It is often said of pastors that “a shepherd must know his sheep.” And this is very true. But therein lies a warning to the sheep: the sheep must know the shepherd’s voice. If pastors are to know their flock, what responsibility does the flock have to know the pastor’s voice? How can Peter feed sheep that won’t be fed? How can pastors similarly feed a flock that will not come to the dinner bell? The imagery of sheep and shepherd shows that both have responsibilities in the relationship. It is the shepherd’s responsibility to feed, and it is the sheep’s duty to come and be fed.
Unhealthy Diets
Do we see the gathering of the saints as our duty to come and be fed? As our responsibility? Or is it simply the pastor’s duty to preach while we seek food–maybe even tastier food!–elsewhere? Whether that be through:
- Online pastors who can’t personally know you (this disrupts shepherds knowing their sheep)
- On a deer stand (this interferes with your coming to be fed)
- Or at your house (this says that you are too tired and lazy to be bothered to be fed)
Veggie Tales
Remember vegetables? Remember being a child and crying at the table because you couldn’t leave until you ate them? That was me. But a few years back, I realized that I actually now like vegetables. My taste had matured, and my appetite had changed.
Often, immature Christianity manifests itself as rejecting what is good for us: like a healthy diet of the Means of Grace (Prayer, Preaching, and the Sacraments). Mature Christianity is growing to love the Means of Grace that God has established to feed his sheep.
Friends, we don’t go to church because we have to; we go to church because we get to; we gather because it provides just the diet the Great Shepherd calls his sheep to feast upon.
This Sunday, go and be fed.