowledge for knowledge’s sake, knew every passage inside and out, backwards and forwards. If anybody had questions about God’s message to man, these were the ones to ask. Yet, they had no authority. They could speak as authoritatively on the topic as they might please, but one could easily enough find another scribe who followed another school of thought more conducive to the answer one wanted.
So, we find the legalist powerless to impose his law, and the professor powerless to gain credence for his view on things. In each other, they have found their need fulfilled. They develop a symbiotic relationship. The scribes, in so far as they support the Pharisaic claims, discover a certain power and authority is given them, and they rather like that. The Pharisees, so long as they can maintain that scribal support, discover that this ivory tower support lends them a certain power and authority, as well. But, it is really a most fragile power, and this Jesus has thoroughly threatened the structure of it. If He is understood to be correct, then the traditions of the Pharisees must fall, and all their public efforts become fodder for ridicule. If He is understood to be correct, then those scribes who had lent their credence to the ways of the Pharisees are discredited as professors of Israel’s religious orthodoxy. They were so wrong in this, why would anybody come to them for the answers again? So, with their power structures threatened by this man, it is no wonder that they attack.
All this is well and good, but what shall we learn from it? Fundamentally, we learn that once again anything taken to extremes is likely not of God. The Pharisee spirit rises up constantly in the Church. It may be most famously recognizable in the holiness movement that swept through America at one point. It can be seen in many lesser manifestations just about anywhere. In some degree, it is found in each and every denominational structure. It is found in those places where orthodoxy is not examined, but merely handed down. It is found in those places where the trivialities of life are subjected to all manner of rules and regulations which have no foundation. Dance may be forbidden the children of the God of the Dance. Wine may be counted a sin, in spite of its history as a means of God blessing His own. Music, if not banned, is severely restricted, lest we offend God with an honest outflow of our love for Him. No, no. Must be unaccompanied psalms, or maybe a pipe organ. Pipe organs are holy. Drums? Not so much.
There is another place we need to see this spirit, though, which is a bit more deceptive, a bit more likely to slip by our detectors. That is in the place of ministry. When God calls one to serve in a particular role, suddenly that role becomes the most important thing in the Church to us. Why, everybody ought to be as focused on this thing as I am! If I serve in worship, then everything else in the Church ought to bow down to the ministry of worship. If I serve as an evangelist, then something is terribly wrong with all these so-called believers who don’t evangelize. If I am in a place of interceding, than anybody who does not pray loudly and at great length at every possible chance is clearly at risk of losing their salvation. Do you see what happens here? We forget that the purpose of the nose is vastly different than that of the hand. If you doubt it, try opening the door with your nose, or start your car with your nose. Then, having done so, go show some appreciation to those who serve in the nose ministry, you foolish hand!
From the scribes, the lesson is easier to grasp, if harder to implement. The lesson is simple: knowing is not enough. As it is written, it is the one who actually does what the Scriptures teach who is blessed for his actions, not the one who hears. In other words, knowing the material inside and out is insufficient if you don’t put it into practice. Now, lest we fall right back into the legalistic error, the point here is not that we must apply our understanding perfectly. The point is that we have a terrible habit of not applying it at all. Oh, we have our reasons. We can probably even provide some supporting Scriptures to back our position, so long as we violate our purported principles just a little. But, that way leads a cheap obedience, a cheap and false grace, a thinly disguised to all but ourselves excuse for sin wrapped up in pretty religion.
The world’s error lies in looking at the Christian and seeing a hypocrite because they have shown themselves either unable or unwilling to live the life they claim to believe is right. Actually, the man of the world blithely assumes it’s simply a matter of being unwilling. In some ways he is quite right. Of course, he is also no more willing to even make the attempt. The Christian, if he understands at all, recognizes that however willing he may be, he shall remain unable. He recognizes that John is quite correct in telling us that any man who claims to have obtained to this holiness of obedience is blowing smoke, and proves by his own words just what a liar he is. But, the Christian also understands that this is no excuse to stop trying.
There have been those movements over time who have leant this way or that. We seem to be forever swaying between extremes, never content to rest at the balance point. But, God will not suffer us to wander too far afield, nor for too long. He is ever drawing us back to the true path, the right way. Often times, He is merely waiting for us to come to our senses, rather like the prodigal son. There are those occasions, though, where He finds it necessary to force the issue. Most of the time, we try and live in denial of that important Truth, but it remains True without us.
