Very few people are leaders. Leadership is a complex and little understood skill. The most common metaphor for leadership in the Bible is the shepherd. A shepherd lives with his people, protects his people, and serves his people. His primary goal is the well being of his people……often to his own detriment. It is said that a good shepherd smells of his sheep. You probably haven’t spent time with a herd of sheep……..but, I can tell you from experience……..the odor is impressive.
We like to think of ourselves as leaders……..but, the reality is that we are all following someone. Truly original thought is extremely rare. The key to good living is not to figure out……to create….. some new paradigm. The key to good living is to choose and follow the right leader……..a leader who looks…..acts………and smells…….like a shepherd.
There are many levels of leadership…….parent, mayor, governor, president, etc. But, in our modern society, the two top levels are God…….and the culture. Each has its set of rules……norms. You pretty much follow one of these two sets of rules……or the other……one of these two leaders or the other. You can try to split the difference, but, ultimately, in times of conflict, you will choose one or the other.
It is very important that you know which leader you are following……….and where your leader is going. Because that will tell you where you are going.
So, let’s have a look at the choices.
God…..and the Bible. God created you. He gives you a set of guidelines to live by. He loves you with a parental love and wants you to join him in paradise……forever. His norms are simple…..love him and love your fellow man. After this come the ten commandments: Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t murder, honor your parents, don’t covet, sex is for husbands and wives, rest on Sunday. God’s norms are basic, they are universal, and they never change. They are not there to ruin your fun. They are there to lead you into a full, satisfying, and happy life.
The culture is a bit harder to nail down. It is largely driven by the popular media and by trend setters, largely in big metropolitan centers on the coasts. The culture’s norms change over time. Every year there is a new expectation, a new rule of behavior, a new idea that we are expected to adopt. Some of these ideas are noble…….others……not so much. They have a term for this. It is called being “woke”. I won’t go into a long historical list of these woke ideas. The latest is that a man can declare himself to be a woman, enter women’s sports competitions, and dominate them……to the detriment of the women who preceded him. Each of these new, “woke” ideas builds on last year’s new idea. It’s a little like the frog peacefully sitting in a pan of water that is slowly heated to boiling. If you accept the new “idea du jour”….. fine. But, if you resist…….the media and the trend setters will attack you. They will silence you. They will censor you. They will try to destroy your business…..or your political career.
They will call you names:
Racist
Hater
Intolerant
Bigot
Unwoke
Non-progressive
Troglodite
Homophobe
Misogynist
These names hurt……..and that is entirely the point. The names are intended to intimidate you…..to shut you up…..to prepare you for next year’s new…….woke…… idea.
So you have a choice.
You can follow a leader who loves you and expects you to love him and love your fellow man……..a leader who calls you son or daughter…….a leader who has prepared a place for you.
Or
You can follow leaders who give you new rules every year…….who demand that you to follow them……or else…….who require you to discard a little bit more of the Bible and God every year………..leaders who will call you intolerant, a hater, a racist, or worse if you disagree with them. They hope to take you to a better world that they…….not God…….are building.
You must ask yourself…….which of these leaders loves me? Which of these leaders has my best long term interests at heart?
Which of these leaders acts like a shepherd.
Which of these leaders………….smells like a shepherd?
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Jesus, ESV
“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus, ESV
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
Jesus, ESV