Sometimes the shepherd has to call and search long and hard until finally the sheep hears his voice. Sheep just get lost. That's what sheep do. The "lost sheep" is almost redundant. When they are lost how do we best get them back? By setting the dogs on them? Won't such yapping herders drive them farther into the hills and ravines in which they might become easier prey for their enemies? Instead, the shepherd must call gently for them, and persistently seek them. Only then will they be rescued from the pits into which they have been cast down.

Why should we expect the task of leading the flock of God to be any less this kind of patient seeking and saving the lost? When our sheep are led astray by the alluring false teachers they see and hear every day, what makes us think that barking at them will bring them to heal? No, we must seek the lost and speak gently to them (Is 40:2). We must lead them back to the fold. How easily they are seduced by the bold and the beautiful among the preachers today. They seek glory rather than the cross, and that is why they find glory so easily and scorn the cross so regularly. However, the sheep aren't vicious opponents of the cross. They just don't realize that are being seduced into bondage under the law, they do not see the sharp divide between righteousness by works and righteousness through the gospel. The false teachers often display huge churches, great media ministries, and glittering works and lives. This looks good, if we don't look beyond the whitewash of appearance. We must not bark at them because they have been entrapped by the church's enemies.