The Good Shepherd
Each week my wife and I meet with a group of people from our church in our home. We drink coffee, eat chocolate, share life, laugh a lot, study the Bible and pray together.
We have had small groups like this in our home for over twenty years – we love it! There is something so good about meeting regularly with people in this informal way.
We really missed hosting these, during the Covid lockdowns, so were thrilled when we could have people back in our home again!
Last week, we looked in the Bible where Jesus said: ‘I am the Good Shepherd’. We decided to search for other references to ‘shepherds’ in the Bible. With some help from Google, we found that this was a common theme in both the Old and New Testaments!
We saw that there were shepherds in the Nativity story. Some significant characters in the Old Testament had also been shepherds, such as, Moses, Jacob and David.
King David wrote the beautiful and famous Psalm 23, all about God being his ‘shepherd’. Some of the Old Testament prophets talked about how the leaders in Israel had failed to ‘shepherd’ the people and so God would act and send his own ‘Shepherd’.
This was a great study, as it contextualized what Jesus said, about himself, as being the ‘Good Shepherd’!
As we were sharing, one person in the group said that her family looked after livestock, including sheep. She said that sheep were treated differently to the other animals.
They were cared for like babies and each given names! She also said that if a sheep went astray from the flock, it could not find its way back, and the shepherd would have to go and find it!
At that moment the conversation stopped! We realised that this was exactly like a parable (story) that Jesus told about a lost sheep (Find it in Luke 15:3-7).
Jesus said that the shepherd left ninety-nine of his sheep to go and look for the one that was lost. He found it and there was much rejoicing when he came home. Jesus made this point…
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.”
In other words, when somebody who does not know Jesus becomes a Christian, there is a party in heaven!
If you feel like a ‘lost sheep’, be encouraged, there is a ‘Good Shepherd’ out there who is looking for you. Keep calling out to Him until you are found!
PS If you are in a church, but not part of a ‘small group’, then why not join one?
God bless
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader