Elder as a Shepherd, Part 1

Driving home: You mean it's not enough to have Christ, the Holy Ghost in my Bible, to come to perfection in Christ? That's right. It's not enough. It's not enough because He has given shepherds and teachers to perfect the saints.

Martin quotes John Owen, who explains that 'pastor' or 'shepherd' is a comprehensive metaphor for the elder's office, encompassing all duties more fully than any other term.

Now, it's always comforting when you come to a conviction out of the Bible, he came to the same conviction and when I've been rooting around for some time in these passages I turned to my good old mentor Dr. John Owen and this is what I found in Owen quote the name of a pastor or shepherd is metaphorical you all know what a metaphor is a figure of speech in which you liken something to something else but you don't say like we could say of a certain fellow in a football game he was like a tiger down by the goal line that's a simile but if you said man that guy was a tiger in the trenches you do...

24:20 - 25:01 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And if there be not a conformity unto him in this office, no man can assure his own conscience or the church of God that he is or can be lawfully called unto the office of an elder.

Martin quotes John Owen again, emphasizing that Christ, as the good shepherd, provides the perfect example and pattern for all under-shepherds, and conformity to him is essential for a lawful call to the office.

But he is the example of his under-shepherds in a very special way. All that is noble, all that is gracious, all that is honoring, all that is loving to God and of true service to men in Christ's office as a shepherd is to find some reflection in the under-shepherds who serve in his name and by his authority. Again, listen to John Owen. If we would know what these qualifications and endowments are for the office of an elder, we may learn them in their great example and pattern from our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

38:31 - 39:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Receive teaching with an open mind, understanding that the preacher's task is to feed with knowledge and understanding, not to amuse or flatter.

Martin warns against interpreting biblical shepherd imagery through modern Palestinian shepherd concepts, insisting that the Bible must interpret its own imagery, not vice-versa.

well let's look to the chief shepherd let's look to the shepherd the great one let's look to the prince shepherd promised by the prophet jeremiah and the prophet micah And let us see if we can find in him the key to this question. What is the fundamental bond between a shepherd and his sheep? For in all of this, and this is vital, we take our clue for the imagery not from a modern shepherd in Palestine who writes a book and interprets the Bible through Palestinian shepherds' concepts. No, no. We go to the Bible to interpret the imagery.

42:00 - 42:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Strive to manifest love for the sheep willingly, not of constraint, as the fruit of the Spirit, even when facing difficulties or ill will.

Martin uses the analogy of a child eating spinach 'of constraint' versus devouring ice cream 'willingly' to illustrate the difference between serving as an elder out of obligation versus serving out of genuine love and a ready mind.

upon him at times the ill will of the very people he's given his life to serve and to help on their way to heaven? What will make him willing? Nothing but the willingness of that love which is the fruit of the Spirit. It's one thing for the child to eat his spinach, and I know spinach has gotten a raw deal through the years, but we're not going to change that in 1985. And the child who has

53:08 - 53:38 Read in full sermon