Why Does Paul Never Call Believers Sheep?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to see everybody in again, and you know, I always have to explain to my television audience why I say the things I do. I want them to know that you all go out and get a cup of coffee, and we've got to get you back in here for the next half hour. So when I say I'm to see you all back, I'm glad you're not still out there drinking coffee. Well, anyway, we're going to just pick up where we left off. But before that, we always like to let our television audience know that all our past programs are available on videotape, audio, and the little printed book. Jerry over here does all our transcribing, and I just told him at break time he'll never know. He'll never know what he's been able to do, because especially the prison inmates just love those little books. And they would have never been possible had Jerry and Lorna not put so much work into them. So anyway, if you're ever interested in any of our materials, you just simply call or write us, and we'll send you a list that shows the subject matter of each one of these. And we send them out, I think, a very nominal cost. The six-hour video is $30, postage paid. The six hours of audio is $22, and then the little booklet we send out for $6. And we just appreciate all the letters and all the financial help that comes in, because we can't do it without it. You know, I don't ask for money on this program, but the fact of the matter is we have to pay TV bills. So we do appreciate so much your mail. In fact, I just told somebody the other day, we can open letter after letter after letter, and there is never a word of opposition. Once in a while, somebody will disagree with me, but it's never nasty. And we just praise the Lord for that, because I don't think I can handle it if people would just tear me up one side and down the other. So anyway, you continue to pray for us, all of you, and we'll just trust that the Lord will accomplish what He wants done. Okay, now let's go back. Jerry's got it on the board. We'll pick up now where we just left off in the last program, Ephesians 4, and continuing on in verse 15, that as we continue to share the gospel, the truth of the name of Christ, and do it in the spirit of love, that we can grow up. And I think it means just exactly what it says. We were talking in the last program about babes who had to start with the milk. But just like a child in ordinary physical life, you don't want them to stay a three-year-old. Oh, they're sweet back there at three. I'm not too crazy about two-year-olds. By the time they get to be three, I can handle them, and they are. They're sweet. But you still wouldn't want them to stay there as a three-year-old. You want them to grow up, and it's the same way spiritually. God intends that babe in Christ, whether he's, like I said last program, whether he's nine or ninety, that's the point. But when we begin this Christian walk, and we know we're saved, He expects a growth process. And so we're to grow up, but not into a self-sufficient mode, but we're to grow up into Him, into Christ, where we are totally dependent on Him. And what are the next three words? In all things. Now, you know, most believers think that this is just for Sunday, but it isn't. This is for seven days a week. This is for every circumstance of life that our Christian experience is part and parcel of our everyday walk, whether it's myself out in the boondocks of southeastern Oklahoma, and amongst the cattle, or whether it's you in a big office full of computers, or whether you're a professional man. That doesn't make any difference. We are to be constantly growing up in Christ, and let it permeate into every aspect of life. And we are to grow up into Him that is in Christ, who is the Head. Now again, I've got to be careful that I don't walk into a buzzsaw of opposition, and so I'm not going to set this in concrete, but have you ever realized that Paul never refers to us as sheep? You ever thought of that? Paul never refers to us as believers as sheep, or Christ as the shepherd. Israel always. See, there's always that analogy of the shepherd and his sheep. Psalms 23, you all know that. And then you get into John's Gospel, chapter 10, and what do you got? The good shepherd chapter, I am the shepherd of the sheep. But see, Paul never uses that terminology. And I think I can see why. Instead, he uses the analogy of Christ is the Head, and we're the body. Now look at the difference between a shepherd and his sheep, and the Head with all of its central nervous system, with the brain, and the mind, and everything like that, and the body. What a difference, see? What a difference. And that's what I think Paul is trying to drive home to us, that we're not just like a bunch of sheep, we are an intricate part of the Head who is in heaven. And that's why God is just as anxious for us to get up there with Him as we are to go. And I'm finding that believers today are getting more anxious all the time to get out of here. The world's going to say, good riddance, but oh my, we're anxious to get out of here. And He's anxious for us to come. Remember I pointed that out back in Ephesians 1, that we are the complement, which is the same word that was used