Alan Dunn

We’re going to consider the priority of shepherding God’s flock.

We need to be the best preachers that we can be, and through the public ministry of the Word of God, endeavor to feed the sheep with the truth of the Word.

Indeed in Jeremiah 3:15, the Lord promises,

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.

The shepherd is one who feeds the flock of God with the food of the Scripture, but the pastor is more than a public speaker, and his ministry of the Word of God goes beyond preaching in the pulpit. He is a shepherd, and he is concerned that each individual sheep in His flock receives the nourishment of God’s Word personally and specifically.

We turn to Colossians chapter 1 and we read of Paul’s description of this concern for every man who sits under his public ministry.

Every man is the concern of the apostle. He speaks to all kinds of men, and he speaks to individual men. Every man. He does this at great cost with labor agonizing, striving, relying not on His own strength but on the power that works mightily within him, with an energy and ability that is given to the man of God to do the work that God has called him to do, for he is a man gifted by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works mightily within Him as he works as hard as he can.

I labor says Paul, I work myself to the point of exhaustion. I drop in to bed at night sometimes absolutely exhausted emotionally, spiritually, physically, having labored to the point of exhaustion but not with my own power: laboring with the strength that comes from God.

The work of the pastoral ministry requires that we shepherd the sheep, that we feed them with the Word of God, not only publicly, in corporate worship, from the pulpit but also personally, privately, individually as we endeavor to meet with them one on one.

Now, before we look at what is involved in shepherding the flock of God, let’s consider some metaphors, biblical descriptions of the pastoral ministry. Certainly the shepherd is the dominant metaphor used in the Bible to describe the pastoral ministry, but it is not the only metaphor. I can only mention some of these so that you might see the pastoral ministry from different points of view as it is depicted in the Word of God. When we turn to Acts chapter 20, we see the
metaphor of an overseer:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).

So, involved in the work of shepherding is functioning as an overseer. The word from the original means to stand above so as to survey and watch and stand guard over. The idea is that of a military watchman who has a position to protect, stand guard and watch over the flock. The idea also is one who surveys what is being done to ensure that what is assigned is being accomplished. In Hebrews chapter 13 we’re given another metaphor, that of a governor or a ruler.

Here, the noun ‘your leaders’ could be translated ‘rulers’ or ‘governors.’ It’s the idea of one who has delegated authority from the king. He’s accountable to the king for the prosperity of the king’s subjects, for the citizens who live in the realm of the king. Jesus tells us that we are not to rule like the Gentiles do who force their own authority upon the people of God, but we are to rule as Christ rules, in a self- sacrificial serving for the good of the people. We are to lead the people by example, gaining the respect of the conscience and ruling for the good of the King, for the glory of the King and the good of the people, not for one’s own self and self-promotion.

In 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 we’re given yet another metaphor by which we’re to understand pastoral ministry and it is that of parents, “We proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children” (1Thessalonians 2:7). Here, a nursing mother is seen as a description of ministry and then in verse 11, “Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you.” Each one of you, see? There is an individual focus with the words ‘each one of you’ and ‘as a father would his own children.’ So as a nursing mother tenderly caring and nourishing and ministering to, and as a father who is exhorting and instructing and disciplining, these are metaphors for the ministry. The purpose of the parent, both mother and father, is to see the child mature and grow and develop and become and independent adult, teaching them, preaching but also teaching. The picture here is of a teacher among his students. The teaching is not simply however to merely give Bible information as important and crucial as that is, but it is an instruction as to how to follow Christ, as to how to live the Christian life and put into practice the truth of the Scripture.

In summary, we see the Pastoral ministry by these metaphors. The dominant picture is a shepherd among his sheep, but this picture is informed by other perspectives, so that the work of the pastor is the work of a shepherd which is to protect
like a watchman and to lead like a governor and to nurture like parents and to instruct like teachers so that we might guide God’s flock into the path of obedient service to Jesus Christ.

