Tending His Sheep

As Jesus prepared for His crucifixion, He appointed Simon Peter to shepherd His disciples, after they were scattered and Peter denied knowing Him. 

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded [permission] to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31-32 (NASB95)

The scattering of the sheep was the fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy.

Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, 'I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.'

Matthew 26:31 (NASB95)

After Jesus' resurrection, John records this threefold call of Peter to shepherd His flock. Many Bible commentators see this as Peter's restoration following his threefold denial of Christ before the crucifixion. The verses illustrate the tender love of the Chief Shepherd for his followers. I want to point out some words you may have missed in these verses.

John 21:15-17 (NASB95)

15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” 

• Love Me - agapas me - Do you love me with dedication?
• Love You - philo se - I love you with affection 
• Tend - boske - feed
• Lambs - ta arnia mou- my lambkins

Little lambkins are cute, soft, easy to lead and feed. They are also easy prey and need special attention from the shepherd.

16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 

• Love Me - agapas me - Do you love me with dedication?
• Love You - philo se - I love you with affection 
• Shepherd - poimaine - lead, rule
• Sheep - ta probata mou - my sheep

Sheep are not so cute like lambkins; their wool is scratchy and they might be covered with grass stubble and stickers. They can be stinky and not so cuddly too. Sheep need a shepherd to keep them out of trouble and lead the flock to safe pastures of green grass. They need a strong, courageous shepherd to defend them from wolves.

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

• Love Me - philo me - Do you love me with affection?
• Love You - philo se - I love you with affection 
• Tend - boske - feed
• Sheep - ta probata mou - my sheep

Jesus’ third command is most touching, since He asks Peter -as a friend- to tenderly care for those stinky old sheep. That includes the ones that push smaller ones aside to get closer to the Shepherd, the ones that get sidetracked looking for their own greener pastures, even those getting lost and into trouble in the darkness. Not just to rule and lead them, but to care for and feed them.

Peter gives the elders of the early church this advice as he approaches his own prophesied crucifixion:

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 1 Peter 5:1-4 (NASB95)

The call of Jesus on Peter's life is meant for all shepherds of the Lord's flock, whether the pastor of a large church or the father of a small family. All followers of Christ need an earthly shepherd who models the loving affection of our Lord and Savior Jesus!

Things Worth Pursuing

The Greek word dioko has a meaning you might miss when reading the New Testament in English. It is mostly translated as persecute but sometimes it’s translated as practice, pursue or press on. This makes me think of a law enforcer who doggedly pursues a fugitive until he lays hold of him and delivers him to the prosecutor.

Here are some verses that use dioko in these less common ways:

• Romans 12:13 (NASB95) contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
• Romans 14:19 (NASB95) So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
• 1 Corinthians 14:1 (NASB95) Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
• Philippians 3:12 (NASB95) Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
• Philippians 3:14 (NASB95) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
• 1 Timothy 6:11 (NASB95) But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.
• Hebrews 12:14 (NASB95) Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
• 1 Peter 3:11 (NASB95) “HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT.

The verse that hits me in the heart today is Philippians 3:12. That verse is talking about the continual vigorous pursuit to “know Christ and the power of His resurrection…”

That verse uses another Greek word that completes the inspiration for me - katalambano (lay hold of). When my pursuit of knowing Christ is complete, I will lay hold of the power of the resurrection, just as Christ Jesus laid hold of me! Wow!

My Savior pursued me vigorously, captured me and bound me to Himself - to deliver me, not to judgment, but from judgment to eternal life full of joy and peace!

That my friend is a goal worth pursuing.

Demonstration of Righteousness

At a recent Tuesday night Bible study, some men were wondering if a solar eclipse was the cause of the sun being darkened during the crucifixion of Christ. I doubt that, since solar eclipses don't last for three hours under natural circumstances. I had a thought that maybe it was the great cloud of heavenly witnesses that blocked the sunlight that day, gathered to see this demonstration of God's righteousness.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭25‬-26 ‭NIV‬‬

This phrase “demonstrate His righteousness” cannot be overstated. The cross was like a billboard that advertised the power of Rome to all who would rebel. But this cross of Christ advertises God’s ultimate act of righteousness, crossed by the ultimate unrighteous act of mankind.

