“Tend my Sheep”

Do you love Jesus?  Then tend His sheep.

Philippians 4:4–7 ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

            Let your reasonableness be known to everyone, not your reasoning.  In our anxiousness we tend to forget that God asks us to be reasonable, sensible, evenhanded, and sound in dealing with one another.  It is when we take reasonableness and replace it with our own reasoning that we get ourselves in trouble.  It is our reasoning that removes our faith in God and replaces it with faith in ourselves.  Reasoning becomes law and law is then dispensed without gospel.

            In a meeting a person asked the president of the Ohio District if they could change the pastor’s call papers.  I thought about this for a while, with this person’s reasoning it wasn’t clear if the person wanted a new pastor or thought if they changed the call papers it would change the pastor they already have.

            Have you ever pondered a lock, it is designed by the lock smith to be the lock the lock smith designed.  Once the lock is made then a key must be made that will fit that lock and allow that lock to do the job it was designed to do.  If you change the lock then you have to change the key, because that key will no longer fit the new lock.

            There are five churches in our area that need your prayers because they have to call a new pastor.  Some of the pastors have retired, and some pastors were called to other churches.  So each church has to write up call papers to call a pastor.  Pray that they use God’s reasoning to call their next pastor, don’t worry you are stuck with me and none of these churches will be calling me.

Isaiah 25:7 ⁶On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.  ⁷And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

            We are all covered with the same covering that seems to get in the way and works to keep us from God’s reasoning.  This cover is what we were cursed with through the fall of Adam and Eve, it is sin.  The covering of sin which we all wear does not come off by or own reasoning nor does it come off through the law.  In fact the law ensures this cover stays upon us as it convicts us of our sin.  But thanks be to God there is one way this cover will be replaced.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

            It is the food that Jesus offers to all people; a food that is rich and accompanied with aged wine.  The food that Jesus says we should eat that comes from heaven. This is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This food can be eaten during the Lord’s Supper of which some of you will take part in and this food also comes from knowing Jesus through the word of God.  And receiving both brings life.

Isaiah 25:8 ⁸He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

            Do you love Jesus?  Then witness through His word how He tends His sheep and copy what He does.  We have tears now as we deal with life, but we can take heart for God will get us through all that life on earth will throw at us.  And when these tears are wiped from our faces what we are left with is the joy of knowing we have a Father in heaven who loves all His people here on earth, even those who hate Him.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies.

Luke 6:35  But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Though it is the ones who He successfully leads to believe in Him and wanting Him to be their savior, this is our God.

Isaiah 25:9 ⁹It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

            We are waiting for Jesus Christ to return and He will and when He does He will bring us to Him into eternal life and into ever lasting relationship as then we will be living His word, love, and joy for His Glory.  Amen.

Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.