What does a shepherd do? At the most basic, fundamental level a shepherd's job is to protect the flock; to look after the various sheep under his care, to provide proper food and water, shelter during bad weather, and to defend against predators that would kill the sheep.
What do the sheep do? At the most basic, fundamental level the sheep are supposed to obey the shepherd, stay together, eat the green grass the shepherd provides and drink the good water that he leads them to, and trust him for protection. Throughout the Bible Jesus and others use this metaphor to describe God's chosen people: both Israel in the Old Testament and the Church in the New. However, because of sin in the world and in our hearts and the inherent problems with metaphors we often misunderstand what this actually looks like for the local church today. Here is where metaphors always break down; they are intended to communicate a specific aspect or characteristic of something, but cannot and do not perfectly portray the object that it is representing. We see this most clearly with the trinity, that God is three persons and yet one being. There is no metaphor that rightly captures this and represents such a unique concept without leading to some kind of wrong belief. Our shepherd metaphor is meant to communicate the total dependency we as sheep have on the shepherd. You don't eat grass and drink from wild streams, but as a Christian you are utterly and totally dependent on God for protection, provision, and the nurturing relationship that he offers. The other major aspect of this that we often lose sight of is the nature of the New Testament Church. At the very head of our faith is Jesus: the true shepherd. We are all dependent on him for everything we need: both material and spiritual. Within the universal church there are also many local churches that, while still completely and utterly dependent on Jesus, have been given an undershepherd. It is this undershepherd that is often given too much or too little responsibility by their congregations. This is how the metaphor breaks down. Our local pastors (undershepherds) are both sheep and shepherd. Pastors are called to emulate the work of Christ as shepherd in the local congregation but are also sheep to the true shepherd. They are both called to shepherd others and point them to Christ, but are also deeply in need of being shepherded. What is the big deal here? Some local churches pour the responsibility of the local church onto their pastor, often because "that's what he is paid for." Other local churches treat the pastor like he is just an employee and should only preach once or twice a week and keep his thoughts to himself. Both extremes are bad, and unfortunately all too common. This total dependency is often neglected in a serious way. Imagine if a sheep only spent time with the shepherd once or twice a week. They would be killed in the wild or starve to death! Yet many believers neglect this and spend only a few hours a week (if that) with Christ. As a young pastor myself, the struggles of emulating Christ are hard enough as a believer. But to do so and lead others in that as well? It is impossible for me to do. I must, and often find great evidences of this, rely utterly and totally on the Spirit of God to do the good work he has promised to do. Many times the sermons that I think are the worst, God used in a mighty and effective way in our church. Conversely, the sermons I felt were "home-runs" came back with little spiritual fruit. One of the great failures of the modern American church is a lack of multiple pastors in the local body of believers. This has contributed to many of the other problems we see in our churches for several reasons. With several pastors in a local body, they are able to pastor each other much more effectively; this in turn better enables them to do the work of ministry. With several pastors, there are more laborers to tend the flock. Remember what Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 9 "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers." This is true both of the local and universal church, however I believe it applies particularly to the local church. Why? The metaphor is talking about one field. When you have many workers in one field, the harvest increases. Each local church is planted in a particular field and God has established laborers. You may be wondering where in the Bible we see evidence for multiple pastors, the problem is the evidence is too extensive to list here. It is a common theme throughout the entire book. From the Old Testament we see multiple leaders over God's chosen people. In the New we see many instances of Paul establishing multiple pastors in the churches he planted. Jesus himself taught for local churches to have many pastors to care for the flock. Why does any of this matter? In short: we all, as those who are in Christ Jesus, are completely and totally dependent on something outside of ourselves to make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20). We are dependent on the spirit for sanctification, for the knowledge of how to live as Christians, on how to love our neighbors rightly, and how to deal with sin personally and collectively. So what should you do? First, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Right biblical living always follows a love for the Lord. Second, pray for your pastor. He bears a burden for you that you may not know. If he is a faithful pastor, he cares deeply for you, but he is still a sheep in many ways; struggling with sin and in desperate need of the true shepherd himself. Third, acknowledge your own personal responsibility to the local church and depend entirely and completely on the true Shepherd for all that you need and to continue sanctifying you. Last, come alongside your pastor in a spirit of holy cooperation for the sake of the Kingdom. When both pastor and congregation are working in step to see disciples made, God does amazing things and the church will be better for it. If you are a pastor, I implore you to have another pastor you can rely on for honest discipleship. Find someone local to pour into you and find another local pastor you can invest in as well. Whether you are a pastor or not, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the field. |
Pastor MorganMorgan has been writing since middle school and worked for a year writing professionally as a news journalist for the Daily Tribune in Gallipolis. This blog is a chance for him to express his love for the Lord and all church related things through writing. Archives
December 2019
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