Elder as a Shepherd, Part 1

Introduction: Installation of Deacons and Elders

0:00 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 23rd, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may we again bow in the presence of God and plead in prayer for the very things we've asked God to grant us in the singing of this hymn. Let us pray.

0:28 Oh, our Father, we can find no better words to frame the deepest longing of our hearts. Come with unction and with power. Oh, Lord, send the Holy Spirit down upon this congregation. Send him upon the preacher that he may know the expansion of his own mind and spirit with your word of truth.

0:57 That he may know facility of utterance. Be with his mouth, be with his heart, be with his whole being. That he may accurately convey your mind in the scriptures. And then, oh, Lord, come with unction and power upon this congregation.

1:17 Unction to give light. Power to move our affections and our wills by the word of truth. Power to break down. Ignorance and remove prejudice.

1:30 Power, oh, Lord, to sweep aside whatever barriers of misconception may have been raised in our minds and our hearts. Oh, Lord, we thirst to know your living presence. Grant it to us as the gift of the ascended Christ and for his sake. Amen.

1:54 Now, those of you who were with us last. Lord's Day will remember that it was our privilege to recognize in a formal and public way the goodness of God in giving to us as a congregation three more men to serve in the office of deacon. The entire structure and most of the content of our morning hour of worship and ministry were intended to underscore the significance of the office of a deacon. As we lay.

2:32 Our hands upon messers Rich Denzel, Cliff Kitchen, and Jeff Smith. Now, the culmination of our evening service will find us, God willing, in a posture in which you as a congregation will witness an activity in which the existing elders will lay their hands upon and pray over Dr. Robert Paul Martin in a formal acknowledgement. of his installation as an elder in this church.

3:07 Now, in that act of laying hands upon him and praying over him, we will be imparting nothing to him, nor will we be conferring anything upon him. Rather, as the existing elders, we will be basically doing three things. We will be making a public acknowledgement of Christ. We will be making a public acknowledgement of Christ's previous activity of making and giving Dr. Martin to us to be Pastor Bob Martin.

3:43 That's what we will be doing. As your elders, responding to your unanimous recognition of this brother, we will be making a public acknowledgement that Christ has previously both formed him and now given him to us. We will be making a public acknowledgement that Christ has previously both formed him and now given him to us. We will be making a public acknowledgement that Christ has previously both formed him and now given him to us.

4:05 And then, secondly, we will be formally embracing the gift of Christ and consciously placing ourselves under him in the Lord. We, as elders, will be submitting to him as our elder. For we, as under-shepherds, are shepherded by our fellow under-shepherds. And on your behalf, as we are under-shepherds, we will be submitting to him as our elder.

4:33 And on your behalf, as we lay hands upon him, we will be symbolizing that you, as a congregation, having recognized him as Christ's gift, do now, with joy, submit yourself to him in the Lord. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need.

5:03 And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need.

5:33 And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need.

6:03 And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need.

6:33 And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need.

7:10 And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. And then the third thing we will be doing is entreating the Lord God to confer upon him all of the additional and sustained gifts and graces that he will need. defining and describing the nature and function of the office of an elder.

The Centrality of Shepherd Imagery for Elders

7:22 And then the second introductory principle that I trust to demonstrate is this, the supremacy of Christ as the perfect prototype and example of the shepherd's office and function. So we want to come to grips with the centrality of the shepherd imagery and the supremacy of Christ as the perfect example of the shepherd. First of all, then, the supremacy or the centrality of the shepherd imagery with reference to the office and functions of an elder. When we turn to the Word of God in order to consider the comprehensive teaching of Scripture

8:06 on the subject of elders, we find that one of the dominant images if not the dominant image by which the nature and function of elders is set forth is the image of a shepherd. Turn with me to several pivotal passages in the New Testament. First of all, to Acts chapter 20.

8:32 You will remember the setting.

8:35 Paul has gathered to himself at Miletus the elders of the church at Ephesus. Acts 20 and verse 17. And from Miletus he, that is Paul, sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders, the presbyters of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them.

