Summary: The Naked Church - Chapter - 11. O Dem Golden Shepherds --snip-- Jesus inaugurated a brokerless kingdom, one in which his Father’s personal care for people and his authority over them would be shared with no earthly leader. His revolutionary words and actions engaged people in God’s life directly and nothing could have threatened the religious leadership of his day more. He invited fishermen, homemakers, tax-collectors, prostitutes and beggars into God’s life. Every person, from the least to the greatest, could know him and walk in his ways. That is the nature of his kingdom, and nothing destroys the reality of intimacy for God’s people more than those who claim to be leaders in his church and by whatever means insert their lives between the flock and the shepherd. As we shall see, leadership in the New Testament never takes that place. They do not represent Jesus in his absence, but only hold value as they equip other people to know the living God themselves. “There shall be one flock and one shepherd,” Jesus stated in John 10. What do we see when we look at the so-called church today—thousands upon thousands of flocks and thousands upon thousands of shepherds? Do you see the connection? Many shepherds leads to many flocks. Human leaders almost always divide the flock by their own expectations, programs, and traditions.Only when we recognize that he alone is the true shepherd will the flock be able to live out the unity he gives it. We have no king but Jesus, and in these days he is calling his flock back to himself, away from the regimentation and exploitations of human leadership, so that he can truly have first place in every heart who seeks him. --snip-- The Naked Church - Chapter - 11. O Dem Golden Shepherds Podcast