So, what has all this to do with the pastorate? The shepherd, being a sheep himself, should understand the natural weaknesses of sheep, their tendency to wander, to go chasing after things that, while they look good, are in fact deadly. The shepherd used to be that way, too, after all. But, he has been given charge. He has been appointed to watch over these sheep, his brothers. Therefore, if anybody is to beware of the extremes of legalism and intellectualism, it is he. If anybody is to inoculate the sheep against these extremes by imparting wisdom to them regularly, it is he. After all, it is to the proto-pastor that Jesus says, “if you love Me, feed My sheep.” Don’t just watch them. Don’t leave them in such a state that they are inclined to run off. You’re just making more work for yourself. Don’t just pen them in. Feed them. Impart to them. Disciple them. Yes, there will still be those ones that insist on running off, but don’t you let them. And, just think: the greater the wisdom you give to your sheep, the less chasing you’ll have to do!
Assurance for the believer (02/16/09)
Briefly, before I turn my attention to the stated topic for this portion, I want to look at the more personal applications of what I have discussed thus far. I have looked at how this parable addressed the Church at large, and I have looked at how it applies more specifically to the pastorate. Well, anything addressed to either group applies to each individual. As I have been studying this parable for the last week or two it has been amazing to see how many aspects of my walk I find it applies to.
As a father, it speaks to me about the love and concern I ought to have for my daughter, and as such, it convicts me. I look at the words expressed in Luke’s account, where we hear that the shepherd will “Go after that one which is lost until he finds it”, and I hear it echoed throughout God’s prophesies regarding His own Shepherd, and I realize that this is the heart I ought to have for my child’s spiritual wellbeing. I hear those words He spoke through my own fingertips in this study, “look at them as your own life”, and again I hear the description of that concern I should know for my daughter. She is, more than any other person in this world, my own life. And yet, as a strong-willed teen who challenges my authority and pursues activities and arts that I would not have her to pursue, I recognize that this perspective I ought to have is not mine by nature.
My inclination is to let the lost sheep wander. It seems so determined to pursue its own way, after all, and there’s not a good deal I can really do to change the sheep’s mind. It’s aggravating. It disturbs my peace. Wouldn’t it be much easier, much quieter around here, if I just let her do what she wants. I mean, so long as that music’s not blasting through the house, who’s hurt by it? So long as I don’t have to watch those crappy shows, what’s it to me? But, God won’t allow me to settle for that short-sighted view. God won’t let me stop at just being a parent. I must also be a brother. I must, until He tells me that it is undeniably, irreversibly untrue, believe that she is my sister, a fellow believer and co-heir with Christ. It may not seem that way for a long time. It didn’t with me, after all! But, if she is indeed a sheep of His pasture, she is a sheep that has been left under my shepherding guardianship, and I dare not fail.
Yet, I know that in many ways, I have already failed, and failed miserably. I do not truly care as I ought. I do not truly love as I see myself instructed here. It is beyond me to do so, and that in itself is a great sorrow and a great concern to me. It could almost lead me to wonder about my own status as a sheep of His fold. Almost. But, then, I am reminded forcibly that it was not my marvelous adherence to His rules that led me to be of His fold in the first place. If anything, it is my membership in His flock by His choice that has given me any cause at all to care about being as He likes His sheep to be. It is by His placement of me in His flock that I have learned anything at all about how to be a shepherd. But, oh! I have so much more to learn. It’s not that I don’t know. It’s that the wisdom to act on that knowledge is so often lacking. It’s that the spirit that knows Him is still too willing to allow the weak flesh to have the driver’s seat.
With these thoughts fresh in mind, I was attending a leadership meeting for our men’s group this weekend, and again, I heard the message of this parable instructing our direction. God is not willing, we read, that even one of these little ones, these fresh converts, these lost sheep of his fold should perish. Oh, we are well aware of those who have been in our groups for a time but wandered off. Some we have chased well. Some we have almost forgotten about as they run away. Many more in the overall body of our church, have never even visited the fold. How shall we retrieve these? How shall we reach the dull minds of the rugged individualist sheep that they might realize that they, too, have need of what the fold of God can offer?
Most are probably convinced that their relationship with Him is good, and many are probably right in saying so. Where they err is in thinking this is enough. Where they err is in thinking that fellowship with other men, maybe even men who, so far as they can see, are not nearly so far along the path to heaven as themselves, is of any benefit to them. It’s more time away from their own pursuits. It’s almost guaranteed to become uncomfortable, especially if there are really guys there who are opening up about their problems. And yet, it is exactly this place of safety and openness that they need. They are not as advanced as they like to think. They are not alone in having faced the troubles they’ve faced. They are not alone in having failed the tests they’ve failed. It is not just a sympathy exchange that is needed, nor that is offered. It is constructive, helpful encouragement and advice from brothers who are not nearly so different from you as you think. It’s a chance, really, to be the sort of sheep Jesus likes. For truly, in His eyes, every sheep is a shepherd and every shepherd a sheep.