9:01 Then we have a record of Paul's discourse to the elders which begins essentially with Paul reviewing his own conduct amongst them as a minister of the gospel. And he does. He does this for several reasons that it is not important for us to touch upon this morning. But then there is a transition at verse 28.

9:25 Verses 20 or verses 18 through 27 constitute basically a review and a summary of Paul's own ministry in their midst coupled with his own perspective on his determination to fulfill his God-given task. As an apostle. Now having done that, he now turns to these elders to charge them with their ongoing responsibility in the midst of this church where Paul had labored for over three years. And when he begins his charge, he does so with these words.

10:05 Take heed or pay close attention unto yourselves. Now notice. And to all the flock. When he describes the church, the first imagery that he uses is that the church is a flock.

10:25 It is a gathered company of sheep. Pay close attention to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, overseers, those who inspect and look over and care for this flock, to feed. Or better translated, to shepherd the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. So they are to take heed to the flock by being shepherds unto the church.

11:01 The church and the flock are synonymous. Their taking heed to the flock has reference to discharging the task of oversight in a peculiar sense as shepherding. So you see the conjunction between church and flock, overseers and shepherds. And then verse 29.

11:25 I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing, and now he drops the term the church and goes back to the imagery, not sparing the flock. So having clearly identified who the flock are, he then goes back to that lovely image. The imagery of the flock. So you see in this passage, the elders who are now found in the presence of the great apostle, with his own example before them of some three plus years of ministry, they are to go back to their task of oversight with this concept ringing in their ears

12:07 and echoing through the chambers of their hearts. We are to function as shepherds in our oversight. We are to function as shepherds in our oversight. Of the flock of God, you see, it is a dominant imagery by which the ongoing task of elders is both defined and described.

12:27 Now turn to another pivotal passage in the New Testament. First Peter, chapter five, first Peter, chapter five, verse one. The elders, therefore, among you, I exhort. So he is singling out this plurality of, overseers, the elders, the presbyters, the same group Paul called to himself at Miletus, Peter now charges these presbyters, the elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder and a

13:08 witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, tend the flock of God, now again it's the verbal form of shepherd, shepherd the flock of God which is among you, so the first word of exhortation that would fall upon the ears of the elders as they sat there that morning and one of their number or an officially designated reader would stand in the assembly and read this epistle, the first word that would fall upon their ears by way

13:45 of a specific charge is this, shepherd the flock of God, the concept of fulfilling their task as elders is to be understood in the framework of that of a shepherd who shepherds his flock of sheep, tend or shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, literally performing the functions of a bishop, or an overseer, so you see how these two thoughts are brought together again, Paul brings them together, the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, that's the plain, blunt, unadorned, unimaginative

14:29 statement of the task, but when it picks up an imagery, it is oversight in the capacity of a shepherd caring for his flock, and the same two lines of thought are brought together here, shepherd the flock of God, exercising the oversight, not of constraint but willingly, according to the will of God, nor yet for filthy lucre but of a ready mind, neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves and samples to the flock, and so the shepherd flock imagery again dominates

Old Testament Prophecies of Shepherds in the New Covenant

15:11 Peter's exhortation to these elders. Now we ask the question, why does this imagery dominate in identifying the spiritual leaders of God's people under the new covenant? Well the answer of Scripture is very plain and straightforward, because it is precisely this that God promised under the old covenant, when He prophesied the distinctive marks of blessings under the new covenant. And I want you to look at several passages with me in which this is made plain.

15:49 Jeremiah chapter 3.

15:54 Jeremiah chapter 3.

15:57 The shepherd flock imagery with reference to the task of elders dominates in the New Testament description because it was precisely that which was prophesied in the old covenant as there was anticipation of the new. Jeremiah chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. Return, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am a husband to you, and I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. You see the remnant element?

