Teaching John 10 the other day I was reminded of an old training session I ran on the importance of Bible teaching and leadership to the church.
To make that point I laid out the theme of shepherds and sheep
and came up with a spin on the Two Ways to Live diagram which looked a bit like this:
 |
| two ways to graze |
Working through that for a moment…
1.
God gave shepherds to his
people Israel. Moses (M) and Aaron were shepherds who cared for the flock and
taught them God’s ways. (Numbers 27:17, Psalm 77:20).
2.
Moses’ prayer for the
people was that Joshua and others would continue to serve as shepherds for the
people so that they would not be “sheep without a shepherd.” Tragically the
rest of Israel’s history is a crisis of leadership as they constantly find
themselves with absentee or wicked shepherds who feed on the sheep rather
feeding them. For their part the sheep wander and stray. (Isaiah 53:6, Jeremiah
10:21, 23:1, 50:6, Ezekiel 34:1-10, Zechariah
11)
3.
In light of this God
promises to send a shepherd – a Davidic shepherd – and indeed to come himself
to be the shepherd of his people. When he does the injured will be healed, the
strays will be found. (Ezekiel 34, Isaiah 40:10-12, Jeremiah 31:10, Micah 2:12-13,
5:4-5).
4.
Jesus comes as the shepherd,
a Davidic shepherd king, God himself in fact, to rescue and gather the sheep,
calling them by name and laying down his life for his sheep. (John 10, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 2:25, Zechariah 13:7
as picked up by the gospels).
5.
Until his return he has
appointed under-shepherds who are to care for his sheep, to feed them and care
for them with the same gentleness and care that Jesus does. He is the
chief-shepherd, they are his sheep, but church elders serve under him to care
for a feed the flock. (John 21:15-19,
1 Peter 5:1-4).
6.
One day we will be with our
chief shepherd. We will enjoy his provision fully and forever – pasture and
protection and provision. The lamb at the centre of the throne will be our shepherd.
(Rev 7:17).
First: what an awesome responsibility and calling it is to be an under-shepherd. Shall we run through that line of succession again? Moses, Joshua, God himself in the person of the shepherd king Jesus, and then the local church elder.
Second: the model for our pastoral care must be the true shepherd who gives his life for the sheep and not the false shepherds who feed off the sheep and use their power to pursue greed, to indulge their desires and satisfy their needs for attention and prestige and power.