As the leaders of the flock, in this case, I hear the parable asking us, “What are you doing about those wanderers?” I hear us called to chase them down, not for berating, not to be dragged in kicking and screaming (at least not yet). I hear us called to be there with them, to keep that door to fellowship at hand, even if they are currently running away from it. I hear us called to present them with every possible opportunity for fellowship, whether one-on-one, or as part of a larger group, until we have achieved the end that the men of this church are truly knit together in bonds of mutual friendship, fellowship, openness and accountability. Until we have broken down the barriers that we men build up to maintain our privacy and so-called safety, we shall not be sheep of one fold, however earnest our faith in one God.
Now I feel like I can turn to the promise that this same parable gives to the believer. Again, it is something that I have surely hinted at throughout the preceding discussion, but it needs a time and a place of its own. Listen! The shepherd, Jesus says, will search for that lost sheep until he finds it. He won’t give up! There is nothing that will stop him from seeking out that sheep, no danger too great, no cliff-wall too steep. Of course we know that Jesus is the ultimate Shepherd. Knowing that, we must certainly understand that He is the One who won’t give up on us. If we are His sheep, if He numbers us in His flock, then however far we might wander off, He will indeed bring us back to Himself.
Do you question that? I don’t see how you could, but if you do, you need but consider Jonah the prophet. Here was a man of God, but one who didn’t like the assignment God had given him. So, he was determined to run away from that assignment, to place himself in a position that would assure he didn’t fulfill what was commanded. No way, God! Not me! Ain’t gonna do it. And foolishly, he thought to himself, “and You can’t make me!” But, He can. He did. He did it not simply to prove Himself all-powerful. As if that really needed proving! He didn’t even do it solely that His original purpose might be fulfilled for those Jonah was supposed to reach. He could have sent another, more willing prophet to do the job. But, Jonah needed some wisdom from on high, too, and the lessons learned as he tried to run away and as God brought him back, as he completed his assignment even though he would have preferred it to be unsuccessful, in all these things, God was teaching Jonah a lesson, and He made certain that Jonah learned it. He brought Jonah back to the fold.
Consider Paul if you’d like another example. Here was a man of God! Here was a zealous, jealous defender of the Ancient Faith of Israel. He would not allow any corruptor or opposer of that faith to stand, if it lay in his power to bring that one down. Truly, here was a fearless shepherd willing to face down any lion, bear or wolf that threatened his sheep! And yet, as a sheep, he was far afield from the fold. God could have struck him down. He could have decided that the fledgling Church was too important. He could have reasoned like Caiaphas had: Better one sheep than the whole flock. But, God is not a man, and does not think in such short-sighted, self-serving ways as man. He looked upon this misguided murderer of sheep and saw a sad, self-endangered sheep lost and at great risk of perishing if he were not rescued. And so, God Himself rescued that one, and taught him personally what a real shepherd was to be. And what a shepherd that man became!
All of this ought really come as no surprise to us, for it is absolutely in keeping with what our Lord and King has ever been saying. I go back to Jeremiah, as he cries out from the mouth of God against the false shepherds that have been misleading Israel. These shepherds have actually contributed to the scattering of the flocks they were to watch over, and God who owns those flocks is not pleased. But, hear the promise: “I Myself shall gather the remnant of My flock […] I shall raise up shepherds to tend them properly,” and here is the key point for me, “nor will any be missing” (Jer 23:3-4). Do you understand this? It is so critical to your peace of mind. It is perhaps the most important point of faith this side of understanding that Jesus alone is your salvation and your righteousness, maybe even more important!
Listen: What Jesus is saying, what God is saying, is this: “I won’t give up! I will not stop searching you out, until you are restored to Me.” If you are a sheep of His flock, it does not guarantee that you’re a smart sheep. Indeed, you can be pretty well assured that you’re a dumb sheep like the rest of us. If you are a sheep of His flock, that doesn’t make it any wiser, or any more right to go wandering off into the minefields of sin. It does not give you license to live as you please. But, it does most certainly give you a reason to keep going. God will not give up on you! If you are His, He will not lose you – not to the devil and not to yourself. He is able, and He is determined. He has already declared that not one will be missing. End of story!