16:33 He says, I'll take one of a city, two of a family, and bring you to the city of God. Here is the concept that under the new covenant, God will have a remnant. And they will gather to that which is called Zion. Hebrews makes it plain that that Zion is not a literal city in Jerusalem, but is God's city, his church, his special dwelling place.

16:58 And when he gathers this remnant, what will he do for them? Verse 15. And I will give you shepherds. I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding.

17:21 And it shall come to pass when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall no more say the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither shall it come to mind. Neither shall they remember it. Neither shall they miss it.

17:37 Neither shall it be made any more.

17:43 God says a time is coming when that which was said, central to the old covenant worship, will pass and be forgotten. And he will gather one of a city and two of a family. And as he gathers them into Zion, the crowning blessing that he gives to them is shepherds after his own heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and with understanding. Now, if that was God's promise in the old covenant, anticipating the blessings of the new, we should not be surprised when we turn to the new covenant documents, that the concept, the concept of the leaders in Zion are to function as shepherds.

18:22 Another prophecy out of Jeremiah chapter 23. An additional note is woven into this prophecy that will become, I trust, increasingly significant as we meet together again this evening, if God is pleased to gather us. Jeremiah 23. We begin with verses 3 and 4.

18:43 After God pronounces a woe upon us, upon these shepherds that destroy and scatter his flock, then God makes a wonderful promise in verse 3. I will gather the remnant. You see that note again? The remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them.

19:05 And I will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. And I will set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the Lord. So when he gathers his remnant together, the great blessing that he gives to them is to set up shepherds over them, who shall feed them in order to deliver them from their fear, their dismay, and their want.

19:42 Now it's interesting that when we move on to verses 5 and 6, we find, we find something that seems on the surface to contradict this prophecy. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteous.

20:17 Under the new covenant, God says that he will gather his remnant, he will give them shepherds, plural, and yet it's at the same time that he will raise up out of the stock of David a branch who shall reign as king. Christ is reigning as king. What need is there for human shepherds?

20:46 And there are some who reason from the immediacy and the dynamic of the gift of the Spirit in the new covenant to a concept that the new covenant community, because of the measure of the Spirit's gift from the ascended Christ, do not need to be shepherded if they have their Bibles and the Holy Ghost and Christ as king, they need no earthly shepherds. Well, such a state was never envisioned in the prophetic utterances couched in the old covenant in anticipation of the blessings of the new. In fact, as much as it is a blessing to have Christ as David's greater son

21:30 to be king in Zion, it is a blessing to receive from the king in Zion from his place of exaltation, Ephesians chapter 4, those gifts that he gives, and those gifts are shepherds and teachers. Therefore, in that passage to which I've just alluded, alluded Ephesians chapter 4, what the ascended Christ does subsequent to his death and resurrection, filling all realms by his conquering power, is not to negate under the new covenant the necessity of leaders, but to grant the very shepherds

22:14 who will by the blessing of God be instrumental to bringing the people of God to the new covenant. To maturity in Christ, Ephesians 4, verse 10, he that descended is the same that ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some shepherds. The word pastor is simply the word shepherd. There were shepherds watching over their flocks by night.

22:48 Same word in the original. He gives shepherds, shepherds and teachers for what purpose? For the perfecting or mending of the saints unto the work of service. You mean that it's not enough to have an ascended Christ, an exalted Christ who gives the Spirit, who by the Spirit inspired the apostolic writers to give us a completed revelation of the mind and will of God.

23:17 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.

23:36 And he who seeks that perfection apart from Christ's gift either does so out of gross and willful ignorance of what is plainly taught or out of a horrible and blasphemous construction, and not a person who seeks the perfection and the perfection of the wisdom of Christ in his own institution of this arrangement. Well, we see then that this imagery is dominant with reference to the function of elders so that shepherd becomes one of the titles and shepherding the flock the most comprehensive functional description.

