Shepherding

Now shall we read please in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, Luke's Gospel chapter 2 and verse 8. They were in the country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 1st Samuel 17, 1st Samuel 17 reading from verse 32. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him.

Thy servant will go and fight with the Philistine. Saul said to David, thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth. He a man of war from his youth.

And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep. There came a lion and a bear and it took a lamb out of the flock and I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. Final reading please in the book of Ezekiel chapter 34.

And we shall commence reading from verse 13. I will bring them out from the people, gather them from the countries, will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. Now you likely can give this a dispensational setting.

Verse 14. I will feed them and a good pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There they shall lie in a good fold and a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock. I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away.

We'll bind up that which was broken, we'll strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment. Now when it comes to the ministry, there are several aspects to it.

Ministry which conveys by its nature and practical application to the lives of the people. This is what's needed. Brethren, quite often we tend to forget mere theoretical things.

Ministry should affect the lives of the people, be transferred to the lives of the saints. I shall take a little while to talk upon a very interesting subject and that is shepherding. I don't have time to look in it in every aspect, but we shall first of all state that four people are interest in the sheep.

The first one is the autocratic dictator and they are not all dead yet. Everything must go through this one man. Nothing passes without his knowledge.

He gives us approval to things. Now Deotrophes was such a man and by the context of 3rd John, he wasn't converted. Had his name been Theotrophes, that would have meant fed, nourished by God.

But his name is Deotrophes, that means nourished by idols. And quite often in the Old and New Testament, names betray character. The autocratic dictator.

And then you have the butcher. Visiting in Eastern Ontario, I came upon a family, they were near to tears. They came from an evangelical denominational background and they received a visit from their pastor and several other church elders.

They were told as follows. They said in our church, most of the people are wealthy, affluent, and you're not. We would rather that you don't come anymore to our gatherings.

Brethren, what kind of Christianity is this? Come on now. The first convert we saw saved, and meetings, there wasn't even what we call full-time work, was a retarded native Indian girl. Quite a people would despise her.

Whom God accepts, I accept. She had the mentality of a seven-year-old, she was a teenager. Is a soul like this just as valuable to God than the university professor, albeit he's intellectual, with little spirituality? The autocratic dictator and the butcher.

The others are howling, he has no care for the sheep. And then you have the real shepherd. By way of introduction, sheep in the Middle East have been and still are controlled by throwing stones.

Now don't your brethren try to do that from the platform. They're controlled by throwing stones. One sheep in Judean desert separated itself, and the driver says, Fred, watch this man.

Teenager. He had a slingshot, and the stone landed two inches from the sheep's nose. And they knew enough to back up.

And a little ton of Bethany from a Bedouin, I purchased a number of slings in order for some difficult prices, but don't ask me, they're all gone. Now there's one word all these souvenir dealers will know whether they are Arabs or Jews, and that's dollar. Dollar.

I said, can you demonstrate to me please what David did? Yep, yep. And he took a stone, three famous revolution, and the stone went right into the village of Bethany. I said, man, what if it hit somebody? What if it break the glass? He said, that's their problem.

That's a Palestinian mentality. So sheep are controlled by throwing stones. Now we don't do this.

And the line that David and Samson faced, I often wondered about that, is not nearly as ferocious as the African counterpart. I wouldn't like to meet one of those. The Asian line, there's only one tribe left in India.

You can march right through them, and they will not attack you. However, if you have a goat or sheep, they will attack the sheep. Not nearly as ferocious.

Now let's come please to the text. Luke chapter 2 and verse 8 says the writer, they were in the same country shepherds. Now pause a moment.

These men were not priests, but they're priestly oriented men. They're priestly character. You see, brethren, the sheep they took care of were destined to the temple, not just for the butcher.

They're priestly men. Is it any wonder that the chief lesson in relation to shepherding is written by a priest in Ezekiel? By the way, what is a priest? Forget about technicality, will you? A priest is a man who knows God intimately. A priest is a man who knows the needs of the people.

A priest who knows not only the scriptures in an intellectual way, he applies it. And a priest is a person you can fight in without things going out the back door. That's a priest for you.

Priestly men. Notice, they were abiding in the field. This is a geographical sphere.

Now we do have brethren, and you know, you need a holiday down south. Nothing wrong with that. But some folks, and I know, they profess to be shepherds, and they're hardly ever among the sheep.

And some of the north cottagers, in the winter they go south. I know folks need their holidays, but the point is this. A shepherd, it's a 24-hour job.

24-hour job. It's demanding, brethren. And says Peter, who did a lot of shepherding himself, when he, the chief shepherd, shall appear, then, my dear brother, it is not easy to shepherd sheep.

You may not get the reward down here. When he, the chief shepherd, shall appear, then you get your reward. The Lord help us to do it for his own glory.