Having seen that broad picture of the pastoral ministry, let’s now focus specifically on the shepherding ministry as it is described in Scripture.

Our ministry as shepherds is to be patterned after the Good Shepherd Himself, Jesus Christ, who describes His shepherding ministry in the gospel of John chapter 10.

Now, notice some things about Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd.

In verse 1 through 6 we learn that the Shepherd has intimate knowledge of His sheep. The Shepherd has a personal involvement with his sheep.

Notice in verse 7 through 10 that the Shepherd endeavors to make provision for the sheep for their life, and the Shepherd endeavors to protect the sheep from any threat or harm.

In verse 11 through 13, again, the Shepherd is committed to protect the sheep. He is described as the one who has concern for the sheep.

In verse 14 through 16 the Shepherd denies Himself for the benefit of the sheep.

Here are the three main aspects of shepherding: Provision, Protection, and Presiding Over— provision, protection and presiding, guiding, directing, and leading.

In Psalm 23, perhaps one of the most familiar shepherding psalms describing the Lord as our shepherd, here in Old Testament terms, having seen in John 10 the description in New Testament terms, we read in Psalm 23,

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Although there is much involved in shepherding, the labor of the shepherd always involves these three aspects: provision—feeding the flock, taking care of the flock so that it is well nourished—protection, watching over the flock, keeping the flock safe, keeping it safe from outside threats and keeping it safe from any problem that might arise from within the flock and presiding over or guiding, directing, leading. You are taking the flock somewhere. You’re directing them into paths of obedient service to Christ that ultimately you might bring them to the Father’s home. These three responsibilities always blend together in a faithful, biblical shepherding ministry.

After describing Christ’s shepherding ministry, thirdly we see how Christ’s shepherding ministry is to be continued today in the pastoral ministry.

The shepherding ministry of Jesus Christ is now continued by those whom He gives to the church having gifted them with the Holy Spirit, enabling them to be the shepherds after His own heart who feed the flock on wisdom and understanding.

In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11, Paul tells us where these shepherds come from. He, that is the risen and exalted Jesus Christ, gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers. Christ who is exalted gives gifts to His church and among those gifts are these men who are pastors, shepherds, who are also teachers in the ministry of the Word.

Why does Christ do this? “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Why does He give them shepherds? Because of His compassion for His sheep. He does not want His people to be distressed. He does not want them to be as those who are without protection, without nourishment, without guidance from His Word, and so with compassion He gives to His people shepherds after His own heart to care for His flock and to give His flock His Word, His rule, His love, His compassion. So, the shepherding ministry is to be continued through the ministry of the Word of God, by men given to the church as pastors.

This is what we find at the end of the gospel of John where Jesus deals with Peter exhorting him in His shepherding ministry:

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to him, “Yes Lord, You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”

He said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep” (John 21:15).

Peter is charged by Christ to minister the Word to His flock, shepherding them as a demonstration of his love to Jesus and as a communicator of Jesus’s love to His sheep. Peter then, in 1Peter 5, writes as a fellow elder among elders, as one who has a responsibility of leading among God’s people, “I exhort the elders among you.”

As your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God which is among you exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God and not for sordid gain but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock (1Peter 5:1).

Shepherd the flock of God! Peter, who was commissioned to tend My sheep, to feed My lambs, now, in that capacity as a fellow elder, as one who comes to minister the Word to the people of God tells us as elders, you now shepherd the flock of God. God has in His sovereignty placed you among the cluster of His sheep. You are to exercise your stewardship to shepherd them and to continue Christ’s shepherding ministry that has been commissioned to the apostles, that is substantiated in the Word of God, and that is then furthered as the Word of God is ministered to the sheep by those set aside for the pastoral ministry.

