the method of jesus | the place of jesus' ministry

THE POWER OF SHEPHERDS AND SHEEP

THE METHOD OF JESUS

The shepherd’s job is to lead his sheep through a balance of command and example. Telling sheep to do something without then leading confuses them, because sheep hear AND follow their shepherds. The Good Shepherd knew this, and balanced His teaching with His life example. Yet, every Sunday our modern-day teachers plead with their sheep to leave the sheepfold without subsequently leading them. Their sheep hear. Most even understand the command, but the results of this approach are clear.

Perhaps this is why so many polls tell us we’re fairly effective at converting people, yet falling far short of the Great Commission. Preaching brings sheep into the kingdom, but a balance of leading and teaching keeps them there and growing. If sheep are led into conversion through what they hear, but left there for lack of a discipleship model to see “babes,” as the Writer of Hebrews would call them, is what they will remain. Sheep gather with their shepherds and go out with their shepherds. They go no further than their shepherds lead them, in both word AND deed. Jesus led His sheep as He taught them, and He made disciples of men.

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THE PLACE OF JESUS’ MINISTRY

Most religious activity in Jesus’ day was done within the temple, the pride of its leaders, with a primary focus on teaching. They stood at the doors to their temple and said, “If you want to know God come to us.” This model left God’s people in a condition Jesus described as “the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Does this model sound familiar? When the people found a new and balanced model of leadership in Jesus, they marveled and said, “This One speaks with authority, unlike our leaders.” Jesus’ first reaction was to turn the tables on this religious model and, had its leaders not constantly confronted Him He would have ignored it altogether. He took His message and His model out of temples and into the marketplace. He went to everyday men in everyday working positions and showed they, and us, a new and better way.

RECONNECTIONS exists to return the church leaders who will hear back to the model of shepherd and sheep, but moreso to reach out to those same men Jesus used to change the world: the many men now languishing in the back pews of temples across America who think a vibrant life of faith has passed them by. Why? Because those are the very same men Jesus employed when He came!

Shepherds and sheep in the marketplace is the model Jesus left us, and we believe He is moving us once again towards that model. Men preached to and taught without being led into real life eventually become bored and disconnect. The polls tell us this is the case with over 90% of them in our temples today. They are now, as they were then, the greatest untapped resource on planet earth and we are dedicated to finding them and letting them know they are gifted, they matter, and God still has a plan for them.

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