4/27/08 AM1
If the first message wasn't good enough, the second message was even better. The previous night's message focused on God who is our shepherd and how we need to draw near to Him. This message was about our call to shepherd. In the same way that God is our shepherd, we need to shepherd the flock as well; we need to shepherd others. God spoke directly to me during this first Saturday morning session. Even though I'm not a pastor or an elder or hold any sort of "position", I am, and have been for some time, a shepherd of some sort. We all are in some sense, but me especially. And it's not because of anything of my doing. It's just where God has placed me. First of all, I'm a guy. Secondly, I'm old(er) amongst my peers. And thirdly, He has allowed me to serve in ministry. Therefore, I am in a position of much influence - not by my choice, yet I still have much responsibility.
We are all called to serve God, and we serve God by caring for His flock. In John 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter, "do you love me more than these?" He could have been referring to the other disciples or the food they were eating; that isn't really of importance in this question. The question was do you leave Jesus? Jesus asked Peter this question three times (I'll leave the analysis of the different words that He used for "love" for another time), and Peter responded in the affirmative three times. Jesus responded to Peter each time with this: tend my sheep. That should be our same response. If we say that we love God, we have to take care of His sheep. We must minister to the flock; serve the body. This is the way to express our love for Christ: by loving His people. What is your priority?
Oh man... convicting.
Some other points. This is a sacrificial calling. It costs and it hurts. It demands a selfless love. We are called to love all the sheep - this includes all the ones that are hard to love. God loves us, in all our sin and ugliness; we have to love others in the same way. It takes a lot of care and a lot of giving, but we are called to do so. One other quote about ministry (paraphrased): be tired in it, not of it. This calling is also a humble calling. Peter was humbled in that he told Jesus three times that he loved and him, and yet only moments later he denied three times that he never knew Him. Oh man... another point directed at me: you know so much, yet you deny Christ. Ouch! We've learned so much and have sat under such good teaching and God has shown us so much, yet many times we sit back and let opportunities pass by where we can share Christ, whether in the big or small ways. This calling requires a high degree of sympathy. And this calling is a call to be focused and single-minded in ministry.
"People who have been bruised make the best shepherds." Wow. We who have been hurt and have suffered and have endured trials, God can still use us and He can use us in even greater ways than those who haven't gone through pain. We go through suffering and trials, and we don't understand it a lot of the time. But as we go through it, we see God's hand and we see how He works through it. We receive God's mercy and God's comfort, and with this, we can comfort others. Wow. I've heard this before, but it's still good to be reminded that God is working in our struggles.
Lastly, develop a shepherd's heart. That was the challenge for this message and probably for the entire weekend for me. Get involved in the lives of the sheep. And this involvement should be natural and instinctive. It should be automatic. This was probably the most impacting message for me for the weekend. I'll briefly go through the other messages in another post. (We'll see how "brief" I'll get, considering there was still so much that was said and so much that God spoke.)
If the first message wasn't good enough, the second message was even better. The previous night's message focused on God who is our shepherd and how we need to draw near to Him. This message was about our call to shepherd. In the same way that God is our shepherd, we need to shepherd the flock as well; we need to shepherd others. God spoke directly to me during this first Saturday morning session. Even though I'm not a pastor or an elder or hold any sort of "position", I am, and have been for some time, a shepherd of some sort. We all are in some sense, but me especially. And it's not because of anything of my doing. It's just where God has placed me. First of all, I'm a guy. Secondly, I'm old(er) amongst my peers. And thirdly, He has allowed me to serve in ministry. Therefore, I am in a position of much influence - not by my choice, yet I still have much responsibility.
We are all called to serve God, and we serve God by caring for His flock. In John 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter, "do you love me more than these?" He could have been referring to the other disciples or the food they were eating; that isn't really of importance in this question. The question was do you leave Jesus? Jesus asked Peter this question three times (I'll leave the analysis of the different words that He used for "love" for another time), and Peter responded in the affirmative three times. Jesus responded to Peter each time with this: tend my sheep. That should be our same response. If we say that we love God, we have to take care of His sheep. We must minister to the flock; serve the body. This is the way to express our love for Christ: by loving His people. What is your priority?
Oh man... convicting.
Some other points. This is a sacrificial calling. It costs and it hurts. It demands a selfless love. We are called to love all the sheep - this includes all the ones that are hard to love. God loves us, in all our sin and ugliness; we have to love others in the same way. It takes a lot of care and a lot of giving, but we are called to do so. One other quote about ministry (paraphrased): be tired in it, not of it. This calling is also a humble calling. Peter was humbled in that he told Jesus three times that he loved and him, and yet only moments later he denied three times that he never knew Him. Oh man... another point directed at me: you know so much, yet you deny Christ. Ouch! We've learned so much and have sat under such good teaching and God has shown us so much, yet many times we sit back and let opportunities pass by where we can share Christ, whether in the big or small ways. This calling requires a high degree of sympathy. And this calling is a call to be focused and single-minded in ministry.
"People who have been bruised make the best shepherds." Wow. We who have been hurt and have suffered and have endured trials, God can still use us and He can use us in even greater ways than those who haven't gone through pain. We go through suffering and trials, and we don't understand it a lot of the time. But as we go through it, we see God's hand and we see how He works through it. We receive God's mercy and God's comfort, and with this, we can comfort others. Wow. I've heard this before, but it's still good to be reminded that God is working in our struggles.
Lastly, develop a shepherd's heart. That was the challenge for this message and probably for the entire weekend for me. Get involved in the lives of the sheep. And this involvement should be natural and instinctive. It should be automatic. This was probably the most impacting message for me for the weekend. I'll briefly go through the other messages in another post. (We'll see how "brief" I'll get, considering there was still so much that was said and so much that God spoke.)
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