Let’s focus now on this matter of provision, the shepherd feeding the sheep. In Psalm 23, we can picture the Bible as the green pasture to which the sheep are brought to feed. The Shepherd directs the sheep into that pasture and has them feed from the Word of God so that their souls are nourished from the Scriptures. Therefore we are to understand that sheep are fed when they’re taught their Bible, when they are given the Word of God. Again, back to Acts chapter 20. We see this emphasis in that verse that we read previously, verse 28, that the Holy Spirit has placed us over the flock, he has made us overseers to shepherd the church of God.

We are to feed the flock. We are to shepherd the church. What does that involve? When you look at the context, you see the emphasis upon the preaching, teaching ministry of the Word.

In verse 20, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house.”

Verse 21, “Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 24, “I will finish My course to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”

Verse 27, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”

Verse 32, “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you inheritance among all who are sanctified.”

Paul’s example among the Ephesian elders is an example of feeding, of shepherding by teaching, preaching, declaring, testifying and commending the men of God to the Word of God. So, to feed the sheep is to minister the Word of God certainly, primarily in the pulpit, to be a steward of truth and to feed the flock publicly in the pulpit, but likewise that same ministry is extended from house to house–privately and personally we are to feed our people of the Word of God. We give them their Bible when we’re standing before them preaching and when we’re sitting across from them around their kitchen table, counseling, we give them the Word of God, “The lips of the righteous feed many but the fool dies for lack of understanding” (Proverbs 10:21).

There is the feeding of the flock of God, but then, also, consider the aspect of shepherding that involves protecting the sheep. Here again our Bibles are opened to Acts chapter 20: 28, “Be on guard,” that is, protect:

Be on guard for yourselves and for 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.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears (Acts 20:28).

Here Paul brings to the fore the shepherd’s responsibility to guard and to protect. He says, “First of all, protect yourself. Guard yourself.” Last year this was the first priority in this two-part series on the priority of the pastor. Guard your own heart; guard your own spiritual life because if the shepherd is not taking his place, the sheep are in trouble. If the shepherd is not healthy the sheep are not going to be tended to, so the pastor must tend to his own soul, and that’s for the benefit of his people. Keep your finger there in Acts 20, but turn over to 1Timothy 4, and you see this truth underscored in 1Timothy 4:16, “Pay close attention to yourself.” Guard yourself, watch yourself, protect yourself “and to your teaching. Persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you,” those you feed.

Protecting yourself is crucial if you’re going to be a faithful shepherd so as to protect and care for the flock of God, but Paul does say in Acts 20:28, “Be on guard for yourself and be on guard for all the flock” and in particular, watch out for the threat of false teachers and false teaching.

In Titus 1, Paul, having described the qualifications of the man of God also describes the responsibility and the duty of the man of God. In Titus 1:9 we read that he is to be one holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching. Why? So that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict, to guard the flock and protect them from those who would come among them from outside or those who would rise up from within them who are teaching that which is not in accordance with sound doctrine.

“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me,” David says. The staff is that tool of the shepherd which is used in order to bring the sheep back into line in order to guide the sheep as he goes along, but when a sheep sees the shepherd take out the rod, he knows there’s a wolf at hand who’s about to get his head clobbered because the rod is also a weapon of warfare that the shepherd uses to beat off any possible threat that would come. That’s the responsibility of the shepherd, that he would guide and direct with his staff, but that he would also take out the rod and protect the sheep from any intruder who would come to try to feed the flock with something other than sound words, sound doctrine.

You see, the shepherd has the compassion of Christ for His sheep. That’s why he’s given to the flock, because he is an expression of Christ’s compassion. He has concern for the sheep. He’s not merely a public speaker. He’s not merely an orator who comes up and just dumps his sermon on top of people and then goes away and doesn’t care about whether or not they understood it, whether or not they’ve accepted it, whether or not they’re applying it and living it out in their lives.

He’s not just a professional speaker. If that’s what he is then we come back to John 10 and we understand that he is a hireling. He’s not a shepherd; he is merely a hired hand. Read again John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own. My own know Me even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep.” You see, in verse 11, Jesus says the Good Shepherd lays down His life and He ends again in verse 15, “I lay down My life.”

