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Scripture Reading: John 11:25; 14:6; 10:10b-11, 14, 16; 21:15-17; Eph. 4:11-13; 1 Pet. 5:4; Heb. 13:20; 2, 1 Pet. 2:25; 1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:13-14; 1 Thes. 2:7; Eph. 5:29; Col. 1:28; Eph. 6:17; 1 Cor. 12:11; Eph. 4:4; 1 Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28
I. The Gospel of John, as the Gospel of life, unveils to us that Christ is not only life (11:25; 14:6) for Him to be life to us so that through Him we may be regenerated by God, but He is also a good Shepherd (10:10b-11, 14, 16) who feeds and shepherds us as His flock.
II. After their spiritual birth, as newborn babes, the believers need the feeding and the shepherding of Christ, as He charged Peter, His first apostle, to take care of the believers as His lambs and sheep by feeding and shepherding them — 21:15-17.
III. In the church life Christ as the Head distributes His gifts to the mature ones, among whom are the shepherds, for the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ — Eph. 4:11-12.
IV. Christ, who is the believers’ Redeemer, Savior, and life, became the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and the great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20), who shepherds His believers as their Overseer (1 Pet. 2:25).
V. Shepherding includes feeding, especially in taking care of the newborn ones, and for the feeding of the newborn ones, milk is the best (v. 2; 1 Cor. 3:2a; Heb. 5:13); the apostle Paul likened himself to such a nursing mother (1 Thes. 2:7).
VI. Both the feeding and the shepherding are for the God-men’s growth in the divine life of God for their daily salvation — 1 Pet. 2:2b.
VII. The shepherds’ feeding is not only for the growth unto the believers’ daily salvation but also unto their maturity in the divine life, which is needed for the God-men to be built up in the Body of Christ — Heb. 5:14; Eph. 4:12-13.
VIII. Christ as the Head of the Body nourishes and cherishes us (5:29). Christ’s shepherding includes nourishing and cherishing; nourishing is to feed us, and cherishing is to comfort us, to soothe us, to nurture us with tender love, and to foster us with tender care. All of this is to help us grow in the divine life that we may be full-grown and matured in it (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13).
IX. Christ’s feeding is for the believers’ growth in the divine life, and the God-men’s growth in the divine life is for the manifestation of their functions in the Body of Christ.
X. The believers’ growth in the divine life is by feeding on the word of God, which is also the Spirit of God (6:17), and the manifestation of the believers’ functions in the Body of Christ is also by the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11); hence, the feeding of Christ is related eventually to the Spirit who is altogether for the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:4) to consummate the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy.
XI. Such feeding and shepherding of Christ should be the responsibility of the elders for the churches (1 Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28) and the great part of the function of the vital groups.
In the previous chapter we pointed out that even from eternity God fell in love with man. God’s good pleasure is to be one with man, to make Himself a man, and to make man Himself in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. In order to accomplish His good pleasure, God created three important things for man. First, He created man in His image, making man His xerox copy; second, He created man with a human spirit; and third, He put eternity in man’s heart. The word for eternity may also be translated “the ages.” The Amplified Bible gives a marvelous translation of this word in Ecclesiastes 3:11 by saying that eternity in man’s heart indicates a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God, can satisfy.
After His creation of man, God put man in front of the tree of life, but the way to the tree of life was closed due to man’s fall. The crucified Christ later became the reopened way for man to contact God as the tree of life. When man receives the life of God, he is regenerated. Regeneration is to bring forth the children of God. Shepherding is to take care of the children by feeding them. After shepherding comes dispositional sanctification and renewing, transformation and building, and conformation unto the image of the firstborn Son of God and glorification. These are the eight items of God’s organic salvation.
God’s organic salvation is His salvation by His life. The line of the inner life started with Madame Guyon and other mystics. William Law improved these mystical writings, and later Andrew Murray used William Law’s writings. Mrs. Penn-Lewis, who received help from Andrew Murray’s writings, went on to see the subjective death of Christ. Following her, T. Austin-Sparks saw the principles of life in resurrection. But all these saints in the line of the inner life never considered the Lord’s shepherding a part of the Lord’s organic salvation.
The shepherding work is to feed. Feeding is the business of a nursing mother. After parents beget children, they have to feed them so that they can live. Feeding is a part of God’s organic salvation. In the God-man living we are first born of God through regeneration. Then we are under the organic feeding and shepherding of Christ as the good Shepherd. After our birth we need feeding in order to progress in life.
Shepherding and feeding are a part of the God-man living. The God-men are the believers. In this chapter I use believers and God-men interchangeably. In the New Testament we cannot find the term God-men, but a synonym for God-men is the children of God. (The children of God is used ten times in the New Testament.) John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.” Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” The children of God are the God-men.
We saw in chapter 1 that the children of God belong to the species of God. A species is a kingdom. There are the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and the God kingdom. John 3 says that when we are born of God, we see and enter into the kingdom of God (vv. 3, 5). The word kingdom here refers to the organic realm, the species, not to the governmental realm. The Lord told Nicodemus that unless he was regenerated, he would not be able to see, or understand, the kingdom of God. Who can understand the kingdom of lions if he is not a lion? If you are born of a lion to be a small lion, right away you see, understand, the kingdom of lions. To see is to intrinsically understand.
Once we are born into the kingdom of God to be the children of God, the God-men, we need the feeding. We should not think that every God-man is full-grown. The God-men begin their spiritual lives as babes. But regardless of our spiritual maturity, we all need the organic feeding and shepherding of Christ.
