Jude 7: The Spiritual Ancestors of False Teachers: Sodom

Jude 7 Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

 

Scottish theologian William Barclay wrote, “Preaching is a matter of often reminding men and women of what they already know, but have forgotten or are refusing to consider.”  The writer Jude, in much of this short letter, is doing just that:  reminding his readers of things they already knew.  In verse 7, Jude reminds us of the destruction that came upon the ancient city of Sodom (see Gen. 18 and 19).  Although the specific sin of homosexuality is what comes to mind at the mention of the city, the writing prophets provide a catalogue of the many other, and equally devastating, sins of the citizens of that city.  They were materially rich, enjoying lives of ease, and yet disregarded the poor and needy (Ezek. 16:49).  Likewise, they tolerated and practiced adultery, and valued deception in their interactions (Jer. 23:14).  But by and large, most of what is said about Sodom in the Bible has to do with the sudden, catastrophic, total annihilation that she experienced at the hands of the Lord, as judgment for her many unrepented sins. (i.e., Jer. 50:40, Lam. 4:6)

 

This is the example that Jude draws our attention to:  Just as Israel was judged with forty years of living, wandering, and dying in the desert for her unbelief (verse 5), and angels are judged with incarceration and eventual, final judgment for their rebellion against God (verse 6), so Sodom was judged with sudden, complete extermination for her sins.  The destruction of Sodom was particularly ever present in the Jewish mindset, as the prophets wrote of the overthrow of the city centuries after it had happened–as if it had happened only the day before.

 

Notice that the three apostates (those who have fallen away from God) of verses 5-7 experienced judgment in three distinct temporal aspects.  Israel’s judgment occured over a 40 year period, with all but two of the original community of God dying outside the Promised Land.  The apostate angels’ judgment was both immediate and long-term, extending from the moment of their rebellion into eternity.  Sodom’s judgment was sudden, unexpected, and complete.   

 

Application: Verses 5-7 bring home the point that our sovereign, righteous God judges sin how He wants, when He wants, and that none are immune to His scrutiny and assessment of their lives.  Those who have suffered under the leadership of false teachers often cry to God, “Father, will You ever judge those who have damaged us, and our families and friends?!”   He has answered in the letter of Jude—God will judge, in His time, and in His way.

Jude 6: The Spiritual Ancestors of False Teachers: Fallen Angels

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

 

Okay, so what does this verse have to do with abusive pastors and false teachers?  It’s a tricky one, and I don’t think it’s wise to get too dogmatic about the interpretation of this verse.  There’s a lot here that isn’t here, basically.  The first question is who are these angels that “did not keep their own domain” and are now kept in eternal bondage?  There are at least three views:

 

1.         Basically, don’t ask.  Some commentators argue that we aren’t supposed to know anything more than is found in the text itself, and to go further is error.  That’s not a very satisfying, or intellectually responsible approach, it seems to me.

 

2.         These are fallen angels who joined with Lucifer (the Devil) in his initial revolt against God.  This view has some problems, too.  It requires that such angels (actually demons), generally,  are presently kept in bondage, and yet there are plenty of demons at work in the world today, seemingly unbound.

 

3.         These are the “Sons of God” of Genesis 6:1ff, who left the abode of heaven and procreated with the “daughters of men,” producing a race of giants on the earth, who were destroyed in the Flood.  This was the view of the early church and of the Jewish scholars Jude’s day.  However, the identity of those “sons of God” of Genesis 6 is a tricky thing to arrive at, and is the subject of several views, all within the possibility of reason, but none conclusive above the others.

 

Application: What we do know with certainty is that these angels defected from a privileged position, in heaven with God, and a privileged purpose, singing His praises, to go somewhere else, away from God’s presence.  In the same way, when pastors or teachers in the church step away from God’s purpose and will for their lives, pursuing their own private desires instead, and inflicting subsequent injury to the Bride of Christ, in the eyes of God they join company with an entirely different band of “angels”, and have now no future but a destiny of judgment.