The pastor who is a shepherd after the heart of Christ is willing to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the sheep so that they would be protected, so that they would be kept safe. Now, the man who doesn’t do that, Jesus says, “He’s not a shepherd. He’s a hireling. He’s a hired hand.” The hired hand can do the work of feeding. He can feed, but when he sees a wolf coming, when he sees danger coming, when he sees disturbance arising, his first and foremost concern is for himself. If there’s danger, if there’s trouble, if there are problems, the hireling thinks first about himself, and he leaves and allows the sheep to be vulnerable without protection. The wolf comes in and starts to ravage and scatter the flock, and Jesus tells us why this man does this. In a day of peace, in a day of tranquility he’s feeding the sheep, he’s doing the function, but when the test comes and the trial comes, his heart is revealed. He can preach a sermon, sure, but when the problems arise, he’s thinking about himself and he has no real love, he has no real heart concern for the people of God. He doesn’t stay, he doesn’t fight, he doesn’t defend and protect the sheep, rather he leaves them and allows them to be harmed. Why? Jesus says because, verse 13, he is not concerned about the sheep. He’s just concerned about himself.

This is one of the challenges that we face in the ministry today because of the media, because of the internet. We can go and download our favorite preachers and we can listen to, you know, five or six of the main voices that are very popular in our day, men who are saying very good things, and our sheep can become attracted to these main voices, and they’ll sit in the pew, and they’ll look at you, and they’ll say, “How come you don’t preach like so and so? Why don’t you talk like that?” See? They’re getting a sense of, “All I need is somebody to preach a sermon to me,” and they’re missing the fact that Jesus has given them shepherds. He is one who is concerned for them, and he’s not just a voice in an ear-pod bud, but he is looking at them eye to eye. He’s putting his hands on them; he’s involved in their lives; he’s praying for them; he’s concerned for them. He’s living among them. He’s pouring himself out for them.

Because of large media personalities, people can sometimes project expectations onto us that are simply unrealistic and unbiblical. They need to receive the means of grace, and the shepherding ministry is a vital means of grace. This is a trustworthy statement, worthy of full acceptance, if anyone desires the work of a overseer, it is a good work he desires to do.

This is a necessary aspect of Christ’s care for his people, not a media personality, not a voice from an ipod, not a face on a screen, but an earthen vessel, a clay pot, a fellow sinner who’s working out his salvation in conjunction with his ministry to the people of God. That’s the reality of shepherding. He’s concerned for the sheep. His life is being given to the sheep. He’s not simply a professional orator. He’s a shepherd. He has intimate knowledge of the sheep, and the sheep are responsible to know him. Their lives are to be knit in a way that reflects the Father’s relationship to the Son: there is to be a love, there is to be a knowledge, there is to be a concern, an engagement. Without that heart, without that concern, the man is just a hireling, which brings us then to this other aspect of shepherding, the presiding over, the caring for, the directing.

A shepherd must provide the food, protect against false doctrine, and then also guide and care and minister for the benefit of the sheep. In 1Timothy 3, when Paul describes the qualifications of the pastor, he uses a word that is very interesting, “If a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?” (1Timothy 3:5).

The church ought to be able to see what kind of benefit they will derive, what kind of benefit they will have under the leadership of this man by looking at his wife and by looking at his kids. In this way they’ll be able to say, “Here’s the impact of a man’s spiritual leadership, here’s the result of living under this man’s rule and guidance.” In many ways, brethren, your wife is your best testimony that qualifies you for the ministry, the people of God can look at her and say, if she’s thriving, well, that’s what happens to people who are under this man’s leadership, under the care and concern of this man. If his children are being managed so that there’s a decency and orderliness, a respectability about them, well then, that’s the effect of this man’s leadership upon people, you see, and Paul says, you can look at that to answer the question, how will this man take care of the church?

