Shepherds Of The Flock

by JOHN BROWN | Category: Churches Of God - Their Constitution And Functions | May 1951

"The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want." Hardly any word of Holy Scripture is better known than Psalm 23. which has comforted the hearts of faithful men and women down the ages. King David's assurance and deep contentment have been shared by many who have in faith appropriated the restful certainty of the Lord's tender care in the varying needs of daily life. That the Lord stands in this personal relationship to each one of His own, knowing them and their several needs and circumstances, caring for them and preserving them, is a captivating truth, simple enough for faith to grasp and to rest in, yet profound in its implications. The thoughtful soul, comforted indeed by such knowledge, will go on to recognize the connexion between one sheep and others, as well as between the Shepherd and the flock, and will see too this expanded thought in the Psalmist's words, "We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture "(Psalm 100.8). To all who know and enjoy the preciousness of the fact that "The LORD is my Shepherd" there is throughout Scripture an implied appeal to make the personal fact the ground of a wider recognition of the Lord's purpose and desire to have His people responsive to His guidance and care in collective experience, that is to say as a flock.

God's gathered people, whether Israel of old, or saints of the present dispensation redeemed and gathered unto the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, are va?iously described in the Word by terms which denote some' phase or other of their corporate place and service, as, for example concerning Israel - "holy nation," "kingdom of priests," "kingdom of the LORD" and concerning His people to-day " holy nation" "kingdom of God " "churches of God" "holy priesthood," "royal priesthoodOf all the terms and the imagery by which their significance is determined none so captivatingly reveals the heart of God yearning over and caring for His own, as "His sheep" "the sheep of His pasture" "the flock of God." Such, as well as the foregoing terms all carry within themselves, obviously and indisputably the essential demand of togetherness, of unity and emphasize the collective side of His people's responsibility and need Mingled however with the perfectly simple illustration of His own as sheep, or flock, so very dependant upon Himself is the sobering fact that the shepherd care which begins in Himself is laid by Him upon fallible men under shepherds, whose work it is on His behalf to lead to keep together to feed, and to tend His people as a flock

This aspect of truth is illustrated prominently in the history of Israel. In Psalm 80.1 God is invoked - "Give ear 0 Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock," and in Psalm 95.6, 7 Israel are in view:-

"0 come, let us worship and bow down;

Let as kneel before the LORD our Maker:

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand."

Responsibility for the unity of, the leadership and care of, and the necessary provision for, the Israel community, which had its source in the yearning care of the LORD as "the Shepherd of Israel", was delegated to fallible men. These had other functions, whether as kings, prophets, priests, or ministers of the earthly tabernacle, but their chief end was to shepherd the LORD'S sheep, His flock. Moses could appeal (Numbers 27.17) for the appointment of a man to replace him in due time, so that "the congregation be not as sheep without a shepherd," albeit later, in a sad day of declension, the prophet Micah could warn the evil king of Israel-" I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd" (1 Kings 22.17), and later still Jeremiah wept "because the LORD'S flock is taken captive" (13. 17). A very solemn element in the failure and eclipse of Israel as the LORD's flock in a bygone day was the failure of the shepherds. "Their shepherds have caused them to go' astray" (Jeremiah 50. 6); "shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture" (Jeremiah 23.1, 2). Ezekiel 34. contains in the first half of the chapter a bitter denunciation of the evil shepherds who served themselves and not the flock. Numerous similar statements occur throughout the Prophets. Nevertheless the day is near, we know, when regathered Israel will confess "All we like sheep have gone astray" and when "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock" (Jeremiah 31.10). Intermingled with much solemn history of failure in Israel as a flock, and with many precious promises assuring future restoration and blessing, there are rich anticipations of the coming Shepherd, Christ! "Behold, the Lord God will come as a Mighty One, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Hint, and His recompense before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck" (Isaiah 40.10, 11): a promise, glorious indeed, but grounded on the fulfilment at the Cross of the awful prophecy-" Awake, 0 sword, against My Shepherd, and against the Man that is My Fellow, saith the LORD of hosts : smite the Shepherd" (Zechariah 13.7).

"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Romans 15. 4), and we pass now to the particular applicability in this dispensation of the story of Israel as "My flock."

The Lord Jesus said,-" I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd layeth down His life for the sheep." The words from John 10. are related to others in the same chapter which shew the Saviour-Shepherd to be setting forth in a precious way His desire to have all His sheep together under His care and guidance. There is the individual application of course as in the words of His parable of the lost sheep, "I have found My sheep which was lost " (Luke 15.6). But the thoughtful reader will ponder the implications of this relationship. "I am the good Shepherd; and I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me .... And other sheep I have which are not of this fold (i.e., of John's disciples) : them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock, one Shepherd " (verses 14 to 16). Hearing His voice surely implies a loving and obedient attention to what He says, and to comply "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments" (John 14.15). To such as do so, come the delightful words, "He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When He hath put forth all His own, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice" (verses 3, 4). He leadeth His sheep out, and willingly they follow Him, "To walk apart with Thee,

Outside the camp, where only

Thy beauty we may see;

Far from the world's loud turmoil,

Far from its busy din,

Far from its praise and honour,

Its unbelief and sin."

