A young boy gathers his friends around and he proposes an idea to build a tree-house. In that very moment, he is a shepherd. He is a leader. A mother comes home and discovers her children haven’t gotten the dishes washed yet, and orders them all to the kitchen to complete their chore. In that moment, she is a leader. An old man sits with his friends at the coffee shop and begins to tell them all exactly what’s wrong with the country. The all listen intently and agree with his evaluation. In that moment, he is a leader.
See, leadership has very little to do with position or authority. It has almost nothing to do with a big desk or a fancy title. What leadership has to do with is very simple: influence. Leadership is influence. Whenever you influence another person’s thoughts, whenever you influence another person’s actions, you are providing leadership for them. Leadership is influence, and using influence properly is good shepherding.
It doesn’t matter who you are—male or female, old or young—there are opportunities that God brings to us each and every day to be a shepherd. God takes leading very seriously. So let’s take a few minutes and talk about how God would have us lead—how God would have us shepherd—those people we come into contact with.
To get at that, let’s look at the Old Testament reading for today. In Jeremiah 23:1-6 we hear the Lord speaking harshly to wicked shepherds. We have a list of four negative examples of shepherding that Jeremiah gives us. In verse two the Lord says that the shepherds have scattered the flock, driven them away, and not bestowed care. Verse four adds a fourth item—terrifying the flock—to our list.
Who are these cruel, abusive shepherds? If you page back just one chapter in Jeremiah you can read an entire chapter dedicated to God’s judgment against the evil kings of God’s people in Israel and in Judah. The “shepherds” of chapter twenty-three are those kings, and they had abused God’s flock of sheep—God’s people—so long that the Lord Himself finally came against them. Jeremiah 23:1-2 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD.”
These “shepherds” had violated one of the most basic rules of the servant-leader; they treated people like things. Instead of diligently feeding and nurturing the sheep, building up the flock in health and in numbers, they used the sheep for their own gain, and in so doing they had earned God’s wrath.
Because these “shepherds” had neglected the flock they were supposed to be caring for, the Lord, the God of Israel, says to them, “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done.”
Shepherding—leading—is serious business to God. It requires care, tact, and a selfless attitude that says, “It’s not about me. It’s not about what I want . . . but what’s best for you.” And if we desire to use the shepherding opportunities God gives us every day for His glory, then we had better take a look at what to avoid.
The first thing a bad shepherd does is to scatter the flock. A scattered flock is a confused flock. There is disarray, not knowing where to go or whom to follow.
Now, this can certainly happen in the absence of leadership. If there is a leadership vacuum, if there is no one giving guidance, the sheep will naturally start to go in whatever direction their fancy takes them. This can happen if a leader is not a particularly strong leader.
But he children of Israel had a leader. Their ultimate leader was, of course God, but in His wisdom God saw to it that kings were appointed to be leaders for His people on earth. But these kings very often took it upon themselves to disrupt God’s plan for His people. Most of these kings sinned by turning the people away from their true leader, and in so doing these bad shepherds introduced confusion.
Now I doubt very much if any of us have influenced other people to turn from God to the worship of idols. But if we’re not careful, we too can introduce confusion and scatter the sheep. Imagine a little idle gossip at work, for instance. Maybe a few words of discontent. But instead of taking a complaint to the one in charge, a person chooses to spread their discontent around the water cooler, and before you know it they become the leader of a little group of sheep.
But what has really happened? The ringleader has turned people away from the true leader, and in so doing has introduced confusion. They have become a bad shepherd. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the home, the workplace, or at church; the chain of leadership has been violated and the sheep get confused and they scatter. To be good shepherds we must keep the sheep connected to their true leader, their true shepherd.
Not scattering the sheep is a shepherding lesson that we can apply everywhere, but the second example comes a bit closer to the doors of the church. The Hebrew word translated as “driven away” means to compel, to thrust away, to banish. The wicked kings of the Old Testament drove people away from the Temple, the place where they could meet with God, and instead turned them to idol worship. In other words, when the Lord complains of a bad shepherd driving away His flock He is complaining that the bad shepherd has forced them away from, instead of closer to, Christ and His church.
Now, I love all of you, and I love this church. But allow me to let you in on a little something. Churches of our size are by nature very much like a family. That’s a good thing—there is family love, care for fellow family members, acceptance of fellow family members. A family has a lifetime of memories together, and a family forms a strong, strong bond with one another. That’s something that pleases God, and it is something to be cherished.
But just stop and think for a second. The last time you were at a family gathering that wasn’t your family . . . you felt a bit like an outsider, didn’t you? Now, they could have been the nicest people in the world, they could have given you a great meal and you had a nice time . . . but still the whole while you were on the outside. Why? Because even though they tried to include you, you weren’t really family. You didn’t know everybody’s history, you didn’t know all the inside jokes, you didn’t know their particular family customs. So it probably happened that, even though they didn’t mean to, they still pushed you aside a bit.
