Feeding the Lambs and Sheep

Q: What does the Bible say about feeding the flock?

The Bible emphasizes the call to feed the flock of God, highlighting the importance of nurturing believers with sound doctrine and the Gospel. In John 21:15-17, the Lord commands Peter to 'feed my lambs' and 'feed my sheep,' indicating the pastoral responsibility of nurturing and caring for the church. This call to ministry arises from a deep love for Christ, which compels believers to guide others in their spiritual journey. Moreover, the command to feed implies an active engagement in teaching and supporting the faith community, reflecting the shepherd's role to protect and provide for the sheep entrusted to them. The feeding of the flock encompasses administering the Word of God, ensuring that believers not only receive basic spiritual nourishment (like milk) but also grow into deeper truths (like meat). It is essential that ministers prioritize a Christ-centered approach, preaching the Gospel and the whole counsel of God to promote growth in their congregation, thereby fulfilling their sacred duty as undershepherds under Christ, the Good Shepherd.

Q: How do we know the importance of feeding God's people?

Feeding God's people is crucial because it nourishes their spiritual growth and strengthens their faith in Christ. The importance of feeding God's people, as emphasized in John 21:15-17, lies in its role in fostering spiritual growth and community within the church. Peter's commission to feed Christ's lambs and sheep reflects a broader duty assigned to all believers to care for one another in love and truth. In the context of shepherd imagery, this calling underscores that every believer, especially pastors and church leaders, must provide sound doctrine and spiritual nourishment, tailored to the needs of all members, from the newest to the most mature in faith. Additionally, just as Jesus fed the multitude physically, He teaches us that feeding spiritually is paramount. Healthy nourishment truly strengthens believers against spiritual lethargy and equips them to stand firm in faith amidst challenges. It is through the Word that believers find sustenance, direction, and encouragement, reinforcing the necessity of actively engaging with and sharing the Gospel message as part of their calling.

Q: Why is love for Christ essential in ministry?

Love for Christ is essential in ministry because it motivates and empowers believers to serve and care for others faithfully. In John 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter thrice if he loves Him, signifying that love for Christ is the foundational requirement for effective ministry. Genuine love for Christ compels ministers to serve selflessly, as love empowers their proclamation of the Gospel and ensures that their actions are rooted in heartfelt devotion to their Savior. This love drives them to care for the flock with compassion and diligence, reflecting the character of Christ himself, who laid down His life for the sheep. Furthermore, a love-based ministry enriches the quality of service offered to God's people. When ministers serve out of love, they exhibit a Christ-exalting ministry that strives for the spiritual well-being of the congregation. Such an approach encourages unity within the church, as love for Christ translates into love for His people, creating a nurturing environment where faith can flourish.

Q: How should Christians receive spiritual food?

Christians should receive spiritual food by actively engaging with Scripture, partaking in the Lord's Supper, and gathering for worship. Receiving spiritual food is crucial for every believer’s growth in faith. The ministry of the Word, both through the preaching of Scripture and personal study, acts as nourishment for the soul. As indicated in 1 Peter 2:2, believers are encouraged to 'desire the sincere milk of the word,' which implies a hunger for teaching that fosters spiritual growth. Furthermore, participation in the Lord's Supper serves as a vital reminder of Christ’s sacrifice and provides a means for believers to spiritually partake of His body and blood, acknowledging their need for continual sustenance through Him. Moreover, regular attendance at corporate worship and fellowship with other believers enhances one’s reception of spiritual food. Just as individuals require physical nourishment to thrive, spiritual generosity is obtained through communal gatherings where Scripture is preached, prayers are made, and worship is shared. This community aspect reinforces the requirement for believers to be actively engaged, allowing for mutual edification as they grow in their faith together.

Q: Why is a Christ-centered ministry important?

A Christ-centered ministry points believers to the ultimate source of life, hope, and spiritual sustenance in Him. A Christ-centered ministry is of utmost importance because it keeps the focus on Jesus as the foundation of faith. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul emphasizes his commitment to 'know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified,' which encapsulates the essence of Christian teaching: it is all about Christ. By placing Christ at the center of ministry, the congregation is continually reminded of their reliance on Him for salvation and spiritual nourishment, reinforcing their identity as a people redeemed by His grace. Moreover, a ministry centered on Christ equips the church to confront a myriad of challenges in life. As believers learn to look to Christ for their needs, they discover that He is the source of their strength, comfort, and guidance. This approach cultivates a culture of dependence on Christ rather than self-reliance or worldly solutions, fostering a deeper relationship with Him and encouraging a community that genuinely seeks to glorify God through every aspect of their lives.