back in Genesis when God brought Eve to Adam. She was to be his what? Complement. In other words, Adam was never complete until Eve was at his side. Well, the Bible gives the same inclination of Christ toward us, the body, that He doesn't consider Himself complete until He has the complement in His presence. And so everything is moving in that direction. All right, so the Head. Let's just look at a few references again, because it's a term that Paul uses over and over, that we are the body and He is the Head. Of course, the first one that I trust most of you now almost know like your name and address is 1 Corinthians 12. And oh my goodness, everything from verse 12 on to the end speaks of this analogy, that we are members of the body and Christ is the Head. But let's just start at verse 12, because this is a Pauline doctrine, the Body of Christ. And I'm always stressing, no other portion of Scripture, the Gospels, the Old Testament, the Book of Acts, Revelation, none of it speak of the Body of Christ, only Paul. And he just about brings it to the surface every chance he gets. Now here is one in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12, "...for as the body," this human body, "...is one, and has many members." My, this body is just made up of all kinds of members. Fingers, hands, eyes, ears, these are all separate members of the body. And so they're all members, being many, yet they're one body. So also is Christ, or the implication is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is not just one person. The Body of Christ is not just one great evangelist or some great Bible scholar. The Body of Christ is everything from the greatest to the least, and we all function as one. Then verse 13, a verse we look at so often, "...for by one Spirit," the Holy Spirit, "...are we all," and I always emphasize that word, "...all." Not just those who have had a special revelation, not just those who seemingly are more elite in their faith than the rest of us, but every one of us, regardless of our station in life or our station in our spiritual maturity, we have all been baptized into one body, the Body of Christ. And whether we be bound or free, and then I always put in there just the same, black or white, red or yellow, doesn't make any difference, we have all been made to drink into or partake of the one Spirit. Verse 14, "...for the body is not one member, but many." Then he comes on through, and we're not going to take time to read all those, but all the way up to verse 27. This is the capstone of all. Now Paul says, "...you," as he writes to us, "...you are the Body of Christ." But we're members in what? In particular. In other words, are we lost in the whole? Does God lose sight of us when we become a member of the Body? No! He's aware of each and every one of us as an individual. He knows us by name, even though we're in the composite whole. And this is the beauty of it all. We function as one, we all have the same kind of salvation, we all have the same hope of glory, we all have all these blessings that are spiritual, and yet we do not lose our individuality. We're still a distinct person, but we're members of the Body. Let's come back to Ephesians chapter 1, because as I said when I started the study in Ephesians, this is higher ground, and this is a positional book, and so being a member of the Body is a positional thing. God placed us in the Body, He positioned us. Ephesians chapter 1, and let's read verse 22 with it. Ephesians 1, verse 22, "...and he hath put all things under his," that is Christ's feet, "...and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body." See, that's the way you have to read it. Don't stop at verse 22 and say that He gave all things to the church. No, He gave it to the church which is His Body. Big difference, big difference. Normally people think of the church as any edifice on the corner, regardless of what the handle may be. It's still a church, but that's not the church Paul's talking about. He's talking about the church which is His Body, which hopefully most of these churches sitting on the corner will have some of their people in the Body at least. So they're in the Body, and then you come down to that same book of Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, starting at verse 14. Now this is a review, we just had this several programs ago, but verse 14 of Ephesians 2, "...he is our peace, who hath made both one." Now who are the both? Jew and Gentile, see? Jew and Gentile. Oh now hold your hand there a minute, a verse comes to mind. You know now this is the way I teach, don't I? Okay, come back to Romans. Back to Romans, and this of course is what got Paul in trouble. Romans chapter 3, starting at verse 9, and then we're going to skip over, honey, to verse 22. Same chapter, but verse 22. Romans 3, verse 9. What then, Paul asks, are we, and what's implied? Jews. Are we Jews better than they? Who are the they? Gentile. See the question? Are we Jews better than those Gentiles? Now back before Paul, what would the answer have been? Absolutely, absolutely, because beginning with Israel's experience in Egypt, what did God tell them? I have put a division between you and the Egyptians, and never again will you be like the rest of the world