THE SHEPHERD

John 10: 2,3,11,14-18,27-30; Song of Songs 1:7,8; Hebrews 13:20,21; 1 Peter 5:1-4

I would seek grace to speak about the Shepherd. It is affecting to think of the shepherd’s way which the Lord Jesus has taken, and the shepherd’s features which we can currently find in Him. If there is a shepherd, there must be sheep. There is a scripture which speaks of our being “the sheep of thy pasture”, Ps.79:13. In the times in which we find ourselves, we need to consider the Lord Jesus as Shepherd. John 10 always affects me, to consider what He is not only as Shepherd to the Jews but also in relation to the Gentiles in our own time so that there is one flock.

So I seek to draw attention to the Lord Jesus as my Shepherd and your Shepherd. One of the features of being a Shepherd is conveyed to us in the scriptures that I have read. I think we would all know the characteristics of sheep and hence the need of a shepherd. Sheep may sometimes wander and seek to find their own way, and can be lost. A shepherd’s job is not only to take care of the sheep by keeping them together as a flock, but to maintain them by feeding them, by giving them rest, by providing the resources they need, and then guarding them. It is such a present necessity to recognise all these features as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the way that He would guard us and guide us and heal us, finding pasture for us, and finding rest and pleasure and enjoyment for His own heart. That is the Shepherd! A shepherd’s job is not an easy job because it requires caring for each and every sheep. If one goes astray, he must leave the others in safety while he goes and finds the sheep. The Lord Jesus does that. His interest is not simply in a group, although He cares about His flock, but His interest is in each one individually as part of that flock. He notices if there is one missing. Think of the attitude of mind that He has in relation to each individual sheep, that if one goes astray on its own, He would see it, He would feel it and He would go after that sheep. What a wonderful Shepherd we have to do with!

The Lord Jesus said “I am the door of the sheep” (v.7). The only entrance is through the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust there is no one in this room that does not know the Shepherd in that way. There is nothing to compare with accepting Him as your Saviour, knowing that He is the only One who can guide you, take you to a God who would desire to have you in His presence. He would desire to bring us into the presence of a holy and righteous God. And my desire is that each one of us might be helped further as we move on in this occasion to recognise the Shepherd’s care that would come in to shepherd us not only individually, but to shepherd the flock of God. It would lead us to lay hold of the meaning of these verses.

It begins here by speaking about the love of the Shepherd. We have already spoken about how it is important to recognise the good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep. This is not exactly speaking about salvation at this point, it is speaking not only about the capability but the willingness of the Lord Jesus to do that. He was willing to lay down His life for the sheep. He would go after any sheep that is lost, perhaps in the presence of great danger; He was willing to lay down His life to save that sheep. That is the present position; do you recognise that the Lord Jesus was willing to do that for you? He has your interests in mind; He laid down His life for you. He is willing to take you up where you are, even in the presence of danger, even if there is a tendency to stray. He is able to take you up and bring you back to safety. He would desire to maintain you; He says “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine”.

Another characteristic of a shepherd is that he knows each sheep. He knows their characteristics, he knows the tendencies of the sheep and he calls them by name. Think of the intimacy which is involved in being a shepherd. Anyone else looking at a flock might just see a group of sheep. He might try to keep them together, herd them, but a shepherd sees them differently. He knows the characteristics of each one and has care and concern for each sheep. The Lord Jesus is able to do that, to use that knowledge to bring a straying sheep to where He is, that it may be in the flock, so that there will be one flock and one Shepherd.

