A Shepherd's Love

Shepherd the flock of God which is among you...

Peter, to church elders and pastors--1 Peter 5:2, NKJV

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and attend to your herds.

Solomon, to his sons--Proverbs 27:23

I have never been around real sheep, but I've spent my entire adult life shepherding the flock of God.  I am a pastor.  It's what I wanted to be when I grew up.  It is the office to which God called me, and in which he has placed me four times.  I have done other things in ministry--teaching, worship leading, itinerant preaching, just to name a few--but 20 of the last 26 years I have served as the sole and senior pastor for the flocks of God.  I'm surely not an expert, but as someone once wittily said, an expert is just a drip under pressure.  I'm not an expert, but I do have some experiences, and hopefully I've learned a thing or two along the way.  Perhaps I can share some of those lessons and help someone else out today.

I did a little reading today, and found an interesting article written about a career as a shepherd.  The first thing it said was, "Most shepherds take care of sheep, although they may be responsible for goats as well."  Isn't that the truth!  It's the same in church.  Now, it is God who inspired these illustrations, not me.  So when I hear or read real shepherding stories, I understand all to well what is meant, because pastoring a church is like herding sheep and goats.  I'm told that sheep are generally docile and affectionate creatures.  Goats, on the other hand, are aggressive and contrary.  They like to butt things, including the shepherd when he's not watching.  Goats keep things stirred up, but sheep prefer peace.  That being said, I also know that sheep bite.  

Shepherds often work independently in isolated areas.  It is a lonely lifestyle, just you and your sheep on whatever hillside you graze them.  Visits from other shepherds are rare.  There is often lots of distance because of the need to keep the sheep separate and have enough room for everybody.  But as a pastor, I can tell you that I need other pastors.  I want their friendship, their fellowship.  The camaraderie is good, for me and for them.  That is where we gain the most encouragement, because we are those who know, who walk through it, who live it out.  And we gain strength in the sharing.  A shepherd may be forced to live in isolation with his sheep and his dog, but a pastor doesn't have to.

A shepherd's primary responsibility is the welfare of the sheep.  They must be well-fed on good forage, kept away from poisonous plants, and moved to fresh range on a regular basis.  They must also be bedded down in safe places at night.  I'm one of those pastors that still preach three times a week, sometimes four depending on if I teach Sunday School.  I have the responsibility of studying the word to make sure I can rightly divide it like bread and nourish my people.  I'm in the gospels on most Sunday mornings, preaching about Jesus--who He is, what He says, and what He does.  I'm in the epistles on Wednesday nights, taking people verse by verse through the application of the letters of Christ's apostles.  Sunday nights are for short topical series or single textual sermons as the Lord leads.  And when I teach Sunday School, it is usually for a fixed period of time to present a series of lessons on a particular subject.  Like Peter in Acts 6:4, I consider my job first and foremost to be one of prayer and preaching the Word, and I try to do so with variety and consistency in a way that brings the entire Bible to life for my people.  It's what I've always done, it's what I will continue to do.

A shepherd is also responsible for protecting the flock from predators--wolves and wild dogs, lions and bears and the like.  As a young boy, the shepherd David had to personally chase down a lion and a bear to rescue stolen lambs.  He fought them with staff and sling and prevailed, killing those predators with his own hands.  That was his job.  Even Jesus says that a good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  A hireling runs at the first sign of trouble, but the shepherd of the flock sleeps in the doorway of the fold to defend against the dangers of the night.  He stands on watch during the day.  Nothing is going to harm the sheep as long as the shepherd is on duty.  The Bible warns church leaders to be on guard.  Wolves will sneak in, oftentimes disguised as sheep, and from within the wreak havoc.  Dogs fight and bite and devour one another.  The devil is a roaring lion seeking something to eat.  He's also a thief who comes not but to steal, kill, and destroy. A pastor must guard his people against the dangers of false teachers, false believers, and a very real and hostile world.

A shepherd must see to the health of the sheep, treating disease and injury, protecting from insects, assisting during the lambing process.  Modern shepherds use vaccines and medicines and insecticides.  Biblical shepherds like David used olive oil.  That oil was a healing balm for wounds and a deterrent to keep bugs out of the sheep's ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.  It is also a symbol of Holy Ghost anointing that empowers the servant of God to proclaim the good news to those who need to hear it; to minister comfort and healing to those who are broken; to liberate those who are spiritually bound and oppressed; to announce the Lord's favor to all who need to receive it.  The only way a pastor can effectively minister to the life and health of his people is through the anointing of the Spirit of God.

Finally, sheep need to be sheared and it is the shepherd's job to do that too.  It must be done carefully, keeping the fleece intact while it is being removed, all the while avoiding nicking or cutting the skin of the sheep.  This might be the hardest job of for a pastor.  People accumulate weighty layers of sin and concerns, burdens and bondages in their lives that hinder their walk with the Lord, and the good pastor will assist them in the removal.  He runs the risk of offending them with his preaching, of hurting their feelings when he's only trying to help them.  Sometimes they run away because they don't want to be sheared.  It will only be to their detriment, and the good shepherd goes after them to bring them back to the safety of the fold, to continue the processes necessary for the healthy life of the sheep.