The Gospel of John, as the Gospel of life, unveils to us that Christ is not only life (11:25; 14:6) for Him to be life to us so that through Him we may be regenerated by God, but He is also a good Shepherd (10:10b-11, 14, 16) who feeds and shepherds us as His flock. In Song of Songs the Lord instructs His lover to go to the place where He pastures His sheep by following the footsteps of His flock (1:7-8). Later, He also pastures His flock among the lilies, that is, among those who seek the Lord and live a life of trusting in God with a pure heart (2:16; 6:3).
After their spiritual birth, as newborn babes, the children of God need the feeding and the shepherding of Christ, as He charged Peter, His first apostle, to take care of the believers as His lambs and sheep by feeding and shepherding them (John 21:15-17). John 21 is an appendix to the Gospel of John. In this appendix Christ came in resurrection to the apostles to charge Peter to feed the Lord’s lambs and to shepherd His sheep.
In the church life Christ as the Head distributes His gifts to the mature ones, among whom are the shepherds, for the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12). We all need some shepherds to come to perfect us. This is needed for the vital groups. Vital groups must be groups of God-men.
Christ, who is the believers’ Redeemer, Savior, and life, became the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and the great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20), who shepherds His believers as their Overseer (1 Pet. 2:25). The Chief Shepherd is Peter’s word; the great Shepherd is Paul’s word. All of God’s believers should be under this one Shepherd, who cares for the believers as their Overseer. The churches are so weak because they are missing the vital groups with Christ as the Chief Shepherd and Overseer. I hope that in these next few years we will practice anew the vital groups with the elements of feeding and shepherding. If we do not know how to feed and shepherd others, we cannot have the vital groups.
Shepherding includes feeding, especially in taking care of the newborn ones, and for the feeding of the newborn ones, milk is the best (v. 2; 1 Cor. 3:2a; Heb. 5:13); the apostle Paul likened himself to such a nursing mother (1 Thes. 2:7).
Both the feeding and the shepherding are for the God-men’s growth in the divine life of God for their daily salvation (1 Pet. 2:2b). We need God’s organic salvation to be our daily salvation. First Peter 2:2 says that the newborn babes long for the guileless milk of the word that they may grow unto salvation, the daily salvation. We need to be saved from such things as losing our temper, criticizing others, mistreating others, and even lying. We need an everyday salvation from such sinful practices. We can be saved by being fed with the milk of the word.
Even in such a great and deep book like Ephesians, Paul says that the one who steals should steal no more (4:28). Such a high and deep book still has such a low charge. If there were a stealer among us, perhaps we would feel that he is not saved. But Paul indicates that such saved ones are in need of a daily salvation. They need to have Ephesians 4:28 for their morning watch: “He who steals should steal no more.”
Paul also speaks in Ephesians about honoring our parents (6:1-3). All the young people among us need this word. Also, regardless of how old a person becomes, he should still honor his parents. A brother talks to his own children in one way but to his parents in another way. The way in which we speak to our parents must be in an honoring way. In today’s age some children address their parents by their first name. This is not an honoring or respectful way to speak to one’s parents. For such daily-life sins we need a daily salvation by feeding on the milk of the word. Then we can grow unto daily salvation.
The shepherds’ feeding is not only for the growth unto the believers’ daily salvation but also unto their maturity in the divine life, which is needed for the God-men to be built up in the Body of Christ (Heb. 5:14; Eph. 4:12-13). After observing the saints for so many years, I wonder how the Body of Christ could be built up. Some elders are too strong, and others are too weak. Both are wrong. If an elder is either too strong or too weak, he is disqualified from the eldership. Only those who are mild, not so strong and not so weak, are qualified to be elders. Some brothers are very good, but they do not like to talk to people. Because they know the Lord and the truth, they should be strong members of the vital groups, but they hardly ever speak. Some are so strong among us, and others are so weak. As a result, there is no building. There is no building because we do not live the life of a God-man. The God-man living will make us fit to be built in the Body of Christ. This living is the issue of our feeding on the milk of the word so that we can grow in our daily life unto salvation.
Christ as the Head of the Body nourishes and cherishes us (5:29). Christ’s shepherding includes nourishing and cherishing; nourishing is to feed us, and cherishing is to comfort us, to soothe us, to nurture us with tender love, and to foster us with tender care. All of this is to help us grow in the divine life that we may be full-grown and matured in it (Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13). Cherishing people makes them happy. In the church life, sometimes we have to make people happy in the Lord.
Christ’s feeding is for the believers’ growth in the divine life, and the God-men’s growth in the divine life is for the manifestation of their functions in the Body of Christ.
The believers’ growth in the divine life is by feeding on the word of God, which is also the Spirit of God (6:17), and the manifestation of the believers’ functions in the Body of Christ is also by the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:11); hence, the feeding of Christ is related eventually to the Spirit who is altogether for the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:4) to consummate the ultimate goal of God’s eternal economy. Whatever we do in shepherding and feeding others is related to the Spirit. All the God-man living is related to the Spirit, so we must be men of the Spirit. Only a man of the Spirit can have a proper God-man living.
Such feeding and shepherding of Christ should be the responsibility of the elders for the churches (1 Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28) and the great part of the function of the vital groups. If someone does not know how to feed and shepherd others, he is not qualified to be an elder. The responsibility of an elder is to feed and to shepherd the saints, and the greater part of the function of the vital groups is also feeding and shepherding. Feeding and shepherding take time and require patience. We must have patience with endurance to practice the vital groups. We should not expect quick fruit. Quick fruit comes and goes. We have to spend our time to feed and shepherd others. This is what the Lord is doing with us.
Even today, as an old follower of Christ, I need His feeding and shepherding. I realize that very few people understand my suffering related to my age. The only one who knows my suffering is Christ, so I need Him to shepherd and feed me. He is my Chief Shepherd and great Shepherd. All of us need to be under the organic feeding and shepherding of Christ and to be one with Him to feed and shepherd others.