May God's blessing rest on us tonight as again we turn together to his word and again I want to turn back to John chapter 21 and verses 15 through to 17, the verses where we were this morning. John chapter 21 verses 15 through to 17. We read them again, so when they had dined Jesus saith unto Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

He saith unto them, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Son, Son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep.

Well, this morning, to remind ourselves, we were considering this confession of Peter. thou knowest that I love thee. And we thought of that number of aspects as to why Peter loved his Lord and Saviour. We noticed how this was found in the context not so long before that Peter had denied the Lord Jesus Christ, his actions seeming to betray that he did not love him. And yet here on these questions, these three times, Peter affirms his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw how he loved him because he had called him, because he had died for him, because he had restored him and other things.

How his heart is revealed here then in his love for Christ. But these events take place between the resurrection and the ascension. And the Lord Jesus Christ, not long after these events, will ascend into glory. And Peter, along with the other apostles and then others amongst them, will be commissioned to go forth with the work of the ministry.

Peter's life had already dramatically changed. Jesus called him from being a fisherman to being a disciple. He gave up his fisherman nets and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he went for some three years up until this moment and then up until the Ascension. Peter was told that he would be made a fisher of men rather than a fisher of fish. But Peter's life is about to change again. His pathway is to continue. Jesus is to ascend into glory. His work is done. But Peter is to go on.

And he is commissioned to go forth into the world with the Gospel. We know from the book of Acts how that played out. We know the ministry that Peter was involved in on the day of Pentecost and other times. And of course the other disciples and followers as well, from Philip to Stephen, and of course to the Apostle Paul and many others, who went forth with the gospel of Jesus Christ, who went and told the nations of the one whom they loved. And Peter, with his heart of love, was now to go forth and tell the nations of Jesus Christ who loved him.

So the Lord here questions, lovest thou me? And the answer is given, as we thought this morning. But tonight, having considered the confession, I want to consider the commission. He was called to do something with this love. Feed my lambs. feed my sheep, and then feed my sheep again. Now the Lord's people, as we thought this morning, love the Lord Jesus Christ by his grace and in response of his love to them. But the Lord still commissions that the gospel might be preached, that the lambs and the sheep might be fed There is a sense in which every believer is called in this commission.

It is something which we should all hold dear. It is part of that great commission to go forth into the nations teaching and baptising. But Peter here is specifically given this call as well. And so it is the general concern of every believer that they would be involved in the gospel work. It should be the general concern of every church member that their church would be involved in the gospel work.

But there is also that specific call that God calls some particularly to this work of the ministry, the feeding of his people. Peter was commissioned in that way, and we're thankful to know that God, by the Spirit, still calls out those today and are commissioned to continue in the same work. So tonight, very simply, I want to consider this commission, this feeding of the flock, firstly under the title of giving of the food, what it is to administer that food, to feed the flock, but then secondly, to consider the importance for all of us of receiving the food, giving and receiving. So Peter is called here to feed, feed my sheep, feed my lambs.

We must value the blessing of the gospel ministry. And we should seek and pray that God will bless that ministry. We should pray for those who are involved in that ministry, who are taking this message and seeking to bring it to God's people. It is in that way a concern that every one of God's people should have that the ministry of the gospel is prospered and blessed by God. But we can see from this passage that there are certain elements to the call of a minister which are central and vital.

And firstly it is that there must be love for Christ. This is the essence of the verses, isn't it? Lovest thou me, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, feed my lambs. The one goes before the other. Love for Christ comes first. Here is a converted believer. Here is one who has known the love of Christ to him. And here is one who, in response to that love, is loving his Lord. With that, he goes forth to feed the flock. There must be love to Christ. It must come first. Value, highly esteem a Christ-exalting ministry. Look for it, pray for it, support it, encourage it. Christ at the center.

That's not to say, of course, that the Scriptures are not full of so much. We preach the whole counsel of God. That does not mean that the Christ-centered ministry means that every text must be John 3, 16, or something like that. No, we preach the whole counsel of God, and all is profitable. Remember, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is all profitable.

Do not discount some of it and say, that's not about Christ. Because Christ is in all the scriptures. Yes, in some places, more clear, more obvious. In some, it's in time. In some it's in antitype, in some it's in prophecy, in some it's experience. But Christ is there. And even when we come to precepts, when we come to godly living, the doctrine of Christ underpins it all. And so may our preaching be grounded on the Lord Jesus Christ.