24:20 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 don't mean that suddenly he had orange and black

25:01 stripes and grew a tail when you say he was a tiger it's a figure of speech a metaphor well the old doctor says the name pastor or shepherd is a metaphor it is a term suited unto his work denoting the same office and person with a bishop or elder spoken of absolutely without limitation unto either teaching or ruling in other words he's saying the term shepherd is a comprehensive term that is synonymous with elder or bishop and it seems to be used or applied unto this office because it is more

25:45 comprehensive of and instructive in all the duties that belong to this office than any other name whatever no more than all of them put together end quote so the good old doctor saw this motif in scripture that in the description of the function and role of an elder the concept of shepherd is predominant because it more than any other takes into itself the broadest description of his identity and of his tasks

The Supremacy of Christ as the Perfect Shepherd Prototype

26:25 now the second foundational principle that i want to lay this morning having established i trust to the conviction of your mind the centrality of the shepherd imagery in defining and describing the office of an elder now consider with me the supremacy of christ as the perfect prototype or example of the shepherd's office and function of the shepherd wow first of all then this matter of the supremacy of christ in this office and we'll have two divisions

27:10 of the material number one the old testament roots and the new testament flowering the old testament roots of this great principle and then its new testament¡¦ flowering. Turn with me, please, to the book of Ezekiel. Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 are the two pivotal passages in the Old Testament with reference to the false and to the selfish, self-serving shepherds or leaders in Israel. They are to the Old Testament what Matthew 23 is to the New Testament in the indictment of our Lord upon the scribes and Pharisees. Now, in Ezekiel

27:54 34, having indicted these false shepherds, as you heard when Pastor Nichols read the first 20 verses, the first 24 verses in your hearing, you will have noticed that after in this horrible indictment of these shepherds who fed upon the sheep and who used the sheep to their own ends, God then makes a promise in verse 23, I will set up one shepherd. Shepherd over them. Well, wait a minute. I thought Jeremiah said, and I will give them shepherds, plural. Now he says, I'll set up one shepherd. Well, is it many or one? Well,

28:36 it isn't either or. It's both and. And in this promise, the emphasis falls upon the one shepherd. I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David.

28:52 And God is not saying that he's going to resurrect the literal David, who's long since been dead, but David's seed, that is the Lord Jesus. He shall feed them and shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, now notice, prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it. Well, is he going to be shepherd or is he going to be prince? Is he prince or is he shepherd? Is he shepherd or is he prince? Is he prince or is he

29:25 prince? Well, it's not either or. He is the princely shepherd, and he is the shepherdly prince. And in the promise of God, David's greater son, in contrast to these false shepherds, would occupy a place of authority and power as prince among them. But in the discharge of that

29:51 function as priest, he would conduct himself as a shepherd. So that the one whom every true godly Israelite anticipated as Messiah, they anticipated him as the coming shepherd, prince, and princely shepherd. There is another prophecy very significant in this regard as we look at the Old Testament roots of Christ as the great prototype shepherd. It's the book of Micah, chapter 5.

30:29 And this passage is read at the Christmas season, familiar to most of us, I'm sure. But thou, Bethlehem, verse 2 of Micah 5, thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth one unto me who is to be ruler in Israel. One is going to come who shall be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them

31:08 up until the time that she who travails has brought forth. Then the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel, and he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide for night and day. Now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth, and this man shall be our peace. God says, I'll raise up a ruler, and that ruler shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah.

31:46 So you see the motif of Jeremiah's prophecy, that God would raise up a shepherd prince, and a prince shepherd is now taken up and underscored by Micah. And these, and there are other passages, I limit myself only to these, show two of the main taproots embedded in the Old Testament. Now, we turn to the New Testament. When Mary's womb, which contained for nine months, and then expelled in the fullness of time, the enfleshed God, when that act occurred, how was he identified?

32:22 Well, if we turn to Matthew chapter 2, we see the perspective of Matthew, again the familiar Christmas story. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men came from the east saying, where is he that is born king? They're looking for a king, a prince, a ruler. But when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him.

32:52 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them, where the Christ should be born. They said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written through the prophet, and thou, Bethlehem, land of Judah, art in no wise least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come forth a governor who shall be shepherd of my people Israel.