Hear, as well, how this perfect guardianship of God protects even against lousy false shepherds. These false shepherds made the flock their prey. They let the sheep wander into danger and didn’t even care. They saw wolves coming and just ran into their shacks to be safe themselves, leaving the sheep to fend as best they could. And the Shepherd, the true Owner of that flock says, “I will demand My sheep from them. No more will these false shepherds fatten themselves at the expense of My sheep, for I will deliver My flock from their mouths.” And, here it is again, the Promise: “I Myself will go search for My sheep, and I will find them. Wherever they were scattered to, I will find them, and I will bring them back” (Eze 34:7-12).
This is the Shepherd Jesus is presenting in His parable. This is the Shepherd whose concern is for the wandering one. This is Shepherd who will search until He finds it, and who will bring that sheep back home wrapped in His own arms. And you are worried that you might lose your salvation? Listen up! That worry is itself the proof of your salvation. It is the Spirit of the Living God speaking to your spirit, reminding you of who you are, pointing out that where you are is nothing to do with where you should be, where you could be. It is the voice of the Shepherd calling out to you, pointing out the path back to His safety.
The question, my friend, is not whether your salvation is secured and certain. If there is any question, it must be whether you are of His fold. Jesus is explicit in His promises. “I have not lost a one that My Father gave Me. Only the son of perdition was lost.” Well, if he was the son of perdition, he was no child of God, though he tagged along with the true sheep. Many in our churches today are of that same nature. They tag along, but they have never been sheep. When they tire of the game, they depart, and the sheep regret their parting. But, as John says, “though they went out from us, they were not of us.”
God does not lose sheep. The Good Shepherd does not lose sheep. He does not suffer the thief to climb the walls of His fold and prey upon His own. Oh, we like to think it could happen. I don’t know why. Maybe it gives us some sense of cover for our own failings. But, the enemy we have most to fear is ourselves. The one most likely to damage a sheep is the sheep itself. We are more than willing and able to lead ourselves astray. But, the promised protection of our Shepherd knows us too well to let us get beyond recovery.
Again, I must stress that this is no license. It’s not to be taken as a get out of jail free card. I will tell you point blank that if you don’t see some change in your ways, if you don’t find a greater concern over your sins, a greater desire and effort to leave those sins behind, I think you have cause to question whether you are a sheep at all. I would not have you die with a false sense of security. But, if you have seen the trend line of your life shifting, even though your sins are ever so numerous, even though it maybe feels like you’re just treading spiritual water, you are really being shown the reality of your status as a sheep of His fold. The fruits of His presence in your life may be slow in growing, but you are seeing the first budding of that fruit. Be patient with yourself as He is patient with you. Nurture what you see growing, and don’t allow the acid soil of anxiety to poison what He has planted in you. Trust in Him. The fear you feel is only there because you’re still trying to trust yourself, and you know yourself too well. You know you are fallible. You know you are all but certain to fail. So does He. That’s why He remains your Overseer. Trust Him.
Hear one more bit of assurance in this regard. The Bible has this further promise for you who are a sheep of His fold. “All of these ministering spirits are sent out to serve on behalf of those who inherit salvation” (Heb 1:14). Now, as so often is the case, the mind of man takes this reality and bends it out of shape. There is a great motion in the body of the Church to think that these ministering spirits are ours to command. As if! God is not so foolish as to leave such power in the hands of children. He did not say that these angels are put at our beck and call. He said that they are sent. Who sends them? He sends them. Why does He send them? He sends them to serve on your behalf! I dare say that a good portion of the time that service is spent saving us from ourselves.
Now, then, does this mean that all this praying for angels to be sent is vanity and wind? Not necessarily. As the saying goes, there’s no harm in asking. The harm lies in thinking we can demand things of God, and angelic assignments are certainly no exception. No parent gladly puts up with a child that demands its way. Indeed, the parent put in such a position will do whatever must be done to make sure that child learns that such demands will be rejected outright. God is, of course, a wiser parent than I can ever hope to be. Yet, I am not so foolish as to think His greater wisdom leads Him to be more tolerant of my unwise demands, and certainly no more inclined to honor my demands, however misguided.
We have got it in our heads that we are so darned smart that we really need to tell God how to answer our prayers, how to fulfill our current needs and desires, how to run His household. When we pray, we have a terrible habit of not just defining the particular answer we’d like to hear, but thinking we have the right to demand that He answer according to our particulars. We as much as look to this God who has told us that His ways are far and away above our own and told Him that we’re pretty sure it’s the other way around. No, no, God. We’ll tell You what You need to do. You’ve probably been too busy to give it sufficient thought, but You’ll eventually see the wisdom of our way. And, God laughs. If He doesn’t cry instead. Then, wise Father, He does what really needs doing, answers with what is truly the best answer. Nor does He give much heed to the reviling He receives from the lips of His own children when that answer doesn’t quite suit their expectations. He’s a Father after all. He’s nowhere near as interested in being your buddy while you remain a stumbling, fallen child. He’s making certain that when you have matured, it will be into an adult He will welcome and enjoy in His household. He’s making certain that His children grow up to be true friends of His. There can be, my fellow sheep, no other way. There can be no greater assurance.