May he underpin everything that is said and may he be praised and exalted in response to what is preached. That is surely the great desire, is that though we want our minds to be filled with the truth, and we want to be told what God's ways are and what God's truth is, that in the end of it, Christ is exalted, that we love him more.

Value a Christ-exalting ministry. But pray that the minister will have the earnest confession that Peter had. That is that the one who stands to preach to you will never lose his love for Christ. That everything that is said and the motive behind every sermon will be the love of Christ, whatever subject it is that is brought. I can tell you it is possible to preach the word of God with a hard and cold heart Pray that the one who preaches, and the pastor here particularly, will be blessed with more and more love for Christ. And what is said then will flow from that.

The Apostle Paul tells us that he was determined to know nothing amongst you, to the church at Corinth, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So may the preaching preach the loveliness of Christ. May the preaching exalt a precious Christ. May the preaching show forth to the hearers the suitability of Christ. And may the preaching by the Spirit draw sinners to Christ.

Love to Christ, then, is vital. But secondly, there must be love to the flock. There must be love to the flock. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. So value a Christ-exalting ministry, but also value a caring ministry. And here we have both extremes. We have the lambs and we have the sheep. We have young and old and all in between. There are some, of course we have young and old literally, children and older people, but we have also young and old in our congregations in the faith. We have those who are newly born again, those who have come recently to know the Lord, and we have those who mature, or maturing, who have walked with the Lord for many years, who have experienced His help and blessing, who have many things to say and have learned much, though perhaps feel there's much more to learn. But the ministry needs to care for each one. And with God's help needs to come where each one is.

Love the flock. The flock are God's people. They belong to him. This is Christ's church, not any man's church. Maybe we need to pick people up on that a little bit. When they say, how is your church? It's Christ's church. He reigns here. But each one is his child. And we should be careful in ministering to the children of God. But may we, as we love the Lord, also love his people.

That is one evidence, isn't it? We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Well, the brethren are loved because they show us something of Christ. He lives in them. We have unity in him. There is love uniting us to one another in the Lord. And so this ministry needs to care for such and needs to flow to the brethren. Peter must go forth. He must go forth with the love of Christ, but he must go forth with the love to Christ's people. So important. It's not to berate them. It's not to be harsh to them. It's to be a shepherd. Notice, of course, the language is familiar scriptural language.

Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Well, we can think of the many examples where this comes up. John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, and other pictures in the scriptures, they are my sheep, he says. Therefore, Jesus is saying very clearly, I am their shepherd. He is the great shepherd of the sheep.

And yet surely in the position that he is putting Peter in, there is a sense here that he is doing the work of the shepherd too. You must care for the sheep as I do. You must love the sheep as I do. You must feed the sheep as I do. And so Peter is called to a great and a high calling, love to Christ, love to the flock, But the calling isn't just to love the flock. The calling isn't just to be united with the flock. The calling is to feed the flock. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep.

Peter must care in giving them what they desperately need. When he writes his first epistle in chapter 5, Peter himself says to the elders in the church, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensembles to the flock. The elders are called to feed the flock of God. Peter, Paul rather, exhorted Timothy to do the work of an evangelist.

And that's an important work. There should be the gospel work. There should be the gospel preaching. There should be that earnestness to the lost. But there is also the work of feeding the flock. and there must be a balance. It's not all evangelistic preaching, but neither is it all feeding the flock. The two come together, and you know very often the two come together in one sermon. But the two concerns should be there on the one who preaches. Do the work of evangelist, but care for the flock.

Feed the flock of God. The shepherd feeds the flock with the food that he has. He feeds the flock with the good food because he cares for them. So Peter here has what he needs. He has the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he has the love of that gospel in his own heart, and he cares for the people. He knows the food that will be good for them. He knows the food that will strengthen them and build them up. And he knows the food that will keep them strong. The Lord Jesus, feed that flock. Feed them with the truth. feed them with the gospel of grace, feed them with that which is reliable.

This word is the only ultimate truth. This word is the only truth that will do the souls of God's people real good, because it is here that they can rest their souls. It can say many encouraging words, You can say many things that come into your mind that may pick them up and help them, but your words may just be your thoughts. Here is truth.

Here is something solid that they can return back to and build on. Feed them with a word, the truth of God, and watch for their souls. That was Peter's exhortation. Feed the flock of God which is among you. Watch for their souls. care for their souls.

