Being God’s Sheeple

Goats, especially hand-raised or tame ones, can be both infuriating and endearing. They are known for their cleverness and have a distinct rebellious streak – if they are aware of a rule (e.g. they must stay in the goat pen) they seem to spend a great deal of time trying to break it. Yet we often find their antics quite hilarious and their independent characters fascinating.

Sheep, on the other hand, are relatively uninteresting. Most breeds like to flock together and do what other sheep are doing. If all the sheep are staying in a pen where there is food and shelter, none of them will think of trying to escape. If they happen to get out accidentally, they try to get back to join their flock in the comforting pen. While they are easier to look after than goats, sheep are not exactly inspiring.

For these reasons, it is not surprising that many of us would prefer to be compared to goats rather than sheep. Being independently minded, strong-willed and possessing a mischievous or rebellious streak is admired in society. The goat nature is interesting and quirky, associated with daring adventure and creativity – doesn’t being a goat sound like fun? By contrast, the relatively new term ‘sheeple’ was coined as an insult to people who are perceived to follow the crowd because they are too dim-witted to think for themselves. The sheep nature is dumb and pathetic, associated with boring security and a lack of imagination – who wants to be a sheep?

As with many of society’s ideas and values, the Bible presents a very different idea of sheep and goats. In Jesus’ description of judgment day in Matthew 25:31-46, He calls the people who know and obey Him His sheep, while those who reject Him and His commands are described as goats. In many other places, Jesus refers to people as sheep and Himself as the Good Shepherd (e.g. John 10:1-6). This confirms a theme throughout the Bible, which includes the famous Psalm 23 where the author takes the place of a sheep that relies on the Lord as his Shepherd.

Of course, God knows the natures of sheep and goats, and He knows the nature of people too. Considering our natural aversion to the idea of being sheeple, could Jesus not have used other animals as metaphors for the saved and the lost? I believe that His choice was deliberate. Willingly seeing oneself as a sheep is one of the greatest hurdles for people who are considering Christianity, and the challenge does not end with salvation. Being a sheep means obeying the rules; it means submitting your thoughts to a greater Mind; it means giving up your own plans; it ultimately means surrendering your will and your life, thereby losing all independence and control. By choosing sheep as a metaphor for people, Jesus is laying down the same gauntlet that He describes as denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him (Matt. 16:24).

The struggle that we face in deciding to become God’s sheeple is made more difficult by false ideas in society, which are ultimately seeded by Satan’s lies. When we see through those lies and lay hold of the truth, we finally understand that our struggle is both foolish and harmful.

The first set of lies all serve to glorify ‘goat-hood’ – being strong-willed and independent – as an admirable way of life. Yet the very idea of being independent is an illusion. Human beings have a free will, but this does not make us truly independent. We are still created beings who need everything else that God has created in order to survive. Even those who believe that there is no God still use the oxygen, water and food provided in His creation. By His grace, God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). The lie of independence suggests that God’s gifts of free will and grace were somehow created by humans. If we truly were independent, we would be able to live by our will power alone without using anything external to us for survival. In reality, the self-styled ‘goats’ are really just lost sheep – just as dumb as any other sheep, only much more vulnerable because it is far from the Shepherd (Isaiah 53:6).

Being rebellious is also falsely glorified as being “strong-willed”. Boundaries of morality, ultimately set by God, are seen as unnecessarily suppressing our creativity and spoiling our fun. Since it is difficult to reconcile immorality with the other (false) belief that we are ‘good’ people, we either try to move the boundaries between good and evil to suit us, or pretend that these things don’t actually exist. Ultimately, we want to rebel against God and still gain the approval of man. The real lie behind rebellion is that it will give us something that God either cannot or does not want to give us – a truly fulfilling life. God’s rules are thus perceived as barriers towards such a life that must be cast away or circumvented in order to find ‘the good life’.

Sadly, there are many examples around us, particularly among the rich and famous, that show that living this kind of ‘good life’ is as illusory as true independence. I read and watched interviews of two world famous musicians recently that were tinged with sadness and regret that are all too common amongst celebrities. Ruined marriages and other fractious relationships, deep depression, utter loneliness, struggles with addiction and anxiety were common themes of these interviews. Honest biographies of many other actors, musicians and wealthy businesspeople are full of the same themes. The ‘good life’ that involves rebellion against God simply does not exist.

