Edit — The Sheep, The Shepherd, and The Fold.

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Content type: Sermon Poem / Prayer Service / Tribute Incomplete Biography

Body: Happy Shepherd’s Day! Being compared to a Shepherd as the world sees them, is by no means a major compliment. But. Being compared to a Shepherd as Christians see them, is in my view, as good of a compliment as a father could receive. Happy Father’s Day! Pray with me please. Last week our message was on “The Sheep”, and today (Father’s Day) I would like to speak on “The Shepherd”, and how the responsibilities, the actions, and the dedication of the Shepherd and the earthly father are so closely related. What is a Shepherd? 1 Peter 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, – Jesus is our example and today’s father needs to shepherd his family like Jesus shepherds his people. A shepherd takes care of his flocks’ needs. Not always can he give them what they want but he always provides what they need. The sheep cannot provide their basic needs on their own. What do your sheep need? Food, Clothing, and Shelter at the most basic level, yes. But there is more. They need a father’s attention, his love, and his time as well as his protection, concern, training and even discipline when necessary. Children need a father to listen to them, to be at their games, plays, and recitals. Children have a basic need for input from their fathers and a good father/shepherd is able to make sure his sheep can say, “my dad is my shepherd under Jesus, and I have need of nothing.” John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,” ​How much do you know your children and how much do your children know you? Proverbs 27:23 Know well the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds. According to Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a father’s involvement with a child increases the child’s IQ, the child’s motivation to learn, and the child’s self-confidence. In addition, children with involved dads are more likely to develop a sense of humor as well as an “inner excitement.” 1 Peter 5:2 “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.” This world needs courageous fathers who will shepherd their little flock as their first priority. It is a high calling because it is the backbone of a society. Men your little sheep need you. They need you to know where you are going, to provide for them, to instruct them, to be involved in their lives, to be diligent in your responsibility, and to lead by example. When you do your flock will bring you joy. Maybe you never had a father like this, and you are wondering how you can be a father/shepherd without a good model. First, you must know the true Father/Shepherd. The second thing you must do is pattern your life according to the bible that God the Father gave to us. Learn of Him and you can be the father that your children need, for He is a good Father who loves His children/sheep with an everlasting love. Proverbs 23:24–25 “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who sires a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and your mother be glad and let her rejoice who gave birth to you.” We may have a hard time coming to grips with being a shepherd, for us we see this certain picture. You've seen that picture: it's Jesus with long, flowing hair and perfect skin. It looks like he got a manicure last week. He's clutching a sheep, and he's stroking the sheep. In that picture of Jesus, he looks like he's never gone through anything rough in his life. He's smiling at the sheep, and the sheep seems to be smiling back. It's warm, it's cuddly, and it makes us feel good. In Ancient Eastern culture, they knew what a shepherd was, and it wasn’t something that could be turned into a Precious Moments figurine. Shepherds were rugged; shepherds bore, as their mark, the scars of defending the flock. Shepherds were warriors for the flock. They spent time with the flock, and they smelled like the flock. Their staffs were stained with blood, and their skin was rugged like leather. They probably wouldn’t have gotten invited to a lot of dinner parties because they stunk. That was a shepherd. A shepherd led, fed, and fought for his flock. It was hard work; it was dirty work. It was a messy job. Not all shepherds fit this description. There were some who just took the job for what they could get out of it. They were hirelings, (a person employed to do menial work). They were self-serving, and they didn't really care for the well-being of the sheep. After all, this was about what it did for them. They weren't always diligent; they weren't always focused. They needed their down time, some "me" time. There were shepherds like that who said, "This is too hard. I don't want to give too much." They were self-protecting. They were in it for what they could get, and when they couldn't get enough, they walked off. Their staffs were not bloody, and their skin was not like leather. There are far too many fathers like that. They like the idea of having a family, and then the family comes. They dump off the responsibility of raising the children on the wife, and they convince themselves it's okay: "Oh, it's enough that I earn a paycheck, and after all, I deserve my recreation time, and I'm too tired to deal with things at home.” We need fathers who are scarred because they are