The only other place where that word is used is in Luke 10:35, describing the Good Samaritan who took care of the man who was robbed and beaten and left and abandoned, so that caring for the flock requires that we do things that are often uncomfortable for ourselves, that we go out of our way to get and to care for and to protect and guide and direct the people of God.

It involves the responsibility of seeking out a sheep that is meandering off, wandering away, vulnerable and in possible danger:

He told them a parable saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:3-7).

Here’s the picture of shepherding that was common knowledge to the people in Jesus’s day. The shepherd realizes that one of his flock has meandered off, he’s wandered away. He makes sure the ninety-nine are cared for, they’re fed, they’re protected, they’re safe, and then he inconveniences himself and goes after that sheep in order to retrieve it. It’s the picture of a minister seeking to bring back erring, disobedient sheep, calling them to repentance that they might be brought back in line, back in order, seeking out the sickly and the undisciplined in order to restore them.

In Ezekiel 34:1-6, this Old Testament passage that indicts the shepherds of the Old Testament, we read:

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”

The shepherd is indicted because the sheep are not well cared for. God looks at His sheep and says, “I see them meandering around without protection. I see sick ones that are not being nurtured. I see skinny and lame that are not being fed. I look at the shepherds, and I see them gorging themselves, neglecting the sheep in the pursuit of their own comforts.”

To care for the sheep means we’ll be inconvenienced. We’re accountable to Christ for the condition of His flock, and I would think that as I’m saying these things, your people are in your thoughts. There could be, even as we’re speaking, pressure upon your conscience, “I need to make a phone call. I need to make a visit. I need to follow up on a concern.”

Which brings us to this final aspect of our study today, pastoral visitation and private oversight of the sheep. In order to fulfill our responsibility to feed, to provide, our responsibility to protect, our responsibility to guide and lead and direct, in order to do these things with a concern for every man, we’re going to have to get involved in the lives of our people at a private, personal level. A true shepherd is concerned for his sheep and in the relationship of shepherd to sheep, the shepherd has the prerogative to initiate engaging with his sheep, not only to respond to the call for help but also because he’s a watchman, because he’s looking over and seeing the state of the flock, because he sees on the horizon a possible threat. He has the prerogative to take the initiative and to get in contact with the sheep that he believes needs additional care and provision and protection. Along with his sermon preparation, along with his intercessory prayer ministry, the shepherd is to be aware of his flock. This is general knowledge. This is general wisdom. Proverbs 27:23, “Know well the conditions of your flocks and pay attention to your herds.”

This individual, private, one-on-one interaction can result from something that the pastor observes while he is living among his people ministering among his people, publicly preaching to his people.

For example, if while you’re preaching, you notice that one of your sheep is sitting with his arms closed, his face is down, and he’s just shaking his head, and you say something, and he just rolls his eyes and shakes his head, now, unless you’re from Mars, on earth that means, that man’s not receiving what you’re saying. He’s having a problem with what you’re saying. You walk out of the sanctuary and you see two who are debating and arguing about what you just preached, or they’re arguing about something and you don’t even know what it’s about, but you know that they’re having an argument, or you see a husband and wife who are walking to the car at the end of the service, and he’s just got a look on his face and she’s going at it, and they’re two of your members, as an overseer, one who is given a responsibility to look out for the care of your sheep, those are things that concern you. Biblically, you have the prerogative to initiate an encounter, an interaction, either to speak to the sheep right there and then or, if it’s not appropriate, to ask them to meet with you privately so that you can inquire, am I interpreting things correctly? When you were sitting with your head shaking, was your stomach sore? Or was it something that was being said that we need to address and further clarify? There are occasions when you as a shepherd can come alongside of the sheep and ask a question because something has attracted your attention that concerns you, because you’re not a hireling, you’re concerned, you’re concerned for the sheep, you’re concerned for the unity, you’re concerned for their souls, you’re concerned for their relationships, you’re concerned for the Spirit not being grieved in the flock.