around you. And so they went through those 1500 years with that mentality, that they were a favored people, and they were. Don't ever take that away from them. But now in the age of grace, they've lost that place of privilege, and now Paul can say, there is no difference, see? We're not better than they. Read on, verse 9. No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are, what's the next word? All under sin. In fact, I put it this way to one of my class here in Oklahoma the other night. Have you ever wondered why God, in the whole scheme of things, did put the nation of Israel in that place of privilege? You ever wondered why? Well, I think I've got the answer. To show that after, well if you want to go all the way back to Abraham, it'd be 2000 years. If you want to go back to Moslem law, it'd be 1500 years. But whatever, for that 2000 year period of time, they were in that place of privilege, they were under the covenant promises, and God dealt with them in miraculous ways. The Messiah came and walked in the midst of them, but after everything was all said and done, were they any better than the pagan Gentiles around them? No. And that was the proof of the pudding. That even though they had all these special things going for them, in the final analysis, their old Adam was just as corrupt as ours is. Now that should tell us something, shouldn't it? That we're all the sons of Adam. All right, now skip over to the other verse in chapter 3, which is verse 22. Again, I have to take verse 21 with it. But now, if I had more time, I'd go back over verse 19 and 20, but I won't take time for that. But verse 21, but now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, put in the spotlight, and it was witnessed by the law and the prophets. In other words, again, I used the verse in the beginning of the last half hour. How much Scripture is profitable? All. All Scripture is profitable. That takes you back to Genesis 1-1, to the very last verse of Revelation 22. It's all profitable. All right, and so everything that I teach from Paul is not to be just lifted out and throw the rest of it away, because it all rests on that which went before. And so this is what he's saying now, that all of this was witnessed by that which went before, the law, the prophets, the Old Testament. Now verse 22. "...even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe." And then how does the verse end? There is no difference. Don't you love that? Oh, I do. There is no difference. The Jew with all of his historical background doesn't stand on any higher ground with God today than I do, or you. There is no difference. In other words, today in our sports language, we would say God leveled the playing field. Isn't that right? He leveled the playing field, and we all end up as sinners because we were born of Adam. Now I haven't had that on the board a long time. I hope I can remember it. I put it on the board months and months ago. We are not sinners who remembers the rest, because we sin. Now that's the logical conclusion, see? We're sinners because we do all these awful things, but we're not. We're not sinners because we sin, but what's the other one? We sin because we're sinners, see? Oh, you've got it. We sin because we are sinners. Now that again, what does that do? That levels the playing field, because you see, you and I can't look down our nose at the poor alcoholic and say, well, if you would live like I live, you wouldn't have your trouble. No, uh-uh. He's not a sinner because he's an alcoholic. He has become an alcoholic because he has that old sin nature from Adam, and oh, that's a level playing field. Every one of us are the same level area when God has to find us in our sin because we're children of Adam, and a lot of people don't understand that. They think that some people are just naturally good enough that they're going to make it because they were never sinners. I've got news for them. The Bible makes it so plain that we aren't all sinners until we're saved. In fact, I thought of it the other night, and maybe I'm not the first, but we normally like to put the whole human race into two categories, don't we? Jews and Gentiles. But there are three, and what are they? The Jew, the Gentile, and members of the body. Those are the three classes of people today—a Jew, a Gentile, or a member of the body. Because you see, as soon as we become a member of the body, we lose our ID so far as Jew or Gentile, because we're all one. But outside the body, they still have their distinctiveness. But listen, Paul says that when it comes to the matter of spiritual and salvation, there is no difference. Now do you see why they plagued Paul every step of the way? Hey, they didn't like that, and I can understand it. I mean they were in that place of privilege, and then all of a sudden have one little Jew pull that out from under them? And so they did. They fought it tooth and nail, see? But all right, now let's come back to Ephesians chapter 4, verse 16. Ephesians 4, verse 16, "...from whom," that is, from Christ who is the head, not from the shepherd and we the sheep, but from our head which is connected to the body, "...from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted." Now I looked up that word, compacted, the