in the trenches with the flock God gave them. In the trenches, getting hands dirty, no self-pity: it's a tough job, and that's why they're there. That's why God put them in the home as the shepherd, and that's why God put you in the home as the shepherd. When things are difficult with your children, when things are difficult with your relationship, don't say, "I feel sorry for myself." The thing is to look in the mirror and say, "That's why I'm here. I'm here to face down the enemies, I'm here to deal with the difficulties, and I'm here to snatch my flock away from danger. I'm here. I'll gladly bear the marks of the protection of those God has given me. That's my flock, and I will never abandon them." Those who bear the scars of a shepherd are shepherds/fathers who are all in. I’ll Always be There for You! This fascinating story comes out of the 1989 earthquake which almost flattened Armenia. This deadly tremor killed over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of all the confusion of the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school. When he arrived there, he discovered the building was flat as a pancake. Standing there looking at what was left of the school, the father remembered a promise he made to his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!” Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked like a hopeless situation, but he could not take his mind off his promise. Remembering that his son’s classroom was in the back right corner of the building, the father rushed there and started digging through the rubble. As he was digging other grieving parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: “My son! “My daughter!” They tried to pull him from what was left of the school saying: “It’s too late!” “They’re dead!” “You can’t help!” “Go home!” Even a police officer and a fire fighter told him he should go home. To everyone who tried to stop him he said, “Are you going to help me now?” They did not answer him, and he continued digging for his son stone by stone. He needed to know for himself: “Is my boy alive or is he dead?” This man dug for eight hours and then twelve and then twenty-four and then thirty-six. Finally in the thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his son’s voice. He screamed his son’s name, “ARMAND!” and a voice answered him, “Dad?” It’s me Dad!” Then the boy added these priceless words, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told ‘em that if you were alive, you’d save me and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised that Dad. ‘No matter what,’ you said, ‘I’ll always be there for you!’ And here you are Dad. You kept your promise!” Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” Psalm 23:1 says, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want." It is saying that we lack nothing because our shepherd leads us, provides for us, feeds us, guides us, and protects us. A shepherd leads and has authority. They are not to shepherd in a way that shows disregard for the flock, but they are to do it in a way that shows care for the flock. Men, you are to lead as a shepherd. There is no shepherding job description that does not call you to lead. It is not enough to earn a paycheck, send your kids to college, watch TV, and be a nice guy. A nice guy who will not step in front of his family and lead has abandoned his post. Sometimes, to be a shepherd in your family means there must be times when you are not seen as a nice guy, because you are a warrior. A warrior has committed to doing what's best, not what's easiest. Husbands and fathers are the heads of their homes. Ephesians 5 explains that in terms of the gospel. You are not the head of the home so you can order your wife to get you a bag of chips and you get to watch what you want to on TV. Someone once said, "Oh yeah, I know, I'm right with you there. I tell you what: I'm about to get married, and if I want to go golfing, I'm going to go golfing. She ain't going to tell me what to do." Ephesians explains headship in terms of the gospel: "love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (5:25). The focus is self-sacrificial responsibility, not personal privilege. That means the leadership we are to exercise as the heads of homes is to be gospel leadership. We are to be gospel shepherds of our families. The thing we care about most, the thing we treasure the most, is to be the gospel. It bears upon every issue in life. We are the people in our families who teach our families that everything is about the teachings of Jesus Christ. We are called to self-sacrificial gospel leadership, and we need to understand it is our job, and no one else's. We don’t dump our kids off at church to be shepherded; the church is a partner with a shepherd in the home. The shepherds of the church lead the church to partner with your family, and you have the responsibility to lead them on a day-to-day basis. You cannot just say, "I earn a paycheck and then I have to focus on me." It ought to be obvious to your family that the thing you're most excited about is the gospel, and that trumps trips to the ballpark, the way you spend your money, the way you spend your time, the way you order your life, the way you order your house, and everything. The most important thing is the gospel. If we, fathers, and grandfathers, as the shepherds of our home, are