SHEPHERD CARE

L. McFarlane

John 10: 7–11; 21: 15–22; 1 Peter 5: 1–4

One’s desire, dear brethren, is to call attention to the good Shepherd. I think the Lord would take us back, each one, to our beginnings, take us back a little to the time when we had to do with Jesus as our Saviour, when we felt the need of His shepherd care to enter upon the Christian pathway. Though through grace we are privileged to touch the height of the truth of Christ and the assembly in these meetings there is evident need that we be maintained in what is basic, that is, a personal link with the Lord Jesus. Jacob of old could speak of the God who shepherded him “all my life long to this day”, Genesis 48: 15. Jacob at the end went back over his history; he had an intimate knowledge of the God who preserved and kept him through his long life. Then David, the beloved, in that beautiful Psalm speaks of Jehovah as his shepherd, “Jehovah is my shepherd”. I think this is intended to grow with us that Jehovah, Jesus of the New Testament, the same Person we have read of, is the good Shepherd. Our affections need to be stirred in relation to Him. He says, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. There is not another like this in the whole universe, dear brethren; there is not another person that loves you like Jesus, and it is not only a matter of His saying that, but He has proved it. He laid down His blessed life.

He is the door—He is the entrance into all the blessings that God has in His heart for you and me. The Lord is the entrance into it all and He

has become that on the basis of His going into death for us. “Ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from your fathers, but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes”, 1 Peter 1: 18–20. So one would seek to encourage us all, having in mind especially our dear younger brethren, as to a full committal to the One who has laid down His life for us. So John says in his first epistle (1 John 3: 16) that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I think it is the burden of what our dear brother has had before him in what has gone before, that our affections might be so stirred that there might be this laying down of our lives.

That should have a bearing on us all. It is not a question of brethren three thousand miles away, it is particularly a question of those with whom we walk locally. Think of the sacrificial walk of Jesus—what a walk was His! John could say, “Behold the Lamb of God”, John 2: 36. He was here in relation to the creatures of God. Think of the barrenness of the scene through which He passed and yet He was here as available to every one in need; every person in need could appeal to the love of Jesus, appeal to His heart, His compassions.

Now the point here is that we might be so affected, so attracted to this glorious Person, that there might be more committal to what is sacrificial. The Lord takes account of the love of the saints, including all that has entered into this occasion—the sacrifice and the love of the local brethren, their prayers, of which one is conscious even at this moment. And now we trust there will be an answer in persons coming forward to commit themselves to the Lord’s interests in this area. We have touched on the need for the

open-air preaching. I think the Lord would affect our hearts and cause us to be stirred up in relation to men. God’s desire is that all men should be saved— all men—and come to the knowledge of the truth. As we come to the end of this dispensation the blessed Spirit would alert us to the need of more evangelical service. Speak to men about your Shepherd, dear young sister, in the office, speak to your friends about the love of Jesus, something you have proved for yourself, something you can commend to others.

I thought we might look now at beloved Peter, with no desire to discredit him in any way.

These scriptures have been written for us, as it says in 1 Corinthians 10: 11. There is constant need of shepherding, dear brethren, and I think what the Lord is stressing in John 21 is the matter of providing food for the saints. It is on His heart that there is need of food if we are to be kept together. If the idea of the one flock is to be known locally, there will be need for the food supply. The sheep need to be fed, need to be shepherded. Then the lambs—you are affected by the fact that the Lord would take account even of the little ones that are among us.

He says, “Feed my lambs”. Let us not get off on these expeditions, “I go to fish”. May we be preserved from these expeditions; may we not forget what is under our care locally. There are the little lambs to be fed, there are the sheep needing food and shepherding. All this is a local matter. It raises a question as to my love for the Lord. He is not giving these sheep or the lambs to Peter. He would say, They are Mine and I am granting you the privilege of taking care of what is Mine. They are My sheep, they are My lambs.

All this is to affect us, dear brethren, in relation to any little service we may be privileged

to render. The Lord had to probe Peter but there is such skill in this section of Scripture. Peter had gone astray with some of the brethren. The influence we may have is valuable—if that influence is used in a right direction. Peter had gone to fish and there were those who went with him. Some of the best brothers, John and others, went with Peter, but the Lord saw the need of food. You marvel at it. Then we are to note that, all this took place in the forty days, during the period when things were being established on a new footing, with Jesus in resurrection life. Then we have the expression “when therefore they had dined”. There may be exercises in our localities to be set right. There are exercises wherever you go. The brethren have these matters to face. The Lord sets on here the pattern for us, that is, you feed the saints. He says here, “Come and dine”. There was the fire of coals and fish laid on it—

what skill, what grace! He had said, “Children, have ye anything to eat?” “Children” brings out, dear brethren, the affections of the Shepherd. What a heart the shepherd heart of Jesus!

How He takes account of the failing ones.

You will recall the shepherd in Luke 15. He leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness and goes after the lost sheep. Here we are this afternoon, lost sheep who have been found, brought back to the little flock. The Lord would have us to be affected and to set forth this spirit, the spirit of the shepherd, and in doing so there would be the godly exercise with us to provide food for the saints. Now in these days in which we are we find the food supply is mainly had in the temple, where there are temple conditions, where divine light shines, where the blessed Spirit is at liberty to take us into the depths. It says He searches the depths of God. These reading meetings, as we call them, under the hand of the blessed Spirit are

calculated to provide food and sustenance that we might judge ourselves. There may be matters we need to attend to, but the Lord would approach these matters in grace. We have had a session of meetings in which food has been provided. We should prayerfully seek the Lord’s help now to get the gain of that ministry. Think of the scope of what has been presented as to the assembly and the greatness of the mystery. There is need of patience with one another so that God might work out His great thoughts. We have all felt how patient God has been with us individually, and patience is needed for the working out of the truth and the formation of Christ in our souls. Peter is probed and the word is firstly, “Feed my lambs”, secondly, “Shepherd my sheep”, and thirdly, “Feed my sheep”.

