The Pastor: The Good Shepherd
Let's have a look at the good shepherd. Let's see how he does it. I found so many Scriptures on shepherding in the Word that I had to try and cut a few of them, because there were just so many. I just picked my favorites, but there is so much that the Lord has to speak to you about. Can you see how important the role of a shepherd is?
When we speak about prophets, there is a limited amount in the Old and New Testaments, even though you have the great examples. The Lord never really gave the prophets a specific direction though on how to live their lives and how to treat the people.
However, if you look up shepherds and pastors in the Word, you see how much direction the Lord speaks and how much importance He lays on the shepherds, because it is a daily task of working through, working things out and raising them up.
It is just like it is being a mother, taking care of the needs daily. Before you know it you look back, and your baby is a toddler, a child, an adolescent and then an adult. You are going to take them to that stage, and this is how you will do it.
The Shepherd Leads
Firstly, the shepherd leads. Numbers 27:16 and 17 says:
Let the LORD [Yahweh], the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD [Yahweh] be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
Moses prayed that to the Lord and said, "Don't leave your people without a shepherd. Give them somebody strong."
The Lord gave them Joshua to be shepherd over Israel. Joshua is a strong, positive picture. He doesn't look like a pathetic little nobody that just stood up on Sundays to give a short message does he? Joshua was a warrior who went ahead of the people. He had their backing. He was with them. The people were with him, his heart was knitted to theirs, and they were one Body.
You look at poor Moses who was also a tremendous shepherd. He really gave his heart and life for his people, but the people and him were not one. Moses was always getting direction from the Lord, and he laid the foundation. He laid it really well, but the people were always off doing their own thing.
Poor Moses - I bet he was as white as snow from all the gray hair they gave him. He was always struggling and fighting with them. There was Korah, and the Lord had to go and swallow them up with the earthquake. Then there was a rebellion and Moses had to strike the rock.
Another time the Lord wanted to wipe them out because they were worshiping the foreign gods and Moses had to say, "No Lord, don't kill them."
Then he had to go back and say, "You naughty people! I told you not to do that!"
It just looked like one struggle after the next. It was not so with Joshua however. The people's hearts were knitted to Joshua. He and they were of one mind and one spirit.
I shared earlier on how you are just a head bouncing around. Sometimes I think that Moses would have been like that if he did not have the seventy elders and Joshua by his side to hold him up.
Half the time he was a head bouncing around until the Lord said, "Hey, you need some help here."
Then He gave Moses a couple of arms and legs. After that he did so much more.
Joshua though had a people who were with him. They were his body, and they conquered Canaan land. They took the land for the people of Israel and they went in and accomplished, in a very short space of time, what Moses and the whole nation of Israel could not accomplish in over forty years!
A United Body is Powerful
Why could Moses not accomplish that in all that time? He was with them for nearly fifty years! It was because they were not of one mind and one spirit. The body was going in one direction and the head was going in another.
You look at Joshua though. What do you see? You see a body that was knitted with the head and whose borders were extended. The nations trembled in front of them. The nations were scattered and they took the land. There was victory after victory and the power of God was with them.
The nations trembled and the world looked on and said, "The nation of Israel - their God is a mighty God."
Now that is what is going to be said of you as you bring your body together, and as the Lord places you as head over that body to represent Him. Are you getting the picture of a warrior, and of the man or woman of God that Christ has called you to be?
Can you see how much you can accomplish by being a shepherd who leads; by being a shepherd who is strong and brings his flock together? You get revelation, you go ahead of your sheep, and you are true leader that people want to look up to and follow.
Their hearts are knitted to you and your heart is knitted to them. You are one. You are bonded with cords that cannot be broken. As you are one you are going out there and you are changing this world. Action is coming, and so is change. There is daily growth taking place.
It looks a little different to how things have looked in the past doesn't it? That image doesn't even come close to the pathetic image that we have had so far of what the local church should look like! If you can see Joshua and the nation of Israel standing with him, that is what the Lord wants for you and your congregation.
He wants you to go out there and take the land, not as one leader running ahead of the pack. You need to go out as a Body, as a unit going out into this world and taking the land for Christ. You have a mission as a body, not just as a pastor. A head cannot have a mission without a body. Your congregation is your body.
He is Gentle
The shepherd who succeeds is gentle. Isaiah 40:11 says:
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.
I just love this image of the shepherd, of taking the little lambs in his arms and holding them to his bosom, of leading gently those that are with young. Can you see the gentleness and the consideration?
You know, sometimes as a leader we expect those who follow us to be as mature as we are and to have the same vision and initiative. We don't realize that they are young, that they are with young and they do not have the initiative.
They do not have the vision. They do not have the same fire burning in them as what burns in you. And you know, it just takes a bit of consideration to pick up that little lamb and hold it to your bosom. Sometimes that is all that you need to do to give somebody a bit of what you have.
Instead of trying to hammer them and saying, "What's wrong with you people? You sit here every Sunday and you are not going out and doing anything. Don't you understand that the Lord has given us this vision? Don't you understand that the Lord wants us to expand? Don't you realize that this is what we have to do?"
Sometimes all the shepherd needs to do is bend down, pick up the lamb, hold it against his bosom and say, "It's okay. I'm here for you. I love you. It's all right. You don't need to be a sheep. It's okay to just be a little lamb for now."
You Impart Through Love
You would be surprised that when you take that attitude, how quickly growth will take place in your congregation. You will see how quickly they will start getting your vision. If you cannot impart it to them through the words of your mouth, then you need to impart it to them through your actions.
You need to give them the vision in your heart through the way you speak to them personally. You need to extend your hand a little bit and get in there. Speak to them about their lives and their problems, and about what is going on with them.
As you are sharing with them openly, even if you are talking about them, they are going to pick up your spirit and what is in you. You don't need to take the vision that the Lord has given you and force it down their throats. If they would just open their heart to you, you could impart it through your bosom.
That is what you need to be doing - just taking the time to come off your pulpit a little bit and spend some time with those lambs. It doesn't even matter what you are talking about. Just get them to open their hearts to you. By them doing this, that anointing that is in you and that vision that is burning in you, will automatically be imparted to them, because their hearts are open wide to receive. They will drink in everything you have to give them, but you have to get them to open their hearts first.
That is why you need to be gentle. Some people do not respond to a chisel. Some people need a bit of coaxing, a bit of gentleness and tender loving care to open their hearts. If you do that you will win them, and once you have won them they are with you right until the end.
This was taken from Chapter 21 of the Pastoral Foundation book.
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