The Final Inspection
Final Inspection
By Paula Fether
By Paula Fether
Many “pastors” today like to use their being “under-shepherds” as a weapon of mastery over other believers. But when the Chief Shepherd appears (1 Peter 5:1-4), what will he find? Let’s take a walk with Jesus as He inspects the work of those who were entrusted with caring for His sheep, as He might on Judgment Day.
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Jesus comes to the first shepherd, who snaps to attention and proudly proclaims that the sheep are all safe and secure, spotless and accounted for. But instead of a pen there is something like a boxcar for a train. Jesus opens the door, and sure enough all the sheep are there– in cages, stacked row upon row. The sheep certainly are safe and spotless, but they’re also staring blankly ahead without any concept of life outside the boxcar. They’ve never walked, much less run. They don’t know how to eat except from the trays placed in their cages and filled with whatever the shepherd doles out to them. They don’t make a sound nor interact with each other at all. And they are thin and weak.
Jesus stands there aghast at the sight, barely able to conceal His great pity for the sheep– and His great rage at this so-called shepherd. “My dear, deluded child,” He finally whispers through clenched teeth, “What have you done to my sheep? Where is the green pasture I promised them? Where are the quiet waters? Why has the flock not increased? And what is this slop you’ve been feeding them? They are wasting away on their feet! I died for them, and for you, but you have treated them worse than pets, worse than the wolves that run freely. I’m sorry but you have brought this on yourself: you will spend eternity confined to your room, dining on the slop you fed my sheep.”
Sadly He moves on to the second shepherd. This one is sitting on a throne, which is being carried by several large, fat sheep. Behind them is a long line of smaller sheep, each branded with the shepherd’s mark and carrying a banner with his name and insignia. Some are pulling a large cart filled with fine clothing, and behind them are the shivering sheep who were fleeced to make them. “I did what You said,” the shepherd announces from his throne, not even bothering to rise. “I took them to the river, I let them graze in the pasture, and I gathered many sheep who were wandering around without a shepherd.”
“Get down from there!” Jesus growls. “Who do you think you are? Whose sheep are these, and why are they branded with a mark that I don’t recognize? Were the added sheep really wandering, or did you lure or steal them from other pens, which I’ve heard reports of? And this clothing– all the garments look like they were stitched by monkeys! Only the finest linen is allowed in My kingdom, and you know that. And what do you mean by shearing My sheep and leaving them shivering, while you live in luxury? Alright then, your royal highness: you will spend eternity wearing these rags you weaved and waiting hand and foot on the very sheep you fleeced.”
Finally Jesus comes to the last shepherd. There is a modest flock grazing peacefully, some playing together, others drinking from the stream. The shepherd is in the middle of the flock, sitting on the ground to tend to a lamb that had been injured. Jesus asks, “What happened to this one?” The shepherd replies, “I found it coming from the direction of another pen. It was limping and starving, missing some fleece and showing signs of having been beaten. I had to teach it how to graze and drink from the stream, and it took quite a while for it to relax around the other sheep. But I will care for it until it is healthy. I really hope I haven’t neglected the other sheep while I care for this one. Please forgive me if I have!”
Jesus, with tears in His eyes, gently responds, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You remembered Whose sheep these are, you cared for the abused, and you did not fail to protect them from wolves– even those that claimed to be fellow shepherds. I will reward you with all that the others grasped for on their own: luxury, honor, respect, comfort, and much more.”
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There is still a short time left for any of you shepherds out there who aren’t like the third one to get your act together. Remember Who other believers belong to, and treat them like the children of the King they are. Stop robbing them, beating them, confining them, and blaming them! Love does none of those things. Consider them as better than yourselves and not slaves to do your bidding. Treat them as you have been demanding they treat you. Heal the wounds you yourself have inflicted and feed them only the best theological meat. Be motivated by the fact that you will be judged more strictly (James 3:1) and held to account (Heb. 13:17). If you think yourself to be an “under-rower” (Gk. doulos), then what are you doing at the helm?
4 comments:
Awesome story! Thank you!
Eze 34:10 Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hand and cause them to cease feeding the sheep, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more. I will rescue My sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
Eze 34:11 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I Myself, will search for My sheep and will seek them out.
Eze 34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his sheep in the day that he is among his flock that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep; and I will rescue them out of all places where they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick darkness.
Eze 34:13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
Eze 34:14 I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
Eze 34:15 I will feed My sheep and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.
Eze 34:16 I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which has strayed, and I will bandage the hurt and the crippled and will strengthen the weak and the sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong [who have become hardhearted and perverse]; I will feed them with judgment and punishment. [Luke 19:10.]
Eze 34:17 And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the great he-goats [the malicious and the tyrants of the pasture].
Eze 34:18 Is it too little for you that you feed on the best pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? And to have drunk of the waters clarified by subsiding, but you must foul the rest of the water with your feet?
Eze 34:19 And My flock, must they feed on what your feet have trodden and drink what your feet have fouled?
Eze 34:20 Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I Myself, will judge between fat sheep and impoverished sheep, or fat goats and lean goats.
Eze 34:21 Because you push with side and with shoulder and thrust with your horns all those that have become weak and diseased, till you have scattered them abroad,
Eze 34:22 Therefore will I rescue My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
Eze 34:23 And I will raise up over them one Shepherd and He shall feed them, even My Servant David; He shall feed them and He shall be their Shepherd. [Ezek. 37:24; John 10:14-18.]
Eze 34:24 And I the Lord will be their God and My Servant David a Prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it.
great illustration! Did you create it?
No, I stoled it from Paula! :o)
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