I would say a word now to the younger men, that this should be an exercise—to provide something for the saints. We were reminded of Gideon. It says he threshed wheat in the winepress and hid it from the Midianites. Gideon was a comparatively young man but these were his exercises in difficult circumstances such as we are in. We have had ministry recently as to the need of working at it so that food may be provided and stored for the dear brethren.

The Lord would help anyone who has such an exercise laid upon his heart. We were speaking earlier of the need of visiting house to house. Paul set this matter on at Ephesus—“in every house”. Some of us can look back to the time when we got much help from some bed-ridden sister; you went there to console, and found that you came away strengthened and encouraged. Well, the Lord would promote this, dear brethren. Take a little food; think of those who are not privileged to be here and make it an exercise to take something to them.

We have had a precious time together, let us seek to take something back to those who are not thus privileged.

So now we come to the point where Peter is receiving his commission from the Lord and he is reminded of the time when he was young. We tend to be independent when we are young.

One would speak from his own experience. We tend to be independent and the Lord Jesus reminded Peter of the time when he was young. Our spiritual histories begin in our youth; it is of God that we come to these things when we are young. Ruth was a young sister and she became attached to an elderly sister. Is that not a beautiful sight—a young sister attached to an older one? You say, That is unusual. It is. Young people gravitate to themselves and you would say it is only natural that they do so, but when it comes to the spiritual side, as to growth and development in, the truth, you will find the need of drawing upon experience locally. I am diverting a bit, but Peter is reminded of “when thou shalt be old”—that is a reference to his martyrdom we are told; he would be led to the stake; but it is good that we all carry this in our thoughts. If the Lord leaves us here a little longer we are going to be increasingly dependent and it is good if we become more dependent upon the blessed Spirit.

Thank God for the elder brethren amongst us! It is a beautiful sight to see persons not now depending upon their memory, which has faded, or their natural ability, but dependent on the Spirit. All this is related to shepherding. In Ephesians the thought of shepherd and teacher is linked and thus we are helped to guide the saints aright, but it can only be as the blessed Spirit has His way with us. I should say a word before I leave this passage as to this matter of following the Lord Jesus. He says in Matthew 6: 22, “if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light”. Then in Luke 11: 34, “When thine eye is simple”.

There is the need for a single eye, and the need for simplicity. How easily we become diverted. It may not be something in the world. I may become diverted by a brother sitting by me locally. How easily the enemy is able to do this.

So Peter, in spite of all the Lord was saying to him, was concerned about John. Let us desire, dear brethren, the single eye. The man in John 9 said, “One thing I know”. He knew one thing, that whereas he was blind, now he saw. He was able to see Jesus. The single eye is to have Jesus alone before you. On the mount they saw Jesus alone with themselves. Well, Peter is to follow. He is to have the Lord alone before him. He is not to be preoccupied with others.

The word is, “Follow thou me”. One would desire to know more of this for oneself and would commend it to us all, that we might be here with a single eye, looking steadfastly on Jesus, the Leader and Completer of faith. It says—“Who, in view of the joy lying before him, endured the cross, having despised the shame”, Hebrews 12: 2. Let us therefore be encouraged to have this steadfast look, looking away from everything else, looking at Jesus.

Finally we come to Peter’s first epistle. He has got the gain of the Lord’s service and he is thus able to speak to his fellow-elders. One is encouraged to say this, that it is an encouragement to see such persons as we come to the end of the dispensation, those who are

“models for the flock”. It is a tribute to the Spirit’s work that, despite all the breakdown, despite all that has come into the testimony, we have with us, even here this afternoon, persons who are models for the flock. Well, we need an eye to take account of that, dear brethren. So Peter says, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am their fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ”. I often

think of Peter as one who was a living expression of the result of the service of the Lord Jesus. He was with the Lord throughout those three and a half years. He says later on,

“having been eyewitnesses of his majesty’. He was a witness as to the sufferings of the Christ, and also a partaker of the glory about to be revealed. What a testimony Peter’s was as to a glorified Christ. Peter could bear testimony to One he knew. He knew Him very well, but now glorified. There He is in the glory and He is there for us. He is the same, the One who laid down His life for the sheep. His heart is still the same and Peter would encourage us to take on our responsibility locally, so he says, “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you”. I am thinking of the beloved sisters; how much we owe to the prayers of godly sisters.

This is a service for the elders and for us all, brother and sisters alike, to “shepherd the flock of God which is among you”.

It is our privilege to carry these matters in prayer. Epaphras combated in prayer for his local brethren that they might stand “perfect and complete in all the will of God”, Colossians 4: 12.

What a service to take up! Pray for the saints, pray for the young families, pray for all the saints in view of apprehending with all the saints the breadth and length and depth and height, and knowing the love of the Christ, which surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3: 18). So Peter goes on to say, “Not for base gain, but readily; not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock”. That is to be characteristic of persons who have gone on many years in the testimony, and not through their own good works but through the service of the Lord Jesus, and the blessed Spirit. There are such who are intended to help us and encourage us to go on, and then Peter says, “and when the chief shepherd is manifested ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory”. Well, we look for this, beloved brethren,

the manifestation of the chief Shepherd. He is about to come—He is on the way. He says, “I come quickly”. May He bless His word.

Address in Auckland
4 June 1988