The Gospel of John, as the Gospel of life, unveils to us that Christ is not only life (11:25; 14:6) for Him to be life to us that through Him we may be regenerated by God, but also a good Shepherd (10:10b-11, 14, 16) who feeds and shepherds us as His flock. In Song of Songs the Lord instructs His lover to go to the place where He pastures His sheep by following the footsteps of His flock (1:7-8). Later, He also pastures His flock among the lilies, that is, among those who seek the Lord and live a life of trusting in God with a pure heart (2:16; 6:3).
After their spiritual birth, as newborn babes, the children of God need the feeding and the shepherding of Christ, as He charged Peter, His first apostle, to take care of the believers as His lambs and sheep by feeding and shepherding them (John 21:15-17). John 21 is an appendix to the Gospel of John. In this appendix Christ came in resurrection to the apostles to charge Peter to feed the Lord’s lambs and to shepherd His sheep.
In the church life Christ as the Head distributes His gifts to the mature ones, among whom are the shepherds, for the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12). We all need some shepherds to come to perfect us. This is needed for the vital groups. Vital groups must be groups of God-men.
Christ, who is the believers’ Redeemer, Savior, and life, becomes the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and the great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20), who shepherds His believers as their Overseer (1 Pet. 2:25). The Chief Shepherd is Peter’s word; the great Shepherd is Paul’s word. All of God’s believers should be under this one Shepherd, who cares for the believers as their Overseer. The churches are so weak because they are missing the vital groups with Christ as the Chief Shepherd and Overseer. I hope that in these next few years we will practice anew the vital groups with the elements of feeding and shepherding. If we do not know how to feed and shepherd others, we cannot have the vital groups.
Shepherding includes feeding, especially in taking care of the newborn ones, and for the feeding of the newborn ones, milk is the best (1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor. 3:2a; Heb. 5:13); the apostle Paul likened himself to such a nursing mother (1 Thes. 2:7).
Both the feeding and the shepherding are for the God-men’s growth in the divine life of God for their daily salvation (1 Pet. 2:2b). We need God’s organic salvation to be our daily salvation. First Peter 2:2 says that the newborn babes desire the milk from God’s word that they may grow unto salvation, the daily salvation. We need to be saved from such things as losing our temper, criticizing others, mistreating others, and even lying. We need an everyday salvation from such sinful practices. We can be saved by being fed with the milk of the word.
Even in such a great and deep book like Ephesians, Paul said that the one who steals should steal no more (4:28). Such a high and deep book still has such a lower charge. If there were a stealer among us, perhaps we would feel that he is not saved. But Paul indicated that such saved ones are in need of a daily salvation. They need to have Ephesians 4:28 for their morning watch: “He who steals should steal no more.”
Paul also spoke in Ephesians about honoring our parents (6:1-3). All the young people among us need this word. Also, regardless of how old a person becomes, he should still honor his parents. A brother talks to his own children in one way, but to his parents in another way. The way in which we speak to our parents must be in an honoring way. In today’s age some children address their parents by their first name. This is not an honoring or respectful way to speak to one’s parents. For such daily-life sins, we need a daily salvation by feeding on the milk of the word. Then we can grow unto daily salvation.