Feeding Sheep

Greetings again!

Sheep are disgusting animals in many ways.  They stand out in the elements, in the mud and don't even wear deoderant.  According to Wikipedia, sheep are raised for fleece, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton) and milk. A sheep's wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing.  Sheep have a tendency to congregate close to other members of a flock.  Sheep are frequently thought of as extremely unintelligent animals.  A sheep's herd mentality and quickness to flee and panic in the face of stress often make shepherding a difficult endeavor for the uninitiated. 

They do, however, know the sound of their shepherd's voice.  Sheep can recognize individual human and ovine faces, and remember them for years.

Ok, great info on sheep....but....what does that have to do with anything?

Jesus tells Peter in John 21:17 to "Feed my sheep".  Now we know that Jesus was not a shepherd, so just what sheep was he talking about to Peter?  Us, of course.  We are His sheep.  The feeding we need is spiritual, not physical. 

If Jesus was telling Peter to pass on the lessons He had taught to the disciples to others, are we to do the same?  How?  After all, most of us are not pastors.  We don't even play one on TV or Sunday mornings.

We all do have gifts from God though.  Some gifts are teaching, some are organizing and some are just saying hello and greeting others.  We can feed Jesus' sheep by being willing to step out in faith and use those gifts.  John Ortberg (recent small group study) tells us to "Get out of the boat"!  We should be willing and ready to leave our so called "comfort zone". 

We might ask ourselves....what if they reject me, or mock me, or tell me I'm doing it wrong.  What if they don't.  What if they are receptive.  You might never know unless you are willing to take the chance.  You might just reach someone who needed to be reached. 

You might not become a pastor, but the Bible is filled with examples of non-pastoral people who God used for His great purposes.  Take some time to seek these people out in the Word.  You can start with the cast of Genesis....remember, Aaron was the priest, not Moses.