33:22 Where is he that is born king? We're looking for a king. And they are directed to a prophecy, which says the king shall be shepherd, and the shepherd is to be the governor of his people. And then the consciousness of our Lord Jesus, he knew himself to be precisely the one prophesied by Jeremiah and Micah, the one of whom the scriptures spoke in this passage read in your hearing.

33:55 For in the familiar words of John chapter 10, he gathers to himself all of those prophetic utterances embedded in the Old Testament, the pronouncement made shortly after his birth, that the governor who is shepherd, the shepherd who is king has been born. And now he says in all the richness of that connotation, John 10, 11, I am the good shepherd. Amen. Every Jew to whom he spoke who had any acquaintance with the Old Testament knew precisely what he was claiming to be.

34:37 All of those evil shepherds of whom Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke, those false and wretched shepherds who fleeced the sheep, who made them the occasion of promoting their own ends and did not live for the sake of the sheep, he said in contrast to them, I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He that is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep.

35:17 I am the good shepherd. He repeats that assertion. I am that shepherd king, that shepherd governor, that shepherd prince prophesied in your very scriptures. I am he.

35:35 And our Lord so clearly embedded this in the consciousness of his followers that when inspired New Testament writers refer to him, they refer to him in his capacity as shepherd. Three passages very quickly. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20.

36:07 Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we were to give a more wooden, literal rendering, it would be rendered like this. The God of peace who brought again from the dead the shepherd of the sheep, the great one. Which shepherd?

36:38 The great one. And there was only one great one. And he is identified as our Lord Jesus. So in the mind of the writer to the Hebrews, the great shepherd, who stands above all others who ever fulfilled the role and function of shepherd, he is the great shepherd.

37:01 And then when we turn over to 1 Peter, there are two references. One in chapter 2, with Peter's mind, thoroughly imbued with Old Testament perspectives, here a direct allusion to Isaiah 53. We read in 1 Peter 2, 25, for you were going astray like sheep, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop, unto the shepherd and overseer of your souls. And who is that shepherd and overseer?

37:36 Well, there is no question, for we turn to chapter 5 and Peter identifies him. 1 Peter 5 and verse 4. And when the chief shepherd, he uses a compound word, the archipoimen, the chief, the first in rank, the supreme, the arch shepherd, shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away. And so it is proper for us to assert that the Lord is the Lord.

38:12 The Lord Jesus is supremely the prototype and example of the shepherd's office and function. Now Christ is the example of all his people in general. 1 John 2, 6. He that says he abides in him ought to walk even as he walked.

38:31 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.

39:13 Our Lord Jesus Christ being the good shepherd, whose the sheep are, the shepherd and bishop of our souls, the chief shepherd, did design in the undertaking and exercise of his pastoral office to give a type and example unto all those who are called unto the same office under him. 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.

The Fundamental Bond: Love for the Sheep

39:54 End quote. Now, I've made great demands on your mind for a solid half hour. I know that. But I make no apology for that because if I'm Christ's gift to you, I'm to feed you with knowledge and understanding.

40:07 I'm not to titillate you with interesting stories. I'm not to amuse you by humorous stories. I'm not to force you to do things that flatter you by empty platitudes that simply make you feel good. If I'm Christ's gift, I must feed you with knowledge and understanding.

40:22 That's my task. It is defined by the word of God. And what I've sought to establish in this half hour of rather dense teaching is this. These two great pillars upon which all the rest will rest and sit down upon these things for the remainder of our time this morning and for the entirety of our life.

40:43 And I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign and I'm to give you a sign Do you have them? The comprehensive description of the function and identity of a pastor, of an elder, a bishop is that of a shepherd. And Jesus Christ is set forth as the great example and prototype of what a true shepherd is. Now, those things being so, we'll have time just to touch on one strand of the opening up of that as we consider the fact that we are office of an elder and it is this we'll open up in the time that remains this morning the

41:20 fundamental bond between a shepherd and his sheep and then god willing tonight the fundamental function of the shepherd with respect to his sheep and thirdly the fundamental responsibility of the sheep to their shepherd but this morning simply this the fundamental bond between a shepherd and his sheep what is it that binds a true shepherd to his sheep what is it that causes him to live to labor and if necessary to risk life itself for the well-being of his sheep

42:00 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.

