[ Click here to go back to the main page ] A Call to the Shepherds
Dear Under Shepherds of the Good Shepherd,


We, your sheep, appeal to you during these troubling hours. Please do not abandon us during these last days as a hireling would abandon the sheep when trouble comes. We ask you to please follow the model of the good shepherd as outlined in both John 10 and Psalm 23.

First, are you willing to give your life for us (John 10:11)? Will you stand up to the wolves (John 10:12)? Especially the ones who try to appear to be one of us (Matt 7:15)? When you are threatened by the wolves, please remember shepherds that have gone before you such as John Wycliffe (whose bones were burned as a heretic in 1427 and whose direct disciple John Hus was burned at the stake at the direction of the Catholic church in July 1415 for wanting to provide the common man with the Word in his native tongue), Martin Luther (who protested against the Catholic church’s use of indulgences to pay for sins in October 1517) and John Bunyon (who was imprisoned in 1676 by order of church authorities for preaching to the common man without following the liturgy of the Anglican church)! These heroes of the faith “counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus (their) Lord: for whom (they) suffered the loss of all things, and (did) count them but dung, that (they) may win Christ.” (Philippians 4:8)

Second, would you please make us lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:2a)? Please remind us to digest The Word for ourselves—that if we only take your word for it we will be a lot of starving, sickly sheep. How can we eat The Word unless you preach from it every time you step into the pulpit? You cannot give what you do not have. And you cannot teach what you do not know. Are you feasting on the Word daily for yourself? And are you trying to live righteously as you call we your sheep to holy living?

Third, would you also lead us beside the still waters (Psalm 23:2b)? Please exhort us to be washed in the water by the Word (Eph 5:26), the Water that is the cleansing of our sin unto righteousness (Psalm 23:3). Would you please use your rod and staff to comfort (Psalm 23:4) us? How will we know that we have need of the cleansing still waters if we do not know that we are sinful? Please preach on sin and its pitfalls. How will we steer clear of cliffs and sinking sand if you do not put your rod of correction between them and us?

Fourth, set us aside from the world by preparing a table before us in the presence of our enemies, anointing our heads with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and making our cup run over with Living Water (Psalm 23:5). We are not interested in having a sheep pen that is bigger and better than anyone else’s. We don’t care if you have the highest fence (biggest church) or the best rod or staff (your best selling book about Christian living). All we want is to be fed, watered, rested and cared for by YOU when we are hurt. As the personal envoy of the Great Shepherd, we want personal contact with you. We want you to be when we marry, when we give birth to our little ones, to care for us when we’re sick and bury us when we die. And most of all, we want you to lead us to know and to love God.

If you have shepherded us to such a healthy flock that our young ones are causing your flock to become too big, then please train another shepherd and bless him with his own flock from your bounty. Please do not erect a monument to yourself by overcrowding our sheep pen. You cannot disciple us if you do not know us or have time for us.

We promise you this. If you will confine your ambition to knowing the Great Shepherd and thus allow Him to steer you to the green pastures and still waters, we sheep will be healthy enough to cause your flock to grow without you doing another thing. After all, although the shepherd cares for the sheep, it is the sheep who give birth to other sheep.

Sincerely,


One of Your Bell Sheep

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”
John 10: 11-14 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”


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