Luke chapter 2. So you have the geographical sphere. Abiding in the field. Keeping watch.

Brethren, that's a spiritual sphere. Keeping watch. By the way, the term overseer is not altogether correct in the original.

It is the appontier. What I mean is this. Right now, I see a number of people.

I see some different colors. So red and white and green and so on. I look over you.

Now look at you. And I can discern the color of your eyes. That's a difference.

You see, when King James, 1611, authorized his translators, he said, now do not leave out ecclesiastical terms. So therefore, there are certain terms that should not be really in the King James Version because they're not really correct. So one is here.

It's the appontier. Direct contact with the people. Not just overseer.

The geographical sphere. You have the spiritual sphere. And brother, now keeping watch over the flock by night.

That's a moral sphere. Oh, it's night out there. Young people as well as other ones are exposed to the attacks of the devil and the illumines of the world and the flesh is sometimes yielding to it.

It's a dark night. So you have four spheres. Coming to 1st Samuel 17, here's David.

Will you meet the man once? Fairly large family. He's a good brother. But most of his children gave him a lot of trouble.

You likely noticed in the Old Testament that men who were good shepherds and good with the sheep, they had no end of trouble with their own families. They came alive. The Spirit of God uses three or four pictures here, if you please, symbols to illustrate our enemies.

As the lion, Satan can attack the body. That's Job and that's Peter. However, do not blame every sickness on the devil, you know.

But as a lion, he can attack the body. And then, as the serpent, he can attack the mind, hath God said. Tell me, young Christians, do you have sometimes doubts in relation to the supernatural element of the Bible? You cannot explain it? Some do.

As a serpent, he attacks the mind. As the accuser, he attacks the conscience. Christians are not perfect, you know that, don't you? But quite often, Satan can use your weakness, whatever it is, and take advantage, and you'll never open your mouth again.

Paul says, I must forget things that are behind. Negative things. No one will condone that which is wrong.

There's weaknesses. You have to confess them. As the accuser attacks the conscience, and as the ruler of darkness, he attacks the will.

Now, I do not know all of you. Tell me, young Christian, have you ever felt like giving up? Come on now. The battle has been fierce, and the night has been dark.

Offenses likely were caused. Disappointments followed. Difficulty in the assembly.

Difficulty with the family. Come on now. Have you sometimes thought about giving up? Who's behind that? Satan.

Satan. So, here you have, in David's day, these four enemies. Now, when you come to John 21, I like to keep my word and be short.

In John 21, the Savior, after restoring Peter, he says, Peter, do you love me? Three times. That simply means, Peter, I have a work for you to do. And that is, feed my sheep, guard my sheep, watch my lambs.

My dear brethren, you cannot do shepherding work without divine love. It's not easy. You see, a leader, a shepherd, must accept diversity.

Assemblies with various national racial background, intellectual background. A shepherd must accept diversity and maintain unity. Now, in this country, there's quite a number of people who have their origin in Western Europe.

In some areas, I'm the odd man out. The Irish are everywhere, you know. I must accept diversity.

I cannot flock to those of intellectual racial national background. For see, in a local assembly, especially in cosmopolitan centers, there are people from various backgrounds. And this is why the writer to the New Testament, constantly before they touch any doctrinal, practical, prophetic matter, says, grace and peace be unto you.

That's what keeps us together. Peter, you cannot do the work of a shepherd without manifesting divine love. I was only a young convert.

We had a brother, Andrew Douglas. I always enjoyed his meetings. He was what you call a straight shooter.

Didn't mince words. Right to the heart. When he was a elder in the assembly in the old country, he was a little late for the Bible reading.

So he took a shortcut and what they call across a style. Now a style is a little bridge or a ladder over the stone wall. On the way, he sees a sheep caught in a hawthorn bush.

He passed by on the way to the hall. He said, now find shepherd you are. Here you are trying to tell the people, shepherd God's people, and there's a poor sheep.

So he laid his Bible on the style, laboriously extricated this ram. And he turned around, the ram kicked him in the mud. That's sometimes what you get.

Oh, it's not an easy task to shepherd God's sheep. God give us grace. Now quickly for the sake of time, let's go to this interesting section in Ezekiel chapter 34.

You'll notice in the reading that you have quite a number. This phrase occurs, feeding, feeding, feeding. And if there's no gift in the local assembly to feed God's people and God grant, it'll never be said that people leave because of a lack of food.

We must be realistic. I know people and they refuse to come to meeting Bible reading. You know why? There's nothing for me there.

No gift. Nothing. I know that's the wrong attitude.

I know that. But if there's no local gift in relation to feed, and brethren, we need to be fed. We are responsible to bring in folks who can.

When I first was saved, I could never get to meeting simply because of my work schedule. The brethren recognized the need as far as my person was concerned, and they organized a Bible reading with the elders and Brother Gordon Johnson just for my sake on Wednesday night. Sorry, Wednesday morning.

