Sheep or Children?
Sheep or Children: Setting the Record Straight.
Introduction:
The instant you are Born-Again, meaning that you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Jesus as your Lord (Rom 10:9-10) you become a child of God and a joint heir with Jesus. You are then born into the Family of God and He becomes your Heavenly Father. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 12:27, Now, we are The Body of Christ and members in particular. You and all other Believers corporately are known as the Church of which Jesus is the Head. Now we are the Body. In Matt. 16:18 Jesus was very clear about how He intends for the Church to grow; …upon this Rock (the Rock of Revelation) will I build my Church, (my Body). This Truth has been obscured over the years. Like the head of our body gives a command to our body, Jesus, as the Head of the Church, instructs the Body of Christ to move and the Body simply moves.
Mankind’s enemy, the devil, who kills, steals and destroys, has deceived people in many areas. The instant you were Born Again, God literally became your Father and is there for you and me just as He was for Jesus; to give us discernment, Revelation and to verify, through the Holy Spirit, Truths concerning the written or spoken Word of God. Jesus, as the Son of God, did nothing on His own. He always spent time with our Father to learn His plan for specific situations. Jesus always did the Will of our Father God. We, likewise as Children of God, are to confer (talk and listen) with our Father on everything and then do what He says, shows or instructs.
Each person reading this article must take its content to Him (Father God) for without doing so you run the risk of allowing your experience, tradition or man's teachings to influence how you receive the information. Also, you run the risk of building your life and relationship with our Father and to the Body of Christ without the benefit of Revelation knowledge from the Father; not building upon the “Rock”. The outcome of either choice is an attempt to build without proper foundation and the results of which are ALWAYS disastrous.
So read, digest and, most importantly, take the Truth you read in this article to our Father. The Truth presented will expose, correct and change the profile of what has become the modern day church: weak, ineffective and without or with very little of the miraculous in its presentation to the world. This is an area that can no longer be glossed over. You and I MUST take a stand for the Truth regardless of our tradition or training or what we think others will think or say.
The Problem:
I am going to share with you the way the Lord shared it with my wife and me.
Recently my wife listened to one of our local Christian radio stations and heard a gentleman speaking about sheep on a nationally syndicated radio program. He brought out some of the characteristics of sheep. He said they are stupid, dirty unable to be trained and cannot make decisions on their own. He continued to say that we are sheep; talking to those in the congregation and the radio audience. He also brought out that he is an ‘under-shepherd.’ The people cheered wildly to these statements. Later that day when my wife told me what she heard on the radio program, it began to bother her. I was stirred on the inside as well. I began to see something for which I had to have an answer. How can I be a sheep, as this gentleman called me, and a Child of God at the same time? I did exactly what I encourage you to do; talk to the Father about it. He had some very interesting comments to share.
Ps. 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.…
Ps. 100:3: Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
David, the psalmist, wrote these verses not as a Born Again Child of God but as a man, a member of the human race created by the hand of God. This race of people, because of Adam’s transgression, had become totally separated from God and destined for hell. There was no glory in them nor was anyone Holy. The best they could have is a one year reprieve from the punishment from sin through the sin offering offered once a year.
The Lord reminded me that for years the New Testament church considered these verses to be something glorious, something to be desired and sought after. Then I realized that a sheep, as David described, was the condition of man prior to Jesus and His finished work on the cross. It isn’t something we should desire to be like. In other words, it is the historical condition of mankind at that time. It is still the condition of man before he makes Jesus the Lord of his life and becomes a Born Again member of the Family of God; a member of The Body of Christ.
Let’s take a look at the characteristics of a sheep:
This fellow speaking on the radio reflects the general attitude of today’s church. Typically, the people sitting in the pews are called sheep and the leader of the church, usually the pastor; a person on the church payroll is called the ‘shepherd’ or ‘under-shepherd’.
Some of you may consider the reference of people (human beings) to sheep is simply a metaphor. However if the term ‘sheep’ is a metaphor then the reference to people being ‘Children of God’ must be a metaphor too.. Either both terms are metaphors or both are not. You cannot choose which one is a metaphor and which one is not. One cannot select which parts of the Bible line up with your personal doctrine or teaching. The Word of God is Truth. Seek the Truth from the Father about this.
When you were Born-Again, according to the Bible, you were born into the Family of God; not as sheep but as “His dear Children.”
We know that the phrase ‘Child of God’ is not a metaphor. We are not metaphorically Children of God; we did not metaphorically get Born Again. Becoming a Child is a spiritual Truth and; something that has reality in the unseen realm - the spiritual realm.
The term sheep also means something in the Spiritual realm; something undesirable. The term actually refers to people that are part of God’s creation before they are Born Again and become Children of God.
There are inherent dangers when calling a person a sheep. People tend to act like what they are called. Prov. 18:21 tells us that Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. You would not tell your child, “…you will never amount to anything.” or “You are so stupid you will probably end up in jail.” In fact telling your child anything like that is a form of emotional abuse and is a prosecutable offense. Yet we see people behind the pulpit calling the people in the audience much worse than that when they call them ‘sheep’. Remember sheep are stupid, cannot be taught, dirty, spineless, vulnerable, timid, followers not able to make independent decisions, etc., These are certainly not desirable qualities for you and me. After making Jesus Lord, we are born into the Family of God; becoming a Child of God, not metaphorically but in Truth. But by hearing we repeatedly called sheep we do tend to act the part.