It is a sorrow that there has been so much departure from acknowledging the Lord Jesus as the true Shepherd. What I am seeking to convey is that He has one flock in mind. What a wonderful attitude; this One who is so caring of the flock has one flock in mind. Now we own our part in the breakdown, but the great Shepherd of the sheep is not deflected. He says, "I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep”. The sheep have been given by His Father to Christ. He takes up their care; He personally cares for each sheep. The Father has committed them into His hand, and He says, “I have not lost one”, John 18:9. What an interest He takes in each of them. He looks at them in this way, as it were; If each sheep is important to the Father, then it is important to Me. I am going to guard that sheep, I am going to feed that sheep and I am going to nurture it. Whatever is required, I am going to be available to that sheep as its Shepherd. Have you proved the Lord Jesus in that way, dear friend? Have you proved Him as One who can lift you up in your circumstances? As we mentioned in the reading, healing is needed, guidance is needed and food is needed. Jesus was there as the Sustainer of life. He is the only One who is able to give all of that and more, and He is desirous of doing so. He desires that you would walk in newness of life, recognising how worthy He is. The sheep are to be with the Shepherd, and what we have to recognise at the present time is the desire of the Shepherd to have the sheep with Him. We can know what that is, even although we are not among those who are already with the Lord. We can have the appreciation of being with Him down here, preserved for Him, preserved for His Father in glory.

The Lord goes on to say “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”. Think of the Lord Jesus having that authority. As being God’s righteousness, as being the stability of our times, (Isa.33:6), He would take that on; there is power available in this Shepherd. He has gone to the lowest point. Think of David slaying the lion and the bear with his bare hands. David did that as a shepherd, and then he was able to care for the people of God later in his life. You might say that what was needed in his later service was clear to him because he recognised that the service of the shepherd was what was needed in time of crisis. Dear friend, I would encourage you at this present time; we need the strength and comfort and help of the Shepherd. The shepherd care of the Lord Jesus is available at the present time and He would encourage us. All His resources are available; He is able to bring persons into a place of safety and cause them to commit themselves.

I read later on “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand”. One who serves for wages tending sheep might come into serious danger and flee. Our Shepherd will never flee. He gives us His own personal commitment, “no one shall seize them out of my hand”. Is that not a great comfort? Have you proved that? When trials and disappointments come in, we readily throw up our hands and ask what we are going to do. But “no one shall seize them out of my hand”. The Lord Jesus will not allow us to be seized out of His hand. Not only has He given His life for you, the greatest sacrifice that could ever have been made for you, but He has given you life eternal; “I give them life eternal”. Our exercise today is to be found in the enjoyment of this life. The shepherd’s desire is to bring in these features, not only to show them to the sheep, but to cause them to be in the enjoyment of what they have been given, and the enjoyment of who the Shepherd is. We had reference to Psalm 23 earlier. David had a great sense of shepherd service and I would desire each one of us has the sense of that. David wrote in that psalm “he leadeth me beside still waters”. The Lord Jesus would not lead you anywhere else; He would not lead you into danger. He would lead you into the love of God. He would lead you “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”. What a wonderful area to enjoy!

This portion in the Song of Songs affected me recently. There was the desire of the female speaker to know where the shepherd fed His flock; “Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon; For why should I be as one veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions?”. If we are not fully satisfied, beloved brother and sister, we will try to find something else. I would appeal to each one in this room, and to my own heart, to be satisfied with the love of the Shepherd. She wanted to know what that was. “Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon”. Think of what the Lord Jesus can do for you, to enjoy being at rest with Him. Not only would He give you food and sustain you, He would give you rest. Why would there be any need for you to be anywhere else? The food that He gives is food for the Christian pathway, food to sustain you in every trial and difficulty, food that will give you strength to overcome the enemy and all he would throw at you. Then the Lord would cause you to be at rest in His love. This loved one wanted to know something of this. She was enquiring of the shepherd here. She did not want to be as those who were veiled “Beside the flocks of thy companions”. They were not evil persons; they were “the flocks of thy companions”, but she wanted to be with Him. We may want to take our place elsewhere and be identified with others; we can have a fixation with that. Dear friend, she recognised that there was more than that, “why should I be as one veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions?”. She recognised that the shepherd was the only one who could give her complete satisfaction. I trust that we will find that to be true as we go on in the Christian pathway. We may find there is great opposition, and that persons are turning away from the food. How solemn that is, but the only true food is from the One who is our Resource, the Shepherd who has the food. The Lord is able to give us that. There is no food anywhere else which will give us satisfaction. The food that God gives, the food that the Shepherd gives, is for ever, it is abiding and it will give complete satisfaction!