Jude 5: The Spiritual Ancestors of False Teachers: Israel in the Wilderness

“Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” Jude 5

 

Beginning in verse 5 and continuing through verse 10 Jude presents examples of those who have fallen away from a valued position of favor and salvation before God, and then suffered judgment for their apostasy (falling away) from the truth.  The historical context of verse 5 is found in books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy–the story of Isreal’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. 

 

The Hebrews were a nation of redeemed, saved people who had been rescued from bondage in Egypt, miraculously delivered from Pharaoh, formed into a whole new people under the provisions of a covenant that they entered into with God.  The covenant (otherwise known as the Mosaic Covenant) established a relationship in which they were now to be known as God’s people, and He was now and forever to be known as their God.  Wow!  What an opportunity!  What gratitude and joy would mark out these former slaves who now were God’s special, chosen, redeemed people, right?!?!  Not so fast…  Instead of rejoicing in this life of favor and deliverance that they had been given, this new opportunity to live out a life of faithfulness and intimacy with God—what did they do?  They created a golden calf to worship instead of God Himself (for the full story, see Exodus 32).  Things went south pretty quickly from there, including repeated instances of betraying their loyalty to God, grumbling against Him and their leader, Moses, complaining about their living conditions as they traveled in the wilderness, and persistently pursuing idolatrous worship (see Paul’s summary of what not believing looks like in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12).  So, having been saved out of Egypt by the gracious, redemptive action of the Lord, these people soon fell away from their relationship with Him.  (In fact, the Bible only tells of two men who were part of the original nation that left Egypt and actually entered into the Promised Land forty years later, Joshua and Caleb.)

 

• Note the fact salvation of those who fell away—they had participated in the rite of the Passover, and entered into the covenant relationship with God at Mt. Sinai.  God refers to them as His people numerous times, and treats them as such.
• Note the nature of their unbelief: Despite their experience of God’s faithfulness and goodness and power—they deliberately rebelled against Him.  
• Note the nature of their judgment:  They were allowed to live with the choice they’d made, and to die natural deaths in the wilderness.  Paul writes that “…with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.” (1 Cor. 10:5)  In short, they left no legacy but one of warning to the people of God of the crucial importance of faithfulness to Him, especially as we make our way to a promised future. 

In the same way, false teachers in the Christian church are presented as people who have defected from an initial relationship that they had with God.  I realize that there are many who would question whether or not a true false teacher ever really had a relationship with God (and was, therefore, truly saved).  But I think the implication may be even graver–the awful, chilling truth seems to be that it is possible to enter into a saving relationship with God, and then to conduct oneself in such as way that one suffers judgment, and even leads others into defection from God and subsequent judgment themselves. 

 

Application:  In verse 5 Jude answers a basic question that you may have asked regarding the ministry of a leader in the church who seems to have fallen far away from his or her initial commitment to live as a servant of God, tenderly and wisely caring for the people of God—can a leader really be that bad, and be a part of the people of God?  The answer serves as a warning for all who lead in the church:  Yes, a person can begin very, very well in ministry, and end in utter ruin and failure, his ministry forgotten and disdained by the faithful—lost under the sands of the harsh wilderness of self-indulgence and refusal to repent of sin.

Jude 1-4: The Fingerprints of a False Teacher

What is a false teacher?  Can you evaluate, and approve, a so-called Christian church or ministry simply on the basis of their doctrinal statement?  I think the book of Jude provides some timeless insight into the character and methods of those leaders who either arise from within Christian organizations and churches or enter them for the purpose of personal gain, rather than faithful service to the Bride of Christ.

 

Abusive churches are the result of abusive leaders—I’ve never found an exception to that.  Therefore, I thought I’d share some insights that I discovered in the book of Jude.  I was driven to study the book only after a very long and painful exodus from an abusive “Bible” church, many years ago.  It didn’t take many years in the ministry for me to realize how very many brothers and sisters in Christ are out there, living in or having survived painful experiences in their churches.  Of course, not all painful church experiences are indicative of an abusive leader.  But if you read the book of Jude, honestly, and the shoe fits, perhaps you are, or have been, under the influence of such a person.  If so, I hope these little studies encourage you, and lead you closer to the Senior Pastor and Shepherd of all, our magnificent King, Jesus Christ!