Because God alone is righteous and the death of His only son completely unjust, all our sins are counted as against Him. David wrote Psalm 51 in repentance for his sin with Bathsheba against her husband Uriah, but he confesses that this sin was against God alone...

”Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.“

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The guilt and penalty for all sin ever committed has been stored up and laid upon Christ. As a result, all our sin-debt has been transferred to His account and He alone - who was raised to the right hand of God - has the power to forgive. This is the concept of redemption, in which our debt to the just law of God was paid by the blood of the spotless lamb of God.

But the righteousness of God does not end at the cross. If that were the case, God would have been justified to bring an end to mankind at that very moment. God’s righteousness is much more than judgment and vengeance. The resurrection and enthronement of Christ demonstrates the other aspect of God’s righteousness, His sacrificial mercy and love.

”But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!“

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

But there is one more thing to say about this phrase “demonstrate His righteousness”. The cross of Christ stood one day in history, but the demonstration of God’s righteousness goes on through the life of Christ in every believer. It is up to us as the body of Christ, and individually as His disciples, to demonstrate His righteousness by our testimony. It is the cross of Christ that brought us into the presence of God, and the intercession of our resurrected Lord that gives us life and hope for eternity.

”And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Heavenly Father, let our lives testify of your righteousness, your love and mercy. Let the message of the cross and the empty tomb go forth today and every day in my life I pray, in the name of Jesus my Savior. Amen!

The Author and Finisher of Faith

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud
 of witnesses surrounding us,
let us also lay aside every encumbrance
 and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance
 the race that is set before us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured
such hostility by sinners against Himself,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
[Hebrews 12:1-3 NASB95]

I recently memorized these verses of Hebrews and have been considering Jesus...
"so that I will not grow weary and lose heart.”

But my dilemma is this...How can I run with endurance the race that is set before me? Do I have that kind of faith?

This morning the answer came...Jesus writes the law of faith on my heart, and He will finish it according to His will, not mine! I can rest on this promise:

For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 

[Romans 9:15-16 NASB95]

It does not depend on my will or on my willingness to run, nor does it depend on my speed or endurance. God will accomplish His perfect will in me - in His time and according to His purpose.

All I have to do is continually open my heart to His penmanship!

The Power of Praise and Worship

I haven't posted much this year, mostly because I can only write when I feel inspired to write. But for months I've been meaning to write something about an experience with God that transformed my faith, my life and my understanding of heaven. But first let me start with this vision of John from the Bible.

And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

 

"Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!
"Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy; for
ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED." 

[Rev 15:2-4 NASB95]

 A few months ago a couple of our grandchildren were with us in the worship service, and after the songs were finished my grandson looked up at me and said, "have you been crying?" Well, I guess to a child it would look that way, but I had to explain that many times when I am pouring my heart out singing songs of worship, the tears begin to flow. That's a bit embarrassing and maybe hard to understand, but it hasn't always been that way for me.

In the spring of 2020 the world began to shut down as the Covid-19 virus became a pandemic. The first attempt to stop it (the "15 days to slow the spread" shutdown) finally ended in Texas after a couple of months when the warmer weather came. I was eager to get out of the house, and my wife was hosting her sisters for an extended weekend, so I went to visit my brother-in-law in the Texas Hill Country. Dave is a part-time worship leader and great host, and we had a few days of good fellowship while the sisters enjoyed spending time together.

It's about a four hour drive back to our house, and that was the time when I had my first real taste of heaven. I have a pretty good collection of worship music on my phone, so I began listening as I drove through the hills enjoying the beauty of the countryside. I can't remember the song that was playing, but as I looked into the sky that morning, I felt like heaven was just beyond the clouds, and I began to praise the Lord with thanksgiving in my heart for his great faithfulness and mercy. An hour passed and I stopped for coffee at a drive-through.

When I got back on the freeway, the worship intensified. I could truly envision the saints and angels around the throne of God, singing and bowing prostrate before Almighty God and the Lamb. Song after song played while I sang along and prayed. As I drove up each hill, I felt like I was about to pass through the clouds into glory! The tears began to flow and I could barely keep both hands on the wheel or keep my eyes dry enough to drive. I was singing and shouting praise to God while thinking about the unspeakable joy and gratefulness in my heart, that God would allow a sinner such as myself to come into his presence through the righteous blood of Jesus!

