Jesus Our Shepherd

What does it mean for the Lord to be our shepherd?

 

If the Lord is your Shepherd, how does that specifically define your relationship with Him?

 

And I think in order to find out what it means for Him to be our shepherd, we have to first look at what a shepherd does.

 

A Shepherd Leads

 

The first characteristic of God as our Shepherd is that He is our Leader. Therefore, we, as His sheep are called to follow Him.

 

When we gave our lives to Jesus, we immediately entered a relationship with Him. Our salvation was bought and paid for. Our justification was done. But for God to continue to sanctify us, we need to continue to allow ourselves to be led by Him.

 

That happens in two ways:

 

Pouring over His Word and Prayer

 

When we get to the place where we refuse to do these things, we remove God as Shepherd in our lives. He simply cannot be our Shepherd, if we don’t allow Him to lead us.

 

So a shepherd leads, and secondly:

 

A Shepherd Places You in a Flock

 

When a shepherd finds a sheep, he doesn’t leave that sheep by himself. He places it within a flock.

 

When a sheep is alone, it’s vulnerable to attack. When a sheep is alone, it doesn’t know where to find food. When a sheep is alone, it’s not where it was designed to be.

 

In the same way, when we are alone, we’re vulnerable to attack. When we’re alone, it’s difficult to feed ourselves. When we’re alone, we are not where we are designed to be.

 

Community is important. As a shepherd knows that for his sheep, our Shepherd desires that for us. As followers of Christ, we simply cannot function properly when we’re disconnected from the body of Christ. There’s a reason that people who are followers of Christ are described as the body.

 

For a person who has lost a limb, they can tell you that working without that limb is difficult, but over time they can heal and find a way to function decently well. But the same cannot be said for the lost limb. We were never meant to live life alone. And truthfully, we cannot.

 

A Shepherd Protects

 

When a sheep enters the sheepfold of a shepherd, that sheep immediately comes under the Shepherd’s protection. John 10 talks about how a good shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep, putting himself in the position of the gate, the only way by which anyone can enter and touch a sheep has to come through Him. When we’re in his sheepfold, when we’ve begun a relationship with Jesus, we immediately receive (we don’t earn), but we receive God’s protection from the enemy who comes to steal kill and destroy.

 

That automatically by being His, we receive His protection both from damnation and separation from Him eternally & from the attacks of the enemy to kill steal and destroy in this life.

 

A Shepherd Provides

 

Psalm 23:2 says He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

 

Psalm 23:5 says [He] prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

 

The fourth characteristic God displays as our shepherd is He provides.

 

When a sheep is hungry, a shepherd leads his sheep to an area of land that is both safe (protection) and abundant with food for the sheep to eat. A green pasture, to a sheep, is sustenance. For us, our green pasture is how the Lord consistently provides for us. He’s leading us by providing those pastures when we don’t even realize He’s done it.

 

Matthew 6:25 and following makes it clear that listen, our God provides for the beasts of the field & birds of the air. And because we are very valuable to Him as the crown of His creation, created in His image, we have no reason to be anxious about being provided for, because God’s got it taken care of.

 

A Shepherd Pursues

 

“”For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭34:11-12‬ ‭ESV‬

 

Just as a shepherd will leave the 99 to find the one that is lost as it says in Matthew 18, so will our heavenly father pursue us. Ezekiel 34:11 says “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

 

Our Lord being our shepherd means that he intentionally pursues us. He intentionally seeks us out. It’s not any kind of half-hearted pursuit, or lazy pursuit, or even reckless pursuit. His pursuit of us is incredibly intentional. And that should make us as believers feel incredibly valued. He loved us and pursued us by sending His Son to die. He loved and pursued us enough to send The Holy Spirit to live inside of us, speak truth into each of us, and make Himself accessible to those of us who are believers in Him.

 

So as our shepherd, God leads us, protects us, provides for us, and pursues us.

 

It is therefore our duty, as His sheep, to Follow His lead, join His flock, accept His protection and provision, and open our hearts up for His pursuit.

 

But we resist. We don’t want to be led because we think following makes us look weak. We don’t want to accept His protection because others who were supposed to protect us didn’t. We resist His provision because we either don’t think we’re worth the trouble or we think we can handle it on our own muscle. We don’t open ourselves up to be pursued by Him because we’ve “tried it and it didn’t work” or again, other people who we’ve allowed to pursue us have stomped on our hearts.

 

But the Lord is the GOOD Shepherd.

 

Which means He’s a reliable leader, a trustworthy provider, a fearless protector, and a relentless pursuer, who places us in community to further understand His purpose for us.

 

I want to challenge you today to look at what it means for the Lord to be the Good Shepherd in your life. Which of these characteristics do you find yourself resisting? What’s keeping you from trusting Him to be your Shepherd?

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IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!!!!