 

1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

 

Verses 1-3 provide the introductory material for the letter.  Jude, a biological brother of the Lord Jesus, was going to write a letter of general encouragement for Christians, but then became aware that false teachers had made an entrance into the church (or churches) that he wrote to.  The presence of such men (who probably would have functioned as pastors or itinerant evangelists and prophets) prompted Jude to immediately change his purpose in writing.  Verse four answers the basic question, what are some of the foundational qualties of these persons?  He’ll develop his exposure of these qualties in the following verses of the letter.  

 

4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

Jude lists four key ingredients to the ministry of a false teacher.  

 

1.         They enter the ministry quietly and inconspicuously.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed…

 

These teachers don’t show up at the door of the church with a name tag that says, “Hello, my name is…and I’m going to ruin your life through my false teaching.”  Jude tells us that they show up very quietly.  Their entrance into the lives of those they would lead is very low-key, and is not generally a very noticeable event.  False teachers require time to accomplish their agendas, in order to win loyalty and credibility in the church, so they don’t usually make a big splash when they show up on the scene.  Often, it is very difficult to discern when a false teacher’s ministry started spiralling downward, the descent happens so subtly, and often secret sins were successfully hidden for years before they were unleashed on the church.  Also, it is not uncommon for those trapped in the ministry of a false teacher to cloak the abusive and defective character of their leader in their interactions with those outside of their churches and organizations.  They are subtly taught to protect the shortcomings of their leaders through denial and deceit in their conversations with others, thus setting the stage for their leader to “creep unnoticed” into the lives of others who visit the church.

 

2.         They are already known to God as false teachers.  

“…those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation…”

 

Although they might shock or surprise those whom they lead, they are not pulling anything over on God!  This is important for those leaving the ministries of such men to remember, for the first question a person has when they are delivered from such a person is, “How in the world did this happen?!  Where were you, God?!”  It’s not possible to say why God allows people to be hurt in His church, certainly it’s an inscrutable mixture of the depravity of the leaders, the gullibility and vulnerability of those they lead, and the providential work of God—a mix that I am unable to perfectly separate to this day!  However, in terms of the recognition of the false teacher, it is important to establish from the start that our most reliable information will come from an authoritative, inspired source, the Word of God.  The line of corrupting, false prophets found in the Old Testament (i.e., Ezekiel 34) continues in Scripture to become the false teachers written of in the New Testament (i.e., Acts 20:28-30, 1 and 2 Timothy, 1 John 2:18, 2 Peter 2:1ff).  I guess the most personal application of this point to me was when I realized that these teachers are not confined to the pages of the Bible, as if they no longer manifested the same attitudes and behaviors as those described in Scripture…no, they’re alive and well, and walking the earth today.

 

3.         They have neither fear of God nor respect for His grace.

“…ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness…”

 

They are ungodly—they have no concern for Him, let alone a sense of awe or fear of Him.  And grace itself is not a motivation to obedience and gratitude to these men (and women), but a “free pass” to indulge their personal wants and desires.  However, they rarely apply the same standard of “grace behavior” to those who disappoint or threaten them as they reserve for themselves.  The practical application of God’s grace in their lives is opposite that of the intended effect of grace described in the Bible, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2.11-12).  In the ministries of false teachers grace may be spoken of, but more often as a salve of the conscience than a motivation to obedient living.     

