Missions - Making Sheep or Finding Sheep?

Is missionary work making sheep (Christians are called sheep in John chapter 10) or finding sheep? It may seem like an unnecessary question or even a pointless one to ask. I mean come on, who cares as long as people become Christians right?

If Jesus didn't speak about this subject as much as He did in John 10 then yes, the question would be one of those unhelpful, hair splitting, theological labyrinths. But He did talk about it in multiple verses with language that was weighty and glorious.

In John 10:24 there were a group of very religious (in the negative sense) guys trying to trap Jesus in His words. They asked Jesus to tell them plainly whether or not He was the Christ (the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for). He stated that He had already told them but they didn't believe (v. 25). He then says these shocking words in verse 26:

"But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep."

Did you catch the order and flow of Jesus' sentence? Notice, Jesus did not say:

• You are not of My sheep because you do not believe.

That would mean they are not Christians because they don't believe. Which would be true because one must believe to become a Christian (see John 3:16). But Jesus said it differently.

Jesus said,

• You do not believe because you are not of my sheep.

The reason they were not believing, placing saving faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior from sin, was because they were not of His sheep, His elect. In the next verse Jesus says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (v. 28).

Notice the present tense, "My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me"

But prior to this in verse 16 Jesus said, "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd."

Notice the future tense, "they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock..."

I think that Jesus is saying that He has His sheep out there who have not yet heard and believed. It is clear that they must hear His voice in order to believe however.

This is where God's people step up. We let His sheep hear His voice (sharing the gospel with a co-worker, evangelism, preaching) so that they can hear, believe, and become part of God's flock whom Jesus laid down His life for.

"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep" John 10:14-15.

I believe the only hope for missions is that Jesus has a people out here, but just by looking into a crowd we cannot see who they are. We are not told to try to discover who the sheep are. We are commanded, however, to preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, and baptize those who believe. When they come to faith we have found them and know them to be fellow sheep.

Missions is finding Jesus' sheep by letting them hear His voice, His glorious word, the Bible, then trusting God to draw them to Himself that they may repent and believe.