Then the Lord brought to remembrance the subject of the shepherd. As we observe those who call themselves shepherds or under-shepherds, we see a group of people who are perpetuating the sheep-mentality in the Child of God by calling members of their group sheep. They treat the Children of God, not as Children of the King but as lower class citizens with little or no ability to function independently of their teaching or doctrine. They don’t request but demand obedience to their doctrine, which in most cases is a private interpretation of what they think, or what the denomination thinks the Bible is saying. They are controlling and, in most cases, restrict activities of those they call their sheep. Those more progressive leaders will sometimes allow certain people to be active in limited capacities. Usually, those who are allowed to express their gifting, however, in limited fashion, are the larger givers. The majority of the congregation is expected to fill the pew, the offering basket, and to sit and absorb the things that are spoken from the podium; grazing like sheep.
In larger groups, the shepherd has an entourage called deacons or elders, and in some cases body guards, to enforce the church’s doctrine and to keep the sheep in line. In the natural realm, the shepherd trains dogs to enforce the parameters and boundaries of the sheep-fold.
There is one major problem with this scenario. Those who have been Born-Again, who confess Jesus as their Lord, ARE NOT SHEEP. They are God’s Children. You CANNOT be a sheep, dog, turtle or cat and a Child of God. You are one or the other. Before knowing Jesus as your Lord, you were all that we have outlined about a sheep. But, like the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, you instantly shed the old person and become something brand new in Christ. A metamorphosis (change) took place. God our Father said it best through Paul as recorded in 2 Cor.5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. The Amplified Bible describes the event as that you have become a new species of being; one that did not exist before. Maybe before you were Born-Again you were a sheep but now YOU ARE NOT A SHEEP. Once you are Born-Again you are a Child of God.
Here are several Scriptures that reinforce this Truth, all of which refer to the pre Born-Again condition of man (mankind):
The Solution: Believing the Truth about who you are in Christ and acting upon it; by faith, calling those things that are not revealed to the sense realm as thought they have been (revealed to the sense realm).
Rather than using my words, I will refer to God’s Word for He has made these things very clear:
· 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (You are not the old person, a sheep.)
· 1 Cor. 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (present tense)
· 1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. (Because you have the Mind of Christ.)
· 1 Cor. 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (Present tense.)
Jesus prayed in John 17 that “they” (the disciples) be One as we and the Father are One and those who believe on their word. (We, you and me, are the ones who have “believed on their word.”) If Jesus got his prayers answered (…and we know He got every one answered.) then, according to the Bible, you and I and Jesus and the Father are One. It’s a done deal.
1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. This scripture is proof positive that He got His prayer answered as He made us One with Himself. Jesus also said the things He did the disciples once Born-Again will do and even greater. Greater things than Jesus did? That’s right; He (Jesus) said it not me. (Perhaps you are wondering what the “greater things” are. This is the perfect time to ask Him yourself. Getting people Born-Again is part of it but not all…ask Him.)
Conclusion:
The majorities of those who follow Jesus believe in Him but have not made Him Lord; they call themselves Christians. Because they have not made Him absolute Lord, they are inconsistent in knowing and doing the will of the Father. Jesus was obedient all the time. This majority has been taught that they are sheep and they are to follow the under-shepherd and do what they are told all the while sitting in a pew grazing on the droplets of spiritual milk they are fed.
The religious mind-set will see a problem with the sheep mentality. Those who hunger thirst after righteousness will hunger for Jesus’ perspective. If the thought of being a sheep or being referred to as a sheep bothers you, you can do something about it right now. Read Romans 10:9-10. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Some trust Jesus as Savior but have not made Him ABSOLUTE Lord. Jesus addressed that issue in several places. He said, “I never knew you….” The word, “knew” is a word that denotes ultimate intimacy; note, it’s in the past tense. It’s time to KNOW Him and make Him and confess Him the Lord, ABSOLUTE Lord of your life.
It is our Father’s desire that you take this information to Him and ask Him about it. Let Him show you the Truth. Ask Him, “What meaneth this Lord?” The Holy Spirit does not have two different answers to the same question. With Him 2 + 2 = 4 - ALWAYS.
Pastors and sheep, I urge you to seek your Father and secure His Revelation. If you don’t seek Him but continue doing what you think or have been taught you should give it your all. You must:
“Sheep”
· Do not think for yourself but wait to be directed in your every move.
· You are defenseless. When an enemy comes at you, just stand there and wait to be devoured. You permit the devil to devour you and continue to talk about how he is doing that.
· Your shepherd is to take care of your every need; don’t work or do anything productive, just graze where you are told to eat.
· Don’t ask questions. You don’t know the difference between being led or guided to your food source and being led to the slaughter. Just go a long with what the shepherd tells you.
“Shepherds”
Translating the same principle in to today’s application, you as the under-shepherd following Jesus must do the following:
You must surely get the picture by now. You are not the shepherd over the Children of God and they are not sheep.
To follow the Bible, the only sheep in God’s pasture are those human beings who have not confessed Jesus as Lord. If you insist upon shepherding, those are the ones you are to shepherd.
What are you as a leader supposed to do? What are you, as a Child of God supposed to do?
The same answer applies to you both: seek our Father’s understanding. He will not instruct or encourage you to do anything inconsistent with His Word. Be ready to repent and change your thinking.
For a more thorough understanding of sheep, go to the radio archive of a recent radio program. TBOC%2011-28-05.mp3 or read the "implosion series located at www.implosionseries.org