Comments on: Discipleship: What Sheep Can Teach Us

By: Lois Tverberg

Lois Tverberg — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 03:34:40 +0000

In reply to Gerald. Very good thought - thank you.

By: Gerald

Gerald — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:08:16 +0000

I think of evangelism as a woman having a baby and discipleship as caring for that baby in such a way that it becomes an adult who cares for others. Nobody would think a responsible thing for a husband and wife to have babies and not care for them.

By: Daniel K

Daniel K — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:00:20 +0000

This article glows with ancient wisdom. Our technology and other man made structures blind us to natural and supernatural realities. Our Socratic reasoning and skepticism in a world of naturalism work like blinders on a work horse. Good stories like this help take off the blinders and see God’s viewpoint.
Several things jump out at me that have not already been emphasized by all the responders. (Wish there was a “Like” button!) First is that the sheep and Shepherd are both alive. Resurrection truth helps us know that HE is ALIVE and active in all who are indwelt. Living with our Shepherd is not a matter of abstract truth learned from some book as if we were in high school, but of relational truth, two eternal beings (God and Man) alive and interactive in response to each other. The Shepherd turns his head at the BAAA of the sheep. The sheep lift their head at the voice of the Shepherd. Both hear, both see, both respond. Our literacy based Bible study methods learned from secular education do not lead to this interaction, but to dead faith in many cases. This story of 3 shepherds calling out sheep that follow teaches the orality of the call, the loud unique voice of each shepherd is above the ambient noise. I teach all my disciples to read aloud, not silently, if possible. In our gatherings of believers a large part of the meeting is in the oral reading of Scripture while listeners do not look at the words. Literacy processing locks us into a kind of logical activity the world has imposed. Just listening to the Word, to His Story, becomes a whole soul experience in which The Holy Spirit writes on our hearts more directly. This is especially true of the majority of men who are oral/visual learners. “My sheep hear My Voice” is widely thought of as merely internal, but it never was so in the early church. The Apostles, especially John, quoted Jesus, Who saw in the shepherding experience a vivid illustration of the way God speaks and leads. He sums it up with “without Me you can do nothing” and Paul declares “I can do all things through Christ!” What a wonderful life comes to the sheep who hears His voice! This life comes to all who submit as Jesus says He did (John 5) “I do not do anything on My own.” Check it out!

By: Marissa VanderZwaag

Marissa VanderZwaag — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 02:53:56 +0000

I really liked this article and how it connected our faith to sheep following the voice of their shepherd. It’s so amazing how the sheep knew their shepherd’s voice and followed him even when they met up with two different shepherd’s groups of sheep. We should be listening for God’s voice in our lives and following after Him. By recognizing and following God’s voice, we will go where he wants us to go and be able to serve and imitate him. As westerners, we often approach the gospel as information and then try to throw our belief system at others. We try to put people in pastures like we do with sheep. But, our goal isn’t to get people into the pen, it’s to bring them to follow Christ and become his disciples. We need to live transparently in front of others, despite this being a challenge. We can do this by showing Christ’s love to others through our lives.

By: Hannah Johnson

Hannah Johnson — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:34:07 +0000

The transformation and information piece of this article is something I really agree with. As westernized Christians, we can get lost in trying to figure out all the information and we may believe that knowing everything can solve all the problems and help us become better Christians. However, if we live more transformed, it shows how we love Christ and want to live like Him rather than just showing that we know information. This way, we may know the information, but also act on it. Another thing that really stuck out to me is how important it is to know the voice of our Rabbi and to follow Him. When we put our trust in Him, listen to His voice alone, we are lead to the best things in life. At times, they may seem difficult. Like if a shepherd leads sheep through some rocky, steep terrain. But, on the other side is an abundance of green grass and fresh water. We have to be able to trust God even during the rocky terrain to know He is leading us to a place we need.

By: Dalton Meyaard

Dalton Meyaard — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:36:30 +0000

I find that the article contains a lot of truth. Christian often forget about the importance of the shepherd and focus on the pen. We think discipleship is about teaching people about Jesus and opening the pen for them. But in reality, its more than that. As the article puts it, “what distinguishes is us is not so much the “pen” we inhabit, but the shepherd we follow.” Its very important for us to remember that discipleship is following our Shepherd and being transparent like him.

By: Anna VanderPloeg

Anna VanderPloeg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:35:56 +0000

I really liked how this is comparing following Jesus to sheep following their shepherd. This picture shows me how we should be following Jesus. I love how the sheep immediately follow their shepherd at the sound of of their voice. We often do wander off and don’t listen to Jesus’ call to follow Him. It shows how we should be following Jesus and not wander even though it may be hard at times. I liked how it talks about that the approach doesn’t just involve information but also transformation. This is a challenge for us to live transparently in front of others even though it may be hard. We should live by showing trying to show Christ’s love through us.

By: Jessie Mulder

Jessie Mulder — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:55:52 +0000

I like how you compared information and transformation as two separate things in aspect to our faith. I thought it was interesting how you explained information as the forcing of the right beliefs on others while transformation was explained as us as individuals changing in order to act more like Jesus, our shepherd. Yes we can learn every fact about and in the Bible but words without actions is hypocritical. Being right is not always the most important thing.

By: Mary Timmer

Mary Timmer — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:48:43 +0000

I love the metaphor about the sheep and the shepherd. About how our only job is not just to get sheep “into the pen” but to be actively be following our shepherd, our rabbi, Jesus. We can’t just give people a ton of information about Jesus and the Bible and God’s love, we have to set an example of Christ’s love through our own lives by following him and his example. I really liked the phrase, “not just information but transformation”. This way we will not be in a world where people know the right things, but in a world where people are showing the love of Christ through their lives. I also liked the part about knowing the shepherds voice. I need to be able to 1. realize when Jesus is calling me to something but also 2. actually obey his calling and follow him to whatever he is going to lead me too.

By: Anna VandeBunte

Anna VandeBunte — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:41:55 +0000

This article gave great insight on the different views of what discipleship is. Traditionally we think of making disciples of Jesus as teaching people certain beliefs about God and helping them to accept Jesus, and later on learn more about the truth we have come to follow. An eastern view is the understanding that Jesus died for our sins and that belonging to him involves repenting/receiving him as our Lord and Savior. Along with that is the realization that Jesus lived transparently in front of his disciples in order to teach them how to live, and we, in return, are to live transparently before others, humbly teaching them the way of Christ. I really resonate with this because I think it is important to be honest with others about our imperfections as Christians, and to be humble when we teach others about Christianity because we are not all-knowing people. We just have the blessing of hearing about an ultimate truth that leads our way of life. Another great concept from the article is that discipleship involves not only information, but transformation. Not only does God want us to know the right things and believe in him, but also to transform the world with Christ and his brightness to be shone without. I also loved the concept about the fence. Letting people into the fence then they are all the sudden okay and perfect with the concepts of Christianity, but the reality is, like sheep, we can still stray away. I think that everyone needs guidance from others and a wiser mentor to help through the journeys of faith and learning how to live the right way for Jesus. Ultimately this is what discipleship is.

By: Bruce Weeks

Bruce Weeks — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:10:29 +0000

Great thoughts.