This one-on-one interaction can also be formally structured. We endeavor every year or so to have pastoral visits with our people. We have a sign-up sheet, and people schedule a time for the pastor to come and interact with them privately. It’s not because there’s a trouble or a crisis, or a concern per se, but it’s just in order that we might know the condition of the flock and that they might know us and that there might be communication and that we might have a better understanding of how to pray for them in our intercessory prayers and also get a sense of where the congregation is, that we might then direct the ministry of the Word of God to them.

A couple of years ago in our pastoral interaction with people we got the impression that there was a handful of people in our church that were having some marital tension. It dawned on us in an elders meeting, you know something? We’ve got several families here that seem to be facing some struggles in their marriage. That’s what we’re going to do in our next adult Sunday School class. We’re going to address the subject of marriage, you see, because this is how we can minister the Word to this flock at this time.

When we have these meetings for pastoral oversight I usually endeavor to ask questions along three different areas:

First, their own personal discipleship. Are you engaged in personal devotions? Are you cultivating your communion with Christ in prayer? Are there any things that you’re facing personally in your discipleship to Jesus Christ that I can be of help to you in? What are you reading? How is your prayer life? How is your conscience? How is your personal walk with God?

Secondly, how are things in the family? How are things in the marriage? How are things with the children? How are things with your brothers or your sisters or your parents? Are you having family devotions? Are you praying together as a family? Are you reading the Word of God? Are there concerns that I need to be aware of relative to the family?

Thirdly, how are things in the church? Are you benefiting from the pulpit ministry? Are there any questions that you have about things that are being taught? Are you fulfilling your membership obligations? Are you interacting with the people of God in a healthy way? Are there any concerns among the people of God that you have? Are there any concerns for what we’re doing as a church in our involvement in missions, in our finances and stewardship, any questions along those lines?

Those are the three main areas that we generally try to simply discuss. Your personal walk with God, your family, your life in the church. Are you ministering? What gifts do you have? What are you contributing to the life and ministry of the church? Are you growing through service as you exercise the ministry that God has given you? From that kind of engagement, you might quickly discover that there are things you need to follow up on, things that you need to further meet with them about, and you might want to schedule then some more meetings in order to engage in counseling.

You’re seeking to recognize God’s grace in them, you’re seeking to give them practical instruction and to help them know what it means to work their salvation out.

Now, in 1Corinthians 7:25 Paul gives some counsel. This is challenging because we need to be able to discern when it is that I as a pastor am giving advice and when it is that I’m opening up the Word of God and giving them that which binds their conscience to the Word and which they as people of God are compelled to follow.
Paul was able to make that distinction. He says, “now, concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.” The challenge is, of course, his opinion is written in Scripture. Huh. But at least we understand that Paul understood when it was that he was saying, “I am speaking by the commandment of God,” and when it was that he was saying, “I’m giving my opinion on this matter.”

Now, his opinion, of course, had to do with his counsel relative to virgins. The commandment of the Lord for the virgin was their sexual purity, that they be obedient in matters of the seventh commandment and that commandment can be obeyed whether they’re in the single state or whether they’re in the married state. That commandment is nonnegotiable, but in view of the persecutions that were pressing upon the Corinthian church, Paul gives an opinion, and he advocates the single state. That’s pastoral counsel. To reject that is not sin, but it sure is wise to take it under consideration. That’s what counsel is, the seeking of wisdom, the practical application of the commands. We need to be able to understand in our dealings with our sheep when we’re are speaking, “Thus sayeth the Lord” commands and when we are with them as a man endowed with some measure of discernment who’s simply giving an opinion, who’s simply giving counsel. Advice from wise men as to how to apply the Word of God in practical matters of life is very beneficial.

The wise man seeks such counsel. The fool listens to himself and doesn’t seek counsel:

Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 13:10, Proverbs 15:22, Proverbs 24:6, Proverbs 27:9

All of those Proverbs underscore the benefit of having practical advice given to us by men whose minds have been informed of the Word of God and whose life and experience and example commends practical Christian obedience. They are to be voices of wisdom for us, and we are to be such voices in the lives of our people to exhort and encourage and direct them.