This continued for a couple more hours while I was getting more and more enraptured in the presence of God, until I finally pulled into the garage at my house. The car was still running and I knew my wife was waiting for me inside, but I did not want to turn the music off or leave the throne room of praise. I actually prayed, "Lord if you want to take me now, I'm ready!" I confess I had a brief thought that the carbon-monoxide might have helped, but soon realized that God wanted me to take that experience and remember it for the rest of my life.

This is what I learned from that day. Heaven will be a wonderful place, not because of its spectacular beauty or because of the glory of the new creation, but because of  The One I am with, and the unspeakable joy of being in the presence of saints and angels singing praise and proclaiming the righteous acts of God. In the four hours I drove, I never got tired or sore in the car; I never got bored or wanted to go anywhere or do anything but to continue in ever-increasing praise and worship. This was a truly unique experience that I cannot re-create, though I certainly pour my heart into worship whenever I can.

I also learned (and continue to learn) that our praise has an audience, whether alone or with thousands of other believers. When we come into the sanctuary to lift up the name of Jesus, we are singing and testifying to God himself, and to angels and the host of heaven, proclaiming his righteousness and agreeing with God that all his ways are true and just. God created us to proclaim his testimonies before thrones and dominions in heaven and on earth. And that is why, if you ever catch a glimpse of me with my hands lifted high and my face covered with tears, you can know that I've been in the presence of my savior and the Lord of my life, Jesus Christ.

Power Perfected in Weakness

Like anyone who would contemplate the power of God and the suffering of mankind, I have often thought about the question of why God allows suffering in this world.

Many people turn away from God when they are confronted with suffering because they cannot (or don't want to) find an answer to this question.

There are many reasons why people suffer, mostly because we live in a world broken and cursed by sin. The apostle Paul understood suffering more than most, first by causing many saints to suffer in his brutal pre-Christian zeal, then by suffering the same fate from his fellow Jewish zealots and their merciless Roman rulers.

Paul also understood the grace of God and the power that comes through suffering for Christ's sake.

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Why is power perfected in weakness? Because our testimony is polished by turmoil, and shines brighter against the dark backdrop of tribulation and distress. As a follower of Christ, suffering can be a Force Multiplier for our testimony. God is glorified and his righteousness is demonstrated even more fully when we develop and maintain our testimony through trials and the death of our flesh.

The suffering and death of Christ is the ultimate foundational testimony of God’s mercy and righteousness, through which we are reconciled to God and introduced to grace.

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. Ephesians 3:8-10

Who sees this testimony? Not only those on earth but “the rulers and authorities in heavenly places!” 

My conclusion is this:

Whether we stand before kings or walk before kids, whether we preach to multitudes or suffer alone, our lives testify to the host of heaven against the forces of darkness!

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”” ‭‭Hosea‬ ‭6‬:‭3

Trusting God in the Storm

I’m studying Exodus now. In Exodus 14 we see that through Moses, God led Israel out of Egypt into what appeared to be an inescapable trap, cornered at the edge of the sea across from a village of Ba’al worshippers known as Ba’al Tsephon.

God led them there with a purpose, to be honored through Pharaoh’s defeat at the hands of God himself. But this was not at all how Israel saw the situation. It appeared to Israel that they would either die at the hands of Pharaoh's army or be forcibly taken back to Egypt and re-enslaved.

The name Ba’al Tsephon is significant. It means Lord of the Storm. The word typhoon is closely related, a violent fearful wind storm. God was going to use this violent wind to bring deliverance to Israel and destruction to the enemy.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned from this episode in the Bible.

First, our deliverance from slavery may begin with trouble. Israel experienced many troubles escaping slavery even before this event. Their work became unbearable, there were plagues all around them, and ultimately they had to assemble in the night to run into a future of great uncertainty. The decision to leave a lost and sinful past can bring this kind of hardship. God intentionally brought Israel to the edge of the sea to destroy the slave masters, and to build their faith.

Second, there is no turning back. When Israel's deliverance was completed there was a stormy sea left behind them, separating the people from their lives of bondage in Egypt. We must cross boundaries to leave our sinful past and these boundaries become barriers to protect us from returning there. Sin can never be sweet again, though it beckons and threatens to take us back. Passing through a storm of deliverance is a cleansing experience, symbolized by baptism when we begin to walk by faith.

Though we pass through many storms in life, we should always remember that God brings us there with a purpose. We must learn to trust him, as better things lie just on the other side.