 

4.         They reject the authority of Jesus Christ.

“…and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

 

False teachers have a very particular, observable struggle with authority, particularly that of the Lord Jesus.  Now, this doesn’t present itself in heretical statements about Jesus—that would be very, very foolish on the part of the false teacher.  (Many of the ministries of false teachers hold doctrinal statements that rival the most conservative, orthodox seminaries and denominations, and their followers are well-taught in the basic doctrines of Christianity.)  Their denial of His authority is expressed in a persistent, unrepentant state of living—continuing in various forms of sin and abuse without true confession and repentance.  That’s why many false teachers don’t get out much, and seem to fly under the radar of their local religious communities—the rules, customs, and laws of the communities they live in get in the way of the appearance of authority and command they work to maintain in the eyes of their followers.  It’s hard on them to one minute demand the respect, obedience, trust, (and yes, money) of their followers, and the next to have to stand in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles along with everyone else.  But the taproot of their struggle with authority is a persistent, unrepentant denial of the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, as evidenced in their refusal to live humble, obedient, servant-oriented lives before His flock.  And, as all false teachers will learn one Day in the heat of judgment, it is His flock, not theirs. 

 

Well, friends, if any of this rings a bell, and you’d like to talk more, please write!  If you like, I will certainly keep your comments off the blog.  Just let me know.

 

Ken

 

Jesus, demons, and people

One of my theology teachers told a great story.  He was shopping with his grandkids at a mall, and found himself in, of all places, a belt-buckle shop.  (Guess what state the mall was in… starts with a “T” and ends with “exas.”)  Okay, so the honorable professor picked out a belt buckle for one grandchild.  “Oops,” he thought, “I forgot so-and-so…”  He picked up another belt buckle.  Then another family member occurred to him who would like a new belt buckle, and a then a couple more who could just use them….  Pretty soon, his arms were full of belt buckles, and he realized that the whole thing has gotten completely out of control and very, very expensive.  He yelled, “No!” and leaving the belt buckles on the counter, scrambled out of the shop. 

His grandkids caught up to him and asked, “What were you thinking, Grandpa?”

He answered.  There’s such a thing as a demon of materialism, and I think it’s loose in there!”

“Oh, Grandpa,” they said.  “You see a demon behind every bush.”

“No!!” he answered.  Not a demon.  I see three…sometimes four!!!

 

So I thought about that story as I’ve prepared to preach this week on Mark 5:1-20, where Jesus heals a man with an “unclean spirit,” a demon.  After thinking through the account, I come up with a few observations about the issue of demonic influence, and how we might respond to its reality.  I find no reason to believe that demons are any less active today than they’ve ever been, although I suppose they exercise a degree of choice in their manner and victims, according to the present culture and its opportunities to oppose the work of God.  I’ve thought about some of the people I’ve known, and especially some of the patients that I’ve treated during years as a paramedic. 

 

Question:      Who knows (and I certainly didn’t back then when I was in the medical field) where a demonic condition ends and a chemical imbalance begins, and where they meet, or if one/both are even always present in the same individual?

Answer:         Jesus knows, and that is why they, we, I, and everyone in between need Him first and foremost, and then the healing resources of His people, good medical care, and time.

 

So here’s the story…

 

Mark 5:1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. 2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” 8 For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 The demons implored Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” 13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. 14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “legion”; and they became frightened. 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

 

And here are some conclusions that I drew from it…

 

1.         We have no power over the demons, but Jesus has absolute power over them. 

Note all his neighbors had tried to do to control this man.  They’d chained him up, shackled his feet, and Luke tells us that they’d posted a guard on him, for he was so dangerous to others.  Nothing worked, until Jesus got involved.  Our communities may not use chains and shackles routinely, but we have some strategies, most of which have miserably failed.  There is no physical cure for spiritual problems.

 

2.         Jesus doesn’t care very much about demons, but He cares a lot about their victims.

This is a good thing to remember, especially when we’re tempted to get overly interested in the supernatural world of demonology.  While Jesus saw both the demons and the man, and never got the two mixed up, I don’t think I could pull that off!

 

3.         Cultures that reject God are more comfortable living with demons  than with the Son of God. 

The townspeople could get used to the man living out in the graveyard,

yelling and screaming twenty-four hours a day.  They could schedule

around that, and make sure that they never got caught out alone, where

he might attack them or their kids.  “At least we know where he is,” they might have said.

