In John 21, the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples for the third time after He was raised from the dead. After eating with them, He asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Without hesitating, Peter answered that he did. The Lord Jesus told him to do three things:
- Feed My lambs.
- Tend My sheep.
- Feed My sheep.
The Lord Jesus’ instructions to the disciple who would preach the first sermon in Acts 2 were to tend and feed His lambs and sheep. With this commission, He wanted the disciples to see His believers or the church as lambs and sheep. His appointed leaders would be shepherds of God’s flock, with Him being the Chief Shepherd. Since all sheep require a shepherd, He provided shepherds as gifts:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
When He ascended to heaven, the Lord Jesus appointed shepherds over His sheep to accomplish His will. A shepherd’s responsibilities are to guide, guard, protect, and care for the sheep. As long as the shepherd oversees the sheep, the sheep can continue to grow and mature and be steadfast in knowing and following the Shepherd’s voice. The shepherd’s job is to equip and edify the sheep so they can increase their faith and grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Chief Shepherd according to the word of God.
The shepherd is only to shepherd the flock, not assume ownership of or mislead the sheep in a way that is contrary to the Chief Shepherd’s voice. This is why pastoral leadership that does not equip and edify the sheepfold entrusted to them are thieves and robbers. They are hirelings who don’t care about the sheep. According to the Lord Jesus, they don’t love Him either because that are not feeding or tending His sheep like He told Peter. If a shepherd leaves His lambs and sheep unfed and unattended where the enemy can attack and devour them, they don’t love Him.
Below are more examples used in the church today to distort the voice of the Chief Shepherd:
The pastoral leadership rarely teaches on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done, but constantly teaches on God’s wrath, punishment, and judgement. This is to manipulate and control the sheepfold by instilling fear. Even worse, it is a reflection of the pastoral leadership’s lack of knowledge and spiritual immaturity. Hebrews 6:1-2 says this level of teaching is elementary or something so basic that even a small child can understand it. “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” Like the Pharisees in the Lord Jesus’ time on earth, these thieves are presenting unbalanced teaching that does not glorify God as our Father, the Son of God as our Savior, nor the Holy Spirit as our Helper.
The pastoral leadership uses Scripture out of context for their own agenda. The goal of quoting Scripture out of context is to distort the intended meaning. Why would pastoral leadership teach Scripture out of context? This is done when THEY expect total agreement and compliance with everything THEY want or think and use Scripture to justify it, THEY don’t want to be held accountable for their actions or behavior that are not in line with the qualifications of an overseer (1 Timothy 3:1-7), or THEY simply intend to mislead or control the sheepfold. For example, if someone disagrees with or questions the pastoral leadership about a plan or decision or action, these Scriptures may be used out of context:
“Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back.” (Titus 2:9)
“Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.” (1 Peter 2:18)
Clearly, any pastoral leadership that uses these Scriptures today considers the souls they are supposed to be watching over to be THEIR slaves that THEY can talk to or treat anyway THEY choose without question, correction, or accountability. To be clear, the Oxford Languages Dictionary defines a slave as “a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property.” Pastoral leadership that teaches out of context create their own false doctrine. In our post, The Root Cause of Unhealthy Sheepfolds, we discussed how the Lord Jesus feels about false doctrine. Strange voices that misuse or even weaponize the word of God to dominate and control His sheepfold are thieves with a mission to steal, kill, and destroy.
We must recognize and flee strange voices in the church today. The word of God is not subject to personal bias or interpretation. It is the word of truth and has to be rightly divided. If we continue to follow the voice of a stranger, we will never be edified, equipped, nor positioned for the abundant life the Lord Jesus came to give us. We must be sheep that know and follow the Shepherd’s voice. In Ephesians 4:4-6, the apostle Paul wrote, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Therefore, we are all to be one under the Chief Shepherd’s voice.
In our next post, we will begin exploring the attributes of sheep and what the Lord Jesus expects of His sheep and shepherds.
Disclaimer: Before making decisions or changes that affect your spiritual life and well-being, always personally seek God for His perfect will for your life and always follow peace.
