Bethany Bullet - April 28, 2015

Rise-up & Follow Your Leader

The quintessential truth about sheep is that they are vulnerable if left alone.  Sheep need a shepherd.  Shepherds were the flock’s best defense from vulnerability.  So my question is this, “While a good shepherd might sacrifice himself to save a sheep,” in the long run if he is the only shepherd in the field aren’t the sheep worse off when he’s dead than they were to begin with?  Picture a flock that is threatened, the howl is not far off, the wolf is on the prowl; losing one sheep to a wolf is better than losing the whole flock to a hungry pack, right?  Frightening off the wolf is wise, but should the shepherd getting eaten in the process of trying to save one or two lambs – does he not put the other 98 or 99 in peril?

What kind of dead shepherd is useful?   I can only think of One.  One who won’t stay dead!  The prince of darkness howls in the night.  The grave is always on the prowl. 

Sin itself would devour us if NOT for a Shepherd! 

V  THE Shepherd 

V  THE GOOD SHEPHERD! 

V  The Good Shepherd Jesus Christ who laid down His life, only to take it up again. 

To secure you as a member of His flock, Jesus would go so far as to lay down His life; and to verify your status in the Shepherd’s fold He would take it up again.

As Shepherd to sheep, so your Lord is intimately concerned about you; the you who gets lost or has been led astray; the you who is in need or simply fails to recognize the need of others; the you who is injured or has caused injury, the you who is vulnerable or caused others to feel so.  HE is concerned and cares for YOU!  So He came NOT merely to watch over you but to expose Himself to vulnerability for you, and for the entire flock!  He let the wolf nip His heal.  He let the scoffers bay at the moon.  He allowed suffering to devour, the grave to gulp, and most horrid pain of all God Himself to forsake Him so that He would accept us into His flock.

As members of the flock of God we are called to Rise up and Follow our Leader.  In the ancient world sheep were the sacrifice, we’re simply called to make them!  We follow by:

1.       Listening to His voice and

2.       Caring for His Flock  

The Bethany Blueprint describes these two in the following manner:

                Worship Faithfully

                Form Spiritually

                Serve Passionately

                Give Proportionately

                Share Intentionally

May this be true of us so that through the care of His flock, others might hear His voice.

 -Pastor Kevin Kritzer