But the idea of living around the Son of God, now that was out of control.  One thing that Jesus demonstrated to them that day was that He had the Lord had power to change them; to make them different people—just like He changed man who had an unclean spirit.

Another thing He showed them was that He had powers that could change their prosperity, their own dreams of wealth and security.  I imagine that 2,000 pigs are worth a lot of money.  They chose profits over people—but before I start pointing my finger at the nearest Wal-Mart, I probably should take a good look at my own Visa bill! 

 

Poem by John Oxenham,

 

            “Rabbi, be gone!  And take this fool of thine!

            You love his soul, we prefer swine.”

 

4.         Once healed by God, none are beyond being used by God to tell others about the wonderful mercy of God.  

It seems that the best stories to tell are the ones that have to do with us being miserable, lost, self-destructive sinners, and the Son of God intervening into our hell in order to bring us to His heaven.  That’s why so many AA, NA, and other “Anonymous” meetings are so successful, they strive to be places where you can tell a dramatic, even shocking story—in the context of being healed, and be accepted and protected, even valued for your story. 

Our church is working on that…why should everyone else have all the good stories?

 

 

 

 

 

 

On temptation and roaring lions

In our Bible study tonight, we had some good discussion about the verse, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  (1 Peter 5:8)  The lesson was on temptation; its sources, escapes from, nature of, etc.  Have you ever watched lions hunt on one of the nature shows?  I’ve seen a few, and I can’t think of one where a lion prowls and roars at the same time–while hunting.   Can you?  The shows I’ve seen record the lionesses hunting in groups, with the lion usually somewhere nearby.  But whether its the lion or the lionesses who are doing the hunting, they don’t make any noise, they certainly don’t roar!  They creep through the grass, stalking their prey for what seems like hours, pouncing from hiding at last to chase down whatever young or old animal is unfortunate enough to get caught by them.  Maybe they let out a roar in those last few yards of the chase, I don’t know why, but maybe.  So, what kind of, let’s say, gazelle, gets caught by a roaring lion?  

I wonder if Peter isn’t painting a picture that is somewhat unrealistic to make the point that we do not have to sin–we choose to (see 1 Cor. 10:13).  We are like a gazelle that would choose to trot toward a roaring lion (confident that he wouldn’t really do us any harm, perhaps, or that we could always turn and outrun him when we desired…?)  Or perhaps (say a lion really did roar as a means of attracting prey) we are too young, too weak, too ignorant to know to run away.  I think the answer is probably tied up in the very verse itself, in the first sentence, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.”  We are to maintain a high level of serious concern and vigilance, simply because a boasting, roaring devil roams the earth, seeking those who are dull, morally drowsy, and likely to find his roar interesting.  And, let’s face it, the verse itself suggests that perhaps we all (not just the “younger men” that this section speaks directly to) tend to NOT be sober, or “on the alert.”  Definitely true for this gazelle! 

Also, the following verse gives priceless insight into dealing with the lion: “But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” (5:9)  “Resist” isn’t so much a word describing mortal combat or attack, as much as standing against, opposing–not catering to, etc.  And I’m to do this “resisting” as I plant myself in the truths of the Christian faith, with the encouraging knowledge that I am not alone in this struggle in the jungle of temptation; I’ve got a family, the church, to support me in the fight.  In the letter of James it actually says that this type of resistance will put the lion to flight! (4:7)  

The conclusion of the group tonight:  When you’re in the jungle of this life and you hear a lion roar, consider it a warning that he’s hungry, and looking for dinner: Don’t put yourself on the menu!