This laid a foundation in my life. Young people, you need to be fed spiritually, and so do older saints. And that's what you have in the section.

So he says, I will feed my flock, will cause them to lie down. Brethren, here's conditions of peace. I'm not responsible for creating peace.

This is Colossians. Christ has made peace. He has provided peace.

But brethren, I'm under spiritual obligation, and so are you, to maintain peace. That is, I don't have to have my way at all cost. It's my will, and I dig in my heels, and I don't care what anyone says.

I'm right. And this is why Bible readings can be very instructive if you have good men, spiritual men, to lead and to guide. I will cause them to lie down.

I will seek that which was lost. You see, brethren, here's the Lord himself, how he shepherds his sheep. And if we pattern our life according to what he does, we shall do more than well.

I will seek that which was lost. Now, this is difficult. For see, when restoration comes, it is not salvation all over.

But you must recognize the divine principle that applied to the truth of God in restoration. I will seek that which was lost. Now, here comes a delicate subject.

I will bring again that which was driven away. Is it possible because of action, words, and attitudes? People leave. Sadly, it is.

We have a town up in central Ontario called Huntsville. I stayed with an elderly couple, and he has a contract feeding deer in the bush for a private hunting company. He said, just before supper, you'll see me feeding my deer, and look out the picture window.

He put down four hay bales, three buckets of corn. As soon as he withdrew, the whole bush came alive, 18 of them. You know, there's nothing, if you like animals, there's nothing like a North American white-tailed deer.

Their body weighed to confirmation. They weigh this spring. And the whole thing about, and then there's brethren taking the gun and shooting those poor things.

I made this statement up in the north where everyone is hunting. And the atmosphere got as icy and as cold as could be. I had to redeem myself, say, well, brethren, I like venison too, and the tension disappeared.

So here are 18 deer that come out, and I noticed something very disturbing. Four of these deer never got a bite. The older ones actually drove them away.

And a deer's hooves can be extremely sharp and painful. You see, I had to change my mind about deer, and I eyed the man's gun rack. Good thing it was closed.

And I felt like shooting the whole lot of them. You see, there's a pecking order among the animals, among the deer. The young ones needed it most.

They were driven away. Go eat the bark of a tree. There's, if you're a farmer, there's a pecking order among the cows.

Old Betsy, you know, the big boss. There's a pecking order among cats. There's a pecking order among dogs.

Beloved brethren, there should never be a pecking order among the brethren. I accept whom God accepts. I have no problem getting along with any nationality, any color, any social status, any background.

All one in Christ. And I'm going to tell us something. I don't know what the brethren think of that one.

Did you know that I saw the gathering center before I got saved? Oh, you see, how is this possible? You did? Yes. I got your attention there, haven't you? I came through world war number two as a little boy. I could never understand why nations kill each other by the millions.

Because of nationality, color, social background. And it came to me when I was in my teens, can it be that there's a place, regardless of nationality, regardless of color skin, regardless of social national background, regardless of race, where people get along fine. I found in God's assembly.

My dear brethren, the devil has been seeking to destroy the things of God for a long especially the last 20 years. Satan is trying to get his wedge in among God's people, and seek to harm, and seek to destroy. So the Lord helped us to maintain the original, the purpose of God in a local assembly for his name's sake.

I will bring again that which was driven away. Finally, I will bind up that which was broken. It's amazing what you learn when you're just new in the faith.

I read a documentary in the Toronto paper about a veterinarian. She lives not too far from Toronto. The lady is an expert in healing and restoring to health.

Owls that have been named, hunting accident on the highway, she takes them. And these simple birds seem to recognize when they are in the presence of this doctor, they relax. They relax.

After cleansing the wound, applying medical procedure. You see, this woman has to feed them. She has a three or four big freezers, and they're 21 cubic feet full of dead mice.

Owls have to eat. But it was the last comment she made that really with me all my years. She said, when this bird is deemed to be healed, we'll take it to the very place.

Word was apprehended and caught. It's nighttime. It's in the back of a halftone truck.

The cage is covered with a cloth. We take the cloth away. Carefully, we lift the latch, and the door opens.

The majestic owl, horned owl, white owl, whatever it is, for a moment jerks. And then she takes a flight into the night yonder. She says, I'm satisfied.

As far as I'm concerned, I have restored a piece of life, wildlife that otherwise would have died. So your brother, you may need someone who has maybe, spiritually speaking, a broken leg, a broken arm, has got into things that he or she shouldn't. The Lord help us.

I know the Word of God must take its way. The Lord help us. For you see, whenever you have experiences with your own family, keep in mind, there may be others who ultimately come to the assembly, and they may pass through the same difficulty that you do.

And rather than be judgmental, you're sympathetic, as a true shepherd should be.