other night in the Greek, and you know what I like a better one is? Like knitting it, like something that's been knit or woven. Now have you ever seen one of these ladies that can read a book? We had one gal on our last tour to Israel, she's normally here, no, she was from Indiana, wasn't she? That was Charlotte. Oh man, as we were driving that bus, she could be talking a mile a minute, but those old needles were just going like crazy, see? Without missing a beat. Well, what was her finished product? Something that was intricately woven together. Well, now that's what God has been doing with you and I, see, nonstop for the last 1900 years. He's been intricately weaving us into the body of Christ. Now that's quite a position, isn't it? All right, reading on, "...so he has put the whole body fitly joined together and compacted," or actually knitted together, "...by that which every joint supplieth according to the effects of working in the measure of every part." Now again, every part of our body has a unique function. As we get older, the arthritis begins to come up, and those old joints begin to stiffen up. And I've told my wife, oh, I said, if I could just put a grease zerk on them, you know, if I could just pump in a shot of grease and just smooth everything out, see, well, under normal circumstances that is the function of the joint. Keeps those things well lubricated, you know, and all that, but that's the way the body functions. The eye, do you ever take for granted your tears? How long would your eyes last if there were no tears? Well, they'd get dry as powder, and you'd be out of luck. But what's the purpose? To make everything function. Now God does the same thing with you and I in the body of Christ. We all have a unique function. A lot of people don't realize that. And it can be in a million different little ways. Some can do it by just simply prayer. Some can do it by maybe writing little notes to those who need to be heard from. Some of you can exhort people to encourage them to move on, and oh, you could just go on and on. Those are all things that make the body function, see, and we're all part of that. Okay, reading on then in verse 16, that which every joint supply of, and that's the reference he's making, that every part of our body function, the things that make it work are there. And it's all according to the effectual working in the measure of every part. Now, casual reading, this may get kind of boring, but don't read it casually. Read it like we are now, that this is the impact of it, that all the parts of the body of Christ are functioning for its unique purpose, and now reading on, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Now I don't know, I hope I'm not twisting this out of context, but what do you suppose he's referring here to when he says, increasing the body? Well I think it's soul winning. This is what he wants us to do. We are to be out there a testimony of God's grace. We are to be showing forth a product that the lost world should want, and we are to be reproducing. In fact, let's come back to Romans, I think it's chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, yeah, verse 4. Romans chapter 7, verse 4. I suppose some people sit out there and say, someday that guy is going to want to find a verse and he can't find it, and I worry about that myself. But I think the Lord usually provides, well here's the verse I wanted. Romans 7, verse 4. Wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. There it is again, see? And it's that crucified body this time, the one that was hung on the cross, that you should be, what's the next word? Married to another, that is to Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead. And here again, this is all just a part and parcel of the same kind of a picture. We are to be brought into the body, it's to be just like a marriage relationship, and in the original scheme of things, what was the true purpose of marriage? Children, isn't that right? Alright, now look at this verse. What is the true purpose of our being married to Christ? Offspring, see? That we should bring forth fruit unto God. But what's the fruit? Lost people that we can win, see? And as that we cause the body of Christ to grow. Now I haven't got time, only got a few seconds left. But you see, those of us who are hoping for the Lord to come, I've always stressed, how can we hasten the Lord's coming? Soul winning. Because as soon as the body of Christ is complete, whenever that is, when the body of Christ is complete, it's going to go home. It's going to be delivered. And so let's get out and win the lost, and fill up the body. In fact, have I got time, Sharon? No, I guess not. Yeah, 30 seconds is a long time in an NBA game. That's a long time in an NBA game. Romans 11 verse 25, where he says, "...O that blindness in part has happened to Israel until..." What kind of a word is it? Time word. "...Blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be brought in." What's that? The body of Christ, complete. Okay, made it. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Okla., 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Okla., 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick, is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.