I have had many people tell me that what churches need most from their pastors is that they be shepherds, but I wonder what they mean when they say that. I have often heard people emphasize certain duties of the pastor/shepherd such as: visiting the sick, comforting the hurting, greeting people on the way out of church, performing weddings/funerals and just loving the people as they are. I even saw an add for a Baptist church seeking a pastor that said hosting the towns annual bass tournament was a major expectation of the congregation for their pastor/shepherd. Of course giving evangelistic messages is usually expected of the pastor/shepherd, as one older pastor advised me, "just focus on winning souls young man and you will be fine". I think the common denominator of these expectations is that they all fail to emphasize the main role of the pastor/shepherd as revealed in the scriptures. Jesus saw His role as shepherd like this:
Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. (NKJV)
Jesus had compassion with perfect insight into human needs and His diagnosis of what kind of shepherding people needed was combined with His perfect love for them. Surely this guarantees that what Jesus offered the people was what was best for them, even if they might have come wanting and expecting something completely different. Everyone came to Jesus with expectations: maybe they wanted to be healed, have their hands shaken, be accepted just as they were or have Jesus host the next Annual Sea of Galilee Fishing Tournament. Whatever they thought they needed, whatever they thought a shepherd should do, Jesus saw their deepest deed and had compassion on them - "So He began to teach them many things"!
The great commission is a call to shepherd God's people through teaching -
Matt. 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (NKJV)
The loving shepherd does not always give the flock what it wants, but like Jesus, seeks to meet its greatest need, by teaching the word of God in the power of the Spirit!
"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
But you could do a GREAT job hosting a bass tournament. Jesus hung around with fishermen all the time, right? He even preached from a boat. When will you institute Boat Sunday?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Maybe a Green Eggs and Ham approach would work? Will you listen to teaching in a pew? I will not, will not in a pew! Will you listen to teaching in a boat? I will not, will not in a boat!
ReplyDeleteIt is quite hard to teach those who minimize teaching that that teaching is important.