Are we sheep?

I do not know about you, but I do not like being called “sheep”.  If someone said, “You and your family are a bunch of sheep”, I would not take it kindly.  I would not be proud of our local high school team, “The Fighting Sheep”.  The connotated meaning is that we are soft, docile, peaceful, and harmless.  Unfortunately, that’s exactly what God says about us.  In the Old Testament we find twelve passages that use the phrase “like sheep”.  Here is one.

So he said, “I saw all Israel Scattered on the mountains, Like sheep which have no shepherd; And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.’ ” (2 Chron 18:16, NASB95)

 

Jehovah often described Israel as sheep who were scattered, lacking direction, straying, and in danger.  Isaiah picks up on this theme and broadens this description to all humans, not just Israel.  (He also promises a Savior to come.)

 

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. (Isa 53:6, NASB95)

 

We see this theme carried into the New Testament.  Jesus described us in similar terms.

 

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. (Mt 9:36, NASB95)

 

When He calls us “sheep without a shepherd” it is done with kindness and compassion, not judgement.  Jesus sees the lost condition of mankind.  He sees us wandering and wondering throughout life, without meaning or purpose.  He sees frustration and discouragement.  He knows we need a Savior.  He also proclaims Himself to be that Savior.

 

“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” (Jn 10:14, NASB95)

 

A good shepherd will go to extreme lengths for his sheep.  Jesus was this kind of shepherd.  Ultimately, He gave His life for us.  Paul put it this way:

 

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Ro 5:6-8, NASB95)

 

Christ was sinless.  His sacrificial death was for us, as the payment for our sin.  This is the extreme demonstration of God’s love for us, to send His Son to die in our place.  Notice that He did not wait for us to become holy or perfect, He died for us “while we were yet sinners”.  What a Savior!  What a Good Shepherd!

 

Back to my initial concern.  If you do not like the moniker of sheep be encouraged.  Peter gives us hope:

 

For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. (1 Pet 2:25, NASB95)

 

Notice the verb tense, “you were”.  Before we accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, we were described as sheep.  Now with Christ in control, we are no longer straying like sheep, at least I hope not.