The resurrected Christ shepherds us first in the initial stage of enjoyment in green pastures and at waters of rest (Psa. 23:1-2). Because He is our Shepherd, we will lack nothing (Phil. 1:19b). Right after we were saved, we entered into this first stage of enjoyment. In John 21 the Lord Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. When Peter said that he did love the Lord, the Lord charged him to feed His lambs (v. 15). We need to be like nursing mothers to cherish and feed the little ones under our care (1 Thes. 2:7). Right after a child is delivered, a mother feeds the child so he can grow.
In the initial stage of the enjoyment of Christ, the lambs, the infants, feed on Christ as the green pasture (John 10:9). Infants do not have table manners. All the little lambs lie down to eat the pasture without any thought of manners. Christ makes us to lie down, not sit down in a mannerly way, in green pastures. This kind of eating, without the thought for proper manners, is more enjoyable. The little lamb lying down in the pasture and eating the grass does not have to worry about proper table manners. This is just like an infant lying in the bosom of his nursing mother. No table manners are necessary.
We have been feeding the little lambs, the new ones in the Lord, for many years. They do not have any "manners" in their enjoyment of Christ. It seems that they can say everything. A new one may say, "Yes, I have been saved, but I don't feel much that the Lord is so good." This is not polite. We may be feeding this new one, but he is without "manners." This is because he is a lamb who is "lying down," not "sitting," to enjoy the Lord as the green pastures.
He also leads us to waters of rest (Psa. 23:2b; 1 Cor. 12:13b). The green pastures are Christ, and the waters of rest are the Spirit. The Spirit is the restful waters. When we go to take care of the new ones, we must not only feed them with Christ but also help them to drink of the Spirit. We must help them to call on the name of the Lord and to pray. This is to help them to drink the Spirit by exercising their spirit.
In partaking of a meal, drinking should always go along with eating. When I eat a meal I usually have two glasses of water. Then I have a comfortable and restful time of eating. The waters we drink are very restful. If someone served us food without anything to drink, this would not be so pleasant or restful. We would not have a comfortable feeling. This is why we need Christ as the pasture and the Spirit as the waters of rest. Actually, the pastures and the waters refer to the same person. In one aspect, He is our pasture, our food, to feed us. In another aspect, He is the life-giving Spirit as waters to bring us the proper rest. Both the pastures and the waters are the resurrected pneumatic Christ as the life-giving Spirit.