Will (02/17/09)
I cannot depart this passage without commenting directly on Matthew 18:14. Here, Jesus declares that it is not the Father’s will that even one of ‘these little ones’ should perish. Many, down through the centuries, have looked at this verse and found in it some sort of proof that the only reason there remain lost souls in the world is because those souls have willfully rejected God. To put it more bluntly, those who think along these lines, although they will generally couch it in more religiously appropriate terms, are saying that man’s will trumps God’s will. You will hear it expressed as “God is a gentleman. He would never force Himself upon you.” Poppycock! God is a Father, and a particularly good one, at that! If He sees His child running out into oncoming traffic, into the maw of the grizzly bear, or any such clear danger, of course He will impose His will on that child of His! You would, too, and you know it.
Now, there are a number of reasons to reject such an interpretation of this particular verse. The first reason is that Jesus has explicitly limited its reach. He is not, in this instance, speaking of every last human being that ever has or ever will exist. He is directing His point at ‘these little ones’. By the context, which I have endeavored to keep in sight over the last few months, we are able to understand that He is not talking about children, although children may well be included in that number. He is talking about those newly or recently come to faith. He is talking about those like the one John had recently encountered, believers who have not yet come to the point of full-out commitment. He is talking, also, about those the Pharisees would chase away from their synagogues in disgust; sinners coming to the place of repentance, but still needing a lot of repair work from their Creator. “These little ones,” Jesus says, are God’s particular concern. He is not inclined to see one lost who has begun on the road to Him.
Secondly, there is the matter of the will. There are, as I have probably taken note of on just about every occasion the word comes up, two underlying words in Greek which are almost universally translated as ‘will’ in English. Yet, their meanings are distinct. In one case, we are speaking of something said with the force of command or decree. It is an order issued by the superior to those he commands, and it shall either be followed to the letter, or that commanded one will answer for his failure to do so. The Law of God is an expression of His Will in this regard. The arc of Jesus’ life and ministry can be seen to be an expression of His Will in this regard. Indeed, the appointment and term limits of empires and their emperors, of nations and their heads of state are, though we like to think otherwise, matters of His Will, His decree. He has told us this is so. It should be clear enough that when the Omnipotent One decrees a thing to be, it shall be. His Word does not go forth without accomplishing His purpose. When God commands, creation listens, and His command shall be observed, and His command shall be accomplished.
There is that other sense of will, though, which speaks only of inclinations and desires. When my wife asks me whether I would prefer salmon or steak for supper, she is asking me to express my will in this sense. It would be rather unnatural to the ear were I to answer along the lines of, “It is my will that we eat steak.” No! Far more likely that I would answer by saying, “I’d rather have steak.” To our way of understanding, these are very different statements, even though both express the determination of my will. The distinction lies in the force of that determination. Do I want that steak so strongly that I commit my strength and power to making certain that it is steak and not salmon that I find on my plate? Or am I merely expressing a choice which, should she find in herself reason to do otherwise, would not really matter to me much at all? Truth be told, on such questions, I don’t often have a strong enough leaning in either direction to answer even so forcefully as that. So long as there’s food, and she’s not put out by its preparation, I’m a happy man.
This is, it turns out, the sense of will that is being communicated in Matthew 18:14. “God has no desire to see even one of these new believers lost.” He would be most pleased were every last man, woman and child on the face of the earth come to repentance, be saved, and thereby be truly restored to Him. Nothing, I suspect, would make Him happier. Yet, it is manifestly obvious to any person who ever lived that this is not how things go. Indeed, Jesus, God on earth, stood outside Jerusalem and wept because, with all that He offered to that people, they would not accept. “I wanted to gather your children together to safety, but you were unwilling. And now, see what will come of it! Your house is left desolate. Your opportunity is ended. You will not see Me again until you learn to truly proclaim Him blessed who comes in the authority of the Lord” (Mt 23:37-39).
It is the same in every culture in every time in which the Word of God has been preached truly. That God could, if He was so determined, force the issue and save everyone is beyond doubt. His power is so much greater than man’s. If He decides a man will do His bidding, that man does His bidding. Ask the kings of old. Ask the rulers of Egypt and Babylon and Persia how well they did at opposing God’s purposed intervention. Ask those who broke down around the preaching that was spoken of as the Great Awakening, or around the Welsh Revival, or wherever else God has been moving on the hearts of His children, how successfully they fought to cling to their sins in that moment. No! When God commands, the creature obeys with no regard to that creature’s preference. The creature has been overruled!
