Tag Archives: shepherds

One in a Million?

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

About a year ago, I raised my hand to say I wanted to lead the planting of a church, to be set aside to labor in the word (1 Timothy 5:17), to be fully dedicated to a local church. You can image the checking of motives that happens when a person starts to have those rumblings in the soul. Is there anyone who doesn’t suffer from occasional moments of self-aggrandizement and delusions of grandeur?

At the end of the soul searching, our family pressed forward with eyes wide open. Though I have some gifts, they are not more in number or degree than those of most other men. I will never be the “draw” that brings together a large church. But that isn’t what the body of Christ needs anyway. So while I happily acknowledge that my limitations keep me from being “one in a million,” I can be “one of a million” as God raises up many, many men of normal ability who have been forgiven much and therefore love much. By and large, these are the sort of men that God is giving the church to help and care for His people. I see it happening. I frequently meet these men from all around the country. I am daily with some of them in our own church body. I thank God for His kindness to His people.

So while there is a trend towards “one in a million” mega-pastors (please read this incredibly insightful post), God is leading a mighty but less visible counter-trend, and I am so happy to be a millionth of it.

Kevin DeYoung, a pastor associated with The Gospel Coalition, commented on this in late 2010. The entire post is well worth reading, but I’ll give you my favorite line, where he defines an ordinary pastor as “the pastor who flies under the evangelical radar, the pastor who labors in an ordinary place with ordinary people who don’t give a rip about the evangelical radar or if their pastor is on it, so long as he is with them.”

I recently finished Richard Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor, and Baxter noted a similar move of God in his own day, the mid sixteen hundreds, where he witnessed a dramatic shift within little more than a decade of time:

“Sure I am, the change is so great within these twelve years, that it is one of the greatest joys that ever I had in the world to behold it. O how many congregations are now plainly and frequently taught, that lived then in great obscurity! How many able, faithful men are there now in a county, in comparison of what were then!… And, in particular, how mercifully hath the Lord dealt with this poor county of Worcester, in raising up so many who do credit to the sacred office, and self-denyingly and freely, zealously and unweariedly, lay out themselves for the good of souls! I bless the Lord that hath placed me in such a neighbourhood, where I may have the brotherly fellowship of so many able, faithful, humble, unanimous, and peaceable men. O that the Lord would long continue this admirable mercy to this unworthy country!”

A hearty “Amen!” to that, and may God make this our truthful testimony as we look back on this decade and the next.

May God give His church a million faithful, hard working shepherds. Men who know their limitations and can cheerfully say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10a). Men who know it is God’s church and that He is mighty on behalf of His people. And for all such men, may there be an abundance of Christians who have an insatiable appetite for the kind of walk that is so wonderfully helped along by such shepherds.

Peter continues to exhort: “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:1-4).

To close by repeating the words of Richard Baxter, “O that the Lord would long continue this admirable mercy to this unworthy country!”

The Local Church Is a Flock

Dear Sovereign Redeemer and other friends,

What is the local church? The local church is a distinct Biblical entity, but that simply tells us that it is, not what it is.  The question is essential, given that our answer greatly determines our conduct in the church, but it isn’t a question for us to decide for ourselves.  The answer has been given to us by the apostles.

In the inspired view of Paul and Peter, the local church is a flock.

Paul – “take heed to all the flock”

Knowing this is his last opportunity, Paul sends for the Ephesian elders.  The gathering is recorded in Acts 20:17-38.  Paul reminds them of his manner of life among them, exhorting them to follow his pattern.  Then he says this:  “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).  Fundamentally, the local church is a flock, complete with shepherds who are to feed and protect.  This is a beautiful picture of a very practical way in which God provides feet-on-the-ground care for His people.

These shepherds, put in place by the Holy Spirit, are exhorted to give attention to “all the flock”.  It isn’t “teach Christians” or “encourage believers,” although there is ample basis in the Scriptures for both.  It is “take heed to all the flock”.  The task and the target are both eminently specific, not generic.  Take heed.  All the flock.  No wondering who to shepherd here.

Peter – “shepherd the flock” 

What Peter teaches in 1 Peter 5:1-4 is so similar to Acts 20 that it would almost suffice to say “ditto”.  In the opening verse of the book, we learn that Peter is writing to “the pilgrims of the Dispersion”, and in the fifth chapter he narrows his exhortations to the elders of these scattered congregations.  “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers” (1 Peter 5:2a), he tells them.  They are to serve selflessly, tenderly, and by example.  They are to shepherd the flock like the Chief Shepherd does.

Again, the task and target couldn’t be more specific.

So what?

This all has tremendous significance, given the rich Biblical teachings which draw on the imagery of sheep, flocks, and shepherds.  The implications are profound.  Shepherd elders aren’t the Chief Shepherd, but they have been given passages like Psalm 23 and John 10 to learn what it means to serve after the manner of their Master.  The shepherds are to know, feed, and protect the sheep.  The sheep are to know and follow their shepherds.  “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).  In fact, when things function by God’s design, when one in a hundred goes missing, the shepherd notices, goes in search, and rejoices at the safe return (Matthew 18:12-13).

Not exactly the arm’s length, “hide and not seek” atmosphere of the modern evangelical church, is it? But it is the local church of Paul and Peter.  And isn’t this what we want – churches where faithful men have a vigilant eye on the people of the congregation, really knowing them and really being known by them?

This is the heart of God for His people.

Next is Argument 3:  Serious Obligations Require Order.

More to come.