11/30/22 SHEPHERD, NOT LION TAMER

11/30/22 SHEPHERD, NOT LION TAMER

The church is a gathering of God's sheep (Blood redeemed people, Spirit regenerated and led people, righteous people seeking to obey God's word and fit into God's family). Christians gather to worship, praise, learn, fellowship, grow.

There are enough obstacles to deal with when the body is healthy and in a right relationship, but when the enemy finds weakness, then division comes. By the way, unity, joy, peace, love, tenderness is the Divinely expected norm for the body of Christ, however God equips pastors to reprove, rebuke, correct those who are out of step.

But the problem of upheaval and divisiveness is highly intensified when the outside influences of sin are viewed as normal, expected standards.

Remember, the local church is where sheep gather. The local church is not a training center for wolves wanting to be like sheep, or snakes wanting to be like sheep, or hawks wanting to be like sheep, or swine wanting to be like sheep. No amount of acculturation, education, training will make a sinner into a believer. No matter how much instruction is given to a goat, it will not be a sheep.

Believers, God's sheep, come to Christ and are transformed, from the inside out. They need to learn and grow, but they realize that they need the truth of Scripture, the leading of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of a God called pastor. They come with open minds, open hearts, open lives, not dictating their own ideas but submitting to Biblical authority. They come with the attitude of self denial and submission, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, eager to shake off the shackles of the old life and put on the likeness of Jesus. God's provision for this growth comes through the pastor's, training in righteousness.

Pastor is not called to be a lion tamer, but a shepherd. A leopard cannot change his spots or an Ethiopian change his skin, anymore than a sinner can change his ways (Jeremiah 13:23). In fact, the shepherd is called to fight against the lions and wolves and other dangers, which threaten the life, joy, peace, love and safety of the flock.

These principles are Biblical and they are not debatable.