Yet God, if He is bound at all, is surely bound by His own character and only by His own character. His character, while it is strongly inclined towards mercy and lovingkindness, must simultaneously embrace what is right and just. He is, after all, the Righteous Judge of all mankind. We would hardly count the judge righteous who pardoned everyone who came before him without regard to their guilt or their penitence. How pleased would you be with the judge who restored a committed pedophile to your neighborhood? How pleased would you be if that judge released without prejudice the one who had murdered your family before your eyes? The miracle is not that God is able to save all. The miracle is that He is willing to save any! The miracle is that He allowed Noah to ride through the flood.
The reality is simply this: God would be absolutely pleased if the behavior of mankind were universally found to be such that He could, with all respect to all His character, proffer His salvation to one and all. Have not the least doubt in your mind that God would be thrilled to discover that mankind had nothing to repent of. But, it’s not going to happen, and He’s not stupid. He knows that better than we do. There are, whether we like to think it so or not, those whom He has decreed shall be redeemed. There are those He has numbered as His own sheep, and for these, the promise of the Shepherd is unshakeable, unalterable. There are also those, who have been numbered along with the son of perdition, for whom no pardon is offered, and no plea accepted.
It is not that their will has trumped God’s own. Please! Nor is it a case of the atoning blood of Jesus not being sufficient to the task of their redemption. What price would an eternal sacrifice not cover? No, it is, in the end, God’s right to determine, and God’s commanding will that does determine. And yet, this in no way destroys the free will of man. Look, once again, at those who, though they did all in their power to destroy the people of God, found themselves simultaneously doing their own evil purpose, and also God’s good purpose. God did not find it necessary to force them into their chosen path. He merely availed Himself of their inclinations to accomplish His good purposes by their evil intents. Your free choice to love this God who rescued you has not been hampered by His having chosen to rescue you. If anything, in that choice of His, you have been handed the first freedom your will ever experienced! Before He called you out of your darkness, what real choice did you have, but to continue sitting in that darkness? Until He introduces you to the concept of Light, how could you think to choose it?
But, understand this, as well: Though God Himself understands that His great desire will not be fully satisfied, that when the time comes that every knee bows and every tongue confesses, there will still be many, probably a majority, who do so most unwillingly; yet, His efforts on behalf of His own do not slacken. He does not strive any less to save His own for knowing that even so, His preference to save all must be set aside. We, knowing His heart breaks with every loss, can do no less. We, of course, do not have His perfection of sight by which to discern His sheep from the rest. As such, we must expend our efforts less selectively, bearing the message of the Gospel to all in hopes that some will hear, making certain that every lost sheep that we are given opportunity to reach will be reached.
As a final thought on this matter of the will of God, I want to contrast what is said here with what Jesus has to say on some other occasions in John’s gospel. Consider: “The One who sent Me has willed that I lose nothing of what He has given Me. It is a guarantee that I will indeed raise up the entire number of those He gives Me on the last day. Here is His commanding will: that every last one who beholds the Son and believes the Son shall have eternal life, and because of this, be assured that I will indeed raise them all up on the last day” (Jn 6:39-40). Combine this with the insurance policy that backs up the guarantee Jesus has declared. “I give them eternal life, so they will never perish. Nobody, but nobody, shall ever snatch a one of them from out of My hand. My Father gave them to Me and He is greater than all. No one, no man, no power, no devil, can snatch even one from the Father’s hand, and I and the Father are One” (Jn 10:23-30)!
Do you understand this, sheep? Do you hear what your Shepherd is saying? There is no wolf that can penetrate His fold. There is no thief that can sneak past His guard. There is no possibility that the devil doing his worst can turn you aside from Him. He shall not lose a one! If you have been counted among that number, you ever shall be. If the Lord is your shepherd, the deal is done, the end of the movie has already been filmed, and you win. Period. Stop playing the neurotic believer’s game of doubt. Put it aside! It’s only proving that you still think you are the one with the final say. Praise be to God that you are not! If you were, you would have every reason to fear and no reason to hope. But, you are not. God is in control. God has your back, and for that matter, He has your front. Yes, you will know times of wandering far afield. No, you are not given license to wallow in the muck of your sins as much as you like, knowing He’ll take care of you. If your behavior, after years of counting yourself His, still has no least resemblance to a sheep, then maybe it’s time to really repent of being a goat. Maybe, if there is no least fruit of God’s work in you, you have cause to doubt that He ever started. Maybe you are just hearing His true call to you now, and salvation still lays before you. Lay hold! Make certain of your status as a sheep, and then know the peace that comes of belonging to such an unfailing Shepherd. He will not lose you! Not even to yourself.