We don't have, no one does, whether they listen or whether they preach. No one has ultimate wisdom. No one has ultimate knowledge. The moment a church sanctions someone to preach, they are not specially endued with inspiration of God, with knowledge and understanding. The moment someone is called to a pastoral role or an eldership in a church, they do not specially and suddenly receive gifts from God, though he does help them. They are sinners. They are fallen. They are weak. They make mistakes. But where is truth? Where is something solid in the word of God?

Preach the word. Preach the word. That was Paul's exhortation. Preach the Word. So, feed the flock, but feed it with the Word of God. But Peter was then called with love to Christ, with love to the people, with the food. It was a call to obedience. Verse 18, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. And thou shalt behold, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall carry thee, and carry thee whether thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God. Isn't this interesting? Right at the beginning of the commission, right at the beginning of this ministry, Jesus refers him to his death, to the end.

But what about all between? Why doesn't the Lord encourage him? Why doesn't the Lord tell him about all the places he will go and the people he will meet? Why doesn't the Lord tell him that many people will be saved through his ministry? Why doesn't the Lord encourage him that he will be with him and that the Spirit of God will bless him? Because though all those things are true, it was fundamentally a call to obedience. It was a call to complete obedience.

Peter is not his own at all. He's been bought with a price, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's been commissioned here, having been restored by God's grace, having denied the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter is not his own, and Christ now will lead him, and Christ will take him where he would have him to be, and Christ will use him, and in the end, he will give his life for this ministry of Christ. he will give his life because he loves the Lord Jesus. It was a call to obedience.

Now, of course, all Christians are called to this. All of God's people are called to daily take up their cross and to follow him. But it is especially true in this call of the Christian ministry. Wherever whenever, to whomever the Lord calls us to feed his flock.

But he will lead as that great shepherd, and he will feed you as you are helped to feed the flock. Take my life, the hymn puts it. Take my life. and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. That's what Peter was called to. And that's especially true to all who receive this calling. Love to Christ, love to his people, feeding them in obedience.

Well, that's something of the giving of the food. but we need to also remember the great importance for every one of God's people of eating the food. So to change focus a little bit for the rest of our time, the importance of eating food. If the food is to be given, then it's important that we eat it. If the gospel is to be preached, if God's word is to be expounded, it's important that we listen. We all, if we're a Christian tonight, need spiritual food.

And God has shown us where we receive the food from. We read earlier in John chapter 6, an important chapter about Christ being the bread of life. He said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never Thirst. I am the bread of life.

Remember the context. There had been the feeding of the 5,000 and the people had looked on and it had reminded them of another one who had multiplied food. It reminded them of the giving of the manna. how many people were provided for by God's provision there in the wilderness from the manor. And here is one now who is distributing the food, who is taking a few loaves and fishes and giving it to thousands, and they are filled to the point that there is more food left over in the baskets than there was even at the beginning.

But Jesus says, I am the bread of life, not the manor in the wilderness, Not even this bread and fish that you have eaten now. I am the bread of life. You need to eat of me. And he makes this more explicit in verse 53. Verily, verily, or surely, surely, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Of course, as they had said, how can we eat his flesh? This is Joseph's son, his father and a mother we know. Except you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Where is life then to be found? Yes, in the person of Jesus Christ, but is to be found specifically, as he says here, in him who was crucified. He was crucified. His body was rent. His flesh was torn. His blood was shed. And there redemption's price was paid. And there is food for the soul.

Which is why the apostle says, I determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Not just Christ. Yes, I want to know Christ. Yes, I want you to know about Christ. Yes, I want you to see the glory of Christ, but not just the man. Christ and him crucified. You see the cross is at the very center. And this is where our food is to be found, to eat my flesh and to drink my blood. It's to feed on the cross of Christ.

Now living people need to eat. Quite obviously, if you don't eat, you don't live. If you're not living, you don't eat. They go part and parcel. If you are alive, that is if you're a believer, spiritually alive by God's grace, you need to eat. You need this food. And if you are not eating, that is, if Christ crucified means nothing to you at all, if him shedding his blood, dying in the place of sinners means nothing to you, then we have to ask whether you're alive. Because living souls eat.

He tells us very clearly, doesn't he? You have no life in you except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. You have no life in you. So the question comes from the hymn, what think ye of Christ is the test? Or what think you of Christ crucified is the test? How vital is he? to you, because if you do not feed at all on Christ, there is no life in you.