In Deuteronomy 17, reading at verse 8, the one-on-one principles here, or the one-on-one analogy is not to directly apply to the pastoral ministry in the sense that we are old covenant judges among our people, but there is relevance in principle. We read in Deuteronomy 17:8:

If any case is too difficult for you to decide between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses, you shall come to the Levitical priest or to the judge who is in office in these days and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from the place which the Lord chooses and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you, according to the terms of the law which they teach you and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the Word which they declare to you, to the right or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God or to the judge, that man shall die, thus you shall purge the evil from Israel, then all the people will hear and will be afraid and will not act presumptuously again.

I’m not saying by this that the New Covenant pastor is in the office of the priest and judge as in this setting to the point that if his verdict on the case is not followed, church discipline is the result. What I’m saying though, is this principle: don’t act presumptuously. There should be nothing, there should be no problem with the people of God being told, listen, God has given gifts to you, men who live with their minds constantly being saturated by the Word of God, men who are praying for you, men who are seeking your good, they have concern for you. They’re not perfect men, they’re not sinless men, but they’re men who’ve been given a deposit of practical wisdom in the how-to’s of living the Christian life. Seek their input. Seek their counsel. Discern between opinion and command, but understand that when the pastor attempts to give practical counsel, he’s not trying to dominate, he’s not trying to manipulate, he’s simply trying to be to you what Christ has made him to be, a means of grace, a help, an aid. Some people who would hear this kind of teaching would look at me and say, “You’re just trying to be heavy handed. You’re just trying to meddle. You’re just trying to get involved in things that you have no business in.”

Brother, I don’t understand that mentality. If there’s a true pastors heart, and if the people of God are sincerely wanting to know how to please Christ, then can we not come together and open up our Bibles together and seek to know the mind of Christ in practical ways of obedience? Can we not have enough discernment to say, here’s my opinion, here’s my counsel on this. Now, if you don’t take my opinion, and if you don’t act on my counsel, it’s not necessarily breaking God’s law. It’s just advice, it’s just counsel, but that’s part of what God made me to be for you, a source of counsel.

I can tell you, I wish that when I was a young man as a Christian, I had had some pastors who were more attentive to the problems that I was having, that would’ve picked up the phone and called me and would’ve said to me, “Hey, Alan, I hear about this and I’m concerned about that, what are you up to? What’s going on?” Perhaps if that had happened to me, in my latter teens and early twenties, I would’ve been prevented from making some pretty stupid decisions. I would’ve been protected from some sinful activities. Maybe I would’ve made more footprints on the path of righteousness instead of leaving footprints wandering off the path.

I can tell you as a pastor, I seek counsel. I seek input from men whose opinions I value. I take their counsel, I weigh their opinions and sometimes I don’t always follow their advice, but I don’t want to work apart from having that advice. Pastoral ministry is a means of grace, brethren, an opportunity for you to pour your life into the lives of your people. That’s what Christ has given you to them to do. Bring them the Word of God. Bring them the Word of God publicly, privately, care for them, protect them, love them. Invest yourself in them. Inconvenience yourself for them. Lay down your life for them. Give them Christ’s compassion, Christ’s love, be the man of God for the people of God and Christ will use you to give benefit to His sheep and glorify Himself in them and when the Good Shepherd comes and returns, Peter tells us, you will receive a crown of glory that fades not away and when you get that crown and you realize what kind of shepherd you’ve really been, you’ll be glad to take the crown off and say, “I lay it at the foot of the Good Shepherd, I am but an unworthy servant.”

May God be pleased to use us with all of our shortcomings, our remaining sins, our weaknesses, our struggles, all of our mistakes, may we yet be men of integrity, may we yet be men like Elisha, may we be the man of God that we’re learning about in 2Peter and 2Timothy and give ourselves, give ourselves for the good of Christ’s sheep, out of love for Christ and for the glory of His Name. Amen.

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