In our last post, we began exploring the duties and responsibilities of a shepherd. When the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples in John 21, He told Peter to feed His lambs, tend His sheep, and feed His sheep. He wanted the disciples to see His church as lambs and sheep. He Himself would choose pastors or shepherds to oversee God’s flock, with Him as the Chief Shepherd. We will continue our journey to identification and restoration by looking closer at a shepherd’s duties and responsibilities which include the following:
- A shepherd is responsible to the owner of the sheep
- A shepherd must guide the flock as a gentle, but confident leader
- A shepherd must provide a secure sheepfold and protect the sheep under their care
- A shepherd must feed the flock in all seasons and provide water even in times of drought
- A shepherd must have great endurance, be willing to work hard, and not be afraid to learn new things
We explored the first responsibility in Shepherd, Not Owner! In today’s post, we will examine the second duty of a shepherd: A shepherd must guide the flock as a gentle, but confident leader.
Qualified Leadership
To begin, leadership is a necessity and is a major theme in the Bible. In Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, lead (g3594) means “to be a guide, lead on one’s way, to guide, to be a teacher, to give guidance to.” The Bible has many examples of good and not so good leaders. For pastoral leadership, the Chief Shepherd is the One and Only pattern for leading souls for and to God. A leader representing the Lord Jesus will only guide with the word of truth by the Holy Spirit and will lead by example in character, temperament, and actions.
The Lord Jesus Himself appoints pastors as leaders. He gives them grace and authority to oversee His sheepfold with a specific assignment:
…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)
Next, a shepherd must be gentle, but confident. Gentle means “having or showing a mild, kind, or tender temperament or character.” Confident means “to be assured, sure of oneself, not insecure or uncertain.” The necessity for a pastor to be a gentle, but confident leader is irrefutable in the Scripture. The apostle Paul gave us the qualifications of a pastor or overseer in two books of the Bible:
As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it (Titus 1:7-9, CSB).
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not an excessive drinker, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy. He must manage his own household competently and have his children under control with all dignity. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of God’s church?) He must not be a new convert, or he might become conceited and incur the same condemnation as the devil. Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil’s trap (1 Timothy 3:1-7, CSB).
According to the word of God above, certain qualities are non-negotiable, and must be displayed in a pastor tending and feeding God’s flock under the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4). These qualities equate to love, stability, sincerity, and maturity.
Blind Leadership
We’ve established that an individual must be qualified to lead in the body of Christ. In Luke 6:39, the Lord Jesus said, “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?” Blind (g5187) comes from a Greek word that means “to be puffed up with haughtiness or pride, to inflate with self-conceit, high-minded, or be lifted up with pride.” These traits are the exact opposite of the qualifications of a pastor discussed above. So, any individual that is a bully, or is arrogant, conceited, harsh, hot-tempered, and quarrelsome is blind according to the Lord Jesus and is therefore not qualified to be a pastor.
A blind leader will cause those following them to fall into the ditch. A ditch is a narrow channel dug in the ground. A ditch is an insufficient, deficient, or inadequate place. Therefore, a blind leader causes the sheep following them to sink to a place of destruction, failure, or loss. A ditch may be spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, relational, or financial. A ditch is a hard place to get out of without help.
Because of haughtiness and pride, a blind leader will only be concerned with their narrow perception and perspective. In other words, every motive and action will be for what benefits them. Because of their sense of superiority, a blind pastor will disregard the leading of the Holy Spirit. Instead of advancing the kingdom of God, that blind leader will be in a perpetual ditch and intentionally lead the sheep entrusted to them into the same ditch.
To conceal their blindness, they will distort the Shepherd’s voice to hinder the growth, knowledge, and faith of the sheep to keep them immature. By incapacitating the sheep in this way, they can dominate and manipulate them for their own agenda, keeping the sheep in the ditch.
Insecure Leadership
We must know the Shepherd’s voice and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit who may be showing us that someone speaking into our lives is not confident, but is actually an insecure leader that will eventually cause harm. An insecure pastor does not lead from the front with accountability. Instead of being confident in their calling and authority to lead the sheep, they resort to oppressing the sheep they are supposed to be overseeing.
This oppression takes many forms, including taking Scripture out of context to assert authority, to demand honor, to acquire attention, and to seek validation. Even more damaging, an insecure pastor distorts the Shepherd’s voice until it’s totally unrecognizable, making Him sound angry, short-tempered, and even vindictive when it’s actually them projecting their own personality onto Him. An insecure pastor will go so far as to weaponize the Holy Spirit of God to camouflage their own issues! Because of these tactics, the sheep are unable to be wholehearted in their walk with the Chief Shepherd, the One who died for them. They will eventually leave their first love and abandon their relationship with the Savior because of the fear, condemnation, intimidation, and mistrust instilled by an insecure pastor.
We risk falling into a deep ditch by following a pastor who claims to be speaking in the name of Jesus but is actually insecure and misrepresenting Him. We must know the Shepherd’s voice and only follow a gentle, confident leader that truly displays the qualities of a biblical overseer, both at church and in their home. Their guidance must be rooted and grounded in truth, faith, hope, and love. We must immediately stop following any pastoral leadership that does not lead with consistency and with certainty by example. We cannot compromise when it comes to being led into righteousness and in the way we should go as the Chief Shepherd intends. Psalm 23:3 says, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” And Isaiah 48:17 says, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go.’”