leading in a way that communicates we are more excited and more moved by some social issue than we are the gospel, there is a problem. Nothing matters more than the gospel. That is what it means to lead our families well. We need fathers who are scarred because they are warriors for their families, in the burdens and the difficulties and the challenges and the joys. They are with their flock. We need fathers who lead and who are gospel shepherds in their home, who point the way. We need fathers who fight. So, you know what a shepherd is? A shepherd is a warrior. When God's people stood on the other side of that sea, and they sang about the shepherding action of God, they said in Exodus 15:3, "The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name." A shepherd fights for his people. When Jesus came as the Good Shepherd, he said, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11). The Cross is an act of spiritual warfare. It is a declaration of defeat of the enemy of God, of all of the enemies of God. It is that great, incredible reality where the one who comes as the deliverer, the Redeemer of his people, is a suffering servant. The Good Shepherd, in an act of spiritual war, lays down his life for his sheep, and he purchases the flock of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Shepherding is warfare. It's a battle. Are you leading the fight? Satan and the host of darkness, the principalities and powers arrayed against the purposes of God in this world, hate your family. We, as a shepherd, are to lead in spiritual battle. It may be hard for us to understand in our remote control, recliner lifestyle, but it's a fact, nonetheless. We are called to lead our flock in spiritual battle on a daily basis, and we must not be negligent in this calling. We must be men who are willing to lead and to set the priorities in our families for the sake of the gospel. We must be laboring in prayer, with calluses on our knees, because we understand what is at stake. Don't get lulled to sleep in a middle-class lifestyle, thinking that if you get your kids through college, then they will have a good job, and everything will turn out okay. Some of the most miserable people in the world have great jobs and big houses and nice cars, and their lives are falling apart: they are filled with misery and despair, and they are doomed for eternity apart from Jesus Christ. We can’t let American lose the sense that this is warfare. It has always been, and it still is. It is warfare. We are called to be warriors. Fathers, shepherds, household pastors: are you scarred, or have you not invested enough in the flock that God has given you to shepherd? What do your priorities say? Do you lead? I don't mean that you make an occasional decision when it's convenient for you. I mean: do you *lead*? Are you in the trenches, establishing gospel priorities with tears and prayers? Do you make biblical decisions for the sake of your family? Are you bearing burdens for your wife and displaying the gospel to your children? Do you fight? Do you act like its warfare? I wonder how many fathers/grandfathers there are in this room whose children/grandchildren couldn't even imagine them ever fighting, because all they see is a nice guy. If somebody were to ask your children who would fight for them, they ought to say, "Daddy." Who leads you? "Daddy, of course." Who is so close to you that they bear your burdens? "Daddy." **Conclusion** Perhaps you are here today, and you need to know God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. You need the Shepherd of your soul before you can ever be the shepherd God has called you to be in your home. You need to bow before the Lord Jesus, declare your dependence upon him, and trust him. You need to say, by way of faith and trust, as your only hope of salvation, Father, Jesus, God, I need you, the Shepherd of my soul. You can do that today. You can throw yourself on his mercy. He will lead, he will feed, he will guide, and he will fight for you now and forever. The decisive blow has already been delivered on the cross of Jesus Christ. You can be accepted into the family of God today. No qualifications, no reservations, you are a child of God. If you are a father, a grandfather, or a family shepherd, and you know you've missed the mark, I've got good news for you today. If you're a Christian, then before you're a father, you're a son. You are never without a Father to run back to, to cry out to. He, by the work of the Spirit of God, will remind you, "Oh, son, you are my child, and you are forgiven. You can rise up from this place on this day to reflect that kind of gospel love in your family in the days ahead." I would encourage you to do something decisive today. Step out, pray, make a declaration. Pull your family around you today and say, "I haven’t been a good shepherd, but God loves me anyway, and I want to do a better job of reflecting God’s love in this family because that love is good." Do you need to turn to the Shepherd of your soul today, because you don't know where you stand in the sight of God? If he is not your Shepherd, He wants you in His flock. Today, do you need to say, "As I try to be a father as a Christian, I need to remember that I am a son, and I need my Father"? Will you look to him to refresh and renew today?

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