Another attraction of the rebellious ‘goat nature’ is the idea that you can be unique or different. I think this is why so many creative, highly talented people fall into this trap. Because their extraordinary talents set them apart from those around them, they are frequently misunderstood and lonely during their early years. Yet when their talent is ‘discovered’, they start to believe that they can make their own way in life on their own terms – they can cast off all restraints and blaze their own trails, both in terms of creativity and morality. This is why so many admire them – they seem to be so different; they stand out from the crowd. But a rebellious nature is far from unique. Indeed, it is a trait that all humans have in common. For all their talents and abilities, creative geniuses are still flawed human beings like the rest of us.

Thus we find that being a goat is not all that it is cracked up to be. What about being a sheep? Is it really so bad as we are led to believe? If we surrender our lives to God, just as Jesus describes, what do we really stand to lose? If we would believe what the world tells us, the price seems much too high. The price has been artificially inflated, however, through yet more lies.

The first is that depending entirely on God like a sheep is weak and pathetic. As we saw earlier with the myth of independence, we like to think that we are strong. Admitting the opposite is embarrassing and therefore to be avoided. But are we really strong? Compared with some other people, maybe, but compared with the God of the Universe we really are pathetically weak. Submitting to Him is simply acknowledging the reality that His strength is infinitely greater than ours. Submission to God further grants us access to a strength of spirit and character that is far beyond our natural reach, thus enabling us to endure absolutely anything that life can throw at us (2 Cor. 12:10). It turns out that God’s sheeple have a secret Source of strength that the goats do not know about.

The second lie about the sheep life is that it is boring and unimaginative. This grossly underestimates God’s creativity and is easily debunked through simple observation. Consider the diversity of form and function in nature – each landscape is different, inhabited by millions of different living things, and each of those things contains a unique blueprint within it (a.k.a. DNA). The same God that created our rich, diverse world that is populated by unique creatures wants to create a new life for you – do you think that He would make something unimaginative or boring? Our ideas and creativity are highly limited by experience and our mental capacity – God knows no such limits. If you need further proof, read biographies of Christians who committed themselves fully to God – George Müller, Hudson Taylor, Corrie ten Boom, Brother Andrew, and David Wilkerson, among many others. The lives of these sheeple were anything but boring and unimaginative!

Another misunderstanding that must be addressed is that becoming like Jesus will mean that we are no longer individuals in our own right. The distinction between Creator and created beings will remain forever in heaven, even after we become perfectly “like Him” (1 John 3:2). In heaven we will all be individually recognisable just as we are here on earth. We will nonetheless share a passionate love for God that extends to a perfect love for everyone else. Until that time, God is creating that kind of character within His sheep, using Jesus as the blueprint. This does not mean that He overlooks our uniqueness as individuals and makes us all exactly the same. As we found earlier, God is the ultimate reason for diversity in creation, and He is just as interested in maintaining diversity among His people (1 Cor. 12). Since He is the ultimate Source of the talents and creativity found in humans, is it not reasonable to think that He will further amplify these gifts when we submit them fully to Him?

Finally, obedience to God’s moral rules is falsely presented as a burdensome and dreary way to live. God’s sheeple are restricted in terms of what they can do – no drunken parties, no sexual immorality, no envious gossiping, no selfish ambitions, and no unclean behaviour of any kind (Gal. 5:19-21). According to society, such a life is no fun at all. Yet this is the path that leads to true fulfilment – the life characterised by love, joy, peace and the other wonderful fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the things that are lacking in the lives of those who have been deceived into thinking that a sinful life is somehow ‘the good life’. When they have finally had their fill of ‘fun’ they realise that none of it was real. All they have left is a few good memories and many painful regrets. By obeying their Shepherd, God’s sheeple are spared the regret and have glorious memories of His blessings in their lives.

The price of becoming one of God’s sheep is certainly not too high, while the rewards are unimaginably greater than we think they are. We simply cannot create a truly fulfilling life, whereby we maintain and grow beautiful relationships, fully develop all of our talents and come to experience real joy and peace, without God. The wonderful news is that not only can He fulfil our deepest desires, but that He actually wants to do so by drawing us into a relationship with Himself. Our Good Shepherd has made all of this possible by laying down His life for us. Are you willing to take up His offer and become one of God’s sheeple?