Our Postures—Part Three

As I shared in the previous blogs, Toni and I spend time together at the beginning of each year seeking God’s heart for Forgiving Forward. The key question we ask is, “Lord, what do You want us to ask You for in the coming year?” This year, as Toni and I sat together, listening and processing, God took us back to the basics so that we could codify what had been our heart posture all along. Biblically, a posture is a physical position in worship that reflects the heart's attitude of reverence towards God and our dependence on Him. The Lord gave us six postures—six mindsets—that will undergird and inform our prayers for Forgiving Forward.

All for God’s Glory
Jesus Focused
Shepherd Led
Gospel-Centric
Abiding Trust
Self Denied

This is the third in a series of blog posts unpacking each of the postures that guide the ministry of Forgiving Forward. In the previous blogs, we discussed “All for God's Glory” and “Jesus Focused.” The third posture is:

Shepherd Led

The mind of a person plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

Most organizations and ministries spend considerable time developing their ten-year, five-year, and one-year plans, as well as their purpose, mission, and value statements. The strategy is to develop their long-term plan, then break it down into manageable action steps to get them there in the short term. So naturally, we are often asked, “What is your ministry plan?” I always answer the same way. Our ministry plan is “Savior, like a Shepherd, lead us.” That’s it! That’s all I’ve got because that’s all we need.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with strategic plans. We have them, and we do use a calendar. We have a purpose statement, a passion statement, and a mission statement. They’re helpful in many ways as we lead Forgiving Forward, but they must be held loosely. We believe that the One who is the head of the ministry must be the One who guides the ministry. Jesus is the head of the ministry, and He gets to lead it. Our plan is to follow Him!

My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

John 10:27

Perhaps the most well-known imagery of God‘s relationship with His people is that of a shepherd and His sheep. Perhaps the most well-known example is Psalm 23, which begins, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” and goes on to describe the intimate ways that God cares for His people. Jesus is called “The Good Shepherd” and challenged Peter to “Feed My sheep.” Peter later exhorted the elders to “shepherd the flock of God among you…”

Everyone loves sheep. One of our favorite prints hanging on a wall in our house is of a shepherd leading his sheep over a terrain in Israel. One of our board members has sheep as the central part of her decorating plan. We sing hymns and worship songs about sheep. But what do we really know about sheep? Are we sure that being called “sheep” is a compliment?

If you do some research, you will find that sheep are not smart animals. In fact, they’re pretty dumb. They cannot survive on their own. They get lost and cannot find their way home. They are defenseless and are at the mercy of any predator they encounter. They are fearful and easily scattered. Simply put, sheep are utterly helpless creatures and are desperately dependent on their shepherd. He is the one who provides their food and water, protects them, and makes all their decisions for them. He leads, they follow. Otherwise, they are in trouble.

While being called a sheep may not be a compliment, it certainly is accurate. I find that on my own, I can be pretty dumb. Left to my own devices, I get lost, and I’m defenseless against the enemy. I make foolish decisions and end up making a mess of things. Every. Single. Time. Apart from Jesus, I know nothing and can do nothing. Without the Shepard leading me, I’m no help to anyone. I don’t think I’m alone in this. We all need a Shepherd to follow.

In 1979, Toni and I knelt and surrendered our life together to God as a blank sheet of paper for Him to use however He saw fit. We only asked that He use us for His Kingdom in such a way that everyone would know He did it, not us. As we look back on our lives, we can clearly see how God led us through the circumstances that He used to craft His life in us and prepare us to lead the ministry of Forgiving Forward. I don’t remember any of my well-crafted plans for our life working. Yet, in the process of learning to follow Him and choosing to follow His plans, we can trace His hand in leading us to all we experience God doing through us today.

“Savior, like a Shepherd, lead us” is our way of saying that we abide in Christ and that we walk by the Spirit. This is how we live. This is how we relate to each other. This is how we lead Forgiving Forward. This is how we teach. This is how we coach. It’s how we pray.

Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

Recently, I was invited to share the message of Forgiving Forward at Dallas Theological Seminary in Chapel, at two “Brown Bags" (i.e. lunch and learns), and to the student small group leaders of the Spiritual Formation Department. What a joy it was to share the transformational message of Gospel-centric forgiveness with the next generation of church leaders. We booked flights to stay for a week because I was scheduled to speak at a local church that Sunday. The Sunday assignment fell through, leaving us free on the Sunday we were in Dallas. In the back of my mind, I thought, “Lord, what's that about? I can’t wait to see.”

On the Friday morning after our time at DTS, we were having a late breakfast in our hotel. We were in our sweats, and I was wearing a ball cap. Right after we sat down at our table, I remembered that I had forgotten ketchup (don’t judge). As I got up to leave, Toni asked me to grab some napkins. As I was grabbing the napkins by the buffet line, a gentleman said to me, “You look like Andrew Hebel’s father.” “That’s only because I am!” It turns out that he knew Andrew when he was a student at DTS nine years ago. Small world, right? It gets better.

I led him over to meet Toni and get a selfie to send to Andrew. We then invited him to join us for breakfast. We learned that he had recently become the pastor of a small church that was still reeling from deep wounds inflicted by its previous pastor. At their Wednesday evening service that week, he had discussed the need to establish a vision strategy for the church. In tears, one of the ladies interrupted him and said, “We understand the need for this, but we are not ready. We’re still hurting, and we need to heal!” The pastor then looked at us and said, “You guys teach a message of forgiveness, don’t you?” I looked at Toni. She nodded back, and we smiled. The Shepherd was leading! To make a long story short, that Sunday I had the honor of sharing the Forgiving Forward message with this sweet group and led them to forgive the wounds of the past that were blocking their future. In addition, everyone could see how God orchestrated us being there that day, and the grateful pastor and his wife were encouraged.

This is what “Savior, like a shepherd, lead us” looks like.

God doesn't want our plans or need our advice. He just wants us to be His sheep. While He sometimes gives us His plans ahead of time, we find that most of the time He doesn’t. I think the reason for this is that He wants us to stay constantly connected and desperately dependent on our Shepherd in everything we say and do. He simply wants us to follow His lead.

“Follow Me”

Jesus

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