Shepherd the Flock

Everything we believe has ultimate implications in our daily lives; that cannot be denied. I’m not sure why this particular Christian culture is so ready to dismiss this fact, as if it really doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you attach the name ‘Jesus Christ’ at the end of it, but such is the age we live in.

Considering the issue of Eschatology, I am surprised at how many solid, Christian leaders and laymen dismiss the issue as irrelevant just because it requires a great deal of personal study. Rare is it to find pastors now-days who can clearly articulate their position on the issues, much less interact with opposing viewpoints and the scriptures that suggest otherwise. Are the issues and scriptures confusing and hard to understand? Definitely so. Does it require a great deal of time studying and wrestling with texts? No doubt. But this, my brothers, is no excuse for ignorance. We are talking about our future hope, eternity, and the Word of God concerning such things. These things cannot be written off as a ‘issue of hermeneutics’, or ‘I just take things literally’, or even ‘I’ll all work out in the end’. No, please, don’t stoop to these sort of cop-outs.

Accordingly, this subject, and our position on it, has direct implications on our faith, our hope, and yes, in every day life. Are we looking out for what is going on in Israel? Are we to fight for the rights of Christians? Should we support Israel in their military endeavors? But ultimately, are we looking forward to the final Day, the judgment, and the new heavens and the new earth, or are we looking for a temporal, secular, earthly kingdom which will temporary reign in the spiritual and political realm?

These are some important issues to consider; issues that will not be covered today. Instead, I pray that you would take the matter of eschatology and practical, every day life, very seriously.

So today I would like us to consider the thesis of this blog, shepherding the flock, the discipleship of others, and how it directly intersects with the Second Coming of Christ.

Consider Matthew 24:36 - 51, and take special note a few things:

• Jesus, concerning the date of His Second Coming to earth, says that ‘no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.’
• However, our practical application to this statement is given in verse 44: ‘Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

The message is: The date has not been revealed, but it will surprise everyone, and we are to always BE READY for His appearing. This is called the Doctrine of Imminency.

Next, we see Jesus continue teaching on this subject, and He states:

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”

So then:

• We have been given a stewardship and a duty to perform while our Master is away.
• Blessed are we who will be in the midst of obeying those duties upon His great and unexpected return.

Thus, how are we to be ready? What is the duty that Jesus prescribes in this passage?

“to give them (the household) their food at the proper time”

Brethren, if you are a believer, you have a responsibility to feed and care for those of the Master’s household. It is no wonder that Jesus told Peter three times to ‘feed My lambs’, ‘tend My sheep’, and ‘feed My sheep’. You see, we are never more like Christ than when we are serving others. Jesus certainly served us; who are we to neglect to mimic His behavior and serve others?

You may not be a pastor, elder, teacher, or anything of the sort, but there is no question that you have someone in your life who you can shepherd, feed, and ultimately serve. Serve your wife, your children, the little kid next door, your fellow employees, your parents, your pastor, etc.

Mark my words: this is the only chance you will ever have to serve others. Yeah, my eschatology plays a role in this, for there will be no millennium to serve others in. There will be no second chances here on earth with some supposed earthly kingdom. There will be nothing, nothing, but ‘the end’ once Christ appears in the clouds. However, your eschatology plays a role in this as well –whether you admit so or not. Maybe you’re so stuck on Israel and the trouble that is constantly brewing that you believe it will all be over soon anyway, so what’s the use? Maybe you’re so fixated on times and seasons, marks of the beast and earthquakes, that you forget that Christ has called us to obey, not to try and decipher the date of His coming.

The bottom line is that Christians were saved to serve; to feed others with the good news of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to go out and do what Jesus has called you to do.

“Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”