Part Three - Forsaken Sheep & Forsaking Shepherds

Picking up where Part Two left off…

In Part Two we said it plainly — the need was deeper than lights, music, or programmes. The need was for shepherds who shepherd. We named what the sheep are up against: tired souls, bold wolves, unprotected lambs, wandering ones uncounted, and the Word thinned out under the noise of the modern church. And we ended on this — under-shepherding doesn't begin with a title; it begins with three names and a willing heart.

Now in Part Three we have to turn the mirror the other way. If the cry of the flock was real — and it is — then this question can't be dodged any longer: what about the shepherds who aren't shepherding? Somewhere along the line, somebody stopped. And the sheep have been paying the price ever since.

This is a hard word — and it must be said in love. Because the church will never recover what she has lost while we keep dressing it up as something else.

There are lost people sitting in our pews. There are wandering people on the membership roll. There are wounded people who have stopped coming and nobody has rung. There are young believers being raised on entertainment instead of truth. And in many cases, the reason is plainer than we want to admit — the shepherds have forsaken them.

This is not an attack on the church. It is a love letter to it — written from the heart of a God who refuses to watch His sheep scatter and say nothing.

God's own words on shepherds who fail

If there is one chapter every leader — and every believer — should read on their knees, it is [Ezekiel 34 KJV]. Read it slowly. Read it whole. It is the most sobering chapter in Scripture on shepherds who fail their flock.

Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?… The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them [Ezekiel 34:2, 4 KJV].

That is not Old Testament history. That is a mirror. And until shepherds are willing to stand in front of it, nothing in the church changes.

The marks of a forsaking shepherd or a forsaking church

Marks to test honestly:

• Feeds itself, not the flock.

• Teaches programmes, not Scripture.

• Counts attendance, not souls.

• Welcomes the strong and ignores the weak.

• Drives the sheep instead of leading them.

• Will not go after the one that has wandered off.

• Does not equip the saints to shepherd one another.

If any of these fit — not condemnation, but conviction. There is grace, and there is time, and there is a Chief Shepherd ready to restore. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [1 John 1:9 KJV].

The half of the warning many leave out

This is the part most messages on shepherding skip — and it must be said. Many churches are not even teaching their people how to shepherd.

The ministry gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ [Ephesians 4:11-12 KJV]. That means equipping every believer to do the work — not creating a holy professional class to do it for them.

If the platform does all the shepherding, the pews will produce no shepherds. And when those few platform shepherds burn out, move on, or fall — the flock has no one. Because no one was ever taught.

This is why so many believers feel lost in their own church. Nobody has come for them. Nobody has fed them. Nobody has shown them how to feed anyone else. The body has been treated as an audience, not a flock.

God's own response when shepherds fail

God does not stand back forever. Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord… Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand… For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out [Ezekiel 34:9-11 KJV].

If men will not shepherd His people, He will shepherd them Himself — and He will require an answer from those who would not.

That is sobering. That should drive every leader, every elder, every small-group host, every parent, every believer to their knees. Because the question is not whether He will ask. The question is what we will say when He does.

Walk-it-out step

Take an honest hour before God this week. Just one. Sit with Him and ask plainly: Have I forsaken anyone You gave me to care for? Has my church forsaken anyone we should have gone after? Then act on what He shows you. A phone call. A visit. A conversation. A repentance.

The Chief Shepherd is gentle with shepherds who repent. He is firm with shepherds who won't.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work [Colossians 1:10 KJV].

God bless you — and may none of His sheep be forsaken on our watch…

Key Takeaways:

Lost, wandering, and wounded sheep are often the fruit of shepherds who have stopped shepherding [Jeremiah 23:1 KJV].

Ezekiel 34 is a mirror — God's own diagnosis of shepherds who feed themselves and fail the flock [Ezekiel 34:2-4 KJV].

The marks of a forsaking shepherd can be tested honestly — and met with conviction, not condemnation [1 John 1:9 KJV].

The other half of the warning is that many churches are not teaching their people to shepherd at all [Ephesians 4:11-12 KJV].

When shepherds will not shepherd, God Himself searches out His sheep — and requires an answer from those who would not [Ezekiel 34:9-11 KJV].