42:41 We don't impose upon the Bible the imagery of a modern shepherd. Most of that stuff that is written is claptrap.

42:52 I've looked at it and read some of it. It's sheer claptrap. It doesn't expound the Bible. We must go to the Scriptures.

43:00 What is the bond between a shepherd and his sheep? Well, when we turn to the Scriptures, we see that with reference to the great shepherd, the chief shepherd, there is a twofold bond between himself and his sheep. And that twofold bond is love for the sheep and a consciousness of accountability to the one who owns the sheep. First of all, love for the sheep.

43:30 John chapter 10. When the Lord Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, you will notice that there is one dimension of his role as the good shepherd that receives supreme emphasis. John 10.11.

43:48 I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd does many things. But our Lord emphasizes only one. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Verse 15.

44:06 Even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 17. I lay down my life. Verse 18.

44:21 But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. Five times in this short space, I lay down my life. I lay down my life.

44:35 I lay down my life. What is our Lord saying? He is saying that when you think of me in my relationship to the sheep, and you ask the question, Lord Jesus, as the great and chief shepherd, what is the fundamental bond that unites you to your sheep? He does not give us the word love in abstraction, but he gives us the supreme statement of love in action.

45:07 For it is this same Lord who goes on to tell us in John 15 and verse 13, Greater love hath no... man than this,

45:21 than a man lay down his life for his friends. What is our Lord saying? Lest we misunderstand and put some sentimental or unscriptural connotation upon the notion of love, he does not say the good shepherd loves his sheep to the ultimate demands of love. He takes it out of abstraction.

45:45 He puts it in the concrete, and five times in the short, in the short compass of this dense section on his identity as the true and good shepherd. He says I so love that I am prepared to make the supreme expression of love. I will lay down my life for the sheep. This is the bond that unites me to my sheep, my own sovereign self-sacrificing love for my sheep.

The Fundamental Bond: Accountability to God

46:16 Then we have the second thing that, that binds him to the sheep, and that is his sense of accountability to the God whose sheep they were. Look at John 10 and verse 18. Very interesting. This entire section closes with these words.

46:39 This commandment received I from my father. Now that puzzled me for many, many years. He says five times I lay down my life. I lay down my life.

46:53 I lay down my life. I lay it down. I take it up. I have power to lay it down.

46:57 Power to take it up. And he concludes the section by saying this commandment. What commandment? I don't read about any commandment.

47:07 But he says this commandment have I received from my father. Well, obviously what he's saying is this pattern of being so committed and bound to his sheep in love that he is prepared to lay down his life. And take it up again on their behalf was a self-sacrifice in the role of the good shepherd that he did not take upon himself apart from the will of the father expressed in his command to him.

47:46 In other words, the Lord Jesus was very conscious of his accountability to his father for the sheep entrusted to his care. As the only one who could secure their redemption. Look at chapter 14 and verse 31 and then several verses in chapter 17 of John chapter 14 and verse 31. That the world may know that I love the father as the father gave me commandment.

48:19 Even so, I do arise. Let us go. Hence. What is he going to do?

48:25 He's going to go to the place where he knows. He will. Be apprehended and taken from that place to a place of trial and then executed upon an instrument of Roman torture. And he says as the father gave me commandment.

48:41 Even so, I discharge my obligations to my father. So that when he then enters into the garden and praise that moving prayer recorded in chapter 17 notice how this sense of accountability for the sheep. Lies so heavily upon our Lord's heart. These things spake Jesus and lifting up his eyes to heaven.

