Meet Me In The Meadow: Feed My Sheep

In the downtown area of the city where I live there is a small creek that works its way by the park, winds around the back of the fire department and the public library, and lazily flows near the campus of John Brown University before heading out of town. At a couple of places along the creek, visitors would often pause to watch the activities of a small number of ducks who decided to make the creek their home. Near the library, the city put in a vending machine that usually contains food for feeding the ducks. It is a favorite place for parents to take their young children and give them a handful of food from the vending machine and then watch them excitedly feed the ducks.

I don’t know what goes through the mind of a duck, but I am pretty certain that a duck would be totally unresponsive to any child holding out a hand that was filled with marbles. When a duck waddles up to a child who has his hand extended, the duck is probably expecting to get a mouth full of real food. People, like ducks and other animals, need to eat real food in order to survive. We have a bowl full of fake fruit in our living room. It looks decorative and fits in great with our color scheme, but I won’t want to eat one.

After His resurrection, Jesus told Peter, “Feed my sheep.” It was a clear and simple command that focused on Peter’s responsibility to feed God’s people. The term “sheep” is commonly used in Scripture to identify those who belong to the Lord. David speaks of it in the twenty-third Psalm, Isaiah speaks of it in chapter fifty-three, Jeremiah speaks of it in chapter fifty, and Jesus speaks of it in the tenth chapter of John. The term “feed” can include the idea of tending and caring for the sheep, but it also carries the responsibility of actually providing the food that sheep need to live.

In order to feed God’s sheep, we must know what His sheep need to eat. What does food for God’s people look and taste like? There are two main things that cannot be left out of any spiritual diet. One is the person (the life) of Jesus and the other is the words of Jesus. The Scriptures never separate what Jesus did from what Jesus said. In Acts 1:1 we read, “…All that Jesus began both to do and teach.”

Regarding His person, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life...I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” John 6:50-51. Regarding His words, Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63.

Jesus also said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Luke 4:4 As new believers we need to feed on the milk of the word (1 Peter 2:3). As we mature we need to feed on the meat of the Word (1 Corinthians 3:2). The prophet Jeremiah said this about God’s words, “Your words were found, and I ate them; and Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.”

We taste Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux

God’s sheep cannot be fed on people’s opinions, on empty words, on meaningless rhetoric, on secular points of view, or on humanistic thinking. Our food is Truth, the living Truth and the spoken Truth of Jesus Christ. We need to feed upon the Truth, not have discussions about the Truth. No one ever survived by talking about food or writing books about food. We can only survive by partaking of food.

How do we, as the sheep of His pasture, eat His spiritual food? First, we eat by coming to His table and asking. God has promised that if we ask for Bread He will not give us a stone. Second, we eat by surrendering to the Word and yielding to its authority. Third, we eat by receiving the Word by faith with gratitude and thanksgiving. As long as we have a hungry heart we will always find God’s banqueting table filled with everything that is needed to sustain us and delight us. He has freely given us all things to enjoy.

“…He who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing]. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy].” Isaiah 55:1-2 AMP

Feed My Sheep

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