See, while a church our size has great family moments, we must take extra special care to not let our family love for one another inadvertently drive away someone who’s not yet one of the family. So we first need to make an extra effort to invite other people to join our family. Once they come, we take extra pains to bring them in, to introduce them to other members of our church family, to help them make connections within our church family. Tell them a bit of our stories, explain our customs to them. Tell them about the story about the stained-glass window or let them in on the secret that the third pew on the right has always belonged to the Rupleys and always will! Share the family joys and the family hurts. Put forth a deliberate effort to make visitors and guests not just feel like, but become family, and the chances are drastically reduced that they will feel as though they had been driven away from Christ’s church.
We’ve moved from the outside in on these first two points, from leading/shepherding just about anywhere, to more specifically providing a shepherding care to our guests. But now I want to come all the way inside the sanctuary doors and apply the third point to just how we can shepherd our fellow church members.
We can think of “bestowing care” in Law and Gospel terms as both “love” and “tough love.” Tough love reminds us that we are our brother’s keeper, and that there are times when each of us needs to bring a loving word of rebuke to someone who is sinning. That word of rebuke, though it may seem harsh to say (and ever harsher to receive) nevertheless makes it clear that sin is a serious matter. If we truly love our fellow church members and desire to be a good shepherd to them, we will at times be forced to confront sin and the appearance of sin in their lives. In like manner we will also comfort them at the proper time with the assurance of Christ’s forgiveness.
But failing to do either of those? Failing to give a rebuke when it is needed? Rebuking someone when what they really need is Gospel comfort? That is a travesty. That is not loving. That is not shepherding. If we want to be good shepherds and bestow true care upon one another, we must not shrink from confronting sin face-to-face and also be prepared to fully and completely forgive when repentance has come.
The last item on the list is that a shepherd is not to terrify his sheep. The Hebrew word for “terrified” means to make a person dismayed. Shattered. I take it to mean that a bad shepherd wields power and influence in such a domineering way that it does not foster trust. Making people believe they have no worth.
How would it be if I, as a pastor, if I as a husband, if I as a father used my power so that I communicated to everyone in my life that they were of no use to me whatsoever? And not just to me, but that they were of no use to God either? That they had no purpose to fulfill, and that God had no use for them?
I would be a pretty poor shepherd, wouldn’t I?
If I’m going to a good shepherd, then I need to be sure to build value into people rather than taking it away. They have got to know not only that I value them, but that God places such a high value on their lives that He would be willing to shed the blood of His Son in order to tell them just how precious they are to Him. I need to love them, to cherish them, but even more than that I must point them to Christ who values them even more.
And in fact, that’s where Jeremiah ends up. The Lord gives a harsh rebuke to those wicked shepherds who have scattered and destroyed His people, the shepherds who have stripped His people of all value and left them in terror, but then immediately points us to the One who will shepherd us with wisdom, who looks upon us with love and favor, and raises us up to live again in Him.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 “5"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.”
Is there any wonder why the Lord chooses to end His speech by pointing us to Jesus Christ? The wicked kings of the Old Testament served only themselves, and in so doing they led the people astray, scattering and driving away God’s sheep. Apart from Christ we cannot lead wisely, we cannot shepherd well. But in Jesus Christ, the Lord our Righteousness, we have an eternal King, a Good Shepherd who pledges to us that we can live safely forever in Him.
Think of that! Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd! Instead of scattering His sheep in confusion He comes and brings order and direction. Instead of casting them out He draws us every more closely to Himself. He lavishes care upon us, and we don’t ever need to be terrified of His rebuke because in His Gospel we know that we are priceless to Him, and that He has a plan and a purpose—a mission—for each of us.
I heard a song this past week that I haven’t heard for a few years. But when I heard it I was so moved, because as I listened to the words I realized that this song is sung from the heart of a young man who had a good shepherd in his life. This song is amazing, because not only does it point my soul to my shepherd Jesus Christ, but at the same time it also makes me look at those whom I’ve been given the task of shepherding. It makes me realize the greatness of my Good Shepherd, and it makes me want to become a better shepherd for others. I’d like to share that song with you now.
(lyrics provided below)
When I am down and , oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit awhile with me
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up, to more than I can be.
(Lyrics by Brendan Graham and Rolf Lovland. Performed by Josh Groban)
Dearest Lord,
We thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to be our Good Shepherd, our Savior, our King. Through Him we know that we are precious to You. We are the sheep of your fold, and we heed the voice of our Good Shepherd. Help us to walk in His footsteps, give us His shepherd’s heart, and let us lead your precious sheep in the ways of justice and righteousness. Give us the strength and the will and the opportunity to be undershepherds of the Great Shepherd. In Jesus’ most precious name, Amen.
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