And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. (Matthew 9:35-10:1)

Jesus was moving through the cities and villages, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and affliction among the people. The essence of true ministry was distilled into these elements of teaching, preaching, and healing. But what undergirded this ministry was not merely method, but motive. Jesus was moved by compassion. He saw the people and perceived them as “sheep without a shepherd.” This insight will be central to our understanding of true orthodoxy, contrasted sharply with the counterfeit systems that burden rather than liberate, that enchain rather than set free.

The ministry of Jesus was comprehensive. It flowed out of his compassion for people. It was this compassion that drove him to teach, preach, and heal, addressing their spiritual and physical needs. His work of teaching, preaching, and healing were an inseparable unity. His teaching imparted knowledge and understanding, his preaching impacted the soul and called for a response, and his healing demonstrated the power of the kingdom and dispensed the tangible benefits of the gospel. A ministry that falls short in any of these respects is deficient, and one that rejects any of these is a counterfeit ministry.

Compassion was what drove Jesus into this kind of ministry. His heart was moved because the people were weary and scattered, harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The ministry of teaching provided the people with salvation and guidance in life, while the ministry of healing gave them confidence in God and relief from the most powerful and urgent threats against them. This is crucial: a ministry that does not begin with the compassion of God is not a ministry of God at all. True ministry cannot be motivated by ambition, and it must never be reduced to the enforcement of human opinions and traditions.

Why were the people like sheep without a shepherd? Were there no religious leaders in Israel at the time? Quite the contrary. The Pharisees, the scribes, and the priests were plentiful. But they were more like thugs and wolves than shepherds who cared for the sheep. They did not lead the people to life, but rather to human teachings and regulations. They added burden upon burden to the shoulders of the people, burdens invented by men that did nothing to alleviate their suffering, such as the strict observance of Sabbath rules that turned a day of rest into an oppressive obligation. Instead of ministering grace, they heaped condemnation. Instead of offering deliverance, they multiplied duties. Instead of shepherding the people, they oppressed and abused them. Effort was allowed, but faith was denounced. Pain was applauded, but healing was condemned. Churches today are just like that.

Jesus exposed the emptiness of such leadership. Although the leaders claimed to be faithful guides, they were hypocrites and oppressors. The people were worse than forsaken. They were captured and exploited. The faithless religious people would travel halfway around the world to make one disciple, only to make that person twice as much a son of hell as themselves. The Pharisees seized authority, but they offered no true guidance, no power from God to heal, and no wisdom to deliver. They claimed the mantle of spiritual leadership, but they wielded it without the Spirit of God. Their ministry, if it can even be called such, was a counterfeit ministry. It was a ministry of appearance and oppression, devoid of the compassion and power of God.

This kind of self-anointed leadership inflicts devastating damages. Faithless theology imposes burdens and leaves people spiritually impoverished, while true teaching brings freedom and transformation. Human orthodoxy makes lives harder and increases guilt, whereas true teaching offers grace and leads people into the joy of communion with God. Having been oppressed by false shepherds, the people would become vulnerable to other kinds of voices that claim to possess truth and power. They would look to mystics, scientists, politicians, and business moguls for guidance on how to approach the world, when these people are just as lost as they are. When legitimate spiritual authority fails, illegitimate claims rush in to fill the void. People are desperate for something beyond the empty formalities of the religious elite. In their desperation, they would become easy prey for those who promise to make their lives easier, while keeping them in bondage.

Jesus is the true shepherd. He brings truth and freedom. He brings healing and the power of God. He brings not another yoke, not another set of human doctrines, but faith and miracles. The compassion of Jesus drove him to meet the needs of the people in a holistic manner. His ministry of teaching and preaching addressed the people’s ignorance and anxiety. He assured them that, similar to today’s situation, the religious leaders were unauthorized charlatans that enforced their own human orthodoxy. He defied these leaders to their face. He gave the people permission to abandon these false leaders. That was what got him killed. But now his ministry has multiplied through those who continue to preach faith and freedom in his name.

The clash between Jesus and the faithless religious people was inevitable. They persecuted Jesus, and they persecuted his followers. Now their spiritual descendants continue to oppose us. They could not tolerate a ministry that bypassed their authority, that showed the people that God’s power was not found in their religious heritages but in the promises of God, received by faith in Jesus Christ. They resented Jesus because he demonstrated that God’s kingdom had come in power through faith, not through their traditions and rituals. This same scenario continues to play out today. When true orthodoxy appears, it will inevitably clash with the counterfeit systems that claim authority. True orthodoxy is dangerous because it is alive. It heals and delivers. It cannot be regulated by human authority, and it does not serve the interests of those who seek to use religion as a means of control.

Faithless religious people care more about their human doctrines, traditions, and theories than about God or the people. They are eager to sacrifice the well-being of the sheep in order to preserve their own position. Cessationists would rather have people die with cancer and other diseases than to believe that miracles of healing are promised for today. Their hearts have been captured by demonic unbelief and hatred toward the truth. They cannot stop following Satan in their hearts. They are so enamored with Satan that they cannot stop crucifying Jesus again and again. But it is not only that they cannot stop. They love it. They enjoy doing it. They relish in attacking faith and miracles, and in robbing people of hope and freedom. They are like Paul before he was converted. He was driven by a spirit of murder to persecute those who followed Jesus.

On the other hand, the orthodoxy of Jesus Christ, or the orthodoxy of faith, embodies joy, compassion, and miracle power. It is lively and overflowing with strength. It makes people holy and happy. Authentic biblical orthodoxy, of course, begins with doctrinal correctness as the necessary foundation. But this is a theology that comes from God’s revelation, the word of God, and not from human history or heritage. And from this foundation comes forth tangible experiences of God’s presence that transform individuals and communities, making them vibrant and full of life. It does not burden them with rituals and doctrines that God never commanded. It does not bind them to human authorities who seek to preserve their own influence. It liberates. It brings people into direct communion with God, with no mediator except Jesus himself.

True orthodoxy is born out of divine revelation and compassion. It sees the people as Jesus saw them, harassed and helpless, in need of a shepherd. It responds not by bragging about a religious heritage — how stupid and pathetic is that? — and with more rules and rituals, but with the gospel of the kingdom and the power of God to save, to heal, and to empower. And true orthodoxy delivers people from faithless orthodoxy. It tells them that God never ordained that kind of dead religion, that they are free to walk away and follow Jesus without guilt and fear.

This is the kind of ministry that Jesus inaugurated, and he intended to expand this program to more people and more places, with more power, to all periods. He told his disciples to pray for more workers, and then he made them the beginning of the answer to that prayer by sending them out to cast out demons and to heal every kind of affliction. The ministry of Jesus did not end with him. He passed it on to his followers and expected it to increase and expand. The power of Christ is already ours in his name and by his Spirit. Now the compassion of Christ must become our compassion. The mission of Christ must become our mission.

There is a pressing need for workers in God’s kingdom who are willing to step forward and bring in the harvest. The need is great. The people are weary, burdened by faithless religion, oppressed by the devil, and suffering under the weight of sin and sickness. There are so many who are ready to receive the truth, and who are desperate for deliverance. However, the laborers are few, not because there are not many religious people, but because there are not many who understand and embody the ministry of Jesus. There are many Pharisees, many who would add burdens rather than lift them, many who would control rather than liberate, many who would point to their religious heritage rather than Christ. Christians are called to expose and discredit these false shepherds, and to bring the liberating power of the gospel to those who are weary and burdened, just as Jesus did.