By Dr. Phil Corr (c) 2007
The Bible has much to say about the imagery and reality of being a shepherd. In both the Old and New Testaments we read of those who shepherd their flock, especially sheep. The word “pastor” means “one who shepherds”.
The Bible tells us that God is our shepherd. In his book, “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,” Phillip Keller suggests that the entire psalm has to do with one sheep bragging to another–across a fence– that “the LORD is my shepherd.” Everything in that psalm flows from that understanding.
Keller takes up the theme of God as shepherd again in his “A Shepherd Looks at the Good Shepherd.” In this book he focuses on Jesus’ teachings in John 10. Christians believe that Jesus is the same LORD Who is found in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament also speaks of humans as shepherds who are to take care of God’s flock. Sadly, the humans sometimes–willfully–do not live up to the basic standards of spiritual shepherding. Nowhere is that more evident than in Ezekiel 34: “‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?… You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.’
“ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered…. I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock….
“ ‘I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep.’”
The LORD Jesus speaks of the people being like a sheep without a shepherd. In John 10 He speaks of hirelings who care only for themselves, not the sheep. He expands on what it means to be the Good Shepherd:
“ ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.’”
In his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, Paul warns against false shepherds who will come into the congregation: “ ‘I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will [counsel] of God. Guard yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made
you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away
disciples after them.’” (Acts 20) Paul and others explain what it means to be a shepherd, a pastor of a flock/congregation belonging to God. Paul sets an example as well.
The Book of Hebrews has some helpful instructions in this area, including how a congregation is to treat its pastor–when that pastor is rightly teaching and
living the Word of God. “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever….
“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
The author concludes by pointing out that pastors are actually under shepherds, with the LORD Jesus being the head or chief shepherd: “May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13)
Phil Corr’s work on the web can be seen at: haystack06.org and fccofcc.com