The Conclusion (02/18/09)
This last part shall not be so much a conclusion as a collecting together of a few final observations. The first observation I have is that there is a rather significant change of reference between the introduction of this parable and its conclusion as we find these in Matthew’s account. As Jesus establishes the point He will be expounding upon, He reminds His disciples that the angels assigned to these new believers are ever before the face of “My Father” in heaven. This focuses the attention on the relationship of Father and Son that is shared between these two persons of the Trinity. It establishes the Son as speaking authoritatively because He truly is the Son to the Father.
However, when Jesus has completed His illustration, and speaks of the point, He says that it is not the will of “Your Father” in heaven to lose any of these new believers. There is a note of immediate assurance to be drawn from this change. In spite of the rebuke being administered to His disciples for the prideful exclusivity, He tells them clearly that they remain His sheep. They have not somehow cast their salvation into doubt or ruin. They have not caused the Father to tear up the adoption papers He was preparing to sign. Not at all! Jesus is giving the utmost assurance to those ears that will hear Him: “My Father is Your Father!”
Think of the things Jesus would teach His disciples as the end drew closer. “I and My Father are One” (Jn 10:30) “I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (Jn 14:20). “Abide in Me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). This was not a message for the Apostles only! This is the universal condition of the believer, the sheep called by God and to God. Yes, and of course, the Holy Spirit, our other Counselor, is sent to abide in us during this period of our wandering sojourn. He, too, abides in both Father and Son. He, too, abides in us, the glue that binds all together, as it were. He is our Tutor and Trainer, as well as our legal counsel. He gives us recollection of what we have learned from Jesus, from the Word, and trains us to apply it correctly to our daily lives. He gives us the right things to speak as we pursue those good works the Father prepared in advance for us to cut our teeth on. But, in all cases, there is that abiding, that deepest of fellowship, so that indeed, the Father is His Father is our Father is my Father.
There is a truth that never ceases to amaze! That the holiest of the holy, the God of whom there is no like, the absolutely pure and sinless Creator who cannot abide even the least bit of sin in His presence is yet willing to not only abide near me, but in me! Truly, the righteousness of the Son availeth much! Truly, the righteousness that clothes me by the great kindness of my Brother Jesus is rich beyond imagining, that it can so attract my Father’s love to me that He accounts my sins as fully and eternally atoned for!
This great reality of faith gives me a perfect segue into the next of my closing thoughts. As I reviewed the meanings of some of the words that construct this parable, a particular relationship of concepts became luminously clear to me. Now, if I point out that the two words or concepts I have in mind are rejoice and joy, you will think me a bit thick to not have noticed a connection before. But, it is not the etymological linkage that has me intrigued. Rather, it is the conceptual. In order to really grasp the fullness of that connection, one must note as well how closely linked these terms are to the concept of grace. Indeed, if we establish that connection more fully, perhaps we can better understand the more difficult concept of grace.
So, what can we say of this joy, this rejoicing? In the case of rejoicing, one of my lexicons points to the image of young sheep frolicking in their pasture. This is the imagery of rejoicing: care-free and full of life. It is the energy and attitude of a child in the park on a warm summer day, or at least, it used to be so. All is safe. There is nothing to cause any worry or distress. There is nothing to be done but to enjoy the day God has provided.
Now, even with this carefree aspect to it, the joy that leads us to rejoice is not some frenzied ecstasy of overwrought emotions. Though the Charismatic experience seems often to trend in that direction, that is not really the joy that we are talking about here. That joy is simply a cheerfulness that results from being, as Strong’s so aptly puts it, “calmly happy and well-off”. Well, now! What is it, then, that truly gives us cause to be calmly happy? What is it, in the end, that provides for us an environment free of all cause for worry and distress? Is it not the provision of God’s grace?
Simply put, joy results from God’s grace given to us. It is by His grace (and only by His grace) that we have been brought into His folds, that we feed and frolic in His pastures. Now, any one of us sheep that’s been around awhile might be inclined to observe that there remain plenty of worrisome and distressful things in our environment. The wolves can be clearly seen prowling about the perimeter. We are not beyond all possibility of injury. Our ears and eyes inform us that there are any number of threats still surrounding us. And yet, even with those reports coming in constantly, as we learn more about this God whose grace has saved us, we begin to realize that even these apparent threats are not really threats at all.