Then he responds to her “If thou know not, thou fairest among women”. Think of the Lord’s estimation of you, dear friend. He takes account of the loved one, He says “thou fairest among women”. There was no other! “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock”. Following the footsteps of the flock relates you to the Shepherd. What will these footsteps be? Perhaps we could recognise them in what the apostle Paul wrote as to righteousness, faith, love and peace in 2 Timothy 2. “If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work. But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace” (vv.21,22). Those would be the footsteps of the flock. How we would long to see that. I would desire that each of us would be found in those footsteps following the Lord as our Shepherd and being maintained. So if I was going away and if I had an appreciation of the Shepherd, I would recognise that the footsteps of the flock would lead me back to the Shepherd. He would desire to have us know His own personal love, but He would remind us that there is a way to be in the good of it by following the footsteps of the flock.

Then he would also give the word “And feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ booths”. The loved one would care for the flock, and in that sense she would have an appreciation of the Shepherd. We see that later in the Song of Songs; there are others attracted by her love. If one is attracted to the Shepherd, that would attract others. Not that the attraction would be to that person, because the desire would be to attract them to the true Shepherd. So that the shepherd characteristic comes out in her, as it should come out in us. I feel the edge of the word coming to me. What am I going to do in that sense as representing the Shepherd here? Am I someone who will be going on with him, and have such an impression of Him that it attracts others to Him. Am I going to be available to those who are in need, to attract them back to the Shepherd? I trust each one of us will take on these characteristics because it is needed at this time. There is a great need for shepherding and each one of us can take it on. It is a service of love, and the Shepherd would desire to attract us into it.

Hebrews refers to the great Shepherd. We have had the good Shepherd and now we have the great Shepherd. “But the God of peace, who brought again from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, in the power of the blood of the eternal covenant, perfect you in every good work to the doing of his will, doing in you what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen”. I feel how challenging this is, dear brethren. The language of scripture is so strong here. It is beautiful to see that the power of the great Shepherd of the sheep is available by “the blood of the eternal covenant,” and it will “perfect you in every good work to the doing of his will”. It is His own work. The Shepherd takes account of His own work and it is perfect. Another scripture says “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto Jesus Christ’s day”, Phil.1:6. What a prospect, dear friend! What an attitude for divine Persons to take. While things might not look good on the surface, God is going to take each individual and perfect His work in them. We long for that.

Finally we read the verse in 1 Peter about the chief Shepherd. Peter had known the Lord as Shepherd in his own experience. Peter wrote “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am their fellow-elder ... shepherd the flock of God which is among you”. My exercise is that we should find this flock of God “which is among you”. Shepherding the flock of God is a wonderful thing to take account of because the flock belongs to the Shepherd and reminds you of the Shepherd. We mentioned earlier on as to the thought of the saints being divine property. God is taking account of His saints. They have been placed here by God, and the word goes out by the Spirit to form them, so there is divine formation and what is spiritual can be added. Peter would have had this in mind when he was writing about this, that the fathers would be attending to it. There is affection connected with the shepherding of the flock of God; it is so vital and such necessary work. God would give us a greater sense of finding what there is in the saints and appreciating it more. Dear young brother and sister, there is what is special of Christ in each one of us. God gives us the privilege of taking account of it, but we are not only just to take account of it, but to help one another. “Shepherd the flock of God … not by necessity, but willingly; not for base gain, but readily; not as lording it over your possessions, but being models for the flock”. One of the best things that has been said to me is, if you want to be a help to the saints, go on yourself. The attitude of mind is that you should be doing something for them. I can promise you that when it comes to spiritual things, God desires to work in you first before He will work through you. I have proved that. God has passed me through different things and He has taught me through various experiences, but His desire is that we might do something for Him so that each one of us might become morally formed for Him. So that, “when the chief shepherd is manifested ye shall receive the unfading crown of glory”. Think of the power of the Shepherd to give this unfading crown of glory.

I wanted to bring before us the Lord Jesus as the chief Shepherd. It says in prophecy that others will come who will profess to be shepherds, but there is only one true Shepherd and He is the chief Shepherd. He would want us to know this and prove it so that as we go on, we would know the stability of it, we would know what it is to be with Him and to prove His power and His leading and His guiding and His feeding and His giving us rest.

May we do so for His name’s sake.

Address at Calgary

14 February 2015

D. Klassen