The metaphor of a shepherd and his sheep appears a few times in the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In Psalm 23 King David recognized that the Lord is our ultimate shepherd, and we are ‘ His sheep’ – He cares for and watches over all of us. Psalm 23:1. “The Lord is my shepherd…” Leaders are also referred to as ‘shepherds, as in Isaiah and Ezekial.
Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the Lord, with Jesus as our great Shepherd and us as His sheep; Isaiah 40:11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.
Ezekial also prophesied about shepherds (identified as ‘the leaders of Israel’) and their sheep, in this case berating them for putting themselves first rather than ‘feeding’ their sheep. Ezekial 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? In the rest of this chapter, Ezekial, speaking for the Lord, continues to berate the shepherd, and ending with a promise to personally care for ‘the people of Israel, are my people’ (verse 30) and verse 31‘You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my people, and I am your God. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Later, we read in John 21;15-17 that after Jesus appeared to seven of His disciples, He challenged Peter three times, to; “feed My lambs”, to “take care of My sheep,” and to “feed My sheep”. Clearly, the sheep Jesus was talking about was metaphorical for future believers, and the ‘food’ was not the edible kind, but spiritual food.
A shepherd does not own the sheep in his flock. He is simply entrusted by the owner to do his best to look after them – to ensure that they are well fed with suitable food, protected from dangers such as wolves, sheltered from storms, and to tend to any sick among them.
How does this metaphor apply in the church – what are the responsibilities of a pastor?
Feed my sheep
It is not the pastor’s responsibility to do all the work himself, though it is the responsibility of the pastor and the elders to ensure the members of their church are taught the word (‘feed my sheep’). It is the function of the teacher/s in the church to actually provide this service. Note that Jesus has given the church the five-fold gifts or apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, whose collective responsibility is to ‘do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ’ (Ephesians 4:11-12).
Hence it is the overall responsibility of the pastor to ensure that the members of his church are taught the word, starting with the implications of salvation and the foundational doctrines, and then ‘moving forward to further understanding’ (Hebrews 6:1-3). The failure to do this typically results in spiritually immature members – babies who can only drink the milk of the word – as referred to in 1 Corinthians 3:2 and in Hebrews 5:12-13 “You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.”
That is why God provided teachers to help feed the people. Ideally there will be teachers with aptitudes for teaching the adult new believers the foundational doctrines and going on to more solid food (see 1 Cor 3:2 and Hebrews 5:12-14), and also others to teach the children at their level.
Take care of my sheep
Jesus Himself stated this very clearly: John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.” For Jesus, this meant literally giving up His life as a sacrifice (in the place of the sacrificial lamb under the Law) for all of us, as the price for our sins. However laying down one’s life as a sacrifice normally just means making personal sacrifices for the benefit of others. This will undoubtably involve the sacrifice of time and personal comfort, and may also involve financial sacrifice in terms of business opportunities and a lower income when serving in the ministry.
Protect My sheep
New believers, just like young lambs, need protection. Jesus warned the disciples in Matthew 7:15 to be aware and on the lookout for false prophets who will disguise themselves as harmless sheep, but are really vicious wolves. New believer, especially, may not have the spiritual maturity, knowledge of the word, or the experience to be able to readily distinguish between true and false prophets. Hence the pastor, assisted by his fellow elders and the recognised prophets in his church, need to keep careful watch. Paul in Acts, speaking to the Ephesian Elders, also warns us to watch out for false teachers who, ‘like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock’. So we can see that both these dangers are from people within the church.
Another aspect of protection is to provide spiritual covering by praying and interceding until the new believers are sufficiently mature and strong in their faith to pray for themselves. This appears to be what Paul is saying in Galatians 4:19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labour pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.
This passage is a wonderful expression of the depth of Paul’s pastoral care and his desire for the spiritual well-being of the new believers.
Take care of the sick
In Psalm 23:5 David says; ‘You anoint my head with oil’. This can be seen literally – to actually pour oil on a sheep’s head for protection against insects like flies that attack their nostrils, ears and eyes and, metaphorically, since oil is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit, it also means blessing and protection. To pray for the sick in a church is also one of the duties of the elders of that church, as we read in James 5:14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
Take care of the poor – the widows and the orphans
Families have the primary responsibility of looking after own relatives, and especially those in their own households – those who do not do so are described as ‘worse than unbelievers’ (1 Timothy 5:8) – so that the church can care for the widows who are truly alone (1 Timothy 5:16). Hence we read in Acts that widows, who presumably had no relatives to support them, received a daily distribution of food (Acts 6:1) In addition, we should of course help everyone we can (Matthew 25:31-46), and especially our fellow Christians (Galatians 6:10).
Let My people go
In the church the pastor is the shepherd, and the people choose to follow him and to join his church, and are free to leave at any time. The pastor can only lead them as long as they choose to stay. He should graciously accept new members as a gift from God, and when they leave let them go with equal grace. Sometimes people only stay for a season and God has other plans for their lives. Pastors must guard against any feeling of bitterness, unforgiveness or resentment to those who leave. Pastors must never be in competition with other pastors for the ‘ownership’ of the members of their respective churches.
Dr Brian Drury