"What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it...........There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Lk.15:4,7).

It was not a goat that the shepherd went seeking. It was a sheep - a sheep that had once been in the fold. This parable refers to a born-again believer who has backslidden. But he has not left the church in a spirit of rebellion. Like a sheep, he went astray through carelessness. Perhaps he was deceived. Perhaps, because of his weakness, he was overpowered by attractions that proved to be too much for him. The Good Shepherd goes after such a sheep UNTIL He finds it. We who are under-shepherds must do the same. We must go after those who have backslidden from the church through carelessness, Satanic deception and their lusts.

One of the charges that the Lord made against the shepherds of Israel, 600 years before the birth of Christ was this:

"The sheep that are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost.....and they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth; and there was no-one to search or seek for them.........Behold I am against these shepherds.......Behold I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.......I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day" (Ezek.34:1-12).

Many sheep are lost on a cloudy and gloomy day - a day when they are discouraged and depressed by the pressure of some trial or sorrow that proves to be too much for them. The Lord says that He will seek for such sheep and bring them back. He seeks for them through "shepherds after His own heart" (Jerem.3:15). It must be the longing of all of us in the church - both brothers and sisters - to be shepherds after God's own heart, who can seek out the many lost sheep around us today.

There are many who are ready to criticise and condemn such sheep saying that they should not have wandered so close to the edge of the cliff, or that they should have stayed in the midst of the flock and not wandered off by themselves seeking other pastures, or that they should not have listened to the voices of the false shepherds, etc., etc., There is no dearth of specialists who are ready to give an accurate analysis of the reasons for the backsliding of these sheep. What is sadly lacking is shepherds after God's own heart who will go after these lost sheep and bring them back to the fold. This is the great need in the church today.

There are two types of leaders in the church too. The good ones are like shepherds and fathers. The self-seeking ones are like hirelings and tutors. It is by our attitude towards backsliders that we can discern which category we fit in to.

Just like true shepherds are rare in the church, true fathers are rare too. Just like hirelings abound on every hand, teachers who seek their own, abound too. Why? Because it is easier to be a hireling than to be a shepherd, and it is easier to be a teacher in the church than a father. It costs heart-pain and burden and battling in prayer against the wolves and the roaring adversaries, if we are to be fathers and shepherds. And most people don't want to pay such a price to serve the Lord or to build the church. Most people try to build the church cheaply.

Paul, as a true father to the failing, carnal Corinthian Christians, told them, "I do not want to shame you. Even if you have countless teachers in Christ,yet you do not have many fathers. In Christ Jesus I became your father" (1 Cor.4:14,15).

The father (in Jesus' parable) did not put his repentant son on probation for six months. Nor did he make him live in the servant's quarters. No. He believed in him, and had hope for him. "Love believes all things and hopes all things" (1 Cor.13:7) A true father will never, never shame his children or reveal their faults to others, even when they backslide. Teachers in schools and colleges however rejoice to make their students' follies known to others. By our attitude towards the faults and failings of others, we can know whether we are fathers or teachers.

The Lord is looking for true fathers and shepherds in the church.