Stagnant Leadership
When someone is stagnant, that individual is not growing or changing; there is no movement. Stagnation in a leader is dangerous because there is lack of activity or growth. A pastor that degrades the word of truth cannot lead the sheep forward because they both believe and teach that which is contrary to the doctrine of the Lord Jesus, and anyone that follows them cannot grow and will be stagnant too.
Anything that is stagnant will stay the same or decline. So, stagnation does not align with a pastor’s assignment in Ephesians 4:11-16 discussed above, which is facilitating progressive growth in the body of Christ. Stagnation also opposes James 4:8 that says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” This Scripture is a call for change and advancement!
A stagnant pastor can cause a believer in Jesus Christ to completely lose their faith in the faithfulness and goodness of God, and because of unbelief, disqualify themselves from the abundant life. To explain further, let’s first ground ourselves in the danger of stagnation with three verses:
“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32, CSB)
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
With these verses in mind, below are two ways a stagnant pastor can shipwreck the faith and walk of a believer in Jesus Christ by that pastor’s stagnation:
- The first way is no truth and no faith. A stagnant pastor does not rightly divide the word of truth and only teaches elementary principles. They don’t teach what the Bible says about how to walk worthy, how to seek God, and how to please God. They don’t teach on humility, unity, or wisdom. They certainly don’t teach about the kingdom of God or the glorious redemption and inheritance God has provided in Christ Jesus! Instead, they distort the Scripture for their own advantage. Their teaching is self-centered to justify their ungodly behavior, to please themselves, to draw attention to themselves, and to bolster their own image. A stagnant pastor despises progress and the plan of God. But the Bible says we must continue in the word of the Lord. So for a believer, unbalanced, distorted teachings of the word of God equals no truth and no faith.
- The second way is no fruit and no growth. Fruit (g2590) is “that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result.” If God is speaking through a pastor, shouldn’t He also be speaking to that pastor? Shouldn’t He be giving that pastor wisdom and knowledge to bear fruit? Shouldn’t that pastor have something to show for their relationship with God? Shouldn’t the promises of God be overflowing in every area of that pastor’s life?
The answer is no for an unqualified, stagnant pastor. This is because a stagnant pastor is a false teacher, and what they teach and believe is dead. They will have no fruit. Because they blatantly distort the Shepherd’s voice, the promises of God will not be evident in their life. They will have nothing to show as proof of God’s goodness in their life, and their lack of fruit makes God look unfaithful! So what is a believer following such a pastor to think? If God is not fulfilling His promises in the pastor’s life, why have faith that He will give me abundant life? If someone claiming to hear from God is in a perpetual ditch spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, or financially, why bother believing and seeking God for myself? By looking at that stagnant leader’s life, coming to God diligently seems pointless. With that being said, as a believer, because of a stagnant leader’s obvious lack of fruit and growth, a believer can lose faith in God because of discouragement.
In His infinite wisdom, the Lord Jesus gave us a way to discern if someone speaking for God is walking in truth or intends to deceive: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them (Matthew 7:15-20).
Do not be deceived by any pseudo-blessings or pseudo-fruit a stagnant leader appears to have. Whatever they appear to have is from the manipulation, control, and oppression of those around them, not the true blessings from the Father promised in Matthew 6:33. It was not added to them, but they stripped it from someone else.
Leadership Awareness
Because of the above, we must pay attention to the character and lives of the pastoral leadership we are following. They must have the will of the Owner as their only focus as we discussed in Shepherd, Not Owner! They must be biblically qualified and sound like the Chief Shepherd at all times. They must edify us with the living word of God and encourage us to do what we were created to do. They must help us grow, develop, and progress “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” (Ephesians 4:13).
Pastoral leadership that does not meet biblical requirements, both in the church and in their own personal lives, must be avoided because they will misuse and abuse the flock of God, degrade His word, and misrepresent the Good Shepherd. They themselves will be in a perpetual ditch and cause anyone following them to be in that same ditch without hope. A shepherd that does not gently and confidently guide the flock entrusted to them causes the sheep to be easy prey for the thief to steal, kill, and destroy as we discussed in Scattered and Devoured by the Shepherd!?
In conclusion, we must be aware of our “spiritual location” in the physical church we’re attending. We must ask ourselves if we’re being led closer to God by a biblically qualified leader or being misled further away from Him by a blind, stagnant, unqualified shepherd? We must ask if we’re being taught how to continuously draw near to God? We must judge if we’re stagnant, moving forward, or going backwards in our walk with God? We must assess if we’re in a ditch (an insufficient, deficient, or inadequate place) in any area of our lives? Finally, we must ask ourselves if we have a clear path to God? Can we freely draw near to God or is there a hindrance? We must ensure we only follow a shepherd that is gentle, confident, and active with the fruit to match. It’s time to ensure we’re in a church that is progressing and helping us to progress under the Shepherd’s voice.
In our next post, we will continue exploring the duties of a shepherd.
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.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is public domain.