The Imaginary Flock

There’s this idea that started kicking around in my head a few years ago, and it’s really taken hold.  It came from two little words–”among you.”  In the book of 1st Peter, chapter 5, Peter instructs his fellow shepherds (pastors), “Shepherd the flock of God among you…”  In other words, NOT any other flock, but the one that you’re in the middle of, basically.  Thanks for reading this, and please, stay with me for a couple of minutes on this… 

I think there might be a lot more to it than it sounds like at first hearing.  It goes something like this:  Most pastors are under all kinds of pressure to “vision-cast” “future-cast” “dream” “plan,” etc. for their churches.  Although that usually involves (I believe) the most sincere thinking and desires on the part of the pastor and his “team/core/whatever group,” what it ends up being is—shepherding an imaginary flock.  By imaginary, I mean one that doesn’t really exist.  How does one go about doing this?  Well, it all starts in the mind, with an idea.  The idea is fed by data, demographics, other vibrant, growing, culturally-everything churches, etc. and the idea that if a pastor can only tap into that group of folks out there, those sheep (as it were), and get them through the doors into the church, then we’d be growing, successful, although none of us like to put it in such brutish, ambitious words.  We often spend lots of money and time and energy on winning imaginary friends—ones that we hope might exist for us one day.  Why is this group imaginary?  Simply, because they do not exist as you imagine they do.  There are certainly people out there, but they aren’t what you think they are–how could they be?   You imagine that there is a group of people out there, perhaps in your urban, cool neighborhood.  These people (we imagine) are all reasonable, thinking folks, and would be so pleased to hear of a “relevant” church that can address their needs, their deepest needs, mind you, if only they could just take a chance and visit.  If only they would just show up, they would (we imagine) see and experience how the church can actually be a cool place to belong, commune, share, be, journey, etc.—whatever you want to call it.  But remember, these people do not really exist.  The humans that you are thinking of, the ones that are fast asleep on Sunday mornings, or out and about on Saturday evenings are truly doing what they want to do—they’re fantastic, loved by our Father, but not who we think they are.  Making our churches into places that they want to be is a very, very challenging task—impossible, the way things are changing.  Remember, the imaginary flock is not simply those people; it is those people joining our church. They don’t become “real” until they do that.  It can easily lead us to become anthropocentric, designing our calendars and ministries around people’s ideas and desires, and not God’s.

So, what’s the problem what that?  Some would call this kind of planning for the untouched, unreached, (often imaginary people) bold, courageous, wise, and even prophetic.   Well, the problem is this—I’m called to serve the flock that’s in front of me.  Those sheep.  The one’s who already get out of bed on Sunday to graciously come and worship and hear what I try to say from the Word.  They don’t fit into the best visions of our futurists,   They never do, and never can, because often, once an imaginary sheep joins our flock—they often lose their value.  They’re no longer a part of the target, imaginary flock.  Now, they’re not imaginary (and liable to fantasy and spiritual courting) anymore.  Now, they’re really here, for gosh sake!  They really have problems that take up…time!  My time!  My imaginary flock time where I go hunting for imaginary sheep, and dream of buildings filled with previously unreached, formerly churched, now unchurched whatever-somethings who, unlike when they were imaginary, now have real problems and needs, and demand real time and effort.  The sheep in your dreams don’t stink or muddy their drinking water or step all over each other, as they gingerly prance over that fence while we count them to fall asleep.  But the real ones, the ones I was called to live and die for; they have strokes, accidents, relapses, depression, failures, along with their amazing victories in living out their faith.  I love them all, but yes, they are sheep.  Beautiful, fat, 4-H quality ewes, rams and lambs.  And I’m right there with them, a fellow sheep trying to be a good shepherd, but oh-so-aware of the Great Shepherd who’s really in charge.  

As I read it in the Word, my job is to facilitate an atmosphere of such a love of God, including His truth and perspective found only in His Word, and demonstrated by His Church, that the real sheep, my beloved church, will actually go out there to where they bump up against other, lost sheep at PTA meetings, on the sidewalk, at the 7-11, or Trader Joe’s, or Freddie’s, all week long, and both share and speak the love of a Great Shepherd to them—and will invite them to a the meeting of the flock-of-the-formerly-scattered, that happens every Sunday morning.  And, I’m finding, once you’ve had the real thing, it’s impossible to go back to make believe!