I already said that I'm no expert, but I have had some experiences.  I'm far from being the perfect pastor; I still make plenty of mistakes.  But one thing I know--I have always loved my sheep.  I have prayed for them, interceded and sometimes intervened for them, sometimes with great effect, and sometimes with little or no effect at all.  I have tried to feed them well with the bread of the Word, though sometimes they have refused to eat.  Some have even starved to death staring at an unpalatable dish.  I have tried to warn them against false teaching and false doctrine.  Sometimes they have heeded and been saved from the chaos of following such destruction.  Sometimes they have rejected the real to follow the fake, and been devoured because of it.  I have tried to minister with the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to heal, to encourage, to strengthen, to bless.  To my surprise, I have sometimes found people who just don't want to get better.  And I have tried to help lighten loads, only to find that some people would rather bear their burdens than give up the things that will break them.

So what is a pastor to do?  We keep doing what we have been called, gifted, and anointed to do.  We shepherd the flock of God, and continue laying down our lives for the sheep that we love.

The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.

Jesus, John 10:11, NKJV

Moses: Did You Weep?

The Egyptians had enslaved God's personally chosen people, generations of Hebrews who suffered under the lash as they were forced into hard labor.  They were helpless shepherds upon whom the captivity came so suddenly they had no time to react before they found themselves in bondage and servitude.  They were downtrodden, oppressed, living under the constant threat of pain and death.  Finally, the orders came for their babies to be stripped from the breasts of their mothers and cast into the Nile.  Pharaoh's final solution would end the hated Hebrew race once and for all.  The anguished cry went up from the throats and souls of millions of God's people, calling on Him for deliverance.

And God heard.

Prepared in Egypt's courts and universities for leadership, prepared in the wilderness and sheep pastures of Midian for shepherding, 80-year-old Moses was ready to assume the role of deliverer and lead his people out of slavery.  His self-doubt and constant questions plagued him, but they did not deter him from following the leading of the Lord.  With his brother as his spokesman, he stood before the cruel and heartless king of Egypt and issued God's demands:  Let My people go...or else.

Pharaoh picked door number two.  For six chapters in the book of Exodus, the Scriptures record the work and wrath of God against Egypt, Pharaoh's heart growing harder with each passing hour.  Moses never said or did anything he wasn't first directed to do by God, but when God ordered, Moses obeyed.  Water was turned to blood, giving the Egyptians nothing to drink.  Frogs, flies, and lice infested the land.  Cattle died.  The trees and plants were pounded by hail, burned up with fire, eaten by pestilential swarms of locusts.  Human and beast alike were covered in open and painful sores as a darkness so deep it could be felt enveloped the land.  God's power devastated Egypt at the height of its greatness, reducing it to rubble and ruin with crisis, disaster, tragedy, and death.  Finally, the ultimate warning came.  God said to Pharaoh, "You have enslaved my firstborn son.  If you do not let him go, I will kill your firstborn son, and the firstborn son of every family and animal in all the land of Egypt."  Surely Pharaoh knew it would be so.

The people of Egypt begged Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.  The story is told in the annals of Hebrew history that on the day before the final plague, the firstborn sons of Egypt rose up in a rebellion against the king in hopes that their lives would be spared, but their efforts were turned back.  Pharaoh had decided.  Pharaoh was determined.  Pharaoh was willing to risk the loss of his son, and every woman's son, in his defiance of God Most High.

In all of this, the Bible does not record one word regarding Moses' feelings about the matter.

But I know Moses.  I know him through his story and his words.  And I know him as one shepherd knows another.  Moses was the man who stood between God and the congregation of people and said, "Kill me and blot my name out of Your book, but spare these people!" even though he knew they deserved God's judgment.  So I wonder...  Did Moses weep each night of Pharaoh's defiance, hoping that tomorrow would be different?  Did Moses pray and intercede, asking God to change the heart of the one man who could put a stop to all the carnage?  When Moses announced the judgments of God, did he do so with a catch in his voice, a knot in his throat, a sting in his nostrils as he held back the knowing tears?  I think he probably did.

Because I have.

Through the many years of ministry, I have been up close and personal with crisis and tragedy in people's lives.  Some of them were the sweetest people I've ever known.  They loved God and served Jesus Christ with all of their hearts.  They were the most deserving people of blessing that I've ever known.  And yet they had troubles.  But I've also known others who weren't as deserving of blessing as they were of a kick in the behind.  Some I was allowed to warn ahead of time in hopes that they would change.  Others I was forced to stand silently by while they reaped what they had sown.  The hardness of their own hearts brought about so much havoc and heartache, and all I could do was watch.

Pastor, did you pray?  You better believe it!  I remember many sleepless nights when all I could do was toss and turn on my bed or in some other place of prayer, groaning and weeping and calling out people's names in intercession.  I have stood in the gap for the most unworthy of people, begging God for mercy and grace, begging God to postpone judgment until I could make people see the light.  And I have also heard the response of God telling me I was standing in His way, and it was time for me to move.  I usually try to be immediately obedient to the Lord, but I wept as I complied, knowing that time was up.  And I have witnessed up close and personal the judgment of God on those who had resisted His Word and rejected His grace.  It was not a happy time for me, even if I believed they had finally gotten what they deserved.

Surely Moses did not want the children of Egypt to suffer.  Surely he did not wish the grief of losing a child upon any mother in the land.  Surely he did not desire an entire nation reduced to ashes and dust because of the obstinacy of one man.  Surely he did not want deliverance of his own people at the cost of destruction paid by their oppressors.  But there was nothing he could do about it except obey God and accept that God's actions were Divinely just.  He would go mad, otherwise.

At the end of the day, sometimes that is all you can do.  Trust God, and let Him do as he must.