Herein is set forth quite simply vital truth of a collective nature which has been lamentably neglected and frustrated by the perversity of sectarian wills amongst the children of God. If it be sadly true that Israel of old has "gone astray" and have been "scattered as sheep that have no shepherd" ; if indeed the Lord when here could survey the Israelite audience as He spoke to them and grieve because "they were as sheep not having a shepherd," it is manifestly our duty in humility and subjection to ponder the mystery of chaos which has overtaken believers scattered as they are in dire confusion amongst the sects of Christendom. By no stretch of imagination can they be conceived as "one flock." Such dissension has indeed rendered ineffectual to a shocking degree the Word and work of God. Pious persons of eminence in Christendom confess the tragedy of "our unhappy divisions" and account them sinful. The mystery of iniquity operating through the almost invincible self-will of even religious people exhibits a solemn warning of the ease with which the failure of Israel to obey God's voice may be repeated by His children of this dispensation, and "false shepherds" have played an awful part in the catastrophe. In a day of departure Israel were exhorted to return "to the law, and to the testimony," and the sure and only resource for the present day is "the Word of His grace."

A consistent pattern is seen in all the ways of God with men since He first deigned to dwell amongst them and to be served by them; that is unity, togetherness for practical life, service and testimony, and by no means a mystical unity-the face-saving pretence of sectarian. Christendom-to be understood though not manifest. Previous articles in this series have sought to prove this from Scripture, shewing that the various collective phases of divine purpose for God's children, whether in His House, His Kingdom, or The Fellowship consisting of the aggregate of the Churches of God, require His own to be together. The immediate object of this present study is to show that, in harmony with that, God has a place and purpose for His gathered out people as a "flock"; a flock over which the Great Shepherd of the sheep exercises in supreme authority and perfect love, a pastoral care. This flock was called by Him when here on earth a "little flock," because but a few out of the many clung to Him and followed Him in loving subjection. That the flock to-day is still a little one is due to the failure of the many "to dwell together in unity " in the spirit of the words already quoted, " If ye love Me ye will keep My commandments."

For the unity, guidance, protection, and due feeding of the flock the Lord has gifted men for pastoral care to be shepherds under Himself as Chief Shepherd. In another aspect of their service these men are seen as overseers, each Church of God being viewed as ruled and cared for by a circle of such (compare Ephesians 4.11, Acts 20.28, 1 Peter 5.2, 3, Acts 14.23). These are men who should be of mature spirituality and wisdom, without reproach (see 1 Timothy 3; 1 to 7) whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers in the flock; men who should be "ensamples to the flock"; men in whom the saints, the sheep of the flock; have confidence, whose ministry builds up, and whose faith commends imitation.

The primary responsibility of overseers as shepherds is to the Church of God wherein they are. However, inasmuch as the sheep, though found in different assemblies, often far apart from one another, are yet one flock, so elders or overseers are viewed, in the exercise of shepherd care, as joined together in collective responsibility for the whole flock. In 1 Peter 1.1 the apostle addresses saints in Churches of God throughout an extensive area covering five large provinces (the present Asia Minor), and in chapter 5. appeals to the elders in particular, as having a united responsibility to rule, tend, and be ensamples to "the flock of God which is among you." This wider than local exercise of oversight care is illustrated again in the important conference, to deal with a doctrinal matter, recorded in Acts 15.

By such scriptures we learn how God has legislated to preserve the integrity of the flock. Shepherds of an assembly not only act in harmony, together tending the local unit of the flock, but are seen to have a wider practical fellowship in oversight responsibility with fellow overseers, whether in their own county or district or still more widely with fellow-elders of all the Churches of God throughout the Fellowship. All in such elderhood have a joint concern and care for "the flock" as represented by the Fellowship world wide. This is designed to assure an unceasing common exercise to tend all the flock with a shared apprehension of collective need. Along these scriptural lines such men seek to secure that all the shepherds, together with the flock they guide, shall "all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions" among them but that all be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgement (1 Corinthians 1.10).

It is needful, however, to recall the cautionary words of Acts 20. 29 to 31. The divine pattern sketched above is ever vulnerable to the destructive efforts of the Adversary, the Devil, who, at times is able to find men who, wittingly or unwittingly, lend themselves to his fell design to scatter and destroy what God would have to be gathered; even men of shepherd status and responsibility amongst the flock. How very needful therefore for such to heed the apostle 5 warning-" Watch ye"!

May the shepherds of to day be found like the shepherds of Bethlehem long ago, keeping watch by night over their flock; may they see the glory of the Lord and may they wait upon and hear continually heaven's witness to the "Saviour which is Christ the Lord". So shall they in the glad, soon coming day, when the Chief Shepherd shall be manifested and shall appraise their work, find the reward of faithful shepherd-care of the flock in the " crown of glory bestowed by His own pierced hand.

And may the Lord's gathered people, the one flock, recognize their own duty to value highly the godly labour of faithful shepherds and heed the exhortation,-" But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake" (1 Thessalonians 5.12, 18, with which read also Hebrews 13. 17).

"Jesus is our Shepherd, with His goodness now,

And His tender mercy, He doth us endow;

Let us sing His praises with a gladsome heart,

Very soon we'll meet Him, never more to part."

JOHN BROWN | May 1951
Churches Of God - Their Constitution And Functions