49:05 He said father the hour is come glorify thy son that thy son may glorify thee even as you gave him authority over all flesh that to all whom you have given him. He should give eternal life and this is life eternal that they should know thee the only true God. And Jesus Christ whom you did send I glorified you on the earth having accomplished the work which you gave me to do. And now father glorify me with your own self with the glory that I had with you before the world was I manifested your name unto the men whom you gave me.

49:49 They were yours and you gave them to me. You see that sense of accountability. For is upon our Lord's spirit this awesome this pressing consciousness that the father has given him a deposit and that deposit is all the redeemed of all ages whose redemption hangs upon his willingness to lay down his life for them.

50:20 So for our blessed Lord there was a two-fold bond that intertwined his heart with his sheep. It was his love for them love to the ultimate laying down life itself and his love to the father particularly expressed in the delightful desire to discharge his obligations to the father as expressed in the father's will and commandment to him.

The Twofold Bond in Under-Shepherds: Love and Willingness

50:52 May I say that that's the bond that unites a true under shepherd. To a flock of Christ.

51:03 That must be the bond and though when drawing near to the Lord Jesus and seeing him as it were lay bare his heart and the cords that go out from his heart and bind him to his sheep. We stand to shame that we fall so far short but nonetheless that two-fold bond must be that which knits the heart of every true Shepherd. To the flock in. Which the Holy Ghost makes him an overseer.

51:34 Let's just look briefly now at several passages that indicate this as we close this morning. As far as I know there is no explicit command addressed to elders in any of the relevant passages in which they are told love the sheep. The Lord Jesus said to Peter if you love me you will Shepherd or tend and feed the sheep but all of the directives assume. That love to the sheep.

52:02 Constrains a man to assume that awesome position and motivates him in the activities demanded by that position. For example first Peter chapter 5 Peter doesn't use the word love but surely it is the fruit of love which alone will be manifested in compliance with these directives. First Peter 5 to Shepherd the flock of God which is among you. Exercising the oversight now notice this negative positive contrast not of constraint.

52:39 But willingly that is not is one who is pressed against his will into the service. But one who volitionally willingly takes on this responsibility will what makes a man willing to take the burdens of others and make them his. To take the faults and the stumblings of others. of others and make them his own? What will cause a man to take upon himself that which will bring

53:08 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

53:38 learned submission to his parents is told, now I only gave you a small portion, eat it. And he's eating it, but I tell you every bite and every chew and every swallow is like an eternity. He's doing it, but of constraint. Constrained by the knowledge that when that parent says, I want that plate clean, that no amount of trying to calm the parents, no amount of trying to make like they're burping up, none of that will work. It's either clean the plate or have your behind

54:07 warmed and have no dessert. You say, you one of those cool parents who did that way to your kids? Yes, because they don't know what's good for them, and it's your responsibility as a parent to try to cultivate in them a taste and an appetite for foods that are good for them. Now, you may not be able to make them to love spinach or turnips or some of these other things that get a raw deal, but you can at least try, and they may under constraint. But most,

54:33 put a dish of ice cream in front of them, and there needs to be no cajoling, no threatening, no entreaties, no nothing. They take the ice cream and devour it willingly. Now, that's the contrast, not of constraint like a child who gulps down his spinach reluctantly. Now, it's love that causes that ready mind, that willing heart. Then the other contrast, nor yet for filthy

55:02 lucre for base gain, but... Of a ready mind, neither is lording it over the charge, but making yourself in samples.

55:11 Time has gone from us, but look at 1 Timothy 3.5 and 1 Timothy 5.17 at your leisure. Look up the passages, and you'll see there that the care of an elder is like the father who cares for his household. And what is it that motivates a father to give himself to care

55:30 for his household but his love to his wife and to his children? And in that sense, it becomes a labor born of love, 1 Thessalonians 1.3. But then there's a second bond, and that's the bond of his accountability to God, whose sheep they are.