But it may be tonight that you say, well, I do believe I have life, but my spiritual life has become very lethargic. My spiritual life has become very dull. I seem to have no strength. It all seems to be very difficult. And you wonder how to go on. Well, naturally, if you don't eat, even if you're alive, if you don't eat, you have no energy. You have no strength. You are lethargic. Things become mountains. You can't cope with life. You need to eat.

So it's the same here. Have you fed on Christ? Have you come, considered him, Have you come afresh? All too tempting, isn't it, to think that we always have to live on past blessings, as it were, to live on past meals, and to carry on, and we get weaker and weaker.

But we need to continually eat, to continually feed. We need to keep coming back to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have continual sin. You have daily sin, keep coming back to the cross of Jesus Christ, for here is food for your soul. And the Lord has reminded us of this by commanding us to be partakers of the Lord's Supper. He has given us a command. The clear ordinance of the church And He's given us for many reasons and it teaches us many things, but one is our need to feed on Christ. To regularly feed on Christ. And so when we sit at the Lord's Supper, we hear those words.

This is my body, which is broken for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you. Not literally, of course. It is just bread and it is just wine and it only stays bread and it stays wine. But he is reminding us through the regular remembrance of the Lord's Supper that we must continually feed on the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We must keep coming back. to the finished work of the cross. That's where the blessing is found. It's found in daily repentance and daily dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ. That will strengthen your soul. Peter is commissioned to feed the sheep with this message. But hear the message and keep hearing it.

Christ and him crucified. You know, in the Old Testament, we read that account of Elisha, and he goes to the woman and the barrel of meal, and she says that she has only a little bit left and it's soon to be gone. And he says, but the barrel of meal will never fail. And it doesn't. Christ crucified is like a barrel of meal.

It will never fail to feed your soul. Eat. Take in this good food. But we must move on. So it is the importance of Christ crucified. But remember also the need of milk and the need of meat. Milk and meat. Peter himself tells us, desire the sincere milk of the word. This will be good for your soul. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. Well, milk is simple food. It's food that babies can eat and digest. It's simple and easy to take in and is good for us.

We need it, says Peter. Desire it and you'll grow with it. Yes, you need the simple gospel. You need that good milk. You need that which is, if you like, easy to take in, but will strengthen you and do you good. Never despise the simple truth of the gospel. Never despise that which even the babe in Christ can partake of. Whatever age you're in, whatever you are, whether you're a lamb or whether you're a sheep, whether you're a newborn or whether you are many years in the way, you will benefit from the milk, from the simple gospel.

But we're also told of the need for stronger meat as well. How we need to feed on Something more hearty, if you like. Something more deep. To take on the stronger meat. And so, value the simplicity, but do not despise the depth. Do not cast one out in focusing on the other. Take them both. Take in the milk and take in the meat.

You know, there's something wonderful about seeking with God's help to plumb the depths of the truth of God. Plumb the depth, there's so much to be there. We can think of Christ and him crucified. That's milk, isn't it? That's a simple truth that the youngest child and the youngest in the faith can understand. Christ in the sinner's place. Christ instead of me. My death was laid on him. His life is mine. That's simple milk for the soul, and that will do you good. Come back to it. Keep taking it. And we can all understand it, and it's a blessing to us. But when you dwell on Christ crucified, we see more. When we seek to take in the meat, Christ crucified also shows us who God is.

It shows us that He is the Son of God. It shows us something of the utter ruin of man, of the wretchedness of sin, of the deserving that sin does this to us. It shows us that here is the son of God, but also the son of man, his deity and his humanity, Christ in the flesh. It tells us the price of sin, the awfulness of his suffering, the darkness, the despair, the wrath of God. It tells us what death is. It tells us what resurrection is. It tells us what heaven is. You see, the more we think about it, the more we see.

There's a simple truth, but there's meat. Take in the meat as well as the milk. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Understand, Peter, that the lambs might not be able to take it all in. Understand that the lambs might only, for some time, be able to take in the milk. Do not berate them. Do not throw them out the flock. Feed them. Cause them to strengthen and to grow with this good food and encourage them to eat. This food then must be milk and meat. And, as part of that, of course, It must be wholesome food. It needs to be good food.

You know what it's like, don't you? When you feel like having a good feast of junk food. Something that's easy to eat, something that's gonna satisfy you for a bit, and it's gonna fill you up. But it's no good. It's unhealthy. and the quick sugar fix will pass. It fills you up for a bit and then it's gone.

