In the movie "Lion King" Simba learns about the ‘circle of life.’ Tricked into thinking he was responsible for Mufasa’s death he runs away to live out his life in seclusion. But the wise man of the kingdom, Rafiki, doesn’t give up. Even when things look bleak and hopeless, he doesn’t give up. He eventually finds Simba and teaches him about the circle of life and helps him find his place in it. Simba was born a small lion cub, he grew under the nurture and guidance of his father, Mufasa. As Rafiki explains, there comes a time when we have to step up to the truth of the circle and take our rightful place in it.
Simba returns to the pride and after a short battle with the false leader takes his place as the king of the pride. He eventually has a cub of his own whom he nurtures and teaches and knows that one day, when he is past his time, his cub will take over as king of the pride.
This is the circle of life. We humans have come to understand that most things in our existence have a similar circle... a life cycle, if you will. Automobiles, television sets, companies, even governments have a life cycle. They begin in infancy, they develop and grow under the nurture of one or more dedicated developers. They become established and carry out their function as designed. At some point something new comes along that renders them ‘past their time’ and they give way to the new. This ‘new’ has come from infancy and developed to establishment where it takes over as the latest and greatest... until it, too, is past its time.
Everything lives or serves in its time.
Sometimes, as was the case for Mufasa, something short circuits the normal cycle and everything is thrown into confusion. Mufasa was tragically killed way before his time was up. He hadn’t completed his job of training Simba to take over the pride. As a result, the evil Scar was able to sweep in and through deceit and trickery falsely take over the pride. He was not the rightful ruler and was selfish and corrupt. He was not a good leader and nearly destroyed the entire kingdom.
When something short circuits the normal routine in our human bodies we fall prey to disease and injury. When one part of the body is kept from working as it was intended to work, the whole body is thrown into confusion and fails to keep pace with the normal cycle. The body suffers and the work it was intended to carry out is left un-accomplished.
The world-wide Church, the body of Christ on earth, is an organism that has work it is intended to accomplish. If you refer to the lists that can be found in chapters 12 of Romans and 1 Corinthians you discover that some Christians are gifted and called to serve as evangelists and teachers and administrators and some are to use their gift of discernment and healing to keep the Church growing and functioning. You might be saying to yourself, ‘yes, that’s true, but I am not gifted to teach, so I do not have to become a teacher.’ That might be true. Some of those gifts may be especially designed for a particular individual, not every single one of us.
However, all Christians have some obligations. We all have shared duties and responsibilities that go along with our membership in the Body of Christ. I once joined a college fraternity. What I discovered was that all they wanted was my $100 membership fee. There were no meetings, no gatherings, no activities, no officers. There were no expectations or responsibilities or duties for members of that group.
Christianity is not that way. We have expectations on us. We have responsibilities. We are children of God and therefore have a duty to carry out our calling. If we fail to carry out our job the whole body suffers. If we find ourselves too busy to do as God has called us to do, then those that depend on us will be let down. Those that cannot function without the completion of our jobs are left hanging.
In today’s Scripture Jesus has been crucified, buried and risen. He has joined the Disciples for some last important lessons. They have come in from a fretful night of fishing to discover a meal waiting for them on the shore. Following the meal Jesus and Peter go walking and talking. We pick up the story at this point... (Jesus said, "feed my sheep.")
Scripture
16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
Every minute of every day thousands of people in our world die of starvation. I believe it is an important concern for the Church, the Body of Christ to attend to this matter. Our planet has enough resources to feed everyone, we just don’t have a system that can get the food to the people who need it. Too much corruption and greed gets in the way. That does not absolve us from caring and doing all we can to help.
However, I am not convinced that this is what Jesus was talking about when He told Peter to ‘feed my sheep.’ There really isn’t much in the Bible about Peter responding to the specific needs of world hunger as a result of this lesson. No, I am confident that what Jesus was telling Peter, and us as children of God, is to fulfill your place in the circle of life... nurture and train up new followers that will some day, in their time, take their rightful place in the Kingdom and do their part.
I believe this is a shared responsibility for all Christians, not just some with special gifts. We are all called to nurture and bring up new believers. To "spiritually’ feed Jesus’ sheep.
Conclusion
When is the last time you intentionally did something to spiritually feed another sheep? Many of us sit in church school or Bible studies or mentoring groups week after week, month after month, year after year. Yet when we are called upon to serve the Body as a feeder of sheep we balk. No, I could never do that. Jesus says, "feed my sheep."
When another person comes to us for advice, instead of leading them to Scripture and godly council we throw out something that makes us feel important but may not really be helping. Jesus says, "feed my sheep."
When the call comes to lead a study, a committee, a board, a church school class, we say, no, not me. Jesus says, "feed my sheep."
When we ignore the opportunity to be nurtured by another, thus getting us ready for our place in the circle of life we leave the organization broken and the Body diseased.
Our responsibility is to feed Jesus’ sheep. If we are not ready our job is to get ready. Otherwise there are those who will depend upon us for spiritual food and we will have to reject them saying, ‘sorry, I didn’t do my part."
It is a call of responsibility to all Christians, everywhere; Jesus says, "Feed My Sheep!!!!"
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