Perhaps we may one day have to learn the lessons Job was given to learn. Perhaps we will be among that number who live with chronic disease throughout this earthly life. Perhaps, as we measure things in this human experience, we will know cause for sorrows beyond measure. All of that may be true, and yet, our joy need not suffer in the least for all that trial may come our way. At some point, I suspect we will discover that joy is something much deeper than mere emotion, just as love is more than merely feelings. Joy runs deeper. Peace, as our Brother gives it to us, is beyond explanation. By His grace, by His abiding presence maturing us, we come to a place where our joy and peace are not emotional responses to circumstance, but spiritual power to overcome circumstance.
That grace that powers our joy comes from the One Who abides, the One Who teaches us and brings us to full maturity. As we grow, we begin to understand this God of ours more fully. When He says He is our Provider, He means just that! He has our provision in hand. He is pleased to see us active and working, but in the end, that work which is not under His direction is vanity. As we allow His hand to guide, our work becomes fulfilling, and we see His provision pour out to us. But, even if work is taken away, His provision is not. He is Able.
Likewise, those dangers that surround. As we come to comprehend the One Who has made Himself truly our Father and we begin to really take His declarations to heart, we also come to realize that when He says He works all things to our good, that includes those dangers. Yes, it is quite true that even the most devout of believers (perhaps even especially the most devout) will suffer pain and injury. No man escapes the sorrows that come with life in this fallen world. But, for us who are the called of God, that Truth stands: Even the most painful experiences of life are turned to our good. They are not senseless, because God gives them sense if we will but seek it. They are not pointless violence. They are times of training and growth, a means of our maturing. We do not always have the scope of vision to see the outcome that God is obtaining for us. But, as we abide in His truth, as we allow His grace to achieve our joy, we will see it in time.
One of the least likely (to our thinking) fruits of this grace God gives to us is that it leads to repentance. Repentance, for anybody who has truly experienced it, may well be one of the most painful things we ever undergo. It hurts to come face to face with your true self. It hurts to come to the realization that, hey, I’m not such a good guy after all. It hurts to discover that in spite of what you’ve been telling yourself for so long, you really are a condemned criminal in the eyes of the only court that matters. The accolades of your friends and acquaintances can’t help you in that court. The things you tried to do right won’t matter, because the truth is however much you think you tried you didn’t try hard enough and none of it was ever really right. It was at best of that Pharisaic ‘good enough’ sort. But, the Judge still measures you as guilty – guilty of an eternal sin against the eternal Goodness of God.
By His grace, we are given the chance to recognize this before our court date. By His grace, we are able to accept the truth of it. If you doubt the grace required for even that much, think of the way you most likely to react to an accurate rebuke. The first response is almost universally one of retaliation. It is only by His grace that we move beyond that to a contemplation of the accuracy of that faithful wound our friend has inflicted on us. And by His grace, we not only recognize the reality of the problem, but we are moved to action.
Repentance is like the joy and peace and love I have spoken of. It is either more than just an emotional response to stimuli or it is a false repentance. We know well enough that the mere mouthing of “I’m sorry” may mean little more than, “I’m sorry I got caught.” Given another opportunity to do the same thing, the one who has apologized will more than likely do just that, hoping that maybe this time he won’t get caught in the act. That’s not repentance. That’s childish escapism.
Repentance takes action. Indeed, repentance consists of a very definite change of action, a distinct reversal of direction. It is the result of not only feeling the pain of being busted for one’s offenses, but truly recognizing the wrongness of the actions that offended. Then, by the grace of our loving God, we are given to see the one course that might allow us to avoid a repeat of that offense. Indeed, like David, we discover that however much our offense may have seemed to be directed at an individual, in the end it is, “against You and You alone” that we have sinned. That God counts even these inter-personal offenses as sins against Himself is reason for pause, isn’t it?
By the goodness of His own choices, He leads us to this comprehension. He leads us to the realization that even these seemingly inconsequential character traits of ours are actually enticing us to run away from the security of His fold. His grace opens our eyes to the cliff ahead of us before we stupidly run right over the edge. His grace breaks through the deceptive disguises of temptation and forces us to confront the reality, that we might change course, and head back to the pastures He has provided.
With that in mind, return to the great promise of this parable, the marvelous promise of our Perfect Shepherd. He will go after us lost sheep until He has found us, and He Himself will bring us back. Yes, and He has never lost a one, nor is it conceivable that He would. For, who can snatch His possession from out of His hands? No one! No power in heaven or hell could even pry one finger loose. That is my blessed assurance! That is my security! That is my peace and my joy! What need can I possibly have with this much assured?