The sheep need wholesome food. They need good food, something for the soul. And just like the junk food of our natural lives, it can perhaps be tempting sometimes to seek the quick fix of spiritual blessing. Some quick emotional experience, some quick outward performance, some quick good feel moment. But it comes, and it's gone. And it's not really done us good. not long term. We need good, wholesome food. Food that will strengthen and equip and will really bless us. Food that will be our strength when we need it.

Not that high, which disappears so quickly that then when we enter into trouble, when we enter into temptation, when our faith is challenged, we don't know where we're at. We don't know what to say. And it's almost as if it's all disappeared because the froth that was on the top has faded away. We need food that will strengthen us that we have an answer in that moment of temptation. We have strength in that moment of trial. We have somewhere to go to when we're struggling. And we need food that will equip us for those moments.

And so you might think sometimes you might come to the end of a Sunday service and you might say, there was nothing for me there. There was no particular blessing for me there. I'm very disappointed today. Well, sadly, sometimes that's true. And I know that's grieving.

But you see, the Lord may well have blessed you. with something, with some food that will be your strength later in the week. Yes, there wasn't a moment that you particularly mark out in that service, but there was some food and you'll go back to it when you're in that time of need. That will be good for your soul. Take something wholesome and pray that the truth that you hear will sink down into your heart and into your mind, that it will be there. for when you need it.

Wholesome food. And one last point. You need to eat regularly. Eat regularly. You might have a very good memory, but I suspect if I asked you all to pass your mind over the last week and tell me what you had for each meal, you wouldn't be able to tell me.

We eat. It was good for us. It strengthened us. We enjoyed it. Remember, food is given for our enjoyment as well as just naturally to strengthen us. We don't remember every meal. But we did regularly eat. And some meals were large meals, family meals, where we sat down for a good length of time. Some meals were quick meals, where we had something by ourselves quickly and we had to move on. But all those meals were necessary. And they all did us good. And so, eat regularly. Have those regular meals by yourself, if you like.

That devotional life. That time when the Lord feeds you in his word. And perhaps it may only be a few minutes, but don't despise that. Take the food that he gives. But don't think that's the only food you need. Don't think that's a substitute for the gathering. for the time when you can have the good meal, the good strong meal with his people in fellowship with the church and you can hear together the preaching of God's word. I will take in that food as well. Come and hear it. You see, you need this regular feeding or you'll become poor and weak.

You know, some people look on observance of the Lord's Day, regular meetings, same time every week, evening and the morning, a midweek meeting, and they look on and they say, well, that's so legalistic. You're so set in your ways. You need to change, you need to ditch some of those meetings. You need to become, you need to change that. You've got into a ritual, into a pattern. Well, I know rituals and patterns sometimes can be unhealthy and sometimes we have to think of these things.

But you know, the Lord is giving us a good, solid meal. Do you look on your evening meals, I don't know if you have a set time, let's say you meet at six o'clock, do you get round the table at six o'clock with your family and you say, this is so legalistic, this is so ritualistic, what on earth are we doing here eating this dinner? We do it every day. Of course you don't, because you need it. And so we come and we desire and we should expect God's blessing when we come to hear his word. Come and eat regularly.

Just to close, in the book of Genesis we read of a famine in the land of Egypt. And here, after those seven years of plenty, the people have come into this dreadful time And what are they to do? Where are they to go? Well, where is the food? While they come, we read in Genesis 41, the people of the land of Egypt famished. The people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph. That's where the food is. He's been storing it, and he will provide. Go to Joseph. Now, in the spiritual sense, in our Lord Jesus Christ, that's what God is saying to us tonight. We're famished, we need food. Say, Lord, what am I to do? I'm weak in soul, struggling in my faith. What am I to do?

And the Lord says, go to Joseph. Go to Jesus, go to Christ and Him crucified and He will feed your soul. This is what Peter was told to do. Go. God has given you the food. God has given you the blessing. He's given you the love. Now go in love to me and in love to my people and go distribute. Go feed my flock. and the flock will find that the food that is given will be sweet to their taste. Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And he said unto him, feed my sheep. Amen.

Feeding the Lambs and Sheep

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about feeding the flock?

How do we know the importance of feeding God's people?

Why is love for Christ essential in ministry?

How should Christians receive spiritual food?

Why is a Christ-centered ministry important?

Sermon Transcript

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Feeding the Lambs and Sheep

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about feeding the flock?

How do we know the importance of feeding God's people?

Why is love for Christ essential in ministry?

How should Christians receive spiritual food?

Why is a Christ-centered ministry important?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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