The Twofold Bond in Under-Shepherds: Accountability and Reward

55:46 Hebrews 13.17, key text, Hebrews 13.17, obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them, for they watch for your souls, how? As they that shall give an account. They watch,

56:04 as they that shall give an account. They oversee you, and they seek to do so in the role of an under-shepherd, bound to you in love that only God the Holy Ghost has implanted and keeps active in their hearts. But they have not only an eye to you, bound to you in love, but they have that awesome sense that they're on their way to giving. It is God who has placed them over his sheep. It is the Holy Ghost who has constituted them

56:43 over seers and told them to function as shepherds, and it's that God who will hold them accountable for how they treated his sheep. And what an awesome, awesome responsibility is upon the shepherds of God. They watch as those that shall give an account, and Peter emphasized this when he concludes his exhortation to the elders by saying, when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory. You do the work of oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, not for base gain, but of a ready mind, but oh, you

57:26 must do it with an eye to the hour when the heavens will part and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God will sound and the chief shepherd comes, and then you'll receive the reward from him. And you see it is that binding of the heart to a congregation under the sense of the eye of God that on the one hand creates such a sense of weightiness and at times frightening responsibility, but on the other hand, one is encouraged with this promise of Peter that whatever that reward of grace is, it must be a privilege.

58:07 precious thing that Peter holds forth when the chief shepherd is manifested, you'll receive the crown of glory. It is that accountability which Paul underscored when he said to the elders, take heed to the flock of God, the church purchased with his own blood. What value does Christ place upon this church? He purchased it with his blood. You mean I and my fellow elders

58:38 and this evening formally and publicly installed to that office, Robert Paul Martin will be handling the blood-bought property of the Son of God, and he'll go to judgment for what he did with that property, as will Albert N. Martin, Mr. Paul C. Clarke, Mr. Gregory G. Nichols, Mr. Frank Barker,

59:08 and Mr. Donald Dixon. Now you see, dear people, there is no such thing as an unrighteousness. There is no such thing as an unrighteousness.

59:13 There is no such thing as an unrighteousness. There is no such thing as an unrighteousness. There is no such thing as an unrighteousness. There are times when, as we'll note more in exhortation tonight, when some of you grow rested and irritated because you've got elders who always seem to have six eyes and ten ears.

59:28 Why do we try to have six eyes and ten ears? Because you have been bought with the blood of the incarnate God, and we're going to give an account if we've allowed any wolf to tear your hide. And any vermin to get in your skin, and any poison to get into your system. That's why a bunch of meddlesome, nosy men who have nothing to do but intrude upon your life. God knows

60:02 some of us would run from this office if we could. How could any sheep resent a shepherd that cares for it with a view that he's accountable to the man that owns the sheep, and he wants to give an account? Not with joy. Any sheep that would resent that is crazy. Well, I'll leave the conclusion

Conclusion: Prayer for Elders

60:31 to you. What is the bond that ties a shepherd to his sheep? A two-fold bond seen in the great shepherd. Love and accountability. As you pray for your elders, you pray that God

60:52 will again and again baptize our hearts with his love, suffuse our spirits with his love, and that he will give us an intensified awareness. And in that, we'm bound with the two-fold cord. If we're bound to you with that, then we'll be in a position to be the shepherds to you that we ought to be by the grace of God. Let us pray.

61:29 Oh, our Father, we do confess in your presence that those of us who have been placed in this awesome office so often see our failures. And we would give up the office, in the light of God's presence. Yes. of our accountability, but we know that this would bring upon us that horrible indictment, thou wicked and slothful, unfaithful servant. So, Lord, we cannot run because you have placed us in

62:05 it. We can only pray that you'd give us what we need to function as we ought to the benefit of your sheep and to the glory of the great shepherd. Write then this word upon our hearts and continue to be with us on this day, that it may be a day long remembered in our life together when we got a new glimpse of the great shepherd and a new appreciation of how we ought to pray for our under shepherds and when we who are under shepherds gave ourselves anew to the awesome task laid upon

62:42 us. Hear our prayer. Dismiss us with your blessing. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

62:50 Amen.